Born to Set Thy People Free / Rich Nathan

[Laughter] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Laughter] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] do [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah sorry i thought you said jazz [Laughter] hey everybody it's good to have you here thanks for joining us a little bit early before the service my name is julia i'm glad to be with you i'm santos what's up everybody how y'all doing santos you work with our students i do so santos is on our pastoral staff he's working with students tell us a little bit about yourself you've got some exciting things going on yeah so you know we're trying to end 2020 with a bang i'm getting married super excited about that that's amazing smelly pumped not like shaking up 20 20 a little bit more it's like it's been kind of dull i don't know i want to add something to it right absolutely so it's it's crazy because you know we've been planning like it was gonna be in person and there's like no way kova is going to get all the way to who knew it would just have all it would just make it all the way so now here we are and we're like we're going to do something awesome we're doing the online zoom wedding okay yeah that's going to be amazing are you excited heck yeah the times we're in come on it's it's a good thing it's good to be married it is so in the midst of a lot of highs and lows this year you've got some things to really look forward to definitely and i don't know there's just like a new energy about it and i'm just pumped you know like being able to gather with all of friends and family online and they're gonna i'm gonna cry they're gonna cry it's gonna be beautiful yeah it's gonna be cool that's awesome yeah so i'm pumped about it well good so how are things going with our students you are also spending a lot of online time a lot of online time with these students yeah they're fun they're crazy uh they love to play warzone call of duty which is so much fun i really enjoy that instagram lives tick tock you name it that's right we're all hanging out we're having fun it's been such a crazy year for 2020 for our folks in middle school and high school too because they're all like online for school some of them are half time in school some of them are like two days in school three days not in school and then it's different the next week it's very complicated yeah they just want to know like direction what am i actually doing like is it school in person or not and it's just it's super confusing and uh i i think for them a lot of them are you know actually like you know just struggling with this time because of consistency you know it's real difficult and for them they you know they feel like because so much is changing they have to just kind of pause their life not actually live their life yeah and just try to get through this time but yeah yeah yeah that's not the way though no it's really hard and it's you know one of the things for us is as a faith community is trying to figure out how do we resource students as they are feels like life is interrupted yeah but life is moving as you know because you're getting married in the midst that is right december 27th here we go everyone send him a card send him a happy wedding card i mean i'll he'll take it right i can bring it very good but uh but yeah so this whole this whole thing of how do we help our students keep moving forward and feel supported and you know it can be really a normal time to have some really low times i mean also some really high times there's some great things but i know lots of folks are struggling not just students but feeling anxious feeling a little bit depressed right now feeling like man we're heading into the winter and it's there's like a lot of ambiguity in the world so that's pretty overwhelming yeah and i think a lot of people just feel like because this year has been a giant change for all of us that they just gotta put life on pause but you know it's okay like you can actually have community online you know like uh i was thinking about this the other day but blockbuster literally just turned the last one just turned into an airbnb and it had the opportunity like a couple years back to buy out netflix and they're like no everyone's going to always want to be in person and come to the movies and you know life has just completely changed and it would have been crazy to think oh yeah everything's gonna be online but i'm telling you like you can have community online that's really good and so yeah if you are a student we would love for you to get connected to some of the stuff that santos is doing but also i mean so we've got online stuff you can find our students through instagram that's sort of like the main that's like our website that is the way to go yep okay very good and we also have all sorts of other resources here we've got pastors on staff we've got a great counseling center if you're in a place where you're experiencing maybe a little bit more of a low than a high and you're a student get connected with us yes please one of us with uh with everybody through instagram we would love to walk with you in this process so thanks for letting us know a little bit more about you absolutely and what you're doing well it's about time now to get started if you're just joining us again welcome to vineyard columbus my name is julia pickerel i'm our associate pastor here and i'm santos i'm the high school pastor it is so good to be with you today uh listen we are all about connecting with you in our service and so we have leaders and pastors uh online ready to be able to connect with you through chat and to pray with you so go ahead do yourself a favor and say hello in the chat we would love to connect with you we absolutely would in just a minute we're going to continue with our service we're going to have a time of worship through singing we're going to receive our tithes and