Freedom – Part 1 | ARISE Church | John Cameron

here's something that we all know is true we all need freedom there's nobody here in this message who is surprised by the fact that we all have issues come on am i talking to any real people tonight my american friends would say everybody's got junk in the trunk everybody's got issues in their life we all need freedom often we do live our lives bound we're bound by a past hurt we're bound by deceit in our minds we're bound by insecurity by debilitating lives lies in our minds the struggle to find freedom is real and it consumes so much of our lives being bound means for us that it limits our relationships that it robs us of peace enslaves us to cycles of sin and derails our destiny whenever in our lives we find fear or resentment or self-hatred or jealousy or envy or bitterness or selfish ambition or pride or offences or unforgiveness or lust or impurity these are all signs for us that we are not wholly free and what's amazing for us to discover about jesus is that in john 8 32 jesus declared you will know the truth and the truth is going to set you free and so that we wouldn't doubt it he echoed it in roman john chapter 8 and verse 36 where he said you if the son sets you free you will be free indeed in other words jesus wanted to make it so clear freedom is possible you can be set free and when jesus sets you free you aren't just free a little bit that you will be free indeed that means for us guys two things number one freedom is possible and number two we need to be free why do we need freedom why in our lives do we need to be set free and the answer is that we live in a broken and a fallen world when god created adam and eve he placed them in what we call the garden of eden what the bible calls the garden of eden and before sin came into our world what we see in the lives of adam and eve in the garden is the only time in history where the will of god was consistently done the only time in history when the will of god was consistently done the world that we live in has sin in it and because it has sin in it god's will is not done most of the time i talk to so many people who are blaming god for things that are happening in their life that god never wanted to happen and are outside of his will people ask all the time if god is loving then why do i have these problems in my life where is god or where was god in my life when xyz happened friend you need to know stuff happens all the time in this world that god doesn't want to happen but whenever you're going through pain or difficulty or the hurt is coming into your world you've got to know if you're hurting god is hurting if you're feeling pain god is pained it's important that we realize this because the cross shines over us to declare in our lives that god cares deeply for the pain that is in our lives and secondly that god loves us so much that he got personally involved in curing what ails us before adam and eve chose to sin they were in relationship with god an unbroken unfitted relationship with god and their most important needs were met by god there was no barrier between them and him no sin in the way they enjoyed a relationship with god that met all of their fundamental needs there was no separation so adam and eve never experienced rejection they lived only with the knowledge that they were accepted and loved there was no brokenness so therefore they felt no shame ever they were unafraid they were confident they enjoyed real intimate relationships with both god and with one another and it's important for you and i to remember that what we see in the lives of adam and eve in the garden is still what god wants for you and me today god still wants you to enjoy intimate meaningful relationships that last can somebody say amen to that god still wants us to have a surety and confidence about the world that is around us god still wants for peace to rule in our hearts and that we would live free from fear god still wants us to have a clear identity of who we are and of what god has purposed for us to do that is god's will that our relationships would behold that our spirits would be free that our relationships will be free from all the bitterness and petty jealousies and rubbish can we say crap that's still god's will that's god's heart for you and for me there's a lot of rubbish that we face in this world but god desires that we would be free the bible teaches us that when adam and eve were in the garden that there were two significant trees suddenly these shrubs on the stage begin to make sense two significant trees my wife is like that was terrible i have very little voice left i have deep and i have ridiculously high there was the tree of life which is described for us in genesis chapter 3 and verse 22. and there is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is described for us in genesis chapter 2 verses 16 to 17. the tree of life gets a mention when adam and eve are in the garden and then a kind of just the theme of life just kind of drops from the narrative of scripture until jesus appeared and from the time that jesus came into this world very very quickly immediately life becomes a central thing of the rest of god's word in fact when you read john's gospel john only makes it in four verses john chapter 1 and verse 4 where john says about jesus in him was life and that life was like the light of men in john chapter 10 jesus said about himself i have come that you may have life and that you may have it to the full so we have two trees we have the tree of life now this tree speaks to us of grace of forgiveness of acceptance of freedom of eternity of the goodness of god this tree is all about the life power love freedom hope joy that emanates from who our god is and it's interesting to note that when adam and eve were in the garden god gave them no limits over how much of the tree of life they were able to eat it was carte blanche buffet style load your plate up have as much of the tree of life as you can possibly