The House of Bondage
Pastor Erickson preaches from Ezekiel 36 and Deuteronomy that God gives a new heart and a new spirit, because people can leave the house of bondage and still carry it inside them. Drawing on Israel in the wilderness and the story of a World War II prisoner who learned to forgive, he calls people to repent, be baptized in Jesus name, receive the Holy Ghost, and put away bitterness.
The message in 6 points
A new heart and a new spirit
In Ezekiel 36 God promises to cleanse his people and give them a new heart and a new spirit. Pastor Erickson says God begins with the heart because the greatest battles are fought within us, and he warns from Deuteronomy not to forget the Lord who brought us out of the house of bondage.
58:00Everyone has an Egypt
Jesus said evil comes out of the heart, so our greatest problem is not our surroundings. A new job, a new church or a new spouse will not change what we carry inside, whether fear, shame, rejection, anger, hurt or addiction, and the greatest prison may be between our ears.
1:02:02The war ended around him, not in him
He tells of a troubled boy who became an Olympic runner, then survived a plane crash, weeks on a raft and two years in a cruel prison camp. Home again, he still lived with nightmares, drinking and hatred, because the prison camp was living inside him. God wants to renew our minds, as Romans 12:2 says.
1:05:24Israel left Egypt, but Egypt followed
God split the Red Sea in one night, but changing how Israel thought took forty years. In the wilderness they remembered the bread of Egypt and forgot the whips. When pain controls our memory it controls our future, so God told Israel to remember his faithfulness, while the ten spies saw themselves as grasshoppers.
1:17:14The Holy Ghost gets Egypt out of us
We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but the Spirit of adoption. God never said we would fix our own hearts; he said he would give a new heart and put his Spirit within us. The Spirit that raised Christ can break what was passed down through generations, as promised in Acts 2:38.
1:26:28Put bitterness away and be free
The prisoner later found God, repented of his hatred and went back to forgive his guards. Ephesians 4:31 tells us to put bitterness away, and freedom comes when the past no longer has authority over the future. He invites those carrying fear, shame, offense or grief to the altar, and calls people to repent and be baptized in Jesus name.
1:34:38
In his words
“God isn't nearly as interested in changing what's happening around us as he is in changing what's happening within us.”
“There's a difference between remembering your wounds and remembering God's faithfulness. One keeps you in bondage and the other builds your faith.”
“You can leave Egypt in one day and you can still spend years trying to get Egypt out of you.”
Taken word for word from the video, with punctuation added.
Scripture
He reads
Ezekiel 36:25-27
25Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
King James Version.
Psalms 51:10
10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
King James Version.
Deuteronomy 6:12
12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
King James Version.
Matthew 15:18-19
18But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
King James Version.
Exodus 16:2-3
2And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: 3And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
King James Version.
Romans 8:15-16
15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
King James Version.
Romans 8:11
11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
King James Version.
Acts 2:38-39
38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.
King James Version.
Ephesians 4:31-32
31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
King James Version.
He also points to
Related messages
Also about the Holy Ghost, identity, salvation
Also about the Holy Ghost, restoration
Also about the Holy Ghost, salvation