Elevation with Steven Furtick - Devil You’ve Held Me Long Enough

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

Are you ready to be free? In “Devil You’ve Held Me Long Enough,” we learn that to embrace God’s truth, we’ll have to reject the enemy’s lies.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Are you ready for my first sermon of 2022? You sure? You don't know what I'm going to say yet. You sure you're ready? Tell them you can't handle the truth. John chapter 8. That's kind of on subject for today.

John chapter 8, verse 31. Now listen to this crazy confrontation between Jesus and the crowd of people who have gathered to hear him teach. John chapter 8, verse 31, to the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And they answered him, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free? Jesus replied very truly, I tell you everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the sun sets you free, you will be free. I know that you're Abraham's descendants, yet you are looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word. You thought it was just your closet that was cluttered. No, it's more than just physical spaces that we have to clear out. He said, you have no room for my word. Wow. This is getting intense here, Jesus. I'm telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your Father. Abraham is our father, they answer.

If you are Abraham's children, said Jesus, then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham didn't do such things. You are doing the works of your own father. We are not illegitimate children, they protested. Can you feel a fight fixing to break out? I kind of want to sneak out the room before this gets violent. The only father we have is God himself.

And Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me. For I have come here from God. I have not come on my own. God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father.

The devil. Jesus, let's think this through before we say something we can't take back. This is not good for your popularity rating. You know what I'm saying? Jesus, little little little little gentle Jesus. Oh man, the truth is confrontational. He said, you belong to your father of the devil and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. him. When he lies, he speaks his native language. For, everybody say this out loud, he is a liar. Who is? Yeah. So this is the message God said to give you for the first Sunday sermon

of this year. You ready? He told me to tell you just like this, the devil has held you long enough. They didn't believe it when I said it. Maybe if you say it to them, look at the person next to you, right in their eyeballs, right in their pupils. Tell them the devil has held you long enough. They didn't believe you either. Maybe you need to say it for yourself. Let's try it like this.

Say this all out. Devil? You've held me long enough. That felt better. And the truth will set you free. Be seated. If you can. Stand up.

Shout. You have something inside of you. Truth inside of you. It's an amazing thing, you know, the way that the devil gets us in these tight spaces and makes us think that the best part of our life is over. And there's nothing we can do. And we might as well not even try. When we say the devil is a liar, of course we don't mean that he runs around with a plastic pitch for it,

telling you stuff that you know on the surface to be untrue. The way that he operates is by deception, which means that the devil specializes in saying things that sound true. He's slick with it. He says it in such a way. Watch this, that you don't even know it's him saying it. Because when the devil talks, it sounds like your voice, doesn't it? When the devil talks, it sounds the same way as when God talks because it's happening inside of you. God doesn't speak to me through out loud voices.

Neither does the devil, except sometimes when I'm watching the news and stuff. then I hear him just right out loud. Oh, God. But apart from that, it's the devil's job to keep you from even knowing. I used to read this verse. I'm going to give you an example of this, okay? We take the Bible, and we want a verse of the day, and then we don't even read the whole verse of the day.

We just want the half-verse of the day, and we start going through scripture like his salad bars, and I don't like radishes. The problem with that is you'll hear a verse and think it's true, and it is true, but it's not totally true because it said, the truth will set you free. How many have heard that before? Just raise your hand. And it didn't just say, the truth will set you free.

I noticed some of you were with me when I was reading my passage. He said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. But you have to watch culture because the enemy will use language that is common in culture in order to get you to think you understand the concept that really you have become blind to the reality of. I told my kids the other day, stop saying that certain celebrities got canceled in my house. I don't like the word canceled because the fact of the matter is you use that term all the time interchangeably to mean people are saying something bad about them. I've had people say bad things about me, but I'm not canceled.

I'm still called. So I don't know if they're annoyed with this or not, but I don't let them say that in my house anymore. I mean, they still say it because, like, what am I going to do about it? But I tell them to stop, all right? Just being real. I told them they shall not, and they did not. No, no, they still do it. But I tell them, stop saying that.

