Thank God Im Free | Chad Veach

0:00 Hey, what's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. We are jumping into a brand new series today. Open up your Bible to the book of Isaiah. We are going to start a new series on freedom. The Bible says it is for freedom that Christ has set you free and whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Excited as we prepare for the month of August here at Zoe. We're going to be fasting and praying for 21 days, hosting our pastors gathering, three big prayer nights. It's going to be an unbelievable month. And on the first Sunday of every month, we thank all of the givers of our church. Thank you for your tithes and offerings and helping us make an impact here in LA and around the world. Thank you for your generosity. Go to our website and you can give there if you'd like. But let's jump into this week's message called, Thank God I'm Free.

0:55 Open up your Bible. Go with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 61. We're going to jump into the Word of God. We are starting today a brand new series. We are going to talk for the next few weeks about God's plan for your life and that God's plan is that you and I would live in freedom.

1:18 And so I'm excited as we dive in and we study, stay with us, stay along with us as we get into God's Word, and we learn what the Bible has to say about freedom. So the title of this series is called Rent Free, and we really believe that once God gets on the inside, He does such a work on the inside, He sets us free so we can live for God. Amen? Go with me to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61. Go there in your Bible. Go to verse number one. It says, the Spirit of the Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives. So cowboy fans. And release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all those who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion. I love this.

2:23 To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. God's freedom in your life is not so that you can get recognition. It's so that God can get recognition. Knowing that we cannot set ourself free, we needed a greater man and a greater power to break the chain and set us free. And so I want to preach a message today. Write down the title. it's called Thank God I'm Free. Thank God I'm Free. And I don't know about you, but anybody get a little bit of that sense today? Thank God I'm Free. Come on, clap if you're free today. Free to clap. And I just want to tell you, this is God's plan for your life.

3:25 It was so fun. The other day, me and my 10-year-old, we were walking. And my 10-year-old, he's an inquisitive fella. And we were walking, and he's holding my hand, and he's asking questions. And one of the questions he asked is, Dad, what's your favorite story in the Bible? And I was thinking, and before I could answer, he had an answer. And he goes, mine, Samson. And I was shocked. I was like, Samson? Really? I was like, well, you like Samson? He goes, I love Samson. I said, well, you do have long hair. You don't have muscles yet, but you do have long hair. And I said, you know why I like Samson? It's because the story of Samson always reminds me that the plan of the enemy is to bind me and then blind me. that the tactic and the ploy of the wicked one is to get you bound to something. And by the way, your addiction to something could be different than somebody else's.

4:21 He wants to bind you to greed, to lust, to alcohol, to comparison, to unforgiveness. And he knows that if he can bind you, he can blind you. When the enemy got in Samson's life, the first thing that he did with Samson was he bound him and then gouged out his eyes. See, the reason why the enemy wants to bind you is because he knows that if he can bind you up to something, he can take away your vision. He can take away your ability to see the hand of God. He can take away your eyesight to see the will and the plan of God for your life. But I want to tell you the law of opposite today. If the enemy has come to bind you and blind you, Jesus has come to set you free and to give you life. This is the plan and the will of God. Jesus walks into a church on a Sunday. He grabs the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and he says as he reads these verses, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to set at liberty the captive, to bind up the brokenhearted. He said today this scripture has been fulfilled because God sent his son not just to die for our sins, but to break the yoke and bondage in our life.

5:40 Come on, come on. He says, he reads it and he says, today this scripture has been fulfilled. I have come to set the captive free. It is God's plan that you be free. God has been trying to get his people free all the way back to the book of Exodus. Remember, the book of Exodus, God says to Moses, Moses, you go tell that Pharaoh, let my people go. the the Israelites had been in bondage for over 400 years God raises up a Moses he says Moses I want you to go tell that Pharaoh let my people go so watch what he says Exodus chapter 5 verse 1 afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said this what the Lord the God of Israel says let my people go so they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness now I don't know what stood out to you, but it wasn't let my people go. It was festival in the wilderness. Where my party people at? God said, you let my people go so they can party with a purpose. Proving that our God is not dull and boring. Our God is a celebratory God. He's a festive God. Y'all help me today.

6:56 Clap and thank God that he wants us to hold a festival of praise and thanksgiving. I live closer to the SoFi Stadium than I should. And I say that because yesterday they had a festival going on in the parking lot at SoFi. And it was oompson so bad, I had to Google what is happening at SoFi today. It's 11 a.m. And it was the Hard Rock Music Festival that was EDM. Thank God I read it stopped at 10 p.m. Because that thing went from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oompson, oompson. the first time God says, let my people go. He says, I want my people free so they can have a festive celebration that I'm the God that set them free. What's the next time? Exodus 8 verse 1. The next one, he says, then the Lord said to Moses, get a Pharaoh and say to him, this is what the Lord says, let my people go so they may worship me. So the first time God says, I want my people to have a festival. The second time he says, I want my people to worship. See, the point of freedom is never freedom. We think that God set us free so we can be free. The point of freedom is always with purpose. God set you free for a reason. God set you free so you can do something.

8:25 The point of freedom is always for relationship. It is always for worship. It is always for mission. See, God set you free so you can do something for the glory of the living God. Somebody say amen. Come on, clap like you're free today. See, the problem is that God can get you out of Egypt, but it takes a long time to get Egypt out of you. God can take you out of that relationship. He can pull you out of that bottle. He can pull you out of that stinking thinking. He can pull you out of that scarcity mindset, but it takes a long time to get that thing worked out of you. I'm thankful today that freedom is first received. It is second learned. and it is third fought for.

9:12 The first thing that you do with freedom is you receive it because it comes from God. I have to receive freedom. The finished work of the cross has set me free. I am no longer bound to sin. I am no longer a slave to my old life. I am no longer ruled by the spirit of this heir. I have received freedom that is found in Christ. Anybody free today in the power of the blood of Jesus? So the first thing about freedom that you have to understand is that you receive it. And the second thing you need to understand about freedom is that you learn it. You learn it. You learn freedom. I'm learning how to be generous. I'm learning how to forgive. I'm learning how to have an abundant mindset. I'm learning how to serve others. I'm learning how to get out of my ego. I'm learning how to worship. I'm learning how to party with a purpose and have a holy hangover. the work for 100 people in this service So you receive it and then you learn it and then look at the last one. You fight for it.

10:19 Just because you were free last year don't mean you free this year. I know a lot of Christians that love Jesus but are not free. and so freedom is fought for. You fight to stay free. That's why I respect anybody that is celebrating any amount of sobriety. Can we clap and honor those that have recovered? Come on, y'all help me honor them today. Come on, right here. We got some people right here. Just raise your, come on, praise God. Praise God. Praise the Lord. Praise God. Praise God for you. We thank God for you. Come on, man. Come on, honor all these people. Come on, man. Thank God. We thank God for you. We honor you today. We honor your freedom today.

11:13 Do you know how hard it is to fight to stay free? And some of us don't understand that it's the Lord that does the work, but it's us that learns how to stay in the work. And I want to just encourage you today. Don't let just the one day that you came to salvation be the only taste of freedom that you get. No, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you're becoming more free to dance, more free to worship, more free to bless, more free to be generous. Come on, clap if you want to get more free year by year and day by day. Y'all help me today. Praise the Lord.

11:51 In fact, write down number one today. Freedom is God's plan for your life. In fact, I just want to just let you know, if you're wondering what is God's plan, it is not that you be bound or addicted to something. It's that you be free to worship him. Oh, I love this. Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. God wants you to be free. It's the plan and the will of God for you not to be bound in that old relationship and in that old bottle and in that old thinking pattern and in that old unforgiveness. No, God wants to set you free. So the first thing the Bible says is for freedom, the Christ has set you free. And I just like that because God wants you to be free. Today, I don't know what your plans are this afternoon, but my 12-year-old son is playing in a baseball tournament in Cooperstown, New York at the Hall of Fame of Baseball. Clap for my guy, Winston, and the Westchester Legends.

12:59 and they got to play in this big tournament, 92 teams in this tournament, and they, you know, played their promised amount of games, but today, get serious, it's single elimination, if they lose, they go home, so we need some Jesus. I watched the games.

13:21 You know, you get to Cooperstown, and it's baseball, you know, field of dreams, and it's this little village of, you know, imagine 92 teams, all 12-year-old boys. It just smells like death or Axe Body Spray. and we get on property. There's all these fields, and our other two boys were with us, our 10-year-old or 8-year-old, and they want to just go, and so they said, can we go, you know, play, and I said, Julia, let them go. She's like, I don't know. I said, let them go. Just, this is the safest place they've ever been to. We're in the middle of nowhere, and all there is is baseball fields. Kevin Costner might walk out right now. And so we just let them go. We let them free. It is the plan and the will of God that you would not be bogged down and burdened under a yoke and bondage of sin. The Bible says, count yourself dead to sin and alive to Christ. I am not who I used to be. I have been set free by the power of the blood of Jesus.

14:43 So the Bible says it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Don't go back to that old life. Watch what he says here in John chapter 8, verses 31 and 32. He says this, and I love this scripture so much. Put it on the screen. He says in John 8, 31, if you continue in my word, you will know the truth and the truth will what? Set you free. There it is. If you continue in my word, that's why. Just let me see your hand. If you are planning on doing 21 days of prayer and fasting with us, let me see your hand if you're doing it. If you didn't raise your hand, we're judging.

15:23 Come on. But we are. during the fast, I want to encourage you to not just deny yourself from food, but feed yourself on the word. He said, if you continue in my word, you will know the, what was that word? Truth. And the truth will set you. You do not need what politicians or public figures have to say about life issues. You need the living, breathing Word of God to set you free on every issue. I feel like preaching to somebody that needs to understand what the Word says so the Word can set you free. Freedom is received, and then it is learned. I learn freedom. I learn truth. I learn the teachings of Jesus. I learn what the promises of God. As I learn it, then I fight for it. I will be generous. I will be a bridge builder. I will carry the peace of God. I will walk in the wisdom of heaven. I will carry the joy of the Lord when I'm going through sickness and sorrow. I will have a garment of praise when the spirit of heaviness hits my life. Come on, anybody want to live in the living, breathing word? Come on, clap with us, everybody.

16:49 Right there in your house, praise the Lord. South Bay, thank God for his grace. So we need to understand it is the will and the plan of God that you live in freedom. Right down number two, here's the problem. It's called the frustration of freedom. See, I'm just telling you, God can set you free. God can do a powerful work in your life. But the problem is, is once you get out of Egypt, what are you going to do with all that freedom? It's like a kid that goes off to college as a freshman and moves across the country, and now they're living in a dorm and their parents aren't there. And now nobody's telling them when to get up, when to go to bed, what to eat, when to go to class. A lot of us, we get free from what God's delivered us from. And we're like, what do I do now? So would I, I'm just supposed to be free?

17:47 he got me out of all that just so I could just be free. The problem is for most believers, we don't like the weight and the responsibility that comes with freedom. Let me show you. The Israelites, God pulled them out of slavery there in bondage over 400 years when God brought them on dry ground in the Red Sea and God brought them on the journey into the promised land. You know what they did the whole time? The whole time they were free, they were like man I want to go back.

