Just a special announcement before the message because today is different and because we're outside we're also doing the message different today. I'm really excited for today because we have one of our own speaking today and I have been working with him for months on today's message and he's got a really good one planned for you. So, would you guys welcome our one and only Joshua Davis up here. So, Joshua and I have been meeting weekly as I've been kind of training him in growing as a pastor and this will kind of be his first time up here and I put him in a really unique situation to see how he does.

So, we'll see how you do today. I'm just kidding. I just want to Would you just extend a hand forward. I'm just going to pray over Joshua before we get started today.

God, thank you so much for this brother in Christ who just helps carry the load of destination around here who just is willing to just say yes to the things that you put on his heart and just in front of this church. Thank you for his faithfulness and just pray that you would speak to him and through him for today's message. It's in Jesus name we pray. >> All right. , Pastor Josh said this a couple times, but if you go to our website, destinationurch.

Co, it's like somebody misspelled it, but on purpose, co, then you'll see one of the sections there for the sermon notes that we'll be reading here in just a little bit. But I just want to share that I had a pretty good fourth yesterday. If you come up later, you'll see that I sunburned my legs. And the reason why I was able to get sunburned is because I'm free to do so, right.

Is everybody here also free to get sunburned. You know, it's fun as the sun shifts and you guys are trying to stay in the shade. I'm okay if you guys want to shift around.

You know, that's cool, too. But yeah, the freedom that we have here, it's pretty great, right. In America, we just celebrated the 4th of July yesterday, 250 years old.

Although last year I felt like some people were confused about how old we were, but we are 250 years old as a nation. But the freedom that we have is it's really amazing, right. We get to spend a day with family and friends having campfires and barbecues and shooting fireworks and watching fireworks and maybe hopefully not blowing your toes off.

I've heard stories of people blowing toes and fingers off with fireworks. But the freedom that we have is real, right. It's a very real freedom.

People have even served and fought and died for the freedom that we have and it is worth celebrating. But while yesterday we celebrated America's freedom and we could say that we're all free, right, to get sunburned and things like that, my question to you this morning is, are you really free. Now, let me explain because it's not a political question. I'm I'm sure there are ways that we could all come up with how we're not really free. Like I can't just drive down the highway as fast as I want to go, you know, as fun as that might be.

But that's not what I'm talking about. You see, we live in a kingdom of this world and and the kingdom of America, right. And yesterday we just celebrated its freedom and our freedom, right. And it's worth celebrating. But I would say that that's an outside freedom, right.

We get to go where we want, say what we want, build the life that we want. We are some of the freest people to ever have lived. But but that's an outside freedom. You see, a lot of us, maybe even a number of us sitting in church here this morning, we're actually while free on the outside, living in a prison cell as prisoners on the inside.

And that's what we're going to talk about is how do we become people living free. Because here we are living in the freest nation on earth ever known to man. And yet in our hearts and minds and souls, we might actually be locked up in this metaphorical prison cell or multiple cells even, right. Sometimes it's not just one one thing.

And and here's what's interesting about that is for those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, which I hope is everybody here. If not, please come talk to me after the service. But we actually are free because of what Christ did for us on the cross. We are absolutely and completely free.

And yet somehow in some ways we tend to stay locked up in this internal prison. And here's the the interesting part is the door of the cell is completely wide open because when Jesus went to the cross, he opened that door himself and yet we just kind of stay sometimes in this internal prison cell. I mean, how does that happen, right. We're in the freest country.

We're free citizens for those of us who are Christians. We're absolutely and completely free in Christ as a new creation. And yet, we're still locked up on the inside. Here's how I kind of think maybe it happens, right.

Particularly here in America, from the time that we're like, you know, this high, this this little, so young, we're told a story, right. And the story of America, it tells us things like, go chase the dream and and go get the money and the career and build that reputation and and fame and and go chase this comfortable life. And while those things aren't necessarily evil in and of themselves, what happens is that the kingdom of this world sells those things to us to make us think that that's a way that we can become free or or maybe to think that we're okay or that we finally have have made it, right.

