Hello there everyone, so glad you joined us again this week for this edition of The Focus of Freedom. We're just honored, humbled that you're watching, we appreciate it, and we would appreciate your help. If you could just get on the phone or text or call someone, message them, and let them know we're on the air. If you have a friend, a neighbor, a loved one, somewhere close by, tell your church family about it so they can join us here as well.
Go ahead and DVR it if they still do that type of thing, and where you can just listen anytime you want to as we look into God's book together. And it is the Word of God that brings sanctification to us as the people of God, and it is the Word of God that can bear salvation to those who are lost. We've been here now, this is our sixth program here on WVLR, and it's our blessing and privilege to be here. And we're going to continue along these lines here tonight.
Last week we were talking about our Lord, how He can calm storms, big ones, little ones, whatever. And whether that storm is raging in my life as a result of some of my inattention or some of the things that maybe I've done that wasn't in alignment with the Word of God, maybe it's some other old culprit out here somewhere that I could be an innocent victim. Sometimes it's just the circumstances of this cursed world. That's why God is the judge, and I'm not.
He's the judge, and you're not. Jesus plainly said in Matthew 7, Judge Not, lest you be judged. Isn't it amazing that as we look back over our lives as church going Christians in America, we sure have been doing a lot of judging the one another. And then in John 13, Jesus said plainly, love one another as I've loved you, for by this shall all men know that you're my disciples.
And yet we've allowed ourselves to become fragmented and separated, and division equals weakness, unity equals strength. It's just mind-boggling that what Jesus tells us to do, we don't do. And what He tells us not to do, we do. Don't you think then it makes sense when Jesus told the laodicea church in Revelation 3 to repent?
Laodicea means the people's rights. Everybody anymore, it's all you hear. My rights, my rights, this right, that right. And it's certainly embedded and rooted in stubbornness and selfishness.
So yes, God's people, let's humble ourselves enough to where we will be honestly repenting of our transgressions, of our dereliction of duty. That's what God's listening for. And then unify together how beautiful and pleasant that would be, Psalms 133. We've still got a God who is the God, and He's all-powerful.
And He's the glorious, all-powerful God that the Brenton Carr family's coming to sing about right now. This was recorded in a family youth conference that we had at Freedom several weeks ago now. And I hope it will bless us here on the focus of freedom tonight, just like it did that night when the Brenton Carr family from South Carolina was singing to the glory of God's power. I think about in heaven right now, the Bible says, is there angels, seraphms, cherubums, crying, holy.
But I have a fit. They cease not night and day to cry, holy, holy, holy. In my mind, I can see like Isaiah saw it in chapter 6, but then you skip on over to Revelation chapter 5, and they're doing the same thing. Does that mean preacher?
That means that from Isaiah 6 to all the way into Revelation, which is the future, He has not gotten up off the throne. He's still on the throne, and they're crying, holy, holy, holy tonight. I don't know about you, but I just feel like this area right here. God may be looking down in this place and won't know is there anybody that will stop complaining about why I happened in 2020 long enough just to start praising me for what I didn't let happen and what did not happen to you and what the devil did not get victory over.
Somebody ought to stand up and worship. He is holy, holy. What a God. Hit that song, hallelujah.
He is a holy God. Come on, help us worship Him tonight. Whether you feel like it or not, He's worthy. Let everything to have breath, praise all.
Lord, Your holy. Yes, He is. Lord, Your holy ends, we lift you up and magnify your name. Lord, Your holy.
Lift you up and magnify your name. As I look around, your hands have the awesomeness of you and tell your love never fail. Not express what I feel inside. I can't describe your glory divine, but as a token of my business, what hound you.
You're holy, you're holy. You're holy and we lift you up and magnify. To tell you how much earthful things you desire to praise you. To tell you how much I love you.
There is no God like our God, because He is the true and the living God. And He inhabits the praises of His people. So I hope you right there where you are. You were just touched in your heart and blessed in your heart when we think about the magnitude of God, the magnitude of His might and the magnitude of His mercy.
Aren't you glad He had mercy on you? I'm sure glad He had mercy on me. And God had to give me a whole big tub of mercy. I hope I'm more than willing to give other people at least more than a thimble fool.
Blessed are the merciful for they are the children of God. Now we're going to continue our look into Luke chapter 8. If you want to have your Bibles turned there like I have mine. The story again, as we said last week, is also recorded for you in Matthew 8 and in Mark chapter 5.
We talked last program about Christ calming storms. And He can calm those storms. I know many today are stressed, not just over COVID and the rumors of these extensions of COVID and all of this and the divisions that are so stark and divisive here in America, 50-50 voting public, just a sliver of this demographic or that demographic can sway elections. It's why we as God's people, man, we need to be aware of what's going on.
We need to wake up. We need to get the whole armor of God on and get busy. Like me and I, busy being blessed. You remember the great book of Nehemiah when Nehemiah and the post-captivity got it laid upon his heart to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem while Ezra simultaneously was rebuilding the temple, all the devastation that had happened 70 years prior.
