Freedom Study - Week 1

Well hey everybody, welcome to our Freedom Study. We are so glad that you're with us and if we haven't had a chance to meet you personally, we're Todd and Julie Mullins and together we get the incredible privilege of leading Christ Fellowship Church and it's such an honor to walk with you through these next eight weeks together. That's right and before we go any further, I just want to say this, you are not here by accident. We believe that there is a reason that you are in the room that you're in today. Now I know some of you are like, yeah there's a reason, my wife told me that I had to come or my friend signed me up without me knowing and told me there'd be really good snacks here. Or maybe some of you are here because you've heard us talk about this freedom experience on Sundays and you're not even sure if you need it, but you're just a little bit curious. But I also know that some of you are here because you've been struggling for a long time. You've been stuck in a season or cycle that you just can't seem to escape. And I want to tell you that no matter which group you fall into or even if you fall somewhere in between, we've been praying for you. We've been praying that God will do something new in your life as you go through this study because for the next eight weeks, we don't want to just give you information, we want to help you experience true transformation. That's right. You see, the reason we created this study is because after years of pastoring, we realized something that a lot of people in our church are forgiven, they're just not free. They're saved, but they're still shackled to sin and shame. And they're called by God to do incredible things, but they can't move forward because they're chained to their past. And we don't believe that's God's will for any one of us. Yeah, in fact, I know it's not God's will for any of us because Jesus told us about the kind of life that he came to give us.

See, at Christ Fellowship, we say all the time that there's this John 10 10 life that Jesus came to give. In John 10 10, it says that I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. See, Jesus came with this promise that you and I could live this abundant life, a life full of purpose, full of his peace, even in life storms, full of life giving relationships. But the problem is, is that for so many believers, there is this gap between the John 10 10 promise and our lived experience. And I really believe that the key to experiencing this kind of life is found when we learn to walk in freedom from our past pain and shame and any habits and hang ups that would keep us from our purpose. We're going to be talking about the steps to take to fill in that gap. Scripture tells us over and over again that God's plan for us, God's plan for you, is freedom. Yeah, right now at this very beginning of this first session, we just want to take a moment to declare a word over your life. We want to set the tone for this journey and for the future that you're stepping into. And the word of truth that I want to speak over you is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter four, verse 18, where it says, Now, if you're familiar with your Bible, you might recognize those words were actually meant for Jesus as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. But can I tell you, the spirit of the Lord is on you and the same spirit that raised Jesus up from the grave lives in you. So I want you to get your hopes up for what is to come right here in session one, because the spirit of the Lord is on you. And Second Corinthians 317 says where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And I know the Lord is in this place and he has designed freedom for you today. That's right. You know, when I think of freedom, I can't help but think of this trip that Todd, you and I took a long time ago. I planned this special trip for your 40th birthday.

I mean, I planned this trip to take you away to the San Francisco Bay area. And I wanted it to be a surprise. So I scheduled the flights. I booked the hotel. Which is unusual because I'm the planner in this duo right here. If we're organizing a trip or organizing something, I've got it all detailed out. And she said, Todd, I've got it all. So she booked it. I've got it all. And even the weird hotel. It was weird. You haven't let me live it down. But the reason I booked the trip for this specific location was because I knew that, Todd, that you wanted to visit Alcatraz, which I'm sure many of you know is a prison built on an island just off the Bay area. And yes, some plan vacations to go to private islands. And I took my husband away to a prison. I love history. That might tell you a lot about us. But you loved it, right? I did. I loved it, and we got this guided tour of Alcatraz, and we got to hear all the crazy stories and the cool facts about it. But as we walked through the prison that day, the heaviness and almost this sense of hopelessness, it was tangible. I could imagine how the darkness would seem to swallow you up every night in a place like that. And I realized that most of us

