Freedom Encounter | Pastor Jimmy Purchase | Part 1

Welcome to our Freedom Encounter, everybody! My name is Jimmy. And my name is Nakia, and we are so excited to host you today. Yeah, today is a celebration. Give yourself a round of applause. You completed your Freedom Experience. Come on! For the last eight weeks, you've walked through this curriculum, you've done the hard work of doing the homework, writing down scriptures. I remember writing down some of the scriptures, and I'm not sure who wrote the curriculum, but they chose some long scriptures to write. My hand was cramping quite a bit. Your laugh, because I think that was you, too, anyway. But I mean, just an amazing experience walking through eight weeks of finding out what are the things that are still buried deep within me that God wants to free me from. Yeah. And at the beginning of Freedom, you learned that how you view God is how you approach Him. So our hope today is that you approach God freely, joyfully, and confidently, knowing that He is a loving Father, that He is full of grace and mercy, and that He sees you through the righteousness of Christ. God sent His Son so that you could experience true freedom. And today, we get to celebrate that abundant life to the full freedom that He has given us. And it is from that place and that reality that we get to come before God this morning and worship. That's right. So today is all about celebration. You've spent eight weeks just digging up all these things that you've been holding down in your soul.

Today is the time for you to worship and to surrender it to the Lord. Are you ready for that? Yes. All right. So a couple just housekeeping rules. If you can't tell, we've separated men and women. I know it feels like a middle school dance. Sorry about that. I know you're probably like, I want to sit with my spouse. I know. Just hang with us. This is why we're doing this. We're going to have some times of prayer, and our prayer is going to be separate men and women as well. We want our groups to sit together. Men, I know we've got some in this section, some in this section. If you could maybe move into this section, that would be awesome. Looking at all of you guys over there, if you just move over here sometime, that'd be great. Anyway, we're going to have some time of prayer, but here I'd love for you to stand. We're going to pray before we enter into a time of worship. So if you would, let's bow our hearts and open up our souls to the Lord. Let's pray. Oh, gracious Lord, heavenly Father, thank you. Knowing all about us, you've taken all of our sin to the cross. You put it on your son, and you've punished your son in our place. Your son died and rose again in victory over every single thing that would ever bind us. Over all of our shame, the things that even our lips trembled to name, you've carried it to your cross, and you've said it is finished. And I pray, Lord, that during our times of worship and teaching and prayer, one, that

you'd be glorified. And as you're glorified, would you free us? Would we feel the victory that you've won for us? And would we live in light of that? We love you, Jesus. Hear our prayers and our praise for your name and your renown and all God's people said. Amen. Let's come on and pray. Christ, let's start praying. Ready to worship, folks? Ready to worship? Come on, everybody, put your hands together right there. Come on, clap like you love him. The Bible says to joy in the Lord. This is the day you've made, so I will rejoice and be glad, rejoice and be glad in you, in you, in you, in you. This day has been made. This day has been made. I will rejoice and be glad, rejoice and be glad in you, in you, in you. This is where I believe you are more than enough, more than enough for me. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. Sing it like you mean it. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Sing, oh my soul, oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Everybody clap your hands right in there. Everybody.

Jesus, come one day. You are worthy, Lord, worthy. ♪ Give up my praise ♪ You are faithful to your promise ♪ You are strong when I'm in need Sing. ♪ When I'm standing in your presence ♪ I have everything I need Everybody sing. ♪ The joy of the Lord, yeah ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength And it's more than a promise. ♪ The joy of the Lord, yeah ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength Sing. ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ Oh, my soul Sing. ♪ All that is within me Sing. Sing. ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength Come on. Everybody clap your hands. Yeah. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ We love you, Lord ♪ And we bless your name ♪ Let it rise up You know it.

Sing. ♪ Like a Sing. ♪ Overflowing Yeah. ♪ Holy Sing. ♪ Let it pour out ♪ Let it pour out ♪ With no end ♪ Overflowing ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ Let it rise up ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ Overflowing ♪ Holy Spirit ♪ Let it pour out ♪ With no limit ♪ Overflowing ♪ Holy Spirit Sing it, John. ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ Is my strength ♪ It's more than a feeling ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ Is my strength ♪ Sing all my soul ♪ Hmm, hmm, hmm

♪ Yeah ♪ All that is ♪ All my soul ♪ All my soul ♪ Yeah ♪ All that is ♪ All my soul ♪ All my soul ♪ Let's be singing ♪ All that is ♪ All that is ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ Come on, everybody clap your hands right now! ♪ Come on, everybody clap your hands right. Come on, everybody clap your hands. Hey! Come on, somebody give them a round of praise! Hallelujah! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. ♪♪♪ Hallelujah! ♪♪♪ ♪ I pray into the atmosphere ♪ Spirit of God, you're here

