Shownotes
Struggling with life's prisons? Tune in as Kevin O'Dea unveils steps to spiritual liberation and the importance of genuine community support.
Scriptures Referenced
Acts 12
Key Insights
- Confession should be followed by mutual prayer, fostering an environment of transparency and honesty within our church community.
- We all need healing and spiritual support. Acknowledge your struggles and be there for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
- Listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to meet the needs around you with persistence and love.
Prayer Targets
Please join us in prayer for:
- A hunger for the Word.
- Tears for the lost.
- Testimonies to share.
Get sermons delivered automatically: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pocket Casts | YouTube | Your Favorite Podcast App
We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.
Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
Additional Resources
- Connect online: Download our app
- Visit our website at SpringhouseSmryna.com.
- Subscribe on YouTube
- Giving: Online tithes and offerings
- Join us online: Livestream
- Learn what we believe.
- Find out what ministries we support.
- Discover Springhouse Theatre Company
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
Good morning, Springhouse.
Speaker:Has it been a good day in the house so far?
Speaker:It's going to continue to be.
Speaker:Would you look at your neighbor and say, "The message today is for you."
Speaker:I'm beginning to wonder if supporting a sports team is kind of like politics.
Speaker:You want to keep both out of the pulpit.
Speaker:When I walk up here, it's kind of like, you know, I don't want people to be like, "I can't
Speaker:receive anything from a Packers fan."
Speaker:Hey, I will become more undignified than this, okay?
Speaker:Don't make me take off my shirt.
Speaker:That will scare everybody.
Speaker:Welcome.
Speaker:If you're joining us on live screen, we are not crazy.
Speaker:I am, but we're not.
Speaker:We're glad that you're joining us today.
Speaker:We have a ladies' retreat this coming weekend, Bloom.
Speaker:And so if you are participating, if you're one of the 77 going on that, would you come
Speaker:and to the altar space?
Speaker:We want to pray sanity.
Speaker:I mean, we want to pray over you all.
Speaker:Go ahead and I know that you're going to get close at the retreat.
Speaker:Go ahead and get close now.
Speaker:We can go and practice right now.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Let's do this.
Speaker:While they're coming, if you are a husband of one of these wives, would you stand?
Speaker:If you're a husband of one of these wives, in the name of Jesus, I ask Lord that you
Speaker:would bless these men.
Speaker:I pray Lord that you would touch them.
Speaker:I pray Lord, if they have kids that they are raising, Lord, that they would be alive and
Speaker:well when these women get back in Jesus' name.
Speaker:Amen.
Speaker:Let our houses not be destroyed.
Speaker:Now ladies, turn and face me.
Speaker:Hey, this is a time of refreshing.
Speaker:This is a time of community.
Speaker:This is a time to dive into the word deep.
Speaker:And I know that we have the most incredible women in this church, incredible moms, incredible
Speaker:wives, incredible spouses.
Speaker:We have the cream of the crop and I am so grateful for the time that you can carve away
Speaker:and get away and soak in the word and soak with each other.
Speaker:My prayer is that you don't wait until Friday to start preparing your heart, that you would
Speaker:prepare your heart now so you can receive everything.
Speaker:And why is that?
Speaker:I'm selfish because I know that the overflow, what you get affects us.
Speaker:And so I'm excited about everything God has for you guys.
Speaker:Are you ready to receive this weekend?
Speaker:Well let's pray.
Speaker:Father, thank you so much for the women who are assembled here.
Speaker:God, I thank you Lord for this retreat that's coming up.
Speaker:I'm asking that the tangible move of your Holy Spirit would show up and manifest itself
Speaker:this weekend.
Speaker:I pray, Lord, that there would be secret moments that are unlocked, Father, secret truths that
Speaker:are unlocked, Father, as these women pursue you in thirst for righteousness, thirst for
Speaker:you, everything you have for them.
Speaker:I ask, Lord, that you would bless them.
Speaker:I ask that you would keep them.
Speaker:God, I ask, Lord, that they would come back abundantly filled in Jesus' name.
Speaker:And everybody said, amen, amen.
Speaker:Lord bless you guys on your journey to your retreat location.
Speaker:I don't know exactly where that is.
Speaker:Garner Creek, okay.
Speaker:Some of the guys and I might come up and throw water balloons at you.
Speaker:We'll see.
Speaker:Come on.
Speaker:Just kidding.
Speaker:Are you guys in a laughing mood today?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:This is not a laughing message.
Speaker:I just wondered.
Speaker:I just wondered.
Speaker:Next Sunday we're gonna do some baptisms.
Speaker:If you've never been water baptized, I encourage you to do so.
Speaker:It's our next step in obedience post-salvation.
Speaker:And if you need to be baptized, come see one of the pastors or elders, and we would be
Speaker:happy to get you signed up to be water baptized next week.
Speaker:So we'd like you to avail yourself to that.
Speaker:I wanna start this morning with an apology.
Speaker:I wanna start this morning with an apology.
Speaker:You know, it has always been my desire, and it will continue to be my heart, my desire,
Speaker:that when you leave this church every Sunday, that you would be thinking about nothing more,
Speaker:nothing less than Jesus Christ.
Speaker:And the move of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Speaker:And a couple of weeks ago, I delivered a message, and the crux of the message, this was when
Speaker:Saul was, the conversion of Saul, and the crux of the message at the end is I wanted
Speaker:us to walk away with the understanding that the Holy Spirit empowers us to do hard things.