18:23 Man, we had it made back there, man. We was eating melons. We was bawling when we were back there. No, you weren't. You were working. You were under the tyranny. You were not getting a fair wage. You were under, the problem is most of us want what is familiar. I know they're not good for me, but we've always been friends. I know I shouldn't eat this, but I've always eaten this. I know I shouldn't swipe my credit card, but I've always spent this money. I know I shouldn't talk like this, but I've been a gossip my whole life. Most of us are so familiar with our bondage that we'd rather live back in bondage than walk into freedom. Oh, come on, clap today if you understand that God wants to set the captive free. it's called the frustration with freedom. Now I got to depend on God. Now I got to trust God. Now I got to worship and hold festivities and celebrate God. Now I got to follow God.

19:26 I'm telling you, you got to relish in the freedom that is found in Christ. Don't go back to that old thing. Let me give you 10 examples of things that people go back to. Shame, addiction, unforgiveness control greed comparison the clippers insecurity legalism fear lust in Jesus you are justified immediately you are changed over time and I'm just telling you some some some people here like oh I'm not I'm not well I'm not as bound as them now my friend I got a friend and they are oh I'm like, mine's like low key. I'm in like low key bondage.

20:23 shame, comparison, unforgiveness. He doesn't care what he has to get you bound to. It is not about the item. It is about having control. Do you know why 21 days of prayer and fasting is so good for you? Because it's 21 days of saying nothing will control me but God. Nothing has a vice. I'm not addicted to anything. I'm just telling you it's not this Monday. It starts tomorrow. It starts the next Monday. Take the next seven days and have as much ice cream as you want. Become the next Monday? Oh, we're going to break that sugar addiction in the name of Jesus. What I'm trying to say is the enemy always advertises sin costs nothing.

21:23 And then the bill shows up with interest. It's free. You can live as a fill-in-the-blank, all those 10 examples. Walk in it, live in it. It'll cost you nothing.

21:44 When Delilah said to Samson, Samson, they're here again. Samson got up. He said, man, girl, I got a membership at Equinox. What do you think that is to me? He thought, this will not cost me. Bound, blind. For him, it was women. You got to name your sin because whatever you can't name has control over you. I refuse to be bound by the clutches of Satan when God has a plan over my family and over my future. I'm going to walk in the freedom that is found in Christ. Somebody praise the Lord like you're getting free from some stuff that happened to you in middle school. Praise the Lord today.

22:33 Galatians 5, you then, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another humbly in love, For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. Oh, I love this photo of these three kids. They're loving their neighbor as themselves. Wouldn't you love for someone to raise some money for your back-to-school backpack? No, no, it's not about what we can get when you're free. You live for others. You live to be a blessing. You live to glorify God. You live with arrows out saying, I've already been free. Now I'm trying to help somebody else find the freedom that's found in Christ. Come on, clap and praise him today. And so you got to understand there's frustrations with freedom.

23:32 It's not my parents' faith. Now it's got to be my faith. No one's making me go into fasting and praying, but I'm deciding to fast and pray. Nobody made me tithe. I wanted to give an offering. Nobody made me serve on Sundays. I want it. It's frustration of freedom. God did not set you free so you could wander through Cooperstown going, what do I do? God set you free for purpose. He set you free for something bigger than yourself. He set you free so you can make much of his name and much, it's for, remember, for his splendor, not our own. So write down number three today. This is the last point today. God saved you from something for something. God saved you from something. But I want to tell you, encourage you today, he saved you for something. I just love this because if you look through all the Bible, who is the best test case example of this truth? In all of the Bible, it's the Apostle Paul. Paul is on a road leaving, going on his way to go murder Christians.

24:43 And God gets a hold of his life. God changed his name from Saul to Paul it's like the first rapper in the Bible got a name change how you know you got to upgrade new name new handle who dis and the moment God freed Paul what did he get free from hatred what did he get free from murder so don't you tell me that what you're in is bigger than this if God could do it for Paul God could do it for you sets him free this is how God works watch this three things put it down your notes. He saves you. He sanctifies you. And then he sends you. He does this with me and you, ordinary people. He shows us with Paul. He saves us. Can I remind you today that you did not save yourself. God, with his outstretched hand, pulled you out of a pit, broke the chain of sin off your life. Put you on a solid ground and a new song in your mouth. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

26:05 Clap if you're thankful that you've been saved by the precious blood of Jesus. So watch what he does. He'll save you. The first thing God did with Paul is he saved him and he broke the chain. You will no longer be a man of anger. You will no longer be a man of murder. You will no longer be a man of bitterness. Broke his chain. Second thing he did with Paul, what did he do? Put him in a small group.

