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Amen. Have a seat, beloved. Thank you. My God. My God. Welcome to 2019 Church, beloved. How you doing today? How you doing? My name is Eric Hayes. I'm one of two elders here. And we are a church that is a house of prayer, presence and proclamation. We will continue to beat that into the DNA and bake that into who we are. Prayer, presence and proclamation. I want to welcome our online community, Digital Disciples all over Atlanta, all over. Well, if you're in Atlanta, come check us out. I still love you. Come check us out. All over Georgia, all over the US Literally places from all over the world. Those that are tuning in live. I just want to say thank you. Just want to say we. We plan for you. We pray for you. I want to welcome the unbeliever. Yeah, I want to welcome the unbeliever. We are glad you are here. Welcome. You actually may have been another place. You never heard that before, man. We actually try to be. Not try to be different. We try to do what the Lord has called us to do, right, which is spread the gospel. Now we still preach the gospel to believers because we all need to hear it, right? But. But God is interested in expanding his real estate. And it's not real estate as far as land, right? That's man that's interested in that, a good investment. But the real estate that the Lord is interested in is the heart of man. And we talk about growing the kingdom. It's souls coming into the kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ, right? So if you're an unbeliever, we welcome you here. You can absolutely belong before you believe. I just want to throw out something real quick. Honorable mention. I actually want to give a shout out to any of the 2,500 souls that were just baptized this past weekend. If you in here, I just want to shout you out, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen. Amen. They came from near and far. Somebody on staff. God bless you. Somebody on staff said, yo, man, that was like a. Wasn't it some regular baptism? It was like a baptism festival, all right. And it can sound a little crazy if you didn't see the lines, if you didn't see the crowd, if you didn't hear the stories, how they came from near and far, Canada, uk, all over the US Never seen nothing like it. Along that festival talk during the first one on Saturday, there was actually a rushing of the gate. Come on, man. That's got to be the Holy Ghost. We believe that's part of the end time harvest. So check me out. You say no, no man knows the day or the hour. Look, listen, in the New Testament, they were already calling it the last days when it was written way back then. How much further along in the last days do you think we are now? So I just want to shout that out. And also, man, the second group, I didn't get to it last experience. I want to shout out anybody that put their. Every person that put their hand to the plow that attends 28:19 to pull that weekend off. I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Every hand. Check me out, man. We had five pools. Five pools with four baptizers in each pool. That's only 20 people. It took way more than that to pull the weekend off. I just want to take out time from leadership to say thank you. Amen. Yeah, it takes a team to run a ministry, right? Last but not least, I definitely want to take time out to honor the pastor of this ecclesia, Philip Anthony Mitchell. Amen. Not going to pressure you, but to give you the opportunity to show honor. Amen and amen. I've said it before, and Lord willing, I will continue to say it. When you're really trying to run a ministry by the grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, you can't get around opposition, you can't get around it. Some arrows you just gotta take. Some gonna miss you, and some you just gotta take. And our pastor has done that for over a decade, and I just want to give him honor. All right. As a church, we are continuing to walk through the book of Matthew in a series we've titled Entry and End Times. However, I've been given the assignment to deliver a standalone message today, and it's been titled I am redeemed. I am redeemed by your head. Let me pray for us. Holy Father, I thank you for the work you've already started in the hearts of your people. I just thank you. We even have the opportunity to give honor to Jesus, to glorify you through the Son, to come together as believers and spend time with each other as the scriptures encourage us to gather even more as we see the day of his returning. Come closer, God. I look to decrease that you may increase that you may use your scriptures to edify your people, for they are your people. They are your people. Minister to them exactly where they are so that we may give you the praise. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Frank, you mind hanging out with me? All right. I'm far from a movie buff, but I looked it up. It actually Surprised me a little bit. About 20 plus years ago, there was a movie made by Denzel Washington. I just want to say, that man, Denzel Washington, I believe he's our brother in the faith, right? If you've been listening to him recently, he's been talking about Christ. He's been talking about rededication. Like one of his famous quotes as of late. They were asking him about an award, right? You know, you get the movie awards. He was like, he was like, man gives the award, God gives the reward, right? So pray for our brother Denzel in Hollywood, right? So, so he, he made a movie. It's a second favorite movie to me. It's called man on Fire. Man on Fire. Anybody seen it? Okay, all right, all right. Now, it's so gruesome, I can't tell you to go watch it, okay? We're gonna come back to it, right? But for whatever reason, the movie just stuck with me. For those that may not have seen it, or even for those that have, it's over 20 years old, right? A reminder, right? It starts with him. His name is Creasy. Denzel's character, he's like an ex CIA operative, right? And if you notice or if you remember, like, he started the movie, like despair. Like, he was like extremely sad. Like, it was almost like he was despondent and detached from reality because of his past sins. And even him getting a job was kind of like another lease on life, like his friend. It was just like, yo, man, I just recommended you. I know you can do it. Just go, just. Just go and try, man. And he was such in despair that he had become an alcoholic, right? He was not having a drink no longer. The drink was having him. He was just despondent, kind of going through the motions like some of us have, right? So he got the job and he's protecting this whole family. It's a father, wife and little girl. And he just happens to befriend this little girl. It's Dakota fan. She's like 9 years old, and I think her name is Peter in the movie. And it starts, he's actually being a little cold. She's asking him a question like a lot of children do. I got a seven year old. Listen, he gonna talk to you. I was just telling Elder back, back in the back, like, my son will start on 10 at 6:42 in the morning. Hey, dad, how you doing? I'm like, son, many times I said, son, you've done nothing wrong, but you're too loud for me right now. You have not Done anything wrong. You are not in trouble. I just need you to give me some time and turn that dial just a little bit down, right? So he was going through that, and the girl was actually trying to. Trying to befriend him. And he was. He was being a little cold, but eventually they kind of broke the ice and, like, just even a short amount of time because the parents were traveling a lot in the movie, and he almost got, like, a new lease on life. Like, he started to feel again. It's almost like he had got this affection for her, like a healthy affection, like his favorite niece or something like that, right? And she called him one time. She was like, creasy. That's what she called me. That was the name of the movie. Creasy. You smiling? He was like, no, I'm not. She's like, yeah, I saw you smiling. I know I'm not right? So I had a little banter. And he helped her with the swimming and all that good stuff. And I want to say she, like, one of me ran and jumped in his arms, like. And so the affection, like, he just started to care for her. And the premise was it didn't seem like he cared for anything else in life. And then for whatever reason, somebody kidnapped that girl. And he got wounded trying to protect her, trying to go to bat for her like Christ did on the cross for us, right? And he actually, they told him, the girl has died. And for those that have seen the movie, he went crazy. I mean, he. He was going straight vengeance mode. I'm going to get whoever got that baby girl, and I'm going to make them pay. Anybody remember that? And listen, he was going crazy. Like, listen, I consider myself a man's man. Like, it was one of the few times in the movies where, like, you feel bad for the bad guys just a little bit. Like, he was going and torturing, like, he was giving them the business. I was kind of sitting there like, man, just tell him what he want to know. Like, it's already over for you. Like, go ahead and tell him. Let's make this quick, because this is bad. And he worked his way all the way up to the top. He was diligent, all the way to the top, right? And somehow he ended up getting on a call with, like, the. I want to say it was brothers that were running it. The whole scheme. It was a kidnapping scheme. And it's at that time he heard the voice of the little girl, and it, like, it jarred him because he actually thought she was. She was dead. He wanted to get her free. So they set up an arrangement. It was a ransom, but it was way beyond money at this time. He had to exchange his life in order to get her free. And I'm far from a movie buff, man, but it's something about that scene on that bridge that has been burned into my soul. So they set up the exchange. And Creasy, Denzel's character, again, he had been wounded, so he was already bleeding out. But he'd agreed, I'll give my life for hers. And they had this encounter, man on the bridge. And you could just tell how much he loved her. And you could tell how much she loved him. And they had a brief exchange. And then he sent her along her way in freedom. But he was not free. He continued with his end of the bargain. And he got in the enemy's car and he passed. And Peter was redeemed. The price for her ransom had been paid. And now she can go and enjoy all of the benefits of freedom because he paid that price. And I come to tell you today that Christ did the same for us. We were held in Christ in his heart. It says that in Scriptures that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. Slow that down. Family. All right. Joy set before him, endured the crucifixion. Those things don't go together, do they? There's nothing joyful about nails in your hand. Nothing to induce joy. Crown of thorns on your head. Nothing joyful about getting wounded and being pierced for transgressions. That love. We were talking about the joy of us being reconciled to the Father. That's the joy. Nothing else about that was enjoyable, was it? But he considered us. He considered you, and he paid the price. Not with money. With his own life. And it's the thing that's the third experience. Some of y' all have been here. I come from an old school church. Some of y' all may be with me. And we would say, sometime in the worship, you know, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And people go, ah. And most of us had no idea what redemption meant. Can we be real? All right, let's talk about the redemption that Christ gave us. Going to jump into Ephesians 1st, chapter 3. 