A few years ago, I started hearing this phrase, this cultural phrase. I didn't know why at first that it sounded good. It sounded good on the surface. But to me, it felt like there was something about this phrase that, while it sounded very good and even scriptural on the surface, I first heard it from somebody, they said, I've got to live my truth. I didn't know why I didn't like it, because it sounds good, right? Be true to my values. I've got to do what I'm supposed to do. More I thought about it, I started hearing it more and more. How many of you have heard this before? Like, I've got to speak my truth.

I think that's good if what we mean by that is I've got to share the experiences that I've had in an honest way. I've got to face things that I've been through, and sometimes in sharing what I've been through that I used to be ashamed of, somebody else can be set free. I think that's awesome. And if that's what you mean when you say, you know, live my truth or speak my truth, I think it's good. I think what bothered me about it was John 832, where Jesus did not say your truth will

set you free. Put it back up. Let's check just to make sure. Then you will know your truth. I think why I didn't like the phrase is because it made truth. sound like shoes. It made truth sound like something that you can try on. It's too early in the year for this. I should be preaching something like, you can make it, keep your head up, do it, oh, it's done. It bothers me because truth is not choosable. Really, when we say,

oh, this is my truth. What we're talking about is our belief. There's a big difference between a belief and a truth. You don't believe me? That doesn't make it untrue. What if I believe that all tall people are arrogant? Because I met this tall guy one time, and he was kind of prideful and cocky. That's an experience. It's a personal experience, but that doesn't make it an absolute truth.

What I'm noticing a lot of in my own. I'm not just talking about people or culture or others. I'm not just talking about magazines or books. I'm not talking about you. In your house, I'm talking about me and my heart. A lot of times, it seems like I'm tempted to turn a personal experience into an absolute truth. Have you ever had a bad haircut?

Now, y'all be careful about this one, because my dad was a barber and he's in heaven, so be nice. Are barber's bad? And you're like, this is really stupid, man. We did not come all the way out here with the virus going around to hear you tell us this. No, you've done it with church before. Oh, church people are hypocrites. No, no, no, no.

Charlie was a hypocrite. Charlie was a hypocrite. All men are dogs. No, Mike was a dog. Not you. Mike's on my security. Watch how to say that. No, it wasn't church people.

But now, watch what you did. You went to a restaurant. You had a bad server, and now you decided to stop eating. You went to one church. You had a bad experience. And then you stopped. Not you. You're here. You're here.

I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to them. I'm talking to them. I'm talking to them. You had one experience with failure. You set out to do something, and it didn't work. So then you turned the event, the failure, into an identity. I'm a failure.

So what I want to know today is it a truth or is it a trap? Because when Jesus said the truth will set you free, he wasn't talking to drug lords. When Jesus said the truth will set you free, he wasn't talking to gangbangers. When Jesus said the truth will set you free, he wasn't talking to evil, wicked, he wasn't talking to pagans. He was talking, put verse 31 back up there. He's going to blow your mind. This blew my mind. To the Jews who had believed him. He's talking to people that believe him, and he's telling them they don't have the truth. They only have a certain level of belief. And there's a big difference between belief and truth.

Belief is based on your experience. Truth comes from God. Beliefs can be altered. Beliefs can grow and expand and should. I mean, there was a time in your life, let's talk about this. There was a time in your life where most of you believed that somebody came in your house and gave you money for your teeth when they fell out. That made perfect sense to you.

That's probably worth about $5. Put on her pillow. Holly got Abby up to $10, and I cut the tooth fairy out. I just pulled her aside and said, it's not real. It didn't do expensive. It got too expensive for me not to tell her the truth to the point yet, where it has cost you enough to be stuck in a belief about who you are and what life is And what they did has the devil held you long enough?

Because for some of us, nothing in our life will change this year because we are not sick enough of the way it was last year. We are not sick enough of it yet. We are like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Now, I studied all about this scripture today that I'm sharing with you about these Jews who believed in Jesus, enough to know that they were not immoral, ungodly, addicts. This was not a case of them needing to give up their sin. It was a case of them needing to give up their story. There's a confluence in the text of what Jesus is teaching about and when he's teaching it.

