Sermon Series:  ECHO.  Sermon #2:  The Voice Of Freedom

Sermon Series:  ECHO.  Sermon #2:  The Voice Of Freedom

It’s happening over and over again. It’s repeating itself. It will continue to Manifest. Grace for Grace!

John 11:14–15 “Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad … for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.”

Today Jesus came for inspection.   Today He cleansed His temple.   

Today He begins His final approach to secure FREEDOM FOR ALL!

Romans 4:25 (TPT) “Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that he had made us right with God!”

He rode that donkey into town. That donkey carried the Glory.

You’re Perfect!!!

Matthew 21:12-21

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant  and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there. Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

The temple was meant to be the place of God’s presence and power, but by Jesus’ day, it had become a marketplace(literally and spiritually). They had the rituals but no connection to the source.

The temple had become a hollow shell. Jesus didn’t come to prop up a powerless system—He came to replace it with something living.”

The cursed tree points to a dying system, and Jesus would soon become the root of a new tree—the Church—through which true fruit (love, joy, peace, etc.) would grow by the Spirit.

Jesus cursing the fig tree was a sovereign act of God putting an end to everything that offers satisfaction but it is deception. Looked good but it was empty. 

Type of the cross.   AN ECHO

He took authority over everything that had the ability to deceive us.

What is it in you that drives you to the empty substitutes?    MOUNTAINS

The unresolved root issue is the real problem. 

The fuel source to what drives you.   Stronghold

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 “…weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”

“… if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

You say — You command!

Front Seat A policeman in the big city stops a man in a car with a donkey in the front seat. “What are you doing with that donkey?” He exclaimed, “You should take it to the zoo.” The following week, the same policeman sees the same man with the donkey again in the front seat, with both of them wearing sunglasses. The policeman pulls him over. “I thought you were going to take that donkey to the zoo!” The man replied, “I did. We had such a good time we are going to the beach this weekend!”