The House of Bondage | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Here we go. So, Ezekiel 36 and 25. I'm bringing to you a subject that's not easy to preach, but I am so excited to preach it. You ask me why, brother Hiner. I don't know. I just know that we're living. I want to preach where we're living, and I want to preach what God has me to preach. And sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not. But I'm thankful for what he's given me tonight to deliver to you. Verse third, verse 25 of Ezekiel 36 says, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you." Say, this is the Lord speaking. And ye shall be clean from all your your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. He says, "A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit." Oh, anyone thankful for a new heart and a new spirit that God has still given the church today. I'm thankful for that. He said, "I'm going to put it within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh, and I woo, here we go. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them." I like that. I want you to notice this right here. The text says God made a promise. He said it was a little unexpected, but he says, "I'm going to give you a new heart. A new a new Why did God begin there?" Well, it's quite simple. It's because God has always known something about humanity that we sometimes forget. The greatest battles in life are rarely fought around us. A lot of times they're fought within us. Within us. King David said, "Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me." He said, "Create." Listen, a spirit is renewed, but God says, "I got to create a new heart in you." I'm going to preach about the heart. Look with me one more verse. Deuteronomy 6:12. This is where my title is derived from. The Bible says, "Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage." That's my title. Those last four words, the house of bondage. Whatever you do, don't remain in the house of bondage. Get out of the house. Oh my God. Get out of the house of bondage. Woo. There's nothing good that happens in the house of bondage. There's a lot of fear. There's a lot of anxiety in the house of bondage. There's a lot of depression. There's there there's a lot of hurtful things that take place in the house of bondage. But if we could ever get free from the house of bondage. And I pray that somebody in this room tonight will get free right here, right now. We'll get free from the house of bondage. I just believe the Lord is going to do something great. I feel the Holy Ghost. I I feel the anointing coming on me right here. I I feel he wants to do something for somebody. You came here with a situation and God WANTS TO SHOW YOU A PROMISE. HE'S GOING TO CHANGE YOUR HEART, create a heart, and put a spirit within you. Put your Bibles down, lift up your hands, and help me pray. Father, right now, God, I'm just believing you've given me a word for your people. These are not my people. This is not my church. This is your church. These are your people called by your name. THEY'RE NOT CALLED BY MY NAME, but they're called by your name. They're in your family. They're in your house, oh God. And because of that, I believe that you care about them. Your thoughts are toward them for an expected end. And I believe you're going to help us through some things in Jesus' name. We're going to give you all the praise right now. We're going to give you all the praise tomorrow, this week. Uh Lord, we're going to GIVE YOU ALL THE PRAISE FOR WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO DO. IN THIS PLACE. In this place, oh God, let your promise be poured out. Let your spirit fill somebody in this house tonight in Jesus name. Clap your hands if you believe he can still feel that he's STILL WILLING TO FILL THAT HE STILL LOVES TO FILL HUMANITY WITH the spirit. You may be seated in Jesus name. It was Jesus that said in Matthew 15:18, he said, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart." Somebody say, "From the heart." >> They defile the man. For out of the heart, say the heart >> proceed evil things, evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. Our greatest problem I believe it doesn't begin in our environment. Jesus said it begins in your heart. Our words, our attitudes, our fears, our bitterness at times, our even our worship, EVERYTHING WE DO TRACES BACK to the condition of the heart. >> That's why the prophet Ezekiel said this. He he said in their opening text, he said, "Oh, there's going to be better circumstances, but it's not about the circumstances. It's about the new heart that you're going to be given." He tells us something profound. God isn't nearly as interested in changing what's happening around us as he is in changing what's happening within us. >> Because if HE ONLY CHANGES OUR SURROUNDINGS, this is what happens. IF HE DOESN'T CHANGE OUR HEART, WE'RE going to eventually recreate the same bondage somewhere else. You can move across the country and still carry the same fear. I think I I really think that people think they're going to move to this church or they're going to move to a church across state or across the country and think that somehow everything's going to change. Oh, no, no, no. It's not your surroundings. >> It's all about what's on the inside OF YOU. YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T change surroundings. They're going to change. But I promise you, you can you can go TO A DIFFERENT JOB AND STILL carry the same insecurity. >> YOU CAN MARRY A WONDERFUL SPOUSE AND STILL CARRY wounds from past relationships. >> You can even Oh my God. You can even come to church and sit on the pew and lift up your hands and worship and still carry things that God never has intended you to carry. >> Because every one of us has an Egypt. Oh yes. Every one of US HAS A HOUSE of