And I really want to teach more this year, okay? I'm fine to inspire you. But I sure don't want to get up here and just give you Christian cocaine that makes you feel high for an hour and a half and then just drops you off. I want to give you something that you can carry out of here and be strengthened in faith. I want to give you food that you can live off of for days. You can go back and study. So one thing about the cliches that we quote is that when we understand the context, in this passage, Jesus is talking to the Jews who believed him. And he is challenging their belief that it doesn't go deep enough, which means they believed in his signs, but they did not commit to his teaching. They liked listening to his message, but it wasn't made flesh in their life.

The people he was talking to are people like me and you who believe in him, but he is telling them that it is possible to believe and still not be free. Indeed. It is impossible for you. This is one thing that we all have to understand. It is impossible for you to live in a sustainable way above the level that you are willing to believe God at. Because eventually you will either shrink your belief down to the level of your experience or allow God to expand your belief to the level of his promise. Which one is happening? Which one is happening in your heart so far this year? I don't know yet, Pastor. It's only been a week. That's long enough. You know about a weekend. Are you shrinking what you think God can do, will do is going to do? Are you shrinking your belief to the level of your experience?

Or are you allowing God, watch this, to raise your experience up to the level of his power? Jesus is talking to the Jews who believed in him and he said, if you hold to my teaching, if you hold to my teaching, be my disciples. Then you know the truth and the truth will set you free. I remember one January, my little boy, I walked in on my mom and dad. Oh, hold on. I walked in my mom and dad were, Can we edit this? They were watching. How many of y'all remember Jane Fonda VHS workout tapes? They were watching Jane Fonda VHS workout tapes.

And this is the kicker, eating a bowl of ice cream. It scarred me for life. I walked in and saw them watching Jane Fonda eating ice cream. We'll never forget that. Can't remember my kids' names most days in the correct order, but I will never forget watching them watch a workout eating ice cream. Because now I think about it every time I preach. Because I wonder, will this work?

If you just watch me do it. And I don't even look as good as Jane Fonda. I'm not even that attractive. I'm not wearing tights for y'all, and yet there is a sense in which we live. Now, this is the life. This is how crafty the devil is. If you knew more, you could do more. He didn't say, if you would know more truth, it would set you free.

He said, if you hold to my teaching, you will be my disciples. Then you will know the truth. And truth was not to say free. If I knew I would do, no, no. If you would do, you would know. If you would do, you would know. How many of you have had the thought in the last two years? I just don't know what to do.

You've thought that. I don't know what to do. Everybody whose hand didn't go up when I asked that question, I need to have a consultation with you either to cast out that devil of lying or to pay you to tell me the future. I'm going to ask again, because I think y'all are asleep on me. How many of y'all have had the thought in the life?

I just don't know what to do. Raise your hand. Raise your hand, raise your hand, raise your hand, raise it online, raise it online. All right. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You know what to do with the truth that you have been given. But we don't want to hold to the teaching that Jesus gave us.

when it's hard to hear or when it makes us confront ourselves. He said to the Jews who believed in him, you are so addicted to the lies that you don't want to hold on to the truth. And you know, a lot of times when I'm asking God to change me in my life and God is telling me to hold on to the teaching, a lot of times I picture myself, come here, Elijah, I picture it like this. Simple picture God gave me. Simplest picture in the world. I pictured it like, this is my oldest son I was telling you about how we work out together in the pound. And now, listen, I can still outbench him, out squat him and all that stuff. He's taller than me, but that doesn't mean he can take me, all right?

The devil is a liar, father of lies. When we go in the gym, I try to train him, not only in weights, but I try to train him in truth. Hey, man, there's some stuff God has put in you. and the lies that you believe can become a lid on your life, they can become a limitation. But the first thing I've got to teach you is lie detection. So you'll even know it's happening because it'll sound so true, right? And yet all the time Jesus is saying, you will know the truth, hold to the truth, and the truth will set you free. So here's how, let's stand over here where everybody can see us.

