The Walking Dead | Pastor Tomeka

Welcome to Free Life Chapel, where we

help you discover and live the free life

in Christ. My name is Justin, and we're

so excited that you decided to tune in

today. Be sure to visit our website,

freelifechapel.org, to find out more

about who we are, what we do, and how

you can be a part. If you ever find

yourself in the Central Florida area,

come give us a visit. We'd love a chance

to connect with you. But until then, we

have an awesome message in store for

you. Check it out. I'm excited that it

is a long three-day weekend because I my

bad for those who got to work tomorrow.

I do not. And I'm very very very excited

about that because I love to watch TV. I

love to watch movies. And it's been a

long time since I've been able to kind

of disconnect, you know, and watch my

shows because I got shows and I got

movies. And if anybody else in here like

me, you can watch the same thing over

and over and over again, right? It's

something about the familiarity of it

that brings you comfort, right? You you

don't have to predict what's happening.

You already know they going to fall in

love at the end, right? I love a good

romantic comedy. I love stuff that has a

happy ending. Cuz I don't understand why

some of you are willing to pay your good

hard-earned money for people to scare

you in movies. What? What is up with

that life? It can be scary all by

itself. I'm certainly not willing to pay

somebody to get my boil blood boiling

and my heart racing. And so I can watch

the same easygoing hallmark romantic

comedy thing again and again and again.

And because this is a 3-day weekend, I

got a date with my couch. I'm so excited

to be able to unplug and watch movies.

And I'm going to watch nothing new, my

same stuff. And my husband's going to

ask me the question he asked me all the

time. You watching that again?

And the answer again is yes. How long

have you known

me? How do you not know that by now? He

cannot do that. He can't watch the same

thing over and again. Once tops, once or

two times tops, right? Mine is James

Bond. For whatever reason, he can watch

James Bond over and over again. But he

also doesn't like the same kind of movie

that I like. So tomorrow when I unplug

and get on the couch, it will likely be

by myself cuz there's no drama, no

suspense, no shoot them up, bang bang,

no all of that jumping out of stuff and

chasing people and all of those things.

And he also will every now and again get

into stuff that's a little gory. Like

I'm like, I can't do that. One day, this

was years ago, he was watching TV and I

walked in the room and I saw what was on

the screen and I was like, what? What is

you watching? What is this? And he

paused it and he said, "Oh, this is a

this is a new show. It's called The

Walking Dead." Anybody familiar with

that that show, The Walking Dead? Some

of y'all like that show. Some of y'all

weird. I don't get it. And so he paused

it cuz you know he I can't be talking

while the show is playing um to tell me

about it. And I say, "Hold up, partner.

You don't have to tell me nothing about

I'm never watching this. I don't want to

watch this. This ain't my thing." And so

for all of you who got real excited when

I say The Walking Dead don't tell me

nothing about it. I'm never going to

watch the show. But for those who've

never seen it, it's a mo a series about

zombies and they have this virus and

they contaminate people and then they

kill and y'all know what come with

zombies. And so as as as the series went

on, they found out new stuff and all of

this other stuff happened and it went on

for years and years. Never watched it.

No plans to watch it. I need a good old

romantic

comedy. But that that movie does make me

think about this, not that movie, but

that TV show makes me think about this

passage of scripture that I want to

share with you all

today. Give you a little backstory.

Y'all remember in Exodus when the

children of Israel are in bondage in

Egypt for hundreds, 430 years to be

exact. They are slaves in Egypt and it's

hard and they cry out to God asking God

to deliver them. And God says, "I got

you." And he sends his servant Moses. He

tells Moses, "Go tell Pharaoh to let my

people go." And so Moses does that. He

goes in and he's telling Pharaoh, "God's

people need to go out and and worship.

You got to let them go." And Pharaoh is

hard-hearted. He is stubborn. He is

evil. And he does not acknowledge God.

So he refuses to let the people go. And

so they they are uh stuck there until

Pharaoh will relent. And so God responds

to Pharaoh's stubbornness. God sends

these plagues, right? Frogs and blood

and all kind of stuff. The exact kind of

movie I'm never going to

watch. And so finally 10 plagues later,

Pharaoh says, "Okay, that's it. We've

had enough. Y'all get out. Y'all go.

Y'all worship. get out of here now. And

so they do that. And y'all, we not

talking about two or three people. We're

not talking about two or 300 people.