♪ You have all authority ♪ I pray over my mind and heart ♪ I am healed by your stripes ♪ Your blood declares that I am free Come on, sing it! ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ I pray calling on the power of heaven ♪ I proclaim every weapon formed against me ♪ Must pray in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ I draw my prone and bounding bow ♪ The enemy has no right to come ♪ Near my family Amen! ♪ I will seek and never undo God's will ♪ No matter the circumstance ♪ The cross has sealed my destiny ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ I pray calling on the power of heaven ♪ I proclaim every weapon formed against me ♪ Must pray in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know all the power of fear and darkness must go ♪ ♪ Every key to every victory ♪ ♪ I'll hold in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ When the enemy comes near ♪ ♪ On the dark frame of my life ♪ ♪ Is the blood of Jesus Christ ♪

♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus, come on, let's sing it ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ When the enemy comes near ♪ ♪ On the dark frame of my life ♪ ♪ Is the blood of Jesus, come on, I will not ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ It's in the mighty name of Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ I'm praying, calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim, every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ Must reign, in the mighty name of Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ Jesus, it's in the mighty name of Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ All the power of fear and darkness must go ♪ ♪ It's every key to every victory, come on ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ Jesus, it's in the mighty name of Jesus, come on ♪ Thank You, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. ♪♪ Yes, Lord. ♪ I searched the world, but it wouldn't fill me, no ♪ ♪ A man's empty praise and treasures that fail are never enough ♪ ♪ You came along and put me back together, Lord ♪ ♪ Now every desire is now satisfied here in You, Lord ♪ ♪ Cause there's nothing better than You, Lord, there's nothing that's better than You, Lord ♪

♪ There's nothing, nothing is better than You, Lord ♪ Yes. ♪♪ ♪ Es el Dios de los valles, y no hay lugar que me pueda negar de Su gracia y amor ♪ ♪ No hay nada, nada es mejor, no hay nada, nada es mejor, no hay nada, nada es mejor que el Dios ♪ Sing to the Lord this morning. No I'm not, not a man, no I'm not Not a man, no I'm not Not a man, or a man be yours Hallelujah You turn morning to desert You give a beauty for ashes Can you believe I'm sick today? You're a shame into glory You're the only one who cares You turn morning to desert You give a beauty for ashes You turn shame into glory You're the only one who cares You turn graves into gardens You turn bones into armies You turn seas into highways You're the only one who cares The only one who cares Cause there's nothing better than you Lord, there's nothing at all Hallelujah Nothing is better than you Sing to Him There's nothing better than you

Lord, there's nothing better than you Lord, there's nothing Nothing is better than you You turn graves into gardens You turn bones into armies You turn seas into highways You're the only one who cares You turn graves into gardens You turn bones into armies You turn seas into highways You're the only one who cares You're the only one who cares You're the only one who cares Can we give the Lord some praise this morning If He's been faithful to you Can you lift a shout of praise this morning Hallelujah Hallelujah Oh, Jesus, we thank you, Lord Thank you, God, that we're in this place, Lord of grace Thank you that you're faithful, Lord And we can fully trust you this morning With our lives, with freedom, Lord Thank you that we have the mind of Christ as our inheritance Thank you, Lord, that we've been washed by the blood, Lord Thank you that we have no heirs with you, Jesus Thank you that we've died to sin with you, Lord Thank you that the scripture says that sin was condemned In the flesh of Jesus Thank you for your sacrifice, Lord

We love you, Lord We plead the blood this morning We plead the blood this morning Thank you for forgiveness Thank you that we can go to the throne of grace Boldly as sons and daughters Thank you for identity, Lord A father, a father in heaven A father in heaven A good, good, good father in heaven We love you, Lord We pray for just a blessing over tonight, Lord I pray that you speak to us clearly May we hear your voice this morning clearly, Jesus In the name of Jesus, we pray all these things And the church says, Amen God bless you Good morning, Calvary We are so glad you're here This is such a beautiful, beautiful moment Let's just, just for fun Let's shout freedom on the count of three. Ready? One, two, three. Freedom. Yes, that's such a good, good sound. And we are excited about what today is. You know, today is really a culmination of something that happened five plus years ago. As we were reading through the book of Exodus as a church

and talking about the things that God wanted to bring us into freedom, well, we began to talk to other leaders and other churches and other communities and how do we grow and how do we become free in deeper and deeper ways. And so for the last five years, our church has been on this journey and it's been an incredible journey. When we were worshiping, I thought of this line. When we were singing graves into gardens, how he takes our shame and turns it into glory. And that's actually a verse in scripture in Hebrews chapter two, where the author of Hebrews describes Jesus as someone who's bringing many sons and daughters to glory. And the opposite of glory is shame and bondage. So we're all on this beautiful journey together as the family of God and I'm excited. And so as I was driving here, I was just praying for everyone who is driving and the expectations that you have of what do I want God to bring freedom in my life and what's my expectation? And some of you already know because you've been on this eight week journey in your group and God's stirring up that thing in you, that thing that sort of just drags you down and that thing where you just can't even say it out loud. And for some of you, you don't even know what it is today. And the beautiful thing about God's spirit is he has a way to reveal what we need