You stand there, I'll stand here. Just picture this. This is the truth. This is the Word of God. This is the Bible. 66 books. It's all truth from the book of Genesis to the maps in the bat. The truth. And I saw it like this. He said, give me verse 32 again. The part of the verse that's so important. If you hold, sorry, verse 31, if you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciple. 32. And then you will know. So you have to hold it to know it, not hear it, hold it, hold it. That means it is not the word that I preach that sets you free. It is the word that you practice. And that's where it happens. When I speak something from God doesn't come from me, If it comes from me, it's empty calories, all right? It's Breyer's ice cream.

If it comes from me. But if it comes from God and it comes through me and the spirit of God speaks, whether it's in a sermon or in your life or something that God shows you over and over again or something he speaks through your wife, not every word from God comes through somebody with a collar. Not every word from God comes on a Sunday morning. But when God speaks to you, you know that was harsh. You know you're being stubborn right now. You know you just think you need to be right right now.

And when God corrects you with that, well, the Lord doesn't, the Lord is loving. Did you hear Jesus in John 8? He said, this is your father, the devil, speaking through you. Okay? Okay. People are too coddled. We have this coddle Christianity where it just come up alongside people and always just teach them that God will give you grace every time you screw up. What about teaching me how to get better so I don't screw up so much?

Is there an axe that can chop this thing down at the root? Because I want truth. I don't just want to pop God's promises like pills to take the pain away. I want to make progress in my life to see things how they are and to not have to live in denial. Because listen, Saints of God, Jesus was talking to the Jews who believed him. They thought they had the way of life that honored God, and they didn't know the truth, and it was standing right in front of them.

And he said, you can't hear it. And if you hold to my teaching, on three, one, two, three. Now, that's what sets you free. The problem is, come here, bring me out what I gave you earlier. From wherever it is. It's back there somewhere. I know it is because I just planned this out. I told them.

I said, this is so simple. The church is going to laugh at me. They're going to think, oh, pastor didn't have time to study this. We had to bring out the props. But I saw it like this, because I keep seeing people that can't hold the truth. And I wonder why you can't even hold. Some of us, we can't even hold a compliment for 10 minutes. Can't hold it.

Some of us, the Lord can give us a really good direction. We can know that he spoke to us, and we can sense where God has us. And I can't hold it. Has anybody noticed other than me your attention span is getting almost zero these days? Does that have anything to do with the technology by which advertisers are rewarded for disrupting our attention and redirecting it to some product which they hope for us to buy or some truth which they hope for us to consume? We can't even hold the truth anymore because it's kind of hard. to have room for truth holding on to trash. Put them in the shot.

They can't see them online. Y'all got to get a wide shot or something. No, you face me, you face me. They need to do it with the cameras. This is the illustration. But son, I need you to know that it's really hard for you to hear from the Holy Ghost. If you scroll six hours on TikTok, it's sound like an old man right now. Forgive me, Lord.

I sound 83 right now. I'm trying to tell you that you can't hold truth and hold trash. So what are we going to do? What are we going to do? How many need to be set free in an identifiable, an identifiable, specific area of your life this year? I need freedom, but I don't know what you need freedom from. God does, the Holy Spirit does, and really deep down you do. You know exactly what it is, the compulsion, the obsession, the addiction, the torment.

You know exactly what you need free from. You know exactly. Now the scripture says who you'll be set free by. You'll be set free by the sign. You'll be set free by the truth. But, but, that doesn't mean Jesus automatically sets you free just because you believe in Him. Jesus sets you free as you hold to His teaching. And the first thing to hold to his teaching, I'm going to throw this again on three. Give me wise shot. One, two, three. Do you see what he did?

Do you see what he did? He did it at the very last minute. He did it at the very last minute. But he knew enough that when I threw him the truth, he did. He did it. He did it at the very last minute. But he knew enough that when I threw him the truth, he dropped the trash to hold the truth. He almost didn't. He was confused for a moment because he thought he was doing something important standing up here. But when the truth comes, now this is the year. You've been, you know, the devil has held you long enough. The devil has held you.

