Jesus Is King - Kevin
Lord Jesus. This world has its kings but they are nothing compared to. They are flowers in the field, smoke in the wind. You are forever. You are eternal. You are the king, before whom every king will bow their knee. Lord Jesus, when you were crowned it wasn't with riches and jewels and diamonds it was with thorns. When you were lifted up, it wasn't in front of the eyes of the world to be honoured, it was on a tree, in a place of shame, as a curse. Yet, your victory, your victory, Lord Jesus, is the greatest of all victories and will stand forever! And we know that one day we will stand before you on your throne and our crowns will be cast before you, because you are the King of glory, you are the King of eternity. You are holy and awesome, Lord, our only pledge of allegiance is to you. We give our lives to you as a thanksgiving, for your sacrifice for us, for your blood shed for us. Oh God, what can we say but we love you, we adore you. We give our lives for you, we will lay down our lives for you. You are the only one who is worthy of praise and worship and wonder and adoration, and you always will be Lord, we will celebrate you forever! Thank you.


Breakthrough In Jesus - Paul
It's right that we declare who he is to us and who he is to this fallen world and all that he's done for us. Thank you for for, for mentioning that Jesus you know the curse upon the tree. You know that he was nailed to the tree he was cursed. When Jesus went to the cross, he broke every sin and sickness in the world but he broke every curse that was in the world. In the song that we sung, it talked about breaking the curses and I don't know if you're here this morning and you've been challenges where you haven't seen the breakthroughs where things have come around again in your life, whether that be family things or personal things, whether it's in your health or whether it's in your emotional well-being but there's things that keep on coming around and in Scripture it talks about blessings and curses it talks about how the curses go down the generations.

Now the wonderful news is we are free in Christ, he's coming to us. The light has come into our lives and we are free. Hallelujah. But that that doesn't mean now and again that our behaviours are always in line with that wonderful scripture that the truth sets us free and sometimes the things in our lives just come around again and we're not sure why we're not seeing that breakthrough. Why we're not seeing that healing, why we're not seeing that freedom, why we're not seeing that blessing, that the word of God promises us.

So that the thing that struck me this morning and certainly has what has been prompting me is that, hey, this morning there's an opportunity for walking more into the freedom that Christ has already won for us. He's already won, the thing is done, it's how we move into that, how we move into those things of blessing and freedom that we haven't won.

Now Jesus won it all for us, it's not by effort that we will see curses broken. It's by the grace and the power of the cross that that's broken but how we walk into those, how we embrace them and receive from God, that's one of the things by his spirit, he wants to do this morning.

He wants them, He wants to break some of those curses and bring you into more of a fullness of the blessings that he's already won for you! So, if you're here this morning and that's speaking to you, that this this stuff comes around again and I thought I'd beaten it. Or I thought we'd run through it and you're there wondering actually, this could come down family lines and so forth and I've never really played over that. Or that it's here again and I just want a fresh breakthrough.

I feel that God wants to do something this morning by his spirit. We later on what we're gonna do is we're gonna take communion, and you can reaffirm afresh that you're one in Christ, that the blood has washed you free and that's all done.

I think God wants you to live in a better victory this morning. A better victory, a better sense of his victory, a better experience of his victory. So that you can be truly free from those things that have been in the past and the trouble is, I don't even have to know what they are. When I used to go into the bedroom, my children and praying and breaking curses over what might have come down the family line just for awareness of those sorts of things I didn't need to know what they'd done and what I needed was the freedom of God in their lives and in my life.

So I'm calling out to you this morning if that's you and you're thinking, I need that freedom. I need another sense of that all right, there's an opportunity to come down the front and a few people will pray for you. If you wanna put up a hand, it's always hard to put up a hand, isn't it?

Are you here this morning and it's hard to put up the hand. God can strengthen you. Say come and pray for me someone because I don't want to move on from here without you getting that freedom! I really don't I feel that there's something prompting me this morning not to move away because there's some of you here that need that freedom from that curse.

I think there's probably about six or seven people who really need to move into a new freedom in God. So, the rest of you close your eyes but if that was you because I don't want to put pressure on you, but if that was you, I'd like you to put a hand up this morning.