in ways that we don't even know. And so in a moment, I'm just gonna ask you just to sit quietly in the presence of God and just put your expectations before him. What do I expect you to do in my life today, Jesus? Holy Spirit, what are the areas I'm aware of that I need freedom and what are the spaces I'm not aware of? What are those things in my life I've never actually even said out loud to someone else? And today, would you give me the courage maybe to say it to someone and watch you work? And so I'm just gonna say, let's just take a moment and let's just put our expectations before God, our quiet prayers before God, all those areas of our life that we wanna be free but we don't know how to be free, and invite his power and his presence to stir and bring freedom in a deep way. Just take a moment. Father, here we are. We invite you by the power of your spirit to reveal in those areas of our life where we are not free, where shame and unforgiveness and greed or pride or brokenness still has a stronghold in God. We pray that you would set us free, you'd break chains, because you promised we could know the truth and the truth will set us free. You promised that the sun sets us free. You promised that we would be free.

We pray that you would set us free. We pray that you would set us free. We pray that you would set us free. We pray that you would set us free. You promised that the sun sets us free, we'll be free indeed. God, we know that you're leading your people from shame to glory, from slavery to freedom, to a promised land. We know these things are true, and we know they're true for us. And so take whatever obstacles are in the way and move them. Help us to be vulnerable, help us to lean in, help us to take a risk today and watch you honor that risk, honor that faith, show up in power. We pray this in Jesus' name. Everyone take a deep breath. All right, so today's gonna be different. It's not gonna be like a normal church service. You're gonna hear some teachings, and then there's gonna be moments where you sit in quiet. There's gonna be moments where you stand and pray prayers together and make confessions and declarations together. And you're like, why do we do that? Because the Bible says there's power in the tongue, the power of life and death. And when we speak something that's true about God or about us in the presence of other people,

we don't want just heaven to hear it. Listen, we want hell to hear it. You don't belong to Satan anymore. You're free. And so we say that declaration before the heavens, and we say it before the demons of hell, and we say it for ourselves so that we can hear it, that we are sons and daughters, that we are free, that what Jesus said about us is true. And so those moments that might seem a little awkward, why are we doing this? These are important for us as God forms us in this identity. And so lean into those uncomfortable spaces as you come and pray. Every moment to come and pray, you're like, man, I don't know if I wanna come and pray or I don't have anything to pray about. Come forward and pray. into these uncomfortable spaces because God loves to work in uncomfortable spaces and reveal himself in new ways. And then the final thing I'll say is, Satan doesn't want what's about to happen here to happen. And I want to tell you just one particular verse before I introduce our first speaker, and it's Moses. Moses gets this command to go lead the people to freedom. The people have been crying for 400 years. God, free us. He shows up to tell them that God's going to lead them to freedom.

And here's the response, Exodus 6, 9. Moses reported all the things that God had told him to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him. Why? Because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. Because of their trauma, their broken spirit, because they'd lived so long in brokenness and slavery. Even the thing they prayed for, they couldn't listen to or receive because of that block. And I want you to all be aware, all of us have that block. If you've lived in a set of brokenness for a long period of time, let's be honest, it's sort of comfortable because you know what to expect. You've developed all your coping mechanisms around that. But today, we don't want you to live in a broken spirit or cruel bondage or discouragement. We want you to live with the hopeful expectation that Jesus is going to set people free today. He's going to do miracles in this place. And so for heaven that witnesses and all the demons of hell that watch in our own testimony, we are going to be the people of freedom. And so on the count of three, let's shout freedom one more time. One, two, three. Freedom! All right, and let's welcome our first speaker, Pastor Jimmy Purchase. He's talking to us about pride and mammon

and the freedom that Christ can give us. Jimmy. Thanks, Doug. Good morning, everybody. Long time no see. All right. I want to open up by asking you a question. Have you ever wanted to change something in your life, but you hit a roadblock? You ever try to do like a house project and you start it and then you hit one obstacle after another, after another, and what should have taken like a Saturday afternoon, it still sits unfinished like four months later? Is that, I just want to make sure I'm not alone in that. All right, great. You ever wanted to, maybe you tried to instill a new habit in your life and like you just can't quite get there. It's just like you keep failing. Change is never easy. Sometimes it's like one step forward, two steps back. I have been on a health journey the last couple of years. Did pretty well, you know, got into shape. And then the Christmas break kicked in. It's those like little Christmas cookies, man, they get you. And so, anyway, so I started, you know, trying to take my health more seriously, eat clean, exercise as often as I can,

exercise as often as I possibly can. But then I realized that there was really one obstacle that I could never really quite get over. It's like one thing that just always gets the best of me. It's one thing that every time I see it, I give in. And this is, we've been on this really cool, intimate journey the last few weeks. I feel like I can be really honest with you. Is that okay? All right, I'm gonna tell you what that one thing is. So no shame, all right, here we go. It's cereal, everybody. Now I did really well with this, like really, really well. And then like two weeks ago, I went to Publix. I never go to Publix hungry, it's never a good idea. And so I go to Publix and I'm getting the salads, I'm getting like Greek yogurt. And then I look down the cereal aisle and I see BOGO. At that point, you're saving money, right? That's what I, and it was Captain Crunch. Yeah, cause here's the thing. The adult cereals are respectable. Special K, Honey Bunches of Oats, no shade on those. It's the Lucky Charms that gets you, right? I love health, but there is nothing like a late night bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Come on somebody, that's what's up. Listen, change, there's something about our path to change, our desire to change that always puts us face to face with the very things that hold us back.