I'm done with you. Long enough. You have been holding on to the hurt long enough. But this year, this year, this year, I prophesied in Jesus' name, in the name of Jesus to Nazaree, the way, the truth, the life, we beheld his glory. The gloria is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So when the truth came, I had to drop the trash to hold the truth. Oh, God. Oh, God.

Problem was, you thought this was true. Because the devil lied to you so good. He started telling you your trash. And you started thinking it was truth. Because he got you into an experience, turned it into a belief, and now you call it your truth. Look at me, look at me. And then he, the devil, is so crafty. And I don't like to give so much time to the devil, but it was in the passage, and that's why I'm addressing it directly.

Okay? I don't want to give the devil too much credit. But Jesus said, the problem of this is that your desires have been informed by the lies of the devil. And so it's coming from him. So now he's got you locked into the truth will set you free. Well, that means a lie can keep you bound, but only if he gets you to think it's true. So imagine like Satan means accuser. That's the enemy's job. He's the accuser of the brethren. So imagine if you're Satan and you can convince somebody who God has called his inheritance. somebody who God has called his precious possession, his masterpiece, his workmanship,

a saint. Imagine if you can convince somebody that Jesus died for that they're worthless or that they are trash. And maybe you do it with the suggestion of rejection. You know, the reason they left you is because there's something lacking about you. Now, again, let's be balanced. Sometimes relationships end because we could have been more responsible, more thoughtful, right? So we want to analyze that.

But to take the lessons that you could learn from the end of a relationship and to turn it into a personal judgment, the reason people leave is because I'm unlovable. Before you know it, you start to treasure the trash more than the truth, because this feels familiar to you. I always worried about Elijah when he was little. Because his favorite Sesame Street character was Oscar the Grouch. I'd start praying for him early. I'd pray in tongues. I'd pray in Latin.

I'd pray in Greek and Aramaic. Because it would bother me. All the kids would be at the playground going around on the monkey bars in the jungle gym and the sandbox. And he'd be looking in all the trash cans all they're on the playground looking for Oscar. And I didn't want him to turn 16, 18 looking in trash cans. You know, looking in backwards ways of thinking or thinking that being famous is where it's at, and really that's just another trash cans that's diamond-studded.

There's gold-plated trash cans. I didn't want him looking for treasure in the trash. Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, I need Jesus to teach me. I need Jesus to teach me. I don't just need him to save me from my sin. I need him to teach me his ways. Not just so I can be saved from my sin. He said, if you sin, you're a slave to sin, that's what happens when we, there's an interesting phrase in the scripture.

Are y'all good if I go a little deeper on this? I can save it for next week, but I'd like to share it with you today. He said, you call yourself Abraham's children, and you are technically the descendants of Abraham. He was the one God spoke to and said, go to the land, I'll show you, and the whole nation came out of him. Even though his wife was beyond childbearing years, God can do the impossible. Because no word from God will ever fail. If he speaks it, it's true even if the facts say otherwise. Jesus did not say the facts will set you free.

He said the truth will set you free. So Goliath might be nine foot nine. But the truth is, you come against me with a spear. I come against you in the name of the Lord. Sorry, I'm off course. The truth is we're surrounded. You remember the prophet said, there are more with us than with them, and he prayed, God opened the eyes of my servant that he may see, because the facts said there's no way

out of this. But the truth from a point of view that can see with spiritual eyes, I'm seated in heavenly places with Jesus. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, there's a big difference between facts and truth. a big difference between feelings and truth. Many of you think, if I feel it is true, or here's worse, if I think it, it must be true. I promise you. I promise you.

I don't even know how smart you are. I don't care if you went to Harvard. I don't care if you dropped out of Harvard to go to Yale. I don't care how much intelligence you have in your life. You cannot believe everything you think. Scripture said, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so were God's ways above your ways and his thoughts above your thoughts. The truth will set you free if you hold to it. But Jesus was talking to people who identified themselves with Abraham. They said, we're Abraham's

children. He said, you're not acting like you're trying to kill me. You believe in my signs, but you don't hold to my teachings. You think of me in a superstitious way, but you don't allow me to get into the BS, the belief systems of your heart. I'm going to wake you all up today. This is a New Year's sermon. New Year, New Year, New Truth. Not your truth. Your truth has you trapped in the wilderness.

