INVINICIBLE CHURCH 4-28-24

Invincible Church Sermon Notes
4/28/2024
Freedom and Boundaries
Genesis 2:15-17
A true follower of Jesus always “seeks God first” in everything they do, say, think and feel. God’s given us the freedom to choose to do things His way and He set the boundaries to bless us with the protection we need to stay in alignment with His word, wisdom and ways!
God’s freedom is true freedom and allows us liberty from being controlled by a government, but we also have to understand that there’s a lot of responsibility for anybody who chooses to receive God’s true freedom and liberty. We see God’s plan for it in…
Genesis 2:15-17 NIV - 15 The Lord God took The Man … And Put him in The Garden of Eden to Work It … And Take Care of It! ... 16 And The Lord God Commanded The Man … “You are Free to Eat from Any Tree in The Garden … 17 But you Must Not Eat from The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil … For when you Eat from It … You Will Certainly Die!”
Notice it says, “For WHEN you eat from it…” Not IF!
God knew all along that Adam and Eve (and all of mankind) wouldn’t be able to stay perfectly in His boundaries all the time every time because the enemy’s deceit, manipulation and temptation trying to get people to step across God’s boundaries is very clever and powerful!
Of course, we do have responsibility in the matter as well. We still get to decide whether we’re going to stay in line with God’s plan or step across the boundary… because God gave mankind the freedom to choose to seek God first or not!
So, the challenge is there’s always the possibility for us to fail to make the right decision when we’re fighting a spiritual battle against Satan…. which means when Adam and Eve decided to step across God’s boundary instead of seeking God first, the brought sin into the world!
Matthew 6:33 NIV - 33 But Seek First His Kingdom … And His Righteousness … And All These Things will Be Given to you as Well! … [“All These Things” is talking about all the needs we unnecessarily worry about!
There’s a lot to unpack on this, so let’s get started! The freedom we have to make decisions also leads to consequences! And a lot of seemingly simple decisions can compound into unpleasant, chaotic and even catastrophic consequences when we don’t seek God first!
And because God’s perfect plan covers everything, including government, the same Biblical principles apply to all individuals and governments. So, when people fail to follow God’s plan, the result is what we’re experiencing with our nation’s government today… and governments of nations all over the world!
For a long time now, we’ve allowed a lot of pagan politicians to get elected and appointed into leadership positions. So, our government is out of alignment with God’s plan in a lot of ways! We’ve talked about it before. If we want to correct it, we’ve got to keep God’s perspective on it!
God ordained government to protect His people and keep order among the nations! The Biblical responsibility for civil government is to maintain a safe, just, moral and responsible society that operates in freedom and liberty, so Godly nations can be successful!
God has also blessed us with the honor and privilege of living in a system where the people get to elect their leaders! So, followers of Jesus should discern how they’re going to cast their votes based on Biblical principles, starting with seeking God first! If we’re deciding how we vote based on anything else, then the negative consequences are going to keep piling up! People say, “What do you mean we allowed it… I didn’t vote for them” or even worse, “That’s why I don’t vote, because they cheat!” Voting is our part of the freedom God’s given us as a nation to elect government leaders!
It’s the physical action we take in the process of working to elect Godly leaders… and all physical actions have spiritual consequences. It proves the point that a lot of seemingly simple, single, mental decisions that require physical action can compound into unpleasant, chaotic and even catastrophic consequences when we don’t seek God first.
If a professing Christian says, they can’t or won’t vote for somebody because of their personality, moral failures, political party, ethnicity or whatever other personal characteristics the candidate may have, but they never mention praying to discern how God would have them to vote… then it’s pretty clear they’re not seeking God first!
But hear me on this, seeking God first in how we vote is just the starting point of where a lot of believers have failed in our part of electing government leaders! Our nation wouldn’t be in near as big a mess if more followers of Jesus had been faithful in carrying out His instructions to…
GO – MAKE – and TEACH… before they ever got down to the point of voting! If we’d been making more disciples, we’d have a bigger pool of Godly candidates in the running! And elected leaders would be more likely to keep civil government inside the boundaries set by God!