Have you felt that? And so what we have to do, even as we begin our time today, is we have to find what are those things and do the hard work of uprooting them, even though it could be painful. These are things that have held us for years, if not decades. And so what can we do to uproot them and surrender it to the Lord? And so there are two things, there are two roadblocks, two obstacles that can get in the way of our own growth. Everyone say two things. Two things. Here's what they are, pride and mammon. Pride and mammon. Turn to the person on your left and say pride. Pride. Listen, let's find out. what the scriptures say about pride. Take a look at this, Proverbs 16. Here's what it says. Pride goes before destruction. A haughty spirit, which means a proud attitude before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. I love how Eugene Peterson in his translation of the message, how he words this. Listen to these words.

He goes, first pride, then the crash. The bigger the ego, the harder the fall. Have you ever seen this play out? You know, pride comes up in the scriptures 66 times. And each time it's a warning. We see God remove his anointing from people because of their pride and arrogance. We see God wipe out kings because of their pride. We see God wipe out entire nations because of their pride. Now you might hear that, like Jimmy, like what's the big deal? Why does God care about how I think about myself or how I carry myself? It's because pride ultimately is a worship issue. What you're doing when you're drowning in pride, when pride has a grip on you, what's happening is you're turning your worship from God onto yourself. You start to look around at your life and go, look what I did. This is all about me. That's what happens when pride grips you. And if you want to be fully surrendered to Jesus, and if you want to experience the true life and freedom he has for you, the first thing we have to do is surrender our pride. Pride causes you to worship yourself. I love how John Tyson, he's a pastor in New York City, how he defines pride. Listen to these words.

He says, pride is a commitment to taking the seat on the throne of your life. It's the belief that you deserve to be at the center of the known universe. Now you might hear that like, Jimmy, I've met some prideful people, that's not me. I'm quiet, I'm an introvert. It's the extroverts. Those guys are prideful. No. Pride can manifest itself in numerous different ways. Here's one. It can manifest in a lust for power, which is like a longing to control situations and people around you. It can manifest in selfishness, which is like a self-centered approach to life. You think life is all about you. It can manifest with competition or comparison. You ever look at somebody and think, I think I'm better than them. It could lead to being jealous of others, having a deep, hot anger towards others and life itself. Also can look like being unwilling to admit the way you perceive reality, perceive people, situations is wrong. It's unwillingness to say, yeah, I messed up. Pride can look numerous different ways. Your needs are always top priority. Your opinions are always superior.

You wanna make sure everyone knows how much work you do for them at all times. You are living life, revolving it around yourself. Scriptures are clear that a prideful imagination is a dangerous thing. Now, I wanna ask you, how prideful do you think you are? Now, you might think like, ah, I'm not too bad. We're gonna have a little diagnostic test today. All right, everybody, pop quiz. It's like high school all over again. I'm gonna read some questions. I just want you to see how they sit in your soul. And if any of these questions make you feel a little embarrassed, I think your soul might be telling on you a little bit. All right? Listen to these questions. We'll see where you are on the pride spectrum. Number one, am I easily offended? You don't have to answer it out loud. But don't worry, I'm easily offended too. Okay, it's all right. Am I independent? Do I have little or no dependence on the Holy Spirit? Is my life marked by strife or division? Do I have trouble with authority? Do I struggle with repentance? Is it hard to apologize or admit wrongdoing? Do I receive criticism or correction well? Or do I turn it back on the other person?

Am I fueled by impatience? Do I ever consider the thoughts of others? Do I always think I'm right? Do I think I'm more entitled than other people? Here's the last one. Am I self-exalting? So how prideful do you feel now? If you wanna be fully surrendered and truly experience the life God has for you, you have to surrender your pride. C.S. Lewis, he says this. Through pride, the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every vice. It's the complete anti-God state of mind. Listen again to this warning from Proverbs. When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. That just reminds me of my own story, my own fight with pride. Growing up, my parents would tell me that I was quite a prideful kid. I didn't love the idea of authority. I wanted to live life my own way. I never would admit that I was wrong. I never would apologize. I thought life was all about me, and that really didn't change. And then when I was a teenager, I was a musician. I'd been playing guitar for a while,

and I started a three-piece punk rock band with my friends, okay? I'm not gonna tell you the band name. We weren't good. No, we're not on Spotify, okay? Just... And so it was just a three-piece band. So it was guitar, bass, and drums. I just wanna paint a little picture of how this band operated, okay? I was the only guitar player, which means I wrote all the songs. I played all the lead guitar riffs. I also was the only vocalist. So who did the band really revolve around? Yeah. And then a new kid moved into the neighborhood. His name was Jesse. And my friends went to school with Jesse, and they were like, man, Jimmy, you gotta hear Jesse play guitar. He's really good. And I was like, sure, okay, yeah. So I sat down, I heard him sing, I heard him play, and he was better than me in like every way. And so my friends were like, man, we gotta get Jesse in the band. And I was like, do we really though? You know, do we have to? I think we got a good thing going.