bondage. For some it's fear. For others it MIGHT BE SHAME. FOR SOMEBODY ELSE IT MIGHT be rejection. Maybe anger. Some people might have church hurt. That's a that's a big thing now. Church hurt. >> You might have work hurt. You might have home hurt, BUT THAT'S JUST YOUR SURROUNDINGS. ALL THOSE THINGS ARE JUST SURROUNDINGS. Other people have addictions. You might have somebody might hear you might be here tonight and you still hear the voice of an unfit parent that still echoes decades later in your mind. We all have an Egypt of some kind. But here's the question and this is what I've come to. This is my topic. Everything surrounds around this surrounds itself around this one topic. What if the greatest prison in the world is in one made of iron? What if the greatest prison is right here between your ears? >> I want to tell you a true story. And you you might have heard of this man, Lewis or Louie Zampirini. It's a historic, it's a heroic story. He was born in 1917. He was an Italian immigrant parent. He was a he was a child of of Italian immigrant parents that grew up in Torrance, California. And if you had known this boy, this boy was was a troubled young person. He was a troubled youth. He was always getting into trouble. He was always running from something. Whether it was a teacher or the police or or a store clerk that he had stolen from, he was always running from something. The local police, they knew him well. They they knew his name. He had a record. And most people had already decided what kind of man that he was going to become. But thank God, there was one person in his life. He had an older brother named Pete. And Pete noticed something that every time that Lewis or Louie got into trouble, he was always running. And so he said, "Hey, listen, Louie, if you're going to run, you might as you might as well RUN TOWARDS SOMETHING. YOU MIGHT AS well run towards a finish line that means something. Stop running from things and start running to things." He just got in his brother's head. He said, "MAN, IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE FAST, BE FAST FOR THE RIGHT REASONS." So he GOT HIM TO JOIN HIS high school track and field team. And wouldn't you know that over time, Louiesie become become the fastest runner not only in his high school, but he went on to go to university. And and going to university, he became the fastest runner at USC. HE BECAME THE FASTEST runner at his university. And going a little further than that, he made the Olympics and I believe it was 1937 or 1936. He made it to the Olympic Games in Berlin. He trained hard. AND THEY THROW that first picture up. This this is this is LOUIE AS HE WOULD RUN AND and he would eventually qualify for these 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. And just a few years earlier, he had been running from the police officers, BUT BUT BUT NOW HE'S running before kings and presidents and dignitaries in the nations of the world. He didn't win the gold. Oh, no, he didn't. But however, THE LAST LAP THAT he ran, he came around so fast. He was last in place AND HE CAME AROUND THE VERY LAST lap and he almost made it to the front of the line to win the gold. And it was noticed not only by the crowd in the stands, but even Adolf Hitler before the world realized the horrible person, the despicable person that he was, even Adolf Hitler requested to meet this young American. Follow along with my script if you have it. BUT THEY THEY F THEY HE WANTED TO MEET THIS young American because of the way he had finished the race. Life couldn't have been any brighter for Louisie. But then World War II broke out and Louie enlisted in the United States Air Force and became a a bomber pilot aboard the B24 Liberator. He had no way of knowing that the greatest race of his life would never be run on a track. It would be fought in places no one would ever ever cheer for him. But on May 27th, 1943, Louiesie and his crew, they were assigned a search and rescue mission over the Pacific. AND THE AIRCRAFT that they were flying was not in good condition. It had been shot at. The craft had been wounded, if you will, but orders were orders. And somewhere over the Pacific, the aircraft failed and went down into the water. And 11 men went into the water, but only three survived. Louie, Russell Phillips, and Francis McNair, and they climbed onto this tiny inflatable life raft WHERE FOR 74 days they had no radio, they had no food, almost had no water. THOUSANDS OF miles from home, they didn't even know if people knew they were alive. The sun beat down on them relentlessly. Their skin blistered, their lips cracked, THEIR STOMACHS CRAMPED WITH HUNGER. AT NIGHT, THE TEMPERATURE WOULD dip so low the SAME SUN THAT BAKED THEM DURING THE DAY WOULD go down and they would freeze at night. enemy aircraft SPOTTED THEM IN THE WATER AND THE PILOTS would drop low and would dive down and open fire with their machine guns on this raft and and bullets ripped into this raft. BUT HERE THEY ARE DAY after day after day, uncertainty, hunger, wondering will anybody ever find us? But lo and behold over the time they saw land on the horizon and they began to rejoice because they had found hope. He said Louis said this. He said hope became as necessary as water. HOPE IN OUR LIVES BEGAN as necessary as the food we could not find. It was the only way we were going to survive was we had to have hope. And thank God they finally found land. Here they are now. They reached the shoreline. But what they didn't realize is they had drifted into captivity because the enemy was on the shore. And for the next two years, Louisie lived inside one of the crulest prison of war systems ever known in history. He was beaten. He was starved. He was humiliated. He was worked beyond human endurance. One of the prison guards they they they called he was infamous. He was