Awaken

Welcome to today's teaching message. I'm Tammy Toney-Butler, Evangelist and host of the Reflective Spaces Ministry podcast. The Holy Spirit prompted me to come on and bring a message. I would tell you that I wasn't planning on doing it, but I am being obedient. And I just know that the Holy Spirit's going to give me the words that I need to speak to you today. Let me show you the title. The title is Awaken, Awaken. That's the title. And you can scan the barcode and that takes you to my latest, or not my latest, but almost latest book, the Olive Press of Affliction, Crushing Season Field Guide. And it's a very quick, easy read and it's large print. And you can get it in e-book format as well as hard copy, which I recommend. And this is the beautiful cover. And I'm going to actually read a passage out of it when the Holy Spirit prompts me. But you can pick up this book. I love the hard copy and use it during those trying times. seasons of life. It's a Holy Spirit inspired downloaded work. I would tell you that I'm not the author of it. I just penned it. And it truly is transforming lives and helping many people. I've made it as cheap as I can and then still publish it on Amazon, Kindle, through Barnes and Nobles, Walmart.com and those things. So keep that as a resource. And I wanted to mention that Today is a day that we celebrate freedom, but many of us are free, but yet still in bondage. Holy Spirit, oh, do I need you. Oh, Jesus, help me deliver your message to your people. You wanted me to come on and I'm obeying. So help me speak the words of truth with the cadence that you want me to have. Let them resonate. Pierce the armor that we put up to stop words from coming in to those wounds and healing them. Give us spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see. And may the gospel of truth penetrate the hardest of hearts And they'd be forever changed and set free. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. It's in your name, Jesus, we pray and declare all things. Amen. Well, I had a download and I'm going to read it to you. And that's what started this. And we're going to just take it from there and I'm going to let the Holy Spirit run with it and whatever transpires, transpires. Today marks a day of freedom for many. But I say to you, are we truly free? Many are lost. in addiction, depression, loneliness, despair, guilt, shame, and self-loathing. A spiritual darkness invading the very earth we call home. The darkness is ever making its way to the creation itself. Land being destroyed, people lost and broken. Never has there been Such a need for a savior. But who will save them? Who will set them free? Those in power, man, creation moans, foundations breaking at the very core of our democracy. Our founding fathers did not intend for us to be broken at the seams of the tapestry sewn for freedom. Freedom off the backs of men and women who served this country valiantly. Today, we see all those broken by the aftermath of war, broken by trauma, traumatic stress, broken by childhood affliction and adversity. Today we speak life over our country and over our world, over God's creation. Today we celebrate the only true freedom that liberates, redeems, and restores. Today we celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ, a broken sinner like me set free by his blood shed on Calvary. Jesus became the oil that lights our lamp of freedom by the way of his crushing in the garden of Gethsemane and the pathway to the cross. Jesus crushed was our oil by way of his Holy Spirit that sets us free, strengthens us, liberates us, and liberates all those who call on his name. But do we call? Do we see him? Do we rejoice at his soon coming? Have we accepted Jesus? You can, and you can truly get set free now. Do we love our brother as we love ourselves? Do we love God with all of our heart? Do we love as Jesus loved? When we love as Jesus loved, we can watch a world truly get set free. Today is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our freedom in America. But I say to you, many are still lost in bondage. Many are struggling every day to put gas in their car, food on their table, buy school supplies for their children, send their children to good schools, struggling with their own trauma, parenting through survival mode, going around angry, bitter, full of hate, vengeance, unforgiveness, dealing with the wounds of the past, but not really dealing with them. Free, but in bondage. Free, but afflicted. And today, I want to awaken you to the true freedom that comes from knowing Jesus. Peace I give you, peace I leave with you. It's that peace. It sure was that peace that set me free and set me on a pathway, on a mission to show Jesus' love to a world and get Egypt out of God's people. I was broken. I thought beyond repair, but he set me free. In the aftermath of child sex trafficking, losing my father to suicide and burying him on Father's Day when I was a teenager, but losing him to Vietnam before that, and then parental divorce when I was young, very early on. And then he died by suicide. He was a police officer, but lost his battle with complex trauma, as many do today. Many of those that were wounded for our very freedom are struggling now, are homeless, broken, afflicted, crying out for help. But who's helping them? Freedom came at a cost. But are we taking care of those that paid that cost? So many things to think about. Jesus wants us to love. He wants us to help bind the wounds of others by showing them his love. And it is that love that set me free from the addictions I used to cope with what happened to me as a kid, with the shame and the guilt and the fear and the regret and the self-loathing. But what Christ did for me was he gave me the peace to sleep through the night without needing anything. He gave me peace. He took the weight, the heaviness of the garment that I was wearing off of me. And he clothed me with his righteousness. He clothed me with his righteousness. But in one moment, I went from having the icky and wearing the icky and the weight of it all to where I couldn't stand it one more day. the anxiety, the panic attacks, and he took it all and set me free. And it was glorious. And it still is glorious. And even though we walk through dark seasons, we get to walk through them with the strength of our creator, with Lord Jesus Christ's work done on the cross on Calvary that speaks on our behalf. When the accuser of the brethren comes, and tries to kill, steal, and destroy. We've been set free. We're not under the condemnation of the law. All we have to do is believe on the one that paid the penalty, the death sentence, and that's Jesus. When we believe on Jesus and the work done on the cross, then we have true freedom. It doesn't matter what circumstances we face. It doesn't matter what darkness is coming. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world, the rumors of war, the wars. It doesn't matter about those things. It doesn't matter about the earthquakes. It doesn't matter about what we hear. He gives us the strength. Darkness is here. Darkness is here. And many, have faced such hardships, horrible earthquakes, horrible droughts, horrible famine, horrible fires, horrible natural manmade disasters. We don't get through the loss of those we care for. just the tremendous loss, the darkness of it in our own strength. We can only do this life thing with the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it gives us peace during the darkest of times. And no matter what we face, whether it is a storm of our own making or not, Christ will see us through that storm. Christ will see us through that storm. Christ will see us through that storm. We aren't to have fear. We're to have power, love, and a sound mind. That's how we can withstand what's coming and what's already here. We don't have to be surprised by what's happening. King Jesus spoke about it in his word, about what the last days would be like. There would be earthquakes. There would be famines. There would be wars and rumors of war. But Don't fear because the end is not quite yet. We're gonna see these things, the birth pains, the travailing. We're gonna walk through these dark times, united as a body of believers, helping our brethren, helping those that were lost and are still hurting from the horrible earthquakes that just happened. So many every day facing disasters. Many of you are facing financial disasters. You're one paycheck away from being homeless on the streets, broken and lost. But I tell you this, you're not lost. And I tell you this, you're not broken. And I tell you this, that he sees you. And I tell you that he is with you. He is with you. He spoke of these things happening. This should not catch us by surprise as a church and as a world, but we get to lean to our Savior for comfort. And I want to read on page fifteen and sixteen out of the Olive Press of Affliction, Crushing Seas and Field Guide. In the olive press, a place of crushing, one can either embrace it or run from it. Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane, which means oil press in Hebrew, was praying because he was sad and troubled in spirit, carrying a heavy burden. Only he could bear the cross. The weight of it all was crushing. How many of you are carrying something right now and it's crushing you? We see this in Matthew twenty six, thirty eight, where Jesus said to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, my heart is so heavy with grief. I feel as if I'm dying. Wait here and stay awake with me. We see in verse thirty nine, Jesus falling to the ground and praying, my father, if it is possible, don't make me drink from this cup, but do what you want, not what I want. Now we're reading on page seventeen. How many of you have fallen to the ground? curled up on the floor, cried under the weight of it all, been crushed in spirit and screamed out to God. How many of you wanted to want to run away from the storm you're facing or need to face to break free of an abusive relationship that no longer serves you or maybe your children? Continuing in this passage of scripture in Matthew, in Matthew, we see Jesus praying for strength, See that praying for strength and God's will to be done. You see that Jesus was praying for strength father or my father. If I must do this and it is not possible for me to escape it, then I pray that what you want will be done. Jesus knew his kingdom purpose, why he was on earth and what he must do to save us all, to save us all, to save us all. And we have to understand that we have his strength. We have the strength of the word of God to hold us and sustain us during these dark times. And I want to read to you Matthew, I'm reading out of the complete Jewish Bible. And I want to read to you starting in around three. When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us, they said, when all these things happen and what will be the sign that you are coming and that the Olav Hazi is ending or the age or the world. Yeshua replied. Watch out. Don't let anyone fool you. For many will come in my name saying I am the Messiah and they will lead many astray. You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off. See to it that you don't become frightened. See to it that you don't become frightened. And that's when I was saying, it doesn't matter as far as the news. Of course it matters the lost and the broken. That's not what I meant. It doesn't matter though when we hear about these horrible things, we can be so gripped with fear. I remember living so gripped with fear. before Jesus set me free. I'd be doing Google searches and all this stuff, you know, trying to just help appease me in this profound terror I had inside. But Christ set me free of all that because we don't have a spirit of fear. We have power, love, and a sound mind. And so he's saying to us now, he's preparing us, let us not be frightened. We don't have to have the spirit of fear. That's the opposite of the spirit of faith. We have faith. And if you only have the faith of a grain of a mustard