So, where did all this start… and how can we change it? When God created the first man in the human race, He also introduced the concept of freedom and liberty! God said, “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden, except for that one tree in the middle of the garden”!
It’s the very first boundary God set and the very first simple choice that Adan and Eve had to make! They failed… and sins have been compounding ever since! But God still gives us the option to choose from the good things that He provides us. So, along with freedom comes responsibility to do the right thing!
*(vs 15) Says … 15 The Lord God took The Man … And Put him in The Garden of Eden to Work It … And Take Care of It!
So, followers of Jesus have the responsibility to manage, maintain and expand the production of resources that God provides for us!
But also notice that true freedom has limits! Freedom without limits is called chaos. Satan is the author of chaos, not God! Satan wants to destroy everything God created, so right in the middle of the freedom that God provides for us, He sets a boundary!
Boundaries are for our protection! Staying in God’s boundaries keeps us safe! But boundaries are also tangible opportunities for us to show God that we love Him! So, God’s boundaries give us the structure that maximizes our freedom, which means…
God didn’t design boundaries to restrict our freedom! He sets legitimate boundaries to enhance our freedom, which means God’s plan allows our freedom to expand. But if we exclude God from our civil government and allow pagan politicians to mess with God’s plan and let government leaders come up with pagan laws and rules to run the nation…
… we’ll suffer the consequences. So, we can put the 10 commandments on the courthouse wall… say, “In God we trust”… and we’re “One nation under God” all we want… but when we decide to exclude God from government, things go bad! We see one of the earliest examples of this in…
1 Samuel 8:10-19 NIV - 10 Samuel told All The Words of The Lord to The People who were Asking him for a King! … 11 He said … “This is what The King who will Reign Over you will Claim as his Rights … He will Take your Sons … And Make them Serve with his Chariots and Horses … And they will Run in Front of his Chariots! ... 12 Some he will Assign to be Commanders of Thousands … And Commanders of Fifties … And others to Plow his Ground … And Reap his Harvest … And Still Others to Make Weapons of War … And Equipment for his Chariots! ... 13 He will Take your Daughters to be Perfumers … And Cooks … And Bakers! ... 14 He will Take The Best of your Fields … And Vineyards … And Olive Groves … And Give Them to his Attendants! ... 15 He will Take a Tenth of your Grain … And of your Vintage … And Give It to his Officials and Attendants! ... 16 Your Male and Female Servants … And The Best of your Cattle and Donkeys he will Take For his own Use! ... 17 He will Take a Tenth of your Flocks … And you yourselves Will become his Slaves! … 18 When that Day Comes … You will Cry Out for Relief from The King you have Chosen … But The Lord will Not Answer you in that Day!” … 19 But The People Refused to Listen to Samuel! ... “No!” … They Said … “We Want a King Over Us!
Sound familiar?!? How many times does it have to happen before we start listening to the warnings from God! When the people of a nation stop seeking God first and they start looking to the government to take care of them, then the government becomes their “god” and the next thing we know…
… the government starts taking things that God never intended them to have. The government will take control of people’s family, children, resources, churches, finances and they won’t stop until they control everything, which leads the nation into tyranny and chaos!
And it’s all because we allowed the government to be turned into a god! God said it, so it’s true! He warned us… I’m just repeating it! God’s plan calls for a civil government with limited power to protect His people and maintain minimal rules, regulations and boundaries, so His people can carry out the instructions from Jesus with maximum freedom and safety!
It tells us if we’re not honoring God’s plan by seeking Him first! It doesn’t matter if somebody’s a democrat or republican… right wing or left wing… conservative or liberal. If we’re not seeking God first, then we’re going to suffer the negative consequences of our bad decisions!
A big negative consequence of allowing the government to take control because we fail to seek God first is government tends to make way too many rules, regulations and laws… or they make the wrong rules, regulations and laws… or both!