known as the bird. AND HE SEEMED to have one mission. and his one mission was to break Louis Zampirini. NOT JUST PHYSICALLY, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. There's something so evil about a person. Louie stands right there in the middle. THERE'S SOMETHING SO EVIL ABOUT A PERSON THAT NOT ONLY WANTS TO HURT YOUR BODY, BUT WANTS TO CHANGE the way you see yourself. Louie received daily means from the bird. But there was one thing the bird could never beat out of him. He could not beat out of him his will. That's right. >> And finally after two years when the WAR HAD ENDED WHEN THE PRISON GATES WERE OPEN BOARDED A SHIP AND came home AND HIS FAMILY CELEBRATED HIS RETURN. NOW NOW NOW GRANTED I PUT that through AI so you could see it. It was a It was a picture you could hardly recognize. But here he IS. UH THE NATION CELEBRATED HIM. HIS FAMILY CELEBRATED HIM. THE NEWSPAPERS CELEBRATED HIM. EVERYONE SAID THE WAR, thank God, is over. But church family, it was not over for Louie. BECAUSE THE WAR HAD ENDED AROUND LOUISIE AND not ended inside of Louie. EVERY NIGHT HE HAD NIGHTMARES ABOUT THE PRISON. He woke up in screaming. He woke up IN A DEAD SWEAT. He replayed the beatings. He replayed the humiliation. He replayed THE BIRD. HE REPLAYED THE FEAR. HE REPLAYED THE anger again and again and again. PTSD. He could not get over the fear that he felt. He began to drink. And this is something that our veterans that our veterans face when they come back from war. began to drink heavily. His marriage has suffered. HATRED CONSUMED HIM. REVENGE BECAME HIS OBSESSION. He wasn't living in the prison CAMP ANYMORE. BUT SOMEHOW THE PRISON CAMP WAS LIVING INSIDE of him. >> RESEARCHERS WHO STUDY THIS TRAUMA HAVE DISCOVERED SOMETHING FASCINATING. WHEN a when when a person's experience when they experience prolonged fear or abuse or extreme trauma, THE BRAIN DOESN'T simply record the event like a video camera. Instead, the brain adapts. IT BEGINS ASKING ONE QUESTION over and over and over. What do I do to make sure this never happens again? The brain, it becomes hyper alert. IT SCANS EVERY ROOM THAT A PERSON WALKS INTO AND QUESTIONS EVERY MOTIVE OF EVERY PERSON. It expects the very worst in order to protect itself. And let me tell you something, that response at times can save a person's life. It's what it's what the Lord gave us. He gave us a brain. He gave us a mind in order to keep us out of crisis to learn from our mistakes to not go back into the same things that we used to be in or the same circumstances or situations or abusive relationships but if it continues after the crisis it becomes a prison of the mind. You might GET OUT OF THE HOUSE of bondage, but can you get the house of bondage out of you? >> SOMEONE BETRAYS YOU ONCE AND NOW TRUSTING anybody feels dangerous. Let me preach to you for a moment because I know some of you ARE LIVING HERE. SOMEONE ABANDONS YOU AND SO EVERY GOODBYE FEELS PERMANENT. SOMEONE HUMILIATES YOU AND NOW YOU'RE TERRIFIED TO FAIL BECAUSE THE BODY MAY HAVE ESCAPED THE DANGER, BUT THE mind still lives there. I told you this is a hard topic to preach, but I believe there's SO MANY PEOPLE THERE'S SO MANY MENTAL HEALTH issues today. And let ME SAY THERE'S THERE'S nothing wrong with mental health anymore than anything wrong with health >> when it comes to YOUR HEART. YOU MIGHT have a tumor. YOU YOU MIGHT HAVE DIABETES. >> Mental health is the very same thing. There's sickness that CAN HAPPEN IN YOUR MIND. AND I KNOW PEOPLE face this and they're ashamed OF IT. AND I KNOW THEY WANT TO THEY DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. OH MY GOD. But let me tell you something. There is a God who cares about our minds. AND HE REFUSES TO ALLOW US TO STAY IN BONDAGE. THE BIBLE DESCRIBES SOMETHING REMARKABLE IN ROMANS 12:2. IT SAYS, "BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE renewing of your mind." >> GOD DOESN'T MERELY WANT TO CHANGE OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. He wants to change the way we think. Oh, this Louis Zampirini wasn't the first person to face bondage and TO ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE AND HAVE BONDAGE refused to leave him. We know there's a group of PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE CENTURIES EARLIER who experienced the same struggle. God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. Oh, and I thank God that he brought them out. And I know a lot of times all we think about WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THE EXODUS IS WE THINK ABOUT THE plagues and we think about the Passover. WE THINK ABOUT THE RED SEA PARTING. WE THINK ABOUT A PILLAR of cloud and a pillar of fire. We think about mana. We think about miracles. But something still lingered even in the midst of deliverance. Egypt, this house of bondage, still followed them INTO THE WILDERNESS. NOT THE COUNTRY, not the army, NOT THE PHARAOH, BUT THE MENTALITY, OH THE IDEOLOGY, UH THE IDENTITY, UH IT ALL followed them because for 400 years of slavery, it had taught THEM TO THINK UH IN THIS MENTALITY. >> OH, LISTEN. God split the Red Sea in ONE NIGHT. HE GOT them out. Oh, he destroyed Pharaoh's army. HE DESTROYED PHARAOH IN ONE MOMENT WHEN the water came CRASHING BACK IN. GOD CAN BREAK THE CHAINS INSTANTLY, BUT CHANGING the way people thought took him 40 years. Israel had already witnessed miracle after miracle. Yet listen to what happens only a short time later. In Exodus 16:22 it says, "AND THE WHOLE CONGREGATION OF THE children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, WOULD TO GOD WE HAD DIED BY the hand of the Lord in THE LAND OF EGYPT, in the land of bondage, WHEN WE HAD SET by flesh POTS, AND WHEN WE did eat bread to the fold. FOR YE HAVE BROUGHT US FORTH, MOSES, into this wilderness UH TO KILL THIS WHOLE assembly with hunger. >> Did you read what what