He said, if you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did. If you were, you would do. If you were, you would do. If you were identity, you would do behavior. Identity drives behavior. If you see yourself as trash, you cannot hold to truth. And that's where you've been. Don't you see it?

Every time you go to change. There are two lies when you go to change. Number one, you can't change. Number two, you don't need to. Either way the devil has you trapped. Oh, no, they need to change. They need to do a different. They need to appreciate me.

No, you need to be less needy. Truth. Truth to power. And the Lord is calling you to freedom. And the devil has held you long enough in a lie. and a sermon can't set you free. Decisions do. Decisions to do what? To be a disciple. Teach me, Holy Spirit. Only God knows the truth about you. Even your parents can't fully see your potential. They're too busy trying to keep you from getting in a car wreck. I'm serious.

There will be things in my kids that I can't see in them that their Heavenly Father can. And it's not my job to limit God. There are things that nobody has seen in you. Talk about BS? You got blind spots. You got blind spots. You can't see it, but God does. But now you squeezed your whole belief into an experience.

Well, somebody that God really could use would never do this and that. You know Moses was a murderer, right? You know David had one of his main warriors. killed in battle. The one that wrote the little psalmi-salmies that we like to sing, man after God's own heart, you're not trash. You just need new truth. And I kind of see some of the things that you did before, like baby teeth, baby truth. And it's got to fall out for this new thing to grow. And there's no truth fairy coming around to your house to give you $10 for it either, all right? In fact, the devil is so crafty and he's so lazy.

He convinces you that you're trash, that you can't trust God, that it's over. And then he's so good at his job that he delegates it to you, and you start collecting evidence for why he's right. You start collecting evidence. This is not trash from our house. I had somebody put this together for me professionally. I don't want you all to see. In my trash bag.

If he's good enough at his job, he will convince you this is who you are, this is all you can be, this is why that happened to you. Some of you, people did things to you, you didn't even do it to you, and now you feel ashamed about it. How in hell do you believe that? I'm not cussing. How has hell? How has the devil gotten so strategically in your mind that you think that somebody did something to you? and that makes you dirty. The devil is a liar.

I'm clean. I'm clean. And even if I did it, I'm still clean because I've been through the waters and it's under the blood of Jesus. That's my truth. That's my truth. It doesn't come from me.

Don't do the devil's job for him, just finding reasons why you should feel bad. Oh, well, now I'm just in the market for misery. Now, he doesn't even have to lie to me. I'm on autopilot. I'm just collecting lies to support the truth that he told me, and he told me it was my truth, and this is how high I can go, this is all I can do, and this is all I'll ever be, and this is why it happened, and God's not with me.

And, oh, God, 2022, it's going to be 2020 Part 2. Shut up. If the devil's going to lie, make him log his own hours. Don't help them. You know what I'm saying? Don't help him. I dare you to delete the app. I dare you to block the number.

I dare you to drop. Touch three people tell them I dare you to drop it. I dare you to drop it. I dare you to let God ruin your butt. The devil has held you long enough. The devil is a liar. And he's on a leash. He can't do it forever.

The sun shall set you. You got to drop something to receive something. You got to drop something to do something. You got to drop something to be somebody. I'm a child of God, baby. Got the truth. I'm set free. You've helped me.

Hey, devil, you've held. Long enough. Long enough. Long enough. I'm 41, that's long enough. I'm 12, that's long enough. I'm 67, that's long enough. Tired of this.

I'm tired of trading the truth of God for a personal experience and worshiping at the altar of my background. I'm tired of shrinking my life to the level of what I've seen or heard from others that is possible. I'm going to like I'm on a ski. I'm a hold on to Jesus. I'm a hold on this year. And I read where Peter tried to hold on and he couldn't ski, so Jesus picked him up.

