WEBVTT - Devil You’ve Held Me Long Enough 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:05.439 Are you ready for my first sermon of twenty twenty two? 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.239 You sure you don't know what I'm gonna say? Yeah, 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:18.439 you sure you're right? Tell him you can't handle the truth. John, 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.160 chapter eight. That's kind of our on subject for today. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.680 John chapter eight, verse thirty one. Now listen to this 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.960 crazy confrontation between Jesus and the crowd of people who've 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.800 gathered to hear him teach John chapter eight, verse thirty one. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:41.080 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:45.879 you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples, 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.880 then you will know the truth, and the truth will 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:55.040 set you free. And they answered him, we are Abraham's 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:59.320 descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.120 you say that we shall be set free? Jesus replied, 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:05.560 very truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.720 slave to sin. Now, a slave has no permanent place 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.520 in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:26.560 So if the sun sets you free, you will be free. Indeed, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.720 I know that you're Abraham's descendants. You are looking for 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.520 a way to kill me because you have no room 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.399 for my word. Wooh, you thought it was just your 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.320 closet that was cluttered. No, it's more than just physical 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.840 spaces that we have to clear out. He said, you 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:55.919 have no room for my word. Wow, this is getting 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.560 intense here, Jesus, I'm telling you what I have seen 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.840 in the father's presence, and you are doing what you 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.720 have heard from your father. Abraham is our father. The answer. 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.800 You are Abraham's children, said Jesus, Then you would do 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.240 what Abraham did as it is, you are looking for 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.400 a way to kill me, a man who has told 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:23.000 you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham didn't 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:28.160 do such things. You are doing the works of your 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:33.840 own father. We are not illegitimate children. They protested, can 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.560 you feel a fight fixing the break out? Kind of 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:38.600 want to sneak out the room before this gets violent. 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.800 The only father we have is God himself. And Jesus 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.560 said to them, if God were your father, you would 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.280 love me, for I have come here from God. I 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:55.000 have not come on my own. God sent me. Why 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.799 is my language not clear to you because you are 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:03.520 unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:14.760 the devil. Jesus. Let's uh, let's think this through before 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.600 we say something we can't take back. This is not 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:19.720 good for your popularity or eating. You know what I'm saying, Jesus, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:25.680 little baby Jesus, and General Jesus. Oh man, The truth 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.079 is confrontational. He said, you belong to your father, the devil, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:31.560 and you want to carry out your father's desires. He 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.680 was a murder from the beginning, not holding to the truth, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.360 for there is no truth in him. When he lies, 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:45.360 he speaks his native language for everybody. Say this out loud. 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:52.960 He is a liar who is Yeah, So this is 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.640 the message God said to give you for the first 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.720 Sunday Sermon of this year. You ready, He told me 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.800 to you just like this. The devil has held you 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:13.120 long enough. They didn't believe it when I said it. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.000 Maybe if you say it to them, look at the 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.560 person next to you, right in their eyeballs, right in 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:23.599 their pupils. Tell them the devil has held you long enough. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.279 They didn't believe you either. Maybe you need to say 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.760 it for yourself. Let's try it like this, Say this 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:42.440 out loud, devil, You've helped me long enough. That felt better, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:52.440 and the truth will set you free. Be seated if 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:59.000 you can stand up, shout you got something inside you 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:06.440 truth insideing it. It's an amazing thing, you know, the 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.200 way that the devil gets us in these type spaces 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.480 and makes us think that the best part of our 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.719 life is over and there's nothing we can do and 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.920 we might as well not even try. When we say 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.000 the devil is a liar, of course, we don't mean 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:29.560 that he runs around with a plastic pitch for it, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:35.000 telling you stuff that you know on the surface to 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:42.760 be untrue. The way that he operates is by deception, 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.920 which means that the devil specializes in saying things that 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:55.600 sound true. He slick with it. He says it in 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.080 such a way watch this, that you don't even know 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:02.919 it's him saying it, because when the devil talks, it 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:09.159 sounds like your voice, doesn't it. When the devil talks, 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.719 it sounds the same way as when God talks, because 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.400 it's happening inside of you. God doesn't speak to me 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:20.719 through out loud voices. Neither does the Devil except sometimes 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.440 when I'm watching the news and stuff. Then I hear 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:28.279 him just like right out loud, Oh God. But apart 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:33.440 from that is the devil's job to keep you from 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.720 even knowing. You know, I used to read this verse. 