Hello everyone and as always thanks for watching. I don't say that superficially, I say it rather deeply. I realize that you could be watching a lot of other programs but you're watching the focus of freedom and I'm tickled to death that you are. Let me take this edition and take a moment from it to just share with you again.
We invite you to come by our website, ftministries.org. You can find out about the ministries there at Freedom in a little town called Atkins, Virginia, right off of Interstate 81, exit 50 in the beautiful state of Virginia. And if you're driving by close there anytime, you're more than welcome to come by. I spend a little time with us at Camp Freedom House, Adasa House.
Ministries go on there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. God has truly blessed us. We're expanding the ministry of our family, children, outreach, just purchased a new property, four and a half acres of ground, a large house, almost 4,900 square feet with 1,500 square feet of basement with nine foot ceilings down there. Perfect place that God provided.
We were on the verge of building this facility to house children and families in need. It was going to cost about a million dollars. And then God Almighty moved and we've got this property for $180,000. We've almost got all the funds raised.
And you can find out more about all we do there, freedom and pray for us and hold us up to God simply by going to the website or visit our Facebook page, the Freedom Tavern, our Freedom Tavern Aqual Ministries on Facebook now. Freedom Tavern Aqual Ministries, Atkins, Virginia. Spend some time with us there. We have all of our services live streamed and they're recorded from way back.
So you can just spend lots and lots of time there. So if you can't sleep late one night or if you've got to come on by the Facebook page and spend some time with us, download our app, Freedom Tavern Aqual app from any app store. And as you say with us, we have a daily podcast there that quite a few people are participating in and we're humbly grateful for that. Lots of folks several months ago expressed interest in eschatology, in time of prophecy.
And we started doing that there on the podcast then several months ago. We've touched on the book of Ezekiel, the book of Daniel, other Old Testament prophecies, the writings of Paul and others. And we've talked from Luke 21, the Temple Discourse, the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24. And we're now presently, as you watch this program now, we're in the book of the Revelation.
And that's the only place you can find that study is on the app. So download it please and stay with us 24-7 right there on your phone or your device. We would appreciate that. Here awhile back, Adam Crab, a fine young man.
I know you've heard of the Crab family. Well, Aaron and Adam, they're the twins. And Adam of course sings now with the Gather Vocal Band. But he stopped by Freedom and he sung a song that just blessed us.
I appreciated the song then. I appreciate it now. So let's let Adam come and sing for us. And the song's entitled, Clean.
We got a message for everybody that's out here that's filthy and sin with those old filthy rags, the blood of Jesus. Amen. Sing it. I see Shatter, you see hope.
I see room for and you're helping me. Oh, they're storing me piece by piece. There's nothing to do. You can make work.
You wash me in mercy. I am free. There's nothing to do. You can make work.
You wash me in mercy. I am free. What was it now? You used to get my heart beating, eating inside my chest.
Oh, I'm coming alive. There's nothing to do. Oh, it's your escort. There's nothing to do.
You wash me. You wash me in. Come on, if you're glad you're washed by the blood of Jesus. Christ, give your praise.
You're not enough. You're sacrificed. There's nothing to do. You wash me in mercy.
I am free. Nothing to do. You wash me in the found in Jesus. Oh, when I lost my way.
You rescued me. Oh, thank you, Jesus. I'm not what I used to be. I'm not a blood of Jesus.
I'm a blood of Jesus. What a song. And what a young man. He was a blessing there at freedom.
And he's just a blessing just about anywhere he goes. Aren't you glad that there's nothing to dirty, nothing to soiled, no soul to filthy, that the blood of the Lord Jesus cannot wash clean. And when those stains are washed away, where are they? They're gone.
So let's not try to be talking about something of yesterday, but we can forget those things which are behind, according to Philippians 3, and reach forth unto those things which are before. We're going to talk to judge one another, we're going to love one another. And let me say it again. I've said it so many times here in the last year.
The Bible tells us to love one another. And from my perspective, being raised on the Baptist Church bench, you don't see much love. And then he says, don't judge. And I'll be honest, I've seen a lot of judging.
So that equals disobedience. And disobedience grieves the Holy Spirit and keeps us from the ongoing process of deliverance called sanctification, growing in grace and knowledge, becoming more Christ-like every day. We're either going in one direction or the other. We don't want to backslide into the grip of the old human spirit.
We want to move forward by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And that's what we're talking about for the last couple of weeks. We'll continue it now from Luke chapter 5, becoming partners in power. Partners with the power of God, with the very presence of the Holy Spirit, with all the provision and peace of the Lord Jesus, positioned by the Father into our faith family forever.