they remembered? Come on, somebody. They remember the food. THEY REMEMBER THE BREAD, THE MEAT, and the issue is what they forgot. >> THEY FORGOT ABOUT THE WHIPS. THEY FORGOT ABOUT THE TASKMASTER. THEY FORGOT ABOUT THE BONDAGE, THE CRYING, THE BROKEN FAMILIES, THE HUSBANDS BEING SEPARATED FROM THEIR WIVES. UH THE SCREAMING CHILDREN BEING RIPPED OUT OF THE HANDS OF THEIR MOTHERS. CENTURIES OF SLAVERY, the memories became selective. They remembered the comfort. They forgot the chains. Pain has a strange way OF DISTORTING MEMORY. SOMETIMES IT CAUSES PEOPLE TO REMEMBER ONLY THE BAD. AND SOMETIMES IT CAUSES people only to remember the good. But either way, when pain controls your memory, it begins controlling your future. I'm going to say THAT AGAIN. WHEN THIS BEGINS TO CONTROL YOUR MEMORY, WHEN THESE CHAINS CONTROL YOUR MEMORY, YOUR FUTURE is in trouble. Because here, all they could think about were the good things of Egypt. And I'm sure that WAS AN INSULT TO GOD WHO HAD BROUGHT THEM OUT OF bondage and SAID, "HOW IN THE WORLD ALL YOU REMEMBER IS THE FLESH POT? ALL YOU REMEMBER IS LEAKS AND ONIONS WHEN I BROUGHT YOU OUT OF SO MUCH. I WISH WE COULD TESTIFY IN THIS PLACE FOR A MOMENT AND SHOW GOD AND WORSHIP HIM AND SAY, "GOD, YOU BROUGHT ME OUT OF SO MUCH. I REFUSE TO LOOK BACK AT THE WORLD AND REMEMBER ANYTHING THAT I CONSIDERED GOOD." IT WAS WHEN I LOOK BACK OVER MY LIFE, UH, AND WHEN I SEE WHERE GOD HAS BROUGHT ME OUT OF, UH, I GOT TO STAND HERE AND LIFT UP MY HANDS AND TESTIFY TO GOD, YOU'VE BEEN SO GOOD TO ME. YOU'VE BEEN SO KIND TO ME. I'M UNDESERVING, BUT YOU STILL FREED ME OUT OF SLAVERY. Anybody thankful to be OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE? can't let pain control our memory. We cannot let pain control our memory. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE GONE BACK TO DESTRUCTIVE relationships because they remembered THE COMPANIONSHIP AND FORGOT the abuse. BROTHER AND SISTER FER, I'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND A WOMAN who's beaten to a pulp AND SHE RETURNS BACK TO THAT same man. I'll never understand that. BUT SOMEHOW PAIN UH CAN CLOUD OUR MEMORY. >> How many people have returned to old addictions UH BECAUSE THEY REMEMBERED THE TEMPORARY RELIEF BUT FORGOT THE YEARS OF BONDAGE? How many people HAVE WALKED AWAY FROM GOD BECAUSE THEY REMEMBERED ONE DISAPPOINTMENT AND FORGOT A LIFETIME OF GOD'S FAITHFULNESS? I FEEL THE HOLY GHOST IN THIS PLACE. GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS UH LORD UNTO ME. I HAVE NO REGRETS. I SAID I HAVE NO REGRETS. ENEMY HAS ALWAYS TRIED TO MANIPULATE OUR MEMORY BECAUSE IF HE CAN CONTROL WHAT WE REMEMBER, HE CAN INFLUENCE where we go next. Have you ever noticed how God told Israel time and time again to remember? >> Remember the Passover. Come on. Remember the Red Sea. HE SAID, "REMEMBER where I brought you out of." HE SAID, "REMEMBER MY COVENANT. REMEMBER my works." GOD WASN'T TRYING TO erase their memory or their past. HE WAS TRYING TO RESHAPE THEIR PERSPECTIVE. >> Somebody in this house needs your perspective reshaped. >> THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REMEMBERING YOUR WOUNDS AND REMEMBERING GOD'S FAITHFULNESS. ONE KEEPS YOU IN BONDAGE AND THE OTHER BUILDS YOUR FAITH. >> I wish I had time to preach there for a moment, but I just don't. I got to move. Israel arrives at the border of the promised land. They had not been wandering for very long. They got across the wilderness and there it is. They're looking into a beautiful, beautiful landscape uh with mountains and valleys and green grass and rolling hills and and they send in 12 spies. And I don't want to insult your biblical intelligence. Uh but we know that 10 came back uh filled with fear. I don't have time to read it, but Numbers 13, it talks about Joshua and Caleb as they steal the people and they say, "Let us go over at once." But the people resisted them, the 10 spies, and all THE PEOPLE RESISTED THEM. And they said, "Oh, WE SAW GIANTS AND WE were in our own sight >> in our Listen, come on. This is what we call stinking thinking right here. This is when you're messed up between the ears. When in your own sight now, YOU YOU SERVE A GOD THAT'S ALL POWERFUL. A CREATOR THAT'S ALL POWERFUL THAT'S WON SO MANY BATTLES. HE HE JUST BROUGHT YOU OUT OF 400 YEARS. But you look at some giants. The Bible doesn't say the giants looked at them as grasshoppers. for the Yansy. It says we in our OWN SIGHT WERE GRASSHOPPERS IN their eyes. A slavery mentality. We can't win. We're not strong enough. We're too weak. We can't. We can't. WE CAN'T DO IT. WE GOD, WE JUST CAN'T DO IT. BUT THAT'S just the house of bondage talking. It's such a common temptation to listen to Egypt. I'll never BREAK THE HABITU. I'LL NEVER HAVE PEACE. I'll never be able to TRUST ANYONE AGAIN. I'M JUST AN ANGRY PERSON. I'M JUST ALWAYS GOING TO BE IN SOME KIND OF BATTLE. I'M ALWAYS GOING TO HAVE ANXIETY. MY FAMILY'S ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY. THIS IS HOW WE'RE ALWAYS GOING TO BE. THIS IS JUST WHO I AM. THAT'S THE THINKING OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE THAT HAS NEVER LEFT YOU. GOD GOT YOU OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE, BUT YOU still got it inside of you. >> The enemy wants you to struggle to become your identity. Oh yes, he does. Romans 8:15. Oh, God. God speaks in Romans 8:15. for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. He said, I got you out of that mess. I'm not going to allow you to go back. This is not the spirit I've given you. The spirit of bondage is not the spirit that I've given you. But you have re received the spirit of adoption WHEREBY WE CRY ABA FATHER. THAT'S RELATIONAL. The spirit itself bear witness with our spirit and we are THE CHILDREN OF GOD. DO YOU HEAR WHAT THIS VERSE IS TELLING US? UH HE WENT AND TOLD US YOU WERE