And now Nehemiah said in Nehemiah chapter 1, Heavenly Father, both I and my Father's house have sinned. We need to get to that point like Nehemiah was, not our boasting, not our grandiose plans, not putting trust or faith in the arm of any man, but having our faith in the author and finisher of our faith. So Nehemiah took a trip back to Jerusalem. He saw the gates burned, the walls rubble, and the hand of God came upon him.
And he told the people how God had burdened him to make a right what had been wrong 70 years prior. And the people said, let us rise up and build. And they had a mind to work. Sand ballot, Tobine Gisham were three just hostile enemies of the people of God in their efforts.
They started their opposition by basically dismissing the efforts of Nehemiah and the people there in Jerusalem. Then they, after, well they saw their digits, wouldn't just dismiss it because they were busy. They were pushing away the rubble. Well, we've got to do that man.
We can no longer gossip first, criticize, hold grudges, holler about what some preacher did wrong 40 years ago. You can't support him today. You can't rid of the rubble. If you want to rumble in the rubble with the devil, you're going to have to get rid of all that rubbish and rubble.
I am, you are. That's all entailed in repentance. So the enemies of God's people found out, well, you can't dismiss these people. So we'll demean them.
We'll make fun of them. Why? A little fox running up there beside those big blocks. If they just tail up across it, knock those blocks down.
That didn't stop Nehemiah and the people. They had a mind to build. And they divided themselves up in unity. Did you hear that?
The priest had a section of the wall. This group had a section of the wall. This group had a section of the wall. This group had the tower to rebuild.
They were working together. Unstoppable, unlovable. 1 Corinthians 1558. Therefore, Mount Beloved, brethren, be ye steadfast, unlovable.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord. So the enemies thought they couldn't dismiss them. They couldn't just demean them. So now they're going to try to destroy them and threaten them.
All the rest of it. And so, Sam Bali, Tobin, Gisham said to Nehemiah, come on down off the wall. And let's have a little discussion down here on the plains of O'No. I love Nehemiah's reaction.
I don't have time to even hear what you but say. I'm doing a great work. Why should the work cease? Why should I come down to you?
You could say his response to the invitation of the enemy to stop working. I'm too busy being blessed. They got that work done in 52 days. I'm told that a global construction company, it would take two or three years to do.
What the power of God enabled the people of God to do in 52 days. God hasn't changed. Hebrews 13 8 Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same God who partnered with Nehemiah.
The same God who powerized the efforts of Nehemiah. We knew the little bit we can and God will do the great big bit that we cannot. They got the work done for the glory of God and the joy of the Lord is our strength. Brothers and sisters, the same God that blessed Nehemiah then can bless us now.
You've got a section of your wall. I've got a section of the wall of rebuilding the work of God in America, not to make America a total theocracy where Christian people rule everybody. We don't need to be, we don't have the spirit of fear. Give everybody liberty.
Let everybody pursue happiness. But on the level ground of the free marketplace of ideals, there is none greater than the gospel of the Son of God. Jesus, eight of five, he lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto me. If we would allow him to purify us and we purify ourselves, we could go forth with an effort that is energized by the eternal power of God and do amazing things where I would raise and males would gape open and say, how in the world they do that?
They did that by nothing else other than the power of Almighty God. That's our job. That's our responsibility. The whole one another to accountability and then perhaps our credibility in the eyes of a lost and dying world may go up because they sense and see that we are one with the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the devil is the God of this world. He is the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2. He's the God of this world, 2 Corinthians 4. First Peter 5, he is our adversary.
He's achieved cherub over there in the Old Testament. In the book of Revelation, he's a dragon. Jesus said three things about him in John 8 to John 10 and 12 right through there. That he's a Satan's liar, he's a thief and he's a murderer.
He is real. And as our adversary, he walks around seeking whom he made a valor. And there are spirits in this world. Look at Ephesians 6.
There are the principalities, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. So we must as God's people then have on the whole armor of God that we can stand against the wiles, the scheming tricks and strategies of the devil, and then also to be able to withstand in the evil day. Now, Galatians 5 teaches the fruit of the Holy Spirit and then the fruit of the human spirit. So there are evil spirits, there's a human spirit and then there is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meat, and this temperance. The human spirit in alignment with the spirits of this world and especially the devil with the mystery of iniquity and the spirit of antichrist, wrath, sedition, clamoring, hatred, all of those things. So now we come back here to Luke 8. And we find Jesus had calmed the storms just as he did.
Then he can do now. The storm in your personal life, the storm in our national life, Jesus is the storm calmer. He can calm those storms. Now let's think for a few moments.
Over there in the hillsides of Gdara. There was the guy there that we refer to as the maniac of Gdara, Legion. At least 5,000 spirits in this man, naked in the graveyard, running around, terrorizing the community, mean to his family, uncontrollable. The devil wants to control people and get them into sin, attracting that human spirit of a lost person by the titilization of the things of this world and taking the important, farther, farther away from God.
The only one that can break that power is Jesus Christ. Think with me just for a moment. When Jesus said, Peace be still. Suddenly that horrendous black horrible storm calmed and there was a great peace.
You ever imagined, oh, Legion up there on the side of the hill, hollernaut of coyote, naked, screaming with ever big loud clap of thunder, raving and foaming into mouth and ever lightning bolt that went across the blackened heavens. Now all of a sudden, instantly, there's a gazillion stars. Perhaps a soft moon shining down on what had been turbulent Galilee. Now it's tranquil Galilee.
That can only be the work of Jesus who can take turbulence and create tranquility. I can imagine that old guy cocking his head looking down there and now he sees that little black silhouette of a Galilean fishing vessel coming to where he is. Jesus will come where you are. I'm glad he came to where I was years ago.
And he met old Legion and that old spirit said, told me it's not before our time. Well, Jesus put those old spirits in the halls, they ran down and drowned. And now Legion is in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Here comes the keeper of the halls, there's crooked, you know, there's boot lagging bacon and sausage in Jewish communities.
Jesus will get right in the midst of sin and help the sinner. He came to see him to save that which was lost. He said, right there in John 3 17, I didn't come to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved. So Legion was totally changed.
The people got all mad tore up to get out of here. Get away. We don't get around here. Legion followed Jesus all the way to the dock.
And he's won't go with Jesus. And Jesus said, no, you can't go with me. I want you to turn around and go right back into the face of that hostile crowd and show your family, your friends, your acquaintances, the sheriff, the deputies, the judges, the law, everybody down at the jail, everybody that you've been knocking their heads and busting their face and your wife, your family, everybody, show them what good things I've done to you. And Jesus left and Legion went back home and obeyed what Jesus told him to do.
The people were amazed. He who calms the storms, he conquers the spirits. I don't care what kind of evil spirit it is. I don't care if it's hatred, the spirit of gossip addiction to gambling, to alcohol, to math, the drugs, to this heroin, to this fentanyl, all this dangerous stuff.
The devil just wants to kill people. Oh, but Jesus is the one who can conquer those evil spirits and make such a difference. And now Legion goes back to the sheriff. Can you imagine?
I'll never do the crimes. You don't have to worry about bringing chains and clubs. Hypothetically, can you imagine if he went home and Mama heard he was coming one of the little young and said, oh, Mama, there comes daddy. And she'd all go get the neighbors with the clubs and the chains.
And he comes up on the porch and he gently knocks on the door. Even the dole rims against his legs and the dole's hadn't been afraid of you. I'm 10, you're a man in Christ. He's a new creature.
Oh, things pass away behold, all things become new. Have you met the man who can conquer spirits and calm storms? I'm telling you, he's right there where you are. And just as he changed Legion, he can change you.
He can change me. Center, he can save you soul. Brothers and sisters, he can sanctify our lives. There's nobody like the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the one and only one who can calm these storms out here in America. He's the only one who can conquer these old bitter, hateful spirits that are so against capitalism. Christ, any anything that's good, anything that is of the light, the evil spirit of the devil wants to bring darkness into the light and wreak havoc in your life and give you the God wants to bring peace and give you life when Jesus returned to cadaire. The very ones that were wanting rid of him, the hillside of their to dock was filled with crippled people, blind, withered, halt, poor, needy, all wanting him to come back.
Why? Because one man who was saved and changed and the spirit of humanity and the spirit of the devil was driven out of him into the hogs and he became a lamb, a sheep, a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the power and the credible influence of one person. That would just make a difference.
In his equals day, God was looking for one person that would make up the hedge and stand in the gap. Would you consider being that one person, dear brother, sister? Pastor Fran, please quit being religious. Please quit retreating into your own little camp and throwing rocks at all the other people that are really saved.
We've got to get together. We need to wake up in America. There's a storm out here and we can't handle it. We've got to turn it over to the Lord, the Master of the Sea, and trust his word and remember his word and get filled with faith to flesh out the fear.
And then these spirits, the rulers of darkness, spiritual weakness in high places, we've got to get the helmet of salvation on. We've got to get the breastplate of righteousness on. We've got to have our loins guarded with truth and our feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Shield of faith in one hand, sort of the spirit in the other.
Remember, we've got victory in him who can calm storms and conquer spirits and who can really change America. If we would allow him, not just to be our Savior, but to be our absolute Lord and our great partner in power, our friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well to him and to him alone be honoring glory, now and forever, and to each and every one of you tonight may his grace and peace and purpose be multiplied. Heavenly Father bless our time together in Christ's name.
Till next week 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, Babbed Church and 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, F-T Ministries.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 glory, it's Gospel of Grace.