"BREAK EVERY CHAIN"

>>>Beginning new chapel series, “Break Every Chain”

>>>(Illust.) Women’s lunch was way to raise camp money.

>>>Cleaning up, students “locked” me in barn.

>>>Found out the door wasn’t really locked.

>>>Do you ever feel trapped? Do you struggle with your identity? Are there things in your life outside of God that control you (insecurity, cussing, depression, etc.) ? Do you feel like you are able to escape those things?

>>>This series is all about the freedom that is in Jesus.

John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””

>>>Jesus knowing the truth is what sets free.

*“knowing” is experiential knowledge.

*Experiencing the truth of God/Christ sets people free.

>>>When someone trusts Christ for salvation, they are free from the bondage of sin-and continue to be freed.

>>>The theme of freedom is all throughout NT.

John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.”

James 2:12 “So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.”

1 Peter 2:16 “Act as free people, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond-servants of God.”

JESUS IS NOT FOR YOUR BONDAGE.

>>>Sometime God is seen as Someone Who saves us to a new set of rules that we have to follow-that God does not want us to enjoy things. But Jesus desires for us to be free. He is not putting you in bondage.

>>>Jesus does not save us to bondage. He saves us to freedom-just as we were originally created.

JESUS CREATED YOU FOR FREEDOM.

>>>Jesus was the Word Who brought everything into existence and established the world.

>>>Look at the freedom man had in creation (Gen 2).

>>>Man had the freedom to do whatever he pleased in the garden except eat from the tree of knowledge of good/evil.

*This is not the action of a God Who is a dictator, but a God Who loves His people.

>>>This freedom allowed for fellowship between God/man.

>>>God’s commandments (and our obedience) bring us back into the freedom He created us for.

*Experiencing life in Jesus

>>>Sin is what takes us from freedom into bondage.

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>>>What does this look like in life?

Romans 7:14–21 “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.”

Romans 7:22–25 “For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

>>>AAAHHHHH! Paul says that he desires to follow God, yet his sinful desires get in the way.

*He describes these desires as a war within him. The only way out is through Christ.

>>>We battles with this everyday. We want to follow Jesus but find ourselves wrestling with sin that still tries to control us.

*Temptations/addictions/lusts/acceptance/depression/anxiety /etc. all seek to keep us in bondage no matter how hard we tried to fight it.

>>>Just like Paul, how can we be free/break these chains? From Jesus!

Romans 8:1–2 “Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

>>>Those who are in Christ are not condemned for their sin. This does not mean sin is okay to do. It means that God has freed you from it.

>>>Our sin no longer controls us. Sin is not our master.

IN CHRIST, THERE ARE NO CHAINS.

>>>Knowing the truth of Jesus sets us free. Temptation/lusts/addictions/depression/anxiety are all overcome by Him.

>>>(Illust.) I have been known to struggle with comparison/depression.

>>>While I still wrestle, it is not as often or as deep, because I know the freedom I have in Jesus.

>>>This freedom/life/joy is only for those who know the truth and have placed their life in Jesus.

>>>Unbelievers: while they may try, are in a losing fight because you are in the bondage of sin. Sin is your master. Sin controls you.

>>>Only Jesus can break every chain.