IN BONDAGE, BUT NOW YOU'VE BEEN ADOPTED. I DIDN'T JUST PURCHASE YOU. I ADOPTED YOU INTO MY FAMILY. WE'RE NOT JUST SERVANTS OF THE LORD. WE'RE CHILDREN of God. when God fills somebody with the Holy Ghost or should I say with his spirit because that's what the prophet talked about. He isn't just changing where they're going. He's changing who's they are. >> But the problem was never simply that people NEEDED BETTER HABITS. THE PROBLEM was that people needed a new heart. Oh yeah. And they need a new spirit. But that's exactly what God promised through Ezekiel. We read it in our opening text in Ezekiel 36:26. And a new HEART ALSO WILL I GIVE YOU AND a new spirit will I put within you. I want you to see this. God never said you will change your heart. >> There's too many people trying to pick them THEIR OWN SELVES UP BY THEIR OWN BOOTSTRAPS. AND GOD NEVER SAID, "I never said I think you ought to CHANGE YOUR HEART." HE SAID, "I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART." >> STOP THINKING THAT YOU'RE GOING TO FIX YOURSELF. IT'S NOT going to work. >> There's a reason why A SAYS, "ONCE AN ALCOHOLIC, ALWAYS AN ALCOHOLIC." Because they're trying to get you to pick yourself up and you can't pick YOURSELF UP. >> YOU'RE ALWAYS GOING TO BE TEMPTED. YOU'RE ALWAYS GOING TO FIND YOURSELF FALLING OFF THE WAGON AND FALLING back into sin. BUT GOD SAID, "I WILL GIVE YOU A new heart and a new spirit. I'll put my spirit, not just a spirit. I'll put my spirit within you." The Holy Ghost is not simply an experience. And listen, I thank God for the goosebumps I feel when the choir begins to sing these songs they've been singing. They get me all riled up and the hair on my arm stands up and the hair on the back of MY NECK STANDS UP. I BEGIN TO WEEP UNCONTROLLABLY. I THANK GOD for the experience that the Holy Ghost gives us. But it's so much more than goosebumps AND A TINGLY FEELING. BUT THERE IS A HOLY GHOST. IT'S THE ANSWER. IT'S THE ANSWER TO THE EGYPT WITHIN US. The Holy Ghost is the answer to the Egypt within us. >> That same spirit that hovered over chaoshoo in Genesis now dwells within the believer. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead and now dwells IN THE BELIEVER. THE SAME SPIRIT THAT EMPOWERED the apostles dwells within YOU IF YOU'VE GOT THE HOLY Ghost in fire. Romans 8:11. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, let's see what happens. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. That word quicken means to make alive. And if the Holy Ghost has THE POWER TO RAISE A DEAD BODY, THEN THERE'S NO DEAD PLACE IN YOUR LIFE THAT'S BEYOND his power. He can bring TO LIFE TO WHAT SIN has destroyed. >> HE CAN RESTORE WHAT PAIN HAS DAMAGED. HE CAN break what has been passed down through generations. You don't have to be cursed in a generational curse. I'm going to say that again cuz some people get stuck on this. Well, this is just how we've always been. My parents did this. My grandparents did this. Even my great-grandparents did this. My family's always lived on that side of the tracks. We've always done those sinful acts. And this is just who I am. You can break THAT GENERATIONAL CURSE BY RECEIVING THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST and letting the SPIRIT OF GOD REIGN INSIDE OF YOU AND QUICKEN YOU AND DO A WORK WITHIN YOU. He can restore what pain has damaged. He can break it. HE CAN REVIVE WHAT disappointment has buried. And that's why there's hope for every person in this room. It does not matter what happened in your childhood. It does not matter what's happening WITH YOUR FAMILY TREE. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW MANY GENERATIONS STRUGGLE BEFORE YOU. IT DOES not matter what labels that people have put upon you. The Holy Ghost is greater than inherited patterns. >> The same spirit that brought Jesus out of the grave can bring you out of anything that has you bound, that has you in a grave. The day of Pentecost was never God's backup plan. Pentecost was Ezekiel fulfilled. Acts 2:38, we quote it all the time. Pastor read it this morning. Peter said unto the people on the day of Pentecost, THE 3,000 THAT WERE GATHERED around him, he said, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR the remission, the removal of sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the HOLY GHOST. YOU SHALL receive the SPIRIT OF GOD. FOR THE PROMISE IS unto you, and is to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. >> Repentance isn't just turning from sin. It's turning towards God. >> Baptism in Jesus name isn't some kind of ceremony. It's a It's not a ceremony to celebrate conversion. IT'S THE REMISSION OF SINS IN THE NAME OF JESUS that we're after. And this Holy Ghost is not merely an emotional experience. It's God putting his own spirit within us. Exactly what Ezekiel had promised and prophesied. And it's exactly what every person in this room must have. >> Holy Ghost doesn't just prepare us for heaven. You got to have it to make it to heaven. But it's more than that. THE HOLY GHOST PREPARES us to live differently here on earth. The Holy Ghost changes what we love. We sing that song. It makes us walk right and makes us talk right and makes us live right. And that's not exactly right. However, it gives you the power to walk right >> and it gives you the power to talk right. Gives you the power to live right. It gives you the power to give right. It changes what we hate. It it changes how we think. It changes how we respond to life. It changes our very identity. The Holy Ghost gets Egypt out of us. Somebody say, "Thank you, Jesus." This brings me I'm hurrying, but this brings me back to Louie because it was years after the war. It was years after the war that Louie made a decision that he wasn't going to hate no more. LOUIE GOT GOD. LOUIESIE FOUND A CHURCH. UH Louie got into a church. Uh he