Speaker:He empowers us to do hard things.
Speaker:And at the end of that message, I shared a little bit of a story with you guys.
Speaker:I got vulnerable with you, something fresh that had happened to me.
Speaker:If some of you were here, you remember that story that I shared.
Speaker:It was difficult for me to get through because I was still working through those emotions
Speaker:and things, but I do believe the Lord wanted me to share that story with you.
Speaker:However, I was speaking to somebody who's real close to me this week, and the Lord really
Speaker:kind of convicted my heart and said, you know, I needed to address this from the platform.
Speaker:And I wanted to apologize to you because there are some people in here that are closely connected
Speaker:to me.
Speaker:And when I share a story that's a little bit vague, and I say there's somebody close to
Speaker:me that has done something to me, I understand that that might render some of you wondering,
Speaker:who was it?
Speaker:You know, who was that?
Speaker:Who did that?
Speaker:You know, and if you're close to me, you may be wondering, am I one of the ones who did
Speaker:that, you know, that particular thing?
Speaker:And I will tell you as a pastor, guys, I pray that this is always the case.
Speaker:I will never bring some type of story like that with the person sitting here in the room.
Speaker:That is not how we operate.
Speaker:It's not how I operate.
Speaker:But if you left that day thinking of anything else but this, I humbly apologize to you.
Speaker:My heart is I want us to leave here thinking of Him, thinking of Jesus.
Speaker:Is that good?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So forgive me for that.
Speaker:And with that, would you stand with me?
Speaker:We're going to read Acts chapter 12 today.
Speaker:And the first service was wimpy.
Speaker:Would you guys read like you're awake and have had a couple shots of espresso?
Speaker:Holy Spirit espresso this morning, okay?
Speaker:All right, here we go.
Speaker:"It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending
Speaker:to persecute them.
Speaker:He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
Speaker:When he saw that this was met with approval from among the Jews, he proceeded to seize
Speaker:Peter also.
Speaker:This happened during the festival of unleavened bread.
Speaker:After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads
Speaker:of four soldiers each.
Speaker:Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
Speaker:So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him."
Speaker:Let's read that last part.
Speaker:"But the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Speaker:The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers
Speaker:bound with two chains, and centuries stood guard at the entrance.
Speaker:Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.
Speaker:He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.
Speaker:'Quick, get up,' he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrist.
Speaker:Then the angel said to him, 'Put on your clothes and sandals,' and Peter did so.
Speaker:'Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,' the angel told him.
Speaker:Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing
Speaker:was really happening.
Speaker:He thought he was seeing a vision.
Speaker:They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city.
Speaker:It opened for them by itself, and they went through it.
Speaker:When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
Speaker:Then Peter came to himself and said, 'Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent
Speaker:his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were
Speaker:hoping would happen.'
Speaker:When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called
Speaker:Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
Speaker:Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door.
Speaker:When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed, she ran back without opening
Speaker:it and exclaimed, 'Peter is at the door!'
Speaker:'You're out of your mind,' they told her.
Speaker:When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, 'It must be his angel.'
Speaker:But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
Speaker:Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought
Speaker:him out of prison.
Speaker:'Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,' he said, and then left for another
Speaker:place.
Speaker:In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of
Speaker:Peter.
Speaker:After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined
Speaker:the guards and ordered that they be executed.
Speaker:Father, I thank you for your word.
Speaker:I thank you that it brings life.
Speaker:I thank you that it brings joy.
Speaker:I thank you, Lord, that it is true and we can count on it.
Speaker:We love you today.
Speaker:Change our lives.
Speaker:In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker:Well God is super faithful, and I'm glad that we don't have to contend with Herod, who's
Speaker:executing people left and right for following the way and his guards.
Speaker:And man, this Herod dude seems kind of aggressive, don't you think?
Speaker:And we're looking at this story in Acts chapter 12, and as I disclosed a few weeks ago, we've
Speaker:kind of back-stepped.
Speaker:So we were in 13 last week.
Speaker:We're 12 today.
Speaker:We're actually going to go back to 11 next week and meet a man named Barnabas, and then
Speaker:we're going to jump back to where we were at 14.
Speaker:And so it's going to be good.
Speaker:So if you're keeping up with us, read chapter 11 for next week.
Speaker:But in today's passage, we're looking at this little, this part of scripture where Peter
Speaker:is being thrown into jail for basically sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, for sharing
Speaker:the actual truth, the way they called it, of Jesus Christ.
Speaker:Now the motivation for Herod, though, wasn't necessarily that he was sharing the gospel,
Speaker:though that was the crux of what was going on.
Speaker:Herod's motivation for throwing him into jail was that the crowd, the Jews, were favorable
Speaker:toward the persecution that he was throwing on those who were proclaiming the way.
Speaker:And so Herod said, "Hey, these people rallied around me really like the fact that I'm persecuting
Speaker:these people.
Speaker:I'm going to go after Peter as well, because Peter is well known in this, and we're going
Speaker:to really seize him and persecute him."
Speaker:Don't you know that you can succumb real easily to the crowd if you allow yourself to?
Speaker:You can succumb real easily to what the crowd wants you to do, right, wrong, or in between,
Speaker:when the voice tickles your ears and it really makes a difference in your fame and your popularity
Speaker:and how you feel.
