Strongholds: Breaking Free
Teaching Notes
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Mark 12:30
When God gave us the first commandment—he was addressing NOT JUST OUR MINDS, BUT EVERY PART OF US.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.
Luke 4:18-19
God what are you doing?
The answer to that question—no matter what you’re facing—is always the same:
I’m setting you free
I’m healing you
I’m with you EVEN NOW, and in the midst of your sorrow, confusion, and suffering I’m doing something new in your life.
This is what Jesus does! This is what HE’S BEEN UP TO FOR 2000 YEARS and His mission HAS NOT CHANGED.
Though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:3–5
Strongholds keep us comfortable in the dysfunctional.
STRONGHOLD
A stronghold is a destructive pattern of thinking or behavior built on lies and heart level attachments.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
Sin feels like freedom until we try to stop.
Strongholds are Familiar + Comfortable
They provide a false sense of comfort, safety, and joy.
Then the whole community of Israel … journeyed out into the wilderness…one month after leaving the land of Egypt … the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day.
Exodus 16:1-4 NLT
It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
CS Lewis
Breaking Free
We must learn to Embrace the uncomfortable and unfamiliar.
Breaking strongholds means coming to the end of yourself.
Strongholds are not built in a day and they are not torn down in a day, but they are healed one day at a time as we surrender our will to God’s will.
Strongholds Reinforce False Identities
You can recognize a stronghold in your life because it always produces a sense of HOPELESSNESS and DESPAIR.
Strongholds Mask the Real Pain
They numb us out and Keep us from Truly Healing.
Find and face your dragons—Your greatest weakness and greatest stronghold is the VERY AREA that God wants to do the greatest work in your life.
Strongholds Keep Us Isolated
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
1 Peter 5:8-9
Take courageous action!
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
1 Peter 2:11
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:13
You must expose the darkness in order to experience the healing of the light.
Shame is the greatest weapon of the enemy.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1
he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge.
Psalm 144:2
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:2
We either hide from God in the enemy’s strongholds—numbing the pain and seeking false comfort—or we run to God, our true stronghold, where we find salvation, healing, peace, and freedom.
Setlist
WFC Lenexa + WFC Anywhere
Battle Belongs- Phil Wickham
The God You Are- Patrick Mayberry
Still Waters- Leanna Crawford
No Longer Slaves- Bethel Music
WFC Speedway
Take You At Your Word- Cody Carnes
O Praise The Name- Hillsong
Thank You Jesus For The Blood- Charity Gayle
No Longer Slaves- Bethel Music
Be sure to save our Spotify Worship Playlist, updated weekly with the upcoming Sunday’s set!