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.080 I'm gonna give you example of this. Okay, we take 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.920 the Bible and we want a verse of the day, 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:42.400 and then we don't even read the whole verse of 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:43.960 the day. We just want the half verse of the day. 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.200 And we start going through scripture like as salad bars 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.960 and I don't like radishes. The problem with that is 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:52.440 you'll hear a verse and think it's true, and it 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.320 is true, but it's not totally true because it said 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.560 the truth will set you free. How many have heard 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.680 that before? Just raise your hand. I didn't just say 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.479 the truth will set you free. I noticed some of 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.360 you were with me when I was reading my passage. 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:10.600 He said, you will know the truth, and the truth 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.680 will set you free. But you have to watch culture 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:19.920 because the enemy will use language that is common in 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.960 culture in order to get you to think you understand 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.240 the concept that really you have become blind to the 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.320 reality of I told my kids the other day, stop 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:36.360 saying that certain celebrities got canceled in my house. I 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.480 don't like the word canceled because the fact of the 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.640 matter is you use that term all the time, interchangeably 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.000 to mean people are saying something bad about them. I've 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.320 had people say bad things about me. But I'm not canceled. 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:58.280 I'm still called So I don't know if they're annoyed 0:07:58.320 --> 0:07:59.840 with this or not, but I don't let them say 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:01.840 that in my house anymore. I mean, they still say 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:03.640 it because like what am I going to do about it? 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:08.120 But I tell them to stop, all right, just being real, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.520 I told them they shall not. They did not. No, No, 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.480 they still do it, but I stop saying that. A 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.679 few years ago, I started hearing this phrase, this cultural phrase. 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.920 I didn't know why at first that it sounded good. 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.200 It sounded good on the surface, but to me it 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:30.080 felt like there was something about this phrase that while 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.600 it sounded very good and even scriptural on the surface, 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.920 I first heard it from somebody. They said, I've got 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:41.560 to live my truth. I didn't know why. I didn't 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.560 like it, because it sounds good, right, be true to 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.960 my value. I've got to you know, I've got to 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.679 do what I'm supposed to do. More thought about it, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:54.440 I started hearing it more and more. How many of 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:56.280 you have heard this before? Like, I've got to speak 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.800 my truth. I think that's good if what we mean 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:04.160 by that is I've got to share the experiences that 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.120 I've had In an honest way, I've got to face 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.400 things that I've been through, and sometimes in sharing what 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.880 I've been through that I used to be ashamed of, 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.200 somebody else can be set free. I think that's awesome. 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.880 And if that's what you mean when you say you know, 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.240 live my truth or speak my truth, I think it's good. 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.920 I think what bothered me about it was John eight 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:35.520 thirty two, where Jesus did not say your truth will 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:40.240 set you free. Put it back up, let's check just 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:46.920 to make sure. Then you will know your truth. I 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.240 think why I didn't like the phrase is because it 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:58.880 made truth sound like shoes. It made truth sound like 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:04.760 something that you can try on. It's too early in 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:06.720 the year for this. I should be preaching something like 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.920 you can make it, keep your head off, do it. Duh. 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:21.640 It bothers me because truth is not choosable. Really, when 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.680 we say, oh, this is my truth, what we're talking 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:31.160 about is our belief. There's a big difference between a 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:36.120 belief and a truth. You don't believe me, that doesn't 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:40.880 make it untrue. What if I believe that all tall 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.800 people are arrogant because I met this tall guy one 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.520 time and he was kind of prideful and cocky. That's 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:53.160 an experience. It's a personal experience, but that doesn't make 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:57.440 it an absolute truth. What I'm noticing a lot of 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.840 in my own life. I'm not just talking about people 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.480 culture others. I'm not just talking about magazines or books. 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.280 I'm not talking about you and your house. I'm talking 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.760 about me and my heart. A lot of times, it 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:16.480 seems like I'm tempted to turn a personal experience into 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:29.040 an absolute truth. Have you ever had a bad haircut? Now, 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.000 y'all be careful about this one, because my dad was 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.120 a barber and he's in heaven, so be nice. Are 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:39.280 barber's bad? And you're like, this is really stupid. Man. 