26:33 Put him in a connect group. Sanctify them. He got discipled. and I just want to say thank you to every connect group leader in our church thank you for leading spaces where people that have just found freedom can find the ability to be disciple can we honor every connect group leader in our church So God saves and then sanctifies. What does sanctify mean? It means God sets you apart, consecrates your life, calls you to be holy. You know, the Bible says, God says this. He says, because I'm holy, you're going to be holy. Holy means to be set apart. so God's kids aren't called to live in bondage because we've been set apart for purpose.

27:35 Amen? So he sanctifies us and he keeps setting us apart. He keeps making us holy. He keeps calling us to be consecrated, not living with mixture, not living with one foot back in our old life and one foot in our new life. No, he calls us. You're going to be set apart because I'm set apart. You're my kids. You're going to reflect my glory, my splendor.

28:05 So thank God that he saved me, but I'm telling you, thank God today he sanctified me. The first time I moved to Los Angeles, August of 1998. In those days, I had long hair. I moved here in 1998, went to Bible college. I was 18 years old. Graduated in June, moved in August. Spent my whole freshman year of Bible college not going to church. Spent my whole freshman year of Bible college playing basketball and going to the beach. Holler at your boy. When summer came, I said goodbye to all the Bible college friends I had made. Said, man, guys, it's been great. Love seeing you. Love meeting you. But I'm not going into the ministry. I'm not coming back here next year. I'm kind of a big deal.

29:00 I'm not coming back. And that summer when I went home, the Lord spoke to me again. I called you, set you apart. called you to something, got a plan for your life. When I showed up my sophomore year and I walked on the campus, everybody goes, I thought you were leaving. I thought you were done. What are you doing back? God wins again. because God was sanctifying me. He's healing me, delivering me, showing up in powerful places in my heart, pulling me into something which is called the great unknown. So I'm grateful today. You're not just saved. You're being sanctified. and some of you need to just let go and let God do a mighty work on the inside of your life so paul gets saved and then he gets sanctified and then he gets sent because it bothers me when everybody's like man you christians are so boring being a christian is boring i always want to say back no you're boring we are not boring living for yourself is boring living for sin is boring living for pleasure is boring living for indulgence is boring living for the name that is above all names is the adventure of a lifetime living for the one that was and the one that is is the adventure of a lifetime I've been sent by God to tell the whole world if God can do it for me oh come on Zoe God can do it for you give them a shout of praise today come on stand to your feet last scripture today ephesians chapter 2

31:08 ephesians chapter 2 verse number 10 for we are god's handiwork created in christ jesus to do good works which god prepared in advance for us to do you got something to do friend you got something to do elbow the person next to you tell them you got something to do come on tell somebody next to you, you got something to do. There's something for you to do. Elbow another person sitting behind you. Tell them you got something to do. Tell the person behind you, you got something to do. You got something to do. You got something to do. You got something to do. Say it with me. Say, I have something to do. God didn't set you free to be free. You think that you've been set free so you can just walk around be like, free he saves sanctifies sends you out sends you out purpose kingdom purpose and you're going to live in the frustration of freedom until you discover God's got a plan for my life he set me free so I can tell the world that I'm a nobody and he's a somebody and if God can do it for me I was stuck in my space. I was in shame and in bondage. I was bound and I was blind. I was as dead as nails. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was dead, but now I'm alive. I once was blind, but now I come on giving praise again. Thank you so much for listening. We pray that today's message brought you great strength and great encouragement.