imagine you can't get enough of the life of god but then we also have another tree and it's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and god said in john sorry in genesis chapter 2 verse 17 the day you eat of that tree you're going to die so we've got one tree and it's life to you and we've got another tree and it's death to you now we understand that the devil tempted adam and eve and in genesis 3 verse 5 the devil tried to make this tree enticing to adam and eve this is what he said he said god knows that when you eat of this tree you won't die he said your eyes will be opened and you will be like god knowing good and evil super important he said two things you can be like god and you can be autonomous from god a lot of young people in the service i need you to write this down because it will help you to get to heaven okay all bondage has its roots in independence from god i'm going to say it so your thumbs can type it all bondage has its roots in independence from god if you want freedom in your life then know this surrendering to god is the beginning of freedom i need somebody to have a praise break if you believe that that is true all bondage has its roots in independence from god from the moment that adam and eve chose independence from god's command they became spiritually dead when they were alive they were connected to god and the needs the deepest needs of their life were being met by god but now they can no longer get their needs met by him there was a barrier and because of this god said that god said to them the devil said sorry you will know good and evil and the devil was right about that he said from this moment forward you are going to have knowledge or understanding you're going to discover new ways to have the needs of your life met but what the devil didn't tell adam and eve is that having their eyes opened meant they would be influenced by things or desire things that were not life to them so before they ate before their eyes were opened adam and eve received all they needed from god in his life so it is connecting with god and their hearts are full of love identity peace clarity hope contentment joy isn't that the wish list of everybody here in this message tonight to have love identity peace clarity come on anybody else out there just go man i just love to get rid of all the confusion hope contentment like actually to enjoy the life that you're living without being given a ferrari that's what god promises joy but with the separation of sin came a barrier between us and what we need and as a result of it came the beginning of our craving we are now a generation that craves we are filled with the knowledge of good and evil and we are never truly satisfied come on anybody know what i'm talking about tonight i mean look at it we got a we got a desire for success but we've got to be just a little bit more successful than everybody else we've got to have wealth but we've got to have just a little bit more we crave gossip we crave the foolings of our flesh we are a generation filled with lust and pornography and bitterness and how many movies come out with the theme of taking revenge we're all trying to fix what is wrong with us by going after the cravings that come from the knowledge of good and evil when adam and eve chose disobedience and independence from god sin and separation from god entered into our world and the desire for independence from god led to bondage in their lives and in ours if you give a chance go home tonight and read genesis chapter three and chapter four and in two chapters see the immediate impact of sin and separation from god on the lives of adam and eve i mean just check it out i'm gonna give you the highlights you can go home and read it in two chapters we see immediately the impacts are being separated from god we've got shame adam and eve don't even like themselves anymore don't like the way they look anymore don't have any courage anymore they're filled with fear they lack confidence emotional instability is found straight away cain killed his brother because of his unstable emotions and we've been struggling with emotional instability ever since toxic emotions reluctance to own our own problems adam blamed eve for the sin eve blamed the serpent and we've been blaming everybody and everything for the problems in our lives ever since hello in a turmoil to live without peace bitterness is right there in genesis 3 sexual impurity before the fall adam and eve were both naked nutty buddies for jesus and they had no shame but the moment that sin came into their lives it perverted their view of their sexuality and of their bodies it distorted them and they had sexual impurity now here's the thing god made us free but we are now born into a sinful world and because of that we are born bound by sin so we struggle with stuff like this confused identity compulsive behavior deceptive thoughts debilitating fears toxic emotions destructive desires unresolved hurts these are common to us all inner battles we all fight struggles that prevent us from being free but god doesn't want his people to live bound he doesn't want you living with thoughts filled with pain emotions that are filled with terminal turmoil or a mind that is dominated by lust man check out galatians chapter six there's an amazing passage of scripture in galatians chapter 6 that shows us the contrast between a life that is bound and a life that is free in verse 19 it says when you follow the desires of your sinful nature the results are very clear check out this bondage sexual immorality impurity lustful pleasures idolatry sorcery hostility quarreling jealousy outbursts of anger selfish ambition dissension division envy drunkenness wild parties and other sins like these you're doing things that are hurting you because you cannot find freedom and then in verse 22 it says but this is what the holy spirit produces in our lives love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and the crown jewel self-control when god jumps into your life he doesn't leave you bound by quarreling and envy and bitterness and sexual impurity he brings freedom he brings love and joy and peace patience kindness and the ability to actually reign these crazy emotions in and to be the lord of my life rather than the servant of my own desires wow the desires are powerful now here's the thing the evidence of god's work maturing and freeing us is when the fruits of her become the characteristics of who we are that's what maturity spiritual maturity is that's what freedom is freedom is when our lives are filled with love joy peace patience kindness i am free when my thoughts are at peace i am free when i no longer doubt my significance and value when lust is no longer the consuming drive of my thoughts when i can let go of who has hurt me when my past no longer controls me when i am at peace with my place in the world when we have that then we are free now i promise you there's a lot of people here in this message tonight and this is what they're asking john really really can we actually be free is this freedom genuinely possible because a lot of people hearing this maybe for years of their life have been fighting battles trying to overcome things and circling back time and time again feeling defeat and failure maybe feeling dirty maybe feeling just low held down in your life and tonight you're asking can this ever change i want to say two things to you if that's you listen up real close number one i honor you for staying on the journey i honor you for caring enough about god and his will that you've been trying to see change come into your life you're not the worst person here you're the champion and we love you and we salute you and we applaud you but the second thing i want you to know tonight is yes freedom is possible in reality we are never normally willing participants in our own captivity right we just can't seem to get free but it's important tonight that we know this freedom is possible i said freedom is possible hamilton i said freedom is possible dunedin i said freedom is possible and if we're gonna know freedom in our lives it all comes back to the same two trees the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there are two ways that adam and eve saw the world before they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the way they saw the world after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and check out the difference before they aided the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they had healthy emotions confidence in life freedom from destructive desires they were at peace with themselves and others they had a clear sense of identity afterward they were plagued by negative emotions they had fear in the face of life's challenges a destructive self-image turmoil within them and in their relationships with other people and no clear identity in life so if you and i are gonna find freedom i need you to know tonight that the answer is in the tree of life jesus said john said about jesus in him was life and that life was the light of men because without jesus we're just groping in the dark confused about where we should go dominated and controlled by desires played by fears at the whim of events and storms that derail and define us but there is hope along came jesus he bought light he bought life he bought freedom and if you're grateful for jesus could you take three seconds and give him a little bit of praise in this place tonight john 10 10 it's shining over you tonight i have come jesus said that you may have come on company let me hear you that you may have this life this word life i've come that you may have life is a greek word zoe and it's life that can only be found in the context of relation you can't know the life of god without imbibing it relationally why because jesus said i am the way i am the truth and i am the life the life is in jesus he said you'll know the truth and the truth is going to set you free so he's the life he's also the way and the truth and he said when the truth it's your life it sets you free now he said about knowing truth you will know the truth and that's the greek word gnozo which means to have intimate connection and relation with we find the life and the freedom of god through a relationship with jesus who is our life who is our freedom if you believe that why don't you praise him along with the front row in this auditorium [Applause] in john 17 3 jesus talked to us about life and this is what he said it's coming up on the screen read this it's important now this is eternal life that they might know you the only true god and jesus christ whom you have sent the way to life is jesus eternal life is jesus relationship with god is freedom in our lives if you believe it shout an amen out there see in the garden once adam and eve chose to eat of the knowledge of the tree of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the bible says god said i got to get them out of the garden because if they eat of the tree of life they are now sinful but they're bringing life into them and this can't be so he said i've got to get you out of the garden and keep you away from this but now through jesus the perfect sacrifice has been given up for the sin that came into our lives as the result of adam and eve's independence from god and now because of jesus we are not separated from god but we're welcomed into relationship with god are you excited in jesus our sin is forgiven in jesus our purpose is clear in jesus our redemption is here what we need is in jesus again john 14 6 jesus said i am the way i am the truth and i am the life okay let's break that down he said i am the way in jesus your direction in life becomes clear he said i am the truth and in jesus identity becomes certain he said i am the life in jesus emotions become whole the freedom we need is in jesus jesus has all we need to be free from all that plagues us see here's the reality you gotta gotta lean on this everyone listen listen listen the reason why our attempts at freedom so often do not work is because we keep returning to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to help with what only the tree of life can so this is what happens people are like i've got to stop looking at porn so they pump themselves up and they say i'll never view it i'll never view it i'll never click i'll never do it i'll never view it and then they have a difficult day experience rejection emotionally low not feeling good and bam they go back again because they're trying to get the problem solved by thinking to themselves i can help myself i can help myself i'm going to pump myself up because i am so fearful other people are so confident i've just got to become more like them so our attempts to be free are subscriptions to self-help formulas we're trying for personal improvement we present to the world around us a curated image of what we want people to see and often our private reality is one of failure pain heartache and shame but guess what the key to your freedom is to realize that your freedom is not about you your freedom is about jesus when jesus went to the cross he yielded his body to death as a perfect sacrifice he gave himself willingly for us and now we aren't living in our sin anymore from the time that adam and eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we have all known that there is sin in us because there is sin in us and because of the sin we live in our lives naturally with guilt shame failure inadequacy hurt rejection and fear these emotions i'd have to preach about them they are deeply ingrained in our understanding of who we are just nod your head if you're saying yeah i get you john i feel you and every time we sin fail experience rejection or feel afraid our understanding of our identity is confirmed so the way that we're going to get free is not by keep coming back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we've got to keep coming back to jesus jesus died for our sin he washed you clean and now god looks at you and regardless of what you did today yesterday last month or last year god calls you righteous god accepts you god wipes out your record god welcomes you home jesus calls us brothers and sisters [Applause] mind-blowing emoji jesus calls us brothers and sisters and the way that god sees you is a radical departure from how you see you so if we are going to find the freedom that we want we're going to have to find what it is to come back to jesus because the bible now calls you more than a conqueror through him who loves us the bible says you're the righteousness of god in christ jesus you're an overcomer by the blood of the lamb the bible says whom the sun sets free is free indeed so the bible says you're a conqueror that you're righteous an overcomer and that you're free but in all of them it's all through jesus you're more than a conqueror through jesus you're the righteous of god in jesus you're an overcomer by the blood of jesus you're free because jesus sets you free how about we have three seconds and just praise god let's go for five seconds let's thank jesus for what he has done for us okay grab a seat i got to keep moving i'm going to get this done on time i promise you if all your life you've been conditioned to see yourself outside of a relationship with god and now the acceptance and forgiveness of jesus has entered your life the truth is god has changed you but it's too easy to continue your life with an old understanding of who you are even though there is now a new you there's a new you but you can easily still live your life with the old you colossians 1 21 talks about the old you and it says you were once far away from god you were his enemy you were separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions rejection pain we could go through this this is heavy stuff not good but in verse 20 of colossians 1 this is what the bible says god's made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by the means of christ's blood on the cross you're not an enemy of god you're a friend of god you're not rejected by him you're accepted we've got to keep coming back to jesus see here's the thing if you've lived your entire life right entire life until you came to the service tonight in abject poverty and i'm not talking about cute new zealand poverty where you wish you had more sneakers i'm talking about if you literally for years of your life didn't know whether you were going to eat tomorrow or the day after abject poverty and i came to you and i said i'm going to give you 100 million dollars i'm giving it to you right now here is the card you have access to 100 million dollars how many people know i just changed your life but let me tell you what that one moment doesn't change it doesn't change the lifetime of habits that have become part of who you are the anxiety you feel around food security the culture you have in your life and amongst your friends the emotion of fear that has been attached to the scarcity of your life you may now have a hundred million dollars but you're going to have to go through a journey of re-learning what this newfound wealth means for you in every circumstance and situation of your life you're going to have to rewire your understanding you're going to have to change your expectation and it's the same for us when we find jesus we once were alienated we once were separated we once were enemies of god we once were bound by sin but when we find jesus we're not there anymore the problem with many christians is that they're not saved enough they're not a christian enough they've been given the perfect record of jesus have acceptance to the throne of grace invited freely to come before god in our hour of need but in most situations we're still trying to figure everything out on our own and that's why we struggle to be free so the first step to freedom is we've got to replace the lie with the truth because every negative thing you've ever believed about yourself was maybe once valid at one point in your journey but if you know jesus my friend that's not you anymore the gospel tells us that there was a problem we couldn't solve it and that's why jesus came and now our problem is solved through the finished work of jesus christ so we've got to keep coming back to jesus keep coming back to what he did keep coming back to what he says about us keep coming back to what he has declared is true about you and me we're going to keep coming back to jesus in worship in thanksgiving oh love you god grateful god but we also have to come back to him in acceptance we have to honor jesus by believing that what he did for us on the cross gives us the right to be who he has called us to be we have to honor him by saying there was an old me but i am now a new person because of jesus whether i feel like it or not whether i perform like it or not what i do doesn't change who i am because it's not about my knowledge it's about his life and this is what he says about me and what he says about me is always true for me if you believe that could you give god about three seconds five let's go seven seven seconds of praise three four five six seven thank god for jesus [Applause] listen to me a prince or a princess is always a prince or a princess no matter what they feel and no matter what they do you're always a prince you're always a princess whether you feel like it or whether you act like it your behavior doesn't change who you are but here's the truth about a prince or a princess knowing who they are changes what they feel and changes what they do knowing who you are in christ is the greatest key to changing you i want to say it again so you can write it down with your thumbs knowing who you are in christ is the greatest key to changing you why because you will never behave consistently in a way that is inconsistent with what you believe to be true about you i'll say it again you will never behave consistently in a way that is inconsistent with what you believe to be true about you so the way that we find our freedom is to come back to the tree of life and to say who am i who are you well let me tell you tonight who you are first peter 2 9 you are a chosen people you are a royal priesthood you are a holy nation you are god's special possession that you may now declare the praises of him who called you out of that darkness and into his wonderful light let's give jesus about 10 seconds of praise come on dunedin come on christ church come on comedy come on hamilton and come on wellington give jesus some praise see i'm i'm finishing ben come and join me ban come and join me you'll have a seat in life either one of two things is going to happen either a your behavior will inform your identity or your identity will inform your behavior so when you're living out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil your behavior is informing your identity what you did decides how you believe you are what you faced in life decides who you are your behavior is informing your identity okay but when we get to the tree of life who i am informs what i do identity informs behavior because what i do doesn't change who i am if god said i'm a holy people i'm a holy people whether i feel like it or not whether i behave like it or not what i do doesn't change who i am oh if you get it give god a little bit of praise in this auditorium one of the greatest ways you can show your love for god one of the greatest ways you can show your love for god is to accept as truth that jesus went to the cross to make you who he wants you to be despite how you feel the cross is powerful enough your emotions might lie but jesus never does you might have failed you might have been hurt you might have been abused you might have suffered all kinds of craziness but i'm here to tell you that in jesus you are loved you are accepted you are righteous you are holy you are free you are a conqueror you are alive and jesus is in your life if you believe it stand your feet and give god some praise come on give god some praise okay okay okay so here's your homework for this week we're going to go on a nine week journey we're going to get into the details people we're going to let it all hang out we're going to break some unforgiveness we're going to get free from some lust we're going to have a transformation in our lives it's going to be amazing but here's your homework for week one i don't care what's wrong with you i don't i do care but i'm saying week one it's not our focus to look at our struggles our inadequacies our prisons our darkness all i want you to do this week is i want you to rehearse who you are i want you to rehearse who you are i want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt i want you to tell the devil i want you to tell yourself i want you in worship to tell jesus you said i'm free so i'm free you've said i'm righteous so i'm righteous you said i'm loved so it doesn't matter who's hurt me left me neglected me abuse me i am loved accepted chosen favored call destin i'm the head another tale above only and not the knees i'm more than a congress through him who love me i'm the righteous of god in christ jesus i will never be defeated i'm letting triumph on procession the blood of jesus has broken every curse i'm free because of jesus whack five people around you and tell them rehearse who you are rehearse who you are rehearse who you are see friend friend friend stop agreeing with the devil when he tells you who you are say shut up devil when he tries to tell you that you're a failure a sinner rejected a victim inadequate a slave to sin say get behind me satan and start agreeing with god who says that you are called you are chosen you are highly valued you are without fault you are royal you are loved you are more than a conqueror if you're grateful for jesus give him some praise

Channel: ARISE Church

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Length: 40min 16sec (2416 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021