repented of all the hate. He repented of the way that he began to look and think about people and how he responded to his life. Because this is what Louie figured out. I'M NOT GOING TO LIVE THE rest of my LIFE BECAUSE OF A season of about two and a half years. >> I refuse. Listen, Louie died at the age of 97 in 2014. And you got to think about that. 97 years. Can you imagine LIVING 97 YEARS for two and a half years of your life? For a season. Listen, I'm not I'm not taking away from what happened. But he just had enough sense to say, I can't live like this no more. There's no way I'm going to raise my kids and raise my grandkids. speaking ill of people that did something to me decades ago. He said, "I can't live like that no more." Matter of fact, his family couldn't believe it. But he went back to Japan. HE WENT BACK TO the very prison camp that he had spent two years in. And he didn't go back to get revenge. He didn't go back to looks the prison guards in the eye and tell them what they had done to him and and how they had messed up and jacked up his life. Oh no. He wanted to meet with prison guards and let them know that he had forgiven them. HE EVEN TRIED TO FIND THE bird but the bird he was still alive but the bird that prison guard refused to meet with him. That man still had hate in his heart. But let me tell you something. A heart that had been set free was Louise. HE NO LONGER HAD THE HATE. SO HERE WE HAVE A man who had been treated horribly and beaten within an inch OF HIS LIFE. BUT HE HAD BEEN FREED FROM A PRISON THAT NOW THIS GUARD this horrible man. HE WAS STILL IN THE same prison. But it wasn't out of a prison of iron, in a prison of bars, that man remained in a prison of the mind. But if I could just convince you tonight to get out of the prison, don't stay locked up. He who the son HAS SET FREE IS FREE INDEED. You don't ever HAVE TO GO BACK there again. You don't ever HAVE TO LIVE THERE AGAIN. OH, IT'S FORGIVENESS. IT'S FORGIVENESS. YOU GOT TO FIND FORGIVENESS. UH YOU GOT TO FIND A HEART THAT SAYS, "UH, I KNOW YOU DID WRONG FOR ME AND TO ME AND FOR ME, BUT I REFUSE TO LIVE in a prison of hate." >> Ephesians 4:31 says, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you." >> Y'all see that right there? Don't let it resonate in your head. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. RELEASE YOURSELF FROM IT. LET THE HOLY GHOST RELEASE YOU from it. It says, "Put it away and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as GOD FOR CHRIST'S SAKE hath forgiven you." Paul doesn't say we ought to forget bitterness. HE SAYS, "PUT BITTERNESS AWAY. >> You're not going to forget what happened to you in those two years in the prison camp. You will never forget what happened to you, but you can make a decision to put it away." >> Bitterness. Bitterness. It can control your memories. IT CAN CONTROL WHAT HAPPENED. BUT FREEDOM IS WHEN YOUR PAST NO LONGER HAS AUTHORITY over your future. FREEDOM IS WHEN WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU STOPS TELLING YOU WHO YOU ARE AND STOPS IDENTIFYING AND GIVING YOU AN IDENTITY. FREEDOM IS WHEN THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE FINALLY LOSES ITS voice in your head. >> So maybe tonight your house of bondage is fear. Every decision you make can be controlled by fear if you allow it. Fear of failure, fear of loss. Oh, it's controlled by fear. Fear of tomorrow. But tonight, God wants to deliver you from that fear. Maybe you fear. Maybe your house of bondage is shame. You've repented time and time again. You've been baptized in the name. You've received the gift of the HOLY GHOST. YET, EVERY TIME YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR, YOU STILL SEE who you used to be. Tonight, God wants TO DELIVER YOU FROM THAT HOUSE OF BONDAGE. Uh it could be offense. Maybe offense is your house of bondage. So many people live in offense. Uh somebody hurt you. SOMEBODY DISAPPOINTED YOU. SOMEBODY BETRAYED YOUR TRUST. UH AND YOU'VE CARRIED this pain for years. BUT TONIGHT, UH TONIGHT, GOD IS ASKING YOU, OH, NOT TO PRETEND THAT IT NEVER HAPPENED. HE'S SAYING, "I WILL CARRY IT AWAY IF YOU ALLOW me to carry it away. If you'll GIVE IT TO ME, I'LL TAKE THESE BURDENS FROM off of your shoulders because I never meant for you to carry the burdens. This house of bondage might be grief. Oh, and grief is such a hard thing. GRIEF IS SUCH a controlling thing. It can control your mind. >> >> It can make you lose sleep. It can make you live in THE PAST. BUT GOD DOESN'T want you to live in the past. He's not wanting you to forget your loved one THAT PASSED ON. HE'S NOT WANTING YOU TO FORGET that person that meant so much to you. NO, NO, NO. BUT HE'S wanting you to put it into his handshin. A SPIRIT THAT SAYS, "I'LL GIVE YOU LIFE. I'LL GIVE YOU LOVE. I'LL GIVE YOU A FUTURE. I'LL GIVE YOU AN EXPECTED END. Whatever your house of bondage is, please, please, please remember that Jesus Christ is greater. HIS HOLY GHOST IS GREATER. IF you only remember one sentence from this message, you might forget my main points. THAT'S OKAY. YOU MIGHT FORGET THE STORY ABOUT LOUIS. That's okay. BUT PLEASE DON'T FORGET UH YOU CAN LEAVE EGYPT in one day and you CAN STILL SPEND YEARS TRYING TO GET Egypt out of you. >> Please hear me. You don't have to spend the rest of your life carrying what Jesus came to remove. Don't we realize why he died ON A CROSS? DON'T WE REALIZE WHY HE TOOK ON ALL PAIN, ALL SORROW? UNTIL WE REALIZE WHY HE DID WHAT HE did as a spotless lamb. He did it so we wouldn't have TO CARRY IT, SO WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. And he's still today, he's still pouring his spirit out. He's still creating new hearts in people. HE'S STILL FILLING US WITH his Holy Ghost. Uh he's still breaking chains. He's still healing wounded hearts. Uh he's still setting the captive free. Please, whatever