God only gave them one boundary in the garden! They couldn’t handle it! Then He gave 10 Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the Old Testament… 8 Don’ts and 2 Dos! Then Jesus gave the one Greatest Commandment to the Pharisees in Jerusalem, followed by one more just like it!
If we’d just grasp these few key boundaries that were set by God and approached them all from the perspective of the instructions Jesus gave us to carry out God’s plan, then we wouldn’t have to worry about the thousands of laws set by government. That’s why God says…
Let Him set the boundaries because if we don’t, we end up with a government that takes control over things God never intended them to have! It’s important that we understand this because of the negative impact that bad government decisions have on every other part of God’s plan for us!
Remember, God’s kingdom plan has several moving parts… and they’re all kind of their own form of government. We’ve talked about civil government. Then there’s self-government, family government and church government… and in God’s plan, one doesn’t impose itself on the other! They work together!
So, as a follower of Jesus, our identity is in Him, which means we’re aliens here! We operate in God’s kingdom, independently from the ways of the world!! But still, we want the civil government here to be aligned with God’s plan, so that it brings God glory and expands His kingdom!
It’s why we need the right kind of leaders with both character and competence! We need and want leaders who seek God first and have a Biblical worldview, so they can influence others to seek God’s involvement in government and run it the way He designed it to be run!
We’ve got to stop trying to find the perfect leader. There’s only been one and there will never be another one like Him! His name is Jesus! Moses committed murder… David committed adultery and murder… Paul was a terrorist… but they were transformed by the hand of God and the Holy Spirit!
So, stop judging people and seek God first. Then, stay busy following the instruction from Jesus because as long as we exclude God from government, we’ll be like the Israelites in 1 Samuel… trying to figure out how to handle the tyranny and chaos we created when we ignore God!
God’s truth is the only truth. So, truth goes way beyond probability, possibility and potential! Truth is God’s absolute standard for how reality is measured! Truth is God’s perspective on every subject! So, He doesn’t want us trying to figure things out without Him!
Because truth isn’t what we feel like is true… what we want to be true… or even what we believe to be true! Truth is what God says is true, which means we’re supposed to adjust our actions, feelings, thinking, education and yes, even adjust our voting to what God says!
The reason we don’t see the government impact the world for God’s kingdom very much these days is because we don’t have very many kingdom thinkers. Notice I didn’t say we don’t have very many followers of Jesus, which is true too, but we don’t even have very many kingdom thinkers in government!
Now the reality is, God is going to get done what God wants to do regardless of government. But He’s told us that we’ll see more of His blessing if we follow His commands! The problem is most politicians are more aligned to a political ideology than to the kingdom plan of God!
Which trickles down and leads to division in the family and church and a lack of impact for the Kingdom of God in society! We know that the pagan politicians in office now aren’t running government God’s way… and we know what God said, “Government won’t run right without me”!
And History proves it! The result is what it’s always been! All kinds of evil escalates! We’re seeing one of the worst worldwide sins in history going on at a level most people could have never imagined. It’s human trafficking… human slave trade for labor, sex and money! But it’s always been a problem because we see law had to be established way back in…
Exodus 21:16 NIV - 16 “Anyone who Kidnaps Someone is to Be Put to Death … Whether The Victim has Been Sold … Or is Still in The Kidnapper’s Possession! …
It literally says if a person kidnaps somebody and sells them, they’ve committed a capital crime to be punished by death because it’s an abomination to God, but wicked people don’t care! They ignore God’s plan so they can maintain an evil economic system that thrives on power, control and money at the expense of innocent human life!
*Romans 13 says the government is supposed to wield the sword of God’s justice! The sword is God’s weapon of intimidation, judgment and death. It’s supposed to be the teeth in the deterrent that’s set up to protect innocent lives from evil criminals… and it’s needed because there are sinful/evil people in the world!