7. Ephesians 13 7. Amen. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Say every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Verse 4. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. I just want to pause Right now, I'm going come to that. When were you chosen? Before you had a chance to even mess it up? Before you even had a chance to get awareness in your soul and spirit, to even try to earn it? You were already chosen in Him. It's a mystery. The scriptures also say he was slain before the very foundation of the world. God had us in mind. You have never been an afterthought, never. Never been forgotten, always been planned, chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That so that we should be holy and blameless before Him. Christ made us holy in love. Verse 5. He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons and daughters through Christ Jesus according to the purpose of his will. Whose idea was it? Who's our Father? So as you walking through this life, right, and you hear the whisper of the enemy, tell you anything that would say your salvation rests on you and on your efforts to save yourself, you can identify it as a lie. It's according to his will. Verse 6. To the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Now, usually I say. I say beloved. I want to say beloved. Talking about Christ here. Right? Right. Because I need you to know, and I want to keep reminding you, you are loved. You are loved. There's never a time that Christ wants to be separated from you. You are the bride. You've been chosen in Him. And every blessing that God is ever going to give you is going to be in union with him. Verse 7. In him, Christ we have redemption through his blood. It actually tells you what that is. It says the forgiveness, forgiveness of our trespasses according to our behavior. Oh, y' all paying attention out there? Is that what it says? According to our track record. Is that what it says? According to the riches of his grace? So I'm gonna be honest with you, right? I felt like the Lord gave me this a couple weeks back and I was doing, you know, my due diligence. And I'm studying. I like to study the word of God. And I found out that redemption is mentioned a lot in the Bible. It is a recurring thing from the Old Testament to the New Testament. You can barely get a book or so without talking about God's plan to redeem his people. Even when we were separated or when they were separated from them, from him in the Old Testament, he didn't like it. It's because we broke our word. It's because we disobeyed or they disobeyed. It's because they broke covenant with Him. He Never just wanted to get rid of his people when everything was going. And when you look at redemption, especially in the New Testament and being redeemed, I want you to think of three prior. Well, I'll say two primary things. Right. So at the point of salvation, you were redeemed. That means the penalty of sin that is attached to all of your trespasses. It was paid. Paid with what, actually? Well, with what. It's the blood of Christ. And paid with who? Christ gave his life. When it talks about loving your wife like Christ loved the church, which is tough. Oh, let's keep it above. So I've been married almost 10 years, right. November 7th, Lord willing, right? Clap that up. Right? It also says, submit to your husband as a service to the Lord, which is tough, right. I love Mama Neal, so clap that up too. All right, Right. But I'm supposed to love my wife like Christ loved the church. And this is what it says in so much that he laid down his life for her. Even before you get married, you already got a husband. And you better pick a husband that reminds you of him. But back to him. He laid down his life for us so that we would be redeemed. Right. It's another R word that. That is so much so it almost is. Is sits inside of redemption. It's ransom. Let's go to mark, 10th chapter, 43rd through 45th verse. This is Christ speaking. It says, but it shall not be so among you. He said, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. Say Servant, verse 44. It says, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Say slave, verse 45. For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and what to give his life as a ransom for many. I know you use words like servant, enslaved. And part of us, especially in the black and brown context, we pull back on that. But make no mistake, Christ was a servant and a slave for us to pay our ransom. Go back to the movie. A ransom had to be paid for the freedom to be effective. No ransom. No freedom, no ransom. Still captive. No ransom. Still in bondage. And sin had us all captive. I submit to you, even though you may not like the words, that Christ became a servant and a slave to pay your ransom. Well, I didn't ask him to do it. He didn't ask you to do. It was his idea. He was sent by the Father to do whatever was necessary to reconcile. Reconcile man back to