offerings and then our outgoing senior pastor rich nathan is going to deliver a message we also have a ton of stuff going on because it is christmas season yes that is the second week of advent lots of stuff happening here at the church if you'd like to find out more about what's happening through advent into christmas check out our webpage that will have all of our most up-to-date information for you vineyard columbus is one church that meets in many locations under normal circumstances right 2020 has not been normal and so we are one big family church together gathering online we would love to get to know you if you are just joining us online this time or maybe you've been around a couple times but you don't know a whole lot about us we've made it easy to get connected just take your phone text the word hi to the number 98977 that'll help us connect with you exactly it's so easy just the text as that and so um when a new person comes and connects with our church we will donate five dollars to an organization doing incredible work in our community and we're doing that through on behalf of your name as a church we're saying you know what we want to be the best friend to our city and when you connect with us we want to support that and say that you're a part of the mission so there are four different organizations that you can go ahead and choose we're about to enter into worship now so let me go ahead and pray god we thank you so much for the time we have to gather and lord i pray as we're all here right now watching this service god that you would intervene that you would just interrupt our day and so lord we choose to focus on you and we say lord that by the end of this time we just want to be more like your son jesus and so we love you god and we ask that your holy spirit will be with us in your heaven and we pray amen amen [Music] [Music] use it for your glory [Music] it's not much but everything i have use it for your glory we only give what we receive from you use it for your glory and it's your love that we're responding to jesus [Music] higher and higher take the little that we have fill it with your power for your glory [Music] [Music] it's your life that we're responding to [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] god we give you everything [Music] we surrender our gifts to you jesus we surrender our lives [Music] you're the power in our weakness [Music] [Applause] christ within us [Music] [Applause] you're the treasurer [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] for your glory [Music] um [Applause] is christ within us [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that we [Music] [Applause] would you sing that again be exalted [Music] higher and higher take the little that we have fill it with your power for your glory [Music] oh come let us [Music] adore him oh come let us adore him christmas [Music] is is worthy for her [Music] christ the lord [Music] for he alone is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] you get all the glory [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we'll give you the lord will give you love [Music] [Applause] we'll give you [Music] [Applause] we'll praise your name forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] we praise you [Music] praise god from whom praise him all [Music] [Applause] [Music] creatures [Music] the size [Music] [Applause] [Music] god we praise you god we praise you [Music] [Music] praise god for all that he has done praise him for he has overcome [Music] [Music] is [Music] us [Music] [Applause] [Music] god [Music] [Applause] [Music] crazy crazy [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] when we [Music] [Applause] [Music] so amen vineyard columbus i'd like to invite you to continue in worshiping jesus by the receiving of our tithes and our offerings you are such a generous church do you know just a couple of weeks ago on thanksgiving because of you and your generosity folks at our sawmill campus were able to do one of the things that they love to do every year despite of covin and that's distribute free thanksgiving meals to folks from daniel wright elementary school from their esl program and folks around the community thank you so much for your generosity it makes a real difference in the lives of real people around us it's very easy to participate by giving you simply text the word give to the number 9897 there are a couple of additional ways that you can give on the screen however you do thank you so much church and please pray with me right now as we receive our offering god everything that we give to you lord we give back to you because you have been so generous first to us [Music] in what has been a really difficult year father i pray your grace over the lives of those in our congregation and in our city and i pray your grace for our generosity so that we could continue to be a friend to the city would you take what we give to you lord and would you use it for your glory in jesus name amen i'd like to turn the service over now to our outgoing senior pastor pastor rich nathan hey before i get started i just wanted to mention that vineyard columbus is going to be hosting multiple christmas eve services over several days and listen this is going to be my last christmas eve preaching as your senior pastor so i'd love you to join me for this last christmas eve as your senior pastor check out one of our live hosted services it's going to be great and christmas is a great time to invite a friend or family member to check out vineyard columbus i guarantee you're going to be blessed the christmas eve services we are hosting something really special for families if you've got an elementary school child or a younger child we've got a little family service it's super entertaining you're really going to enjoy it right before one of our live hosted christmas eve services so gather the family around before we do our traditional