So, what do we do when the freedom, liberty and safety of our nation is in jeopardy! Do we just keep letting pagans run the government who think they know better than God what’s right… who don’t agree with any Biblical principles and values… and whose political practices are brazen acts of evil – do we just stand down or do we seek God first!
… And trust His plan, process and procedures to do whatever it takes asking for His words, wisdom and ways, so we can GO – MAKE and TEACH other people that it’s not good to lean on their own understanding… and it’s dangerous to trust other people who aren’t true followers of Jesus or trust other people who aren’t at least kingdom minded thinkers!
We’ve got to get busy because if we claim to understand freedom as God defines it, then one of the main things we ought to be doing is leading other people to freedom in Jesus! We don’t just get set free from sin without becoming invested in leading other people to freedom!
When a person professes and proclaims the name of Jesus Christ by submitting to Him as Lord and Savior for their salvation from sin, they’re freed from the bondage of sin and become part of the army of other believers known as followers of Jesus!
It allows them to be involved in the process of leading other people who’re being held hostage to sin to freedom in Jesus… no matter what ethnicity, class or culture! So, we’re expected to be working to fulfill God’s plan as an ambassador, warrior, servant or saint for Jesus.
It’s our responsibility, no matter how God gives us the opportunity to fulfill His plan. When we become a follower of Jesus, then we work for Him! We’re supposed to be speaking and leading people to God’s truth, which leads them to true freedom in Jesus!
It can be dangerous work for us because there’s a lot of people out there who don’t accept the concept of true freedom in Jesus… and they’re willing to go to battle over it! So, we have to be ready, willing and trained to take on the risk of defending our freedom in Jesus!
Also, we don’t want our families, churches and legacies having to operate in physical slavery to the enemy either! Then, there’s the different dangers for lost people. When they’re a slave to sin for too long, they get used to it. The bondage of sin becomes comfortable because at times they experience temporary pleasure in sin and get addicted to it!
So, true freedom seems too risky for them. They “feel like” they’ll have to give up the only things that have ever helped them feel good… or they just don’t want to give up things that brings them fleshly pleasure. But that’s what the enemy wants them to think. So, they lock themselves into the bondage of sin.
It’s sad because they’ve never experienced the guaranteed hope, peace and joy that only come from true freedom and liberty in Jesus! They have no idea what they’re missing. And they’ll never know unless someone speaks God’s truth to them and leads them to Jesus!
One of the biggest problems the church faces in advancing God’s Kingdom right now is we’ve got so many professing Christians who don’t want to stand up and fight for Biblical truth and principles. So, they tolerate the hedonistic, paganist, corrupt cultures and political paganism of the day!
But true followers of Jesus don’t operate with this kind of spiritually weak mentality! We understand God’s Biblical authority and instructions. So, we have to stand strong in our faith and testify with courage and boldness that we’ve got the “Good News” of true freedom in Jesus!
Our freedom has been paid for with the blood of Jesus Christ! There’s nothing better or more powerful than that! As a follower of Jesus, we understand the offer of freedom from the slavery to sin, so we can’t stand by and watch lost people choose to function in bondage to sin…
Especially when they can choose to operate in a life of true freedom through salvation in Jesus! He even offers freedom to governments if they’ll operate by His definition of freedom… and understand His definition of civil government. But a lot of people are so used to being slaves to sin or…
...illegitimately depending on government to be “god” (which obviously God never intended government to be) that they develop a bondage mentality … and it’s super difficult for them to escape from it! That’s why it’s past time for followers of Jesus to step up and not just celebrate our own freedom…
But also, be bold in speaking God’s truth about freedom through Jesus to the worldly/lost politicians, intellectuals and leaders in the mainstream media because God still offers freedom to nations but only when His rules, regulations and instructions are followed.
If we ignore that honor, privilege and responsibility, then we’ll live in bondage to sin as a nation even though we’re still free as an individual. Either way, God’s not going to set a nation free if the people won’t seek Him first to be set free from the sin that holds them hostage.
Let us pray...