If I can't hold on to him, he'll hold on to me. But it only happens when you decide long enough. Because Jesus is talking to people who believe him. but they're still not free. They're not bad, but they're deceived. You're not bad. You're deceived. You have no room for His word.

Could be your schedule. You got so much lies. Y'all, when I was holding that trash bag, I felt like in your trash back there might be offenses. There might be memories. You like to lie to yourself after a while. It excuses you because if you're trash, you get to act. like it. If you are nobody, you don't have to do anything different. If you're a child of God, that means, well, now you want to live like it. I'm still naive enough to believe that there's

at least 30 people in this room, or maybe even online, or maybe even at one of our other locations. Lake Norman's having an anniversary today. Maybe it's Lake Norman, who are ready to trade the trash for the truth, who don't want to run around the playground another year looking for Oscar. Yeah. Who don't want to spend another 40 years in the wilderness. It's long enough. The wilderness. What does that have to do with John chapter 8?

That's the Old Testament, the wilderness. Not really. It all goes together because Jesus is teaching at the festival called the Festival of Tabernacles. That's the context of John 8. when he fed the 5,000 in John 6, 5,000 men and women and children. Pretty cool. John Chapter 7 is really different, though, because John chapter 6 is about how God feeds you. John chapter 7 and 8 is about how God frees you. So if I just sit around asking God, feed me, feed me, feed me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me, pay it off, pay it off, pay it off, pay it off,

fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it, make go away. It only gets you so far. You can believe that God does those things for you, and he will. But now it's about freedom. I want to be free this year. I want to be more free of what people think about me. I don't know I can get there or not. I still think all those things, you know. I hope they like it.

Nobody said anything. Is it okay? I mean, I'm not saying, but I've been a slave to that long enough. I'm sick of it. It's boring. It's old. I know how that movie goes. They don't pay attention because they're thinking about themselves.

I'm sick of that. I'm sick of being a slave to my feelings. I'm sick of being a slave to cynicism. I can tell you 13 ways it's going to go wrong. I'm sick of that. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, took it back because it didn't fit. I'm sick of being cynical. So what does the wilderness have to do?

with if the truth will set you free, you will be free indeed. When Jesus went to this festival, the festival of tabernacles, or the festival of shelters, it's a week-long festival, he comes right in the middle of the festival, and it was a festival after the harvest where they came together to celebrate and commemorate when God brought his people out of Egypt and then in the wilderness. they decided to believe the report of the spies that said we can't go in rather than to believe what God had spoken and take the land by faith. That's the context. You follow me? That's the context of John chapter 7 and John chapter 8. So as Jesus is teaching this truth, it's in the middle of a festival where in order to commemorate this time when God led his people through the wilderness for four,

40 years. They stayed in Egypt 400 years. They came out through the wilderness and were only supposed to be there for 11 days. Look at this in Deuteronomy chapter 1. It says, these are the words that Moses, the servant of the Lord, spoke to all Israel in the wilderness. Everybody say wilderness. The wilderness east of the Jordan. And then there's a bunch of different places that it mentions. but I want you to see this next verse, verse two. Put it on verse two, please. It takes 11 days to go from Horeb, the mountain of God, where the covenant was given, to Kadesh Barnea. That's where he sent the spies out to go into the land. How long does it take to go from Horeb the mountain to the promised land? Eleven days. You could almost skip right over

that, and it would be insignificant. And I could have stopped this sermon while we were shouting, but I need to show you this because it is the context of freedom. It is the context of freedom. It takes 11 days to get from where they were to where God was taking them by the Mount Sierra Road. But look at verse 3. In the 40th year is when Moses prepared them to go in. How did they turn an 11-day journey through the wilderness into a 40-year wandering where they were stuck because of why? But they believed because they would not believe the truth. The truth is we can do it if God is for us. Our enemies don't stand a chance. The truth is, God is melting down your enemy's defense even as we speak. If God is for you, who can be against you?

That's the truth. Ah, but the facts, the facts, oh, they're bigger than us. They're stronger than us. We can't do it. We're not prepared for this. this. You are staying in frustration 40 years because of what the facts are saying to you. When faith could get you there in 11 days, after 40 years, Joshua led the people there, but it didn't have to take 40 years, and it doesn't have to take you 40 years, and you don't have to

pass it on to your kids, and you don't have to live like this until you die and hope to get to heaven one day and a mansion in glory. If the sun sets you free, you will Be free if you hold to the teaching. If you hold to the teaching. Stop holding to the trash. The moment you do this, God is going to start doing this. And what you've wandered in for 40 years? God can bring you out of in 11 days.

Let he that has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying today. The devil has held you long enough in your truth. It's time for God's truth. Let this year be the year where you trade trash for truth. Let this year be the year that you let the surgeon get inside of you and tell you what needs to be cut out. You keep doing surgery on yourself. why you bled all over us all 2021. Let this year be the year the great physician writes your prescriptions. I'm going to spend more time. I'm going to tune my heart to truth this year. God help

me. In music, they call it A440. That's standard tuning. Play that A note above middle C LJ. Let them hear what it sounds like. This is, ah, that's the note that you tune the instrument to. The Lord wants you to start your day tuning your heart to truth, where you can hear. Most of our days hit a bunch of keys where it sounds ugly, L.J. You start your day tuning your heart to so much trash, sorry, sorry, sorry, so much, so much trash that no wonder it sounds like chaos before you've even had your caffeine. So this year starts with, I'm not walking around in circles 40 years what God can bring me through in 11 days. I'm not doing it.

So what is God teaching you right now? What did he teach you the hard way last year? You're going to hold on to the lesson or live in the pain of it? Father, your word is truth. and you're seeking worshippers who will worship you in spirit and in true. You brought your people out of Egypt, only for them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. And I'm afraid that happens to so many of us that we believe in you. We believe in God.

We love you. We want to trust you. But we got so much trash that we think is true. true. So many feelings that we put our faith in, so many fears that we receive as evidence. Well, this year, Lord, you told me to make a declaration from this pulpit. And I'm going to make it now to everybody who will hear this message. Whenever they hear it, God, if it's right now, if it's in a week, if it's in five years, the devil has held you. long enough. The lies have held you long enough. That's it now. That's it. We speak the truth

of Jesus Christ into your life, that you are more than a conqueror through him who loves you. We speak the truth of Jesus Christ in your life that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. We speak the truth of Jesus Christ into your life that you don't have to stay in guilt and shame, just holding, clutching tight to the events of the past or the bitterness over what was done, if the sun shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. So everybody who wants to put your faith in this word of God say, that's enough. All the lies that have been terrorizing your mind, things that have happened, will happen, might have. That's enough.

The sun has set me free, and I'm holding on to what God showed me going into this night. next moment, this next tomorrow, this next season. I am free in D. Everyone's standing, hands lifted high, just like you're releasing all the things you're worried about. You're releasing all the things you can't control. You're releasing all the things that you can't see, that you can't make sense of. I'm releasing that. And God, I want to hear truth from you. Yeah, I want to hear truth from you. I don't want to let my trauma become my truth. I don't want to let my trials become my truth.

You are my truth, my way and my life. Father, see how our hands are right now? That's how we're coming before you. Wide open to you, our Father, who are in heaven, hallow it be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, we don't just want you to feed us this year. We want you to free us this year.

And we need you, Lord. We don't know what's true. There's so many accounts and so many things to scroll through. We need you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. Let your word be our mirror. Let your promise be our North Star. Your word is truth. And we're holding on for dear life this year.

In Jesus' name, our teacher, our preacher, our Savior, if the sun makes you free, you will be free. I need you to find eight people and tell them the devil has held you long enough. Find eight, find eight, the devil has held you long enough. I am the God of all grace. after you have suffered a little while. Come on, it's been a little wild. Come on, you cried a little while.

Than you should have. Somebody declared, devil, you've helped me long enough. Not drop a praise on his head. Two seconds of pride. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast.

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