He comes to give us freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from every bondage that prevents us from doing God's will and enjoying our inheritance as children of God. He has come to set you free from anything that will prevent you from doing the will of God. I can almost hear you asking the question, if Jesus came to set me free, why do I sometimes feel like I'm in bondage to sin?
Hello, and thanks for being here with us for today's Destin for Victory, where we feature the preaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, Jesus came to give you life, to give you hope, and to give you freedom. but you'll have to fight for that freedom. because you have an enemy who tries to steal it from you. Today's message is straight ahead. Remember to pay us a visit at pastorpaul.net when you get some time.
That's where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. And if you haven't already, be sure to download our free mobile app. Search Destined for Victory at the App Store and listen to Destined for Victory wherever you go.
Now Let's get started with today's Destined for Victory message when Jesus comes. Isaiah chapter sixty one. beginning with verse one Rating through Verse three The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me. Because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.
to proclaim freedom for the captives. and release from darkness. for the prisoners. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance. of our God.
To comfort all who mourn. and provide for all who grieve in Zion. to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes. The oil of gladness instead of mourning. and a garment of praise.
instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness. A planting of the Lord for the display. of his splendor. We continue our series entitled When Jesus Comes.
We've established that Jesus came into the world And established upon entering the synagogue on the day of. Returning from The wilderness where he was tempted of the devil. The Bible says he went in on the Sabbath and read from the Old Testament Torah these words that we've just read, and then he said, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And we've established that Jesus not only came at that time physically to earth. To accomplish these things, but Jesus is continuing to accomplish these things in the hearts and lives of people who open themselves to Him.
And so we're looking at not only what Jesus did, but what Jesus does when he comes. Into our lives. We've seen, first of all, that Jesus comes to give us life, every one of us. Is dead in trespasses and sins when we show up on the planet, and Jesus comes to give us life, that life we've seen. Has two distinct manifestations.
One aspect is eternal or everlasting life. He settles the eternity question for you when he comes into your life. Those of us who are saved have passed from death unto life and we will never die. Sure, our physical existence on earth will end, but our spirits will live on throughout eternity in the presence of God. He came to give us everlasting life.
Secondly, we saw he came to give us abundant life. He not only settles the eternity question for us, but he makes sure that here and now we experience the blessings of God that come to us through the redemptive work of Jesus on Calvary. And so we have a right not only to eternal, but also to abundant life. He comes to give us life. Then, secondly, we saw he comes to give us hope.
The text tells us that he is a binder up of broken hearts. Along the way in your life, you experience heartache and pain. You experience trouble of all sorts because we live in a fallen world. Life has a way of seeing to it that you are not always treated well. Satan never treats you well.
People don't always treat you well. And all of that adds up to say that you and I, from time to time, Find ourselves hurting and bruised and broken, and we are in need of the hope and healing that Jesus comes to give. And so we saw that if we will open ourselves to Him, there is a healing and there is a restoration of hope that will come to us. Jesus has never seen a hopeless individual. And don't fool yourself, you won't be the first.
Your problems are great to you. But they're not great to God. Your trouble is great to you. It's real trouble. I don't want to belittle your trouble.
It is real trouble. But when you compare it to the greatness of our God, your trouble doesn't even show up on the radar. As big as it is to us, when we learn to cast our cares upon him, we cast them into the hands of one who, the Bible says, does exceedingly abundantly above.
Now I wouldn't need those two. All I would need is the above. But he does exceedingly one level, abundantly two levels above. And what is it above? All that you can ask or think, King James says.
NIV, I believe, says all that you can imagine. Three levels above your imagination is what God can do, according to Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus.
Now, if you're like me, you have an awesome imagination. You can dream up some things. But the Bible says he can do exceedingly abundantly above anything you could dream of.
So don't be a child of a lesser God. Don't bring God down to your level. But understand that in Christ is hope for your situation.
Now, the third point, and here is where we pick it up, is that Jesus comes to give us freedom. Jesus comes to give us freedom. The rest of verse 1 says, Not only has he been sent to bind up the brokenhearted, but he has come to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. He comes to give us freedom. Freedom from what?
Freedom from every bondage that prevents us from doing God's will and enjoying our inheritance as children of God. He has come to set you free from anything that will prevent you from doing the will of God. God has a vested interest in your accomplishing His will. And so, if there is a bondage in your life that prevents you from doing His will, He has come to set you free from that bondage. He's also come to set you free from any bondage that hinders you from enjoying your inheritance as a child of God.
See, when you get saved, he not only gives you eternal life, we saw, but he gives you abundant life, meaning that he calls us to live in victory and in authority here and now. God doesn't want bound kids walking around. It's not his will to save you, but keep you in experiential bondage. It is not his will to save your eternal soul, but to keep bound your soul here in the earth. In other words, he didn't save you and say, All right, now I'm gonna hook you up in heaven.
Now, in the meantime, you'll be bound and you'll be defeated and you won't be able to live in any authority or victory, but just struggle on through till you die, and then I'm gonna hook you up. That's not God's will. But he said, I came to set you free. I didn't save you to keep you bound. I saved you to set you free from any bondage that'll prevent you from doing the will of God or any bondage that'll prevent you from enjoying your inheritance as a child of God.
He came to set the captive free and release from darkness those who are in prison. The first and most important freedom you experience is freedom from darkness. That is spiritual darkness. The blinders. You know, when you were in sin, the Bible describes it in 2 Corinthians 4 as Satan was blinding you so that you could not see the light of the gospel.
There are blinders on your unbelieving friends and relatives. That's why you have to pray. That's why it's not just a matter of declaring the good news, but you have to pray that the spiritual work will be done by the Holy Spirit of taking the blinders away.
So that people will come to see, oh, I see how good God is. Oh, I see what He wants to do in my life. Oh, I see that it pays to serve Jesus. Jesus told the woman at the well, if you knew who you were talking to. You'd ask me for what I have.
I believe that that's at the heart of evangelism. If the world knew who Jesus really is. We wouldn't have to beg them and plead, please come to Jesus. But they come running before he takes the deal off the table. They come running, including me, I want that.
I want that. I want that deal. That's a no-lose proposition. I come to Christ. I get forgiveness of sins.
I get eternal life in the presence of God. I get abundant life here and now. What's not to like? What's wrong with that deal? But the Bible says men love darkness rather than light.
Because their deeds are evil.
So it takes a work of the Holy Spirit. To take the blinders off and let them see how evil their works are and how good God's salvation is, and they run to receive it. And so you need to understand that's the first and most important deliverance you receive: deliverance from the prison, from the spiritual darkness and dungeon that you're in until you come to Christ. Hi everyone, this is Alicia Shepard Greer. More of today's teaching is still to come, but first, I want to share something meaningful with you.
As we continue carrying forward the ministry of my father, Pastor Paul Shepard, our heart remains the same, helping people encounter Jesus so they can live victoriously. One of the exciting ways we're doing that is through a ministry we've partnered with that I'm honored to help lead called Kingdom Collective. Through gatherings of worship, prayer, and five-fold ministry, we're seeing people encounter God in powerful and life-changing ways. March 20th through 22nd, we'll be hosting Kingdom Revival Weekend in the Bay Area, three gatherings dedicated to seeking the presence of the Lord together. If you're looking for a place to worship, pray, and draw closer to God, we would love to welcome you.
You can find all the details at kingdomcollective.com. But once you come out of sin, you need to understand that He didn't save you to keep you bound experientially, He saved you to set you free.
So, Christians are not to be among the people walking around with the can't help it's. Jesus didn't go through all that he went through. On Calvary to simply seal your eternal life with him. He came to make sure that the power of the enemy was broken in your life. And that you would be able to live, to walk in the authority of a child of God.
So he comes to give us freedom. Freedom, so that we can do the will of God and enjoy our inheritance. As a child of God. See, the problem is, too many Christians have bought into silver platterology. We bought into this notion of fatalism that now that I'm saved, you know, God just has a bunch of blessings that are already automatically mine.
And just as I live my life, just every morning, I just wake up and there's another blessing sitting on the night table. And I just. Listen, let me help you understand something. You have to fight for your inheritance. You know why?
Because you live in a world that has a real devil who is over a real army of demons. And since they cannot destroy your eternal soul, They will at least go after your inheritance. And they have made up in their minds: I can't take your soul, but God knows I'm going to try to make you as miserable and as bound and as defeated in this life as I can. And you need to understand the enemy is not playing with you. The enemy means for you to be bound, means for you to be defeated, means for your testimony to be nothing, means for you to sit around waiting for heaven, wishing you would die.
So you could finally be happy. That's what the enemy wants for you. And so you need to understand that the enemy is not willing to concede to you the victory that Christ won.
Now, positionally, you are a victor in Christ. We know that if you study your Bible and know your new covenant, you know that positionally you are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Positionally, all things are under his feet, and you're the body of Christ, so they're under your feet. But that's positional. But possessionally.
You're going to have to fight to enjoy it. That's why Paul said fight the good fight of faith. You have to learn to fight, and some of you don't know how to fight. You were passive in the world, but now that you're in Christ, baby, you got to become a warrior. Others of you were already fighters in the world, so I don't know what you're waiting for.
You used to fighting. Yeah. And you came to Christ and thought you'd finally throw down your arms. No, you just have to pick up a different set of armor. And arm yourself with the armor of God.
Put on the full armor of God because there still is a fight. Don't get your theology messed up. Yes, Jesus defeated the enemy on the cross. Yes, he made an open show of him and stripped him of all authority and principalities. He embarrassed them and all of that.
All of that is true. I'm not teaching some new crazy doctrine, I'm in the word. All of that is true, but possessionally, why do you think you have to put on the full armor if you're not still in a fight? You're wrestling, Paul said, against principalities and powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness, in high places. That's not theoretical talk.
You know what that means? That means demons are fighting you for your inheritance. And they want you to be, they can't help it that you're saved, but they want you to be bound. They want you not to experience the freedom. that is part of God's plan for your life.
And so you have to fight for it. You had to fight. Satan said, I'll fight you for it. And he's not playing. He means to keep the people of God bound.
How does he do that? He usually does that by trying to keep us ignorant of our authority and power as children of God. See, you are a child of God by virtue of the fact that Jesus gave you the authority to be a child of God. John chapter 1, when it's talking about the work of Christ, it says he came to his own, speaking of the fact that he came to the nation of Israel, and as a nation they received him not.
Some did, but most did not. But it goes on to say, but as many as received him And that includes not only the receiving, believing Jews, but also Gentiles later on. As many as received him, to them gave he power. If you read King James, you'll see power there. That's why you got to do some deeper study because King James often translates power, but we use the word power for a lot of different things.
Greek is a more specific language. When you look at it, it means to them gave he exusia. That is, to them gave he legal right or authority. to become children of God. When you believe in him, he gives you the legal right to be one of his kids.
You have authority. I mean, you are legitimate. That's what it means. You have the legal right to be a child of God. And the enemy wants to keep you ignorant as to your right.
Because it is your authority that entitles you to the blessing. And then later on, we're told that he gives us power. Same word in the King James power, but it's a different Greek word. In Acts 1:8, you will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and he'll make you effective as you go and share the gospel with other people. That power is dunamis, from which we get the English word dynamite.
He gives you power, ability.
So that you can execute the will of God in your life and share the good news with other people.
So, the enemy wants to keep you ignorant of your authority and your power. Do you know why a policeman can pull over someone on the road and get out of the patrol car, walk up to the window, and no matter who is sitting there, say, May I have your license and registration? You know why a policeman can do that or a woman? Because they have authority.
Now, that policeman or woman can be the smallest policeman physically. Possible. But do you know that a police person can walk up to a person sitting in the driver's seat 296 foot six? And all 290 pounds muscle. And say to them, I need your license and registration.
On what basis do they do that? Because they have authority.
The authority is represented by the badge. The badge says, I am not coming to you on the basis of who I am. I'm coming to you on the basis of who I represent. I represent an entire force, law enforcement agency, be it a city or county or highway patrol or federal, whoever it is. I don't represent me, I represent somebody else.
An entire kingdom, an entire force, an entire agency.
Now, see, if it was that person and the 6'6, 290 dude in an alley. And there's no badge. You see the difference? May the Lord have mercy. On the soul of the puny person.
But when you are doing official agency business. If that person in that driver's seat has any sense at all, They'll reach for the license and registration because your authority is bigger than you. Your authority is a whole nother dimension. And now, the agencies have good sense. They also know that there are people running around here in this world who don't care about authority.
They despise authority. That's what a criminal is: one who despises authority. And they say, I'm going to do what I want to do, I don't care what you say about it. And so, since there are people who despise authority, the agency knows that. Any police force knows that.
So, they don't just send you out with a badge. They know better than just send them on out with the badge. That's all they need. That's the badge. They're gone.
They're gone. Just show them the badge. If they get you in trouble, just show them the bad. If you're dealing with somebody who doesn't care about authority, what's that badge mean to them?
So what do they do? They send you out with authority. Exusia, legal right. But they send you out with Dunamis. Authorities on the lapel.
Dudamis is on the hip. In fact, they give you a whole hoster of Dunamis. You got all kinds of doodams on that thing. You can stun them, you can taser them, you can. Club them, you got all kind of dunamis.
As a child of God, you have exousia and dunimus. You have legal right and you have ability to say to any bondage in your life, you can't stay here. Can't stay here. I'm a child of God. I have a right to walk in the freedom that my Savior purchased for me.
So, a child of God doesn't have to walk around bound and hopeless. As a child of God, you have an enemy that wants to keep you in bondage. But never forget that because of what Christ has done, you are armed and you are dangerous, because greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world.
So glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message when Jesus comes. If you joined us late or if you want to hear the full message one more time, stop by pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. When you came to faith in Christ, you were immediately made right with God. And it's because of this new relationship that believers have access to peace, joy, hope, even during life's most difficult seasons.
To learn more about the access to blessing you have in Christ, I hope you'll contact us today and request your copy of our latest booklet, Access Granted. That's Access Granted, a great resource based on Romans chapter 5, and our gift to you today for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online.
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So child of God doesn't have to walk around bound and hopeless, bound to things that prevent you from doing the will of God, bound from attitudes and emotions and habits that militate against God's plan and purpose for your life. You don't have to be in that state because Christ came. to give us freedom. That's next time in our Destined for Victory message when Jesus comes. But until then, remember.
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
