Get Free, Stay Free

All right, we are in a series right now called There Is More, journeying through the book of Acts.

If you're new to church, welcome to the family today.

You came, I know, feeling like a guest, but you're going to leave like family.

We're going through a book in the Bible called the book of Acts.

And it is an incredible story, one that I absolutely love.

And we are...

on the way into Acts chapter 8.

Today, Acts chapter 8 is one of the strangest stories in the book of Acts.

We have just learned about in Acts chapter 7, this man of God by the name of Stephen, one of the first deacons of the church who oversees some ministry like we would have storehouse ministry to help those in need.

He has been killed.

He has been martyred.

The church is being scattered.

This guy by the name of Philip, which we're going to study today, he goes to Samaria.

People are saved and people are healed and the Holy Spirit is moving.

And right in the middle of all of this revival and miracles breaking out, we see this guy and we meet this guy by the name of Simon.

He is a prophet.

sorcerer.

He is a magician.

He is an unbeliever, but then he believes, and he is baptized, and he follows Philip, and then Peter rebukes him.

It is an incredible story.

It's like a movie script, so to speak.

That's what I love the book of Acts for, but we're going to pick it up.

Acts chapter 8 and verse 1.

I'm going to read a lot of verses, but that's okay.

How many of you like the Bible here at Life.Church?

All right, that's some of you.

Here we go.

A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem.

And all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Some devout men, we'll come back to that later in the message, came and buried Stephen with great mourning.

But Saul, we're going to learn all about him.

If you've never read your Bible, this is a pretty important figure, ends up getting saved in the very near future.

We'll talk all about that.

He was going everywhere to destroy the church.

He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

But the believers who were scattered preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went.

Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah.

Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did.

Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims.

And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.

How many say, this is just cool stuff?

Yes.

I like this.

So there was great joy in that city.

Uh-huh.

A man named Simon, here he is, had been a sorcerer for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great.

By the way, if you read church history, he was actually very well known, so well that his fame went all the way to Rome.

Everyone from the least to the greatest often spoke of him as the great one, the power of God.

They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.

But now the people believed Philip's message of good news concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

As a result, many men and women were baptized.

Then Simon himself believed.

and was baptized.

He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there.

As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This is an important distinction.

We've talked about this some already.

You get saved by the way you receive the Holy Spirit inside of you.

Your spirit is joined with God's spirit to be born again.

That's what happens.

Every Christian receives the Holy Spirit.

But what they're talking about here is something that is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the empowerment of God coming upon someone.

That's why it says, had not come upon any of them, then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Peter.

Peter.

gets right at it.

You do not want to mess with Peter after Pentecost.

I'm telling you what, you do not want to be on the wrong side of Peter or the wrong side of God if Peter is around.

Here's what Peter replies.

May your money be destroyed with you.

Now, I'm tempted to say this in a way that you would all relate to.

Go to, but I'm not gonna say that because I just won't.

But it's really, you have to understand he's saying something extremely strong.

May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God's gift can be bought.

You can have no part in this for your heart is not right with God.

Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps he'll forgive your evil thoughts.

For I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.

You ready?

Yeah.

Let's go.

Let's talk on the subject, get free, stay free.

Get free, stay free.

Turn to your neighbor and say, get free and stay free.

Oh yeah.

This weekend, our nation celebrates freedom and we should.

Freedom is a gift.

Simon had experienced incredible freedom.

He heard the gospel.

He believed.

He was baptized.

But when an opportunity came, his old heart showed up.

He wanted God's power without God's transformation.

He wanted what God could do.

more than what God wanted him to become.

Peter was not confronting his actions.

He was confronting his heart.

Remember he said, I see that your heart is not right with God.

Now this is the temptation of every Christian.

We want blessing without obedience.

We want healing without repentance.

We want power without holiness.

Sometimes we want God to fix our marriage without fixing us.

We want God to heal him or her in our marriage without really changing us.

We want God to bless our finances without teaching us generosity.

We want peace without surrender.

And I think that's what Peter saw in Simon.

Peter tells Simon, you're still in bondage.

And that ought to tell all of us something.

There is more than believing.

There is more than just getting baptized, and I believe in it 100%.

We need to.

There is more than attending a church service, and Simon was in a church service.

Jesus did not simply die to forgive us.

He died to free us.

Shout it again.

Let freedom ring.

Okay, now you kind of know what I'm talking about.

Get free.

and stay free.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, he said, Christ has truly set us free.

Now, make sure that you stay free.

Christ set us free.