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:40.800 We did not come all the way out here with 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.199 the virus going around to hear you tell us this. No, 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:51.280 you've done it with church before. Oh, church people are hypocrites. No, no, no, no, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:59.960 Charlie was a hypocrite. Charlie was a hypocrite. All men 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:05.480 and our dogs. No, Mike was a dog. Not you 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.560 till my security I watch how I say that. No, 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.800 it wasn't church people. But now what's what you did? 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.320 You went you went to a restaurant. You had a 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:23.200 bad server, and now you decided to stop eating. You 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:28.880 went to one church, you had a bad experience, and 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.120 then you stopped. Not you, you're here, you're here. I'm 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.760 not talking to you, I'm talking to them. I'm talking 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.200 to them. I'm talking to them. You had one experience 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.920 with failure. You set out to do something and it 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.040 didn't work. So then you turned the event, the failure, 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:49.880 into an identity. I'm a failure. So what I want 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.880 to know today is it a truth or is it 0:12:53.920 --> 0:13:00.880 a trap? Because because when Jesus said the truth will 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:07.199 set you free, he wasn't talking to drug lords. When 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.959 Jesus said the truth will set you free, he wasn't 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.720 talking to gang bangers. When Jesus said the truth will 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.560 set you free, he wasn't talking to evil wicked. He 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.160 wasn't talking to pagans. He was talking Put Verse thirty 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:22.720 one back up. There's gonna blow your mind. This blew 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:30.199 my mind to the Jews who had believed him. He's 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.520 talking to people that believe him, and he's telling them 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:39.280 they don't have the truth. They only have a certain 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:44.800 level of belief. And there's a big difference between belief 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:52.840 and truth. Belief is based on your experience. Truth comes 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:58.600 from God. Beliefs can be altered, Beliefs can grow and 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.079 expand and should. There was a time in your life. 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:02.839 Let's talk about this. There was a time in your 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.520 life where most of you believed that somebody came in 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:07.880 your house and gave you money for your teeth when 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:14.320 they fell out. That made perfect sense to you. It's 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:19.400 probably worth about five dollars on a pillow. Holly got 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:21.680 abby up to ten dollars and I cut the tooth 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.520 Faerry out. I just pulled her aside and said it's 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:29.880 not real. It didn't too expensive. It got too expensive 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:36.080 for me not to tell her the truth. And have 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:40.080 you come to the point yet where it has cost 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:45.960 you enough to be stuck in a belief about who 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:50.520 you are and what life is and what they did 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:59.760 pass The devil held you long enough because for some 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.760 some of us, nothing in our life will change this year, 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.200 because we are not sick enough of the way it 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:15.440 was last year. We are not sick enough of it. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.600 Yet we are like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Now. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.080 I studied all about this scripture today that I'm sharing 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.760 with you about these Jews who believed in Jesus enough 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:34.480 to know that they were not immoral, ungodly addicts. This 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.720 was not a case of them needing to give up 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.640 their sin. It was a case of them needing to 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:48.200 give up their story. There's a confluence in the text 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.200 of what Jesus is teaching about in when he's teaching 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:55.160 it and I really want to teach more this year. Okay, 0:15:55.840 --> 0:16:00.360 I'm fine to inspire you, but I'm sure I want 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.200 to get up here and just give you Christian cocaine 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:07.480 that makes you feel high for an hour and a 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:13.400 half and then just drops you off. I want to 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.600 give you something that you can that you can carry 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:21.760 out of here and be strengthened in faith. I want 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.840 to give you food that you can live off of 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:30.040 for days you can go back and study. So one 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.320 thing about the cliches that we quote is that when 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:38.880 we understand the context in this passage, Jesus is talking 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.280 to the Jews who believed him, and he is challenging 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.920 their belief that it doesn't go deep enough, which means 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.720 they believed in his signs, but they did not commit 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:59.440 to his teaching. They liked listening to his message, but 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:07.160 it was made flesh in their life. The people he 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.320 was talking to are people like me and you who 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.480 believe in him. But he is telling them that it 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:21.760 is possible to believe and still not be free. Indeed, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.440 it is