Speaker:And Herod was succumbed to that, and he threw Peter in this jail.
Speaker:Now I've not been to prison before.
Speaker:Some of you have.
Speaker:And I'm glad that those who were in prison that are here today are no longer in prison.
Speaker:And I'm sure if you've been in prison before, you're glad that you're here this morning
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Prison isn't fun.
Speaker:Prison's not supposed to be fun, right?
Speaker:Prison strips you of your liberties.
Speaker:It strips you of your freedom.
Speaker:And it's not a place that you want to be.
Speaker:Today I want to talk about, using this passage, I want to talk about three things.
Speaker:I want to talk about prison, prayer, and presence.
Speaker:Prison, prayer, and presence.
Speaker:Peter was thrown into prison because of his overt explanation of the gospel, the way of
Speaker:Jesus Christ.
Speaker:Now I discern that a majority of you, if we're thrown into prison, it's not going to be because
Speaker:we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker:It's probably going to be because we were doing some things that probably were quite
Speaker:opposite of following Jesus Christ, right?
Speaker:But might I suggest that there are internal prisons that we put ourselves in that render
Speaker:us incapable of delivering the gospel.
Speaker:There are internal prisons that we lock ourselves up into all of the time as believers.
Speaker:We lock ourselves into these internal prisons that render us incapable of delivering the
Speaker:gospel.
Speaker:This is a place called Alcatraz.
Speaker:Has anybody heard of Alcatraz?
Speaker:My buddy James and I, we were in the West Coast last year and we stopped by this island
Speaker:and visited this place.
Speaker:And it was not fun.
Speaker:I mean, it was cool to look at, but it did not look like a place that I would want to
Speaker:spend a substantial amount of time.
Speaker:And if you know anything about Alcatraz, what I learned was it was considered one of the
Speaker:toughest prisons in the world and housed some of the most dangerous criminals in America.
Speaker:From what I understand, Alcatraz wasn't just a prison, but it was the prison of prisons
Speaker:where prisoners were treated extremely harshly.
Speaker:On the right, there is a sign there, which you can't probably read because of the glare,
Speaker:but it says this, "Man was never intended to live as a caged animal."
Speaker:Man was never intended to live as a caged animal.
Speaker:Now I have to imagine if they're putting that type of sign up, it kind of gives you an inkling
Speaker:to how the prisoners were treated at Alcatraz.
Speaker:Now can you imagine living your life stripped of all of your freedoms in that way?
Speaker:In other words, after church today, we're going to have some handcuffs and we're going
Speaker:to walk you out to a car and from that point forward, you don't see your family anymore.
Speaker:You don't get to say anything about your life and what you're going to do, where you're
Speaker:going to go, what you're going to eat.
Speaker:You're going to be told those things you're going to do and you're going to live in a
Speaker:little cell like this and every part of your life is going to be regimented and controlled
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:That sounds like a nightmare.
Speaker:It sounds like a nightmare.
Speaker:We were not made for prison externally and we were not created to be in a prison internally
Speaker:either.
Speaker:Internally either.
Speaker:Our internal prisons will always bind us far more than the external ones.
Speaker:I want to say that again.
Speaker:Our internal prisons will always bind us far more than our external ones.
Speaker:So Peter is in prison and Herod is not joking about Peter being in this prison.
Speaker:He's got two soldiers sleeping right next to him.
Speaker:He's bound by two chains.
Speaker:They got guards at the gate.
Speaker:They got guards on the outer entrance.
Speaker:They're going to make sure Peter stays right where he is.
Speaker:Might I suggest to you that there might be people and voices in your life that are trying
Speaker:to keep you captive to the internal prison that you've created for yourself.
Speaker:They want to make sure that you are under lock and key and dare I even go a step further
Speaker:to say one of those voices is probably your own and it is the loudest.
Speaker:And it is the loudest.
Speaker:The prisons that we take residence in are not prisons that we are supposed to succumb
Speaker:to or not prisons we are supposed to live in.
Speaker:We are not supposed to be slaves to our sins.
Speaker:Salvation.
Speaker:Jesus Christ came not to just save us so that we can live in eternity with him.
Speaker:He came so that we could experience abundant life now and be liberated from the clutches
Speaker:of the world.
Speaker:He came so that we can live in absolute freedom and not have to worry about living in the
Speaker:sin patterns that were in our in our former life.
Speaker:Now you may never find yourself in an external prison but the residence of the internal prison
Speaker:has rendered yourselves a lifelong sentence.
Speaker:You have allowed yourself to say I am going to be a lifelong resident of the prison that
Speaker:I've created in my internal being and God says no more.
Speaker:I believe the Holy Spirit says it's time for you to come out of that cell.
Speaker:It's time for you to come out of that prison and I want to tell you church today as I was
Speaker:praying I believe that some of you are in that cell and you've been wanting to come
Speaker:out.
Speaker:You've been wanting to be liberated and I believe today is your day of liberation and
Speaker:freedom.
Speaker:Amen?
Speaker:And so let's look at some of the types of prisons that we often find ourselves in.
Speaker:Has anybody ever found themselves in a prison of fear?
Speaker:Now I'm not talking about unbelievers I'm talking to the believers in the house.