And so we chase those things even as Christians, right. Which is it sometimes it's a interesting difficult position to be in because we've got one foot in trying to be a Christian and be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and yet we're also trying to build this life and chase some of these dreams and things here in America and what happens to a lot of us when that happens even as Christians right when we pursue those things is that those things we're pursuing end up becoming the very slaving masters over our lives right I mean has this ever happened to anybody or am I am I the only one Okay, I know it's happened to me, right. Where the pursuit for more turns into an addiction or the pursuit for success can turn into an identity crisis, right.

The hunt for everyone's approval, maybe that turns into an anxiety that never lets up or just the comfort that we're trying to get turns into the thing that we can no longer live without. So again, free here in America, right. Free in Christ as a new creation.

And yet maybe we can't stop drinking or this one is mine. Can't put the phone down. I'm constantly on this thing, right. It's another cage that we can end up locking ourselves in. Or maybe we can't quiet the anxiety, right.

Or we have depression and we can't shake the depression and so we just decided to live with it for a long time, a long time ago. And that's really unfortunate and sad because that's not how Christ has called us to live. And I just accept that.

That's That's not how we're supposed to live, right. See, that's free living on the outside, but on the inside being locked up. But church, hear me on this because all this heavy, yucky, and and and nasty kind of prison stuff that I'm talking about, it's in regards to this kingdom of the the world, a fallen world. But there's really good news, guys.

There's amazing news. And that is that there's a whole another kingdom. I like to say it like this. There's a whole another kingdom, right. There's a whole another kingdom and that is the kingdom of God.

So, just know that if you're stuck in a prison cell this morning, that there is freedom for you. There's freedom through it in Jesus and in Jesus alone. And the invitation is to get up this morning and to walk out of the cell door because remember Jesus opened the cell door. You just got to get up and and walk out and live free as Christ intended us to be when we surrendered our lives over to him. Now, if you're like me, you're thinking, "Well, that's great to hear.

" , easier said than done, Joshua. So, how do we actually do that, though. I've been a Christian maybe my whole life, or maybe not.

But either way, we're trying to live, right, as Christians and and and please Jesus and God, and yet we find ourselves in these prison cells. So, how do you actually walk out of the prison cell, right. Because we've already established that Christ came, he died, right. He set us free.

We are a new creation. And yet sometimes annoyingly we find ourselves in this prison cell. Well, this is where we're going to go ahead and read the passage of scripture.

So again, destinationurch. Co/july5 and you'll find the text there. Or if you brought your Bibles to church this morning, who brought a Bible.

I'd love to. Yeah, look at you guys. You guys are like the super hardcore Christians, >> right.

For anybody that didn't get that, that's a joke. We're all hardcore Christians. But okay, , while you guys are pulling up, Galatians chapter 5 will be in verse one.

I'm just going to give a little bit of context and background here. So, this letter of Galatians is written by the Apostle Paul. , he wrote it to a group of churches that he himself had planted in a region called Galatia.

Now, these were people that had already, you know, essentially walked out of the prison cell. You see, back in the day before Jesus, we had all these rules and regulations and ways that we had to live in order to be sinless and free and to please God. And when Christ came and and set us free, a lot of those were fulfilled. We no longer have to live by those rules and regulations. And so Paul's planting churches and people are coming to Christ and they're becoming free, right.

But what had happened was after Paul moved on from planting these churches, some other teachers came in and they said, "Yeah, Jesus is great, but Jesus isn't quite enough. " What they were saying was if you really want to belong to God, if you really want to please God or be right with God, you need Jesus plus some other things, right. You need Jesus plus the law still or Jesus plus circumcision or Jesus plus all these rules, right. Are you guys kind of catching this.

It's a Jesus plus thing. They're saying, you know, that you need Jesus plus something else. So Paul in this letter of Galatians, he's basically arguing that hey, you are made with right with God by faith in Christ alone. Not by keeping the rules or all these regulations, but by faith in Jesus alone.

And then he gets to to chapter 5 verse one, which is where we're going to pick up. So here's what it says. It says, "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. So it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. So freedom wasn't some side effect of becoming a Christian.

It was the whole point. When Jesus went to the cross, he was going after your absolute and complete freedom. And again when you accepted him, when we became a Christian and we surrendered our life to him, we actually did, right.

We became a new creation, absolutely and completely free. But because we live in a fallen world, all kinds of bad things are trying to get us back under this yoke of slavery. They're trying to get us back into this prison cell. And I would especially argue that because we're Christians, there's so much against us trying to get us back into a form of slavery in some shape or form.

So Paul, he's saying, "Hey, don't go picking up this yoke again. Don't do it. " That's the warning. Now, if you're like me, for a lot of my life, I was like, "Well, what the heck is a yolk.

" You know, I thought of like an egg yolk and I'm like, an egg yolk. Am I picking up an egg yolk. But that's not what Paul is talking about here, right. So, he's talking about a heavy wooden bar that is often strapped onto an ox so that the ox can pull plow all day long. It's this big heavy weight burden thing, right.

, so again, Paul's saying, you just got this this yoke, this heavy wooden bar lifted off your neck when you accepted Christ. So, why in the world are you going and putting it back on yourselves again. But Paul wasn't talking about an egg yolk or a literal wooden bar.

Pretty sure, right. He was talking about again these laws and regulations, , these rules that they had previously had to follow that they no longer have to follow. And so, , here's where it gets personal for us, right. Remember the whole Jesus plus fill in the blank thing, right. Where they are putting that yoke back on by adding something onto Jesus.

We essentially do the same thing, don't we. Maybe we don't say Jesus plus the law or hopefully not Jesus plus circumcision, but we might say something like Jesus plus the American dream or Jesus plus my comfort or Jesus plus money or reputation or fame or everybody liking me. You see, we add something on to Jesus to try to make our lives better, more comfortable or to think that we're trying to become more free in some way, shape, or form. And yet the whole entire time we're doing the very thing that Paul said for us not to do, to stand firm and not do, which is to put on that yoke of slavery.

And sometimes we even call that Christianity, don't we. We say Jesus plus whatever it is. And we might even call that Christianity. And that is not true. So that's how we sometimes strap that yoke back on our own necks, right.

Walking back into that cell door. So now the question is, how do we stand firm. Paul said to stand firm and not do that. I think that part of standing firm and not going back to having this yoke of slavery, a part of it is understanding what is freedom in the first place.

You see, we tend to think that freedom is having no master at all. That's just, you know, I get to do whatever I want whenever I want and I answer to nobody. That's kind of a lot of times how we define freedom.

But that's not freedom. That's just picking a different master who doesn't love you. You see the the the reality is that we all have a master and we will always have a master. We will never not have a master. So you kind of remember what we talked about a little bit earlier, right.

The American kingdom hands us all these promises, these dreams, the money, the success, approval, all that to chase these things to be free or to think that we'll be okay or whatever. But those things turn into our slaving master. And again, the door is wide open. So real freedom though isn't having no master. Real freedom is having the right master, the one who actually loves you, right.

The master who actually laid down his life for you, right. The master who opened that cell door in the first place. And that is Jesus.

Jesus is the master. So here's kind of the punch line of my whole message. I was like super giddy about this.

So, if you guys like forget everything I say, just I want you guys to remember this one line because it's a really interesting weird kind of paradox, but it's this, right. You are most free when you are most surrendered to Jesus. Interestingly, the apostle Paul takes it a little bit further and he actually in other books that he writes, he says, "I am a slave to Christ. So, you could even say like, "I am most free when I am a slave to Jesus Christ.

" And that's a really interesting paradox, isn't it. I think it's actually even kind of wild, right. But having real freedom is an absolute surrender to the right master and that is Jesus.

The more that we hold on to the things of this world and we're trying to pursue all these pluses and false promises, the more enslaved that we often end up becoming. And yet, the more that we give up and surrender, the more free that we become. Now, I don't want to just kind of keep repeating myself over and over like I kind of have already.

I want other people to repeat the same thing. So, I'm going to have a couple people come up and kind of tell their freedom stories. , so Wes and Mel, why don't you guys come on up.

While they're coming up though, a quick quick other thing is often times the cell, right, that we have in our hearts internally where we might be enslaved in other ways is in relation to multiple areas of our life, right. So, sometimes we do find freedom and we walk out of a cell in one area, but we're still locked up and not free in other areas of our heart. So Mel and Wes are going to talk about just a couple areas in their lives. Maybe even all of their areas.

I don't know. I'll let leave that up to them about how they have stepped into absolute and complete freedom. So we're going to just have this awkward moment of them coming up.

I've got some questions here >> for them. I don't know if we can be totally in front. Why don't you step over here.

So I'm going to ask them some questions and then just going to have them answer and tell their stories. I'm really excited for this. All right, Wes and Mel, why don't we just start with like introducing yourselves.

So, Mel, what's your name. , I live over by Lake. And what church do you go to.

>> , destination. Oh, awesome. Wes, what's your name. My name is Wes.

I live in Ham Lake. I go to this church. >> Oh, good.

I didn't even have to ask. That's great. Totally just like scrolled past my notes here. So, the questions that I have for you guys, >> it's okay.

We live in >> Wait for it. >> There we go. >> All right.

First question. , and we'll start with Mel. >> , what was life like before Jesus.

In in other words, in what ways were you not living free. Maybe trapped in a cell with even if whether you knew it or not with the the that cell door being wide open. So, I guess I'm going to try and be quick because there's a lot, but my childhood was not the easiest.

My parents were functioning alcoholics. My brother and my sister, my older brother and sister were both drug addicts. And that caused me to form major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, general anxiety disorder and obsessivecompulsive disorder. At a young age and so my life was full of trying to deal and grapple with those things. I reached for things to cover that up.

Including alcohol. I became an alcoholic and I was addicted to drugs and just was Yeah. Stuck in that life.

>> So >> yeah. Thank you for sharing. Wes, what was life like for you before Jesus.

>> Yeah, I mean, I grew up in a pretty basic household. I mean, we didn't go to church. We knew who God was.

I always said we're the the holiday goers. We'd always go for church. That was really it.

, but my parents always fought for money. They're like their their Lord was money because they didn't have it. They didn't have a lot of it.

So, growing up that was the thing like you had to chase money to be successful. You had to I wanted to have more money than my parents because they put so much of that pressure on me to have more finances because they struggled. So, that was a huge identity thing in me growing up and even through college.

, when I was younger, I think I don't know, probably some of the age of some of these older kids out here, I I had three jobs because I wanted the money and because of that, I wanted to buy nice things cuz I didn't quote unquote have nice things. >> So, that was kind of my story coming up through that. And then, , yeah, after college it was the same thing. And then getting married, it was the same thing.

Like I didn't find Christ till a little bit later, but it was always chasing money to have money to have the nice things to to have that quote unquote chasing the Joneses. So, >> all so before Christ, we had, you know, anxiety, right. Depression, addiction and and then kind of a chase for money and identity, right. >> And and that definitely sounds not free. >> So, what was Mel.

What was the turning point like. How did you become free then. What what was that moment where you walked out of that cell door in those areas of your life. It was about 2 years ago.

I was hurting the people around me. I have a 12-year-old daughter as well and you know there there was a lot of events that led up to it. But I kind of finally realized that I didn't want my daughter to feel the same way I did about her childhood.

