NOT FOR TRANSLATION - Draft Message Edit July Live Service.mp4

People of God's grace and peace to you all

in that wonderful name of Jesus Christ.

Before we jump into a word of encouragement,

I want us right now to just have a moment of prayer together.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus Christ.

Help us.

To recognize

the role we must play

to maintain

what we are about to receive from you today.

I want you to say that right now.

Say up to me, Lord Jesus Christ.

Help me

to recognize

the role I must play

to maintain

what I am about to receive

today.

Just take a moment and offer that prayer.

We have a role to play.

You have a role to play.

I have a role to play, to maintain.

What I'm about to receive.

What you are about to receive.

What we are about to receive.

Ask God to help you recognize that role.

In the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

We pray.

And the people of God said

a man.

Thank you Jesus. Thank you, thank you Jesus.

I will take this word of encouragement.

From a conversation I had actually just two days ago with a young man who

had received prayer some time ago related to an addiction.

He was going through many years of addiction to alcohol and a

host of other issues that came with that addiction, and

he had received prayer, and I spoke to him as a follow up to say, brother,

you have received prayers some time ago. How are you doing?

How are you maintaining what the Lord has done in your life?

So the answer the brother gave is very informative

and I think it will provide a practical lesson for all of us

connected here today.

He said to me, Brother Chris, I want to thank God

since you prayed for me, I have not taken any more alcohol.

Thank you Jesus. Testimony. Glory be to God.

Someone for 1015 years who had been in the bondage of addiction.

After prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ.

He had not touched alcohol for that past month.

He said to me, Brother Chris, I am not taking any alcohol, but

there is often a bud's for us as humans.

That's very common.

I'm sure you realize that.

Oh, I know God has done this, but there's this problem.

I have this testimony. God attend the situation around here.

But there's another issue.

So in this case, there was a bud,

and I said, okay, brother, tell me what's what, what's going on?

He said, Brother Chris,

I have stopped taking alcohol, but I think I still need more deliverance.

I would like you to pray for me again because just a few days ago,

I was seriously tempted with the desire to go back to alcohol.

I resisted it, but that desire to take alcohol came.

So please can you pray for me again for a permanent deliverance?

Yes, I said to the brother.

I said, my brother. Look,

can I tell you something?

What you are looking at as an evidence of bondage

is actually an evidence of freedom.

Let me say that again.

What you are looking at as an evidence of bondage.

I still need prayer.

I still need deliverance. The problem has not fully been resolved.

That is actually an evidence of your freedom. Why?

Because.

Deliverance in the name of Jesus Christ

does not remove all the desires of this flesh,

but freedom in Christ means you are no longer a slave

to those desires, meaning you can resist them.

You have the strength to say no.

This is a common misconception that people have.

They think that freedom in Christ means a life

free from trials and temptations, a life free from pain or problems, a life

free from hurt or hardship, a life free from fleshly desires that is not freedom.

That is fantasy.

To think that you can go through life

without

tests, trials, temptations.

Freedom means this.

You are not a slave to your cravings or your circumstances.

When you are free in Christ.

You are not enslaved to your cravings.

I want this.

You are not enslaved to your circumstances.

I'm going through this.

That's the meaning of freedom because you are free.

To follow Jesus.

This is in people of God.

You are not free from life's ups and downs, life's trials and temptations.

The Lord's and the cares of this world.

No freedom does not mean the removal of these.

Freedom means the removal of your enslavement.

You are free

to follow Jesus.

That is what I'm going to tie to the message today.

You are free

to follow Jesus. Just

say that in your home right now. Personalize it.

Say I am free

to follow

Jesus.

If you are with someone, you can tell the person and say, hey,

you are free to follow Jesus Christ.

That is what I want to talk about in this word of encouragement today.

Because I have observed something.

There are many people who want to enjoy the benefits of freedom

without facing the responsibility of freedom.