That's who we are. You see, what I do can never make me who I am, but who I am, produces the what's that I do in my life. And it's the grace of God that does that. A couple of weeks ago, we quoted Titus chapter 2, verse 11, that the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and live soberly, righteously, in godly in this present world.
And that's not a burden. That's a blessing. And once Jesus removes the chains, let's not let religious people slap a cage down on us that we've been saying that here for the last couple of broadcasts. So now we go back here to our story in Luke chapter 5 from the Word of Almighty God.
Jesus has entered into the life of Peter now. Like the thing we've said, Peter met him about a year prior to this time. But now, and he knew him. But now he's going to get to know him better.
And that's the word, Knosko, in the Greek from Philippians 3 that says where Paul said that I may know him. It's the object known, trying to know more about the object that came into that object's life. It's just the desire and the drive in my life and yours as a Christian to get more close, more intimate with the Lord Jesus. He who saved our soul now has made our heart his home.
And we want him not just to reside there, but to rule and to reign there and be the governor of who we are as we strip governance daily from the human spirit and give governance daily to the Holy Spirit, walking in the spirit, growing every day thereby and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Peter now has getting more knowledgeable of Jesus. Jesus got into his boat, made his boat the pulpit and platform for the written word to expound the living word, the living word to expound the written word. And Peter's sitting there tired and weary.
And nevertheless, he's attentive. Wouldn't you be if the creator of all that is stepped in your office where you work and gave you and used your office as the platform and pulpit to teach people all around that office about himself. That's a current scenario that would be equivalent to what's happening here. The ship was sitting on the shore.
Now it's sitting out in shallow water, just off the shore. And Jesus steps up in that boat and teaches the people. And Peter's got a ringside seat. So he's not just putting up his nets for the day.
He's got back in the boat and obviously Jesus motioned or how it was. They put the nets back on the boat, whether they had some left or some hanging, that's up to an interpretation. But now the boat's out a little bit. And Jesus is in the boat, in Peter's life, into the fullness of his life.
Ever in the cranium category of his life, that was Peter's livelihood, like we said a couple of weeks ago. And now Jesus is getting right into that too. He'll bless you professionally. He'll bless you where you work.
He'll bless you where you sleep. He'll bless you where you get up. He'll bless you wherever you go. If you're saved, he lives in your heart.
That means he's wherever you are. And he wants to bless your life. So it's not a burden but a blessing to surrender to him and submit to him. That's the word submission.
And Jesus had put out a little ways from, Peter did it. Like Saul would learn, like Samuel would learn from Saul learning from Samuel. To obey is better than sacrifice. And to harken than the fad of rams.
It's not the grandiose things I can do because I'm flawed. My efforts come from a flawed human spirit. I'm not going to be able to do much anything. But when I allow him to be lowered within my heart and partnering with him, it's his holy spirit that begins to fight the battles, tote the burdens, and with me everywhere I am.
And I can cast all my cares on him because he cares for me. When I cast those cares off of me, they're no longer within me. Now, if I keep all of those cares, burdens, battles, concerns, frustrations, aggravations, agitations, whatever they are, if I keep them in my mind and on my heart, guess what the God of this world that second Corinthians 4 identifies as the devil, guess what he's able to do through my human spirit. My human spirit will have access to those burdens.
And those burdens that I refuse to cast away on Christ will dwell within me. And I will be very victimized by that, not victorious over it because the more burdens I hold on to, the less capacity I have in my life for the Lordship of Christ. But when I read myself of those things in prayer and faith believing in him, like first Peter 5, 8, teaches I cast those cares on him, then I've got a greater capacity for the blessings of Almighty God in my life. Isn't that simple?
It's so simple and yet so complex to us human beings because we want to maintain control. And maintaining control, holding to those cares, those cares will overcome and overwhelm me inevitably. But they will not overcome and overwhelm him ever. So it just makes good gumption to use them.
He'll really lean go to throw those things out of my life into the ongoing care of the Lord Jesus. In the Greek, those are two different words. The burdens, battles, all those negative anxieties of life. But those things can be overtaken by the loving attention and care and efforts of my great high priest.
My comforter when I'm grieved, he's my strength when I'm weak, he's my joy when I'm sad, he's everything A to Z alpha and omega beginning and end. So here's the progression of growth. Peter goes a little bit out and he hears the word. Now Jesus says, let's go out into the deep.
And Peter does that. And obedience to him is going to bring omnipotence from him. Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you there for brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The transformation of the mind, that word transformation comes from an old Greek word that we get our English word metamorphosis from.
It's a transitioning from one level to the other. The old ugly worm is now a beautiful butterfly and that metamorphosis is a process. And so in Romans 12, 1 and 2, we go right back to the process of sanctification. And Peter 3, 18, growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the author. He's the finisher of our faith. And in between he teaches us everyday truth by his indwelling Holy Spirit. Now Peter resists a little when Jesus has throw the nets out and Peter said like we closed last week with, Peter said, Master, we've tolled all night and have taken nothing in it frustrating to work so hard.
