Transformative Freedom: Embracing Healing and Wholeness in Christ
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
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Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces... ...contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image, with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. [00:01:10] (29 seconds)
What does freedom look like for you? When you think about freedom, are you thinking that you want freedom from some sort of habit, some behavioural habit that actually you don't look very happy about in your life, something that you do too much of? Maybe you feel that maybe you're getting a little addicted to something, and you want freedom from that? Maybe that's something that's in your mind when you think about freedom or transformation, or maybe you want freedom so that you can be yourself. [00:02:36] (35 seconds)
To recognise what's going on. When I talk about the heart, when the Bible talks about the heart, a lot of the times it's talking about the inner person, the inner life of an individual. And if our hearts become burdened, then I think over time what happens, it begins to affect our behaviour. [00:05:19] (29 seconds)
begins to affect our behaviour. perception of life i don't know about you but as you go through lives there's those moments on there where our hearts um get impacted by pain obviously pain is is a is a a reality in terms of life we experience pain and and we could unpack a little bit about how pain works um sometimes pain is is a useful thing to experience um because if you put your hand into a fire and you experience pain you withdraw your hand it's a good thing isn't it if you didn't have pain you'd end up damaging your hand if you put it into a fire um but what the pain does it causes that hand to withdraw and i think when we experience emotional pain um one of the effects i think and my experience of my own life and talking and praying and counseling folks is that pain can so easily cause us to withdraw to to go in on ourselves to stop being ourselves fully not to embrace the the fullness of life because pain has come into our lives and um in some ways that that's just part and parcel of life that you experience trauma you experience loss you experience anxiety sometimes our hearts can be burdened because we've got unresolved sin in our lives things that we are doing our conscience um [00:05:47] (118 seconds)
you know it's sort of seared by things that we do that we know we shouldn't we do so all of this stuff is going on the inside and i guess part of this season of looking at the rhythms of jesus and practicing away is to is to encourage us to take some time to work on the inner life you know we joke and laugh don't we about going to the gym or doing some exercise because that is about the physical this awkward spirit whether it be doing aer 부드� wszystko and manajevo while utilizing your body and mind power documentarycking through our mind and in childhood moss mean the. The body. And we need to look after our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. There's something about looking after the physicalness, the physical aspects of life. But we mustn't neglect the inner life. [00:07:46] (49 seconds)
In that psalm, it offers to us a prayer to begin this inward work. So if you want to make a note of this and look at it later, or if you know where that is in the Bible, you want to turn to it quickly, Psalm 139. 23 and 24. This is what the prayer says. This is what David, again, another king from the Israelite history, says this, prays this. He says this, O God, and know my heart. [00:09:26] (37 seconds)
Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of Quite an honest prayer, isn't it? To come before God, the God of the universe, the God who knows everything anyhow, but to make yourself vulnerable and say and pray, Lord, search me. [00:10:03] (34 seconds)
And this changes the prayer from just asking God to reveal sin in us, but actually inviting God to come and uncover the areas of hurt and sorrow that's in our lives. It's a prayer for healing as much as for correction. And sometimes we need to do that. We need to say, Lord, in my heart, see if there's any pain, if there's any unresolved hurt, any unforgiveness that's fitting in my heart that needs to be dealt with so that you can lead me into the way of everlasting. [00:12:37] (46 seconds)
We're going to talk about community. And again, when we talk about pain, and I understand this because it's a natural thing to do. When we experience pain, we withdraw. We're going to talk about community. And actually, it's at that point that you need people the most. You need community around you. And for some of us, that can be family. [00:31:43] (23 seconds)
And then the fourth one that we're going to talk about, which is an interesting one, it comes under the sort of heading really of Sabbath rest. And the whole ability to stop. And I was thinking about it in this context, particularly when I was thinking about the context of trauma and pain and things that we go through. One of the dangers of that is sometimes we can just pull ourselves together and press on. [00:34:49] (32 seconds)
And, and, and that transforms. The transformation of the work of the spirit. Yeah. We, we have those moments where we encounter God. And I was sitting there thinking about one of Abbie's, Abbie's sermon from last time when we went through the encounters. And Abbie, I'll finish with this. Abbie talks a little bit about the story of the, the story of Lazarus there in John 11. And how Mary and Martha. And how Jesus. And that story. [00:36:53] (37 seconds)
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What does freedom look like for you? When you think about freedom, are you thinking that you want freedom from some sort of habit, some behavioural habit that actually you don't look very happy about in your life, something that you do too much of? Maybe you feel that maybe you're getting a little addicted to something, and you want freedom from that? Maybe that's something that's in your mind when you think about freedom or transformation, or maybe you want freedom so that you can be yourself. [00:02:36] (35 seconds)
To recognise what's going on. When I talk about the heart, when the Bible talks about the heart, a lot of the times it's talking about the inner person, the inner life of an individual. And if our hearts become burdened, then I think over time what happens, it begins to affect our behaviour. [00:05:19] (29 seconds)
begins to affect our behaviour. perception of life i don't know about you but as you go through lives there's those moments on there where our hearts um get impacted by pain obviously pain is is a is a a reality in terms of life we experience pain and and we could unpack a little bit about how pain works um sometimes pain is is a useful thing to experience um because if you put your hand into a fire and you experience pain you withdraw your hand it's a good thing isn't it if you didn't have pain you'd end up damaging your hand if you put it into a fire um but what the pain does it causes that hand to withdraw and i think when we experience emotional pain um one of the effects i think and my experience of my own life and talking and praying and counseling folks is that pain can so easily cause us to withdraw to to go in on ourselves to stop being ourselves fully not to embrace the the fullness of life because pain has come into our lives and um in some ways that that's just part and parcel of life that you experience trauma you experience loss you experience anxiety sometimes our hearts can be burdened because we've got unresolved sin in our lives things that we are doing our conscience um [00:05:47] (118 seconds)
you know it's sort of seared by things that we do that we know we shouldn't we do so all of this stuff is going on the inside and i guess part of this season of looking at the rhythms of jesus and practicing away is to is to encourage us to take some time to work on the inner life you know we joke and laugh don't we about going to the gym or doing some exercise because that is about the physical this awkward spirit whether it be doing aer 부드� wszystko and manajevo while utilizing your body and mind power documentarycking through our mind and in childhood moss mean the. The body. And we need to look after our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. There's something about looking after the physicalness, the physical aspects of life. But we mustn't neglect the inner life. [00:07:46] (49 seconds)
In that psalm, it offers to us a prayer to begin this inward work. So if you want to make a note of this and look at it later, or if you know where that is in the Bible, you want to turn to it quickly, Psalm 139. 23 and 24. This is what the prayer says. This is what David, again, another king from the Israelite history, says this, prays this. He says this, O God, and know my heart. [00:09:26] (37 seconds)
Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of Quite an honest prayer, isn't it? To come before God, the God of the universe, the God who knows everything anyhow, but to make yourself vulnerable and say and pray, Lord, search me. [00:10:03] (34 seconds)
And this changes the prayer from just asking God to reveal sin in us, but actually inviting God to come and uncover the areas of hurt and sorrow that's in our lives. It's a prayer for healing as much as for correction. And sometimes we need to do that. We need to say, Lord, in my heart, see if there's any pain, if there's any unresolved hurt, any unforgiveness that's fitting in my heart that needs to be dealt with so that you can lead me into the way of everlasting. [00:12:37] (46 seconds)
We're going to talk about community. And again, when we talk about pain, and I understand this because it's a natural thing to do. When we experience pain, we withdraw. We're going to talk about community. And actually, it's at that point that you need people the most. You need community around you. And for some of us, that can be family. [00:31:43] (23 seconds)
And then the fourth one that we're going to talk about, which is an interesting one, it comes under the sort of heading really of Sabbath rest. And the whole ability to stop. And I was thinking about it in this context, particularly when I was thinking about the context of trauma and pain and things that we go through. One of the dangers of that is sometimes we can just pull ourselves together and press on. [00:34:49] (32 seconds)
And, and, and that transforms. The transformation of the work of the spirit. Yeah. We, we have those moments where we encounter God. And I was sitting there thinking about one of Abbie's, Abbie's sermon from last time when we went through the encounters. And Abbie, I'll finish with this. Abbie talks a little bit about the story of the, the story of Lazarus there in John 11. And how Mary and Martha. And how Jesus. And that story. [00:36:53] (37 seconds)
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