God. That's how loved you are. And the seasoned saint may be like all right, man. I know what redeeming is. I know. I know what it is, right? But let me ask you this. Heart check time. You've been ransomed, redeemed. That means you are free from the penalty, sin, the penalty of sin, and also the power of sin. Sin no longer has dominion over you, for you are not under the law, you are under grace. And my question to you is, why are some of us still walking around boundaries? Come on, what are you afraid of? What are you, what are you engaging in that you, you feel like you have to, you have to do? What are you, what are you still letting master you? At a CO Pastor, probably 20 years ago, she said something stuck with me. She said, why are you letting something control you that doesn't even have a mind? Talking about sin. Sin doesn't even have a mind. And we walking around, we're supposed to be free people. And some of us are still walking in bondage. I told him the first experience. I'll tell in this one. I don't want to come off as haughty or like, I got it all together. It ain't, man, I'm not struggling like I was, but there was a time, man, I'm dating myself. So I went to North Carolina State University back in 98, 99 and 2000. 98, 99, like high speed Internet, way before it hit the regular houses, it hit the dorm rooms. And previously, because I had dabbled in it before, right? When it came to pornography, you had to like get like, I'm dating myself here like VHS tapes and like magazines and whatnot. But the high speed Internet brought pornographic material and truckloads to your front door at the click of a button. So you understand it now. I remember when it wasn't always that way. And it took me down, man, bad whole days, pornography consuming filth. I will talk about it because I know even if it got quiet here, I understand statistically, one out of every two or 50% of Christian men deal with it. Statistically, I want to say around three out of every 10 or one out of every three women deal with it. So I know I'm in the building, right? And this is what I can talk about. I can talk to. I can speak to how nasty makes you feel after the burn and the lust is out the way and you just left to sit in your own sin and you have a relationship with God after you've believed the lie that you have to. There's a shame, I would say, unlike any other, that leaves residue on the soul and I fought, man. Got it up off me. Took a long time. Oh. Oh. Thank you for clapping, Jesus. Good. But I want you to know, it did. It did not come instantaneously. As some of you know, you got to put in some rounds sometimes. You gonna give something, you gonna take some. But you have to fight. You have to fight. This is how you fight, though. You fight with the gospel. He's not gonna leave me here. He's not gonna throw me away. No, it is not pleasing in his sight, but he has not given up on me. I have been redeemed. He has ransomed me. And as crazy as it sounds, he has justified me just as if I had never sinned. And I'll keep going, talking about the multifaceted part of the gospel. Right? As crazy as it sounds, right. The blood of Jesus made me holy. Even though I feel everything. But I can fall down. But I need to get back up by the grace and love. Okay, I got it up off me. 2004, got my own personal PC. Got me again. Scared to go in the house. I failed so often. Hey, hey. Saved, too. Saved too. Love the Lord. Real relationship. Being used. Falling behind closed doors. Good over here. Getting killed over here. Made an adjustment. Me and my homeboy at the time was like, listen, man, we done? Yo, we're gonna get in here. We gonna. We gonna hold each other accountable. You know what I'm saying? No, no, no, no, no. No sex. No masturbation, no pornography. We're gonna put it far away. Huh? Huh? Guess what? 2007. Minded my own business. Minding my own business. Watching a martial arts movie, a fighting movie. Saw a scene, somebody walked by, triggered. And this is why I bring that up. Some of you are carrying shame because you beat something in one season, but it popped up in another. You know what could even be worse? The same stuff you was. You was throwing to Beat it in the last season may not be working right now. So instead of believing the gospel that I can come boldly to the throne of grace, we hide in shame. That could have even been part of your testimony, man. I'm free. I don't do that no more. Now you in bondage, and you're hiding. You hide it from people, and you're hiding from God. I hadn't died. I wasn't quite as deep. Actually, I wasn't nearly as deep. 2007, 2008. But you know what? You know what got me right? It wasn't a deliverance service. And there's nothing wrong with those. It wasn't even Accountability. And there's nothing wrong with that. It was in a. It was in a church service. And a pastor at that time was talking about how he had a problem in the past. And I was currently having that problem. And I just remembered the words of the scriptures. It says, sin no longer has dominion over you, for you are no longer under the law, but you are under grace. And it snapped. So why are you going to go through that? I want to be able to lay all of that out. To know that victory isn't nearly, is it? Most of the time ain't going to be as clean as we want it to be. Right. But we can fight sin. Why? Because we've already been redeemed. Any victory that we can really go after in our own lives, even pray for other people, it's because it's already been paid for on the cross. The ransom was already paid for the