Have you have come to know the “spirit of isolation” very well over the years?…
 
Psalm 68:5-6
“A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”
 
God’s plan for our lives is literally the opposite of isolation…
 
God is a Trinity and therefore always with a group and then He says He filled us with His Spirit meaning we are always a “fearsome foursome” and then He tells us in Hebrews 10:25 not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the church…
 
We are not meant to live the Christian life in isolation so when people says I don’t need a church or I’m spiritual in my own way and on my own that is a lie from the devil…
 
Luke 15:4-6
4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
 
God will not allow us to stray and stay isolated without coming after us but the question is will we be responsive or rebellious?…

Isolation and disconnection is always accompanied by attack rather than support and strength…
 
Luke 15:11-24
11 Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." ' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
 
For those who know the “Father” it is about coming home to Him in order to be delivered from ISOLATION and the other attacks that have come along with our isolation…
 
We get cold and hungry and confused when we are alone and our flesh begins to try to make that prison a home we can live in…
 
In marriage look what God says about isolation and disconnection…
 
1 Corinthians 7:4-5
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
 
In Ephesians 5 when Paul talks about men’s and women’s roles and callings within a marriage at the end he says in Ephesians 5:32…
 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
 
So here when Paul talks about intimacy between husband and wife he is definitely talking about physical isolation and disconnection creating an opening for satan to bring attacks and temptation…
 
But we can also assume that in the Spirit we can never allow isolation or disconnection from the Lord or a opening is created for satan and multitude of temptations will come from the enemy…
 
If you have the time it is worth looking at the two stories below... One is a story about ISOLATION and the other a story about COMMUNITY…
 
Mark 5:1-18
1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." 8 For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9 Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains.12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. 14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. 18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.

Luke 5:17-25
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." 21And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." 25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

For the believer the flesh is like an out of body experience.  When the flesh begins to ravish our lives its as if its not even us acting certain behaviors out but we know we will feel the conviction and depression that is certain to always follow…
 
I believe that Jesus wants to deliver us from our flesh…

In Psalm 39:8 David cries out to the Lord...
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
 
Sin we saw as the curse in our DNA that Jesus has dealt with and even today it would be easy to look at the flesh as individual sins we commit…
 
I want you to look at the flesh as the thing inside of us that desires to sin and then leads us astray…
 
It’s not a sin that you can pinpoint as mush as it is a beast that we know leads us to act out… We feel it rising up and trying to get out of its cage pretty consistently…
 
Galatians 5:19-21
19Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
 
See the “works” of the flesh are the sins it produces but the flesh itself seems to be the seed of all these things…
 
Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
 
Jesus will and He says the Spirit is the answer for the flesh...
 
Who knows where we find the Holy Spirit?… The Spirit is found in the word of God…
 
Psalm 119:11
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You!
 
The Spirit is not just found in the word of God but when the word of God is hidden in our hearts…
 
The bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and what I am saying is that when the living word of God gets so deep into our hearts that it affects everything that comes out of us in word and deed the Spirit will overcome the flesh…
 
1 Corinthians 4:1-4
1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. 
 
How did Paul get from “I do what I don’t want to do” to “I know of nothing against myself”?…
 
Here Paul says he is a faithful steward of the mysteries/word of God and in 1 Corinthians 9:27 he says…
 
1 Corinthians 9:27
I discipline my body and bring it into subjection
 
In Romans 8 Paul gives us the blueprint for what he had to do and allow Jesus to do and we have to apply it to our own flesh and circumstances…
 
Paul starts off in Romans 8:1…
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
 
No condemnation for those who are in Christ… saved by His blood… AND do not walk according to the flesh…
 
Paul goes on in Romans 8:2-13
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
 
While it is all the work of the Lord it is essentially about feeding the flesh vs. feeding the spirit...

Hebrews 10:14
14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
 
We are perfected forever BUT we are “being” sanctified… A finished work and an ongoing work…
 
Maybe the revelation is that all deliverance from the flesh is both final based on the word of God that says you are loosed, set free, liberated, and delivered…
 
BUT there is also an ongoing deliverance because it is sustained by His word and will and love and attention…
 
He holds the universe and my breath in His hands and He delivers and sustains that deliverance day in and day out…

Galatians 5:16-25
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

We all have or still do use comparison to give ourselves, our families, our circumstances and our lives value...
 
John 21:19-22
He said to him, "Follow Me." 20Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
 
Jesus says to Peter… Don’t worry about or “COMPARE” yourself to John… Focus on yourself and you follow me…

Your journey is your own…  Your life is your own… You are the main character in the story God is telling… each of you… 
 
God is the director and He meets with you every morning before filming and every evening afterwards to discuss how His vision for the film of His main characters story is unfolding…
 
Psalm 40:5 & 17
5 Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.
 
