Freedom Study - Week 7

Hey everybody, Pastor Todd here. Before we jump into today's teaching, I just want to tell you how proud I am of you. You've shown up consistently for the past seven weeks and that tells me something about you. It tells me that you're refusing to settle for anything less than God's best in your life and that you're ready to fight for your freedom and that deserves to be celebrated. You know, one thing you've probably realized by now is that freedom isn't free. In fact, freedom requires a fight and that's actually what we're going to talk about during our last two sessions that we have together. Now when I think of the word freedom, I can't help but picture Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart. You seen that one? Based on the true story of William Wallace, this man who led Scotland to freedom from English tyranny, King Edward of England was taking over Scotland and he had imprisoned their king and he was robbing the people of their freedom. This is when Wallace stepped up to lead a makeshift army of farmers and villagers against this huge British army. But as he got closer to the battle, fear began to spread among Wallace's men and rightfully so because they realized as they got closer to the battle that they were completely outnumbered. When Wallace recognized their fear, he rode out in front of his men with his face painted blue and white. You probably remember the scene. It was one of the most iconic scenes of all times and he reminds them that their freedom is worth fighting for and he shouted, you've come here to fight as free men and free men you are. What will you do without your freedom? Will you fight? I mean, I can almost see it now. Can we just pause and think about the power of those words? What will you do without your freedom? Will you fight?

You see, I believe those are two questions that we've got to ask ourselves. What will we do? What will you do without your freedom? Are you willing to fight for it? The Bible tells us that who the Son sets free is free indeed, free completely. But you and I are going to have to fight for that freedom that we've been given. Now of course, Mel Gibson ends that famous speech in front of the troops with that battle cry, they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom, right? And that was all it took for his men to charge into that epic battle and defeat the enemy. It was awesome. But here's why I share that story. Here's what I want you to see today. If you're going to be free, you're going to have to fight. Let me say that again. If you're going to be free, you're going to have to fight. You will never be free without a fight. Walking in freedom requires going to war against sin and against shame and the lies that threaten to hold you captive. Think back throughout history. Every time freedom was at stake, a fight was required. And maybe you're wondering why. I mean, if God purchased our freedom on the cross, why do we have to continue to fight for it? And why is it so hard to walk in freedom? Well, it's because you've got a real enemy. And he would love nothing more than to watch you forfeit your freedom that Jesus died to give you. He would love to shackle you to your shame, to handcuff you to hurt and to derail you with disappointment, all to get you addicted to something that will alter your God-given destiny.

See, in the Bible, there are a couple of names for our enemy. In the Old Testament, his name is Satan, which in the Hebrew language actually means adversary, which is a perfect name for him because Satan is opposed to everything that God has for our lives. So we shouldn't be surprised when he comes after our marriages or our families or our testimony or our faith. We should almost expect it and be prepared to fight him for it. In the New Testament, he's often referred to as the devil, which means accuser. He comes to accuse you constantly, bringing up all the ways you've messed up, reminding you of everything you've done wrong. But I say, if the devil keeps bringing up your past, it's because he's running out of new material, right? Last week, Julie taught us how to fight the lies Satan whispers to us with truth. Remember that? Next time the accuser tries to paralyze you with your past, just remind him of your future. Remind him of Jeremiah 29 11, that God has good, good plans for you. And oh, by the way, your enemy's days are numbered, right? Now that doesn't mean the battle won't continue to rage all around you. Yes, our enemy is going down, but he's not going down without a fight. Now when it comes to spiritual warfare and demonic activity, I found that a lot of Christians fall into two extremes. I've seen Christians who refuse to believe that the devil is real. Like, they know that evil's out there in the world, they just don't think Satan and demons are real. They don't think hell is real. They think it's just some evil force and they stick their heads in the sand spiritually, which is incredibly dangerous