Now you make sure that you stay free.

Get free, stay free.

Don't get tied up again to slavery.

Why does Paul have to tell Christians to stay free if Christ has truly set us free?

Because freedom isn't just something you receive.

Freedom is something you steward.

Freedom is not just something you receive.

Freedom is something you steward.

Lean in.

Listen.

Freedom creates opportunity.

Character determines what we do with that opportunity.

Here's what I've noticed throughout Scripture and throughout history.

Freedom gives us often this great opportunity for prosperity and for blessing.

Freedom gives us options.

Freedom sets us free so we can begin to live the life that Jesus has destined us to live.

Or nations, they discover some freedom.

They fight for their freedom and they get freedom and they have this opportunity for prosperity.

But what their character is determines what they do with their prosperity.

And if they lack character, the prosperity can often lead to complacency and just go, oh, I got freedom.

It's a free nation.

And you get lazy and complacent or lazy with Christ has truly set you free.

You have to stay free.

And complacency then leads right back to bondage.

One of the remarkable realities of American history is that many of the nation's founding ideals assumed that freedom required moral self-government.

A free people must be able to govern themselves internally because government cannot regulate every decision.

If people lose self-control, the demand for external control often grows.

That's what's happening in our world today.

is because people are losing self-control, government is attempting to have greater control.

If people will not govern themselves, someone else eventually governs them.

If families don't discipline their children, institutions will.

If churches lose their influence, other cultural voices will fill the vacuum.

If citizens of a great nation become indifferent, freedoms will gradually erode.

The cycle is almost predictable.

You see it with the children of Israel in the Bible.

This is their cycle.

Israel cries out because of a lack of freedom and pain.

And God delivers them.

And they experience peace.

And then they grow comfortable and they forget God and they pursue idols and the bondage returns and they cry out again.

This is just the cycle.

It's almost like, am I reading the same story again and again and again throughout the Old Testament?

And you feel like, are they ever gonna learn?

Are we ever gonna learn?

Amen.

It's all there.

God put it from Genesis to Revelation.

He goes, yep, that's how they sinned.

That's how they forgot me.

That's how they got complacent.

They thought that they did this themselves.

They forgot when I prospered them.

They thought it was themselves, and they were all that, and they weren't all that, and then they got complacent, and they went in bondage again, and then they cried out from worshiping idols and repented, and then I delivered them, and then they got lazy.

It's like, when will humanity learn?

And I say in 2026, live church wall-to-wall in Pendleton, we're learning!

So here's the questions.

Freedom asks this, what will you do with what you've been given?

What will you do with what you've been given?

Prosperity asks, will success make you grateful or prideful?

Complacency asks, will you stay watchful or become comfortable?

And bondage asks, what happened to the freedom you once enjoyed?

Here's what I've learned.

is most Christians don't lose freedom overnight.

We lose it one compromise at a time.

I want to camp there for 30 seconds.

Hear me right now.

Some of you have been set free, and because you're hanging out with somebody else who never had the issue that you had before, and they use their freedom as if nobody should ever be in bondage to this.

and you hang out with those people, I'm here to tell you, you have to draw a line in the sand and say, I was truly set free, and I'm determined to stay free, which means, you know what?

You're a great person, but if you're not going to stay free, I ain't hanging out with you.

I'm drawing a line in the sand to stay free.

We lose it one compromise at a time, but you don't have to go through life going through the cycle.

You can stop it.

How do we stop it?

Thank you for asking.

Peter said this to Simon.

Here it is.

He said, repent.

Repent.

It's a beautiful word.

It's a Bible word.

It's a word that Jesus loved this word.

John the Baptist loved this word.

The apostles loved this word.

The Bible loves this word.

And every follower of Christ should be in love with the word repent.

Because what it does is it puts us in Simon's seat.

Please put yourself in Simon's seat and not Peter's.

Please put yourself in Simon's seat.

I wasn't a sorcerer or a magician.

But you were an idol worshiper nonetheless.

It might have been worshiping yourself.

repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord.

Perhaps you'll forgive your what?

Evil thoughts.

I'm going to give you three thoughts.

I hope you remember them.

And more importantly, I hope that you will apply them and live these out so you can not just get free, but that you can stay free.

Because this is the purpose and the plan of God for everybody.

Know God.

Find freedom.

Discover purpose and make a difference.

Here we go.

You ready?

Repent of stinking thinking.

Repent of stinking thinking.

Now, here's what I want to say.

Pendleton, lean in.

Department of Corrections, lean in.

