Colossians: Jesus Wants to Set You Free
Pastor Fletcher preaches about freedom in Christ from Colossians 2:6-15 (read for us in Portuguese). Discussion points: Jesus came to set us free from false worldviews, our pasts, and demonic forces; baptism is a symbol of freedom from the past as a new creation in Christ; Jesus did the work to set up free and now we are called to walk with him.
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Scripture reader: Today's scripture reading is from Colossians chapter 2 verses 6 through 15. I'll be reading in Portuguese, and you can follow along in English. When I finish reading, I'll say this is the word of the Lord. Please respond with thanks be to God.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: All right, good morning. It's good to see everybody this morning. My name's Fletcher. I'm the lead pastor of the church. Today we're continuing our series through the book of Colossians, and we're coming to this passage, and I just wanna start by asking what comes to your mind when you think of the word freedom? Thank you. That's where I was going with this one, I mean, it is just baked in to our, to our psyche as Americans that we live in the land of the, that's right, and I'm proud to be American, or at least I know I'm. Yeah, thank you, Lee Lee Greenwood. Been carrying that one for a while. I was at a church one time that sang that and I was like, I don't think this is about Jesus.
So what, what does it mean to be free though? As we consider freedom and, and what it means to be free, many of us think about freedom may be described like this. Freedom is life without restriction. Freedom is to live without restriction. But life without restriction is not freedom. It's actually captivity. It's what we find. And it's, it's not freedom, it's chaos. It's anarchy. Let's just say that later today, hypothetically, we all go to the park, Lincoln Park, it's a park, not a band, OK? And we all play, a game of soccer, OK. And a few of us decide to exercise our freedom to play the game without restriction, and thus we begin to use our hands. Well, then you are no longer playing soccer, you are playing some other sport that you've made up and because the rules actually allow freedom in soccer.
What does ultimate freedom look like in soccer? It looks like Lionel Messi or whoever your favorite soccer player is, but Lionel Messi. He has absolute control on the soccer pitch. He can do whatever he wants with the ball, pretty much whenever he wants to. I mean, you just look at the highlights of this guy, and he is everywhere. He's got ultimate field vision, he's able to pass the ball to see where it needs to go all the time. He has full freedom in that moment. But it doesn't mean that he lives without restriction. He has restrictions. He just knows how to live in those restrictions, he plays football or soccer, the way that it is meant to be played.
I think about another person, John Coltrane. Amazing saxophone player, he often breaks every rule, but somehow it's because he understands every rule so well that he understands the rules better than anyone else understands them, and he knows when it's OK to break them and how he can have ultimate freedom. He's not just over there hitting notes, although some of us might think that, if you've ever listened to some of his stuff, but he's not over there just hitting notes. He knows how to function within the restrictions to have full freedom. He's playing the saxophone the way that it was meant to be played.
And for us, when we think about freedom in our lives as humans, we have to understand that God is the creator of all creation, of all the universe. That means he gets to write the owner's manual for the way that life should be lived. And so for us to live in freedom is not to buck against his restrictions, but to say those restrictions must be for my good. They must be for my good purposes, for God's good purposes. We live in accordance with this freedom, and that with his purposes, and that is when we experience true freedom.
Freedom is a huge motif throughout the entire Bible. When you think about the Old Testament, freedom is actually a huge motif in the Old Testament. What's the most popular story that goes throughout the Old Testament that's quoted all the time. It's the exodus, it's the story of God's people. They were enslaved in Egypt, but they were delivered, they were given freedom. And in fact, when we think about the time where the, the part of the Bible that might feel most restricting to us at times, it actually is based in freedom with the 10 Commandments. Exodus chapter 20. It doesn't start with, I am God, therefore do what I say. It starts with, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And so he starts with freedom, because you've been delivered, because you are free, now, here are the restrictions that I have for you to flourish within that freedom.
And then when you get to the New Testament, the New Testament, huge motif throughout the whole New Testament as well, is that Jesus came to bring freedom. I love the story in the beginning of Luke when when Jesus is first starting his ministry. He's in his hometown of Nazareth, and he stands up and he convinces them to give him an opportunity to preach. I remember the first time I preached in my hometown, it was a nerve-wracking time. And my teachers saw it. It was, I was 16 years old. It was an 8 minute sermon on, 1 Corinthians 12 on the different gifts of the Spirit. I still don't know what to do with that passage. I was young and dumb. That was really tough.
But Jesus gets in front of everybody. He convinces them to give him an opportunity to teach. Hopefully it wasn't very hard. That would be embarrassing for the rabbis at the time. They pull out the scroll of Isaiah. Now these scrolls are huge. I actually visited the, the temple next door, the synagogue next door, and they showed me their scrolls, and it was, they're huge. It takes a lot of work to get the scrolls out. And he says, bring out Isaiah. I want to speak from that. And he reads just one simple passage. After all of that work getting out the scroll, Jesus reads, Luke 4:18 through 19. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
That sounds like a message of ultimate freedom, does it not? After Jesus got done reading that passage, he just stepped off the podium and sat down. Like, if you're gonna go to the work of pulling out the scrolls, you better read a little bit more than like two verses, bud. But he sits down, everybody, you can just imagine, everybody just slack-jawed, just what is this guy doing? And then Jesus, as if to drop the proverbial mic, says, he, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down, and the eyes of the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say, today, the scripture has been fulfilled within your hearing. Just bold, amazing moment for Jesus to proclaim what he came for, which is freedom.
The main idea of this text is that this is the same idea that Jesus is getting at here. When you read this Colossians 2 chapter, this is what you get, is that Jesus wants you to be free. Jesus wants you to experience freedom. And there's 3 different ways that we see in this passage, Jesus illustrating that he wants you to be free. First, he wants you to be free from false worldviews. Second, he wants you to be free of your past. And third, he wants you to be free of demonic forces.
So first, false worldviews. Let's dive in here. Freedom from false worldviews. Point number one. There are people who are enslaved to false worldviews, or as Paul calls it, philosophies. Verse 8, let's read it together. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Now, I know that many of us may be excited because we didn't enjoy philosophy in college, and we'd like to be free of philosophy, but that's not what this is saying. The philosophy here is not like ancient Greek philosophy. It's OK to use your mind. Just last week, we had a seminar. On, Alaric taught a seminar on Plato and the way that the gospels reflect some of the things that are happening in Plato's writing. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to work through that again, with any of you. He's smiling and nodding, so I think that's true. There's nothing wrong with philosophy, but the philosophy that he's talking about in this passage isn't that ancient Greek philosophy, but it's the philosophy of a competing worldview.
You see, everybody has a way that we view the world. Everybody has to answer the questions, why do I exist? What is wrong with the world? Who am I? What's the solution? How should I live? Where is the world going? These are questions that are universal, that every person has to answer either implicitly or explicitly. Every human being has to. And there, the way we answer those questions becomes our operating manual, actually. It becomes what drives our life, what, how we find meaning and purpose. So let me just give you a few, a few examples of these.
The first, the purpose of life as achievement. The purpose of life as achievement answers the question who I am, as I am what I accomplish. Just see if you find some of this to resonate. you can have mixed worldviews, you can slip into these things. Unfortunately, and that's why he's warning us against it. The purpose of life as achievement answers who I am I? I'm what I accomplish. Why do I exist? To make something of myself. What's wrong with the world? People aren't working hard enough. What's the solution? More discipline, more effort, more success. So how should I live? You just gotta grind. Achieve, outperform. And where's the world going? Toward progress through hard work and innovation.
So the problem With success as your worldview, with achievement as your worldview, is you'll never feel successful enough. It will eat you alive. You'll always need one more promotion, one more accomplishment, one more achievement. It's actually captivity. Not freedom.