It's estimated that this was two to

three million people. Can y'all imagine

that? I cannot. I have never seen that

many people all together at once. And I

know that my family can't get all

together at once to hardly do anything

together. So I don't know how they

manage that. But God. So they are going

out into the wilderness and because

Pharaoh is evil, he changes his mind. He

goes back and he says, "You know what?

I'm not letting them go. Get the army.

Come on, let's go." And they start to

chase the children of Israel through the

wilderness. And the children of Israel

get to the Red Sea. The Red Sea is too

big, too wide, too deep for them to

cross it. And they start to panic. And

so they they wonder what what's going to

happen because they got the Egyptian

army hot on their tails. And and God

gives Moses a very specific command. He

obeys it. And y'all know what happens

now? This is a good part of the movie.

What happens now? The waters part, the

Red Sea parts, and the children of

Israel, all two to three million of them

can walk through on dry land. And so as

the Egyptians are chasing them

through, God tells the children of

Israel, "These enemies you face today,

you never have to face them again."

Because God caused the water to collapse

and drown the entire Egyptian army. Took

out the entire army. And they go out.

They're in the wilderness. And they do

what you and I do.

God is good to them. He gives them

instructions. Do they follow

them? Then he forgives them and then

he's good again. And he gives them

instructions and they mess it up again.

And then he forgives them and he's good

to them. And he gives them instructions

and the cycle just repeats again and

again and again. That sound familiar to

anybody? Y'all don't have to tell your

business. Don't don't answer yes. Don't

Pastor Rick on the front row. He got a

big yes for all of us. All of us. He

knows about that. So he goes through

forgiving and being good because that's

who he is. He is a faithful good God.

And he promised these people, you are my

people and I'm taking you to a promised

land. And God is true to his word. So

that's what he's doing. And so they are

there in the wilderness for about a

year. And God tells Moses, "All right,

we've been here enough time. It's time

to go into the promised land now. Get

everybody together. Start organizing

them. But before you go, I need for you

to pick 12 scouts. There are 12 tribes

of Israel. Pick a leader from every

tribe and have them to go and spy out

the promised land. So these are spies

going in to check out the land. And so

they go, they do exactly that. They are

gone for 40 days. After 40 days, they

come back and they say, "You know what?

The land looks just like what God said

it was going to look like. It's a land

flowing with milk and honey." Now, some

of y'all excited about that, but I don't

like milk or honey, so that don't mean

nothing to

me. But what that is is a figurative

speech to means that the land was a land

of plenty. There was rich soil so you

could grow crops and feed your family

and have more than enough and your and

your herds were going to be taken care

of because it was a land of abundance.

And so the 12 spies come back and they

can all agree on that first point. It is

exactly what said what God said it was.

But then there's some division here. We

got some disagreement. On one side you

got 10 of the spies who have an opinion

and on the other side you got two spies

who have a completely different opinion.

Over here we got Joshua and Caleb. Over

here we got 10 people say, "You know

what? It was good. The land was rich. It

was fertile." But you know what else

they got over there? Fortified cities

with some big old giants. And we cannot

take those giants by ourselves. We are

concerned that we felt like grasshoppers

and we know we must look like

grasshoppers in their eyes, too. So, you

know what? We ain't doing this. We're

not going into into the promised land.

And Caleb was like, "No, no, no. Don't

be fased by that. Do not be fased by

that. The God who promised us that we're

going into this land, he'll secure us.

We can take care of these enemies. Come

on, let's go."

But just like so many times for us, the

people were more ready to believe and to

give into fear and doubt. And they stood

at the

threshold of the promised land and said

no. Now, they said no to Moses's face,

but who were they really saying no to?

To him, to God. Because Moses was God's

servant, speaking on God's behalf to

God's people. So they were thinking they

were rebelling against Moses, but they

really were rejecting God. And so they

were rejecting God, saying, "We refuse

to go into this promised land. Why did

you bring us out here, Moses? You should

have left us in Egypt where we were. We

should just die here in the wilderness.

Why are we here facing giants that we

can not defeat?" They begin to mourn all

night long. And we're talking about

millions of people mourn and not two or

three because the majority of them, the

majority of them fell to fear and doubt

and thought there was no way that they

can conquer the promised

land. They thought it was like, y'all

remember back in the day where Staples

had that little red easy button? Yeah,

the young people don't I ain't talking

to y'all. It was a little red easy

button, right? So when you at work and

you were facing something hard, you

would just hit that easy button and then

the problem would be fixed. That's how

they thought they were going into the

promised land. They thought it was

autopilot. But there were giants in that

land and they were fearful of those

giants. And so they said, "We we not

going. Don't you care about our wives?

