No Longer Slaves

In one paragraph

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? The Feast of Unleavened Bread is part of what Brian calls God's seven yearly family traditions. In Jewish practice, the father of the...

Read together

1. Leviticus 23:6-8 read aloud as the opening scripture, describing the festival of unleavened bread
2. John 8 Jesus says everyone who sins is a slave of sin, and if the Son sets you free you are free indeed
3. Colossians 2 God forgave all sins and cancelled the record of charges against us by nailing it to the cross
4. 1 Peter 2 Jesus personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so we can be dead to sin
5. 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
6. Galatians 5:1 Christ has truly set us free, do not get tied up again in slavery to the law
7. Hebrews 9:26 Jesus appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice
8. Hebrews 12:1 throw off the sin that so easily entangles us and run with perseverance, keeping eyes on Jesus
9. Luke 12:1 cited as the source for leaven representing hypocrisy
10. Philippians 4:6 do not worry about anything but pray about everything, and God's peace will guard your hearts
11. Philippians 4:8 meditate on what is pure, holy, lovely and true rather than on what you are not supposed to meditate on
12. Galatians 5:16 let the Holy Spirit guide your lives and you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves
13. 2 Corinthians 10:2 briefly cited in reference to using powerful God-given tools
14. Romans 8:6 mentioned as a verse to memorize to let the Holy Spirit guide your life

Talk about it

1. 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?
2. 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?
3. Brian talked about the little pink monkey strategy, the idea that trying hard not to think about something only keeps you focused on it. Where have you seen that pattern play out in your own attempts to break free from something?
4. One person in the group shared that she realized she was still living with a slave identity rather than the identity of a daughter, and that she was striving in her own strength because of it. Have you experienced that same gap between knowing you are free and actually living like it? What did that look like for you?
5. Brian said the enemy's only remaining weapon after the cross is deception, and that he walks around copped up with no real authority. What is one lie the enemy has used against you that you could counter with a specific verse, and do you have that verse memorized?