christmas eve well let me get started hey my wife marlene loves collecting family photos and putting them together with music for special occasions so she's put you know videos together for my son daniel when he married his wife melissa and she put a video uh montage together for me when i turned 50 and also for our granddaughter naomi on her 16th birthday and she not only assembles these uh videos with music of photos of of important events of our lives but then she likes to watch them over and over again and i guarantee you if you come over to our home after marlene has produced one of these music videos you will be forced to watch i mean she's pulled the mailman in from the street people driving they come into our home and marlene watches and cries as she relives those memories over and over again no exaggeration she has watched these music videos that she's produced dozens and dozens of times and i was thinking about this image of a photo album uh today and i thought imagine if god our heavenly father said to you and me son daughter i want to show you some of the my favorite photos from my photo album what do you think god would have in his photo album what would the photos be last week pastor julia started a series with us called comfort and joy and what we did was we drew uh in this series from verses from famous christmas carols and it's entirely appropriate that we used as a theme christmas carols because if christmas is about anything it is about singing if you go to the gospel accounts of the birth of jesus everyone is singing all the time mary is singing and then we have john the baptist father zechariah and he's singing and then the angels appear to the shepherds in the field and they're singing if christmas is about anything it is about singing and so today my message in this advent series is drawn from charles wesley's famous 18th century hymn uh come thou long expected jesus and i called today's message born to set thy people free it's a line from come thou long expected jesus but before we turn to god's word let's turn to the lord in prayer would you pray with me heavenly father together we lift up all who are watching and ask your blessing on them i pray we pray together lord for all who feel lonely all who feel isolated we ask you o god would you draw near to them and give them comfort and joy today for those who have lost loved ones for those who are sad in this time of covet god have mercy stand strongly by their side i do ask lord as a result of this message that people would find liberation they would find freedom in jesus name amen so as we begin today i want you to imagine god your heavenly father inviting you to sit on his lap and he opens this photo album and he looks at you and he says my son my daughter these are some of my favorite photos these are some of my favorites and uh they're photos of salvation our father wants us to look at photos of salvation and in the first photo we have a picture of a husband and wife and they're holding hands there are tears running down their faces they're engaged in a recommitment ceremony and they're just beaming as they cry and then there's a second photo and it's of church members and they're hugging one another and they're crying and in a third photo we see two men and they've got their arms around one another and they're smiling and we say father what are these photos about and our heavenly father says you see son you see daughter salvation is so enormous it's so vast what i have done for you through my son jesus christ and through the work of my holy spirit that one photo doesn't capture it at all these are photos of reconciliation and the images are drawn from personal relationships so we say well father would you explain the photos to us he says son daughter in that first photo this married couple that are holding hands and crying they were about to get divorced papers were already drawn up they had lost hope for their marriage they thought the only way forward was for them to separate but through my spirit and through the work of my church vineyard columbus and their beginning in ministry this couple found renewed hope and they decided to reconcile and they found joy again and they found love again and now we see them in their recommitment ceremony well father what is that picture of the church members well son daughter these two church members had become completely alienated from one another entirely strained in fact they were so angry with one another that they were going around the church gossiping about each other but i softened their hearts and i turned them back to one another and they reconciled they forgave one another and now we see them holding one another close what's that picture of the men with their arms around one another and says son daughter these guys were business partners and they had a falling out and it got so bad that they were going to sue one another but my spirit went to work and i turned them back to one another they regained trust they went back into business together and now they're not only working together in business but they are best friends that's what salvation is like you see son daughter we were at odds with with each other there was enmity between me and you because of your sin but my son jesus remove the cause of the enmity remove the cause of the hostility that existed between me and you by dying for your sins on a cross and now we are reconciled do you understand son daughter that we're no longer enemies i call you friends brothers and sisters do you ever think about this that right now if you've put your trust in jesus christ as your lord and savior that you are a friend of god that you're no longer his enemy that you're a friend if you realize that you're a friend of god then act like god's friends talk to god as if he is your friend spend time with the lord as your best friend welcome him don't push him away as if he's your enemy ever but invite him into your life over and over again over the course of a day he is your friend if you are reconciled with god live at peace with god and then the father says i still have more photos to show you and we say what is that father and he says it's a courtroom it's a courtroom and there's this man standing behind the defendant's bench and he's got his arms up in the air and behind him you see a courtroom full of people cheering and their arms are up we say father what is that well these are photos of justification the image is drawn from the courtroom [Music] we say father explain this to us and he says listen this man was charged with a crime and he was about to be condemned but the judge had mercy on him and he was acquitted and the people are cheering because they heard the verdict not guilty son daughter you were charged with a crime and the crime is repeatedly violating my holy law but my son paid your penalty and i declared you to be not guilty in my sight and when the courtroom heard that they are cheering not guilty not guilty you know the scripture says he that is god does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities you understand that christianity is not hinduism we don't believe in karma that what goes around comes around the scripture says the good news of the gospel is god does not repay us according to our sins he doesn't treat us that way it's amazing god doesn't treat us as our sins deserve instead he treated his son as our sins deserve friends do you live out the reality of your justification is that something that you think about that i am not guilty before god that as i'm here today i am innocent in the sight of almighty god you know one way that i try to make this real for me is that on many mornings before i get out of bed i lay in bed and i think to myself you know because of what you jesus did for me i am right now in the sight of god i am innocent and i just try to rest in the love of god for a few minutes you know god's loving gaze is on me i rest in that and i say over myself i am not guilty not because of what i did yesterday because i repented so hard because i had such a good day but because of what jesus christ has done in paying my penalty i am right with god and so i want to live out of that today i want to live in god's verdict not in order to earn his approval but because i am approved now i want to feel his approval i want to experience what it's like to not be guilty in his sight do you live with that kind of approval really you don't have to live in guilt all the time you can live with a sense that god has accepted you but reconciliation and justification don't exhaust the enormity the vastness of what god has done for us in saving us and so the father says to us son daughter i've got several other pictures in my photo album that i really want you to see and he points to one and we see men and women and children standing on this platform and they're in chains and other men are poking at these men and women and children they're poking at their arms and legs and they're opening their mouths to look at their teeth they look cruel the men and women and children look beaten down but then there's another photo and there's a kind looking man and he's taking the chains gently off of these men and women and children and they're walking away without chains and we say father what's going on in these photos and the father says these are photos of redemption they're taken from the slave market you see because of sin men and women and children have become enslaved we are enslaved to sin and enslaved to self and enslaved to death and god says what i did in saving you is i redeemed you i released you from your slavery you know friends the most common words in the bible regarding salvation are the words redeem and redemption of all the words in the bible to describe salvation the most common are redeem and redemption 150 times they're used in the bible 130 times in the old testament 20 times in the new testament what does it mean to be redeemed what's the meaning of redemption there's so many famous verses in scripture about redemption one of the ones that we celebrate at easter it's drawn from the book of job we read i know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he'll stand on the earth and after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh i will see god i myself will see him with my own eyes i and not another how my heart yearns within me or in first corinthians 1 verse 30 it's because of him that you're in christ jesus who has become for us wisdom from god that is our righteousness holiness and redemption or ephesians 1 verse 7 and 8 in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of god's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding one of the most famous old hymns in the church is charles wesley's classic hymn from the 18th century oh for a thousand tongues to sing we read oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise the glories of my god and king the triumphs of his grace and today's message is drawn from another one of charles wesley's great hymns his advent hymn come thou fount uh come thou long expected jesus and here's what we read come thou long expected jesus born to set thy people free from our fears and sins release us let us find our rest in thee israel's strength and consolation hope of all the earth thou art dear desire of every nation joy of every longing heart so what does it mean to redeem something what is that to redeem is to purchase a piece of property for example that had been forfeited as a result of debt of debt or to be redeemed is to set a person free who's found themselves in slavery perhaps because of debt or because of war a piece of property has been forfeited and now it's brought back a person who has been enslaved is now set free that's what redemption is but to understand redemption in the bible you have to understand that redemption is not an abstract concept that redemption is personified through a wonderful hebrew word the hebrew word goel and goel in the hebrew bible means kinsmen redeemer kinsmen redeemer this is the personification of redemption in the old testament the goel the kinsman redeemer was the family member that the other family members set their hope on for the family they were the family hero they were the family protector they were the family defender the family advocate so if one of the family members got in trouble the goel would rescue them if a family member fell into debt and couldn't pay off their debt they turned to the goel the redeemer and he would come and pay their debt if a family member became enslaved because of debt or or blew their lives up because of their own stupidity they could always turn to the goel the kin their kinsmen redeemer and their kinsmen redeemer would rescue them the goel the redeemer was the big brother that we all wish we had not the big brother who made fun of you and who tormented you but the big brother who protected you the goel was the perfect big brother the big brother that you could always look to to protect you from bullies and if a bully came along they'd beat up the bully the gowell was the big brother who encouraged the big brother who rescued and uh the bible teaches that jesus is our redeemer he is our goel he is the one who comes along as our big brother he came on christmas morning where all of his little brothers and sisters were being beaten up by bullies that were too strong for us the bullies of sin and bondage to self and sickness and our broken law and death and we were being beaten by these bullies but the goel wades in and knocks those bullies out and sets his little brothers and sisters free that's what redemption is on christmas morning god entered the world as our big brother not to shake his finger at us and to point out to little brothers and sisters all the stupid things we've done throughout the year but rather to rescue to set us free you know the kinsmen redeemer in the old testament had so many different roles they were the ones who would go to court they were advocates in court in the case that you know we had to go to court or they were the ones who avenged the family if one of their family members had been murdered but i want to talk about one specific role of the goel the kinsmen redeemer as i wrap up today and that is that the redeemer was the family liberator he was the family liberator why do we need liberation why do we need a redeemer i'll talk for a moment about the necessity of redemption you know according to the bible when you and i drew our first breaths as we came out of our mother's womb and we drove drew our first breath here on planet earth we drew our first breath as slaves we didn't draw our first breath as free men and women we drew our first breath as slaves every human being is born into a world that in which they are dominated by powers too strong for them we are all born under enslaving powers the power of sin and the power of our selfish desires and the power of sickness and the power of death we are born into the world not as free people but as slaves here's what the apostle paul says in describing our condition in romans 7 he says we know that the law is spiritual but i am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin i do not understand what i do for what i what i want to do i do not do but what i hate to do and people ask about romans 7 is paul writing about the broken law is a personification of law is that what romans 7 is about is romans 7 paul describing his pre-converge in life is romans 7 instead an autobiography of every human being and to these questions all of them i would say yes yes it is a personification romans 7 of the law romans 7 is a description of paul's preconversion life but romans 7 most importantly most relevantly for us is an autobiography of all of our lives we are all born as slaves to sin and we all feel ourselves trapped now think about this reality of slavery with me have you ever resolved to change something in your life if you just get sick and tired of a particular attitude that you have a particular way of relating a particular habit and you just go i am so sick of this i want to change maybe you resolved you know what i want mercy i want to be treated without judgment and i am sick of judging other people and criticizing them and gossiping about them i am going to stop doing that i'm going to start treating people the way that i want to be treated with mercy when i mess up i want mercy i'm going to start treating other people with mercy and so we start off with great gusto we go i'm going to treat people with mercy and then someone really irritates you sometime in the day you know you're really annoyed and what do you find yourself doing showing mercy often we get critical and judgmental and you know maybe we gossip about this person we find ourselves stuck in sin and it's this experience of being unable to overcome this slavery to our sin and slavery to our own selfish desires that caused the apostle paul to utter a cry that is the cry of every human being what a wretched man what a wretched woman i am who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death and then he gets the answer and he cries out in verse 25 thanks be to god who delivers me through jesus christ our lord jesus came as our redeemer as our liberator to liberate us to set us free from our bondage to petty jealousies and uh life-sapping envy and soul-destroying greed and bitterness and and our anger about how we've been treated by others in life and and all of our attachments to things that are destroying us jesus came to set us free from all of that so let me ask you a question do you see yourself friend as enslaved do you in any area of your life would you say pastor rich i know in this particular area i live as a slave i do that that in this area of my life i am enslaved to getting the approval of someone else that i respect friend are you a slave to having to have somebody approve of you maybe it's your mom or dad or maybe it's one of your children or your spouse or your pastor or or a friend or your boss that i live for that i'm enslaved to having to have approval or i'm enslaved to food and i find myself just you know overeating i have this just really broken relationship to food or i am enslaved to work that i simply can't not work maybe friend you find yourself a slave of envy that there's someone that is getting ahead of you or your slave to jealousy or bitterness or perhaps a substance alcohol drugs maybe to some sexual compulsion [Music] or shopping online or gambling friend do you see your will nailed to something that you're you can't pry yourself free from you know one way to tell by the way if you're a slave is that you feel a lot of shame about this and you would be really embarrassed to admit to somebody else you know what here's what i really think inside this is what i'm really like this is what i l i'm like in secret so how do we find freedom from these places of bondage through our kinsmen redeemer through our big brother through our goel jesus christ and i want to finish by quickly ticking off three things you can practically do to lay hold of the freedom that jesus came to give and the first thing is you need to realize something that's lesson one realize something if you put your trust in jesus christ as your redeemer as your savior if you really have said lord i'm resting on you to save me not on myself but i'm resting on you to save me then you're no longer mastered by sin you don't have to live under the domination of sin here's what the apostle paul wrote in romans chapter 6 for we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been set free from sin in the same way count yourselves dead to sin but alive to god in christ jesus in other words sin is no longer your master if you're attached to jesus sin no longer has to dominate your life if jesus has broken in as your redeemer now sin comes along and it says to us you need to obey me listen before you were redeemed you had no choice but to sin none sin was inevitable you just always went your tires always went into this grooved out rut of sin but jesus christ comes along and he says little brother little sister you don't have to sin anymore because i've set you free from that the only power that sin has over your life right now is the power to lie to you sin is lying to you when it says you need to obey me you're not under the domination of sin anymore you don't have to be mastered by sin do you understand little brother little sister that i have set you free you can choose to follow me you can choose to obey you can choose a different way of life you can walk out of that jail cell free into the light of my liberating grace let my spirit empower you welcome me throughout the day invite me in and invite me to give you greater and greater experiences of freedom how do you experience the liberation jesus came to bring you need to realize something and here's the second thing you need to offer something you need to offer something romans 6 12 to 14. therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body in light of this that you've been set free sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust and do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to god as those who are alive from the dead and your body parts as instruments of righteousness for god for sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace you know the decision that many of us as christians make to live with one foot in the kingdom of god and jesus as our king and the other foot in the world dominated by sin is an insane choice to have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom and so many of us live that way and that's the reason why christian you feel so full of shame inside and you feel so ineffective and you don't really experience the joy of the christian life and you think well it's all talk it's not all talk there is reality to the joy of the christian life there's reality to really experiencing god's love poured out in our hearts you can have so much more than you're presently experiencing but you need to stop trying to live under two kings how do you do that the apostle paul says it's really practical you have to offer your body to jesus the parts of your body i go through this all the time with god today lord i offer you my eyes and what i'm looking at and what i'm taking in what i'm going to watch on television on the computer screen i offer you my ears and what i'm listening to and what i'm willing to listen to my mouth my tongue what i say and what i take in through my mouth i offer you my feet where i'm gonna go my hands and my work my private parts everything i offer it to god the reason we need to offer our bodies to god is if god has our bodies he has us and friend if god does not have your body he does not have you so you need to recognize something you need to offer something and then finally you need to connect with someone part of the way that we experience jesus's liberating power is in the company of our other brothers and sisters freedom is not something we pursue in isolation with god just me and god freedom is something we pursue with the rest of the children of god called the church you know we need other christians to fully experience the liberation that jesus came to give us we need the prayers of our brothers and sisters we need the encouragement of our brothers and sisters we need the accountability of our brothers and sisters we need the example of our brothers and sisters and i'll tell you something covet has only increased the isolation that many of us have that we are just so alone and cut off and many of us because of isolation during these months are experiencing more and more