Scripture referenced
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Leviticus 23:6-8 read aloud as the opening scripture, describing the festival of unleavened bread
6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.
8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.’”
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Keep this verse
John 8
Jesus says everyone who sins is a slave of sin, and if the Son sets you free you are free indeed
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,
4 they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”
6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.
10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”
12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.
15 You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.
16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.
17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.
18 I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”
19 They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
20 Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
21 Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”
22 The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come’?”
23 He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.
24 I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”
25 They said therefore to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.
26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”
27 They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.
28 Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.
29 He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.
31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.
32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.
35 A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.
36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
37 I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.
38 I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”
39 They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
40 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.
41 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”
42 Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.
43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.
44 You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.
45 But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.
46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”
48 Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”
49 Jesus answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
50 But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.
51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52 Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’
53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is…
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Colossians 2
God forgave all sins and cancelled the record of charges against us by nailing it to the cross
1 For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
4 Now this I say that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him,
7 rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
8 Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,
10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
11 in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
15 having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,
17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.
18 Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
20 If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
21 “Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”
22 (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?
23 Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
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1 Peter 2
Jesus personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so we can be dead to sin
1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:
4 coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.
5 You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”
7 For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,”
8 and, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
10 who in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as supreme;
14 or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.
15 For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
18 Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked.
19 For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.
20 For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if, when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,
22 who did not sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
23 Who, when he was cursed, didn’t curse back. When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
25 For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
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Romans 7
Paul says the good he wants to do he does not do, and the evil he does not want to do he keeps on doing
1 Or don’t you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?
2 For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband.
3 So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.
6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
9 I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 The commandment, which was for life, this I found to be for death;
11 for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
12 Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
13 Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.
15 For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.
16 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.
19 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.
20 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law.
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Galatians 5:1
Christ has truly set us free, do not get tied up again in slavery to the law
1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
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Hebrews 9:26
Jesus appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice
26 or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
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Hebrews 12:1
throw off the sin that so easily entangles us and run with perseverance, keeping eyes on Jesus
1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
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Luke 12:1
cited as the source for leaven representing hypocrisy
1 Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
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Philippians 4:6
do not worry about anything but pray about everything, and God's peace will guard your hearts
6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
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Philippians 4:8
meditate on what is pure, holy, lovely and true rather than on what you are not supposed to meditate on
8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
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Galatians 5:16
let the Holy Spirit guide your lives and you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
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2 Corinthians 10:2
briefly cited in reference to using powerful God-given tools
2 Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some, who consider us to be walking according to the flesh.
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Romans 8:6
mentioned as a verse to memorize to let the Holy Spirit guide your life
6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Brian walked the Tribe fam through one of the often-overlooked feasts on God's calendar, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and used it to ask a direct question: if Jesus has genuinely set us free from sin, why do so many of us keep living like we are still in chains?
What was said
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is part of what Brian calls God's seven yearly family traditions. In Jewish practice, the father of the home searches every corner with a candle, sweeps out any yeast or leaven with a feather onto a wooden spoon, and burns the whole thing. The tradition is physical, deliberate, and thorough. Brian connected the objects in the AI-generated image on the screen, the candle, the feather, the spoon, and the breaking chains, to that ritual before explaining what the ritual is actually pointing at.
Leaven in the Old Testament stands for sin. Jesus expands the definition in the New Testament to include hypocrisy and false teaching. The old covenant method put the entire burden of removal on the individual. Brian called this the little pink monkey strategy: the harder you try not to think about something, the more you think about it. Telling yourself not to meditate on sin is just another way of meditating on sin.
The New Testament passages Brian read, from John 8, Colossians 2, 1 Peter 2, and Hebrews 9, all point to the same thing: Jesus did not just cover sin or look the other way. He removed it, nailed it to the cross, carried it in his body, and dealt with it once and for all. Brian noted that when Colossians says God "took it away," the Greek idea is of separating something out from the middle of something else, like pulling yeast out of an already-baked loaf of bread, which is impossible by human effort.
The tension the congregation kept naming is real. Paul names it too in Romans 7. We know what God's word says, and we still sin. Several people in the room spoke to this honestly, including one person who described waking up cranky, trying to manage it in her own strength all the way to church, and finally hearing clearly that she was still straining like a slave rather than resting like a daughter.
Brian traced the gap between what Scripture says and daily experience back to a single tactic of the enemy: deception. He used the image of a fired police officer who walks back into the room still wearing the uniform. The officer has no authority anymore, but if nobody in the room knows he was fired, everyone complies. Satan's authority was stripped at the cross. His only remaining tool is to make people forget that, to keep showing up copped up, hoping no one checks.
The way to close that gap, Brian argued, is not trying harder but knowing the truth well enough to recognize the lie when it arrives. That means memorizing Scripture. He was direct about it: the verses read that morning are the sword, and if they stay on a screen and never get buried in a person's heart, the enemy will keep winning. He pointed to Philippians 4:6 as a starting place for anyone dealing with worry, and the group added Hebrews 12:1-2 and Galatians 5:16 to the pile. Lissa closed by describing it as a teeter-totter: as a person keeps choosing to follow the Spirit and repents quickly when they don't, the sinful nature loses its grip, not by white-knuckling it, but by filling up with something else.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Brian described three reasons God invites us to honor the feasts: to remember, to recalibrate, and to rehearse. Which of those three do you find hardest to actually do in your daily life, and why?
- The sermon used the image of a father searching his house with a candle, a feather, and a wooden spoon to remove every trace of leaven. If you were to do that kind of honest search of your own heart right now, what would you expect to find?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 10,789 words
Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.
Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.
How many guys compared to girls are in here today? Who's winning? Girls or guys? Do the guys got it?
In my opinion, yes. Oh,
just a few.
Yes. I don't know if I have ever seen that in a church service in my life.
Way to go, guys. Whoo. Boys.
Yes. Alright. Let I do wanna count though. How many guys and how 11 guys? Yeah.
How many girls? I don't know.
They can't.
Well, let's count the girls. Are you counting me? Did you count Laura back there? Where's Colin? When we need him?