Alright, the rest of us are gonna close our eyes and you and God will know. You and God will know that you're touching heaven with your hand as you raise it. This is an act of faith in Christ at the cross, that's what this is.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for the hands that have gone up. Thank you, Lord, that there we are. Our hands have actually gone into heaven. Why? By faith, by the spirit of God you've reached into heaven and the Lord Jesus is smiling on you today, saying I am blessing you now here. I am breaking this, I did it at the cross but I want you to live in the good of this amazing blessing.

Hallelujah for those who’ve got your hands up. You're touching heaven and the power of God is coming down into you and let it flow, let it flow from the top of your head to your toes and know that wonderful victory that is yours.

Hallelujah thank you Lord, let it settle in you let it settle in you. You don't have to know what caused it. You're just receiving that amazing freedom, amazing freedom, blood that never fails us, washed clean, broken chains. We thank you, Lord, that we are robed in your righteousness not of our own, but of yours. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord.


When Life Is Tough - David
We sang earlier: I can't hold back my praise, this is what living looks like, this is what freedom feels like, this is what heaven sounds like and it can be easy to sing those words without really thinking about it. I know for some people here those things might be really true and really real. For other people they might be really hard to sing or you can't even say them. God wants to break down some walls today.

It's easy to hear someone's testimony like Chrissy’s this morning, and to think that's amazing but OK God, so why am I going through this? Or why am I going through this still? Are you there, God? I can't explain, I wouldn't want to explain away your situation and the things that you're going through. But I do know that the cross displays a God who knows, a God who sees, a God understands our suffering.

When life seems unfair or harsh, Jesus's blood speaks a better word than all the empty claims we've heard on this earth. 

Lord, I ask that if there are people here that are hurting, God, would you speak a better word over their lives today. Would they know that, that is what your blood does? God that you are with them in the storm. Lord, and even if they don't feel that, God, would they be able to hold on to you today and see the cross and the sacrifice that you made to show your love for us. 


Freedom in Christ - Rachel
I really got the sense earlier that God means business this morning and Paul shared about not even necessarily knowing what it is that you're breaking free from. But I really just had a sense that some people do know actually we all know what we have done. Romans 8 says that there is no condemnation in the Lord Jesus, it says that we have freedom and it goes on to say that he bought that freedom and we can stand in that. I really felt this morning that actually condemnation and shame can become your default. Even to the point of a bit of a security blanket that when it comes to mind, the things that you have done, it becomes a way of proving to yourself that you're really sorry. In a way of, I'm going to stand here in my wrongness and be wrong so that I can prove that I really am sorry.

Actually, with true freedom and forgiveness comes freedom from that sin and freedom from that shame. If you're still holding on to that as a way of yeah, but I really, really am sorry.

I had a picture of a child in a dark bedroom crying. I don't know whether that was just me as a child, but once I've been told off, I'd go somewhere and sulk for a bit about how it was all unfair, but also about actually feeling a bad and eventually someone would come upstairs to find me and we'd have a nice hug and we'll talk it all through about how my parent wanted the best for me and that's why we work through those things.

I really feel this morning that the father's heart for you is love and if you're standing still in that shame of feeling really bad, for the things that you’ve done, that He's already forgiven and forgotten, and you have a fresh start if you want it.

I'm going to pray. Lord, I thank you that you are the perfect father. Lord, I thank you, you sent your son to die so we could be free. Lord, I'm sorry for when I stand in the guilt and shame still, when I cling to the things of my old life, instead of standing in the fullness that you paid such a price for. I'm sorry when my actions say Jesus's blood was not enough because it was. I thank you that everything that I have done and thought has been paid for and now I can stand in freedom. In fact, I'm told to stand in freedom. If I'm going to be obedient to my father in heaven, I'm going to stand in the freedom in the full life, the abundant life that's been brought for me. Lord Jesus, would you fill us with your spirit? Would we know from the very depths of our soul the freedom that you have bought for us, the way that you see us when you look at us, which is free?

I'm perfect, not just a work in progress, but perfect washed in the blood of Jesus. But I pray that you would help us to lay down those things of the past and step into the freedom that you've brought for us. Lord Jesus, would you help us today? Would we let go of that security blanket? Would we let go of the things of us trying to fix it ourselves and say it is finished, you have done it and I stand to proclaim I am free and free indeed.