Don't you care about our children? If we

take them in there, they're going those

giants are going to eat us."

They blamed God. They were resentful to

God for being in this position. They

thought God had set them up for failure,

but he had really set them up for a

future. They thought that the the

promised land, the the promise of it had

died. And so they stand at the

threshold. Today, when you go home,

here's what I need for you to do. Before

you walk inside your house, stand right

at the threshold at the entry of your

door. Because that's how close they were

to the promised land. That's how close

they were to the land that God had swore

to this group of people for

generations. And because of fear and

doubt and unbelief, they forfeited a

generational

promise just like that. And so they are

standing there and they say, "We

forfeited. We grumble. We moan. We

complain. We will not go into the

promised land. I need for somebody in

here today to turn to your neighbor. And

this is the only time I'm going to do

turn to your

neighbor. Turn to your neighbor and say,

"Be careful what you ask for.

Be

careful what you ask for when you asking

God for that that job or that

relationship or that opportunity or that

whatever because he might respond to you

just the way he responded to the

children of Israel. Y'all y'all check

out uh Numbers 14:es 28 through 30 with

me. Now tell them this. As surely as I

live, declares the Lord, I will do to

you the very things I heard you say, you

will all drop dead in this wilderness.

Because you complain against me, every

one of you who is 20 years older older

and was included in the registration

will die. You will not enter and occupy

the land I swore to give to you. The

only exceptions will be Caleb the son of

Japune and Joshua the son of Nun. God

says if you don't want it, I won't give

it. Be careful what you ask for. God had

delivered them from bondage in Egypt.

God had sustained them for over a year

in the wilderness, feeding them with

mana. They never s seen that before.

He gave them water from rocks. Have you

ever seen water come out of a rock? The

answer is no. I know that

already. They had never seen that

before. God had kept them, led them,

guided them, protected for them. And now

they think it's on them to go into the

promised land and fight the giants when

God has already told them this is the

land that I've given you. It was a giant

in between them and the promise, but God

was going to take care of that. But all

of a sudden now they think it's on them

to solve this problem. Can you

imagine hundreds of

people wandering in the

wilderness

aimless? And you sure can't imagine

millions wandering

aimlessly through the wilderness. God

tells them, "Here's my verdict. If you

don't want to go to the promised land,

everybody 20 years and up, you won't go.

You're gonna die in the wilderness. And

for every day that you spent in the

promised land, how many days was it

y'all? 40 days. For every day you spent

in the promised land, that's how many

years you're going to spend

wandering in the wilderness. 40 years.

And so these people alive physically but

they had a death sentence that could not

be revoked because they replace rebell

trusting in God with their rebellion. So

they literally became the walking dead.

Can you imagine for 40 years every time

somebody 20 years older or dropped dead

is a reminder to you that you didn't

trust God. All right. Every time they

dug a

grave, we're here because we didn't

believe God. We could have been in the

promised land.

Every time somebody died of a sickness,

they really knew they didn't die of the

sickness. They died of

unbelief. Every time somebody died of an

injury, they didn't die the injury. They

died because of unbelief.

And so, it's really important for us to

recognize this.

If you don't want to be the walking

dead, you better check your belief

system. All right? If Pastor Scott was

here right now, what would he say? You

better check your what?

Your BS. Some of y'all be cursing. You

better check your

BS. You better check your belief system.

Do you believe God and take him at his

word? These people did not. God says

because of that, your bodies are going

to fall in the wilderness and there is

no revoking it. There is no going back.

The consequence of their unbelief was

death. God said, "You will not enter

into the promised land." So, here's what

we learn from that passage of scripture

in Numbers. Plain and simple. Unbelief

is sin. All right. When God tells us,

reveals to us who he

is, what his plan is, what his promise

is towards us, and we decide that we

know better and we're headed back to

Egypt, know that that's sin. And

according to the New Testament, the

wages of sin is what? Death. There is a

penalty for not believing in God. So God

declares to this generation, everybody

20 years and up, you're going to die.

you will never get to the promised land

because of your unbelief. So in a very

real sense, these people become the

walking dead. And how ironic that the

people who had experienced the miracles

of God all of a sudden distrust him.

The very first worship song ever

recorded in scripture is in Exodus 15.

People had praised God before with their

words. But the very first time we see a

worship song, it happens in Exodus 15.