Colin, absolutely not. Alright, alright. It is still a record that there would be as many dudes in church as there are girls and a lot of these dudes don't have girls with them that brought them to church. So, yeah.
That's that counts for two then.
Counts for two.
Who's got dudes?
Girl math. Dudes win. Girl math. If you're a dude or a chick, there's a connect card in your seat And if you are new or visiting, we'd love to have a record of your visit and or if you have a prayer request, there's room on the back for that. And, or if you're a young adult and would like to get connected with young adult happenings, you can fill that out.
And, or if you are not on the Tribe Text Blast, we send out weekly announcements and things like that. So if you're, if you want to stay connected with our Tribe fam, that's a great way that you can fill out. So just put your phone number on that and then you can either leave it in the seat, or you can put it in that little black box to the back there. This is the title of our conversation that we're going to have today. And
I'll explain the picture in a
moment, but hopefully you're like, what is that? And what is that? We're gonna talk about it. Let me take just a moment. Right.
Don't race ahead of me. I'm gonna take just a moment and pray, and I'm gonna be still as I do. Just let's just make sure we're on the right track here. I mean, of course, we're on the right track with like, but I just wanna make sure of a couple things. Sometimes, I feel down in my knower that the lord may want to do something, but I'm always but some sometimes I'm super clear.
Sometimes I'm not clear. So if I'm still for a moment, I may hear better. All right, the Holy Spirit said, Charlie Mike, continue mission. Last week was Easter. How many of you were at Easter?
It was so great. We had 130 people filling that conference room. We ate 35 pounds of briskets. We had six people get saved and there was one wonderful person from our tribe fam that underwrote the entire Easter service and paid for everything. So, let's praise the lord for that.
Super cool. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, let's turn to the book of Leviticus. I know. I know. I know.
I know. I know. Know. Know. I did too.
I did too. But it but we're not gonna stay there like we have been in in times recently.
It's all God's word. Yes. Oh. There's more blood.
Famous. Famous last words. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Leviticus 23. You'll find out. Here we go.
Leviticus chapter 23. And we like to do things conversationally here. This venue, this the size of this venue lends itself to us being able to interact with one another. Bigger venues, it may be a little bit harder for us to interact, but since we're seated in this cozy living room, People always have conversations in living rooms. So why not us have a conversation about the content that we're going to talk about today?
So to prime the pump, would somebody please read Leviticus chapter 23? And we're going to read just a few verses six through eight. And we have a mic in the room so that all of our families and friends that are watching the live stream, apparently Colin Green and Zoe cuddled up in her daddy's arms this morning are watching the live stream but when we have the mic in the room, we could hear your voice but the mic is so that all of our live stream families get to stay up with us and participate in service and hear your wonderful voice. So, it's just a few verses. Leviticus chapter 23 verse six through eight.
Isaac,
did he tip the scales? Oh, wait. Did you count Oliver?
No. No.
Did you you?
Oh, No, guys.
Yes. Yes. Guys, give yourselves a hand because we win today. Whoo. First time ever.
First. Expect a call from Buckrail. Alright. Amanda, you, will you read for us?
Oh, sure. I will.
Leviticus chapter 23. Oh, Colin just texted and said, I'm with you. He's watching the live stream. Oh, we're going to replace the batteries. Okay, I'll read it then.
But that means I need my glasses. Uh-huh. Probably. Alright. Well, we don't have a mic.
So, I've got a mic in the room. I'm mic ed up. It's only. I'll talk loud. Here we go.
I didn't because I didn't.
Leviticus twenty three six through eight. Okay. We gotta keep, let's keep this train rolling, Brian. On the next day, the fifteenth day of the month, you must begin celebrating the festival of unleavened bread. This festival to the lord continues for seven days.
During that time, the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, all people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly. For seven days, you must present gifts to the lord. On the seventh day, the people must again stop all their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly. So, if you would put that chart up, please.
So, we're going to talk about one of god's family traditions a little out of sync. I have I've continued to develop this chart. I've taken out the book of what did it say? Oh, it was in the month of Mark which is not accurate. So, I fixed that and I've worked on filling in the Jewish tradition portion of this chart.
This is a chart that I have developed and pulled from a bunch of different sources. But at Tribe, we have been invited by the Lord to honor seven major feasts in the Jewish calendar year. And if you're anything like me, when you're growing up or if you're sitting there right now, you're like Jewish feasts. I don't know about that. Like, we're not Jewish.
And if you've spent any amount of time in church, you might think, why are we talking about the Jewish feast? Because we're under the new covenant. That's either old covenant or that's for Jews. Well, when you read about the feasts in the Old Testament, the Bible says, and God is super clear. He says it numerous times.
These are my feasts. These are my feasts, the Lord would say. And so in essence, they are God's family traditions. And so if that helps you to, the medicine to slide down a little easier, if you want to call them God's family traditions, that's great. That's what I think of them as God's seven unique yearly family traditions.
He has a yearly camping trip. He has a big party. He has times when you need to be somber and reflective. And the spring feast that we focus on a lot is the feast of Passover. And as Christians, we celebrate it as Easter.
So several weeks ago, the week before Easter, we talked about the Jewish feast or God's family tradition of Passover. And with all of these feasts, seven major feasts of the year, there are three main reasons why God invites us to honor, recognize, or celebrate these feasts. It is to remember what God has done in our life and in our heart, what he's done for other people in the Bible, what he's done for other people that we that are in our friend group or that we go to school with or that we live and do life with. Part of it is to recalibrate, help us to get back on track, to get back in sync, to recalibrate the rhythm of our life and our heart to get in sync with the Lord. Because I don't know if you know this or not, but he has the best rhythm in the universe.
And I'm not talking about his dance moves. I'm talking about when he moves, when he rests, when he's active, when he steps forward, when he pulls back. His rhythm, his way of doing things is absolutely the best. And for any of you who have followed Jesus for any amount of time, you have seen that play out in your life. His way is the best way.