seed, but we have faith and we need that kind of faith, the faith Noah had, the faith Abraham had to really truly obey God at all costs. We need that kind of faith, that kind of faith, that whole steadfast faith. That is what sets us free. That is what helps us. That is what redeems us. We don't have a spirit of fear as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We operate by faith. You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off. See to it that you don't become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world. All this is but the beginning of the birth pains. At that time, you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me." He's saying it right here in his word. All peoples will hate you because of me. We can be arrested, some put to death, for sharing the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he says it right here in his word, and especially in the last days. At that time, many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other. Many false prophets will appear and fool many people. And many people's love will grow cold because of increased distance from the Torah or his commands, his commandments. But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered. And this good news about the kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the nations. It is then that the end will come. Let me say it again, but whoever holds out to the end will be delivered. That is a promise. And this good news about the kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the nations. It is then that the end will come. So it clearly says here in his word that we are not to have fear. It says, see to it that you don't become frightened. you don't become frightened. And I want to talk to you. I want to go back and I want to talk to you a little bit about the faith piece of it. And I want to make sure that I'm getting the right text here for us. So I'm looking at it now and I want to go to where we're talking about the talents. And so let me grab that section right here. Let me make sure I've got the right. That's in Matthew twenty five. So let me go to Matthew twenty five. Matthew twenty five. Matthew twenty five. Let me go to Matthew twenty five. Here we go. This talks about, Jesus tells the parable of basically, yeah, the loaned money or the talents. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called on his own servants and delivered them to them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one one. To every man according to his... his several ability and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. And likewise, he that hath received two, he also gained other two, but he that hath received one went and digged it in the earth and hid his Lord's money. And he hid his Lord's money. After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto them, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents. Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make the ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strung. And I was afraid. Hear that? And I was afraid and went and hid that talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast thou that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant. Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers. And then at my coming, I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him and give it into him which have ten talents. For unto everyone that... And this is all saying, and this was what the Lord was highlighting to me. And I read that out of the King James Version. And I may come back with a little different version. But it's speaking about... the story of the talents, one was full of fear. He had no faith. And he was afraid of what he would do if he ventured out, if he went out on his own. He had fear of what would happen or, well, basically, how will I make it? What will I do? But the other ones, they were were full of faith. Now some had a little bit of faith and the other guy, man, he had a whole lot of faith. And they multiplied, they trusted, they realized that they could do it. And they had the belief that they needed and the faith that they needed because they were believing. They were good servants, believing what their Lord was telling them. And they were believing on their Lord and in faith and multiplying the blessings which were given to them and being good stewards. And it was by faith that they were able to increase. And it is by faith that we get to experience the fullness of the kingdom of God. It is by faith that we get to walk in such power. And because the more faith we have, the less fear we have, because remember, you can't have faith in fear. You got to have faith and not fear. We have power, love, and a sound mind. We have the spirit of faith, but we don't have the spirit of fear. We have the spirit of faith, but we don't have the spirit of fear. Perfect love casts out all fear. So when we walk in faith, when we walk in faith, like Noah, we can build an ark even though it's not raining. Like Abraham, we can go out and start walking and seeking an unknown land. We can do these things in the strength and power of our almighty God. And as good servants, as good servants under the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, under God the Father, then we can serve in the heavenly kingdom. And we can serve and be obedient to the will of our Father, to the will of our Lord. We can carry that out. And we can walk into rooms that need the light of the truth. We can walk in with bold testimonies. We can walk in with the fullness of the kingdom of God backing us. And we walk into any room. We walk into any territory with the strength and power of the kingdom of God with us. and and victory is assured victory is certain we don't have to be afraid we don't partner up with fear we do not operate out of fear we operate from faith and i rebuke the spirit of fear and i impart to you the spirit of faith in the name of jesus and as long as we believe on jesus as long as we believe on the word of god in the word of god as long as we believe it as long as we marinate in it as long as we establish a relationship with god it is that relationship it is is where we have relationship over religion relationship over religious traditions where we love where we love and we are obedient to the call god places on our life when we step out in faith and and and and we we don't operate in fear and we say i don't I don't know where the money's gonna come for that, but I'm gonna step out. I'm gonna put my foot in the Red Sea and I know my God's gonna part it. I know if I get in that fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that I'm gonna be in there with my God. And if I perish, I perish. But if I live, I live. But I know my God and I'm never gonna part from my God. And I'm gonna be a bold about my God and about my witness. And I'm gonna let others know about the freedom that it that comes from the cross from the lord jesus christ it all goes back to the cross everything goes back to the cross remember everything goes back to the cross awaken awaken awaken awaken o sleeper awaken awaken awaken o sleeper everything goes back to the cross everything goes back to the blood shed on calvary everything goes back to the death the resurrection and the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to this world, born to a virgin, fully God, fully man, died on the cross by his stripes. You were healed, took the blows, took the thirty nine stripes, was pierced, bled out so that we could be set free and wash clean from the condemnation of the law, wash clean from the sin that entered into the garden. That we can be reconciled to Christ. That we can be sons and daughters of the Most High King. That we are actually royalty. That we are a royal priesthood. But it starts with us believing it. It starts with me awakening you to your kingdom purpose. It starts with me speaking life over you. It starts with me saying, awaken, awaken, oh sleeper. It is time that we wake up. It is time that we are empowered. It is time that we walk out as change agents and everywhere we step, we take that territory for the kingdom of God. It is time that we speak to those strongholds in our life and we bind them, we break them off in the name of Jesus. We bind that spirit of addiction. We bind that spirit of depression. And we let loose this faith, this mountain moving faith that it talks about in Mark eleven, twenty two to twenty five. Father God, we just call for you today, Father God, to protect our nation, to protect our world. We cry out to you, God. We cry out to you, God, even the rock. are crying out, God. We're crying out to you now, God, saying, save us, O God. Save us, O God. Help us to repent. Help us to turn away from sin. Help us to turn away from darkness. Help us to turn away from those drugs, from the alcohol, those things that no longer serve us, that are killing us, God. Help us to say no. Help us to walk in your freedom. Help us to step out free, Help us to be free from the tormenting thoughts that are in our head every day that we deal with. Father God, give us a quiet mind. Help us to have peace. Help us to have peace of the Lord. Peace I give to you. Peace I leave with you. Help us to walk in peace and help us to be truly set free. truly set free because He who the Son sets free is free indeed. And today I invite you to know that Jesus. Today I invite you to know that Jesus, that the Lord and Savior of your life, that you invite Him into your heart, that you believe on Him, that you say, Jesus, I believe you. I want you to be Lord and Savior of my life. The old way's not working. I don't want any more stinking thinking. I just want to be set free. And I know that freedom only comes from you. I know you died on the cross. You were man and you were God. And you rose again. And I know that you rose again. And it is true. knowing you and believing on you, Jesus, the son of the almighty God, that you're in my heart and I believe on you by faith. And it is that faith I receive your Holy Spirit. And I want your Holy Spirit to lead me in all truth today. I want to be set free. I don't want to walk in darkness anymore. I don't want to be spiritually dead. I don't want it. I want to be awakened. I want to be awakened to the call God's placed on my life. I want to be awakened to the truth. I want to be awakened so I can help others. I can help others be delivered out of the same things that I got delivered from. Oh, God, help me. I want to be in your will, not my will, but your will be done. Oh, God, not my will, but your will be done. Oh, God, not my will, but your will be done. Oh, And today I invite you to know the life freeing gospel of truth. The Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again and his blood shed for us all, cleansed us all and reconciled us to God. There's not a veil any longer. It's been torn. We have access to a relationship with Jesus by way of the Holy Spirit. with the almighty God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our precious Lord Jesus. We only need to believe to receive, believe to receive, believe to receive, believe it, receive it, and become it. And that's the message that he has for you today. That's the message that he has for you today. That's the message that he has for you today. God bless you. God keep you. May his light shine upon you. May you be set free and forever walk in the light of the truth. May the spiritual darkness and depression leave you now in the name and power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. May you be forever set free and awakened. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. Just let his spirit sit there with you for a minute. Just feel his presence. Let's just let his presence have the last word. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Such peace and healing in his presence. Just such peace. Just such peace. Peace. Peace. Let peace be your meter as you follow and are led by the Spirit of the Almighty God. Remember the cross. Awaken. Awaken. Awaken.