penalty. Sin. And also the power of sin to be broken. We are a free people. We are a free people. We are free people because he paid for us to be free, as they say. One of my favorite sayings. Two things can be true, though. He paid for it. And you're also going to have to walk this thing out. You got to walk it out. How do you walk it out though? You ingest the truth of God in your. Your soul until it kicks out and evicts the lies. But I fail. Yep. Get back up in just the truth of the word of God until it evicts the lies. I did it again. Get back up in just the truth of the word of God and who he is and what he's did on the cross. Right? Right. Until it evicts the lies. I felt again. Get up. Get up in just the truth. Get up. Who am I talking to in here? Who am I talking to in here? Who needs to get up? Who needs to get up? Because you've been redeemed. You've been ransomed by the blood of the Lamb. Why? Because you've earned his deliverance. Absolutely not. Being redeemed, Being ransomed is a part of the package of salvation. It's already yours. Even if you have some type of demonic oppression, you can fight that with the truth of God. I'm gonna tell you something. Somebody that I'm growing a relationship with them and we were out here. Check me out. Right? So imagine being in the middle of this and him feeling the way he's feeling. I'm about to tell you. So we're in the middle of a growing relationship and he turned to Me. And he said, kind of low. He said, hey, man, like, do you ever struggle with feeling unworthy? Now, hear my whole answer before you judge me. I probably should have been a little more sensitive, right? Judge my whole answer. I was like, no. All right? And this is why I said no so quickly. I'm sold on the fact that I'm unworthy. I ain't fighting over there. I messed up time and time again. I've blown it. I don't even. I don't look at that scorecard anymore, right? But I'm sold on the fact that he made me worthy. And if I'm gonna look at a scorecard, it's the scorecard of Christ on the cross. So that's how you fight, too. You dive in to experience everything in union with him that he paid for on the cr. And that's the thing. You're going to relate to something, right? If you're going to relate to an idol or you're going to relate to Christ, even sleeping with somebody outside of marriage, right? You can relate to that. Comfort in that person. It's beyond the person, y'. All. Sex is worship. It's beyond the person, y'. All. You call them a How fine they are, how tall they are, how good they smell. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You are engaging in idolatry. Either gonna crave to comfort in that way. Are you gonna stand, say, christ, you love me the most, you love me the best. And if you're saying that's not good for me, even though my flesh is screaming right now, I'll hold out until I have the union that you prescribe sex to me. I'm not done or I won't have it at all, right? So whether it's unto Christ in celibacy or unto Christ in marriage, the terminating endpoint is not who I'm in a relationship with laterally. The terminating endpoint is always about worship who I'm in a relationship vertically. And I'll end with this beloved. First Corinthians, first chapter 26:30. To this point about not being able to earn it or anything like that, Paul says, for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth. 27 says, But God chose what is is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28. God chose what is low and despise in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. Check me out. Verse 29. It says, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Verse 31. So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the name of the Lord. I know it's very worldly to brag on yourself. I put that down. Like Paul, I consider it dark dunk just to know Christ. If we're going to boast, we're going to boast in the name of the Lord. The One that has redeemed us. The One who has paid our ransom with his very life, with his very blood. All right, I'll give you one more and I'll get out of here. Let's turn to Revelation. Revelation 59. I was doing some research. A brother said, this is going to be our very first song when we get to heaven. That's what he said. 59. And he said. And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, speaking of Christ, and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Matthew Henry in the commentary, he said. He said redemption to God. He said, christ has redeemed his people from the bondage of sin, guilt and Satan. He redeemed them to God, set them at liberty to serve him and to enjoy him. You've been ransomed by the one who was slain. You've been redeemed by the only one worthy to open the scrolls. You've been saved, reconciled by the only one that could die for our sins. His name is Jesus. Now that we have an understanding, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let those who have been redeemed by Christ Jesus say so. Bow your head. Let me pray for you. Holy Father, thank you for redemption. Thank you for paying our ransom through Christ Jesus on the cross. Now that we have the revelation, God help us walk out of the cage. Now that we know you have unlocked the lock, God help us walk out and enjoy the liberty that the blood has paid for. For it was your will and your idea to liberate the king captives. And that was us. To justify the ungodly. And that was us. Help us walk in everything, every single thing. In the package of salvation. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen.