Four Steps to Freedom - Pastor Chris Hodges

[Music] what a joy it is to be at this church is wild can I tell you that right somebody loved Jesus in this place anybody anybody it's awesome what a joy it is to be with you and I really am looking forward to this and I'm gonna share with you actually tonight some things that I'm very very passionate about in fact if it's okay with you I mean your pastor is such an amazing preacher I'm just going I'm just gonna talk to you a little bit I just got some things I want to share with you and and pastor you guys a little bit and I think it's gonna help you a lot I want you to open your Bibles with me to Psalm 92 if you have them and while you're doing that I know you've already met my wife Tammy and y'all give her a hand one more time everybody just 33 years she she's the love of my life we have we have five kids and we have five grandkids now come on y'all any grandparents in the room and grandparents krimpets see they make noises you know why because grandkids are better than your kids can I tell ya always tell people with kids don't kill your kids better ones are coming just let them live just hang in there it's gonna be alright it's so good it's so yeah we're so thrilled to be here big hello to everybody at all the locations in Florida and Mars and every place where y'all have campuses god bless you guys today this church is amazing really is this awesome and I do have to say a word before I bring this to you that I'm really I'm really crazy about your pastors I really am you know there's some people yeah I mean I really am in fact we actually couldn't be more different from each other and I think we're in some ways we're just so good for each other you know and but I don't even know sometimes why I love people the way I love them but I mean God puts supernatural love in your heart and the first time actually I met pastor David and Nicole they just it's just I knew there were people I was supposed to know the rest of my life and and I I feel this way about them I think you feel this way about them but you have I mean some of the finest people on this planet in your pastors I look come on show some love to your pastors come on it won't hurt their feelings if you'll just show them a little love today yeah come on yeah I think it's important I really do I think it's there's only one thing I don't like about Pastor David and that's his body can I get a name as he gets up there and all these fitted clothes everything's fit you know tucked yo I got the I got the anointing of untuck Amen everybody he says man I'm getting all in shape for my 50th Oh like rounds of shape I mean I'm in ace shape you know I might not be in shape but that's the true story I had a goal this year to lose 20 pounds I'm always trying to lose weight and but I had the spiritual gift of eating you know what I'm saying and I'm a Cajun from South Louisiana and it's it's a it's an art form you know eating and so anyway but uh I thought I could lose 20 pounds this year and we always start the year off with 21 days of prayer and fasting so I thought you know that gives you a little jumpstart and Ishak said it got a really good jumpstart at the beginning the year I thought this is my year i'ma lose i'ma lose 20 pounds this year y'all here we are in October and I only have 30 pounds to go come on somebody so I am really close this this this close psalm 92 you probably have heard this verse I just want to start with it to share with you what's on my heart tonight Psalm 92 verse 13 it says those who are planted everybody stay planted those who are planted so if you get involved in the right environments you got to pick your environments carefully you got to let me see it this way you got to pick where you're gonna be planted you're gonna be planted somewhere but those who are planted in the House of Lords shall say the next word out loud they shall they're gonna flourish you need to know that God's best for your life is not a life that just survives but a life that flourishes so I want you to hear that that's what this banner years is all about is we're not just gonna settle for what helped me cope give me a weekly message so that I can kind of cope through life make it to heaven you know survive now God has so much more for you than just survival he really has significance for your life but if you're wondering what now listen very carefully if you're wondering why that's not happened yet it's all about how your planted you got to get in in the right environment know if you know this or not but the hottest driest just kind of the worst place in all of America is an area of our country called Death Valley I brought a picture they'll put on the screen for you of Death Valley that's it behind me okay this is Death Valley Death Valley didn't it doesn't rain there so nothing can grow there there are no houses there there are no farms there there are no cattle there there's nothing there nothing nothing thrives or survives in Death Valley in this in the winter of 2004 seven inches of rain fell they don't even know how it happened they're actually set up geographically where weather patterns really don't even ever come through there but since some phenomenon happened in the weather that year and seven inches of rain fell in a very short amount of time nothing happened immediately but by the spring of 2005 you can actually go Google this but it's what they call it this super bloom haddem show him this picture that same that same desert floor looks looked like that which really means is that Death Valley wasn't dead Death Valley was dormant like it always had seeds of potential it just needed the right environment for life to happen this said yeah you seen that right so it was always there and that's good preaching but that's actually a truth to I say this at our church all the time I'm not just preaching to you I'm telling you the truth like that's not just a cool thing to say there are seeds that look at my eyes in here this looking at all the locations this look there are seeds of flourishing already planted in you it's all about getting in the right environments for things to happen God has always wanted life blooming flourishing your life to matter and have significance I want to talk to you about how to get there so like my deepest passion and honesty I think what we do best at our church is we make sure people know what the process of flourishing looks like so in other words no one's confused about where they are and what they can experience next I got stirred by a verse that actually was a psalm it was the song that the psalmist David wrote in Psalm 16 when he says you have made known unto me or you will show me watch this language the path of life so you're not just showing me life you're not just telling me about about the potential but you're actually giving me the pathway listen to me very carefully if you don't know the path to life you can't have life let me say it this way life has a pathway and notice with me that at the end of that phrase there's a semicolon which means everything after this is the result of that phrase so if you know the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore now if you'll find the pathway I'm convinced I became convinced years ago and in about what is now 36 years of ministry is that people were beginning to believe they could flourish they didn't know the pathway to flourish so they give you a lot of a lot of excuses of why they weren't there like yeah but I'm trying but I can't there that a lot of reasons why they couldn't get there your pastor told me I had to throw in a boudreaux joke I'm gonna do the best I can oh yeah I'm gonna give you one and I got to get back to the word okay everybody but Boudreaux got pulled over one time because he was swerving all over the place and I'll give you my best south Louisiana Cajun accent and he was going all over the place and he the policeman pulled him over he said Boudreaux he says I need you to get out of your car we're gonna have to do a breathalyzer on you he said you can't did that he says why not he says I'm asthmatic he says I could die right here on the highway he says well then we're gonna take you in to the police station and do a blood test he says you can't did that he says why not he says I'm a hemophiliac I could bleed to death he says well then you have to walk this straight life since I can't did that he says why not he says because I'm drunk all right so let's get back to the word there you go that was just for you I worked it in and everything to that point all right come on I mean I'm Mary hard does good like a medicine amen okay I need you to lean in for a moment I'm not gonna preach to you I'm gonna teach you so you you need preaching and you need teaching you need you need inspiration but you also need to know really what the Word of God wants to do in your life now cover to cover God has always and every scholar will agree God has always basically wanted four things for your life so your spiritual journey and your steps can fit into four steps or four processes and what I would love for you to do tonight is figure out where you are we're not making anymore excuses right that we're no more breathalyzers all right no more excuses we're gonna find out where we are and all I'm asking you to do is consider taking your next step you can't take that step if you don't know what this step is it's cover to cover though I can show you at least 14 places in both old and new Testament where God has always wanted the same thing for your life I have chosen one of the 14 places tonight to give to you I'm going to teach it line upon line you guys that are running the screens lead the verse up there the whole time don't take it down because I want people to see it and study it with me in fascias chapter 1 and verse 16 Paul gives us one of his prayer and it goes like this he says I'll keep on praying for you guys making mention of you in my prayers keep going with that he says he says like I keep praying that the God of our glorious Father Lord Jesus Christ give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation I wish you could understand how important it is for you to see some things so he says I actually pray that you could see that you could have revelation in the knowledge of him actually in the NIV it says I wish you could see how important it is for you to know him and Jesus used it I mean Paul uses the word there in the Greek that is the word Gunnoe schoo which means not know him here and look up here for a second not know him here but to know him here he says you don't need a singer songs know his book or go to his house you got to have a personal relationship with him be intimately like bee bee be be intimately involved with God know him in a powerful way and when he used the word in their context you didn't gasp they would have gasped they would have went oh my goodness because he uses the word gun Oh schoo in the Greek which means it's the same word where they used where Adam knew his wife even they had babies so it's not a sexual word but it is an intimate word he actually introduced the concept that even today most people don't understand they they know they can be a part of some kind of religion they don't know that they can have a real relationship and have a personal relationship with our God and Paul says this is your first Evan for some of you that's still where you are so like you know God but you need to know God like you you believe you didn't believe in him but you might you might believe in some other things that you've never known you might believe in your sports team but you'd never met your sports team you need to know them you need to be in relationship with God are you understanding what I'm trying to say everybody and then once you once you kind of understand that spiritual step and step through that step he says I also pray verse 18 that the eyes of your heart be enlightened he says the word understanding is literally the word heart he says I wish your heart eyes were enlightened when I first read that I thought what Paul yeah your eyes that aren't on your heart my brother you need to go to an anatomy class your eyes are on your head and what Paul said I don't know your your eyes your eyes aren't right here your eyes are right here you're looking through right now everyone to be in this room are seeing the exact same thing and seeing it differently based on your experience up to this point so all of you have stuff all of us myself included we had things in our heart and so our heart eyes according to this prayer that is our heart eyes need to be enlightened in other words once you have this experience with God listen very carefully you have to take a step in the spiritual walk that's called healing freedom deliverance let's settle your yesterday's once and for all you've got to take a step through the process of allowing your heart to be enlightened seeing clearly and the messages says your heart eyes need to be focused and clear and for a lot of people you've really never taken the step of saying you know what this is gonna be the year where my addictions are no longer gonna mark Who I am they're not gonna be who I'm not gonna I'm not going to be labeled by what I do I'm gonna be labeled by who God's made me no longer will I allow my habits and my hurts my pain past problems in people those aren't gonna be what defined me anymore and for a lot of us we're still kind of I call it rearview mirror looking so you have all this potential for flourishing in the future but we're still haunted by our past are you following me everybody and Paul says there's a spiritual step and I'm going to show you how to take it here in just a moment but you have a spiritual step to take not only to be in relationship with God but now to allow the God that you know to heal your heart and let your heart be enlightened so that the next line says that you might know the hope to which he has called you so let me say it this way that once you kind of settle your yesterday's you're gonna see your tomorrow you're gonna see your calling and for some of you unfortunately Pastor David studies say that almost 9 out of 10 Christians in America still don't know their calling so like 9 out of 10 Christians in America don't know their body part we're supposed to be the body of Christ the Bible says each one of them us is a necessary part of the body imagine with me if 9 out of your 10 body parts didn't know what they were like you'd be probably dead right and maybe while the body of Christ doesn't work is because the body doesn't know doesn't know what part they are in the body of Christ he says I wish you could know that I that you might know the hope of his calling which let me should point out something else to you and that is every time the word calling is mentioned in scripture is connected with the word hope so if you're looking for hope it's not in circumstances it's knowing why you were created knowing why you're on this planet like you'll never have hope until you know your calling in life where you follow me everybody but you can't know the hope to which he has called you if you're still dealing with yesterday and you can't stand you can't deal with yesterday until you're in a relationship with a powerful God who can heal you this is the spiritual steps but once you do know this notice the last line of the verse I'm gonna read it to you at the NIV he says once you know the hope to which he has called you you can then have the riches of his glorious inheritance that you can only have in the Saints in the NIV it says in God's holy people that once once you kind of be in this relationship with God allow him to heal your life you find out your calling in life now you can give with a group of people and get an inheritance you say pastor Chris what is my inheritance other people Psalm chapter 2 ask of me and I will give you the nation as your inheritance that God really wants to use us collectively not to come in this room and have a great message that blesses us and we go home no no no we're supposed to come in this room together and go out there and make a difference all across st. Louis to make a difference in every other person's life around us but you can't make a difference if you don't know your part and you can't know your part if you're still dealing with yesterday and you can't deal yesterday until you're in a relationship with God so these your spiritual steps and you're somewhere on that journey and the church only works as effective as God's called her to be whenever we are walked through every one of these in collectively the church is doing everything we can to make a difference I am so passionate about this I have tried just about every way in the world to explain this to people we've tried different labels names I've even taught churches and honestly we've had pretty good success with it about five six years ago I don't know whim I put together a focus group I've completely lost people I paid personally not the church nine people a hundred dollars each for an hour of their time I found people who are far from God didn't go to anybody's church and I said will you let me explain to you something and will you help me come up with language you understand because I don't need to take the steps I already know them but I don't want church language I want Street language help me come up with Street language and so they were intrigued by the idea they think they were glad to be in this little focus group by the way into the story all none of them gave their heart to Jesus at the end of it I'll just tell you that okay so they all got saved they had no idea but I took about 15 minutes like I just did you and I explained to them what I just explained to you and I said God's always wanted this for people help me come up with language it was on that that day that these people came up with four phrases that I'm gonna give you now you don't have to use these these are just what we use at our church all right there's a lot of different ways to say this but they said people they said I didn't forget one of them said Pastor Chris like we don't none of us really are passionate about making your church successful none of us are trying to fill your seats then one of them looked at me passionate at my eyes and said we just want to know God like we just want to know him and if he's real when I'm says he seems so far away like we're on earth and he's in heaven and it's just a big gap and I thought that makes so much sense I grew up in church I grew up in a very religious church my dad played organ and church mom sing in the choir I didn't like Church at all I actually thought I was a Christian because I was in church but it was painful can you know I'm talking about church was painful in fact I thought I thought the more painful it was the more counted for heaven points like if you endured it like men I left sir church-going come on God that's got to count for something right it was bad and then somebody invited me to a service like this by the way Pastor David I don't even remember the message the part that impacted me the most that night were how passionate the people were in their worship I'd never seen passionate Christians before ever and so when I left when well at the end of the service they gave an invitation for people to receive Jesus but I'd been in church so long I knew what they were going to do they gonna bring me to a little room and I ain't going to no room I just sang go happen so I'm not going so they said lift your head like naw I ain't doing it you know so but I was under conviction so I went home by myself at the end of that message and and thank God because I've been in churches my whole life I knew my Bible and so I said I'm not only sitting in my church I'm not listening to this new church I'm gonna find out what the Bible says about how a person gets to heaven and so acts Alan anymore I said I'm not even listening to the Bible I'm not gonna listen to Jesus I mean I had one of those red-letter editions of the Bible you know where the RET words of Jesus are in red so I just read the red and and if you do that if you only get about three pages in and you'll get to Jesus says this in Matthew 7 that not everyone who says to me Lord Lord is going to enter the kingdom of heaven I thought well that's a problem cuz that was my plan you know I'm saying I mean that's what they told me to do and now you're telling me I ain't going alright this is a problem right so and it goes on to say but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven many are gonna prophesy cast out devils and do miracles that still go to hell huh well that's a problem and it finishes by saying he says I will tell them plainly away from me because I never knew you know I was I wasn't looking for your acts I was looking for your relationship I was looking for your religion I was looking for a love relationship with God I didn't know that so I actually dropped to my knees right there my own bedroom and I led myself to the Lord that's how I got saved I led myself to Lord reading the Bible and after I went to that church service and I realized that's what people need people people are looking for a real relationship and there are some of you in this room still you come even on a Tuesday night to church but it's time for you to step into intimacy with God being a real relationship with God and watch what he does in your life the second phrase that they gave to us shocked me so remember part of the spiritual journey is for your heart to be clean and clear and healed and whole and I said help me with a phrase with this one and they say and and and when I'm spoken said how about fine freedom once you know God you can find freedom that's a beautiful phrase because everybody even every one of us myself included know there's an area of our life that if it wasn't in our life our life would be better like we all have a hang-up addiction a habit a problem come on if you don't know the area that God is still working on you if you don't think you have an issue that's your issue right we all have we all have a loop few loose screws we have some areas that God wants to work on it's you ready for this it's going to shock you the question is how do you take this step of freedom what most people will tell you is well I'm just me and God are working it out that's not God's plan so if you say yeah god no that's not his plan the Bible says in James chapter 5 verse 16 to confess your faults or your trespasses or your sins not to God confess those to one another pray for one another that you might be healed let me say it this way you go to God for forgiveness but you got to go to God's people for healing some I'm very serious some of you have wondered why you still have the same resolution every January some of you've wondered why you still have the saying hang up and have it every year you have the same thing you're dealing with and that's because you're not dealing with it the God way the God way is you must get with another believer and have the guts to take off the mask and say guess what's really behind all this smile and praising I'm in pain I'm hurting I was bullied I have addictions I've habits no one knows and I know what you don't do it you don't do it because you think they're gonna go oh my god they're not though they're gonna go you too I thought I was the only one and you're gonna get built-in accountability I was telling the team we had a staff meeting we met several hours say with your team had a fabulous time but we actually have we have about fifty five thousand people on a weekend and we have over 60 thousand in groups because I've convinced people you need to be in a connect group you need to be in a place where you had the safety of somebody knowing your secrets look at my eyes and hear this listen listen if you're the only one who knows your it's you're in trouble let me say it this way you'll always stay as sick as your secrets but if you'll ever have the courage to say guess what let me tell you what's really going on that's why your pastor and I have such a special relationship because we're very open about how much we love what we do I mean when I saw your pastor this morning he was weeping I thought oh my god what's going on goes man I'm just another Jesus I was reading the word like praise God for that all right so but I mean we have a very open relationship and that's why that's why we create such health the question is do you have that group groups aren't many church services groups are places where you can have a relationship with someone who can know how you're really doing and i'ma tell you folks we need each other you need to know God find freedom third phrase discover your purpose discover purpose like you have one like the to-date greatest days of your life or the day you were born and the day you discovered while you were born like so many people it's just exchanged that almost nine out of ten Christians in America don't know why they're here on this planet when Romans chapter 12 verse 6 says that God has given a gift to every person in the body of Christ according to the grace that he has given unto us that you have a grace gift you have something that you do that when you do it you'll enjoy it and it'll make an eternal difference did you know that you have a purpose like a divine purpose and it's more than just paying bills and getting kids to behave come on somebody right you have a purpose that makes you an eternal difference let me say it this way you have a piece of the puzzle of God's grand design and that's why there's a growth track that's why there's a process here this church where you discover your spiritual gift and your purpose in life so that you can fit into God's grand design and I'm just going to tell you something straight up you ain't never going to be happy until you're chasing the right thing in this life I'm telling you in Birmingham I don't know if you guys had this stuff we have a dog track y'all ever seen a dog track actually race dogs is the dumbest thing I don't I've never been to it I've seen it on Bugs Bunny before how many I'll see now right they have a dog track but but like horses they put somebody on the back of the horse and it's like giddyup let's go and that's what makes the dog well the horses run but the question is how do the dogs run and they run because I don't you know this or not but on the interior railing of the track it's like a railroad track and there's a mechanical rabbit so fuzz fuzzy fur and wires right and what they do is they release the rabbit and then they release the Greyhounds and these dogs chase the rabbit well I read this article in a Florida newspaper where when it when it rounded the corner this lameta canticle rabbit had a mechanical malfunction and-and-and the rabbit just exploded so fur and wires go everywhere well the dogs not knowing what to do because there was nothing to chase as the article said some of them just laid down right there in the middle of tractors took a nap right there Simo got so disoriented because there was nothing to chase that they ran through the railing of the track and broke some ribs some of just looked into the stands of all the people who are gambling it just barked out of them and I thought what a picture of humanity if you don't have something to chase you'll take a nap hurt yourself or bark at everybody else you know I'm just you need to find the thing that God's created you to do you're created in Christ Jesus to do good works which he prepared in advance for you to do find it already let's go if you well I can't it made us because you haven't gotten your heart healed yet you're still dealing with yesterday that's why you can't see tomorrow maybe you can't get this heal because you haven't gotten in a real relationship with God yet take this spiritual steps and the last one know God find freedom discover purpose make a difference make a difference can i prophesy over your life right now you know why you're breathing air right now to make a difference like you're on the earth so that your life impacts another life that's not the job of the staff of the pastor that's our job as the capital C church to live our lives in such a way we're out there on mission on purpose doing something with our life that makes a difference and jesus said it is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourself to be my disciples and he says later on inverting a later verse he says and I've told you this not so poor people can have a meal I didn't tell you this so so naked people can have a something to wear I didn't I didn't tell you this so so the so the hungry no no I told you this so my joy may be in you like when you go out there and bear fruit in other people's lives it blesses them but it does something in you let me say it this way the happiest people I know aren't people with less problems than you and me the happiest people I know lay their head down at night thinking but I'll live my life today in a way that impacted somebody else's life I'm telling you this is why you exist but you can make a difference if you ain't discovered your purpose and you can't discover your purpose if you hadn't found freedom and you can't find freedom until you know God actually wrote a book that's called what's next the journey to know God find freedom discover purpose make a difference I wrote three chapters on each one of the four big ideas of our spiritual steps and I'm encouraging to take these steps I want to close with the story and a keyboardist can come out and make this sound really spiritual okay all right so you don't send them on out here it makes you sound more anointed all right but I I want to confess a sin in front of you okay and here it is I'm a terrible driver and I'm a terrible driver because I'm actually a great driver but I just can't handle everybody else on the road were y'all that I they always doing it wrong and so I'm really I'm a pretty good Christian until I got that the the wheel of a car I don't know I just I'm barely saved when I'm driving or y'all listen to me okay just barely and so when people do things that are not rules I'm a teacher so I like to let them know and my favorite part of the car is the horn so I'm always like they do something uh I might whoa come on man and Tammy hates it she starts going a Kris stop stop they probably go to our church I like good they need to learn something under posture go you know like she's always in my ear telling me don't don't do that Jed she's Duncan and she's like she's like living with an angel it's terrible you know I'm just saying it's terrible because she's good her halos blinding me and all into anyways all she's dude she's godly alright so anyway she's here her voice in my head all the time when I'm driving well we were in the middle our 21 days of fasting Pastor David and uh and I'm a delight it's my life I know this light like I know this light I'm in a left turn light going to home and I'm in it every day and I know how many people can go through this light one light cycle if everybody will go you know I'm talking about all right but everybody's got to play along I'm gonna make it but everybody's got to go but the girl I could tell us a girl in front of me it's red still she looked kind of young and she had her head down her thumbs were going and you know what's going on she took the occasion that was a red light to answer some tax check social media whatever I'm thinking it's gonna turn green and Shingle going Tammy's voices in my head just I'm thinking I'm in a dilemma because we're fast thing I'm trying to come on y'all y'all hearing me everybody I'm really struggling here I'm really and sure enough the light turns green and everybody goes she doesn't whoa Tami's voice so in my heart like if you let me be what I was feeling in that moment it's my let's go but I was trying to be saved that day come on somebody righteous so I just win baby that's all I did too little [Music] just anything we missed the light when I preached this message when I preached this message you know what's in my heart really the god of the universe wants to get close to you and you don't really you're gonna keep that habit that addiction that sin that problem to yourself you're gonna live another year with that pain that past that Prop really really you don't know why I don't want to know why you don't know what I know why you're on the planet really you don't want to join us you'd rather be a spectator than get in the game and change st. Louis really really but but I'm not gonna do that I'm gonna be trying to be nice but I don't want to say some t4 I get off the stage in fact I wanna invite pastor David come join me I want to say this to you guys look up here the light is green [Music] let's go let's go and I want encourage serious mothers I want you to take your next step if you don't know God knowing if you know God get healed then you get honest discover your kid figure out the process here at this church to know who you are and then get in the game with us unless make a difference in the city in Jesus name and God's people sent a good amen [Music]

Channel: Crank Ministries

Views: 4,421

Rating: 4.8709679 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Chris Hodges, Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands, Highlands College, funny preacher, faithchurch.com, Faith Church, church in St. Louis, church in Palm Beach, church in Missouri, church in Florida, growth, planted, freedom, seeds, What’s Next

Id: B4agOBWwClQ

Length: 35min 19sec (2119 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 02 2019