Speaker:The prison of fear the prison of fear says this fear says I do not make any decisions
Speaker:based on my faith and hope in a loving caring God who breathes stars but I make my decisions
Speaker:based on how it affects me in the moment because I'm scared of what's going to happen.
Speaker:A fear-based cell taking up residence in the jail of a fear.
Speaker:A fear-based lifestyle says I'm not going to trust what God has to say.
Speaker:I'm going to evaluate my circumstances and my decisions based on what's happening in
Speaker:real time.
Speaker:But we know that the word says without faith it is impossible to please God.
Speaker:But some of us have been living with fear in a prison of fear.
Speaker:Some of us live in a prison of doubt.
Speaker:Doubt says I know what the word of God says.
Speaker:I know the truth but I don't believe that it's actually going to happen.
Speaker:Doubt says I don't care what it looks like or sounds like or feels like I can't get my
Speaker:mind around that I can actually make steps and takes actions and do things in keeping
Speaker:with what I know to be true because I doubt the reality of its existence.
Speaker:I doubt the reality of its truth.
Speaker:Some of us are living in a prison of doubt.
Speaker:Some of us live in a prison of insecurity.
Speaker:I've lived in this prison and sometimes I like to dawn the door of this prison.
Speaker:Insecurity says you're not worth it.
Speaker:You're not worth it.
Speaker:That person who continues to tell you that they love you because they actually do don't
Speaker:believe it because they really don't.
Speaker:This God who says incredible things about you don't believe him because you don't know
Speaker:what you've done.
Speaker:You know where you've been.
Speaker:And so you operate from a place of insecurity.
Speaker:You're not secure in who you are, more importantly whose you are.
Speaker:And so you live in this jail cell of insecurity.
Speaker:Some of us live in a jail prison of pride.
Speaker:Pride says I don't need your help.
Speaker:I don't need anybody to help me.
Speaker:And what pride also says is I'm never wrong.
Speaker:At least that's what I want everybody to think.
Speaker:Have you ever been in an argument with someone and perpetually they are never wrong?
Speaker:I've got some people in my life that I can barely count on one hand that I've ever really
Speaker:heard them say I was wrong about that.
Speaker:That's pride.
Speaker:Some of us live here in this place not allowing anybody to come in because it might show some
Speaker:type of weakness.
Speaker:Prison of pride.
Speaker:Some of us are living in a prison of lust.
Speaker:This doesn't have to be sexual.
Speaker:Lust is anything that permeates your mind and thoughts and your actions and says I'm
Speaker:gonna do whatever it takes to get what I desire in my flesh.
Speaker:Whatever it is that I desire I'm gonna manipulate the situation to get it.
Speaker:I want it so much more than anything else that I'm thinking about.
Speaker:It's constantly on my mind.
Speaker:I am lusting toward it.
Speaker:Some of us are in prisons of lust and I believe that the Lord wants to liberate you from that
Speaker:today.
Speaker:Proprietate you from a prison of lust.
Speaker:Some of us are contending with a prison of self-worth.
Speaker:You say to yourself I don't know how in the world they would see me in that type of position
Speaker:or how I could serve in that capacity because I'm not worth it.
Speaker:I can't do it.
Speaker:I'm not good enough.
Speaker:And you continually perpetually lie to yourself while everybody around you is speaking, trying
Speaker:truth into your life.
Speaker:You combat it with this lie.
Speaker:I'm not worth it.
Speaker:I'm not worth enough.
Speaker:And you've lived in this prison for a long time.
Speaker:Some of you struggle and are in prison of image.
Speaker:Everywhere I go I'm going to make sure to control what everybody sees and hears about
Speaker:me.
Speaker:I'm gonna make sure that the way I present myself is the way I want it to be presented
Speaker:and let my spouse or my kids say something contrary, I'm gonna be after them privately.
Speaker:We will knock everybody out of the way to make sure that this stays exactly where it
Speaker:needs to be because if this is out of sorts, then again I might seem weak or I might seem
Speaker:the way that I don't want people to see me.
Speaker:A prison of image.
Speaker:Some of us have been contending and living in a prison of shame.
Speaker:It says I have made a mistake.
Speaker:Shame says I am the mistake.
Speaker:And some of you have lived and contended for time after time, year after year, believing
Speaker:that you are a mistake and that is not true.
Speaker:But you allow yourself to be confined in these prison walls and you operate from a life of
Speaker:I am a mistake so therefore I could never be used.
Speaker:I could never be free.
Speaker:When you're in this prison of shame, some of you are in a prison of loneliness.
Speaker:You have made up in your mind that nobody wants to be with you, around you, for you.
Speaker:Nobody wants to hang out with you.
Speaker:Nobody wants to be in community with you.
Speaker:You are the exception to the rule.
Speaker:You cannot dive into community because you would be ostracized.
Speaker:You're not like everybody else.
Speaker:You are in a cell of loneliness and you allow yourself to sit there all alone and isolated
Speaker:and you grab a bunch of vices to soothe the pain and the hurt.
Speaker:Can I tell you, you were not created to be alone.
Speaker:You were not created to be alone.
Speaker:And just in case you're up there saying, "Well, phew, I got away with it.
Speaker:He didn't put mine up there."
Speaker:Some of you are in a jail of sin.
Speaker:Sin is anything that separates, sin separates us from God but sin is anything that's against
Speaker:God's will.