And so part of honoring and recognizing these feasts is not only to remember, but also to help us recalibrate, get your mind right. And then the third thing is to rehearse, to practice, because if you look down here on the fulfillment status, we have four checked boxes and three remaining that there will someday be a literal fulfillment of these three spring feasts. So we celebrate or we honor. I don't know if I would say celebrate but we honor and recognize the season, god's family tradition of Passover. Now, we're not going around slaughtering lambs because we're under the new covenant.
Can I have that little clicker there? I can get it to go. I know. It was on recirculate. Well, they should definitely go turn that up.
Nope. I hear it. Preaching so hot, we gotta cool it off. Fire. Fire.
So look on the far left column. You can see that this family tradition usually happens in March or April. It's not set all the time because we operate under a solar calendar. So things happen on certain dates like Christmas Eve is always on the twenty fourth. The Jewish religious calendar operates on a lunar calendar, and so that changes from time to time and season to season.
So that's why there's not a set date. Everybody say, There you go. So the Jewish tradition is that the blood smeared on the doorpost of a person's home would spare them from judgment, which is what we talked about at Passover two weeks ago, and we talked about it last week at Easter. The blood is enough. You can read about this family tradition in these Old Testament passages, and we can see Jesus beautifully in this feast through the crucifixion of the Messiah.
His shed blood is the blood that it, the blood that he shed on the cross is the blood that removes the stain of sin from the human heart. And we can look about we can look at these in the New Testament. And so we spend a lot of time on Passover. And then the next feast or, or date on the Christian calendar Easter would be Pentecost fifty days after Easter. But then these two beautiful little feasts, they often get overlooked.
And so as I was basking in the afterglow of a beautiful Easter service, I was like, okay, Lord, Sunday's coming. Like, where where do you where do you want to go? And he's like, hey, tell you what, let's turn to Leviticus. And I was like, you're funny. They will literally kill me.
And he said, I want us to look at these two feasts. So we're gonna take we're gonna take two weeks, and we're going to touch even though we're kind of out of order, because in the Jewish calendar, these things happen. Boom, boom, boom, like over the course of like three days, not three weeks but but I want us to touch on these so that we're familiar with them so that as we get to this next feast, Shavuot or Pentecost, we're like, alright, we're on track, and then we can get back into the fall feast. Does that make sense? So if you're taking notes, at the top of your notes, you can write No Longer Slaves.
No Longer Slaves. That's the title of our conversation that we're going to have this morning. Would you turn to the next slide that doesn't have the text on this? Okay, I mean how cool is AI generated art? I said, I said I want a feather, a spoon, a candle, and some chains breaking.
Done. One and done. Nice work. Alright. Here's the question.
Who are you talking to? Chad.
I'm talking to Chad. You did so good. You should be nice to your AI assistant. Stop. So, it won't be your.
Stop. Our AI robot overlord someday. Anybody familiar with the Jewish feast of Passover and could make a connection between the objects in this image besides the breaking chains? Okay. If my friend Rabbi Zelman would hear, he would be like, yes, I know what this is.
I know what this is, and I will tell you. So we just read it in scripture that there you can't eat any bread with yeast and in fact, the verse the passage goes on to say that there can't be any yeast in your home. Alright. So we still need to connect the passage with this picture. So we don't, as Christians and as a tri family, we don't do this you can if you want but but the Jewish tradition is that in preparation for Passover, the father of the home goes on a top to bottom search for anything with yeast or leaven in it and removes it from the home before the Passover meal starts.
We'll talk a little bit more specifically about the leaven in just a moment but here's what would happen in in millions of Jewish homes around the world just last week. So, the family would do, think of it as spring cleaning. They'd clean all of the yeast, all of the leaven out and you know that it's in more than just cooking things. It's in like a lot of cosmetics and other things. Cosmetics was just the first thing that came to mind.
So, it all has to be removed from the house. Once the house is been purged of yeast and leaven in accordance with the scripture, then, the father comes around and according to tradition, he has a candle and he takes the candle and he looks in the back of all of the cupboards. He looks under all of the drawers. He looks in every nook and cranny, and the light of that candle is supposed to shine into the dark crevices of the home. And he also has with him a wooden spoon and a feather so that if he finds any yeast or any leaven, he takes that feather.
So, you don't want to touch it yourself and he takes the feather and he sweeps it onto like a little wooden spoon And then the once the house has been completely certified free of leaven, the spoon with any leaven in it and the feather go into a paper bag and then it is burned in the fire and the house has been purified of yeast. Like like getting your house rid of of poison? Yeah. Certainly. So to be a good Jew, it means that you have to work really hard to find any yeast, any leaven, and physically remove it from your home.
Here's the next question I have for you. Since we're talking about yeast and leaven, what does yeast and leaven represent? Because we see that one of the great literary tactics of the Bible to help us connect with the meaning of the Bible is using types and shadows and metaphors and similes, common literary techniques to help us connect with the deeper meaning and message. Because is it actually yeast and leaven that is bad? No, it's what the yeast and leaven represents.
If you get this out of your house, it's easier to make the connection to remove it from your heart and from your life. So what does the yeast and leaven represent? Sin.
Or hypocrisy if you're going with twelve one, Luke.
Or from Luke twelve one, hypocrisy, false teaching, icky bad. We'll just we'll just write write put that in your put that in your notes, icky bad.
Well, it's like, okay. Wanna go to a pen. Will you?
Icky bad. You're write it on your Bible. Yeah. Out in the margin. So, in the Old Testament, leaven or yeast represents sin.
Jesus expands that definition in the New Testament to include hypocrisy. Anything in your heart that is not of god can be considered yeast or leaven and it has to be removed. Now, the Old Testament, the Jewish methodology was for you to work really, really hard scouring your house from top to bottom to remove yeast on your own. And I don't know if you've seen the, they're like usually about Passover time. There are these crazy videos where you can hire a special yeast exterminator to come into your home.
And all of their drawers are open. The, all of the dishes are laid out and a rabbi will come by with a blowtorch. He comes to your house with a blowtorch and goes, and just like.
What does he do?
Cooks all the leaven like burns burns it up so that your house is free. But the Old Testament methodology was that it was up to you. Even one little speck of yeast left in your house and you're disqualified. And in a way, the way that I I like to think of it, this thank you, disqualified from being able to have a a pure space free of leaven that would then qualify you to have the Passover meal. You'd be disqualified from the Passover meal.
Yeah. Yeah. And so, the way that I like to think of it is what I would consider if we think of our heart like our house and we want to be free of sin. The old covenant way of like looking forward and trying to eliminate it yourself would be what I would call the little pink monkey strategy. So right now, I want everybody in the room and all the greens that are watching the livestream for the next ten seconds, no matter what you do, do not think about little pink monkeys.
Don't do it. Cory, do not think about little pink monkeys. So it helps. Alright. Yeah.
No. This?
That's good.
That's a glove.
Oh, I thought. Was a hook of horns.
Okay. No. You took it. I'm seeing a count.
Well, so I guess everybody successfully was not thinking about little pink monkeys because they're thinking about my shirt.
That's the
shirt you wear when you don't
want anybody. That's right. Think about it.
Alright. Well, this is my visual aid. It's very effective today.
How. Now, we know.
I know. I was like, too much? Thank you. A little
pink monkey shirt would be a great gift for
Brian now. Oh, yes. I really do. If only there was somebody that could print one. So, here's what happens.
If have any experience like mountain biking, mountain biking 101, when you're mountain biking on single track trails, is your eyes want to continually be skating the trail in front of you. If you see a rock that needs to be avoided on the trail in front of you, and as you get closer and closer, you stare at the rock, what's your front tire going to do? Hit that rock. You see the rock, you recognize it, and you find a way around it, and you move on. The little pink monkey strategy never ever ever works.
If there is something that God has invited you to not meditate on, you will never be successful by employing the little pink monkey. I'm not going to meditate on that. I'm not going to meditate on that. I'm not going to meditate on that. All you're doing is Meditating.
Meditating on that. It's a similar way with this Old Testament methodology for the elimination of yeast or leaven. You gotta look for it. You gotta hunt for it. It's all up to you.
Where is it? You're looking at a candle. You're you're trying to sweep it, sweep it, sweep it. All you're doing is thinking about yeast and leaven.
Now. Instead,
okay, that's worth fresh batteries.
Oh, it is? Yeah.
I said, instead, meditate and I think it's what Philippians four eight, maybe? Meditate on what is pure, what is holy, what is lovely, what is true, what is right. There's another one in there but good. Meditate on those things, not the things you're not supposed to meditate.
I love it. Oh, Colin is making some connections and participating in service. He was like, we he's like, how about the candle could be or god the candle searches our heart, the Holy Spirit could be the feather and cleans out the sin by putting Jesus a wooden spoon on it that breaks our chains and I think the sermon has been preached.
I'm disappointed that we didn't have a
flamethrower up there. Oh, well, maybe maybe you got the sound effect. I don't know how much more I can do for you people. Although with all the men in the room, a flamethrower probably would have been a really good object lesson. Alright, we go back to the chart please.
Here's the question. How did Jesus fulfill the feast? Let us now depart from the Old Testament and the Old Covenant and venture into the New Testament. If you have your Bibles, turn over to John chapter eight. How did Jesus fulfill this feast?
John chapter eight, we'll put it, it's up on the screen here and I will read it. Jesus replied, I tell you the truth. Everyone who sins is a slave of sin. Whenever you see that word sin in the New Testament, you can think in your mind now, ah, yeast, leaven. I tell you the truth.
Everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is a part of the family forever. So if the son sets you free, you are free. Indeed. Indeed.
This is a great verse. To bury deep into as if you weren't actually imagining. If the sun sets you free, you're free indeed. Free from what? Free from what?
Sin. Sin. Anything else? This is not a trick question. I'm just slavery.
Okay. What I was looking at was
something yesterday that I had
I had seen, and it just resonated with me. And
then Here comes the mic.
Then from the the music this morning and what we're talking about, this guy was saying that the devil wants us to do nothing more than to focus on our problem and our reaction to our problem and stay in that stay in that hole of just spinning what the problem is, whether it's health or finances or whatever it is, and how we react to that. And that's not what Jesus taught. Yeah. And our we're set free from him rather than focusing on the problem and our reaction. It's what is our solution, which is he has broken the chains that keep us bound.
Yes. And I thought that was so good. And so yes. That's that's literally exactly what we're talking about. So a slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is a part of the family forever, if you have to go to your room for a time out, even if you're grounded for the weekend, even if you run away from home like Lissa did when she was nine years old and made it just partway down the driveway.
Of where Dan. Mhmm. You are still, you are still a member of the family. And then Jesus says these profound words, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. Man, this verse is so good to bury deep into your heart.
Let's look at another passage. Colossians chapter two. We're going to assemble several of these New Testament passages together and and develop a picture of the theme of what I feel like the Holy Spirit wants to impart to us today. Colossians chapter two, we have this one up on the screen as well. Then, god made you alive with Christ for he forgave all of our sins, yeast, leaven, sins.
He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away. Now, this is really important. How did Jesus set us free? How did Jesus cancel the effects of sin in the human heart? What's it say?
How did he do it? Nailing it to the cross. He nailed it to the cross. So this this verse, then god made you alive with Christ. He forgave all of our sins.
He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away. That phrase in the Greek took it away. Where is it? There it is. Took it away.
Your translation may say it slightly different but the idea is to remove from you. When you look at that phrase in the Greek, it means out of the midst to separate, as if you could take what's something that's cooked with yeast? Don't know. Bread. Okay.
Imagine a loaf of cooked bread. How do you separate the yeast from that already cooked loaf of bread? Like, it's impossible. This is how amazing the cross is, the power of the cross. Somehow, some way, he did it.
He could remove the yeast. When the Bible says it takes it away, the idea in the Greek is out from the midst of. He has been able to separate our sin from the rest of us. How he do that? It happened on the cross.
By nailing it to the cross. You can still be a son and your sin be punished. Without your obliteration. Oh, let's keep going. First Peter chapter two.
The book of first Peter can be a little challenging to find. We put it on the screen here. He being Jesus, personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. For by his wounds, you are healed. Here's a question.
When it says, so that we can be dead to sin, what does that mean? Dead to sin. Well, you happen to make eye contact. Everybody else is like trying to avoid the teacher's eyes. What do you think that means?
To sin.
Dead to sin. And don't help them out. Oh, no longer controls us.
We can have authority over it.
We can have authority over it. Okay?
We're considered saints.
Jonathan, yeah.
Can I make a comment to the first verse that you showed?
Previous one?
The one before.
Colossians chapter two?
Repeat. One more.
Oh, John eight.
Yeah. So when I read this I was thinking about a slave is not a permanent member of the family. So what does the permanent mean? And for me makes sense that you are a spirit, you have a soul, and you have a body. And so when we sin, right, we're born again, but when we sin, do we sin in our spirit, in our soul, or in our body?
And if it's not permanent, what's not permanent? In us, our body, right?
Yes.
So it's not a permanent member, and our bodies they are kind of a slave to sin because we live on this earth, and we are still sinners. Okay. However, the connection to the last verse that you showed, I see that
Go to last one, the first Peter. The connection, yes?
Yeah. So we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds we are healed. And the other verse was the sun sets us free, right?
Yes.
So when God comes and lives in you, He says that He cannot live where sin is, right? Yes. So which part of you And is He living that means that your spirit which He comes and lives in you is circumcised, is set apart from the sin which is in your body, if it makes sense.
Yes, I agree with what you said.
You don't have to. Okay,
so let me take what you said and pose a question from the first Peter verse. Would you go to the first yeah. Thank you. We can be dead to sin. There is a glaring thought that everyone is having.
If the Bible says that I can be dead to sin, what for probably most of us in the room, even though this is God's word and it is the truth and it is the ultimate reality, what is our experience daily? We Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Why? If this is true and the ultimate reality that we can be dead to sin. And we may need to define terms dead to something.
It's like me and jam bands over in Victor Driggs, I'm just not feeling it. Like, if you're dead to something, you're not feeling it. Like, it's, you know, it's nonexistent. So how can this be true, but for most of us, many of us, dare I say all of us in this room, there's a distance between what God's word says and our daily practical experience. This question is really, really, really, really important because for most Christians, they read this or even people that are exploring the claims of Jesus in the Bible.
They read this and they go, woah, that's intense. And there's a disconnect between how they live their lives and god's word and they either dismiss it or they their brain gets partitioned so that they can believe in God's word, but then also experience the reality of their everyday life and not integrate these two things. But when a person is able to integrate the reality of their daily experience with God's word, something amazing happens. The trick is we're just getting really, really, really practical today. What does that mean?
How do you do it?
I get convicted. I mean, you
know, I
get convicted. I mean, you live your daily life, but, I mean, we are human and thank the Lord. He knows that and forgives us. And when you get convicted, I mean, it can be something as simple as gossip. You know, you're at work and k.
Yep. And I'll leave a conversation knowing I'm like, what did I accomplish by participating in that? And I love it that the Holy Spirit tweaks me, you know, and makes me aware more.
I like it.
I was just thinking about the scripture. This isn't necessarily an answer of like bridging that gap, but it certainly is the human condition, but I think the, in Romans, Paul who
You're in chapter six?
I'm in Romans seven.
Okay.
Were you going there? No. Okay. So Paul who had a major conversion saw like resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus, right? I got all my facts right?
Yes, yes.
He says in Romans, he says, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I, myself, who do it.
Jonathan. Jonathan. Well, is what Jonathan was
Yeah, is exactly what you were saying. I thought you were like
saying Jonathan. The good that you want to do you no longer do.
It's all turning like a joke. It it is so this is the dichotomy of, well, is that true but we still sin? As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is the sin living in me because we live in a body that's fallen.
In a fallen world.
In a fallen world. For I know that good itself does not for I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing.
Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it. It is sin living in me that does it. Yeah, it's separate. You're not one in the same with your sin anymore.
Ah, because you've you're you've been circumcised. Your heart's been circumcised. Yes. Yes. You're yes.
This is wonderful.
I'm working this out as I'm reading it.
Okay.
I didn't have an answer like I said, but obviously if Paul, Jonathan.
Jonathan. Also for Jonathan.
Jonathan. I would say like for me, I don't know if this is probably not where you're going, and you're probably gonna say no, but for me, I haven't fully put on the identity of a saint.
Okay.
And like, and I definitely still have parts in me that have a slave mindset, and I'm still living in that place. Like, even today, I was I woke up cranky. And and I was like, okay, I'm gonna sit. I'm doing my silence time. I'm gonna get my heart right.
I'm gonna like pray. And then I'm like still cranky. And then I'm driving to church and I'm like, okay. I gotta like think positive thoughts. I gotta focus on what's lovely and good.
I gotta do this. Have to do this.
Little pink monkeys.
Then someone cuts me off. And I'm like, and then I'm like, okay. I'm doing it wrong and I have to do And then I heard so clearly, you are trying in your own strength because you think you're a slave still. Like, give it to me and trust that I am going to, like, do all the things. You're still trying and striving in your own strength as a slave.
You're reacting to the problem.
Right.
And you were just hung up in your reaction.
But my identity it's because my identity I'm reacting to the problems because my identity is still as a slave, and I haven't fully put on the identity that like I am saved, I am free indeed, and that I am no longer a slave and I am a daughter.
Yes.
I'm a daughter, not a slave. Yes. I haven't fully put that's for me.
Yes. That's beautiful. This is exactly where we're going today.
Oh, okay. One
more one more verse, Galatians. Oh. Oh, there's Hebrews. Alright, let's read Hebrews. I mean, it's just so good.
We gotta include it. Hebrews chapter nine verse 26. But now once and for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. I like I like the terminology that you used a moment ago. We can attack this from a bunch of different angles hoping that like something will connect and sink in.
I mean, I can see, I can see circumcision here, the circumcision of a person's heart, separate their spirit from the flesh. At the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. All of the leaven sin in your life has been dealt with. Not dismissed and swept under the carpet, not like, well, it's okay. In our family, when our kids were little and we had to apologize to to somebody in our house, we would say, I am sorry.
And we, the next words out of the person's mouth who was being apologized to, it was forbidden to say, okay, or that's okay, or I'm fine. The next words always had to be, I forgive you. That's very powerful. If you ever like, if you ever want to like make a point with somebody and they hand out a cheap apology for something. And instead of you being like, oh no, it's okay.
You just be like, I forgive you. That'll really get their attention. But it's important. It's a transaction that needs to be completed and so so this verse in Hebrews chapter nine, it says that it has been removed. Our sins have been forgiven because they have been nailed to the cross.
All of the all of the sins that and we define sin as breaking god's law, right? All of the sins that that we had committed, all of the sins that we will commit, they have all been the penalty, the price has been paid for when Jesus went to the cross. He carried the sins of the entire world. Those that lived before Jesus that looked forward to the cross and those of us that lived two thousand years after the cross and look back to Calvary, that's how incredible Jesus is. That's how amazing his sacrifice was.
He took all of our sins onto himself and they were dealt with, burned up by the blow by the blowtorch of judgement on the cross so that they are no longer existent. As a part of our nature. Galatians five and then we're going to I'm going to try to sow this all together. Galatians five one, so Christ has truly set us free. Now, make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Jonathan. Sorry,
I don't want to close but I got a really good verse that I was thinking
And a while
it says, therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witness, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely and run with endurance the race set out for us. And then it says, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith.
Hebrews what's that? 11.
Twelve one.
Hebrews twelve one. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge cloud of witnesses, let off, let us throw off the sin so that so easily entangles us. The weight of that sin that so easily entangles us and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. So for many Christians, we can intellectually understand that Jesus took our sin and nailed it to the cross.
For many Christians, we can intellectually understand although this may be kind of tricky that our sin does not define our sonship, that we have been adopted into God's family. We have been given a new nature. But when it comes to living free from sin that we've been talking about and talking about and talking about in this idea of slavery, we still feel practical express practically experientially these chains of bondage to the slavery of sin. How we break these chains? How do we break the bonds of sin that do so easily entangle us?
Alright, is sewing it all together. Here's the idea. The Bible says that the devil is a liar. When he lies, he speaks his native language. The authority of Satan was robbed when Jesus died on the cross and and went into, well, I don't, not exactly sure what he was doing for those three days, probably a lot but one of the things that when he rose from the dead, accomplished was to disarm the rightful authority that the race of mankind had given to the enemy.
Legal ground in a person's heart to run his game and to operate. He was served a trespass notice and evicted. But he still has one weapon left to his at his disposal and what is that? To deceive and to lie. So, here is what the enemy does and for maybe for some of you, this is so rudimentary.
You're like, I got it. I knew where you were going the first two minutes of the message. The enemy lies to us and he will tell you that you are still bound by that thing. He will deceive you into agreeing with him that you are not actually free from that. Sins shall no longer be your master because the sin has been broken and the son has set you free.
I think you've heard me use this analogy before, but maybe not with this specific, but it's very effective. So Gretchen's husband is a cop, Jacob, and he works on a Jackson Hole Police Force here in town. And if Jacob walked into the room and he gave us a lawful order, we would be compelled to obey because he's an officer of the law. Right. Okay.
We have to and he would say, I am a police officer. And you wouldn't even, he wouldn't even need to say it because he walks in the room and you can see all the stuff in the thing and all the cool stuff.
He's copped out.
He's copped out. So what happens if Jacob goes into work one day and chief Michelle was like, hey, Jacob, you're fired. And he's like, what? And he's like, yep, you're fired. You're you're not a good cop.
And that's not gonna happen. I reviewed that. That's not gonna happen. Jacob, you're amazing. You hit a promotion.
But this is not working for my analogy. For my analogy, he's a bad cop, and he gets fired. And he walks out of the office. He's now he's now fired. But then he gets into his cop car and he drives over here.
He walks into the room all copped out and he says, you're under arrest. Place your hands behind your back. What would, I mean, what would, what would we do?
We would do it.
We would comply. Why?
Because he still looks
like a cop and we don't know what. Fired. We don't know that he's been fired. This is the amazing, incredible thing about Jesus is that when he went to the cross, he disarmed the powers of hell. He robbed them of their authority.
So they have no longer any rightful claim for us to obey them in any way, shape, form, fashion. When the devil says, you should really lean into that juicy conversation. The job of the Holy Spirit is to say, you don't have to. Wait, I don't have to. For so many of us, we have been living in the pattern of obeying the voice of the enemy that when as a Christian, it's called temptation.
When temptation arises and the enemy says, do you been doing, you've been living in that pattern for twenty five years. There's no way you you break free which go okay because because the enemy looks copped up. And his favorite technique is to try to get us to forget or not realize that we have no obligation to obey the voice of the enemy whatsoever.
Oh,
here we go.
Truth. I was just listening to Chris Valentin. He was telling a story about for, like,
two
years, like a demon was would come into his room at night and like sit at the foot of his bed. And he it would terrify him and he's he's like and I threw all of my spiritual stuff in it. Like I prayed in the spirit and I rebuked it and I told it to go into the and I was doing all this stuff and it wouldn't leave for two years. And then finally he was praying and he was like I'm scared. God.
And the Lord was like, yeah, because you gave him too much authority. And he was like, he's like, what technique do I need to use? And he was like, ignore him. He did that night, he woke up, he saw it sitting at the foot of his bed again, He and looked at it and he said, oh, it's just you. And then pretended to go back to sleep because
he was still scared so
he didn't really But he never saw it again because he realized, like you were just saying, he gave it way too much authority thinking that it was still copped up. And once he was like, oh, it's just you? I don't have to pay attention to you. That was it.
I love it. Yeah. So g so so Jacob walks into the room after theoretically being fired and says. He's got
a promotion. So, this is.
Put your, put your hands up but we knew that he had been fired. What would you do? Would you obey that order? No. But what about this?
But what about this? If he's you if you were to say, no. I don't have to put my hands up. I know that you got fired. He's like, no, but look at me.
I'm a police officer. I mean, you look like one, but doesn't mean you all are one. Yeah. But I got a gun. Fear, intimidation, deception, oppression, all these little tricks.
I got the gun. I got the taser. I got pepper spray. Yeah. Great.
The Bible says, greater is he that is in us than he that's in the world. So, when this thought bubbles up, you will never be able to break free from the gloomies because I know that you don't want to call it depression but you call it the gloomies. That's a lie of the enemy when the temptation is to feel like you will never be healed but you will perpetually live in this broken, wounded state but it just needs to become the new normal and adapt and cope and adjust and do the best you can because that's just how life is going to be from now on. That is the enemy copped up. With no actual legitimate authority.
I think practically speaking, when Jacob hypothetically walks into the room, it's our job to recognize what the truth is. Like, it's our job to know what the truth is about us. You know, like with that scripture about taking every thought captive, that's Jacob walking into the room and us believing or not believing that he is who he says he is. You know, when that lie pops into your mind like, you are never gonna be set free from that because look at you and then you, it's our job to say, in the name of Jesus, like that is not true because here's what god's word says about me. It's the same thing about recognizing someone's authority.
Alright, I'm going to put all of you on the spot for just a moment and if you don't raise your hands, it's okay but for how many of you, even if you maybe not have the address because I'm not great with addresses but but how many of you would have one or more of those verses buried in your heart, meaning that you've memorized it and can quote it.
One or more?
One or more of those. Okay. One. That we've that we've talked about or were up on the screen. Ah, well, then, I mean, this is why you keep not rebuking you, but you're gonna continue to get your ass kicked by the enemy.
It's so simple. Get get it in your heart to the extent that you wanna be free. Yes. Second Corinthians ten two, we use our powerful god tools for smashing workflow. Do you know why I have these memorized?
Not because I'm the pastor or the preacher, but because I've had to employ them for years and years and years and battles and battles and battles and fight and fight and lose and lose and lose and then start to win and win and start to win a little more. If the sun sets you free, you are free indeed. Live like free people. Lord Jesus, help us. I mean, if I need to, don't know what, I don't, I'm I'm.
I'm
Let's send
the scriptures. These for you. No. We're not gonna send them to you.
Well, so you know what they were because I can't remember
Get the podcast. Go to YouTube. Well, like like, if I could memorize them for you, I would because I love you so much. So, if you're like, wow, you're just kind of yelling at us. Good.
That's wonderful. It is. It is your sword.
Yeah. It is your sword to fight the enemy. I mean, that's all we have is god's word.
The holy spirit.
If only if don't get my hopes up. I know it's stubborn stiff neck.
It's righteous anger because he wants to
you to be victorious. I want you to live free so bad. I want you to live free so bad and I want you to represent the person who you claim to follow if you follow Jesus as your lord and savior and the boss of your life and the leader of your life. It it's too far. I want you to be free and I want you to represent him with excellence.
That's what draws a lost and dying world to him. It's like, woah, wait a minute. You're different. Lord, help us. Help us to encounter the truth that you have set us free.
That dirty devil walks around like a roaring lion, copped up, but his authority is illegitimate. Help us. I ask. Oh, this is good. I'm gonna I'm gonna walk around and I'm gonna touch each of you on the knees, and I'm gonna ask that that you would experience encounter, have an experiential encounter with the truth that whom the son sets free is actually free indeed and that the lies of the enemy would be exposed in your life.
And and and Amanda's going to lead us in one more way for worshiping the lord.
If you deal with worry, the first scripture you should memorize is Philippians four six. If you worry about stuff, if you worry about the future, if you feel anxious, anxiety, Philippians four six, Philippians four six, you just speak that. That was the first scripture I ever memorized. Do not worry about anything, but instead pray about everything. Like, worry about nothing, pray about everything.
Thank God for what he's done, And then make your request known to him. You just follow this script and it works every time. And then you will experience God's peace that surpasses all understanding. It's a promise. You do this and I'll do this.
But if I didn't know that I had that weapon, I just keep worrying and worrying. And it says, and then guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. He'll do that for you. Lord, thank you for your word. Help us bury it deep into our hearts so that we can be truly free, walk in the freedom you've already paid the price for.
So, if we think of our life like a container and you put oil and water in it, they don't mix, right? There has to be one or the other and to just tie just an additional bow on what Brian was saying, this is very short but Galatians where we were in chapter five sixteen says, so let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. This is like, if it's filled with something else, god's a gentleman. He's not going to force the Holy Spirit into that bucket. You've gotta make the choice to dump that out so you can be filled.
It says, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives, then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants. And the spirit gives us the desire and the desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature craves. One or the other. These two forces are constantly fighting each other.
So, you're not free to carry out your good intentions by default. I, that's, it doesn't say that, that's what I say. But when you are directed by the spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. So you follow the spirit, learn the word, study scripture, even if it's just one verse from today or something else that you find. Just memorize one scripture and start there because it is a powerful the the Bible does call the word of god the sword of the spirit.
That is how we fight our enemy and that is how we dispel the lies. When you bring lies into the light of the word of god, they literally lose their power because they're being brought into the light of the word. So, just memorize one scripture and let the holy spirit. Romans eight six is good for that too. Let the holy spirit guide your life.
So then you're eventually your sinful nature will be less and less. Kinda like a teeter totter has to go to this side or this. Once you're obeying the Lord again and again and again and you're practicing listening to what the Bible calls that still small voice. You get better and better and better. We're still in a fallen world and a fallen body.
We still sin. Quick repentance is the key there. But you don't want to anymore. You know when you sin once and you're like, well, forget it. I already blew it.
So, I'll just go ahead and do a eat. Eat this entire cake. Well, go ahead and eat the entire cake. Metaphorically and literally, right? And but when you do what you're, like we just read what you, the spirit is the opposite of what our sinful nature craves and he's such a gentleman.
So, it's our job. Like you said, that's our god's job is the supernatural peace. Yeah. Our job is reading the word, learning what the promises are, and standing on those. As we wrap up today, we're going to worship the lord as we always do by bringing our tithe and our offering to him.
This is just a portion of our finances that we say, god, it's all yours anyway. We love and trust you so much that we're going to give whatever it's between you and the lord, whatever amount that the lord puts on your heart, whether it's for all time or each time, however that rolls, we give a portion of our finances as an act of worship. There's so many ways to worship and this is one that we do collectively when we're together as a tribe family. So, I'm going to pray whether you're giving now or another time just practically speaking. You know, we don't pass buckets here but there's a little wooden bucket right here with our tribe logo and then there's a black lock downstairs right outside the front door.
You can drop cash or check anytime and then as you see on the screen, a very easy way to give is on your smartphone by sending a number to 84321. The amount you want to give and then just go from there. So, this is a constant way. You can give anytime, right? It doesn't have to be Sunday morning.
You can give anytime and it's a way to say I worship you and I trust you with this because we like kind of need money, right? In the world to operate. That's how the principle of exchange is at least for now. And so it's portion saying, God, this is a big deal and I'm giving it to you. It's a sacrifice.
It's an act of worship. So let's pray while we're here together. Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity we have to bring our tithe and above and beyond that an offering to you. As your holy spirit leads and pings our heart is what because you know our heart. You know what we're bound by and so I thank you that you speak to each one of us as we give each time just what the amount that you would want us to give because you know the exact to the penny amount that has a potential to grip our heart or to hinder us in some way and you're such a loving god.
You whisper those things to us. Thank you, father for helping us not just to just to have the courage to listen and obey the holy spirit and the release of our finances but anything else like we talked about today. Any proverbial yeast that is in our life. Lord, give us the courage to release it to you. As an act of worship and an act of healing.
We thank you for it. I pray that every single penny on a practical level that comes into this local church called tribe would be well and be spent exactly the way that you want it to be spent. So, more and more people come to know you and become free. Thank you for the opportunity to love on the people of this valley and to the ends of the earth. In Jesus name, we pray.
Amen. Amen. So, just a couple announce four announcements and we'll get you out of here. On the fridge, we have a couple things for you to sign up for. Sunday goodies is a very easy way to serve.
If you're like, I don't want to sing, I don't want to greet, I don't like kids. Well, no problem. You can bring treats, right? There's lots of ways to serve. So, sign up for as many as you'd like.
They're on the fridge and then also for Tuesday meals for young adults, there's a fresh sign up sheet there. That's something you want to do. The young adults meet here in this room every Tuesday and they have a meal together but it has to be provided by someone and so, we don't want it to fall in the same person every time. So, you don't have to stay but drop a meal off before six and if you want to sign up and then a third sign up sheet, do you have that book next to you, Nancy? Birthright?
Oh, Clay might have taken it. Brian is starting a new men's of all ages but men's book study called Birthright. I haven't read it. It's in my queue but it's about your identity in Christ and that's going to start the first Monday of May at 06:00. I think it will run for five weeks.
So, if you're interested in signing up for that, I think it'll be really good. So, sign up right there on the fridge. If you're interested and we'll get you a book, you can get started in that. We have a very special guest coming Sunday, May 18. Her name is Laura Sanger.
Raise your hand if you've heard of her. She's we hadn't either until we started listening to podcast and you know how then you start researching everything. She's, to me, one of the more brilliant minds and spiritual awareness people of our generation of this day. Brilliant. She's written a couple books.
One is about, this is so wild. Open your mind. One is called like the Roots of the Federal Reserve and it's how the Nephilim Agenda has make it made it into our Federal Reserve of the US dollar. Fascinating. She's so brilliant.
And see, it you can read like it's an I don't dare say easy read. Let's it's very easy to understand. She's a great writer. And then another one called Generation Hoodwaked. And it's all about when we read in Genesis three, you know, the seed we call it the seed war.
When when the snake came to deceive Adam and Eve, What is that all about? And she, again, Nephilim Agenda. But yeah, she's wonderful. It says right here, Doctor Laura is an author, speaker, researcher, blogger, retired psychologist, so she knows the mind, and founder of No Longer Enslaved. Very appropriate for today.
She's passionate about seeing people set free through the power of the Holy Spirit. She's so smart. I can't tell you how brilliant she is and she's coming to tribe. Brian just, we heard her on a podcast and she just kind of call and ask and she's coming. So, Sunday, May 18 but we are expecting bigger crowd with her like we've had a lot of people that follow her like on her website reach out and be like, when and where and are, is it ticketed and all of that?
So, we're going to meet on that Sunday, not here at the TMC but at the Virginian just like we did for Easter last week. Last year, it feels like last year. 10, one service, Sunday morning, 10AM and then you see it right here on the slide and I think we'll send this out to you so you remember but she'll be here on Saturday night as well and she, we we can't tell you precisely what she's speaking on because in her words, she says, when I go to speak, I wait a little bit closer to the time and in her words, she says, I let the lord unroll the scroll because he knows exactly who will be there and exactly what they need and that's what she's going to speak on. So, she's wonderful. Please come.
Sunday. Sunday, May 18. 10AM, one service on that Sunday. So, there's that. Okay.
Hand it to him, Malay.
In a non angry way, can you come and pray us out
for you? Someone lay hands on
Brian today. Yeah. Can pray us out. Want me to? Okay.
Shh. Just stay. Yeah.
That look is all about what we were talking about today. So, Monday, 6PM, if you can join us, connect would you stand up and I'll pray for us? Lord Jesus We pray for Nancy today.
And Jonathan.
And Jonathan. Father, I pray for all of our tribe fam here today and that are watching the live stream. I command a blessing over their lives that we would encounter the truth and that the truth would set us free and we would live free basking in the glory of your grace. And we would never take that freedom, as as for granted, but that we would live free and run hard after you. We pray these things in Jesus name and everybody said.
Amen. Amen. I love you guys so very much. Have a great week and remember.
You got it.
You got this.
Topics
Breaking Free From SinFear Of The EnemyIdentity In ChristMemorizing ScriptureSpiritual FreedomUnleavened Bread Meaning
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