You know what my friends did? They started a band with the other kid. That's a true story. And like you would think I would learn my lesson, but not at all. A couple of years after that, the Lord had worked in my life in some really cool ways. And I was on staff at a church here in South Florida, a couple of thousand people, numerous campuses. I was a worship leader on staff. And so I'm leading worship to packed rooms full of people. The church was experiencing wild growth. And I started getting some really amazing leadership opportunities when I was 18, 19, and 20 years old. And it just seemed like I was gonna be and it just seemed like everything I was doing was turning to gold. And I kind of let that get to me a little bit. So I started walking around this church that God has just been so graciously and like worked into my life. And I was like walking around like I own the place. Walking around like, man, this place is so glad I'm on staff. They're so happy they have me. And then when I started teaching more, I started thinking like, man, I'm really good. I can't wait till I get more opportunities. I can't wait till everyone can see how good I am. Or I would listen to somebody teach and I was upset that I didn't get the opportunity.

And then I'd be like, man, like he was horrible. Wait till I get my chance. And I just walked around like I was God's gift to this church. I was 19 years old. Don't you love know-it-all teenagers? And then here's where it all changed for me. I was in a teaching team meeting and I made sure to tell my boss that I knew more than he did. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth, right? And at that moment, the lead pastor pulled me aside and had what we call in the church world a come to Jesus moment. And I'll tell you what he did. In that moment, he looked at me and he pointed out all the ways I'd allowed pride to infiltrate my leadership in life. He pointed out and told me some specific things that he noticed in my life over the years. And he goes, hey, you've done this, you've said this, you carry yourself like this. You can't minister like that. I'd never had someone talk to me like this before. And if it wasn't for his sharp words, like I don't know what kind of leader, pastor, father, husband I would be. Someone had to point out all the ways I had allowed pride to take root in my life. Here's what scripture says about pride.

Listen to this. This is how God responds to pride. James 4, 6, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. I don't know about you. I don't want God to oppose me. I want God to bless me, right? The second thing that holds us back is mammon. Turn to the person on your right and say mammon. Don't get confused. I know it's like morning, left, right, whatever. Let's go to the other person that you didn't go to earlier. Some of you are like, what is mammon? Mammon is an all-inclusive word that basically describes the power our possessions and wealth can have over us. Mammon, just like pride, is also a worship issue. It causes us to worship our possessions and our wealth rather than the God who's given it to us. Listen to these words from Jesus in Matthew 6, and you're gonna see some words underlined. I want you to read those words out loud like you had like four shots of espresso before you came in today, all right? Can we do that today? All right, listen to the words of Jesus, Matthew 6. Here's what it says. "'No one can serve two masters. "'Either you will hate the one and love the other,

"'or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.'" Read that out loud. You what? We cannot serve both God and money. We can't serve two masters. We cannot glorify God and also glorify our stuff. That's not how that works. When we put all of our attention, affection, and devotion on our things and the creation rather than the creator himself, we have a worship problem. The Bible gives us so many warnings about greed and mammon. Listen to this, Proverbs 1.19. "'Such are the ways of everyone "'who is greedy for unjust gain. "'It takes away the life from its possessors.'" Luke 12. "'Then he said to them, "'Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. "'Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.'" And one of my favorites, listen to this. Proverbs 15.27, "'Greed brings grief to the whole family.'" Now, you might hear that and be like, Jimmy, you got nothing to worry about. I don't have enough money to be greedy. Calvary, listen. Greed has nothing to do with an amount and everything to do with your heart. Everything to do with your heart. Scripture says, when we're born, we come into this world with nothing.

And when we leave this earth, we come into this world with nothing. And when we leave this earth, we leave with nothing. We live our whole life between two zeros. Two zeros. What's there to hoard? What do we have that we haven't been given? All of life and its possessions are a gift. So we have two options. We can spend our whole life ignoring the warnings of pride and mammon, or we can surrender them to the Lord and say, God, here I am. Have all of me. My life is yours. The first step in uprooting pride and mammon is looking to Jesus. Martin Luther, the reformer, would say that in the presence of God, we are all beggars. First step into uprooting that is to look at the cross. Look at what Paul writes about Jesus in Philippians 2. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. The gospel shows us the humility and generosity of Jesus and calls us to live the same way. We are to look at the humility of Jesus and have that other person mindset. We are to look at the generosity of Jesus who lays down his life and goes, because of that, I get to be generous to others. The world says, live for yourself, but Jesus calls us to serve others. The world says, hold on to as much of your stuff as you can. You never know when you're gonna need it, but Jesus says, generosity brings joy. The world says, take pride in what you've amassed in your life, but Jesus says, what do you have that you have not been given? Lastly, before we close and go to our next talk, John Stott says, before we can see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us. Our pride and our worship of our possessions, our mammon, are just two of the many things that put Jesus on a cross. And on the cross, God knowing all about you, all the ways that you've been made, as you would live for yourself, worship yourself, all the ways that you would allow your possessions

and your resources to control you, all the idols you would ever worship in your life, knowing all about you, placed all of your sin on his son and punished his son Jesus in your place. Here's what that means, church. That means everything in your past was known and paid for. Everything in your present, known and paid for. Anything that would ever bind you or hold you in the future, listen to these words, known and paid for on the cross. Jesus would die on that cross and three days later, rise again in victory over not some of your sin and shame, but all of it, all of it. And so that's why in just a moment, when you come together for prayer, you can go to the Lord boldly. You can confess the ways that you've allowed your resources and your finances to control you. You could confess the ways that you've allowed pride to take root in your life. You can do all of those things because it's been known by Jesus, paid for it, and there is a victory over it. Let's stand together. And freedom, one of my favorite things about this curriculum is we learned about the power of words. We learned about why words have meaning, words are meant to bless. And so what we're gonna do after every talk is we're going to stand and read out loud together

a prayer of confession. We're going to confess these truths, and as we do, we're gonna get them deep into our souls. I want you to read these out loud. We're gonna read it together in unison. We're gonna have it on the screen. Let's read together. Lord, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Please forgive me for the sins of pride, greed, and selfishness. I have rebelled against you and I ask for your mercy. Today, I surrender my pride and my possessions completely to you. I know when I confess my sins to you, you meet me with mercy, kindness, and forgiveness. Thank you for being my loving father. I commit myself to you today because you first loved me. I give you my family, I give you my possessions, I give you all my goals and ambitions because Jesus gave his life for me. Help me to serve others. God, let your generosity lead me to live generously. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Now, you can have a seat, and would you do me a favor and give a very warm and maybe slightly obnoxious welcome to Marta, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. That was so good, Jimmy.

Thank you so much. Hi, everybody. Hi, how are you? Good to see you this morning. Well, for the last couple of weeks, you guys have been meeting in groups and going over the freedom curriculum, and you are sharing stories, your hurts, your pains, and everything that God has been doing in your lives through those eight weeks. And today, I'm going to share with you a part of my story as it relates to rejection and fear. And my prayer is that God will do a transformative work in our hearts as he uproots and remove lies, fears, and feelings of rejection. Let's pray one more time. Father God, we come before you, and we give you this time, Lord. We ask you that you open our hearts and our minds, and let hear your voice and transform our hearts forever. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well, I was born into a family of entertainers. My dad was a singer, and my mom was an actress. And even though I don't remember a lot of details of my early years, I do remember one thing that when I was eight years old, my mom and my dad called my brother and I into a family meeting. I was so excited about this meeting.

I had no idea what it was about. But in my mind, I thought, well, maybe they are gonna tell us about our vacation that we're taking together. Or maybe it is about us moving to a bigger house. Well, it has a playground, and we can play. I don't know, but I was so curious about this. And it turned out to be that that day, my mother and my dad told my brother and I that they were getting a divorce. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but I asked my brother, Alejandro, my older brother, and he said something like, Well, we're not gonna live together anymore. Dad is moving out, and now we're gonna see him every other weekend. And maybe you're sitting here today and you just realized the way you felt when your parents told you about their divorce. And you didn't realize how much that affected you. Because something like that could change your life forever. And I know that maybe like me, you couldn't understand why that was happening. In my eight-year-old little girl mind, I was thinking things like, did I do something wrong? Was it my fault? I don't know, but I was devastated. And I guess that that was the beginning of a long journey of me feeling abandoned, rejected, not worthy, et cetera.

Lies from the enemy like, you are not good enough. You are not lovable. You don't matter, I don't care. All those lies enter my mind and my heart very young, and I believe them all. And I'm pretty sure that you can relate with this because we all have a story. And at some point, we have all been rejected or we will be rejected. But that's not how God design us. God design us to belong and to be loved. Romans 1, 7 says that God loves you dearly and he has called you to be his very own people. And because of the fall, we experienced two things that affect God's design of belonging and love, and that's rejection and fear. Let's talk a little bit about rejection first. Rejection is a painful tool that the enemy uses to steal the best of who we are, and it reinforces the worst of everything that we have seen and done or has been said and done to us. It feels like unworthiness or unimportance or being invisible to those we desire validation, affirmation, and love from. Rejection is the experience of being refused, unwanted, excluded, dismissed, or not accepted by others. If we do not receive the belonging and love that we were designed to receive, we feel and experience rejection.

Think about a time when you have felt rejection. Maybe it was mostly through words, maybe from your parents. You were a mistake. You don't belong with me. Or maybe by your siblings. I hate you. I wish you've never been born. You don't belong here. Or maybe by your spouse. I want a divorce. You don't belong with me. Or maybe by your friends. I don't wanna be your friend anymore. You don't belong with me. Or maybe by your teachers or a coach. What's wrong with you? You don't belong here. Or maybe by your boss. You're fired. You don't belong here. Or maybe by someone of a different race. You don't look like me. You don't belong here. Or maybe it's you. I'm still single. I don't belong anywhere. Fill in your own story of rejection and you can see how it can correlate with that God-designed desire to belong. But God's Word says in Psalm 2710

that though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Psalm 139.14 says, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. No matter what people have said to us, we have to believe what God has said about us. Take a look at this one. No weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord in Isaiah 54.17. We have no control over our past, but we do have control over what we believe in the future. We have a choice. We can choose. and be overcome by rejection, or we can choose to overcome the spirit of rejection. Ephesians 2, 6 says, God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. And Romans 8, 31 says, if God is for us, who can be against us? Can you and I believe that God is always working in our behalf and the enemy wants us to think otherwise? Because word has such power and influence, like we learn in the freedom curriculum, the enemy is constantly reminding us of the negative,

but the Lord is wanting us to believe him. On the other hand, rejection can lead to a distorted or weakened sense of identity. And that's exactly what happened to me. And I'm pretty sure it has happened to you as well. When I was 10 years old, my mom was doing a variety show in TV and the producers needed a little girl to do some comedy skits. And they asked me if I wanted to be part of that. And I said, yes. And that started my acting career. I was 10 years old. I know that that could sound amazing. And in part it is, but there's so much going on behind the scenes of a TV set. Comparison, envy, competition, rejection because you don't look a certain way or because you are not skinny enough, et cetera. You name it. Slowly but surely through the years and because of my lack of identity, I started to look for approval in the wrong places. Can you think of a time when that happened to you? Maybe you experienced rejection in middle school or high school, or maybe you were rejected by a sports team that you dreamed to be part of. Or maybe you wanted to be part of that friend's group

and they never let you in. Or maybe you are rejected at work or by a person right now. The thing is that when we experience rejection, we so wanna be accepted. We so want the approval of a person or a group that we would do anything to get it. In my case, I started to look for identity by imitating a TV personality that I admire at the moment. Or how I looked, or who I hang out with. And speaking of who I hang out with, that's how I met my husband, Jose. We were filming a soap opera together and I saw this handsome, famous, and gorgeous, powerful man. And eventually we fell in love with each other and we married shortly after. And that's when the real soap opera started. The truth is, rejection leave us with a God-sized hole in our hearts that we only try feeling by someone or something other than God. I was trying to fill my empty space in my heart with Jose. I was seeking his approval, his love, and everything else. And when Jose fell short of that, my whole world broke down. And that's when we met Jesus. And our lives changed forever. But when we let the lies of, I'm not enough, people will always leave. If I fail, I'll be abandoned.

Take root in our heart, they will produce fear. Let's talk a little bit about fear now. Fear is a legitimate emotion. In fact, some fear is healthy. Healthy fear is respect, it's reverence. Fear is a God-given instinct to stay alive and respond to something perceived as dangerous, like a fire in your kitchen or a spider in your car. Another healthy fear is to fear the Lord. The Bible says that we are to fear the Lord. We are to stand in awe, in worship of him. Revere him. Proverbs 9.10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 14.26 says, those who fear the Lord are secure. He will be a place of refuge for their children. But now let's look at the Bible. Proverbs 9.11 says, Let's talk a little bit about the unhealthy fear. fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The spirit of fear that prevents us from fully placing our trust in the Lord. The one that is described as dread, terror, fright, timidity, apprehension, and worry. The spirit of fear that takes control and leads to unwise decisions. Second Timothy 1.7 says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear,

but of power and love and of a sound mind. So where does the spirit of fear comes from? It comes from the enemy, Satan. Satan names means adversary, accuser. He's a liar, he's the father of lies. And fear is a lie that comes from rejection. The Bible says it's a spirit of fear. It is of the devil and it is tormenting. The enemy tactic is to bind us, to make us completely ineffective, rob our identity, make us despise our lives, steal our joy and peace, intimidate us, and ultimately destroy us through our fears. Fear keep us from doing what God call us to do. And fear, if not dealt with, can manifest as an overwhelming urge to control things we can't. It also leads to anxiety and a thousands of what ifs questions in our minds. Some fears are learned behaviors and some are internalized from bad experiences. I wanna take a look together as a list of fears and see where do you find yourself. These are different fears that Satan uses to try to separate us from God. Let's take a look. The fear of inadequacy. We are not good enough and never will be. The fear of uncertainty. That one whisper doubts in our minds.

The fear of being wrong. If I make a mistake, I'm a bad person. The fear of the unknown. The worst is about to happen. The fear of being misunderstood. They will assume the worst of all. The fear of failure. We will never succeed. We are a failure. The fear of rejection. They don't love us. They don't like us. The fear of missing out. We are missing the best moment and they didn't even invite us. The fear of change. This will be a horrible new season for our lives. The fear of being judged. We don't fit in. They won't allow us in. The fear of loss. And it could be a title, a position, influence, people, belongings, reputation, relationships. And this is particularly dangerous because it leads to an overwhelming desire for control. You fill in the blank. The fear of what's your fear? What fear Satan is using right now in your life? Think about it. My fear of rejection manifests itself as people pleasing.

And my fear of inadequacy in anxiety and paralysis. My fears keep me stuck. And I'm pretty sure it does for you too. And it was not until I gave my life to Jesus and I started to have a personal relationship with Him and getting to know Him through the Bible that I was able to replace the lies of the enemies with the truth of God's word. I wonder if there is a situation in your life right now where lies and fears are keeping you from stepping out of faith. And I have to say that fear and faith cannot coexist. The good news is that Jesus has the key to unlock my prison and your prison and set us free from rejection and fear. Jesus said in John 10, 10, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. That is a promise for us today. Anyone that has experienced fear and rejection can have life to the full because of Jesus. And this is a beautiful irony. On the cross, Jesus. was rejected so you and I don't have to be today. Look what Isaiah 53 verses three to five says. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we consider him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we were healed. You see, Jesus understands perfectly and exactly how rejection feels. The word healed in verse five means restore, back to the original design. Jesus didn't die just for us to go to heaven one day. He died for us to be free and have freedom now and today. We belong to him. Breaking the hold of fear and control require us to let go of our control and trust God. We must release the control to the Holy Spirit and give him full ownership of our relationships, of our money, reputation, position, lives and our future. The reality is that fear is very present in today's society and if we are not careful, it can get a grip on us. The word certainly tells us that the spirit of fear is not from him. The truth is God is love. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, says 1 John 4.18. God is peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled

and do not be afraid, says John 4.14.27. In the presence of God, fear cannot exist. He's perfect. His love is deeper and higher and longer and wider than we can imagine. His love is willing to take beating after beating so we don't have to. God show his love among us that he sent his one and only son to the world to die for us so we might live a life to the full. When we look to the cross and we see what great love God poured to us, fears will fade away in the light of this realization. The antidote to fear is God's love. David says this in Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation, so why should I be afraid? Paul says this in Roman 8. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba, Father. My earthly father received Christ 20 years before he died in 2005. He experienced the love of God himself and he repented of many things. He also asked me for forgiveness for the many hurts and pains that I had to go through as a kid because of his bad decisions. Praise the Lord for that. This happened before I took my step of faith

and I can say and testify that I was able to see him being transformed by Jesus. And this was a happy ending for me and I know it can be for you as well. But maybe some of us today in this room have unforgiveness in our hearts from the pain we have experienced from rejection or betrayal. In a moment, we're gonna take a step and pray together again and gonna come forward. Please take a step of healing and forgive. Some of us need healing from word curses and lies spoken over us that we have believed and have lived out. Some of us need healing because we never heard the words of love we needed to hear. Please, when coming forward, receive the truth of God's word. Some of us have been rejected because of our background or demographic. Perhaps it's our race, gender, status, or mental or physical ability. Some of us have been rejected by our spouse, our parents, family, friends. We may have been rejecting ourselves, but today we choose forgiveness, to walk in love and receive God's healing. Some of us have been rejected and fearful too long. Today is the day to be free.

I am gonna ask you to please stand as we pray this prayer. We're gonna renounce fear out loud and deal with all kinds of rejections in the name of Jesus. Repeat after me, same thing as Jimmy did in a moment, and let's read this prayer together. Heavenly Father, remove the effects of rejection over my life in the name of Jesus. I turn from every lie, known and unknown, that I have believed that has given rejection any power in my life. God, I surrender to you the memories of the moments I've been rejected. I choose to forgive everyone who has hurt me in the past. I believe the truth that through Jesus I belong. I renounce fear in my life by the power of the cross. I am fully loved. I am accepted. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I turn from fear, stress, and anxiety. I receive the truth of the gospel and the peace of your presence. Amen. Thank you so much. God bless you. Amen. At this time, you can be seated as we prepare for our first moments of ministry and prayer. And this prayer time really is for everyone.

Even if this isn't an area that you're currently struggling with, you'll have multiple opportunities throughout today to receive prayer. And time and time again, we've seen God really use these moments to heal, to encourage, to reveal truth, and to speak personally to people. That's right. We're gonna be released by prayer for row by row. And what's gonna happen is you're gonna, as they do that, what I would love for you to do is you can remain seated until you're dismissed, but as you're seated, just respect the atmosphere around you. This is a time where the Lord's gonna be ministering to people. In fact, at this time, if you're a servant on the prayer team, you can go ahead and make your way forward. We're gonna have women on one side and men on the other. And so as our ushers begin to dismiss you row by row, we ask a couple things. One, the prayer counselors are gonna ask you, hey, what can I pray for? Tell them. We ask that you kind of briefly explain what they could be praying for. And if you know what,

if you don't know what they could be praying for, that's okay. They're just gonna pray for you anyway. And then you can walk back to your seat or you can go use the restroom or you can grab some refreshments outside. Then we're gonna continue our time today. So here we go. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Support the making of more such films. Become a Patron today.