Another illustration, the purpose of life as self-discovery. And so you might answer these questions differently with this one. You might say that have this competing worldview, this competing philosophy, that may be taking you over and holding you in captivity. You answer the question, who am I as whatever I feel myself to be. And why do I exist? I exist to express my authentic self. What's wrong with the world? People and institutions are preventing me from being myself. And so what's the solution? Self-expression, protest, however we need to do that liberation. How should I live? By following my heart. And where's the world going? Toward greater personal freedom and authenticity. The solution, the, the problem with this one is the same as the one before, is that you're never actually going to feel as though you were completely self-expressed. You're always going to feel the need to gain more and more self-expression, and the problem actually is that your heart continues to change. That you don't have the same self-expression that you did in years prior. And if your identity is built on self-expression, you'll spend your whole life trying to figure out who you are. You never actually arrive. It's actually a captivity.
The third and last example here is the purpose of life is happiness or comfort. This one asked the question, who am I? I am a consumer. Why do I exist? I exist to enjoy life. What's wrong with the world? Stress, discomfort, inconvenience, traffic. What's the solution? More comfort. And how should I live? By avoiding suffering. Where's the world going? Hopefully toward retirement. The problem with comfort as your makeshift god is that it makes a terrible god. The moment suffering enters your life, your whole worldview begins to collapse. You're held captive by this.
Every worldview is trying to answer the same questions, and every worldview promises freedom, it promises the good life. Every worldview begins by convincing you that you are missing something, that you need more of something, that you are not enough. That you are not successful enough, that you are not comfortable enough, that you are not self-expressed well enough, that you are not happy enough, but Christianity begins somewhere else.
This is the amazing thing where this passage goes here, verse 9. It says, for in him, the whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority. Instead of this narrative of saying you are not enough, what it says is that the fullness of God has been placed in Christ, and that fullness of God has been transferred to you at the moment that you believe in him. And so no longer do you have to struggle with not being enough because in Christ you have received the fullness of God, the fullness of delight. You are enough in Christ. You have been filled with them.
The Christian worldview answers the questions very differently. Christian, the Christian worldview asks, who am I? And answers, I'm an image bearer of the infinite God. Redeemed by Christ. Why do I exist? To know God, to enjoy God, and to make him known. What's wrong with the world? Sin. It's broken the world. What's the solution? Jesus, he came to make the world right again. So how should I live? By walking with Christ. And where's the world going? It's going toward this day when Jesus is going to make all things new and right again. See to it that no one takes you captive.
In a world full of a lot of someone's influencing you. It doesn't have to be someone sitting down in front of you in a world where you can scroll through Instagram and feel your heart being taken captive by false worldviews, by things that promise to satisfy finally. By watching artistic TV shows that lead you to think the good life lies here, we have to be on our guard against these false worldviews that can keep us captive, because Christ has come to set us free.
Point two: Freedom from your past. Freedom from your past. this one's a tough one. I. I'll just start by, by describing my, my experience with this. When I, my wife and I, we've been married for about a little over 15 years now. I know I don't look that old, yeah, but we got married super young. She definitely doesn't look that old. we were really, really young to be married, OK? I was 24, she was 20 years old. I used to joke that I was her legal guardian. It was in Kentucky. That's the way we do it. I don't know, but, we've spent a lot of years together, and, they've been joyful years. But here's what we didn't realize when we got married. When we got married, we were just so young and naive, and we just thought we had our life figured out. And what we didn't know is that we were a complete mess. Both of us.
We've spent thousands of conversations and dollars in therapy. Unpacking our past, our childhoods, our backgrounds, the stupid stuff we did, the stupid sins that we chased, the stupid, stupid visions of the world that we had. For me, I, I grew up. In a really weird childhood, to be honest. I'm, I'm an only child. My father left when I was five. I grew up in super rural Mississippi in relative poverty. And, you know, life was just hard. To, to my family's credit, my mom's family was always there for me, very well loved, and to their credit, I would not be half as well adjusted as I am if it wasn't for them. That's not saying much, but that is to their credit. But I mean, there's just a lot of traumas that I carried through that time, a lot of wounds, scars.
