So this morning I we are going to hit home, right where you live.
You know what I’m talking about
That private place, where your deep feelings are , where you don’t dare share your thoughts with anyone.
That place where some of your bad decisions are kept that you wish you could reverse
That if you could go back and do it all over again …..
Those forks in the road that you knew better , but still managed to go the wrong direction.
Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
Holy? Blameless?
Holy and Blameless isn’t what you are right now, you are not there yet , but they are your destination
There are times that these wrong decisions turn into a trap and then they wrecks havoc for years.
And can be so bad that you are forced to relive your decision every single day.
There is a good reason why you won’t see God working in your life .
Because you can’t, you can’t see it with your eyes, it’s a transformation ,
He is altering your being changing you
You see when things fall apart and disappointment has its way with you, it always attacks from the outside and works its way in.
These are Fiery darts of the enemy attacking our flesh , then our circumstances, creeping into our thoughts and finally our heart .
The reason you can’t see God working, is because God works in the reverse.
Even a caterpillar can’t see he is turning into a butterfly , but his spirit has to change from one who is used to crawling , to one who has been set free and now can fly
Instead of restoring you from the outside, God begins on the inside preparing you with a new Spirit .
Psalm 51: 10Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
The word salvation in Hebrew, yesha it means two words , rescue and safety
Now just flip it , and you can see how it works
Ask yourself how was I in danger .
Was I in danger of my losing family , was my health in danger , was I in danger of losing everything I ever worked hard for , or even in danger of losing my life.
Because you only need to be rescued if we are trapped, a prisoner to circumstances , forced in a situation beyond your control ,
And we only need safety if what is about to happen is dangerous .
This is a call for supernatural deliverance, and when it happens you begin by questioning everything
First its like why are all these strange things happening to me?
And right behind that is how on earth did I end up here?
Then with prayer and cries out to God just as quickly and bizarre you got into the trap of your situation something more bizarre and miraculous comes to get you out
When something unexplainable happens to us , it takes something unexplainable to rescue us .
Acts 12:1Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. 2And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. 3When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. 5So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
6On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. 8And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.
When God works His salvation for His people all difficulties and every obstacle in their way are overcome,
The circumstances that you were forced into, the conditions that robbed you of your life and freedom are gone.
The guards , chains and bondage designed to hold you prisoner are no match for the Almighty.
Even gates of iron are forced to swing wide open
The deliverance of Peter is our redemption , rescue by the blood of Christ,
At first glance it seems that Peter may have gotten just too comfortable in his prison and had accepted his fate.
And that is common fault we all have
Because we have been taught since we were young , to make the best out of a bad situations .
But what this passage is teaching turns that on it head
That with God there is nothing that can hold us back ,
And sometimes we even need a kick in the butt to wake up to the fact that we have been set free.
You have been set free, free from your past , from your circumstances now it’s time
Time to get out of your prison and leave it behind once and for good
Even Peter couldn’t believe his eyes as he was exiting
Jesus spent 3 days in hell and brought back the keys
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
You can’t mistaken this as any escape, this church is a bona fide rescue
Souls delivered out of prison must follow the Deliver
Souls redeemed from their past must follow the Redeemer
When Jesus restores you to better than you were follow the Restorer .
Don’t stop half way through as some do ,
Don’t look back as Lots wife did follow the Son , because who the Son sets free is free indeed!
