Unshackled Purpose - “The Number One Relationship” (USP210001)

as human beings our need for social interaction is huge stay tuned to learn about the most important relationship you could ever form [Music] they try to change us from the outside in and that's never going to work because i know that no matter how hard and cold the exterior may seem i know that inside we hurt so we just want to come and share some hope with you and let you know that we love you and that jesus loves you beyond anybody in this world i'm not here today to judge you or condemn you we're here today to tell you that we love you and we understand the situation that you're in hello i'm jason bradley and i'm so glad that you decided to join us today i'm here with my brother in christ brother lemuel vega we do ministry together we've gone into many prisons and ministered to those that are incarcerated tell us a little bit about christmas behind bars you know christmas behind bars jason is our prayer and desire is to bring hope to the men and women that are behind bars because they feel hopeless and they're really not they're in prime in a prime position to go upward you know and you spoke about the most important relationship is with jesus that relationship in our world today with social distancing and people being alienated from their families and their friends and society they actually suicide is on the rise during incarceration and so they feel so alone but as we have the opportunity to partner together three abn and christmas behind bars literature material evangelism food grocery sacks hygiene items to bring hope to the prisoners and the beauty of christmas behind bars brother is every inmate in the whole prison receives a package wow it's not just to the ones that come out to the thursday night bible study or the friday evening gathering or or the service on the weekend it's about every inmate receives something and you know we actually got a letter from an inmate from the statesville correctional facility just north of here in joliet illinois and this christian brother wrote this inmate wrote this letter inmate wrote this letter and he said that he gave his package away and i'm thinking 3 000 packages you gave your package away i began to read the letter and there was this muslim man on his dormitory turned the package down because it had to do with christianity so the muslim man said no he said i don't want the package the officer went on down didn't give him a package and this christian brother over here saw that take place he took the literature out of the bag he put some new socks in there he put some other items in the bag folded it up and he wrote a note there's no strings attached this package is a gift and it's for you let me tell you what happened that man came back to his bed area he picked up the bag he read the letter he began opening the bag and taking out the contents and laying it on his bed and then he stood up and the letter said that this man spoke loudly over the gallery the dormitory area he said i don't know which one of you christian brothers gave this to me he said but i thank you and your god wow this man is i think he was in his 70s he was older he lost his family didn't have any way to come and see him no support so this christian man gave up his package that this individual could see god's love and so that's amazing so one simple story of the ministry and three abn donated materials for those bags and christmas behind bars going and so we thank you for the partnership that's huge you know like when people are incarcerated and everything they don't have much right so that is a form of sacrificial giving he gave up his bag and then that muslim man thanked the christians and the christians god our god and our heavenly father gave up his only begotten son jesus to die upon the cross of calvary that we have the opportunity to proclaim the gospel today we have some fruit here this is a little podium makeshift podium our prison podium prison podium all right um and we got some things here um and i'd like to talk about the apples okay is there a scripture that would tie in with that i i think there is i think we can find one right here in psalm chapter 34 verse 8 oh taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the man who trusts in him oh taste and see that the lord is good um you know i have something in my hand and i'm going to ask the audience what this is what is this here i mean as you look at this what would you think this is you perceive this is something brother i'm going to ask you i'm going to give this to you and i'd like you to tell our audience and tell tell me what that is well it's an apple it's an apple you can tell by the way it looks by the way it smells okay so it looks and smells like an apple okay well you think that's an apple there's a lot of fake things in the world today they got plastic apples all what is that that's another apple of a different kind another apple again it looks like an apple it looks like an apple but until we do so what was the scripture brother oh taste and see that the lord is good how can we tell whether this is really apple or not if you taste it taste it it taste man that is a good apple and that is sweet what i like to tell the world today we need to taste and see that god is really good and as we begin to experience of who he is in our lives we begin to find comfort peace hope you have an apple i hope you enjoy your apple thank you you're very welcome oh you got another apple thank you very much nice nice brother what would you say about the tasting aspect about a relationship with jesus what would you share with with the world about how that became real in your life and promised them wherever they are on the spectrum that there's hope for their life that they continue on i would say that a relationship with christ is the most important most impactful relationship that a human being could ever have you know i like to eat right so i love food but i don't just want to watch people eat i don't want to no no i don't want to just watch people eat right i want to partake of that myself amen so when i hear about what god has done for the human race how jesus came and died on the cross for us that while we were yet sinners like he still came and died for us if it were just you he would have died for just you if it were just me he would have died for just me and if it were you at home he would have died for just you and i think that is one of the most powerful things most powerful forms of love and so that relationship with christ is above all other relationships and he accepts us just as we are we don't get all polished up first he he accepts us just as we are and then we get polished up cleanse up and then we're able to be a blessing and fruit to somebody else for his kingdom that's right and he wants us to abide in him abide in him yes so if we go to john chapter 15 verses 1 and 2 and then we'll jump down to verse 4 it says i am the true vine this is jesus speaking and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit abide in me and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me amen so it talks about the vine and it talks about the vine is jesus yes so so here's the vine and and so we begin to produce fruit you talked about something that he purges it he pruneth it he pruneth it and so as as we come to christ we grow with christ then he begins to prune things uh like a tree gets pruned and sometimes that can be hurtful at the time but the pruning process helps us to produce more fruit that's right so as we come to christ we can't just say hey i'm a christian now and i'm gonna abide alone he wants us to stay engrafted into the family of christ amen amen so as far as on this journey wherever you are christ wants to engraft us into the vine that we may have a relationship with our heavenly father through jesus amen amen what would you share brother in closing on this journey and how it's so worthwhile well i would say that you know when we abide in christ we have a place to put our cares to cast our burdens to a person to give our anxiety to we don't need to worry about what's going to happen the next day god provides for all of our needs and so he wants us to to come to him with whatever we're going through with whatever we're struggling with you know this is a time of isolation a time of loneliness a time of of people being in quarantine and all of these things and solitary confinement and inmates not being able to come out and all of that but god still wants to speak with each and every one of us and i think that's crucial especially in a time such as this i like what you said about abiding in him today and holding on to today because if we worry about the cares of tomorrow yeah if we worry about the past and the burdens of yesterday then we lose today and that's what we have today we've been granted this day to grow in a personal relationship with him this is awesome to be able to share with our viewers what we do do behind bars to share hope with with people that are hurting i grew up with alcoholic parents and my father was in and out of our home but at age 16 i started experiencing with marijuana and then it led into cocaine and then it led into crack i ended up quitting school my senior year september of my senior year at age 26 i started doing meth i'm a bigger girl so i lost weight so became very addictive very fast i've been in and out of jail i i honestly can't even tell you how many times it's a lot when christmas behind bars came in i actually was still in bed and um i just kept hearing him talk about how god had changed his life and i mean it um i've never i've never seen it i've never heard your story and it just it really gives us hope and i instantly had to come to my door and i didn't want to interrupt so i just stood at my door and listened and it was such an inspiring story this time in my incarceration i have never been more serious than any other my other incarcerations i have really just dove into the bible i've been you know praying for the holy spirit and it all started with christmas behind bars really so your story was really amazing and then the gifts was awesome too so thank you how have you seen it make an impact maybe share another story about a life that has been touched you know there was this lady she was in the county jail and she'd gotten arrested and so she's in the jail just like we are today and she got arrested and uh someone told her about the sabbath someone told her about the sabbath said hey you know she's like oh wow okay i know first she'd heard that well she got in some trouble and then they put her in solitary confinement sell by yourself no contact with nobody else and lo and behold brother you know what it was written on the wall that the sabbath the seventh day sabbath is saturday yes so she's in solitary confinement someone had kicked her with her in the in the pod told her about the sabbath she heard about it for the first time in her life she gets put in solitary confinement for whatever happened and it's written on the wall about the sabbath being the seventh day amen amen and dig is here in her bag she got the book out of 30 different books that we used she got the book ten commandments twice removed by shelley quinn and danny shelton yes she wrote this beautiful letter she said i now know without a shadow of a doubt god orchestrated someone to tell her god orchestrated someone to write up on that wall knowing she'd be the recipient of that and god orchestrated one of 30 books the one that she needed to to allow her to know the truth that is huge praise god and what could have seen seemed like a messed up situation right god used for his honor and glory and so she learned something you know about the sabbath something very important amen yes and she could share that she'll share that with other people you know we need bibles we're in the need of bibles and homemade thinking of you cards that this ministry we continue to pass out use bibles and so people could send us to us or get them to three abn and so we could sure use bibles and homemade thinking of you cards yes absolutely and when you get the when you send those you know you've been incarcerated how important is it to receive something like that oh and mail call they don't get mail they don't get letters and so every letter thinking of you card we give them is worth its weight in gold thank you every life committed to christ that's right it's worth it that's right you can't put a price on a soul thank you for what you're doing and thank you for sharing these practical illustrations with us we want to encourage you to give your heart to the lord if you haven't done so already spend time with christ remember he loves you with an everlasting love until next time

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 1,351

Rating: 4.9354839 out of 5

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, Unshackled Purpose, Prison, Jail, Inmate, Incarcerated, Relationship with God

Id: K3IZGbQI7WE

Length: 14min 15sec (855 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021