We have finally come to our discussion of freedom itself. This discussion is so important because freedom is the context in which God wrote your story, which means freedom is the only context in which your story can be lived.

So, what is freedom exactly? How do we maintain it? How can we increase it? More importantly, how is freedom lost?

In this episode, we explore two revolutions - the American Revolution and the French Revolution.

One ended in yet another form of tyranny, and one ended having actually established true freedom.

We explore the noteworthy behavior of people involved in both revolutions and discover that HOW you go about the cause of freedom is just as important as the cause itself, if not more so.

True freedom is a high call that pulls greatness out of us when we rise to its challenge. We hope this series inspires you to true greatness.

The title says it all.

Your eyes are now open, which means the cage door is open, but you are keeping YOURSELF in the cage now.

Why are you doing that?

We’ll tell you!

This episode dives into five possible reasons you’re staying in legalism. They probably sound like very good, responsible, even godly reasons, but they are lies just the same.

We share the wisdom and insight God gave us when we faced each of these lies. 

In this second installment of Part 5 - Forfeiting Covenant for Legalism - we dive into the story of the Israelites on the verge of the Promised Land. Having heard of its abundance and with the promise from God that He had given them the land, we feel the jarring shock and disappointment when they refuse to enter in because of unbelief.

How could they be so foolish?!

And yet, we are doing the exact same thing as children of God today.

God has given us superior, wonderful promises in the New Covenant, made possible only by the Cross of Jesus. And He has diligently communicated to us that He will be everything we need.

And yet, we still live in a place of unbelief, which has kept us wandering in a spiritual wilderness for far too long.

his episode unpacks Hebrews 3 and 4 where we learn that another name for the Promised Land is rest. The Promised Land for us today is a place of inner rest, and we enter in through belief in who God says He is and what He says He will do.

On the flip side, we learn that an unbelieving heart is evil in God’s eyes, and evil defined is simply “toil, hardship, annoyance, pressure, peril.”

Does there seem to be constant hardship, annoyance, pressure and toil in your life?

Perhaps it is because we have forgotten what covenant with God is and have fallen into a legalistic “I can do this myself, I’m on my own” mentality.

This episode re-invites us into covenant rest. The opportunity is still in front of us and, amazingly, the way in is simply belief.

This episode could be a turning point for many of you, so weary and heavy laden in your lives.

We’re on the verge of the Promised Land, folks! Glory never yet seen awaits us who believe.

Hopefully, if you’ve listened to all of our episodes thus far, you’re convinced that legalism in the Church is not a benign issue. 

For those just joining us or for those who remain unconvinced, we hope these next two episodes - Forfeiting Covenant for Legalism, Parts 1 & 2 - change your mind.

We hope these episodes whet your appetite for true covenant relationship with God. It is our belief we actually do not know what this looks like or what it really means, and therefore, we aren’t living it to the full.

We hope to provoke you into realizing we are living far beneath God’s intention for us, that have settled for less BIG TIME.

We dive into the blessings and promises of the Old Covenant and hope to inspire hunger and desire in you for more when we read in Hebrews that the promises and blessings of the New Covenant, made possible only by the Cross of Jesus, are far superior and more glorious.

It is our belief we have yet to see the fullness of what these superior promises and blessings look like. Could Freeborn believers finally be the people, the generation, that display it?

We suggest that legalism in the Church is our modern-day equivalent of the repeated rebellion against God that the children of Israel displayed. As they chose their own way and served false gods and rejected the terms of covenant with God, they experienced exile, poverty, slavery, sickness, oppression, and humiliation. 

Just like the Israelites, the Church today has done similar - chosen their own ways, raised up false images of God, and rejected the terms of covenant, which is simply, “Listen to My voice and follow My instructions.” 

As a whole, the Church has experienced - and is experiencing - similar repercussions: poverty, sickness and disease, spiritual slavery, oppression, and humiliation. 

The opportunity to repent and return to covenant with God is before us. So much awaits us if we do!

What if our normal isn’t the way God designed it?

Just because it’s always been a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the way it’s supposed to be.

It is often hard to see the kind of water you’ve been swimming in until someone or something yanks you out of your fishbowl.

That is the purpose of this episode - to help you observe your surroundings objectively and scripturally, to finally say out loud what you’ve observed in silence for years.

Legalism is tricky because its dysfunction is hidden behind pious clothing, reverent words and common sense precautions.

But as Jesus helps us understand, the laws of man will always trump the laws of God and bite us in the end.

You’ve likely observed and even been negatively affected by this dysfunction for years, but because it is everyone’s “normal”, you’ve felt like the crazy one.

We hope that ends with this episode. Let’s get healthy, Freeborn believers.