when you're in the middle of a war and your freedom is at stake. See, when you refuse to acknowledge your enemy, it's not that you're giving him any less power, you're just turning your back on his weapons. But then on the other extreme, I found people who believe everything is the devil's fault. Everything is a spiritual battle. Like, they think if they run out of gas, it's the devil's fault. He made them run out of gas. No, they ran out of gas because they forgot to stop at the gas station when their little thing got on E there, right? These kind of Christians give the devil too much credit. And what I want you to see is that neither of these extremes are correct. It's not the right approach when it comes to fighting for your freedom. So what does God's word teach us about demons and spiritual warfare? First, we know that demons are real because all throughout the gospels, we see Jesus having to deal with demons. In fact, approximately one third of Jesus's ministry was dedicated to casting out demons. That's a lot. The second truth that we find in scripture is that demons want to destroy us. Their goal is to carry out the plans of the devil,

which is to steal, kill, and destroy our lives. Now, we don't have to be afraid of them, and we'll talk about that in just a minute, but we do have to be aware of them and what we do that opens the door to the demonic in our lives. There are things that you and I can do that literally opens the door spiritually to demonic attack. Anytime we condone sin in our lives, it's not that big of a deal. Everybody's doing that. What does that do? That opens the door to a rebellious spirit against God, a spirit that thinks we know better than God. Or when a person engages in things like reading their horoscope or playing with Ouija boards or tarot cards or manifesting or crystals, they are literally opening up the door wide for demonic influence in their lives. Ephesians 6.12 says this, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places. That verse tells us and the Bible tells us there are only two sources of spiritual power, God and Satan, the power of good and light and the power of darkness and evil.

And there are things that you and I can do that opens the door to the devil's influence in our life. But there are also things that you can do that shut that door and lock him out. Now, most of the time, that door gets opened by our own desires. Things we want or think that we want that will bring us satisfaction in the moment. Things that seem like an escape from the pressures of the day that end up getting us bound up and we lose the freedom that Jesus came to give us. So I wanna give you a few practical ways to fight for your freedom. The first thing is you've gotta see every temptation as an invitation from your enemy to pull you off course and derail your destiny. You know, when you get an invitation to go to a wedding or a party, the person who sent you that invitation is hoping that you'll stop what you're doing and where you might be going that day and come to what they've got planned for you. And while getting an invitation to a wedding or birthday dinner might be fun and add some value to your life, an invitation from your enemy only has the potential to destroy your life and derail the destiny that God has on your life. Sometimes an invitation comes in a conversation, right? You're talking with a friend, a coworker,

they invite you to come to something with them, like go shoot some basketball or go out to lunch. It's a conversation that leads to an invitation. And your spiritual enemy will do the same thing. He will whisper in your ear, I can't believe they said that to you or did that to you. You ought to give them a piece of your mind. You better send them a text right now and let off some steam. Or I can't believe your wife or your husband treated you that way. I bet so-and-so at the office, Bob or Brittany, hey, they wouldn't treat me that way, right? I bet they would understand. You ought to go talk to them. See, it always starts with a conversation. Look at that, you need that. Look at her, you need her. If you had her, ah, right? It starts with a conversation. Since the Garden of Eden, when the devil started talking to Eve, he's been using the same strategy to pull God's children away. A simple conversation that fills our mind with some messed up thinking and tries to pull us away from God's best. James chapter four, verse seven says this. You say this with me out loud right where you are. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Resist the devil and he has to flee. So the first step in fighting for your freedom is to resist temptation. Ignore the devil's conversation. RSVP, no way, buddy, I ain't going. I've said this before, but temptation is not a sin. It's not a sin to be tempted. Even Jesus was tempted, but he did not sin. Temptation isn't a sin, man, it's a battle cry. Man, what I want for my life, what God has for my future is worth fighting for. So get behind me, Satan, I ain't going that way. When temptation knocks at your door, don't answer it. When the devil's got your number and he keeps calling you, block the call, don't pick up. But the problem, what I've seen over the years is that instead of resisting temptation, a lot of us, we see how close we can get to it without actually sinning. If there's this line that we know that we can't cross and sin's on one side and freedom's on the other side, what most of us do is we try to get as close to that line as possible without technically stepping over the line into sin. When I was a youth pastor and a young adult pastor here at Christ Fellowship, I had some guys who would ask me, hey, Pastor Todd, my friend is dating this girl. I'm asking for my friend. He wants to know how far they can go. And things start getting like hot, woo,