And if you look there, you will find the

reason why they were singing together as

a nation. It was because God had just

brought them across the Red Sea. They

crossed the Red Sea and on the banks, we

get the very first worship song recorded

in scripture. They start out praising

God because he's strong and he has saved

them. Then they start proclaiming, "You

are majestic. You are victorious." And

then they shift that praise into

prophecy. And they talk about what they

anticipate is about to happen. And in

verses 14 and 15, it says this. This is

what they're singing to God. The peoples

hear and tremble. Anguish grips those

who live in Philistia. The leaders of

Edom are terrified. The nobles of Moab

tremble. All who live in Canaan will

melt away. Canaan was the promised land.

That was the name of that area. And all

of these tribes and people and nations

in this scripture are the people who

live there that they now are afraid of.

A year ago, they were prophesying that

these people are going to hear what God

has done for them. And when they hear

it, they are going to be afraid and

they're going to tremble and they're

going to melt away before them. But now,

when the rubber meets the road and they

are literally standing at the threshold

of the promised land, it's like, "Oh,

no. We can't do that. Forget what we

sung about. Forget what we declare. We

we're not we're not able to do that. We

we we we are small. we are unable. And

so just over a year you were singing and

now you're fleeing from the thing that

you prophesied

about. The irony of that. Don't don't

miss that. So So when they're about to

enter Canaan and and they're facing

these people that they sung about, their

actions proved one really important

thing that their bodies were no longer

in Egypt in bondage, but their minds

still were. So God is able to bring you

out of something physically that your

body came out of, but you still attached

to that thing back there. That thing

that literally was torturing and killing

you. You are still attached to that

thing. And according to scripture, we're

ready to go back. They rather

face bondage and slavery than to face

the giants that God says when they hear

about what I've done, they're going to

melt away in front of you. Now, I don't

know about you, but this ain't a movie I

want to watch cuz this sounds like a not

a happy ending,

but we came to church, so y'all know it

is.

Can anybody relate with these children

of Israel? Have you ever

stumbled, staggered in your unbelief? I

heard what you said, God, but I don't

know. Fear and doubt seem to be louder

than my ability to hear and to believe

and act on your promises. And so, so I

don't want to be the walking dead. Do

you want to be the walking dead?

All right, I got the answer. I got the

antidote and the remedy. Anybody want to

know what it is? All right, lean in.

Hey, come close. Come

close. The answer to not being the

walking

dead is to become the walking dead.

If you don't want to be the walking

dead, and if you don't want to forfeit

the promise, you got to die. You

literally have to become the walking

dead. See the there's a bridge between

the wilderness and wandering

aimless and new life in Christ

Jesus. And the cross is that bridge.

It's the thing that gets us from here to

here. And Paul is going to build that

bridge for us in Romans 6:es 6-7.

For we know that our old self was

crucified with him so that the body

ruled by sin might be rendered powerless

that we should no longer be slaves to

sin because anyone who has died has been

set free from sin. Do you see that

transformation over here? Rebellion

produced death. over here. Death

produces life. Paul says when you say

yes to Jesus, your sins are crucified

with him on the cross. And your old

self, your old desires, your old lust,

all of the things that you think that

aren't good, that aren't holy, that

don't align with this, that old man is

crucified and you now are a new man.

So when we say die to sin, what do we

mean by that? Paul is introducing to us

a brand new walking dead, he tells us

that we got to experience death so that

we can live again. So when you go down

in baptism like some of you did a few

weeks ago, that is the perfect picture

of what this is telling us. It

represents the

death, burial, and resurrection of

Jesus. We come up as new creatures. And

if you read scripture, you know that it

says what? That we are born again

because our old man has died. We are a

new creature in Christ. So dying to self

means dying to

me. Frank Sinatra said, "I'mma do it my

way." Jesus said, "Not if you going to

follow me. If you going to follow me,

you're going to have to do this thing

his way." So, there's two pictures of

the walking dead. Over here, we got the

children of Israel rebelling, rejecting

God, doubting, not trusting. That's the

walking dead. And over here, we have the

walking dead also. People who have said

yes to Jesus, died to themsel, and now

they are a new creature in Christ. Over

here, death is the judgment because of

rebellion. Over here, death is

justification. Just as if I never sin

because of God's grace. Over here, death

is an involuntary curse. Once it's

pronounced, you cannot revoke it. Over

here, death is something I choose

because I love him. I want to be more

like him and I want to go with him when

he comes back. Over here death means I

have revoked my inheritance. And over

here death is the path to the

inheritance. Eternal life with him. Over

here death marks an ending. It's final.

But over here death signals is just the

beginning. Over here death is mean means

I'm sentenced to die in the wilderness.