, and I also knew of Jesus. , you know, I my my dad was a former Jehovah's Witness, but I watched the fruit of his religion and I didn't want it. And so, , I knew that what the truth was, but I never chose to to pick it up.

So, I guess, you know, my my prison would have been the unhealed childhood. Not facing the things that I dealt with and learning, you know, what was actually normal and what wasn't normal and then how to deal with that. And so the prison was actually probably the anxiety and the depression and those things in result of that. The the prison wasn't the addictions.

It was what I covered up with the addictions. And so once I I you know had that moment where I was like, "Okay, I I can't I want something different, I kind of realized that I was the one holding the door closed. " I felt like, you know, God just revealed to me that the the key was on the ground right next to me. And I just had to get on my knees and and ask him to help me let all of it go and to heal from the things that weren't my fault. >> So, >> and I think that was it.

>> Could you talk a little bit about like the process of of the healing and the process then of like actually taking up the key and opening it up and >> Sure. , I started spending a lot of time in the word. , I didn't have I I went to therapy and I went and did all that whole situation trying to, you know, do the world's way of of fixing things. , they wanted to prescribe me with medication that was like antiscychotic medication, but I knew in my heart that the problem wasn't a chemical imbalance.

The problem was unhealed issues. , and I I was afraid to change my brain chemistry. , and that's not to say that it doesn't have its place. , definitely, you know, continue and seek help , from medical professionals.

, but if God is pulling at your heart saying, "Hey, I could I could fix this for you. " , I guess just listen to him. And, , so I just really dove into the word and he healed me through that. , and yeah, >> that's amazing. Wes, how about you.

What was kind of your turning point of becoming free and walking out of the cell door. I'm trying to So there was two different points to to that. There was what kind of stubborn like I think most guys are.

I won't speak for all the guys, but you know, we're pretty stubborn. And my first one, I don't know how this happened, but I got thrown into being a youth group leader after college. I was in no shape to be a youth group leader, but I I did. And my pastor was like, "Yeah, you got this. " And then he moved.

And then I was like, "I don't know what I'm doing. " So, I left. And then a handful of years later, I met my amazing wife and we started a business and we went to a conference and I got saved at a conference. I was sitting down in the chair and the guy doing the altar call is like, "Hey, if you feel like there's somebody or something on your shoulder right now and you can't stand up, you need to reach out to somebody and they'll lift you up and bring you down here.

" So, I was like, "I can't move. " So, I talked to the guy next to me and he was a man of faith and he touched his hand on my shoulder and it's like it all just disappeared. And that wasn't the saving point for me though because I still struggled with the fact that money was everything for me that I needed to still chase money to now provide for my wife and kids. And it wasn't until probably I think it was last year or year I I don't know time flies so fast but it was probably within the last I'll say two years I was doing construction sales and I thought I needed this big fancy truck to to fit in with all the other broke construction guys and I loved this truck and it was everything that I wanted and I it just f it got to a point to where one we couldn't afford it and two God said, "Let it go.

" I think that was what I needed to hear the most was from God saying to let the truck go. Like, it's not you. It's not It doesn't represent God anymore or or never did. So, we ended up surrendering the truck and we've now paid cash for four cars and it just we haven't had a car note in probably two and a half years, two years. So that was a huge turning point for us, at least for me of I it's not like everything's fixed now and we're not still trying to, you know, get money to pay the bills or anything.

And but it's more of we can now just, you know, raise our hands up and say, "God, we know you're the ultimate provider. We need you. " More than like, "All right, I'm going to go work 80 hours this week, get whatever I can, and still fall short inside. " >> Yeah, that's awesome. So, how how would you say that life has changed.

And you kind of maybe hinted at a little bit, but you know, , how's life changed and how are you continuing to walk in freedom where money no longer has like that enslaving hold on you. , it's just waking up every day and realizing that it it is it's not something that you all of a sudden flip one day and you're you're you're all of a sudden written. Maybe it is for some people, but for me it's not.

It's something I have to continue to work on cuz I am a a driven person. I can work hard all week and lose track of time and and chase the dollar bill still, but I I still have to remind myself at the end of the day that I'm working for God. I'm not working for myself or for my family or I'm not and I'd always justify it.

This is the cool thing, right. >> Is we justify it. I need more money so I can give back to the church.

>> That was huge for me. And finally, it was just like enough's enough. God will provide. If I want it, it doesn't make sense.

If it's God's will, it'll come to me. So, >> yeah. That's awesome. And Mel, then how how would you say your life has changed since.

What does life look like now. And how are you continuing to walk in freedom of of right knowing no more anxiety hopefully and and and the addictions, right. So, I'm completely healed of all the anxiety.

I wouldn't have been able to get up here and talk to you guys before. That's awesome. I can drive through the cities. I never used to be able to drive places. , so he's completely healed me of all that.

, the depression is way better. , you know, alcohol makes that worse. So, you know, one drink can make your depression severe for two weeks after that.

, so all of that has been healed. , I am Yesterday was two years since I had a drink. >> So, so that was good.

My daughter is she was having a ton of anxiety just like I was. And that has improved a lot. We are a year and a half sober from secular music and so we don't rap MGK in the car anymore.

We worship together. That's awesome. >> she goes to church every week with her youth group.

And she has just made a complete turnaround as well. , and I just see such a better path for her. And I think I think that's the the biggest part that I'm grateful for right now. >> That's amazing. Well, why don't you guys give a a round of applause for Wes and Mel.

Thank you guys so much for sharing your stories. >> Weren't those just amazing. >> They're really amazing. And I know, guys, that there's other stories out here.

I know that they're not the only ones who have experienced freedom in different areas and ways. I mean, I I know a handful of other people here that have other freedom stories, and I just want a quick plug. I love hearing stories. It's so encouraging to me and motivating. I one of my favorite things to do is to sit down with, you know, over coffee and just hear your story.

So, I'm looking forward to hearing more of your guys' stories, right. And I do hope that you guys were encouraged and motivated by by Wes and Mel's stories. But as you kind of heard some of what they said, there's some practical things, right, to stepping out of the cell and and becoming free.

And so that's kind of what I want to talk about is, you know, as a human in flesh and blood on a very physical world, how do we practically get up and walk through the cell door. Because the reality is the door being open doesn't mean that you're just going to step out of it, you know, with no effort of your own. You have to do your part in getting up and walking out of the cell door. But how how do we do that.

Well, let me just give you kind of four real quick bullet points of of of some of the ways in which we can begin that journey of stepping free. The first one is you've got to name it out loud, right. Whatever that thing is that's holding you internally inside, whether you know it or you know it's a secret or not, you got to name it out loud to another human being.

Because when you when you bring to light the things that are hidden in the dark, that's when those things often lose their power, right. And they begin to die. Secrets, the thing that we're, you know, not wanting to say out loud, they begin to die.

Otherwise, they continue to own you and keep you in the cell. In James , it says to confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. I heard somebody say it over here, maybe because you guys are so far away. So that you can be healed. Did we catch that.

There's healing for you. Jesus wants to heal you and he wants to bring that into the light. But you've got to say it out loud.

So if it's safe, say it to your spouse, right. Or say it to a pastor, say it to a friend, a therapist or a counselor. You got to get it out in the light. The second thing is you got to surrender daily.

It's not just a one-time thing. So again, when we look back at the verse that Paul said, he said to stand firm. Standing firm is not a oneanddone thing. You don't just stand firm and one time and think you've got it for the rest of your life.

It's a posture. It's an everyday thing. You don't just walk out of the prison cell one time and then you're done forever.

Some of us, we walked out of a prison cell years ago and because we didn't you know, we thought it was a one time one and done thing, we found another prison cell by Tuesday. And that's that's common if we don't intentionally stand firm every day. Romans chapter 6 says that we're called to be a daily living offering and sacrifice to God. That's a daily surrender to Jesus.

The third thing is sometimes we can just power through whatever that thing is that's keeping us in our cell and find freedom in that. Right that's kicking out that old slaving master, right. But we don't want to just kick out that old master without replacing it with the right master.

If we don't do that again, we'll just find another prison cell or very quickly another master will come in and fill that space. So there's this motion of kicking out the bad master and filling it really with Jesus, right. Filling it with prayer, filling it with scripture, with worship, with the memorization of scripture, which is actually really important in living daily free with church and and your church community. And a quick plug, growth groups are a huge channel for finding freedom and living as people and free. So I want to encourage everybody to consider looking at and joining a growth group come this fall.

And the fourth thing here that's kind of practical is for some of us get some help and stop calling it weakness. See somewhere along the line a lot of us think or we're told that needing help means that your faith is small or that you're weak. And that's just a lie.

That is a lie that keeps you imprisoned. So sometimes you know counseling and therapy is not a lack of faith. A recovery group is not a lack of faith.

And finding help and having somebody hold you accountable is not weakness. It's not weakness. God works through those people.

He works through those means. And as Mel kind of indicated earlier, right, sometimes the help is actually a medical thing in our brain and the neurological pathways and all of that. And so sometimes we do need medication or certain things and there's no shame in that either. But sometimes surrender and beginning to walk out of the door looks like picking up the phone and calling somebody. I'll have Pastor Josh and the worship team come up here.

But this is where I'm going to kind of just bring it home for us. So remember the teachers right in Galatians. They were troubling the church there.

They were saying it's Jesus plus fill in the blank. Here's kind of the equation and what I think Paul was going for here. I just love this equation.

It's my one of my absolute favorite equations. It's a really easy one to remember. But here's what I think Paul was going for.

It's Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Jesus plus nothing equals your absolute and complete freedom. Jesus plus anything else.

That's what equals bondage. Even with Jesus tacked on to it. You see, Jesus doesn't want Jes God doesn't want Jesus plus.

He just wants you and he wants you wholly and completely surrendered to him. The right master, the loving master, the kind master, the master who sets us free, who opened the cell door and wants us to walk out in complete freedom for him. Because again, when you are most free is when you are most surrendered to Jesus. So, if anybody here is just walking through an a season or place of their life where they're like, "I know I'm in this prison cell and you need help. " I want to offer to pray for you.

, I think we just set up here in the front somewhere so you can travel the distance of the sun and and come get some prayer after the service. I'd love to pray for you. Pastor Josh would love to pray for you. And I just want to encourage you guys, , there's hope. There's freedom.

Whether you've been a Christian a long time, your whole life, or or not at all, or even not even now, if you're actually not a Christian and you want to be a Christian, I want to encourage you to come up if you want to find that freedom. Just come up and find me. , but let's go ahead and pray.

Remember this prayer doesn't save us but it's just a mode of closing our eyes being in surrender to you Jesus. Jesus Lord our Lord our God our father we surrender to you. We surrender to you the right master, the loving master. We just ask that you would have our hearts, have our minds, have every area of our minds, every area of our lives in every way we surrender to you. Help us to be a in daily surrender to you.

Help us tomorrow when we get up to surrender to you again and again and again. I pray Jesus that you would do what only you can do. That you would set people free.

You would set hearts free and lives free. Help people become free from addictions and and and mental things and all all of it. We are meant to be free with you.

And I just pray Jesus that you would be our strength that we would lean on you in that as we surrender completely to you. I pray for wisdom. I pray for courage to make that phone call to to talk to that person.

We just thank you Jesus and we love you for all that we have the American freedom and the freedom that we have in you. In Jesus name we pray.