maybe how far is too far? And every time I would tell them, tell your friend, he's asking the wrong question. In fact, that question, how far can I go, is a recipe for disaster in every area of our life. Because if you're in business, if you're doing a business deal and you're trying to get as close to the ethical line as possible without going to jail, you're in a dangerous spot. Just one wrong move and you're out. Or if you're on a diet and you go to the store, don't even walk down the cookie aisle. Just stay away from it. There's a line right there that says, thou shalt not pass, right? If you're trying to break free from the grip of alcohol, don't hang out at a bar or don't hang out with a bunch of people that are drinking all the time because that will take you out. That verse that we looked at, James 4, resist the devil and he will flee from you, it's hard to resist something when you're right up next to it. This is especially true when it comes to sexual temptation. The Bible has a lot to say about sexual temptation. In 1 Corinthians chapter six, it tells us to flee sexual immorality. Did you know there's some temptations you don't need to fight? You're actually supposed to flee from them.

Like run, Forrest, run. You don't gotta fight it, you gotta flee from it. You don't need to fight that addiction, you just need to flee from it. Another translation of that verse says, run from sexual impurity or immorality. And I've seen it countless times, people don't run from temptation and then they're shocked when they can't resist it, when they fall prey to it, when they find themselves wrestling with the thing that they were supposed to run from. But here's why I think we don't run. We think we're stronger than we actually are and we let temptation get momentum and then we try to stop its progress. We think we have it under control until it actually has us in a choke hold. I believe there's some battles we find ourselves in and God is saying, no, I never intended for you to fight that, I wanted you to run away from that. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, it says that God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability but will with the temptation, he will always provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it. There's always a way of escape but we've gotta be quick to take it. I think one of the wisest things we can do

is pre-decide that we're not going to put ourselves in situations that require us to exercise extreme amounts of self-control, that we're gonna resist temptation by moving away from that line so even if we do slip up, we're so far away from sin that it doesn't take us out, right? This is what it looks like to resist temptation. Make that decision today that you're not gonna dance with a demon that could one day you need delivered from. The second thing that we have to do is we have to fight for our freedom by putting on the full armor of God. Now while there are some battles we can and should avoid by fleeing, there are some battles that we've gotta face and fight. Listen to what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6, verse 13 through 17. He says, this is why, he's talking about spiritual warfare, this is why you must take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having prepared everything to take your stand, stand therefore with the truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like an armor on your chest and your feet sandaled with the readiness for the gospel of peace.

In every situation, take up the shield of faith and win the battle. With it, you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, I love that Paul says this is literally the armor of God, which means it has divine power. Now, I want us to think about this for just a minute. Soldiers wear armor to protect themselves from the enemy's weapons. They're literally wearing a layer of defense to ensure that the enemy's weapons don't get through to them. Yet, how many times do we step into our day unarmed, unprepared for the spiritual battle that's ahead, spiritually naked? See, soldiers don't get dressed on the battlefield. They don't wait until shots have been fired to say, oh, wait, wait, time out, time out. I need a few minutes to go get suited up. You know, where's my shield? I haven't seen that in a couple weeks, right? No, that's how you end up dead. They get dressed before the battle begins. So, you can't wait until you're in the middle of a battle or in the middle of temptation to reach for your armor. I mean, you shouldn't leave your house until you put on the full armor of God. You shouldn't even have a conversation with people

until you put on the full armor of God. Now, this week in your homework, you're gonna dive into the armor of God, and you're gonna learn what each piece represents. So, I'm not gonna break down every piece of the armor in this teaching since you'll be doing that later, but there's one thing that I wanna show you. In verse 17, Paul says, we're to fight with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now, what I was taught when I was a teenager is the Bible is the sword of the Spirit, and we know that this book is powerful. Hebrews 4.12 tells us that the Word of God is alive and active, sharper than a double-edged sword, that it penetrates down, and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. This book is your sword, but that's not exactly what Paul meant when he wrote that passage in Ephesians. The word in the Greek that Paul uses is rhema, which means the spoken Word of God. Now, many other times when Paul talks about the Word, he uses the word logos, which is the written Word of God. But hear me, when it comes to spiritual warfare, Paul doesn't use the word logos. He uses the word rhema, spoken, declared, Word of God to defeat your enemy. There's power in your declarations when you speak Scripture over your life,