impossible for you. This is one thing that 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.359 we all have to understand. It is impossible for you 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:34.280 to live in a sustainable way above the level that 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.719 you are willing to believe God at, because eventually you 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.720 will either shrink your belief down to the level of 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:49.080 your experience or allow God to expand your belief to 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.879 the level of his promise. Which one is happening in 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.480 your heart so far this year? I don't know yet, 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:01.399 pastor has only been a week. That's long enough, you 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.840 know about a weekend. Are you shrinking what you think 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.040 God can do, will do, is gonna do? Are you 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:13.560 shrinking your belief to the level of your experience or 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.440 are you allowing God watch this to raise your experience 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:26.280 up to the level of his power. Jesus talking to 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:28.880 the Jews who believed in him, and he said, if 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.760 you hold to my teaching, if you hold to my teaching, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.119 be my disciples, then you'll know the truth, and the 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:42.840 truth will set you free. I remember one January, the 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.840 little boy I walked in on my mom and dad. 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.879 Hold on. I walked in. My mom and dad were 0:18:54.920 --> 0:19:00.800 get we edit this. They were watching how many of 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:08.119 y'all remembered Jane Fonda VHS workout tapes? They were watching 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.879 Jane Fonda VHS workout tapes? And this is the kicker 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:18.479 eating a bowl of ice cream. It scarred me for life. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.719 I walked in and saw them watching Jane Fonda eating 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.720 ice cream. We'll never forget that. Can't remember my kids' 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.960 names most days in the correct order, but I will 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:34.679 never forget watching them watch a workout eating ice cream, 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.119 because now I think about it every time I preach, 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:48.200 because I wonder will this work if you just watch 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.880 me do it? And I don't even look as good 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.399 as Jane Fonda. I'm not even that attractive. I'm not 0:19:55.480 --> 0:20:01.560 wearing tights for y'all. And yet there is a sense 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.080 in which we live. Now. This is the life. This 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.600 is how crafty the devil is. If you knew more, 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:14.040 you could do more. He didn't say, if you would 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.760 know more truth, it would set you free. He said, 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:23.199 if you hold to my teaching, you will be my disciples. 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.400 Then you will know the truth and truth to say free. 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.360 So if I knew, I would do no no, If 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:33.320 you would do, you would know if you would do, 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:36.080 you would know how many of you have had the 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:39.679 thought in the last two years. I just don't know 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.280 what to do. You thought that I don't know what 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:46.560 to do. Everybody whose hand didn't go up when I 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.199 asked that question, I need to have a meet, a 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:53.159 consultation with you, either to cast out that devil of 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.760 lying or to pay you to tell me the future. 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:57.879 I'm gonna ask again, because I think y'all are asleep 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.000 on me. How many of y'all have had the thought 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.879 in the life. I just don't know what to do. 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:05.479 Raise your hand, raise your hand, raise your hand, raise 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.720 your hand, raise it online, raise it online. All right, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:14.679 Yes you do, Yes, you do. You know what to 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:21.399 do with the truth that you have been given. But 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.960 we don't want to hold to the teaching that Jesus 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:30.119 gave us when it's hard to hear or when it 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:35.000 makes us confront ourselves. He said to the Jews who 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:39.240 believed in him, you are so addicted to the lies 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:41.840 that you don't want to hold on to the truth. 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:44.399 And you know a lot of times when I'm asking 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.280 God to change me in my life and God is 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.440 telling me to hold on to the teaching. A lot 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.359 of times I picture myself, come here, Elijah. I picture 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.240 it like this simple picture. God gave me, simplest picture 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:57.159 in the world. I pictured it like this is my 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.400 oldest son. I was telling you about how we work 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.920 out together in the pound, and now listen, I can 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.240 still out bench him, out squad him and all that stuff. 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:07.320 He's taller than me, but that doesn't mean he can 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:09.400 take me, all right. The devil is a liar, father 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.400 of lies. When we go in the gym, I try 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:17.040 to train him not only in weights, but I try 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:21.760 to train him in truth. Hey man, there's some stuff 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:25.480 God has put in you, and the lies that you 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:27.719 believe can become a lit on your life. They can 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.920 become a limitation. But the first thing I got to 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:34.960 teach you is lie detection. So you'll even know it's 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:39.760 happening because it'll sound so true. Right, and yet all 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:42.520 the time Jesus is saying, you will know the truth, 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:46.919 hold to the truth, and the truth will set you free. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.480 So here's how. Let's stand over here where everybody can 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.480 see us. You stand there, U stand here. Just picture this. 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.359 This is the truth. This is the Word of God. 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.920 This is the Bible, sixty six books. It's all true, 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:00.840 from the Book of Genesis to the maps in the 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:08.720 bat the truth. And I saw it like this, he said, 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:10.960 give me verse thirty two. Again, the part of the 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.880 verse is so important. If you hold sorry, verse thirty one. 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:21.639 If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:27.880 Thirty two, and then you will know. So you have 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:32.880 to hold it to know it, not hear it. Hold it. 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:36.879 That means it is not the word that I preach 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:40.919 that sets you free. It is the word that you practice. 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:46.800 And that's where it happens. When I speak, something from 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:48.399 God doesn't come from me. If it comes from me, 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:52.520 it's empty calories, all right, it's Briar's ice cream if 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:55.439 it comes from me. But if it comes from God, 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:58.680 and it comes through me, and the Spirit of God speaks, 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:01.080 whether it's in a sermon or in your life, or 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:03.560 something that God shows you over and over again, or 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:08.880 something he speaks through your wife. Not every word from 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:12.520 God comes through somebody with a callar. Not every word 0:24:12.520 --> 0:24:16.800 from God comes on a Sunday morning. But when God 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:20.080 feaks to you. You know that was harsh. You know 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:22.760 you're being stubborn right now. You know you just need 0:24:22.800 --> 0:24:24.800 to think. You need to be right right now. And 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:27.399 when God corrects you with that, well, the Lord doesn't 0:24:27.440 --> 0:24:29.960 to Lord is loving. Did you hear Jesus and John Hay? 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:37.520 He said, this is your father, the devil speaking through you. Okay, okay, 0:24:38.359 --> 0:24:41.480 people are too coddled. We have this coddle Christianity where 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:44.120 you just come up alongside people and always just teach 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:45.960 them that God will give you grace every time you 0:24:45.960 --> 0:24:47.880 screw up. What about teaching me how to get better 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:54.800 so I don't screw up so much? Huh? Is there 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:57.480 an axe that and shut this thing down at the roof? 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:08.800 Because I what, I don't just want to pop God's 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:12.560 promises like pills to take the pain away. I want 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:16.600 to make progress in my life, to see things how 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:19.960 they are and to not have to live in denial 0:25:24.200 --> 0:25:26.720 because listen sayings of God. Jesus was talking to the 0:25:26.760 --> 0:25:30.040 Jews who believed him, and they thought they had the 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:31.600 way of life that honored God and they didn't know 0:25:31.640 --> 0:25:34.840 the truth and it was standing right in front of them, 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:37.879 and he said, you can't hear it, and if you 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:41.240 will hold to my teaching on three one two three, 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:47.120 now that's what sets you free. The problem is, come here, 0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:50.200 bring me out what I gave you earlier from wherever 0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:52.119 it's back there somewhere. I know it is because I 0:25:52.280 --> 0:25:55.080 planned this out. I told him. I said, this is 0:25:55.119 --> 0:25:59.120 so simple. The church is gonna laugh at me. They're 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:01.000 gonna think, oh, past so didn't have time to study 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:06.800 this week. He had to bring out the props. But 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:11.600 I saw it like this because I keep seeing people 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:14.919 that can't hold the truth, and I wonder why you 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:17.080 can't even hope. Some of us. We can't even hold 0:26:17.080 --> 0:26:23.000 a compliment for ten minutes. He can't hold it. Some 0:26:23.080 --> 0:26:26.760 of us. The Lord can give us a really good direction. 0:26:28.000 --> 0:26:30.879 We can know that he spoke to us, and we 0:26:31.440 --> 0:26:34.359 can since war God as us and I can't hold. 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:37.560 Has anybody noticed other than me, your attention span is 0:26:37.600 --> 0:26:42.560 getting almost zero these days? Does that have anything to 0:26:42.640 --> 0:26:48.960 do with the technology by which advertisers are rewarded for 0:26:49.040 --> 0:26:53.360 disrupting our attention and redirecting it to some product which 0:26:53.400 --> 0:26:57.040 they hope for us to buy, or some truth which 0:26:57.080 --> 0:26:59.480 they hope for us to consume. We can't even hold 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:07.199 the truth in anymore because it's kind of hard to 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:16.520 have room for truth holding on. So trash put him 0:27:16.560 --> 0:27:18.920 in the shot. They can't see him online. Yeah, y'all 0:27:18.920 --> 0:27:21.439 gotta get a wide shot or something. You know, you 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:22.920 face me, you face me. They need to do it 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:32.199 with the cameras. This is the illustration. But son, I 0:27:32.320 --> 0:27:36.800 need you to know that it's really hard for you 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:41.159 to hear from the Holy Ghost if you scroll six 0:27:41.280 --> 0:27:46.119 hours on TikTok. Sound like an old man right now, 0:27:46.920 --> 0:27:50.000 forgive me, lord, I sound eighty three right now. But 0:27:50.119 --> 0:27:54.760 I'm trying to tell you that you can't hold truth 0:27:56.240 --> 0:28:05.359 and hold trash. So what are we gonna do? What 0:28:05.400 --> 0:28:08.280 are we gonna do? How many need to be set 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:13.119 free in an identifal and identifiable specific area of your 0:28:13.160 --> 0:28:17.480 life this year? I need freedom, But I don't know 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:20.840 what you need? Freedom from God does? The Holy Spirit does, 0:28:21.040 --> 0:28:24.840 and really, deep down you do. You know exactly what 0:28:24.880 --> 0:28:28.320 it is, the compulsion, the obsession, the addiction, the torment. 0:28:28.520 --> 0:28:30.919 You know exactly what you need free from You know 0:28:31.480 --> 0:28:34.360 now the scripture says, who you be set free by? 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:36.800