Speaker:It's those vices that you go after.
Speaker:It's those things, it's walking out of disobedience to the one who created you.
Speaker:It's ignoring the fact that you're in active sin and acting like it's not there and hoping
Speaker:that nobody else sees it.
Speaker:You're in this jail and you're allowing it to run your life.
Speaker:You're allowing it to affect your life.
Speaker:Now this is a jail and it's pretty horrible, all of these things.
Speaker:It's not laughable.
Speaker:It's horrible.
Speaker:And if I am really authentic and real with you, I could say I'm contending with some
Speaker:of these things up here and I would hope that you would be honest enough to say you are
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Would you raise your hand please if you believe that you have sinned in the last seven days?
Speaker:Could you look around the church please?
Speaker:Me too.
Speaker:Let me just say in the last hour, I probably would put my hand up as well.
Speaker:Because we are broken, the word tells us this.
Speaker:The word says for the one who says he never sins, he is a liar.
Speaker:He is a liar.
Speaker:We need the Holy Spirit to help us not to gravitate towards sin but I'm not just talking
Speaker:about gravitating towards sin, touching it and running away.
Speaker:I'm talking about living in a prison cell of this sin.
Speaker:Living in a prison cell where your life, how do we know?
Speaker:We talk often about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:How do we know that others are living in these ways?
Speaker:Because these also yield fruit.
Speaker:These also yield fruit.
Speaker:So sometimes I can look right in your life and know you're dealing with insecurity.
Speaker:You're in a prison of self-worth.
Speaker:You're in a prison of image.
Speaker:You're in a prison of all of these things.
Speaker:And it's so interesting to me church.
Speaker:It's so interesting to me that the things that are on here that we don't contend with,
Speaker:that we see in other people, how often we treat those people so poorly like they've
Speaker:done something so wrong because we don't understand and we can't empathize where they are.
Speaker:Instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to use us to speak truth into their lives.
Speaker:Instead of listening, I want to actually say that I believe that the Lord will bring people
Speaker:in your path who are struggling with things on this list that you don't struggle with.
Speaker:Because if you empathize with them and you come from your experience, then you come from
Speaker:your flesh and you give them recommendations and advice based on you and your flesh, not
Speaker:the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:But let somebody come to you contending with one of these things that you're not necessarily
Speaker:contending with.
Speaker:Guess who you have to hear from to give counsel, the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:And listen, if Hannah's dealing with something, she doesn't need to hear something from Kevin.
Speaker:She needs to hear a word from the Lord.
Speaker:If Katie's dealing with something, she needs to hear a word from the God who can liberate
Speaker:her from the cage.
Speaker:She doesn't need to hear your opinion, your advice, your experience.
Speaker:She doesn't need to hear what Oprah says.
Speaker:And so, and so we get in here and not only do we touch the sin, we decide to get into
Speaker:the jail and not just get into the jail, because with just getting in, there's a door that
Speaker:opens.
Speaker:We get into this thing.
Speaker:We get into this thing and we put a lock on it.
Speaker:And we make sure that it is locked up and now I'm stuck.
Speaker:And now I'm stuck.
Speaker:And here I am and when you see me, you see this.
Speaker:But on the inside is all of this.
Speaker:Now how is it we can have a church this size with all of us putting our hands in the air
Speaker:saying I've contended with some of this stuff.
Speaker:I'm contending with some of this stuff.
Speaker:I'm in the middle of all of this stuff.
Speaker:And not be ready and willing and prepared to pray for those who are in the church.
Speaker:The word says, and I don't have my clicker because I'm in jail, but you could probably
Speaker:click it for me up there maybe.
Speaker:Is that up there?
Speaker:So Peter, the next slide now.
Speaker:So it says this.
Speaker:Yes, so Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Speaker:Now here's my issue.
Speaker:Here's my big issue.
Speaker:The word says also, go and click the next slide, the prayer of a righteous person is
Speaker:powerful and effective.
Speaker:Do we believe that?
Speaker:Yes or no?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So if that is true, click the next slide, we must pray with expectation.
Speaker:See here's what happened.
Speaker:Peter gets set free from jail and he goes to the house and Rhoda goes to the door and
Speaker:she's so shocked that he's there.
Speaker:She forgets to open the door.
Speaker:She runs back and she says, Peter's at the door.
Speaker:It says that he goes to the house where they were praying for him.
Speaker:He gets to the house and they say to Rhoda, you have lost your mind.
Speaker:Guys, don't pray for me unless you expect this sovereign God to move on my behalf.
Speaker:If you're going to pray for me, pray as if I'm in this jail and you understand what it's
Speaker:like to be locked up and chained up.
Speaker:I need to be set free.
Speaker:You need to be set free.
Speaker:Oh, I pray for you, dear Jesus.
Speaker:I pray to you.
Speaker:Touch them and just let them just, oh, just rest Lord.
Speaker:Let just rest your, amen.
Speaker:No, fervent prayer.
Speaker:This is a matter of life and death.
Speaker:Do you love me?
Speaker:Are you praying?
Speaker:Do you know if you know that I'm struck, do you love me?
Speaker:I'm in jail.
Speaker:I'm in prison right now.
Speaker:God has so much for my life right now.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm in jail and you're just, bless you.
Speaker:I just thank you Lord Jesus for Kevin.