Online Family Recreational Campus on the Fourth of July weekend in Walla Walla.

Listen to this.

Every one of us have some thinking that stinks.

It all, what we repent of, all sin starts in two places that are connected.

Thoughts and desires.

Your head and your heart.

All sin, all bondage, all slavery begins here.

Thoughts and desires.

Head and heart.

Simon had been baptized in water, but his mind had not been baptized in God's thoughts yet.

He wanted the praise of men.

He wanted to be seen still as someone powerful rather than God be seen as someone powerful.

He was used to the praise of men.

He was known as the great one, the powerful one.

And when he saw power being displayed through the hands of the apostles, he was willing to pay money.

He said, give me that power.

Not so people's lives could be changed, but so that I could be seen as someone still with power.

So here's the deal.

I'm going to tell you a couple of things we need to repent of.

You need to repent of this thinking, that you are all that.

All right.

Before Jesus, guess who's Lord of your life?

You.

You are the king on your own throne.

You're making all the decisions.

You're calling all the shots.

But when you give your life to Jesus, you have to repent of being king of your own life.

You have to give that throne to the only one who's worthy of it.

And you say, you bought me.

You're king of kings.

You're Lord of lords.

You're almighty God.

I repent of thinking I'm all that.

Simon hadn't done that yet.

Now there's people on both sides of the fence whether this was a genuine conversion.

Was Simon really saved or not?

It says he believed and he was baptized, but was it genuine?

I mean, I'm not going to tell you my thoughts on it.

I might.

I don't know.

I'm not sure yet.

And it doesn't really matter to me.

It matters what I think the word of the Lord is coming through Peter for all of us that we are supposed to live free.

We are supposed to be a free people.

And so one of the first things that God will do in our life is work on the way that we think.

We have to accept God's way of thinking and reject our own.

Amen.

So God is God and I'm not.

But here's another one that I want you to repent of and where we need to repent to be free.

And this is major.

Please lean in.

Some of you are like, I don't know what I need to be free from.

Some of you are like, I know exactly what I need to be free from.

Some of you are like, I need to be free from lust.

I need to be free from pornography.

I need to be free from substance abuse.

I need to be free from anger.

Some of you that can't think of a thing, I'm going to help you out.

You need to be free from pride.

There's something for all of us that God wants to get us free of and then help teach us how to stay free.

But here's where I see people stay stuck because they don't repent of this thought.

They think there's everybody else has this same struggle and this same bondage.

So,

I guess I'm just normal.

Now, I want to help you with that because there's a fine line with this.

And this is why we have something like life groups so you realize that you're not alone.

And other people do struggle.

And there are people that have the same sort of issues.

But it's this truth dwells in tension.

And so it's a razor edge.

And you need to not get comfortable.

And here's the point.

justify your bondage because everybody else I've met has the same anger issues and you justify it.

Y'all here, y'all getting it?

All right, so there's this prophet in the Old Testament and his name is Elijah and he is convinced I'm the only one that serves God like this.

I mean, there ain't nobody else

that lives this kind of sacrificial life, that is totally set apart for God, I'm it.

And God goes, I got 7,000 others just like you that are free.

In other words, if you think you're all that, you need to know I got thousands of others.

And here's what you need to repent of.

You need to repent of justifying your bondage because your family genealogy always struggled with it.

I'll preach to the little dark corner over there.

Lit up corner in the back with the little children.

Because we all can justify.

If you are looking for people that struggle with your same bondage to help you feel better about yourself, the devil will line up

Hundreds of people for you to find to justify for you to stay stuck.

He'll line them up.

But if you look for some other prophets who are set apart, God will line up 7,000 others who are free and set apart as well.

Oh, my.

On this Freedom Weekend, I am free to preach longer.

Repent of stinking thinking.

I could go through the story of the prodigal son.

Don't really have time of that.

He had all these things as well.

The prodigal, he goes, hey, finally came to his senses.

He's repentant of his stinking thinking.

Here's another one.

Ready?

Here we go.

You got to run with godly people.

You got to run with godly people.

There's something that stood out to me out of this Acts 1 that I'd never really seen before.

Look at this.

Simon believed.

Simon was baptized.

And then Peter, the apostles, they're laying hands on people.

It says this, Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers.

They received the Holy Spirit.

Simon saw.

Simon didn't experience.

How many of you know you can be in the same room

as free people and be bound.

You can be in the same room as Christ loving, Jesus worshiping, free, filled with the Holy Spirit people and be bound yourself.

Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid hands on people.

Why was he not one of the people?

