A Testimony of Freedom!
Read on to hear about how God has transformed the life of a member of our Redeemer family!
Below is a testimony from a treasured member of our Redeemer family, we hope their story inspires you, encourages you, and leads you to both glorify God for all he has done and expect him to do amazing things in your life.
As I write this, I am now 115 days free!
I’ve had a very long-standing struggle with porn and masturbation (about 17 years). I was first exposed in my very early teens. In my later years, I became very impulsive and started to act on my sexual urges to just get a ‘high’. I started to watch more hardcore stuff of all genres to get my fix. It became very habitual - I was just doing it for the sake of it. There was no longer a trigger. It became very ingrown into my daily routine. I was broken.
There was only so much I could do to safeguard myself (i.e., with internet blockers) but I felt I really needed to dig deep and figure out the root cause. After prayer and reflection, it was an identity issue rooted into my masculinity because of some past experiences (i.e., being bullied, assaulted, mugged). I felt weak and inferior, and I wanted to feel ‘manly’, and porn was filling that void in my heart. I was getting attention and social affirmation with those I engaged with online, but it was just a short-term fix and in fact it was eating away at my masculinity and sexuality.
Finding My Identity
Over the last few months, I have drawn closer to my Father in Heaven and have started affirming my identity in Him! I am known by God. He has a plan for me. He hears my voice. He loves me. There is truth in the Holy Spirit! I consider myself dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). He loves us despite our imperfections, and I am beyond grateful he does! God is with us, wherever we wonder. We get caught up in our sin and have moments where our hearts are heavy, mistakes take over and feeling so far away from God. God sees all that, he sees our brokenness, our guilt, our mess, and he loves us anyway!
We can certainly find strength and hope knowing that he will always be with us and will help us through it. If we have gone through life trusting in our own judgement, we may find it harder to submit to God and his plan for us. If we refuse to see God’s hand and direction in our lives, we may never know just how good he can be to us.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Psalm 34:8
Honest Accountability
On a practical level, accountability has been so important because it removes the element of isolation. In Christ we are part of a family and a body. We know that challenges will come (John 16:33) and having accountability helps us to press ahead and to continue to live for Christ. An accountability partner can pray with and for us, teach us, rebuke us, rejoice with us, weep with us, and encourage us. I was not alone in this battle.
A turning point for me was being completely open, honest, and vulnerable about the extent of my struggles with my accountability partners and my parents. The pathway to healing is in forgiveness that begins with confession and repentance, which means to turn away from sin and think differently about it. The enemy can only tempt you with something you desire. If you want to be free from the power of sin, you must hate sin the way God hates it. Jesus loves you and has paid a great price for you to live in freedom. If you are struggling with addiction, there is hope. You can find freedom because Jesus has not only freed you from the penalty of sin. He has also freed you from its power. I feel I have shifted my mindset from natural sexual desire to holy pleasures. I have not suppressed these desires, but I have prioritised God over them.
Hope for the Future
To anyone who is struggling with any form of addiction, you all have a God-driven future; God has great plans for you and there is absolutely hope for breakthrough. You are all loved - remember that. We all fall short but saved by his grace. He's always there, he has never left us. Just waiting with his arms wide open ready to embrace us. We can be confident and secure when we’re immersed in intimacy with God. As you break free from this stronghold, you are paving the way for victory!
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testing’s we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 4:15–16
Redeemer reads Philippians 1
Today as we start to read Philippians together Lois helps us to focus on the source of true joy!
Welcome! Here at Redeemer we believe that the Bible is the word of God, that it’s alive, and that its words can and should shape every aspect of our lives as Christians. But we also know it’s not easy to get into the habit of reading it every day! So we are following the CBR Bible Reading plan - which can be found below - to help us read the bible together.
We are currently reading the book of Philippians, and every week day we will be releasing a video on our social media & YouTube accounts, with a member of our Redeemer family explaining what they feel God is saying to them through the passage!
Today we hear from Lois as she shares with us from Philippians 1.
If you have time, and a desire to know more, you’ll find ideas for further study of todays passage below.
Further Study
In this talk from 2017, Lutic Mosane, from Christ Church Midrand, South Africa, shares with us what it looks like to be ‘Driven by the Gospel’.
“Freedom for is not the absence of limitation, but the ability to pursue unhindered what we have been created for.” – Lutic Mosoane
Redeemer reads Galatians 5
This morning as we read Galatians 5 together, Matt takes us through just what true freedom looks like for us as Christians.
Welcome! Over the next week we will be reading through the book of Galatians together as a church! We’ll be reading a chapter each week day, beginning on Friday the 15th of May, and concluding on Friday the 22nd. We’re following the reading plan in the CBR Journal, which can also be found HERE.
Each day a member of the Redeemer family will be sharing with us some thoughts in video form, which can be seen above, previous days videos can be found on our Youtube channel. We’ll also be publishing blogs with more thoughts on the passages we’ve read, along with some ideas for those who want to study the passage further. We’re really looking forward to seeing God bear fruit in and through us as a church as we read his word, even during this challenging time.
Today Matt will be sharing with us his thoughts on Galatians 5.
In the first section of today’s passage, Paul continues to talk about what freedom looks like for those who are followers of Jesus, and defined by the fact they are children of God. However rather than just talking generally, he focuses specifically on the issue which the Galatians were struggling with. False teachers had arrived in Galatia after Paul had left, and had begun to successfully convince some of the Christians there that to really become “proper Christians”, they must be circumcised! Paul is aiming to change their perspective on these teachings.
The reality is that though the specific issue may have changed for us, we can still fall prey to the same false teachings that the Galatians did. We can choose to believe that it is something which we accomplish which gains us the right to be children of God, that is not only untrue, but it separates us from being able to truly understand, and partly reject the grace and love shown through Jesus’ death on a cross for us! That’s a dangerous place to be!
It is so important, especially in times like this, when we can feel so powerless to achieve anything for ourselves, that we remember Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
The second half of the chapter, from verse 13-25, is a continuation of Paul’s explaining just how to live by that very first verse. Focusing on how slavery can also look like a lack of religion, and falling back into being servants of our own desires.
Doing whatever we want is not true freedom, when whatever we want is to satisfy the desires of our old self. True freedom as a follower of Jesus comes from divine sonship, from submitting to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and serving others above ourselves, out of love.
My prayer for you today is that you choose to live by the very first verse in today’s passage, and that God would pour out his Holy Spirit on you today, that you might not be burdened again by a yoke of slavery, but instead walk in true freedom!
Further Study
T. J. Tims is lead pastor of Immanuel Nashville. He earned a BA from Southeastern Bible College, an MA from King’s College London in 2010, and is a PhD candidate at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
In this podcast, Tims walks us through Galatians 5:5-6 and reminds us why we need to hear the gospel again and again.
Redeemer reads Galatians 4
Today as we read Galatians 4 as a church, Ross & Hannah help to remind us it’s not about us, but all about Jesus, and that through him we are made heirs of God’s incredible promises!
Welcome! Over the next week we will be reading through the book of Galatians together as a church! We’ll be reading a chapter each week day, beginning on Friday the 15th of May, and concluding on Friday the 22nd. We’re following the reading plan in the CBR Journal, which can also be found HERE.
Each day a member of the Redeemer family will be sharing with us some thoughts in video form, which can be seen above, previous days videos can be found on our Youtube channel. We’ll also be publishing blogs with more thoughts on the passages we’ve read, along with some ideas for those who want to study the passage further. We’re really looking forward to seeing God bear fruit in and through us as a church as we read his word, even during this challenging time.
Today Ross & Hannah will be sharing with us their thoughts on Galatians 4 in the video above.
Today’s chapter of Galatians sees a continuation of Paul’s desire to prevent the Galatian church from coming back under the law, but he uses a new tactic! He has previously talked about justification, but now he begins to talk about freedom, and that the choice to live under the law is like choosing to return to being slaves! At the root of Paul’s argument here is the fundamental change in identity that occurs when we choose to believe the truth of the gospel. We are now children of God!
When Jesus won the victory over sin and death, he won for us adoption, out of the slavery we were living in, and into true freedom as God’s sons and daughters.
The first 11 verses of this chapter are split into two sections, verses 1-7 talk about how we have been brought into sonship by Christ. In verses 1-2 Paul explains how the Jewish people were like heirs who are children when they lived under the law, that they were being pointed in the direction of the true freedom they could one day receive, but still living lives similar to those lived by slaves, because of the rules they had to follow. But this status was changed when Jesus died, as he redeemed those who had been living under the law, and had not lived up to its impossible standard. As believers in Christ we are no longer living like children under the law, but instead are sons, and are guided by the Holy Spirit, the presence of the living Jesus is within us!
Verses 8-11 go on to talk about the temptation to return, which is not only about returning to being under the law, but is also aimed at those who are Gentiles (which includes us!), and warns them about returning to being enslaved to the false gods of this world. But there is also a threat that we can fall into the same trap as the Jewish people too, we can start to think that living as a Christian is about doing whatever you can to increase your own stature in the eyes of other christians and even in the eyes of God. It is so crucial that we don’t fall down this rabbit hole, but instead choose to use the truth in this passage to remind us that we don’t need to prove our worth to receive God’s incredible gift of grace to us.
Further Study
If you have enjoyed reading Galatians with us over the last week or so, but would like to spend more time studying the text and exploring it at a deeper theological level, then good news!
Dr. Douglas Moo, Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College Graduate School, is an acknowledged expert in the writings and theology of Paul. His commentary on Romans is among the best ever written, and he is working on a new commentary on Galatians. In the freely available course linked below, Professor Moo - in association with The Gospel Coalition - will walk you through the book of Galatians and will spend considerable time summarizing Paul’s basic theology.