Speaker:I hope he has a good day.
Speaker:Fluff his pillow in that jail cell.
Speaker:Hope macaroni's not cold.
Speaker:Well, I mean, I need some people who love me enough that wanna see my life one, freed
Speaker:in Christ Jesus.
Speaker:The church fervently was praying for Peter, but they did not expect for Peter to be set
Speaker:free.
Speaker:Guys, are you praying for one another, asking the Lord, do everybody raise their hand?
Speaker:And so Lord, I just, I'm asking Lord right now, in the name of Jesus, that I would be
Speaker:set free from this jail.
Speaker:I'm asking in the name of Jesus that somebody would be bold enough to come and set me free
Speaker:from this.
Speaker:Lord I'm asking that somebody would just have the confidence to come up on this stage.
Speaker:And set me free from this cage.
Speaker:I'm just praying that you would give this man the discernment to find the key on the
Speaker:table.
Speaker:Lord I'm asking that I be set free from this cage, that the gates of hell will not prevail
Speaker:over my life.
Speaker:That I can dance over the grave that I once was in.
Speaker:That I could be liberated because somebody loved me enough to hear the cry, to hear the
Speaker:Lord and actually get up and do something about it.
Speaker:Some of you have, the Lord has been putting people on your radar.
Speaker:He said, you're praying, you're like, man, this person keeps coming up on my radar.
Speaker:He's on my radar.
Speaker:She's on my radar.
Speaker:And then, oh, I just happened to run into them.
Speaker:I happened to run into them.
Speaker:And you keep praying.
Speaker:And the Lord said, shut up.
Speaker:Go talk to them.
Speaker:Stop talking to me.
Speaker:He's put you, he's put them on your mind because here's the thing.
Speaker:Guys, some of us need to do this right here.
Speaker:I know you're not ready to come out of this jail cell.
Speaker:I can't force you out, but I'm going to sit here until you do.
Speaker:I'm going to labor with you.
Speaker:I'm going to pray for you.
Speaker:I'm going to provide encouragement to you.
Speaker:You know, some of the greatest testimonies I've seen in my life are people who sat with
Speaker:folks in the muck and mire knowing that Jesus could rescue them, sat with them.
Speaker:And when they hit rock bottom, guess who they reached out to?
Speaker:The person who was sitting right next to them.
Speaker:The person who didn't ostracize them or push them away.
Speaker:We have to have people in our lives who are willing to pray fervently for us and sit with
Speaker:us in the middle of our cell, in the middle of our prison.
Speaker:Notice I didn't get in the prison with the person, but I sat beside them.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Because I too have been in prison and I know what it's like and they'll know I don't want
Speaker:you to experience that anymore.
Speaker:And I've got the truth.
Speaker:I've got the keys.
Speaker:If you'll just give it to Jesus, if you'll just give it to the Lord, he will move in
Speaker:your life.
Speaker:We are a praying church.
Speaker:In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice in the morning.
Speaker:I lay my request before you and I wait expectantly.
Speaker:This is my puppy, both of them.
Speaker:I actually have three, but these are two.
Speaker:Yesterday I left the house at nine o'clock.
Speaker:I had left both of them outside in the front yard.
Speaker:I forgot about it.
Speaker:I came back three hours later and they were gone.
Speaker:Emmett, the one on the right, he's not yet trained.
Speaker:He has no idea where we live.
Speaker:All this, that's Max, he kind of knows what he's doing, you know?
Speaker:And I got home and I thought to myself, Lord, if my girls find out that I've lost their
Speaker:puppies, I'm going to prison.
Speaker:I'm going to jail.
Speaker:And I started to pray.
Speaker:I started to pray.
Speaker:And I texted my friend and I said, hey, listen, I lost the puppies.
Speaker:Would you please pray?
Speaker:And you know what his response was?
Speaker:I'm praying right now, text.
Speaker:And the next one was, they will be back.
Speaker:I'm praying with expectation.
Speaker:I'm not just sending you the little prayer emoji as a little courtesy.
Speaker:I got your text.
Speaker:I'm not saying to you I'm praying for you, but I don't ever talk to the Lord.
Speaker:Do you know when you say to somebody I'm praying for you and you don't pray for him, you might
Speaker:as well just look at God and say, I'm lying to you, God.
Speaker:I'm just lying to you.
Speaker:Because prayer is a conduit to Jesus Christ, a conduit to the Lord.
Speaker:So when I say I'm praying for you, I think the Lord's going, well, what's up?
Speaker:What's up?
Speaker:And guess what?
Speaker:God knows how to read emojis.
Speaker:You send those praying hands.
Speaker:I think they're actually like high five hands, but we use them as praying hands.
Speaker:Is that right?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:But you know what you're meaning when you send it, right?
Speaker:The dogs came back after the girls prayed.
Speaker:They prayed with expectation and the dogs came back.
Speaker:Do you believe God can do what you're asking him to do?
Speaker:Do you believe that God can do what you are asking him to do?
Speaker:The word says this, whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and
Speaker:forsakes them will obtain mercy.
Speaker:Guys, can I tell you, I need mercy in my life.
Speaker:I need mercy in my life.
Speaker:We are a praying church.
Speaker:I was saying before, we pray on Wednesday mornings and the Lord had told me, he said,
Speaker:if you gather the staff of the pastors will gather together and pray, then I will render
Speaker:peace to the ministries with which they lead.
Speaker:So the pastors get together and we pray for you and hear the words this past Wednesday
Speaker:that the pastors and the leaders came up with to pray over this church.
Speaker:The Allen said holy consecration for our body.
Speaker:Carol said freedom.
Speaker:Will said a pursuit of righteousness, peace and joy.
Speaker:Jody said a synchronizing of what's happening in each other's lives.
Speaker:Dana said a deeper relationship with one another.
Speaker:Doug said reverence for the Lord Almighty and worship.
Speaker:Sherri said families, that they would cast their burdens on him.
Speaker:Jonathan said that we would be a church that prepares for his presence.
Speaker:Barbie said the foundations are coming and they're gonna be strengthened in the roots.
Speaker:These are words that we are praying and expecting God to move upon for you all and for us.
Speaker:We have access to a sovereign God.
Speaker:We have access to talk to a sovereign God.
Speaker:We have an access to the liberator.
Speaker:Why in the world are we not talking to him?
Speaker:I want to be one who talks more to God than talks about him.
Speaker:We want to be people who are in his presence hearing his voice.
Speaker:We wanna be in his presence hearing his voice.
Speaker:So we talked about the prison, we talked about prayer.
Speaker:We need to be a praying church.
Speaker:We need to be people who are praying for one another.
Speaker:And the third thing is presence.
Speaker:I'm not talking about the presence of the Lord,
Speaker:though there's no better goal than to be in the presence of the Lord.
Speaker:The presence I'm talking about here is presence in each other's lives.
Speaker:Because God gives us a pathway of freedom from our sin.
Speaker:And you know what it is?
Speaker:It's confession.
Speaker:It's confession and repentance.
Speaker:That is the pathway.
Speaker:Well, who are we confessing to?
Speaker:Well, let's see what the scripture says.
Speaker:First, if we confess our sins, he, who is he?
Speaker:Jesus.
Speaker:Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
Speaker:and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Speaker:So therefore, first of all, we're cleansed from unrighteousness.
Speaker:But who in the world are we confessing our sin to?
Speaker:Confess your sins to?
Speaker:Each other.
Speaker:Say it again.
Speaker:Each other.
Speaker:Say it again.
Speaker:Each other.
Speaker:Look at each other and say each other.
Speaker:Each other.
Speaker:Confess your sins to each other and what?
Speaker:Pray for each other.
Speaker:So this is what it, it doesn't say confess your sin to each other
Speaker:and then go blast them on Facebook for what they told you.
Speaker:Confess your sin to one another
Speaker:and then text your friend, gossip, like,
Speaker:they told me they did.
Speaker:Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other
Speaker:so that why?
Speaker:So that you may be healed.
Speaker:Who needs to be healed?
Speaker:Raise your hand.
Speaker:Everybody in this church needs to be healed from something.
Speaker:I wanna be healed.
Speaker:Now, get those arms working.
Speaker:Raise your hand again if you've sinned
Speaker:in the last seven days.
Speaker:Keep 'em up.
Speaker:Now keep your hand up if you confess that sin to somebody.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Now answer this question.
Speaker:Raise your hand if you wanna be set free.
Speaker:I've just given you the pathway.
Speaker:Confess your sin to one another.
Speaker:Pray so that you might be healed.
Speaker:Now, you don't necessarily like I did,
Speaker:you don't have to be, I mean, you could
Speaker:and the Lord might bless it.
Speaker:Guys, I'm serving with the sin of fear.
Speaker:Pray for me right now, okay?
Speaker:I've got a friend in my life that I made a commitment
Speaker:to him and the Lord and I said, any question he asks me,
Speaker:there's no question off the table,
Speaker:I'm gonna be completely honest and shoot straight for it.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:'Cause I need somebody in my life
Speaker:that I can be bare all and be completely transparent
Speaker:no matter how hard it is because I want to walk
Speaker:in complete freedom and healing
Speaker:and I want the mercy of God in my life.
Speaker:Do you have someone in your life
Speaker:that you can be transparent with?
Speaker:Guys, we don't need to be fake.
Speaker:Everyone in this church raised their hand
Speaker:on all of these things.
Speaker:So for us to act as if we don't have stuff to take care of,
Speaker:stuff to walk out together, stuff to encourage one another
Speaker:about, stuff to pray with one another, that is bogus.
Speaker:That is baloney because we all raised our hand.
Speaker:And I don't want you living in destruction.
Speaker:God has liberation and freedom for your life.
Speaker:And how much glory does it bring God when we bare all,
Speaker:when we're vulnerable enough to say,
Speaker:I'm wrong, I'm missing it here, I need his presence here.
Speaker:Guess who gets honored and glorified in that?
Speaker:The Lord Jesus Christ 'cause he's the only one
Speaker:who can fix it.
Speaker:Never negate the power of showing up.
Speaker:If you believe somebody needs you in that moment,
Speaker:this is my favorite thing.
Speaker:Have you ever been to a restaurant and the waitress,
Speaker:y'all can come back out here and start playing music.
Speaker:Listen, have you ever been to a restaurant
Speaker:and it's clear, okay, there's four or five
Speaker:or six of you at the table, all the drinks are empty,
Speaker:and the server comes up and says,
Speaker:would you all like refills?