Over here is an invitation to live

eternally with Christ.

So, how do we cross the bridge from

judgment to grace? How do we become this

new walking dead? Romans 12 verse 1 and

Romans 12:1

2 says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers

and sisters, in view of God's mercy to

offer your bodies as a living

sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true and proper worship. Do

not be conformed to the pattern of this

world, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind. Then you will be

able to test and approve what God's will

is, his good and perfect and pleasing

will. Paul says to die to self, you need

to respond to God's mercy.

past, present, and future by presenting

yourself as a sacrifice to God. So God,

I sacrifice my agenda. I sacrifice the

thing that I wanted to pursue. Anything

that does not align to your nature and

to your character, I want to tell them

off right now. But I'm going to

sacrifice me getting my lick back in so

I can be like

Jesus. That's what it means to die to

self. It means that this inner man is a

new man. Now, we still live in the flesh

and this flesh does what this flesh can

do. The only thing it can do. Scripture

says this flesh is the sin nature. We

inherited this. So although there's a

new man living on the inside, we still

are in the flesh, which means we still

sin.

We don't boast about the sin. The

difference is this. Sin no longer has

dominion over you. You are no longer a

slave to the sin. Now you have the

ability to say no to the sin. Now you

have the ability to go to God and say,

"I repent. I turn back towards you. I

realize I missed the mark. I missed that

glorious standard you set for me as a

new creature in Christ. And now I'm

turning back to you." That's the

difference between being in bondage to

sin and then a new creature in Christ

still clothed in this flesh. So here's

the deal. Here's what I want for us to

think about. Two points. I'm going to

get out of here real fast because I got

two minutes.

Point number one, first of all, you got

to recognize that you have a choice to

make.

We all have a choice. God is calling you

to make a choice about the way that you

going to live in him.

Rebellious produces death or you can die

to you and it produces life. We are

facing the same decision that the

children of Israel had to face. Are we

going to be the walking dead over here

or are we going to be the walking dead

over here? It requires surrender to be

over in this camp. Each day, every

moment, every conversation, every

decision we make keeps us in this camp

right here as we are surrendering

ourselves over and over again to him.

Because God wants all of you. He's never

going to be satisfied with pieces and

parts of you. all of you is what he's

asking for. So, we have to put this

whole thing on the line for him. God

invites us every day to reject our

sinful nature. That means it's some

stuff I used to do I can't do anymore

cuz it doesn't reflect the new man. That

means there's some people I used to talk

to and be friends with. They aren't bad

people. It's just that they only know

the old man. And if they going to keep

talking to me and walking alongside of

me like I'm the old man, then I can't

hang out with you no more. There's some

places I can't go because it wakes up

this flesh and the flesh wants to have

dominion over me. That's what it means

to die to sin. So, first you got to

choose. Are you willing to uh there's a

big churchy word. It's called mortify.

It means kill. Are you willing to kill

your desire so you can embrace his?

That's the choice we got to make. Point

number two is this. In order to become

the new walking dead in this camp over

here, we have to embrace the necessity

of death. There is no way around it.

There is absolutely no way around it.

And Jesus is the ultimate model for

dying to self. I love in Luke 9 23 he

says this. If anyone desires to come

after me, let him deny himself, take up

his cross daily, and follow

me. The cost to living for Jesus is

you. That's the

cost. When they pulled out the cross,

the cross only had one meaning. It was

never for decoration. It almost always

meant death. So Jesus said, "If you want

to follow me, if you want to be like me,

the cost is you got to pick up this

cross, the symbol of death every day.

You have to embrace death." So Free Life

Chapel, this is not about modifying your

behavior. This is not about

willpower. This is not working smarter,

not harder. This is about

identity

transformation, becoming a new creature

in Christ. You don't have to die in the

wilderness like a spiritual zombie. The

choice is

yours. And I'm hoping that you'll choose

him. I'm hoping that you'll embrace the

necessity of death, that you got to die

to self in order to live for him. Let us

pray. Thank you, heavenly father, for

the opportunity to come before you now

to present ourselves as living

sacrifices to you. The same God who led

Israel through the wilderness and raised

Christ from the dead is the same God who

is offering us life. Right now, we get

to choose. Transform us, oh God, from

those who wander aimlessly, the walking

dead of the wilderness, and to those who

are walking fully into resurrection

life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And

amen. We hope that message encouraged

you. To find more encouraging messages,

visit our website,

freelife.org. We hope you have a great

day.

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