Why was he not?

It said that he believed.

He was baptized.

He was among those people who were believing.

Why was he just standing in the distance watching what God was doing in other people's lives rather than receiving it himself?

Isn't it interesting that Luke describes Simon as someone who believes?

yet doesn't actually receive the power of the Holy Spirit himself.

It at least tells us this.

It's possible to be in the midst of what God is doing and not experience it yourself.

And that, my friends, should put the fear of God in us.

You can be in a great church with phenomenal preaching...

and an insecure pastor and not receive it yourself.

Because somewhere along the journey you stepped aside and you watched.

Others are raising their hands, singing, worshiping God.

It's possible

when we don't fully surrender our hearts.

Now I wanna go back to the beginning of Acts chapter eight and I want you to see something.

So Simon, he's in the midst, but off to the side.

He's watching.

But when this chapter started, it says devout men.

Another translation says godly men.

Godly men came and buried Stephen with great mourning, which that's a whole thing there that the whole, some Christians that are like,

Don't cry, they're in a better place.

They're there, but I'm not.

Right?

These are godly men, and they wept.

Great morning.

And then Saul went everywhere to destroy the church, and he went house to house.

Why were there godly men?

Because Acts repeatedly tells us they met from house to house.

Before Saul ever persecuted them, they were already living life together.

Here's the thought.

Freedom isn't maintained in isolation.

Freedom is maintained in community.

Godly men are found house to house.

Simon in bondage is found watching.

That's worth the price of admission right there.

Godly men are often found together.

Bound up men are often found alone.

Simon watched from a distance.

The godly men cried in community.

God gives grace to help you to set us free, but it often comes in the form of other people.

And the clock has said I'm done.

Repent.

Run with godly people.

And renew your mind.

That's the third point.

I don't have time to preach.

But here's the difference between repenting and renewing.

Repenting is getting off the throne.

Repenting is just admitting.

I don't think right.

I don't think right.

I think about myself.

And I need to think about Jesus.

I put myself on the throne.

I want to be the star of the show.

So did Simon.

Repented that wicked thought.

Okay?

Repent of the wicked thought of justifying your bondage.

Because if Jesus' blood is powerful enough to forgive us, it's also powerful enough to free us.

Repent of justifying.

Okay?

Renewing your mind is this.

I don't have time to preach it.

Get God's thoughts.

In your head now.

I repent of the wicked thoughts.

I repent of all those wrong things.

Now what do I do?

Just blank slate?

No.

Fill it with the thoughts of God.

Fill it with his thoughts.

The Bible is more powerful than you know.

Jesus fought the devil with the word of God.

Quoted scripture.

If Jesus needed the Bible...

in order to take Satan down while walking in the flesh.

Dear God, read your Bible.

Stand to your feet and let me pray for you.

Get free, stay free.

Holy Spirit, wherever the Spirit of the Lord is,

There's an opportunity for freedom.

And so, Holy Spirit, we thank you for the grace of the Lord.

We thank you for the grace and the blood of Jesus that forgives us.

We thank you the same power of forgiveness also is the same power of freedom.

And I pray for your church today.

In every sound of my voice.

That they would not just get free.

But I do pray for that.

But they would stay free.

Let freedom ring.

With every head bowed, every eye closed.

If you're in the sound of my voice in Pendleton, Department of Corrections, online, or in Walla Walla.

And you are not sure.

that you are free from sin.

You are not sure you're right with God.

This is your opportunity to admit that you're a Simon.

I need Jesus as Lord of my life.

If you are not sure he's Lord of your life, you're not sure you're born again, this is your opportunity to say an honest, sincere prayer.

Say, Bob, I want to pray that prayer with you.

I want to get my life right with God.

If that's you, on the count of three, I want you to lift your hands and take a look at whatever leader and room you're in right now.

One, two, three.

Come on, just put your hand up high.

Let me just see.

Catch eyes with you.

Say, Bob, I want to pray that prayer with you right now.

Thank you for every hand.

We right now come into agreement, and we are going to pray, and I just want you to say yes under your breath right now.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are the one who forgives and frees us, and I pray, God, right now for my brothers and sisters.

I pray that, Lord, that you would forgive me of every sin I've ever committed or I ever will.

I don't want to be God of my own life anymore.

I want you to be Lord of my life.

Be my Lord, be my Savior.

Come into my life and fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I'll forever live for your honor and your purpose in my life.

I pray this right now in Jesus' name.

Everybody shout amen.

All right, come on, give God praise today.

We love you, Lord.