Speaker:Has that ever happened to anybody?
Speaker:My flesh wants to go, well duh.
Speaker:That's my flesh, I don't say that.
Speaker:I tip her really well, you know, or him really well.
Speaker:But I'm just like, it's an obvious question, okay?
Speaker:It's an obvious question.
Speaker:Guys, if you see a need that somebody has,
Speaker:you see the fruit of this stuff happening,
Speaker:why don't you just show up?
Speaker:What does it look like for you to just show up?
Speaker:Like literally just arrive on the scene.
Speaker:I know this is awkward, but I'm here
Speaker:because I feel like the Holy Spirit's told me to come.
Speaker:Man, anytime you put that sentence in there,
Speaker:let me tell you, the Holy Spirit's gonna boom, illuminate.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And it's not to come in like this,
Speaker:I'm here because the Holy Spirit told me.
Speaker:No, it's, I'm here because the Holy Spirit told me to come.
Speaker:I wanna help you.
Speaker:He sent me your way.
Speaker:You don't have to be lonely anymore.
Speaker:You don't have to be insecure.
Speaker:I'm gonna tell you I love you 5,000 times
Speaker:until you get it in your brain.
Speaker:You are worth it, not because you're all that,
Speaker:it's because he's all that and he lives inside you.
Speaker:That vice you're contending with,
Speaker:it's only leading to death, don't you see?
Speaker:Your health is declining, your bills are expanding,
Speaker:you're ruining stuff all around you,
Speaker:people are like, did you not see it?
Speaker:I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker:Or you can lay on your couch and text them
Speaker:while you're watching football, whatever.
Speaker:If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Speaker:If the Son sets you free, you'll be free.
Speaker:In other words, when Jesus Christ opens this door,
Speaker:there's no more locking it.
Speaker:There's no more locking, he has opened the door.
Speaker:So for me to go in here, I'm choosing to be here
Speaker:because I've been given the freedom to not live here.
Speaker:But I'm attracted to the decorations
Speaker:I put up when I lived here.
Speaker:The bed felt great that I slept in when I was in here.
Speaker:And so I'm wooed back into this place
Speaker:and I need some friends to jump on the stage
Speaker:and pull me out and say, you don't belong there, Kevin,
Speaker:get it together.
Speaker:Come on.
Speaker:He loves you and he wants you to be free.
Speaker:And he did this so that we could be free.
Speaker:So the message today is for you, for your internal prison,
Speaker:but it's also because there are people around you
Speaker:who need you, who need you to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker:Can you imagine finding out?
Speaker:Can you imagine, I mean, I don't know if it works this way,
Speaker:but just go with me for a second.
Speaker:Can you imagine finding out the Lord saying,
Speaker:hey, I wanted to free that person for three years
Speaker:and you had the keys the whole time
Speaker:and I just don't understand
Speaker:why you didn't go unlock the gate.
Speaker:The hell that they had to experience
Speaker:because you were just walking around with the keys.
Speaker:When I was up there praying in the prison saying,
Speaker:Lord, would somebody be confident enough, bold enough
Speaker:to come and free me from this?
Speaker:Everybody heard the same message.
Speaker:Everybody had the same opportunity.
Speaker:Very few moved.
Speaker:Let us not be a church where very few move.
Speaker:We wanna be a church where we move
Speaker:and we obey the Holy Spirit,
Speaker:where Jesus can be exemplified in our life,
Speaker:where he can be acknowledged in our life,
Speaker:he could be the Lord of our life.
Speaker:And remember, just like the Ananias and Sapphira story,
Speaker:when he purifies his church,
Speaker:numbers are added to the kingdom.
Speaker:And I wanna see numbers added to the kingdom.
Speaker:And I want us to get out of the way.
Speaker:Would you guys stand this morning?
Speaker:We're gonna worship.
Speaker:Would the prayer warriors please come forward.
Speaker:Now,
Speaker:I don't mean any sense of the word of manipulation in this,
Speaker:but I just wanna tell you,
Speaker:I saw every hand in this place go up.
Speaker:And so for us to walk out of here,
Speaker:acting as if we didn't need to have an encounter
Speaker:or a touch or something from the Lord,
Speaker:again, in my mind, is bogus.
Speaker:I need to be in this.
Speaker:Guys, prepping for this message is horrible
Speaker:'cause I get to face everything that I'm going through.
Speaker:I have to come down here.
Speaker:I need to pray with some people.
Speaker:I gotta be set free from some things.
Speaker:I need some liberation in my life.
Speaker:And chances are, I believe you do too.
Speaker:And so you can choose to leave out of here,
Speaker:stay in the jail cell,
Speaker:or you can kick the door down down here.
Speaker:That's one side of the coin.
Speaker:The other side of the coin is,
Speaker:some of you have been convicted this morning
Speaker:because the Lord placed the name in your life
Speaker:of somebody you know you should have been ministering to,
Speaker:you should have been in their life,
Speaker:you should have been in their business, all this stuff,
Speaker:and you haven't done a thing.
Speaker:Well, guess what?
Speaker:You can come down here and believe for them as well.
Speaker:But I think a lot of us have some business to do,
Speaker:and we've got time to take care of business
Speaker:so we can walk out into that world
Speaker:lighter and freer than we've ever been.
Speaker:Let's worship.
Speaker:(gentle music)