you do tonight, refuse to live in the house of bondage. >> I know a lot of your stories. I I know a lot of the pain. I know about some ugly divorces. I I know about children who have forsaken parents. Uh and I know about parents. I know stories of parents uh who have forsaken children. But oh my God, please don't live there. Allow the Holy Ghost uh to step into your life and change your mind and change your thinking and change your entire paradigm. God, I just want to live in your grace. God, I just want to live in your mercy. GOD, I JUST WANT to live in your healing. I want to be LIKE THAT WOMAN THAT JESUS HEALED ON THAT DUSTY ROAD. HE SAID, "GO IN PEACE. Don't leave here in condemnation. Don't leave here troubled. But oh my God, whatever you do, go in peace. Stand with me. If you're if you're tired, stand with me. If you're tired of carrying Egypt, if the house of bondage is getting too heavy, if you're ready for the Lord to continue a transformational work in your heart. Oh, listen. And I invite you to step out of your pew. Matter of fact, I want to make this an altar call not just for those who have never experienced the spirit of God, but I believe this can be an altar call even for the church family who lives with the Holy Ghost on the inside of you. But sometimes you just need to be filled up a little bit higher with the Holy Ghost. Sometimes we allow the Holy Ghost to kind of run a little low in our life. Sometimes we we don't get renewed like we ought to. God have mercy. I believe tonight could be your night for renewing. Is there somebody here that can relate to Lou and say, "I've been done wrong in my past, but I refuse to stay there. I refuse to live the the ENTIRE FUTURE STUCK in one season of my life. I wish somebody in this place tonight could come to this altar and just say, "GOD, I WANT TO GIVE MY HEART TO YOU. I WANT TO GIVE MY LIFE TO YOU. I'M SICK AND TIRED OF STRUGGLING with the same struggles and fighting the same thoughts. Uh I need somebody just to throw up your hands in this place uh and begin to cry out to God and say, "God, help me to see THAT YOU'RE MORE POWERFUL THAN MY PAIN. YOU'RE MORE POWERFUL THAN MY STRUGGLE. YOU'RE MORE POWERFUL THAN MY HOUSE OF BONDAGE. OH, in Jesus name. God, I thank you for saving me out of Egypt, but that's not enough. God, I'm thankful that you allow me to cross the Red Sea on dry ground, but that's not enough. GOD, I'M THANKFUL THAT YOU provided water out of a rock, but that's not enough. I'm thankful, Lord, THAT YOU ALLOWED QUAIL TO COME IN, AND I'M GLAD THAT YOU FED ME WITH MANA. I'M SO THANKFUL THAT YOU ROLLED BACK THE JORDAN RIVER. I'M SO THANKFUL THAT YOU EVEN ALLOW ME TO GO INTO CANAAN LAND. But God, THAT'S NOT ENOUGH. BECAUSE IF I DON'T GET EGYPT OUT OF ME, IF I DON'T GET A NEW HEART WITHIN ME, IF MY HEART IS STILL BACK IN EGYPT, IF MY MIND IS STILL STUCK IN EGYPT, GOD, I'M GOING TO STRUGGLE. BUT OH GOD, IF I CAN RELEASE IT, UH, if I can turn it over to you, I wish somebody right here would say, "Jesus, I'm turning this BURDEN TO YOU. JESUS, I'M GIVING YOU MY TROUBLE, my pain. I'm giving you the OFFENSE THAT I'VE BEEN HARBORING. I'M GIVING YOU, LORD GOD, THESE THOUGHTS of negativity. Lord God, I'm g I want a new heart. Give me a new heart. Create in me a new heart. Renew a right spirit within me. CAST ME NOT AWAY FROM YOUR PRESENCE, OH GOD, but draw me to your side as a deer patchth after the water brook. Lord, I long for your presence. I long for your anointing to fill me. I long FOR YOU TO COVER ME. I LONG FOR THESE THOUGHTS to leave me. I long, oh God, for this offense, for this bitterness, this hatred. Get it out of my mind. Oh God, set me free. Come on, somebody in this place is getting set free. I did not expect you to run the aisles. I DID NOT EXPECT YOU TO DANCE. I DID NOT EXPECT you to even preach the preacher. I just wanted you to say, God, I refuse to live in Egypt and I refuse Egypt living inside of me. I refuse. I refuse. I refuse. This house of bondage has no place inside of me. Oh, healing is here. Healing is here. Jesus is here. Everything I need. Everything I need, I can find in you, Jesus. Uh, everything that we need is found right here in the house. Uh, right here in the house. Jesus is here. Jesus is here. Come on, somebody receive it right here. Jesus is here. Everything I need is here. Come on singers, help me. Sing, Jesus. Shut up. Everything I need is here. >> Now make this promise. Make this declaration. Healing is here. Let healing take place right now. Come on. Every hand lifted. If you have trouble in your life, >> if you have trouble in your life, come on, trouble can be defined in so many things. >> You might have sickness in your body, that's trouble. That's a season. If there's grief in your mind, >> come on. That's a season. That's trouble. >> But I got good news. Healing is right here. >> >> Oh, hearing is healing is healing is I believe it. >> I believe it. Come on, do it for here. I reach my hand. Come on. I lift my eyes. Come on. Your help is in the house tonight. I trust in you. Come on, sing it again. I lift my hand. I lift my hand. >> >> I trust now. Come on, church family. I gave you an opportunity to pray, but now I want if there's somebody in this house that has never repented of their sins. And when I say repent of your sins, again, I said it earlier. I'm not just talking about being sorry for what you've done. It's more than just an apology to God for the life that you've lived. But when you truly repent, it's an about face and you go towards the one that's saving you. You go towards him in your actions, in your decisions you make, in your lifestyle that you carry out. If you've never repented, I want you. Oh my God, I pray that you see the importance of repentance tonight. If you've never been baptized in the water, we had one go down in the water this morning. If you've never been baptized, and again, we don't baptize around here to join a church. We baptize around here because the word of God, cuz Peter said this, he said, "Be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." If you find yourself, you keep on dealing with the same sin over and over again and you've never been baptized, there's a good reason for it because it's still holding on to you. It's still got a hold of you. The house of bondage is still within you. But if you will go down in the water in the name Oh my God. Right here. IF YOU WILL GO DOWN in the water in the name of Jesus, I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A CHILD, IF YOU'RE A TEENAGER, IF YOU'RE MIDDLEAG, IF YOU'RE A SENIOR, IF YOU GO DOWN IN THE WATER FOR THE REMOVAL OF YOUR SINS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO FACE THAT SAME ISSUE ANYMORE. Pastor Nolan, go ahead, put them down. This is a good time to put them down right here. Everett Hedrickk, upon the profession of your faith in obedience to the word of God, I now indeed baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and the Bible says you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost in Jesus' name. Come on. In Jesus name. COME ON. RIGHT THERE. SINS ARE WASHED. HE JUST CAME UP A NEW CREATURE. Come on. He just came up. YOU SAY, "WHAT DID HE DO?" Come on. We're all born into sin. Woo! He's free. He's free. Not just tonight. He's free for the rest of his life because he's been covered by the blood of Jesus. HE'S GONE DOWN INTO A watery grave. He's come up. He's new. He's fresh. He's remitted in Jesus name. I live my hand. I don't even >> But I can't leave you at baptism. Because as good as baptism feels and as much as it helps us, without the spirit of God on the inside, like I preached all night, it doesn't matter. You can get out of a situation, of a circumstance, oh my God. But unless the spirit of God is inside of you, you're going to be you're going to be bound for the rest of your life. Church family, I know we're baptized in another one, but if you will, if you could look around you, maybe somebody standing beside you, you could reach over and just begin to pray with them. Maybe you know they don't have the Holy Ghost. Maybe you know they've never experience the spirit of God within them. Church family, I know you're distracted a little bit, and that's okay. But come on, can you bring your attention back? Come on. Can you pray for somebody near you? Can you pray for somebody near you and just say, "God, if they're not filled with your Holy Ghost, tonight could be their night. Not only can their sins be remitted in baptism, but God, you can help them. You can empower them to live for you. Oh my God. Come on, FIND SOMEBODY NEAR YOU. FIND SOMEBODY THAT YOU CAN JUST PRAY FOR AND SAY, "GOD, LET THE HOLY GHOST BE POURED OUT IN THEIR LIFE. UH GOD, FILL THEM. AND IF YOU'VE ALREADY FILLED THEM, WON'T YOU RENEW them in YOUR HOLY GHOST?" UH WHY DON'T YOU LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU'RE ALL POWERFUL, THAT YOU'RE READY AND WILLING and able TO DO SOMETHING FOR THEM. LORD, let your Holy Ghost minister right now. Come on, saints of God. I need you to minister. I NEED YOU TO MINISTER RIGHT HERE. I NEED YOU TO MINISTER RIGHT HERE TO SOMEBODY. I NEED YOU TO HELP THEM. I NEED YOU TO PRAY THEM THROUGH TO THE HOLY GHOST. HALLELUJAH. Go ahead. Come on. PRAY THEM THROUGH THE HOLY GHOST. PRAY THEM THROUGH TO THE HOLY GHOST RIGHT HERE. I BELIEVE IT CAN be poured out right NOW WHILE WE'RE BAPTIZING. I BELIEVE THERE CAN BE baptism in water and there can be baptism of God and do IT RIGHT NOW. DO IT RIGHT NOW. LET THE HOLY GHOST BE POURED OUT RIGHT NOW IN JESUS NAME. DO IT RIGHT NOW. LET THE HOLY GHOST BE POURED OUT. COME ON, MINISTER TO SOMEBODY. COME ON, MINISTER TO SOMEBODY. MINISTER TO SOMEBODY. >> >> OH, in Jesus name. Spirit of the living God, rise up inside of us. Hey, free ush not only on the outside but free us on the inside. Liberate us. Liberate ush. Liberate us in Jesus name. And we'll forever give you praise. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> >> Heing is here. Healing is here. If >> there's anybody else that wants to be baptized in Jesus name, come on, just tell somebody beside you. They'll help you get up here. Oh, I receive it. >> I'm receiving. Yes. Healing is here. >> Healing is here. >> Yeah. >> Healing is >> Oh, healing healing healing healing. >> >> He is. >> Lift up your hands one more time. Let me pray over you. Father in Jesus name. God, I pray over the greatest people in all of the world. God, we're doing everything we can to live for you. Oh God, we want to be disciples of you. We want to make disciples for you. Lord God, we want to see your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But oh God, there's still struggles that we deal with. And oh God, you see them. You know them. You know our thoughts. You know our hearts. You know our intentions. Lord, you know every motive in this place. And God, I promise you, Lord, I believe this church. Lord God, we want to please you. These people want to please you. But help us overcome bondage that wants to take control of us. Lord, I pray. Lord God, help us to overcome the very things, oh God, that would get in our way and let us be filled with your spirit in a way that takes the place of anything, Lord God, that would try to control us. For the only thing that I want to control me is your spirit. The only thing that I want to control me is your Holy Ghost. Lord, I give you free reign. Reign over me. Reign over my family. Reign over my home. reign over this church in Jesus name. Come on somebody say in Jesus name. Prayer is what gets us out of bondage. This church is open every morning at 7:30 in the morning till 5:30 in the evening. Get here. Get here. Get into this sanctuary. >>