Knock on doors and invite people to church and nobody ever show up on Sunday morning. An old preacher told me years ago, Son, if you knock on that door. But before you ever knock on that door, you ask the Lord to knock on the heart. In other words, you do what you can and your partner in power, the Holy Spirit will do what you can't.
See, I can knock on the door, a physical door, but I can't really knock on somebody's heart. Jesus does that. So we do what we can for his glory and then he partners with us and does the rest that we can't by his grace. That's how you see people saved.
That's how you see people encouraged because you are now partners with the Son of God. Peter said we told all night, taking nothing, nevertheless, that I will let down the net. I will. Thank God.
You got to do it. It's like Elijah told the little widow woman in Zarephath, go and do and she went and did. And when she went and did in obedience to the Word of God that said go and do the flower barrel. Well, it didn't run out because she got beyond the bottom of her barrel and got into the top of gods.
When she pulled out that last little drop of oil out of her little cruise in the cabinet, then she got into the top of God's picture and the oil of the Holy Spirit ain't got an end to it. It's a bountiful endless supply, but we've got to reach beyond ourselves and died daily to self. That's a celebration of the crucifixion every day. I am crucified with Christ Galatians 2 20.
So now they let, but this is what blesses me. So when they had this, they, like we left last week, when Peter's hands gripped the nets and he started pulling and tugging, suddenly that resistance of weight went tremendously lighter because there were two other hands on the, on that net. Jesus wants to get involved in your life. Obey him, trust him and he will never leave you as far as his position in your soul, but in regard to power in your life, more and more and more.
It's like James talked about, he gives more grace. He gives more grace for the task at hand. God will be right there. So when they, throughout the net, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net, my, do you understand that Jesus took into his body on the tree, all of our liabilities, all of our needs.
And he then allows the believer access to all of his assets. That's exactly what's going on here. Peter had done his thing the night before. That was his boat, his net, his business.
He was doing his thing his way and coming up empty. But now the powerful God creator of all that is is on that little boat out there with him and Peter is, whether subconsciously or consciously, he's turning everything he's got over. Whatever Jesus taught from Peter's boat, it must have sunk deep in Peter's mind because he said, now, wait a minute, told all that, never the less at thy word. See faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God at thy word, what he had just heard over there a little ways out from the shore, now serving him well out there in the deep.
I better shut that up. Yeah, I'm taking that. I won't change my mind. And the energy was redirected.
Everything changed, never less at thy word, I will. And when he said I will, the Lord said, well, that's not quite right. We will. Hallelujah.
Jesus got involved in that situation. Now it goes further. They enclosed a great school of fishes. They, I like that.
And they beckoned unto their partners. Now they're going to get somebody else involved. Peter got Jesus involved, called Jesus got Peter involved. And now something miraculous has happened.
And the first thing they want to do is share it with others. See, Peter knew that this was supernatural. Those fish were down there, I'm sure, cooling it for the rest of the day in the deeper shadows and recesses of the Sea of Galilee. But when they saw those sinkers dragging that net down, their creator called for them.
And what Peter could never do in all of his expertise, Jesus did in the snap of a finger. He just sent out a little signal to the leader of that school of fish and said, I need you up here. And that little guy starts to swim and those fins are just a quiver and then gets everybody the whole mode of to you. And they're flying up through there and said, there, there it is, gals and gals and gals.
Right there, that net right there, there's our target. And they started swiping into that net. I mean, take one right after the other. And the nets were full and breaking.
And the Bible says it was their nets. Jesus gives us everything he has. Why can't we give him everything that we have? Our love, our attention, our devotion, our time, our talent, our treasure.
It's all his anyway. And when we learn to be partners with him, you talk about power. Nothing is impossible for all things are possible. Heavenly Father, touch our hearts with your word in Jesus name.
Thanks for being there. I hope we've all listened and learned. Till next time, may God bless you richly, then may he use you for his glory and to be a real blessing to someone else. I have the privilege of pastoring and being the director of Freedom Tabernacle to have Disturction Freedom Tabernacle Ministries in Atkins, Virginia.
And we are going to get to know one another a lot better through the weeks and months to come. It's my prayer. But right now, you can join us on our Facebook page, Freedom Tabernacle Ministries, Atkins, Virginia, or our YouTube channel, Focus of Freedom, Atkins, Virginia, our website, ftministries.org. Or you can download our app, the Freedom Tabernacle App, download it for free from any app store and we can stay in contact that way.
As we labor together with our Lord for His glory and for the advancement of His glorious gospel of grace.