In the same vein,

there are many people who want to enjoy the seeming benefits of sin

without facing the responsibilities of sin's consequences.

Take a moment and think about that.

Many want to enjoy the benefits

of the freedom.

God can give.

They read God's promises.

They hear the testimonies of those who have experienced that

freedom.

Only God can give.

They want to enjoy the benefits of freedom

without facing the responsibility of freedom.

I want to turn to a story

in the Old Testament.

This story relates very clearly to the question my brother

asked that I referenced earlier, that Brother Grizz have been prayed for.

I'm delivered, but I still have that desire.

I still face that temptation. Does that mean I need more prayer?

I need more deliverance. The answer is no.

It's an evidence of your freedom.

The fact that you face

a desire of this flesh.

But resist.

It's shows you are free. But.

Perhaps my brother is watching this message right now.

And for anyone else who has asked a similar question, let me say to you, brother,

it costs

nothing.

To walk into freedom.

It costs everything to walk in freedom.

Let me turn to

the Old Testament, the Book of numbers,

chapter 11.

Now let me paint the context before I read this verse.

This portion of Scripture is dealing with the children of Israel

after God had miraculously

released them from slavery, captivity in Egypt.

It's a story that I believe we are well familiar with as Christians.

The exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land.

How God set them free from a life of slavery lasting generations.

But I want to take a lesson

from numbers 11, verse four.

And the Scripture says this.

Now the mixed multitude

take note of that.

The multitudes, the crowds, the majority

who were among them, yielded to intense craving.

So the children of Israel

also wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat?

This was a craving for for food.

Who will give us meat

to eat? Verse five.

We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt

the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic.

But now our whole being is dried up.

There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. Oh,

let's think. Think for a moment about what's happening here

to remind everyone of this story.

God has released them from slavery, from bondage, from captivity.

And they're on the journey to the Promised Land. Yes,

the journey was filled with trials, challenges.

That is true.

That we are Christians does not make us immune to challenges.

That you are more than a conqueror through Christ

does not make you immune to life's trials and temptations.

The difference is you face them in faith, not fear. You can

be tempted.

Yes, as a child of God.

But you do not lose control because you have self-control.

The fruits of the Spirit's self-control.

But what happened here?

The multitude who are among them,

the Scripture says, yielded to intense craving.

Oh, let me tell you, people of God, the issue here is not the craving.

The issue is the yielding.

Romans six, verse 16.

Whoever you healed yourself to obey, that is who serve, and you are.

It was not just that these people had a desire for that type of food.

It was the fact that they yielded to that craving.

And what happened?

We see from this scripture

that when you dialog with the devil,

your memory of the past.

Is corrupted.

I want you to think about what I'm seeing

when you dialog with the devil.

Your memory of the past is corrupted.

They looked back at their slavery, their bondage,

and said,

we remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt.

Is that not deception?

Oh, the devil is very deceptive.

The fish we ate freely in Egypt.

Egypt, where you are in slavery.

Where you are in bondage?

Yes. At that moments your craving.

Has caused you to have a selective memory whereby you focus

only on the instant gratification version rather than the consequences.

Take a lesson from what the people of Israel did here.

They look back at their bondage

and called it freedom.

The fish we freely received in Egypt when they're in slavery.

If you receive

freedom from God.

But it's not accompanied by surrender to God's.

Don't be surprised.

You return to the very prison.

He freed you from.

Because the responsibility of freedom

is surrender.

To choose willingly.

To give your life to the one.

Who has freely given it to you.

That's the responsibility of freedom.

The children of Israel.

Redefined bondage as freedom

to justify their return to it.

Oh, people of God.

This is something many of us do today.

We go through a trial, a tough time.

We begin to dialog with the devil within.

We say all.

Remember that time I was in the world and enjoying.

Remember that time I was going out and enjoying myself?

Drinking alcohol?

Remember that time I was in that dubious business?

But I had lots of money. Those were good times.

You focus on the instant gratification sin that sin may bring

and ignore the consequences. This is the danger people of God.

When you are

ruled by fleshly desires, you will soon be ruined by them

because craving things ignore consequence.

If you're watching this message

with a notebook, I want you to write that down

and think about what I'm saying. People of God,

if you are ruled by fleshly desires.

I want this.

I crave this.

If you are ruled by fleshly desires, you will soon be ruined by fleshly desires

because cravings ignore

consequence.

Think about what these people are saying.

Think about the deception they fell into because they yielded to their cravings.

They looked back at their past life of slavery

and focused on a temporal benefits, calling it freedom.

This is a message calling for reflection.

People of God.

That's why I titled this message.

You are free to follow Jesus

because don't think that freedom

from Jesus means the removal of fleshly desires.

Don't think freedom from

Jesus means the elimination of trials and temptations. No.

In this journey of life. Yes.

We will face

those desires of the flesh,

which the Scripture says are contrary to the Spirit's.

Galatians chapter five.

What the flesh desires, contrary to what the Spirit's desires.

There's no deliverance in this world.

There is no prayer points in this world.

There is no church you can attend in this world.

That will remove the reality of what we will face as we traverse this world's.

That's why when you receive

and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

the Scripture says

you become a son,

not a slave.

One of the greatest lies of the devil is to deceive us,

to think we are still

slaves, not sons, because a slave has no rights of choice.

A slave is not the owner of his conscience.

So the battle's already lost.

Let me turn to Galatians chapter four

and read that portion of Scripture to you.

Galatians chapter four.

I'll start this reading from verse three.

Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage

under the elements of the world. Oh,

but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son.

Thank you Jesus.

Born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law,

that we might receive the adoption as sons.

And because you are sons,

God has sent forth the spirits of his Son into your hearts.

Crying out, ABBA, father!

Therefore, verse seven, you are no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a

son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Let me read verse nine also

Galatians four, verse nine.

But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God,

how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements

to which you desire again to be in bondage?

That's a very

deep message.

Freedom in Christ means you are not enslaved to your desires,

to your circumstances.

That means you may face a difficult circumstance. As a Christian.

It will not mislead you to sin.

Rather, it will draw you closer to Jesus.

You may experience

temptations of this flesh,

the fleshly cravings, the fleshly desires,

but you will not succumb to sin in your desire to satisfy them.

Rather, they will take you closer to God that shows you are free.

It doesn't mean you will not be tempted.

It doesn't mean you won't go through trials.

The evidence of sonship is not the removal of hardship.

How you handle that hardship proves your sonship.

The evidence of sonship that you are a child of God,

a Son of God, a daughter of God, not a slave to the flesh, to the senses, to sin

is not the elimination of temptations.

It's how you deal with that temptation.

The evidence of sonship

is not the disappearance of mistakes.

No, it's how you manage those mistakes.

If a son makes a mistake, he takes responsibility.

A slave

chooses the path of blame. Why?

Because if you accept that you are a slave,

then you have agreed you are not the owner of your conscience.

I can't help myself because of this circumstance.

I had to do this because I wanted this. I had to take kids.

I felt like drinking alcohol. I had to take kids.

This situation happened in my family. I had to do this.

You evades responsibility.

But have you observed how many people today

accept responsibility

when good things happen, but deflect responsibility when bad things happen?

That's hypocrisy. We.

Accept responsibility.

For success.

And point the fingers

when failure comes.

We blame wrongdoing on weakness.

We frame family

as the cause of failure.

We are accepting the label

the devil has placed on our heart that we are slaves, not sons.

When you accept the responsibility of freedom,

you will reject the path of blame.

Look at your life.

You will agree with me.

If you continue to play the blame game, you will simply remain the same.

You continue to play the blame game.

You will remain in chains.

And you know the sad thing?

People of God.

Many people today

go back.

To the prison.

God released them from.

They were done.

To the format.

Perhaps you've

looked back.