You cannot recount the individual thoughts that God has about you for they cannot be numbered then Verse 17 says…
17 But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer
 
Regardless of who you are or your lot in life what you have or don’t have the Lord thinks upon you in great detail and His concern is for our “Deliverance”…  In every area of our lives where we are bound…
 
So how important are you to God?…  God will “TILT” the world for you…  God will move you and He will move all of creation on your behalf…
 
Psalm 19:1-7
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race. 6 Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
 
Amazing what God has created in what we call the natural order of things around us…
 
How much He must love us to suspend that on our behalf…
 
Luke 8:24-25
24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
 
God suspends the natural order of things on behalf of His sons and daughters as He delivers us time and time again.
 
When we feel like we are fighting an uphill battle all the time could it be that as the Lord tilts the world on our behalf we are swimming upstream and fighting gravity and literally refusing to be delivered?…
 
As I thought about the prison of comparison I wanted to leave you with something to aspire to in this area…
 
1.  Aspire to be Complementary
 
Not in the sense of “saying nice things” but in the sense of “going well with something”…
 
When you go to a nice restaurant and order a meal the waiter will often ask you “May I suggest a complementary wine that will go along nice with your steak or fish or chicken”…
 
See there is wine tasting to judge which is best and their are cook-offs to see which steak is best but the real joy is in a full meal where each item is not in competition with the other but playing a complementary role that enhances the whole experience of dining…
 
See with food you have a main dish and side-dishes and in movies you have the leading actor and best supporting actor but in the kingdom of God you have billions of unique people who are each infinitely valuable to God…
 
Those who can stop competing for what they already have and begin to see what they have can become complementary to every other uniquely created and infinitely valuable person they encounter…

What you bring to the table or to the group or to the relationship or to the family or to the workplace is valuable… Not because it is better in comparison to what others bring but because you are the only one who can bring it because you are the only you…
 
So David is just anointed the next king of Israel and listen to this…
 
1 Samuel 16:13-23
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. 14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. 15 And Saul's servants said to him, "Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well."17 So Saul said to his servants, "Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me." 18 Then one of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him." 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." 20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul. 21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. 22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight." 23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
 
Can you be any further from “comparison” or any more “complementary than this?…

Definition of Deliverance: Liberation.  The action of being rescued or set free.

Week #1 - Hard Knock Life - Deliverance from Sin & Condemnation

Revelation 3:20
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Some of us are hard headed and hard of hearing...  We are super seniors in the school of the hard knocks and in many ways it's become a hard knock life…

Jesus is also literally knocking so hard on the door of our hearts yet we will not answer and be saved…  Why not???  Because we are bound by sin…

James 1:14-16
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 
First and foremost Jesus came to deliver us from sin and death…  Because of Adam & Eve we are all born into sin… already condemned…
John 3:18
18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
We are born into a prison for our minds and souls and everything we do and see either combats that reality or reinforces it…
Psalm 25:16-20
16 Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart have enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses! 18 Look on my affliction and my pain, And forgive all my sins. 19 Consider my enemies, for they are many; And they hate me with cruel hatred.20 Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.

See David understood sin and death and deliverance…  Jesus is the only One that could or would deliver us…

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us
It takes a sinless man to be a valid substitution for a sinful man…
John 1:29
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
and it takes an infinite being to be capable of carrying the sin of every man woman and child…
Can you see why Jesus says in John 14:6…
I am The way, The Truth, and The Life
There are not multiple ways… only one…  There are not multiple truths… only one…  There are not multiple life’s… only one…

How do we know that we are bound by sin and in need of deliverance?…

Romans 7:14-21
I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
Later in Verse 24 Paul says…
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Someone has to actually come IN and deal with and deliver us from this sin that dwells in us…

Remember Revelation 3:20
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
Romans 8:1
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
See salvation is a condition not an experience…
I don’t know if you noticed it but everything we are talking about can be thought and seen and accomplished without the need of a physical world…  That's because deliverance from sin and death is something going on inside the heart and mind of a person in regards to letting Jesus in when He knocks rather than some external experience contingent upon physical factors...
​Acts 16:16-31
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." 18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour. 19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. 20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, "These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe." 22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
When we have been delivered in the Spiritual the physical holds no power over us…
The jailor knew that he did not know the freedom that Paul & Silas knew…
He longed for that deliverance… so he asked… "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”