had maybe never been incarcerated, and a lot of you watching today probably haven't been to a prison. But as I wandered the halls of Alcatraz that day, I couldn't help but wonder if there were areas spiritually and emotionally where I had forfeited some of my freedom. Yeah, I think we can all relate to this, because here's the truth. Just because many of us have never been in a physical prison doesn't mean we know what it's like to be truly free. I mean, when you think about it, circumstances and habits and hurts all have this way of holding us hostage at some point in our lives. And maybe you're not chained in a cell, but you're trapped in a cycle that you just can't seem to break. Maybe it's the temper that you can't control, and you know it's impacting your relationships. Or an uncontrollable shopping habit that's getting you further and further into debt. Or maybe you want a healthy relationship with that special someone, but you find yourself over and over again attracting unhealthy, toxic people. This doesn't have to be your story. Yeah, that's why over these next eight weeks, we're gonna unpack three things

that we found keep people stuck. Three things that cause us to forfeit our God-given freedom. And we've spent years studying this, and we've come to this conclusion that the things that prevent us from living this full life that Jesus came to give us can be traced back to one of the three following areas. They're either sins that we can't leave, hurts that we receive, or lies that we believe. Let me say that again. The spiritual and emotional prisons that we experience are because, first, sins we can't leave. These are usually the choices that we've made that become chains that we can't break. Because the enemy never tempts you with a chain. He's smart. Nobody would say, yeah, yeah, sign me up, sign me up for a life of bondage. No, he tempts us with a choice that we don't realize is a link in the chain. It's an avenue that becomes an addiction. It's a pastime that becomes a pathway that takes us to a place we never wanted to be. Secondly, we're gonna talk about the hurts that we receive. These are things that happen to us, often words that are spoken to us that wound us, leaving us bitter, even hesitant to trust people again.

Relational fallouts that lead us feeling rejected and alone. And then finally, we're gonna discuss the lies that we believe. These are the false narratives, the false ideas that we've accepted as truth. And these lies disorient us by shaping our identity and doubting our view of God. Yeah, this is so good because we're gonna look at each of these areas in detail every single week. And then we're gonna close our time together learning how to fight for our freedom through spiritual warfare. Because freedom isn't this one-time event. It's a daily decision and it's a battle. And it's so important that you understand the weapons that you're gonna need to fight this battle. And it's also important that you stay committed to this journey with us. Because if you're in a proverbial prison today, here's what you need to know. Prisons don't just keep you from your freedom, they also keep you from your future. See, prisons don't just keep your life small, prisons also keep you stuck, unable to move forward into all that God has prepared for you in your future. I couldn't help but imagine as I was there at Alcatraz what it must have felt like every single day to wake up in this dark cell, the same cell for year after year, forced to remember the mistake or the offense

that landed you there. But I actually think the same thing can happen to us spiritually and emotionally. When we dwell on the past and it paralyzes the potential of today. And when we rehearse and rehash the pain that we've experienced, it actually robs us of the opportunity to move forward into our God-given future. When this happens, you're not free to grow into the person you were created to be. And make no mistake, God created you to be free. You know, God's language over his children has always been a language of freedom. Some of the very first words recorded in scripture to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden were the words, you are free, out of Genesis chapter two. Now, he was speaking specifically about the fact that they could eat from any tree in the garden except for that one, but he chose the words, you are free. Because God's heart for his children is that we would walk in freedom. It's what we were created for. created for, God doesn't want you enslaved or trapped or chained to anything. Yeah, I know that like some of you right now are probably thinking, okay, this is a little bit intense. I mean, I'm struggling, but I don't think I'm dealing with an Alcatraz situation, and I've just got some anxiety that I'm trying to get control of.

So maybe you don't have chains, but maybe you've got some baggage. You know, Todd and I, we travel a lot together, and over the years, that trip to San Francisco was just one of the many trips. But one of the things you figured out about me along the way is that I am a- She's not a light packer. No, I'm an over-packer, right? In fact, sometimes it can be a little stressful traveling with me because I will have my checked bag, my carry-on, my purse, and then I realize I've forgotten a few remaining things that won't quite fit, so I sneak some stuff into Todd's bag, and somehow we get to the airport and it's like, where did all these bags come from? And Lord, help us. If our checked bag is over the weight limit, has happened a couple of times, right? Because at that point, you have to open up your luggage in front of everyone and pull out the stuff that you crammed in, right, the underwear that you left right on the top, and it was already full, but by this time, you're trying to take things out. By the time you get to the gate, you're sweating, you're exhausted, and your nerves are shot from dragging all that luggage to the airport. Can you tell, I'm speaking from personal experience, and maybe things are even a little tense with your travel partner because of it, right?