And thought about only the

seeming

enjoyment that sin provides.

Oh, if I.

Watch pornography again, this time I will be satisfied.

If I take the alcohol, I will be able to forget about my problems.

I take that route to quick money.

Then I'll finally be able to enjoy life.

You ignore the consequences because

for many today,

what you are entertained by,

you are also chained by.

Sin may temporarily entertain you,

but whilst you are distracted, it tightens the chains on you.

This is how we go back

to bondage.

People of God.

What am I saying?

What am I emphasizing in this message?

So many people connect

to God side TV to the interactive prayer service saying please pray for me.

There's an area of my life I'm in bondage.

Look, I agree, there are times

when a desire is beyond your resistance.

You need deliverance.

When a situation is caused by generational curses,

you need deliverance. Deliverance is available. Freedom is available.

Healing is available. Liberty is available.

Today we will pray in the name of Jesus Christ and witnessed chains break.

But take notes.

You are free to follow Jesus.

You are not simply free

to go back to your life and think you can enjoy the benefits of God's freedom

without the responsibility of God's freedom.

The responsibility that comes with freedom calls for surrender.

Take up your cross and follow him,

because life is filled with trials.

Life is filled with temptations.

Life, of course, is filled

with unchangeable events.

No matter how close you are to God, no matter how much you pray,

no matter how much you fast, there are some destined trials.

We go through and nothing can change.

Freedom means that no situation can stop your spiritual growth.

Freedom means that no situation and no desire is viewed

as a justification for a sinful response.

That is freedom.

Is not a life free from trials?

Is not a life free from troubles.

It's a life free to follow Jesus with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind.

When you follow Jesus with all your heart,

you will enjoy the dividends, the foods, the benefits, the rewards that God has

promised in His Word. But we cannot bypass the process.

There is a responsibility attached to your freedom.

You are free to flee from sin.

You are delivered to depart from sin.

You are blessed to say bye bye to sin.

You are restored to run from sin.

God turns your situation around that you turn away from sin.

If you just

are connected to this service today because I.

I have a problem,

you're dealing with the consequences of your past actions, or you're facing a

demonic entanglements

through where you are coming from or what you've done in the past.

If you're connected to the service today only to find a solution, sin.

And you're not ready

for surrender.

You may walk into freedom.

You will not walk in freedom.

When the temptation comes,

just like

we read in the Bible.

The children of Israel.

They selectively remembered their past

and redefined

bondage as freedom

to justify their return to its.

That you want something does not mean that you need it.

That you desire something does not mean you require it.

That you convince yourself

you need something does not legitimize your pursuit of its

cravings. Ignore consequence.

That is why self-control is a fruit of the spirit.

And as we read in that scripture

in Galatians four, the Spirit of God is there to help us in our weaknesses.

This is the answer.

People of God, if you ask me, what can I do with that desire of the flesh?

What can I do when I face the situation that seems so overwhelming,

that surrounds me on all corners, and I don't know what to do

when I'm pressured to do what is contrary to my conscience. What must you do?

A heart's.

Filled with the Word of God.

Will not succumb to the cravings of the flesh,

or the temptations to be misled by the circumstances of life.

A heart's

filled,

dominated by the Word of God.

That's the answer.

It is not as easy

as it sounds,

but it is as simple as it sounds.

I will close this message today

with a scripture also

from the book of Galatians.

Galatians chapter five.

Verse 13.

For you, brethren,

have been called

to liberty.

Only.

Do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.

But through love.

Serve

one another.

Do not use liberty.

Freed

as an opportunity for the flesh.

But through love.

Serve

one another.

The responsibility.

Of freedom.

Is surrender.

To Jesus.

This is my word of exhortation to you, children of God.

You are free to follow Jesus.

You are free to serve Jesus.

You are free to seek Jesus.

You are free to deny yourself.

Take up your cross.

And follow him.

May God bless His Word in our hearts.

In Jesus name.