The devil is TERRIFIED of you.

More specifically, he’s terrified of you the way God created you.

Isaiah 54:16-17 reveals that as we fully become everything God has created us to be, we become more and more indestructible against everything he could throw at us.

In fact, in the Kingdom, we must BECOME before we do. Most of Christianity has this backwards.

Every freeborn believer needs to know - you have divine permission to be everything God created you to be.

Legalism fundamentally rewires, thwarts, and suppresses that original design.

This episode unmasks the two faces of legalism the devil uses to achieve these ends. There’s the loving, helpful face of legalism, and then there is something a bit more cold and sinister.

Many, if not most of us, have fell victim to one or both of these faces. This episode not only exposes the way both of these approaches impact us, but it walks us through the process of healing and how it looks to be on the other side of it.

In the Kingdom, all can be restored!

You may want to grab some tissues for this one.

This episode exposes why legalism is, on the one hand, so easy to swallow and on the other hand, in light of the Cross, why it's absurd.

We believe with legalism, we are dealing with a cunning deception that is so effective it worked in a perfect world on an as-yet sinless human being.

The devil was introduced in Scripture as a deceiver and damned for eternity as a deceiver.

Deception is his best and favorite weapon, and it’s worked for centuries.

It would be foolish to believe we are so "in the truth" that deception can’t touch us. Our wisdom begins when we realize how susceptible we are.

After exposing this potent ploy, this episode methodically explains why freedom is God’s answer for humans.

This is the first part of a 6-part series on legalism.

Legalism is defined as the “strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code.” As such and as this series hopes to prove, it is directly opposed to the freedom Jesus purchased for us.

Legalism is not a benign issue in the Church. This is not a mere difference of opinion on how Christians ought to live. The root of legalism, what everyone cannot see because it’s buried and hidden, is a deadly, cancerous deception that has metastasized dangerously over the decades and cultivated a culture of spiritual death among us.

Sound dramatic? Decide for yourself at the conclusion of this series.

While every generation has been affected and impacted by legalism in the Church, we believe the Millennial generation has felt the full brunt of its impact. We have walked away from God in droves. Now, our children don’t even believe in God.

This is unacceptable to us. 

We Millennials, today’s parents, must course correct. The Freeborn Podcast is a response to this issue. We must first see legalism for what it really is - as an ugly, evil, suppressive force - and then we must understand biblical freedom - the blood-bought antidote to this curse. A generation powerfully and knowledgeably walking in freedom and truth can do much to turn things around!

This episode is all about the dream that changed everything. 

Don’t only prophets prophesy? Or, at least, really spiritual people? 

Isn’t prophecy just predicting the future? 

Didn’t prophecy end in the Old Testament? Or at least when the last apostle died?

We address all of these questions and more on this episode. 

Not only is the Bible clear that all of God’s children can prophesy. It’s clear that it is imperative that every child of God prophesies because of how powerfully it builds up the Church and impacts unbelievers.

On September 23, 2024, at 8:00pm EST, Ashley and Clinton are holding a 2-hour sampler prophetic training/Q&A session so you can dip your toe further into this topic and experience its impact firsthand. If you’re interested in learning more and asking questions live and in person, please sign up here - https://forms.gle/4Vr2Wd2p5SNzXxUh7. You’ll walk away having given AND received your own prophetic words - could be life-changing!

We are so eager to see you there!

We’re doing a spiritual check-up in this last part of our Spiritual Maturity series. How spiritually mature are you? We’re given ways to know in the Bible.

Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life.”

God isn’t playing cat and mouse with us. He makes His ways pretty clear; yet, this episode is largely about how we stay in our own way. This is both the result of spiritual immaturity and how we remain spiritually immature.

This is an episode of hope and empowerment. If you listen with an open heart, we believe the Holy Spirit will highlight what has been holding you back. Sometimes, we are waiting on God, but so often He is waiting on us.

If you feel stuck, if you feel frustrated, if you’ve been walking around the same mountain for years, this episode just might have the insights and answers you’ve been looking for.

00:00 Welcome to the Freeborn Podcast

01:03 Spiritual Maturity Checkup

02:09 Lessons from Parenting

04:39 Understanding God's Guidance

09:04 The Moral Universe

16:58 Spiritual Maturity and Righteousness

30:56 Choosing Joy in Reflection

31:35 God's Training and Kingdom Within

32:24 Earthly vs. Heavenly Intelligence

33:00 Signs of Spiritual Maturity

45:12 The Orphan Spirit

49:49 Healing and Spiritual Maturity

50:53 The Call for Church Transparency

53:45 The Journey to True Freedom

58:35 The Vision of a Mature Church