In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the disciples that they must turn from their sins and become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Becoming like children does not mean that we become simplistic, shallow, scared and selfish. Instead, we are to become humble and remember that our place is God’s Kingdom will not be determined by our ability, education, worldly wisdom or physical attractiveness.

We like to talk about faith, being strong in the Lord, authority, overcoming and being more than conquerors. All of these descriptions are great, true and accurate for those who are in the Kingdom of God, but if humility is the measuring stick, we need to figure out what it means and what it looks like in our lives. Today, we are starting a brand-new series called Humility: The Key to Childlike Faith.

Though only five chapters long, the book of James encourages us to be doers of God’s Word. We’re not meant to merely listen to its teachings; we must take the next step and obey. It’s all about putting our faith into practice — what it commonly called Practical Theology. The faith of every Christian should be one that is not merely known or believed but one that is also acted upon.

This doesn’t happen overnight. We don’t just wake up one day and instantly or easily start doing all the things that James says we should do. Instead, it happens through a process that involves our heads, our hearts, and our hands. In this week’s message, we’re going to examine this process to help us gain the information and encouragement needed to be doers of God’s Word.

Why do we invest money with someone called a broker? Why is the slowest time of day — when we’re often stuck in traffic and going nowhere — called rush hour? How does glue not stick to the inside of the bottle? Why does spending a lot of time in the sun lighten your hair and darken your skin?

Beyond these silly examples, there are many things in our lives that don’t make sense, leading us to feel unsettled or confused. When we face these situations, happens, it is important for us to trust God and know that He is in control. This week, we’ll join Pastor Robby as he discusses the life of Ruth and how she handled circumstances that just didn't make sense.

According to Matthew 28, the mission of every Bible-believing church in the world is to go and make disciples. As a matter of fact, it’s called the Great Commission because there is no greater call on the lives of believers than this one. We are to be witnesses of the faith we have in Jesus — not just with our words but with our lives — and help push people along in their spiritual development as followers or disciples of Jesus.

It doesn’t matter what else we do, how hard we work or how good we look. If we aren’t making disciples, we’re missing the point. We might be doing lots of important things, but if we fail to do the most important thing, we cannot expect the Father to be pleased with us. To ensure that we’re becoming more effective at doing what the Lord is most concerned about, this week’s message is all about disciple making.

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus makes it clear that it’s His will for you to be saved, healed and set free. As we begin or continue to walk on the path to freedom, we have to remember that it’s God’s will for us to be free and to be healed of our emotional pain and mental strongholds that have clouded our judgment for so long. This week, we will examine the four words that Jesus used to get free from His soul pain and how the same words can bring freedom and healing for us.

The Bible tells us that Jesus felt overwhelming pain in His soul the night before He was to be crucified. He felt it, but He was not bound by it. He used the resources and took the steps we discussed in previous weeks, but it was four words that finally set Him free: Your Will Be Done. When He said those words and settled it in His heart, His soul was settled, His mind was clear, and the plan of God was in full motion.

This week, we’re continuing to look at the specific steps that we must take to push through our soul pain toward the freedom that awaits us. We talked about the first step — Embrace the Pain — last week, and now, we’re going to talk about the second step: Reject the Shame. According to Matthew 26, Jesus said that His soul was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” but He knew that dying for our sins on the cross was God’s plan and would not allow anything or anyone to shame Him out of following the path to freedom.

Shame may be the number one obstacle to our freedom, but if we’re going to reject the shame, we need to understand some things about it first. We recently learned that all our chains are rooted in our own sin or other people’s sin against us, and as we examine the very first sin in human history and see how fast shame shows up in Genesis, we will learn some valuable lessons about how we can resist the enemy’s attempts at shame, guilt and condemnation that so often keep us in chains.

Who or what is driving your life? Is it fear? Pain? Revenge? Desperation? Rage? Addiction? Past abuse? Whatever or whomever is driving determines the course, the speed and the destination, and as we learned last week, if you are not submitting to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your daily decisions, you need to stop and switch seats because at least one area of your life is out of control.

We’ve spent some time examining the resources that will help us get free, but if we’re going to walk the path of freedom, what steps should we take? This week, we’re looking at the first step toward freedom: Embrace the Pain. In Matthew, we read about Jesus overcoming soul-crushing grief to accomplish God’s will, and if we want to do the same and experience the freedom that is waiting for us on the other side, we must have the courage to embrace the pain of healing.

For the last several weeks, we have been going through a series called The Path to Freedom. We know that Jesus lived on the earth and died on the cross to set us free, but far too many of us — maybe all of us in at least one area — are still living in bondage. If we are ever going to experience the freedom that Jesus died to provide, we’re going to have to join Him on this path to freedom.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve been talking about the specific resources that Jesus gives us to help us get free, and in today’s message, we’re going to talk about the third resource: the Holy Spirit. Only by surrendering to and relying on the Holy Spirit can we discover the truth, power and self-control that we need to trust God as we navigate this life of faith.

Welcome to the Head of Household broadcast with Pastor Nelson Robertson. Today we'll begin our discussion on the power of Submission.

Head of Household is brought to you by Watering the Seed Ministries in corporation with Kingdom Rock Studios.

The ministry of Jesus is the same ministry of the Word of God, and that is to set people free from sin, from sickness, from soul wounds, from chains, from slavery — free from anything and everything that holds us down.

Jesus literally died to set us free. Then, He gave us His Word as a resource to help us get free. Why are so many of us still walking around in chains? It’s time to get set free, and one of the resources Jesus gave us is His Word, which is The Gospel of Freedom.