Anybody else? Is it just me? I mean, who can relate? And I always have these dreams of being a carry-on only kind of traveler. Never gonna happen. Of walking through the airport light and free, but that has not happened yet. It's not a reality for me yet, but it turns out that I come with a lot of baggage, but I believe that that's true, really, for most of us. I mean, over our life's journey, we pick up some things along the way, and we add it to our baggage, and we carry that into every relationship and every situation we're in, and it's one thing in an airport, but it's a whole different thing in our life, and I know that some of you, you're stuck because of the sins you can't leave or lies you've believed today, but others, you're just moving through life overwhelmed and exhausted because you're hauling around the hurt you received, and that gets heavy after a while. If that's you, you are in the right place because I believe that God wants to free you up so you can travel through this life lighter. Jesus said in Matthew 11 30 that when we keep company with him, we will learn to live freely and lightly. You see, what I want you to know is that freedom isn't just for some of us, freedom is for all of us.

That's so true. In Acts chapter 12, there's a story that's been stirring on my heart as we talk about freedom, and it's the story of Peter. Now, Peter was one of Jesus's closest followers. He had just been arrested, thrown into prison for preaching the gospel. This is after Jesus has already been raised from the dead and ascended to heaven, but what makes this moment especially heavy is what happens just before Peter's arrest. You see, his friend James had just been captured and executed for his faith in Jesus, so it was pretty serious. So you can imagine the weight Peter was carrying. One of his best friends, a fellow disciple, had just been taken out by the same people who now had him chained up, and he's sitting in prison in a prison cell between two guards, locked up behind multiple gates under heavy watch, just waiting for what the inevitable would bring. His death was right around the corner, and I think that's where some of you are right now. You've seen what's happened to someone else in their life, maybe someone in your own family, and you're thinking, my dad couldn't break free from that, so what makes me think that I can be free from that? My mom couldn't shake this, so how am I supposed to shake this? And if that's you today, I just want to go back to what we said at the start of this teaching,

that the word of the Lord over your life today is freedom. Just because a person in your family never broke free doesn't mean that you have to stay stuck. Yeah, you know, what I love so much about this story in scripture is that it tells us that while Peter was in prison, that God's people were earnestly praying. Some of you are here today because somebody else has been praying for you, interceding for you, and we've been praying for you and interceding for you. There's been people that have been going before God, begging for your freedom, and let that sink in for a moment. See, some of you showed up because you felt pressured by someone to attend this study, but it wasn't pressure that got you here. It was prayers, and some of you, that you invited somebody else to be here, somebody's been praying for you too. But while God's people were praying, Peter was actually sleeping in his cell. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was on death row, I feel like I would be panicking. stressing, maybe even praying and crying out to God, but Peter, he was sleeping. And this tells me something really important. It tells me that we can experience freedom in our spirit even when we can't be free of our situation. See, freedom is an inside job. We know that Peter's body was bound, but the fact that he was sleeping

tells me that his spirit wasn't. Why? Because the spirit of the Lord was on Peter and in Peter. So even though he was chained in a cell, the spirit of freedom permeated that place. There was something in Peter that said, I don't know what they're gonna do to me, but I know that God is fighting for me, so I'm gonna trust God and go to sleep. That's the level of freedom that we want for each and every one of you. Isn't that an incredible picture? But what I love is what happens actually next in the story. An angel of the Lord came while Peter's asleep, and it says that he struck Peter on his side. And that word actually means to hit him, to punch him on his side. And maybe you're like me and you're wondering, why did he punch him? Why did he slap him upside the body there? Why couldn't the angel just come and give him a little tap on the shoulder? That's how I like to be woken up. Yeah, like I give to you. Yeah, yeah, kind of, right? Whispering in his ear, hey, it's time to get up, Peter. Time to go free. Why was the angel so aggressive? But then I realized that freedom is a process, and there's always a part of the process

that doesn't feel good. Sometimes the moment that leads to freedom doesn't feel gentle. It makes you wake up. It stings a little bit, but that's often the moment that your breakthrough actually begins. You see, after Peter took that blow from the angel, the Bible says that he got up, and when he did, the chains fell off. The breakthrough came after the blow, right? And then the angel of the Lord said, Peter, follow me, and Peter did. Peter didn't say, no, bro, I got it. I can take it from here. I know my way out. That would have been foolish. He actually followed the angel, and this matters because your freedom hinges on who you follow. Psalm 119, verse 45 says, I will walk in freedom because I have devoted myself to your commandments. See, God's words and God's ways lead us to freedom. That's why we're gonna be living in Scripture for the next eight weeks, pulling principles directly from God's word that will make you free. Yeah, that's so good. You know, Peter followed the angel out of the prison and went straight to his friends so he could tell them that he was a free man, and they were actually praying for him

when he knocked on the door, and they didn't even believe that it was him at first. They thought that it was an angel, but Peter kept knocking at the door of the house until finally they realized that he wasn't a ghost. It was an answer to their prayers, right? Scripture goes on to say that Peter explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of that prison, and that's what we're believing for you, that by the end of this journey, that you're gonna be able to knock on someone else's door and say, God brought me out. I'm free, and just like Peter, your freedom is gonna become part of your life message. Yeah, and we believe that free people can free people, which means the freedom God works in you isn't just for you. Your story might become somebody else's survival guide, and that's what we're praying for you, that this will be a journey of healing, a journey of freedom, a journey of progress, a journey of restored innocence so that you can walk freely in the future that God has prepared for you. Yeah, and not only are we praying for your healing, we're praying for your legacy because when your chains break, that bondage doesn't get passed down to your kids and to future generations. See, your breakthrough will become a blessing

for the generations who come after you, so keep showing up because this journey isn't just for you, it's for the people around you and the people that are coming after you. See, over the next eight weeks, we're gonna be diving into some pretty deep stuff and give you some tools that you're gonna need to live the free life that God has for you. Every week really builds on each other, so be patient, be patient with yourself as you're uncovering areas of your life that need to be addressed. See, God is a powerful God who wants to change us and transform us, and he does this in two ways. First, he uses his word, and then he uses community to grow us over time. Growth isn't instantaneous, it's a process, and that's what this study and this group is all about. It's all about taking intentional steps in a process so that you will have the tools and the weapons to walk out your spiritual freedom. So this week, you're gonna be taking that first step. There's a section in your workbook where you can actually think through your freedom goals in this first session. What would you love to be free from? What would you love to be free to do? Take the time to prayerfully consider your answers to those questions and then write them down.

This is like gonna be a mile marker in your journey and over these eight weeks, you're gonna be able to look back and see the progress that you've made along the way. That's right, now we know that God can do a miraculous healing work in an instant when we experience his power and his presence. That's why after we've spent eight weeks together in this study, we're gonna be preparing an experience where we will come together to worship God, to experience God's presence in our lives and actually apply the truth that we're unpacking these weeks together. So we wanna challenge you with these two things as we kick off this season together. First, make this group time a priority. Get here every week. We don't want you to miss one thing that God has for you. And second, mark your calendar now for the Freedom Encounter. This is gonna be the capstone of your entire journey. We are so proud of you. We're cheering you on as you set out on this freedom journey. We're right here with you every step along the way. Let me pray over you as you begin this step into freedom. God, I thank you for every person that is dedicating and setting apart these weeks to grow in who they are in you, to experience the John 1010 life that you have for them,

a life of freedom, a life of abundance, a life of blessing, a life that's bigger and greater than anything they could hope, think, or imagine. And God, we pray that God, as we do our part and dive into your word, that you would do your part and you would set captives free, that you would bring freedom and hope to every person and every situation. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.