over your family, over your freedom. You're fighting for your freedom. You're fighting for your future. We're talking about declaring out loud the promises that we find in Scripture. And every time you speak faith, you're fighting for freedom by silencing the enemy. Don't skip this part of your homework. I believe if you will study these pieces of armor and apply it to your daily life, there's not a battle that you can't win. But when it comes to the armor of God, a lot of people stop right there. They've read that passage and they end in verse 17 where we talk about the sword of the Spirit because there's a period there. But can I tell you that when Paul wrote this, there was no period there. He kept going because there's one more critical weapon that we have access to in our arsenal. And I believe it's one of the most powerful and often most underutilized weapons by Christians. Paul says this in Ephesians 6, 18. Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything that you need. You must always be ready and never give up. Always pray. Paul is telling us that we have to pray all the time. Do you see the allness in that verse?

Pray all the time, pray all kinds of prayers. Ask for everything that you need. Always pray. Paul was saying that prayer needs to be a priority. As we go head to head with our enemy, prayer should never be the last resort. It's gotta be our first response. Oh God, help me. Every time you open up your mouth in prayer, it's like you are releasing an army to attack your enemy because you're no longer fighting alone. You are partnering with all of heaven. Prayer's like a battle cry. It's like William Wallace's freedom cry. It shifts things. It changes the atmosphere. And the tide begins to turn in battles that once looked lost. When you open your mouth, and you declare scripture and the promises of God over it, hope fills your heart. Things begin to change. When you feel anger arising in an argument, pray. You can talk to God silently while you're dealing with this person and just say, God, help me, right? Or even if you can, ask the other person, hey, would you mind if we just took a few minutes and we prayed together right now and reset this conversation?

If you're facing a battle at work, pray. When fear's knocking on your door, pray. When you're walking through the dark, pray. When temptation is calling your name and inviting you to something, pray. And don't just pray, man, pray God's words back to him. Pray the scripture because his word never returns void. And when you pray, things are gonna change. to change because prayer changes things, changes the outcome of battles, and it changes futures and destinies. And you don't even have to take my word for it. Look at the Bible. Look at Moses that prayed that the Red Sea would part and it parted. Joshua that prayed that the sun would stand still one day so he could fight the enemy and it did and he won. Elijah prayed and a drought ended. The disciples prayed and blinded eyes were opened. And can I tell you, those miracles, those victories, they didn't end with the last few pages of the Bible. We are witnessing miracle after miracle, victory after victory in our church today. And every miracle, every battle that's been won can be traced back to prayer. So this week, I want you to get loud. I want you to flee from what you need to flee from, right? Face the things you've got to face, get some declarations of scripture and begin to pray the word of God over,

it's in the back of your workbook. You can speak a new word over your life and over your situations. I want you to start your day dressed for battle in divine armor. I want you to fight for your freedom by getting on your knees and crying out to God for spiritual reinforcements. And I can promise you, it won't always be easy, but it always will be worth it. Because what will you do without your freedom? We got to fight for it together. Next week, I have a few more weapons and battle strategies for you. So make sure you come back for part two of this teaching and our final session together. But before we close today, I want to pray over you. I want to speak a battle cry of victory over your life. So would you pray with me? Father God, I thank you for every person here today and the victory that you've purposed over their lives, that you've created them to walk in freedom, to walk in life, in every area of their life. Help us to ignore the invitation of the enemy that is a distraction to our lives. Help us to flee from the battles that we're supposed to run from. God, there's some things in our lives that you know we're supposed to run from, and so we run from those this week.

Help us to face and fight and put on the full armor that we're supposed to put on today so we can win the battles that we are in today. We speak freedom and life over every person here today. It's in Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen.