The Devil hates this message. Religious spirits hate this massage.
If you have religious spirits in you, then you will not like this message.
It is time to take authority of the devil and fully embrace the message of the Cross.
The message of the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing, but to US who are being saved it is the POWER OF GOD. (1Corinthians 1:18).
This message is a message of release and a message of freedom.
For those who have been carrying things your whole life; God is saying today is the day to lay them down. He is the burden bearing God. He is the God who takes our burdens.
Is there anyone that would like to say at this point, before we go any further, "I would like to, right now, bow my knee at the Cross of Christ, and say yes to Jesus. Lay my life down; with my hang ups, mess ups, addictions, everything that is going on in my life that is a mess; I want to publicly affirm I am making Jesus the Lord of my life." If that is you, come now and let's make Jesus Christ the Lord of Your life. Just stand to your feet right now as you are making that affirmation.
This is a day for freedom and a day of release. Some of you have been carrying things your whole life. At one time you weren't carrying them, but because of religion, and life, and people, you picked them back up again. It's time to lay them down.
Today is a day to lighten our load. Jesus came to bear your burdens, surely he has born our griefs. Surely he has carried our sorrow. (Isaiah 53:4)
It is God's will and he has always desired that man has God's best.
Jesus came to put us at the center of God's will. That means I receive all of God's blessings and all of God's promises.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares [us], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising (disregarding) the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
It was for the joy that was set before Him he endured the cross.
The joy that was set before him was a family…the Family of God.
You will go through some things if you know your family will be blessed out of it.
Jesus went through what he did because he saw us on the other side of that which he had to endure. He said he could go through this because even though he would sow his life, he knew he would reap a family.
Think of this and try to wrap your brain around the fact that we were the joy that was set before Jesus. There is nothing more joyous in life than to be together with family, both natural and spiritual.
When we come together it is fun to be here and worship the Lord. It is fun to come together and praise Jesus in songs and in the truth of the Word. It is fun to gather as a family. This is the joy that he saw and was willing to endure cross, for his family. Jesus did it not out of a sense of obligation of reward, but because he loves us.
Jesus sufferings were more than just physical.
In the garden, the emotional weight of what he was about to endure could have, and probably should have, killed him. Angles had to come minister to him. He sweated as it were drops of blood. You think you have endured stress? Have you ever bled drops of blood? Jesus should have died from the stress of what he was about to bear. People have died from lot less stress, yet Jesus endured the stress of the cross. He suffered for all of us.
Colossians 2:14
. . .having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. [NKJV]
New Living Translation
He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
Thank God for the Cross!
In a greater sense the Law was against Us!
It was condemning us because we could not keep it. Thank God that the Law of the Spirit of Life, in Christ Jesus, has made us all free from the law of sin and death.
Jesus Canceled our Debt of Sin!
In His death Jesus took all of this out of the way.
He nailed it to the cross and canceled it as a bill is canceled when a debt is paid.
Paul's language here refers to the ancient practice of nailing the written evidence of a canceled debt, in a public place, as notice that there is no more claim on the debtor.
Jesus nailed the evidence of our canceled sin debt, in the public place of Golgotha, with his own life, showing the entire worlds and all of heaven and hell, that mankind's sin debt is paid in full.
There is no more claims on the debtors, we are set free! The debt has been Paid!
At the Cross Jesus paid the price for our sin and he delivered us from the curse of the Law!
It was Specific!
He did not conquer sin in general. . .He conquered our specific sin. . .thereby guarantying you and I have specific victory over every specific sin in our lives.
This is not just the sins of the flesh, but every emotional weakness, every mental weakness, every spiritual weakness, Jesus dealt with it on the cross.
At The Cross
At the Cross Jesus took strips so we could be healed.
At the Cross Jesus conquered sin.
At the Cross Jesus conquered death by the resurrection and he obtained righteousness for us.
At the Cross Jesus received what we were and what our lives deserved while we received what he was and what his live deserves.
At the Cross Jesus took our iniquities.
At the Cross Jesus took our sham and our guilt.
Shame is the issue that drives almost every compulsive, addictive behavior that is known to mankind. Jesus delivered us from shame. It services in different ways, but the Church, for a lot of years, though they were helping people by inflecting shame on them trying to keep people in line, when in fact the Church was just making their lives worse. We are not here to shame you into serving God, we are here to encourage you that there is a God who loves you passionately, that wants a relationship with you, that paid the price, and took your guilt, and took your shame; so you can be free to service Him.
Free from guilt, free from shame, free from all condemnation.
At the Cross God was working in Christ, but he was also working on US.
Jesus took our condition and we were engrafted in him. Now God sees us in Christ.
We constantly need to see our life through the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrections of Jesus.
We must see our lives in light of the finished work of the Cross and everything that Jesus did. We look a lot better in Him than we do outside of Him.
Say with me, "I am in Christ and I am Looking Good!"
We look a lot better in Him than we do outside of Him because God sees us through the cross and the resurrection.
He has raised us up together and sit us together with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).
Romans 5:17 says, We reign in live through the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness . . Through the One, Jesus Christ.
God sees you in Christ, but you must see yourself in Christ.
2Corinthians 5:17 say. . .if anybody is in union with Christ. . .He is the work of a new creation. The old condition has passed away and a new condition has come. . .
He Took Your Iniquity!
Isaiah 53:5-6 You know it, you've heard it, but we forget. . .
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His strips we are already healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Iniquity is not just sin. Iniquity is the tendency to be bent or shaped a certain way in our personality, those tendencies we think we inherited that there is not victory over. A way of thinking, a way of reasoning; it’s a way of looking at things. You could think you were born with a tendency to do some certain thing. It does not have to have power over you anymore. Jesus didn't just take you sin he took your iniquity.
There is a lot of controversy today about whether or not those with different sexual preferences are born that way. Here is the truth about being born with certain tendencies: Jesus already conquered any tendencies you may have and you do not have to let them have power over you. They do not have to rule and reign in your life.
Your daddy or momma might have been a thieve; your daddy or momma might have been an alcoholic; but just because you were born into that family with certain tendencies, does not mean those tendencies have to rule and reign in your life.
Jesus came to set you free!
He conquered those tendencies when he took your iniquities and nailed them to the cross!!!
There is freedom today for every iniquity and every sin, Jesus already paid the price!
Jesus was Bruised for the Struggle inside You!
Whatever the struggle is going on inside of you, Jesus was bruised for that struggle.
What this means in practical terms is we receive nothing from God based on our own merit. All our righteousness is as filthy rags. . .(Isaiah 64:6).
I receive every promise based on the finished work of Jesus.
There is nothing left for Jesus to do that he has not already done.
We are supposed to be ruling and reigning in live with him; not under the circumstances but above the circumstances.
The Exchanged Life
That now means that the live that I now live is the exchanged life:
Jesus received what I deserve and I receive what he deserves.
This is a good deal. . .
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified in Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and give Himself for me.
He was made to be sin, I was made to be his righteousness.
He received the penalties that my sin deserves,
I am receiving the blessings that his righteousness deserves.
You may be thinking this just cannot be right, this is just too good to be true!
And it's not fair!
Amen, you are right, it is too good to be true! And it's not fair!
It is based upon a God and Savior that loves us beyond reason.
That's how much he loves you and me.
He was rejected, I am accepted. "Thank God I'm in."
Growing up, everybody had to deal with rejection.
Maybe you weren't athletic enough when they divided up and picked teams, and you were always last. All of us have experienced rejection in our lives.
You need to know you do not have to live under a spirit of rejection any longer.
Jesus was rejected so you and I can be accepted.
We are in the most important place you can get into. . .it is called the Kingdom.
Because he was chastened, I have peace before God.
Because he was forsaken, I'm never alone.
Two or three o'clock in the morning, when problems start to magnify themselves and starting getting really big. How you going to do this, or how you going to do that, don't you know this is going to come back on you? You do not have to fight those battles alone, Jesus sent us the Comforter. . .who is the Holy Spirit. . .He will never leave you. . .He will never forsake you. . .and he will never, ever turn his back on you!
I don't care how far you get out in left field; how far you get away from God; how deep you get in sin, He will be there, wooing you and loving you and drawing you and saying you are mine. He will say, "There is a better way than this, come on, walk with me. You are precious and you are valuable in my sight!"
Let's take time right now to give God praise that he never leaves us alone. Give God praise you are coming out of this things and he is always, always with is; we are never alone! You will never walk alone because of what happened on the Cross!
Everything necessary for you and me to be free and fully restored has been taken care of on the Cross!
Everything! Not just our sins, but everything has been nailed to the cross.
The debt that we owe, spirit, soul, and body has been paid in full.
You need to stop trying to pay a debt that has already been paid.
You can't beat yourself down enough;
You can't make yourself feel bad enough;
You can't do enough penance;
You can't do any of the things that religion and the world would try to tell you has to be done to make up for the gap that existed between us and God.
There is only one thing you can DO. . .say yes to Jesus and his finished work that he did on the Cross.
He made us acceptable in the sight of a Holy God, who hated sin so much he sent his only son to die for you and me, so we could be accepted, and rule and reign in life!
Jesus also suffered separation from God on the Cross.
He suffered separation from his father God and he cried out. . ."My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
Jesus has never experienced complete separation for God the Father before, He had always been with God (John 1:1-2). But Jesus endured this separation so you and I could be restored to fellowship with God.
Jesus died on the cross so he could restore our relationship with God. He was separated from the Father for the only time since before the foundations of the world and it would be the only time ever he would be without his Father.
He was separated so we could be with the Father. The Gospel is not about rules and regulations, it is about a relationship. . .with the Father.
You cannot have a relationship with a dead man!
That is why Islam is nothing but a religion, their founder is a dead man.
That is why Hinduism is nothing but a religion, its founders are dead men.
That is why Bhai, Confucianism and all the other Eastern faiths, are nothing but religions, their founders are all dead!
Christianity is the only relationship based religion, where the founder is still alive!
He is the author and the finisher, and he lives forevermore, seated at the right hand of the Father and Creator of all things. . . And his name is JESUS! The King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Our Savior, and our King! And he is still a ALIVE today and interactive in our lives!
You cannot have a meaningful relationship with a dead person and that is why the resurrection is so important! This is why we celebrate it on Easter and every other Sunday! This is why we have our main church services on Sunday, in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it does not stop there, we celebrate it every day when the sun rises again, we celebrate that Jesus is alive and has relationship with us individually and interactively.
The Cross is a place of release and freedom.
What are holding on to or carrying that keeps you from walking in the full freedom that Jesus sacrificed for on the Cross?
Even once we have Jesus in our lives, we do not need to carry people and try to make things happen for them, you need to nail that which you carry from them to the cross.
Nail the receipt that their debt was paid on the cross and make public display that this debt was paid by the sacrifice of Jesus. Trying to fix others is killing you, so nail it to the cross. Jesus already did everything necessary to fix them, let it at the cross.
Pray for them, love on them, stand for them, but realize you can't make it happen for them in your own effort. Let the price Jesus made on the cross do it for them. Release it to the cross.
What are you carrying of guilt?
What are you carrying of shame?
What are you carrying from your past?
What are you carrying believing something was your fault?
What are you carrying that is sickness or disease?
What are you carrying that has you waiting on God?
God did not put these things on you nor did he allow these things to happen to you. If that were true it would be like me saying, "I am not going to beat my kids up, but you go ahead." No this is not true!
God did not put these things on you to punish you! He loves you and he wants you to live in the freedom that comes from nailing these things to the cross.
I am not going to carry anything Jesus has already carried for me!
I challenge you to write down the things you have been carrying. After you list them all, write under the list,
Colossians 2:14
. . .having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
This is your receipt of payment made. Never let these things reign in your life again.
Hold on to your receipt and anytime it tries to come back into your life, or any time you think you need to pick it up again, show your receipt. It is your public notification that Jesus already paid for this. Remind yourself, the devil, and everybody else, Jesus already paid for this; He carried it for me, I don't have to be affected by it any longer!