Getting out of Prison

1. Getting out of Prison Ending Destructive Habits, Addictions, and Bondages

2. BATTLE OF CONTAINMENT? • WE MUST DECIDE IF WE WANT TO “CONTAIN” OUR BONDAGES • OR IF WE WANT TO “CONQUER” THEM

3. WE ALL ARE AT WAR - • “But I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” • Romans 7:23

4. God Limitless Power • Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy • Jude 24

5. Medical Definition • “The habitual psychological or physiological dependence on a substance or practice beyond one’s own voluntary control.”

6. JUDGING OTHERS • You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. • ROMANS 2:1

7. Truth about Ourselves • “When I come up against the Law I want to do good, but in practice I do evil.”

8. God Understands • My conscious mind whole-heartedly endorses the Law, yet I observe an entirely different principle at work in my nature. This is in continual conflict with my conscious attitude, and makes me an unwilling prisoner to the law of sin and death. • (Romans 7:20)

9. The War within me… • In my mind I am God’s willing servant, but in my own nature I am bound fast, as I say, to the law of sin and death. It is an agonizing situation, and who on earth can set me free from the clutches of my sinful nature? • I thank God there is a way out through Jesus Christ our Lord.

10. Will-Power Will NOT do it • The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds. • 2 Corinthians 10:5

11. BODY SOUL AND SPIRIT • WE ARE NOT A BODY WITH A SOUL THAT HAS A SPIRIT • WE ARE A SPIRIT – IN A BODY WITH A SOUL

12. BODY • HOME OF THE SENSES AND – • BODILY SYSTEMS – INCLUDING NERVOUS SYSTEM; ENDOCRINE SYSTEM • OFTEN ADDICTIONS CAUSE IMBALANCE WITHIN BODILY SYSTEMS

13. SOUL • MIND – UNDERSTAND REASON • EMOTION – FEELINGS • WILL – INDEPENDENT DECISIONS

14. Satan comes to: • Steal – Spirit – Servant-hood • Kill – Body – Sensual • Destroy – Soul – Render our ministry ineffective • See John 10:10

15. ROMANS 8:6 • The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

16. EPHESIANS 2:2-5 • The ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God…made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

17. Sensual Pursuits have a Cost • But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. • PSALM 106:14-15

18. Under Grace, Not Law • Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. • ROMANS 6:13-14

19. Choose “Obedience” • What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? • ROMANS 6:15-16

20. PREPARE FOR BATTLE • JOSHUA WAS ABOUT TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND • HOW DID HE PREPARE?

21. Joshua’s Key for Success • “Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot… • that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night…”

22. Colossians 3:1-6 “We are dead” • Memorize • Personalize • Visualize (living in those verses)

23. Colossians 3:1-6 • If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. • Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

24. 2nd Translation of Colossians 3 • Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. • Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.