And you, I look at Megan's life. Megan's very, a very different background than me. She grew up relatively affluent, in a, in a very nice suburb. Her, her dad had a very nice job, stable family, both parents in the home, had siblings, private schools, like. Kind of the American dream in many ways. And I, I mean, I don't think she would argue with me. She might have more scars than I do. We've just had to work through our past, and we've had to just like navigate all these things that have happened to us or that we've done, these sins that have been committed against us or sins that we've committed against other people, and we've had to ruthlessly, relentlessly fight to put those things behind us, to acknowledge them. I'm not saying that we ignore those things. I'm saying we have to talk about those things, but to see where Christ can redeem those things, and to move forward with a positive vision, so that we don't continue to pass down the generational sins that have been passed upon us.
My father's father also left when he was young. My father's father was also an alcoholic. I have no idea what happened before that, but I'll say that those two generations, they stop here. It will not continue. And we have to look at our life and say, I've been sinned against. There's real wounds in my life. And we have to fight with the power that the Lord gives us to have freedom from those things. The problem is not that your past exists. The problem is that we let it define our current realities. And I think for many of us, we want to pretend as though the the past does not exist. Like we can just move on and forget about all of that. But friends, it's just not gonna work.
I heard one pastor describe this, and he told the story like this. He said, if you bury radioactive material in the ground, and then you build a house on top of it. At some point it will leak out and poison everybody in the house. In the same way, if you do not acknowledge what has happened to you, it will poison the life you build. And so the question that we have is, are you building on a radioactive foundation? Have you done the work? To dig up what is beneath the floorboards. You can have a very well adjusted childhood and still have things to dig up, because we all live with sin. It affects all of us. Our parents are sinners. We also are sinners.
I will say this, modern therapy is really great at helping you to identify those wounds. Those of you who have been through therapy, and I applaud that, that's wonderful. But what I think it's not good at, always, it's really good at being like, here it is. Look at it. But it's not always good at saying, How do I redeem that? What do I do with that? That's why that shameless plug here a little bit. I'm not involved with this organization at all anymore, but I started like 89 years ago, I started the Boston Center for Biblical Counseling because I wanted to bring a connection between, there it is, and what do I do? How do I redeem this? How do I, how does Jesus enter into my past, enter into my wounds and my hurts, and redeem them? To make them new again, to help me to move forward.
Jesus specializes in freeing you from your past. He, he, he specializes in this. Let, let's look, this passage. I promise this is what it's saying, OK? We're gonna read it and you're gonna say, yeah, OK, but here we go, verse 11. Uses some particular language. In him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Circumcision, I'm gonna assume everyone in here knows what that is. If not, you know, blame your parents, I guess. that's, that's the rest of the point of this message, I guess. not really, OK, but if not, you can ask somebody after the service. Circumcision was the that was meant to laugh. People just don't laugh when you're. When you're talking about penises, people don't tend to laugh, unless you just say it, you know. circumcision was the Old Testament mark of the covenant. And it set the people of Israel apart. but it has deep symbolic meaning also. Circumcision represents the cutting away of the sinful nature. That's what the image is meant to represent, the cutting away of the sinful nature.
Now, Paul is saying that all Christians have experienced the reality that circumcision was pointing toward. That the cutting away of the old sinful nature is something that's given to us in Christ. That he cuts away that old sinful nature. Now we have another symbol that corresponds to circumcision, and it is baptism. It's baptism. Verse 12. Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. Baptism symbolizes a dying to the old self and a being raised to the new life. And so just as circumcision represented the cutting away of the old sinful nature, baptism represents you going into the water and saying, I've been buried with him in baptism and being risen to new life, which another plug here, if you've never been baptized, since you've become a Christian, now the way that people are, come into the family of God is no longer through physical birth. They used, you would come into the family of God, then they would give you the mark of the, the, the covenant.
Now you come into the family of God through new birth, through, through redemption in Christ, as someone who can believe in Jesus, then you receive the mark of the covenant. And so if you haven't been baptized, we'd encourage you. We would love to do that. We have a baptism class this summer. If you can't make it to that, just fill out a connection card, we'll be in touch with you. We, we can do a baptism any week, honestly. When Christ sets us free, what this is saying is that if you've been buried with baptism, then you've been raised in a new life, you've received the symbol of freedom, that your old self no longer defines you. Your past no longer defines you. You are a new creation.
As Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 5, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. You can't just ignore your past. That's like building upon radiation, but what you can do is take it to Christ and allow him to create you into a new creation. Our God wants to redeem your old life. Verse 13, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all of our trespasses. Before coming to Christ. You are spiritually dead is what this is saying. What can a dead person contribute to their resurrection? But nothing. God came, he breathed new life into your dead bones. He made us alive.
How did he make us alive? Verse 14, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing to the cross. Jesus rescues us from our past by paying our debt. I looked it up this week. The average American carries, this number blew my mind. $104,000 of debt. Now, some of you are like, well, yeah. You have to be. The average American, now that's counting mortgages, it's counting your car loans, it's counting your student loans, your credit card debt. But the average American carries 6 figures of debt. I just want you to imagine. That someone logs into all of your bank accounts. And just zeros it out. You wake up tomorrow morning, someone has hacked you. They have reverse pranked you. They have put all the money back in those accounts. You are fully paid.
How do you respond? I'm having a party. I'm immediately going back in debt. I'm gonna go. I'm immediately buying a lot of stuff. We're having a party, OK? Maybe they'll do it again tomorrow. That's what this pastor is just saying that Jesus has done for us, that imagine every sin you've ever committed. Every evil thought, every selfish thing that you've done. Every cruel word that you've spoken against another human being, even in confidence, even in private, even in your head. He has taken each of those. And he has paid for them by nailing them to the cross. That your sins were placed upon him to give you freedom from your past. To give you freedom from everything you've done. And what's been done to you that you can have freedom. Jesus specializes in setting people free of their past. Go to him.
And the third point: Freedom from demonic forces. This is where the sermon is going to get a little weird, and that's OK. All right. Verse 15. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Now the rulers and authorities that are described in this passage are demons. They are demonic forces. It is the rulers and authorities of this world, the ones who are in charge of the things happening here. This is where all the Presbyterians squirm a little bit in their seat, and the Pentecostals, you guys are getting ready. You're like, we're here, let's go. Demons!
Jesus is pictured as a conquering king returning triumphantly from battle. That's what this looks like, that he has disarmed them, he's taken away their swords, their shields, and he has triumphed over them, just marching on top of them. The demons have no weapons against Christ. He has triumphed completely over them. Now, if you've been to coming to city on a hill for any amount of time, you know that when I don't know who to quote, I just quote CS Lewis. That's, that's, that's the go to, OK? He's the goat. Let's just, let's just go.
So one of my favorite books by CS Lewis, there was actually a play, I, you just missed it. I should have preached this last week. I think it was last night. The Screwtape Letters, are in town. Obviously some folks were there. And the book is, is, an amazing book. If you've never heard of Screwtape Letters, this is the premise of it. it's a senior demon writing to his nephew. The senior demon is named Wormwood, is named Screwtape, and his nephew is called Wormwood. And he's giving his nephew tips on how to torment the, the patient, his, this human that he's been sent to torment. And as he does that, he gives them all kinds of insights into the devil's ploys to tempt us, to cause us to sin, and to leave God behind.
And if you're skeptical of demonic forces, I think what he says in chapter 7 is really helpful. When Wormwood is considering revealing, himself, screw tape advises him against it. And here's what he says. He says, our policy for the moment is to conceal ourselves. So, there's might be a reason why you don't believe in the real existence of demons. Our policy at the moment is to conceal ourselves. Of course, this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When the humans disbelieve in our existence, we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism. We make no, and we can make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them into materialists and skeptics, at least not yet.
And so maybe it's within the enemy's ploys that we don't believe in the demons, so that he can leverage that unbelief, so that he can cause us to be more skeptical or materialistic. What he's saying is that you don't have to believe in the existence of demons for them to work against you. It's the job of a demon, isn't necessarily to scare you. But rather to tempt you to live anything, live for anything other than God. The demons are active in our world, they are. They're tempting us to live for self, to live for pride, to live for sex, to live for money, leisure, comfort, security, success, whatever it is, if it's not God, they want you to live for that. And the demonic isn't only found in the dramatic, but it's often found in the ordinary lies that we believe.
Sometimes it is found in the dramatic. A few years ago, I think enough years have passed where I'm gonna tell the story now at least. A few years ago, there was a gentleman who was attending our church, and he, reached out to me and said, I would like to follow Jesus, but I don't feel like I can. And so I didn't think much of this. I talked to people about following Jesus all the time, so I scheduled a meeting with him, we were talking and he said, well, here's the problem, many years ago, over a decade ago. I gave my life to the moon god of Egypt. And at first it was euphoric, and every day since then has been a nightmare. That I have just felt completely captive, I've felt in captive to this thing. I felt enslaved to this thing. And I would like to trust Jesus, but I, I just don't feel like I can.
And I said, let's go man. Let's go that Jesus has disarmed the powers and authorities, and that he's triumphed over them. And so let's pray. And so actually what happened, I'm not gonna share with you all the details, but we came right into this room. I called a couple of the other leaders of the church, said, hey, meet me here. I did not have any idea what I was doing, OK? We sat down. This is, this is like not my typical ministry, OK? Usually it's like, I don't know who you should marry. Let's talk about it a little bit. So, we sit down and I'm like, all right, well, let's just start praying. And so I say, Father Jesus, Lord. And all of a sudden things got dramatic. It resulted in a lot of different dramatic things that happened. The demon did not want to let go of this guy. And to tell you the truth, to this day, that happened like several years ago now, to this day, I'm still not sure what to make of that experience. It was just wild. We were in here for like an hour, praying and, and, and struggling and wrestling, and, but here's what I am sure of. That my brother who once felt enslaved is still following Jesus. And he feels free. And I praise God for that.
And I don't know what you're going through. I don't know if you are struggling with more of the quiet demons or more of the loud demons. I don't know if you've maybe embraced some type of demonic activity in your own life. But I would tell you that Jesus wants to set you free. That you can have freedom today, that you can have freedom from false world views, that you can have freedom from your past, from the sins committed against you, and the sins that you have committed, and you can have freedom even from the demonic forces because Jesus is king. He is victorious overall, he reigns. Let's go to him. Let's go to him. Today's your opportunity. Every day is your opportunity to walk in that freedom.
You know, the Christian life, it's not like, you know, the rocket ships. So this passage right before this, it says walk in Christ. The, if you're shooting off a rocket ship, you have to use a lot of energy at the very beginning. It's very dramatic. And then once you get into space, it's like you're just good on your, on your launch. That's not the Christian life. So Christian life is sometimes dramatic at the beginning, and then it says continue to walk in Him.
And so some of you, you may have experienced freedom at one point in life, but then you've allowed yourself to be taken captive. You've allowed yourself to fall back into enslaved practices. You've said, man, back in Egypt. They had the Egypt was the best. Let's, let's make Israel Egypt again. However you wanna do that. And, and that's just not. Freedom That's you longing for nostalgia. Of an old way of life that will bring you to death. Jesus came to set you free, walk in that freedom.
Each week we participate in a sacred meal. We're reminded of the work of Jesus on our behalf, that he took the body of Christ, and he broke it. he took a piece of bread and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week we practice this sacred meal, being reminded that Christ is with us, that he cares for us, that his body was broken for us, and that his blood was spilled for us. And so if you're a believer here this morning, we'd encourage you to come and receive this meal.
If you have things that you need to deal with, maybe you've been walking in captivity, maybe you've been walking in old ways of life, and you need freedom from those things, I encourage you, let's take the first step to pray with someone today. You might have more steps after that, but let me encourage you to pray with someone. We'll have some prayer counselors in the back. I would, I would be delighted for you to, to make that step. So if you would stand as we prepare our hearts, to come to the table as we pray.
Father, we thank you for the sacred meal. We thank you for this opportunity to come to you again. And Jesus, I pray that you would continue to help us to walk in the light as you are in the light. That we would be free of our past, free of false worldviews, free of demonic forces, that you would deliver us, that we would see how you have triumphed, how you are king, how you are over all. And Jesus, we, we proclaim your name today. We proclaim that you are king, we proclaim that you are true. God, would you be true in our lives and give us life and freedom. Help us to live life as it's meant to be lived. We we ask all of these things in Christ's name, Amen.