The Chains We Forge

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Have you ever kept adding things to your life that made life difficult?

I have found I often take on more then I can handle, one of those areas is spicy food. I always think that i can handle more then I really should.

I was with a group of men scouting a place for a mens retreat in KS. and I saw a one chip challenge. To compare the heat. and the chip is 2.3 million. I took on more then I could chill. We often do things like this often

Often times though we often add things to our lives, and some times they are good.

We add the gym

healthy diet

reading our Bible

adding prayer time

and our days might become more full but they are better and we are doing something positive

but other times we add things that do nothing but pull us away

see sin is like this too, we add sin not thinking it is a big deal

We think that its just a little sin so God will not care

some times we just do it without thinking about it because we just keep letting sin into our life and then it becomes more like chains that weigh us down.

Sin traps us

Proverbs 5:22 NIV

The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.

John 8:34 NIV

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

When we sin it drives us away from God

I have heard people say that God has left them because of their sin, but I tell you that God did not leave them, but they in fact left God. Sin is not freedom, sin a liar. sin bonds us, sin is chains

Sin is a thief. It will rob your soul of its life. It will rob God of his glory. Sin is a murderer. It stabbed our father Adam. It slew our purity. Sin is a traitor. It rebels against the king of heaven and earth.

Charles Spurgeon

during this month we are going through our Redeemed series, walking through the classic movie , A Christmas Carol

here is a brief overlook

A Christmas Carol, based on Charles Dickens' classic novella, tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly and cold-hearted businessman who values wealth above all else. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him of the eternal consequences of his greed. Marley foretells the arrival of three spirits—the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come—who take Scrooge on a journey through his life. They reveal how his past shaped his bitterness, the impact of his selfishness on those around him, and the grim future that awaits if he does not change. Confronted with these truths, Scrooge undergoes a profound transformation, embracing generosity, love, and the true spirit of Christmas, ultimately becoming a beacon of hope and joy to those he once ignored.

So Marley comes to tell Scrooge to change his ways but Marley is bond with Chains

The same chains that bind us here will bind us in heaven

See the more we go on with our sin, the more chains we put on us

eat Hot sauce.

eat-With hot sauce the first taste is not so bad

eat-but with each level gets harder to handle

eat- see sin we a lot of times think its just one time

eat- its not really effecting me

eat. well I’m already so far, but I just don’t want to give it up

it’s just a lie

and before we know it we are burning

Saint Augustine wrote

Sin is like a chain: it begins with a single link, but it soon binds you completely.

But here is the good news

John 8:36 NIV

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Colossians 1:13–14 NIV

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus has come to set us free from the Chains of sin, deliver us from the darkness of sin and brings us into freedom from a life that enslaves us.

Marley did not figure it out and had to endure the chains forever

But because of Jesus we are not doomed to a fate that is without God.

Galatians 2:20 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

but, BUT Paul warns us

Galatians 5:1 NIV

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Don’t keep going back to your sin, we have been set free and yet we still go back

It’s time we start taking this life that God has gifted us for real

when temptation comes give it to God

“God I do not want this, take it away”

I will tell you, every time you give in, it gets harder to say no next time.

If your struggle is lying, tell the truth, even when it get hard. the more you walk down that path, the more it becomes second nature and you don’t even realize you are doing it

If it is looking at things yu shouldn’t, don’t look, pray, if the temptation gets to rough pray harder, because its only going to get rougher every time you give in.

Why live with chains on us, its time to start living in the freedom that God has given us in Christ.

Right now, I want you to think about what your struggle is, and give it to God.

God I do not want to live like this anymore, forgive me and help me.

After service find someone that can walk with you in this freedom.

Communion

Luke 22:19–20 NIV

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.