Sermon - Freedom in Christ - Pastor Gino Bryant

And we're just me and my wife, we'll we've we've gotten into some hurt situations before, and we would talk about our hurt all the time. We talk about our pain all the time. And and sometimes when that pain is still prevalent and still around you, it's very difficult to overcome that. Right? It's very difficult to to get loose of that, especially if there's a reminder every day of that of that bondage, right, that you're feeling. But, ultimately, we have to overcome that because what we're doing is we're we're subverting or we're we're we're relinquishing the freedoms we could experience, rehearsing the pain. Right? We're rehearsing the pain and the failure and the and the hurt or whatever, and we're relinquishing today for the pain of yesterday. [00:18:35] (47 seconds)  #StopRehearsingHurt

Whenever you go back into sin on purpose, you're just saying I'm sorry. You're not repenting. Right? If you just continue to go back to the sin, you're just saying, oh, God. I'm sorry for doing that, but, you know, he knows and you know and the devil knows you're going right back to that. So what has to happen is there has to be a severing and a repentance, right, over that against that sin. You you say, Lord, thank you, and I turned 180 degrees away from that sin. And Paul's saying that. He said, you've been set free. [00:29:42] (31 seconds)  #RepentAndTurn180

That's one of the things we if we know that, it will help us if we know that Christ never has put us in a situation. No temptation has overtaken us that that other men and women haven't had to go through. And Christ says he will provide a way of escape. He will provide a way of escape. Right? Flee from it. Right? Overcome it. Right? Resist the devil. James four tells us, resist the devil. And what will he do? Flee from you. And if you look at the root word of that, whenever he flees, the root is saying that he is leaving because he is scared. [00:33:33] (36 seconds)  #ResistAndHeFlees

It says he dwelled among the tombs. Everybody say that. He dwelled among the tombs. Think about that for our own lives. There's a spiritual principle there. He dwelled among dead things. Right? He dwelled among the things that that destroy life. And we are we we as believers, as as Christians, we need to understand that that when we associate with with death and and evil and the things of this world, it's not. You know, I I don't wanna ever bring condemnation on somebody, but the more that we associate with evil and associate with death, the the greater the opportunity of the devil to bound us. [00:36:40] (44 seconds)  #ChooseLifeNotTombs

Thank you so much, Kayla. Anything Satan or sin is offering you is less than what God wants to give you. So as you know, you know, the the the devil tempted Jesus back in Matthew chapter four. Remember what he said to Jesus. He took him up to the high pinnacle. Right? And what did he tell Jesus? He said, if you worship me, right, bow down to me, what was he gonna give him? All the kingdoms of the world. Right? How many of you know Jesus now is who is he now? King of kings, lord of lords. Right? He's he's he's savior of the whole world. Right? [00:24:31] (39 seconds)  #DontTakeTheDevilsShortcut

So when when I'm a person who any kind of oppression, I hate it. You know? I hate oppression. Even the Bible says that that a wise person hates oppression. When when when I feel that there's an oppressive spirit on somebody or or in my own life, I wanna get free from that. You know? I don't wanna I don't wanna live in that. And the enemy comes in like a he's like a an angel of light. So he won't tell you that he's bringing oppression, then he'll get you to do something that opens the door for the enemy. Right? The enemy will get you to do something that opens the door for him. So sometimes it's our words. Sometimes it's our thinking. Sometimes our perspectives. Sometimes it's our sinful activities. And his goal is to get us trapped before we realize it. [00:41:31] (47 seconds)  #FreedomNotOppression

We hear that, right, from from the and the Holy Spirit softens our heart, right, after we've dealt with something like that for a little bit. We begin to get humble and say, okay, Lord. I know. I'm just walking around in pride. I need to humble myself a little bit. So many don't understand they aren't free until someone reveals it to them. And sometimes it's that conversation from somebody. Sometimes it's a preacher that says, you know, something that pricks your heart and just calls you to realize, man, I'm missing the mark in that area. I'm missing the mark in in my life in this area, and I need to be free. [00:16:39] (32 seconds)  #OvercomeByFaithInJesus

The first one is the Gadarene demoniac. The the Gadarene, some say the different way, but the Gadarene demoniac. It's it's a place where Jesus has come into town, and this demoniac is is dwelling among the tombs. And he's running in the tombs, and he's chained, and he's breaking his chains. And he's tormenting people, and he's tormented the city. And they know there's this demoniac in this community, and and everybody's scared of him. And when Jesus comes to town, he gets set free. But think about what the what the demoniac was doing. [00:36:03] (38 seconds)  #ConfessDontReturnToSin