bondage to old habits and slavery and some of us have fallen back into patterns that we thought we had gotten rid of the way out the way out is to reconnect don't let isolation keep you enslaved friends listen if you are not connected to one of vineyard columbus's small groups you need to get connected and and if you just you know something your group broke up because of covid why don't you make a decision right now i got to get back in a small group and just contact small groups at vineyardcolumbus.org and somebody will get back to you one of our small group pastors will get right back to you and say hey you know let's connect you up with a group you've got to be with brothers and sisters and if you say you know what pastor rich i've got a particular issue that's just been dogging me there's a particular problem in my life or in the life of a loved one maybe you have a loved one who's struggling with an addiction and we've got specialty help for that through our support and recovery ministry and if you think man i need some information about support and recovery just get in touch with dave cuda dave.cuda vineyardcolumbus.org here's what i'd like to do i want to pray for two groups of you today as we close this time with you and the first group are any of you who say you know rich you're talking about jesus as redeemer as liberator that's not real for me right now whatever you've done in the past if you say you know my relationship with jesus christ is not making a real difference in my life but i wanted to i would like to pray with you for some of you it's wow i didn't know what jesus really did for me and i'm going to trust him today for the first time and i'm going to really give my life to jesus for others of you it's you know i prayed in the past and i said i gave my life to jesus but i took it back today i'm going to recommit my life to jesus but if you would say today friend i don't have a relationship with jesus that's making a real difference in my life wherever you are would you pray with me right now and say jesus i want a relationship with you that makes a real difference pray with me just say jesus christ i just heard today about what you came to do that you came to be my redeemer that you came to set me free and i want to understand that i want to know that i want to experience the salvation the liberation that you came to give oh jesus as much as i can i believe when you died on a cross you died to pay for my sins please jesus help me to understand better what you did for me and dying for me and rising from the dead friend wherever you are right now will you throw the doors of your heart open and just say jesus come in please come in by the power of the spirit i want you in my life and wherever you are would you please do one simple thing for me would you text believe the word believe to 989 777 right now text believe to 989 777 right now and somebody will pray with you and just say hey we just want to confirm that we've also got a free booklet for you if you text believe to 98977 we've got a booklet that we will send right out to you and we want to encourage you there's one other group i want to pray with real quickly and that's any of you who say you know rich i feel trapped i'm a believer but i feel trapped or i've got a loved one who is definitely trapped right now and i want to pray for you whether it's just you personally or with your for your loved one that you would find the freedom jesus came to give so so wherever you are open your hands and friend what i want you to do is just go down the parts of your body starting with the top of your head down to your feet and offer yourself to jesus once again say jesus i want to experience the freedom that you came to give or you could be praying for a loved one i want them to experience the freedom that you came to bring jesus i give you the parts of my body i offer myself to you and i say lord i want everything that you came to win all the liberation if you'd like to pray with someone today friend just text pray the word pray to 989 777 right now and one of our pastors will pray with you right away just text pray 989-777 god bless you come thou long expected jesus born to set thy people free from our fears [Music] hope of all the earth our lord dear desire of every nation joy of every longing heart [Music] expected jesus born to set thy people free from our fears [Music] [Applause] [Music] desire of every nation joy of every [Music] heart [Music] [Music] expected [Music] [Music] us forever now [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] expected [Music] key amen well as we end our time together today i want to pray a blessing over you as you go we just sang about the lord coming and reigning born a child and yet a king come to set thy people free i pray that you would know the truth that he has come to set you free today and that it would transform you and make you more like jesus to go out and be sent and to love people the way that he loves us so i pray that over you today may the lord bless you and keep you and we pray all this in jesus name amen a man and amen that is it for our service parents if you have a student at home please would you just encourage them to hop on to wednesday night at 6 00 pm it is safe there's community it is the perfect place to be students if you're watching please go ahead and follow us on instagram at vc high school at vc middle school we also have all sorts of things coming up for this christmas season and we would love for you to join us so please check out our website for more information have a great week [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Vineyard Columbus

Views: 1,615

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: advent, worship, vineyard columbus, church, sermon, rich nathan, christmas, Comfort and Joy

Id: o1zdAzLQIOc

Length: 86min 55sec (5215 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 05 2020