# Rough Road to Freedom

## Metadata
- Author: [[Neil T Anderson]]
- Full Title: Rough Road to Freedom
- Category: #books
## Highlights
- Learning to be a faithful witness without regard for our own personal wellbeing is a hurdle every Christian needs to get over. ([Location 547](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=547))
- have had the privilege to meet and work with Christian leaders all over the world. Most were godly men and women, but none of them seemed more like Jesus Christ to me than John did. He was God’s gift to me at a time when I really needed to know that Christian leadership is not about titles, degrees, diplomas, and social status. It is about godly character and credibility. I decided that when I “grew up” I would like to be like John, who was just a simple humble man who heard from God and obeyed. ([Location 575](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=575))
- The power of influence can’t be overstated, and it is a power that must be wielded carefully. ([Location 600](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=600))
- He was one of the few pastors that I have ever met who had the gift of administration. ([Location 607](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=607))
- I would never let money or the lack of it be the basis for ministry decisions. I would never compromise my convictions for financial gain, ([Location 634](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=634))
- couldn’t find any biblical basis for total abstinence. In fact, the apostle Paul suggested that Timothy take a little wine for his stomach, and Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast. That was enough biblical justification for me to continue having a beer now and then, when there were no Baptists around. ([Location 675](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=675))
- Then something strange happened to both Joanne and myself. A conviction came over us and we realized that we didn’t need to consume any more alcohol. ([Location 678](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=678))
- When conviction comes from God, the power to stop comes with it. ([Location 682](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=682))
- I heard a simple message that changed all that. “How do we know the will of God?” asked the evangelist. “How do you know whether something is right or wrong when the Bible is silent about the subject?” he queried. I remember two of his three points as clearly as though I’d heard them ten minutes ago. First, can you do what you are doing and glorify God? Second, can you do what you are doing and be a positive witness? ([Location 691](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=691))
- Then I read in Scripture that anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). ([Location 709](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=709))
- Until that night my prayers were simple petitions that I was bringing before God and the communication was only one way. Then the Lord brought to mind a verse from Romans, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26 ESV). In the original language the word translated as “helps” is two prepositions before the word “take.” The Holy Spirit comes alongside, bears us up, and takes us across to the other side (God’s presence). Any prayer that God the Holy Spirit prompts us to pray is a prayer that God the Father is always going to answer. ([Location 739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=739))
- OK God, whatever you want to talk about, I’m listening. I spent an hour in prayer for the first time in my life. Whatever came to my mind that evening I dealt with including tempting moral issues that I had previously understood to be distractions. Those were issues God wanted me to deal with, because they were affecting my intimacy with Him. I could be totally honest with Him, because He already had perfect knowledge of me, and I was already forgiven. I decided that evening to walk in the light and have fellowship with Him (1 John 1:7), and to live in conscious agreement about my moral condition. There would be no secrets between the two of us. I began to understand that prayer is more about listening than talking, and to be still and know that He is God. What a revelation that was! ([Location 751](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=751))
- Jesus never asked for volunteers. He prayerfully selected his disciples. If everybody is qualified, then quality people don’t sign up. A ministry like this must start with mature Christians. You can’t make a strong chain with weak links. ([Location 895](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=895))
- Every new convert has approximately ten people they connect with socially. If we win one of them to Christ, they have ten new contacts in our community. When churches don’t reach out they become insular and cease being the salt and light that every community needs. ([Location 900](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=900))
- Anger and anxiety are just human emotions, but they are often preceded by ungodly thoughts and beliefs. ([Location 929](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=929))
- Dedicated incompetency is still incompetency, which is probably what led someone to observe that “a camel was a horse designed by a church committee.” ([Location 974](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=974))
- I thought I could get along with anyone, but I learned the hard way that you can’t be reconciled with another person if they don’t want to be. The Bible teaches: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18 ESV). But it doesn’t always depend on us. ([Location 1000](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1000))
- After two weeks of recovery I was finally able to preach again. With a husky voice, I spoke on that passage in Mark. I told the congregation that there are three types of people in this world. First, there are those who are blind. Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving (2 Corinthians 4:4). They need you and me to take their hands and lead them to Jesus. Second, there are those who see people like trees. We compare our leaves with one another and scratch each other with our branches. But we are not trees. We are children of God, who are created in His image. Third, there are people who see clearly; they have been touched by God. I confessed to them my own independence and pledged my love to them. ([Location 1046](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1046))
- Years later I told my seminary students that story and said, “If you are called to be a pastor, there is one criterion for success that is not negotiable. The bottom line is, you have to love people. If people know that you love them, you can make a lot of mistakes. However, if they question your love, all it takes is one mistake and you will be on the hot seat.” Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 ESV). ([Location 1059](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1059))
- If everything we accomplish in our lives could be explained by hard work or human ingenuity, then where was God and who gets the glory? I learned to declare my dependency upon God and ask him to fill me with His Holy Spirit before I started any ministry. ([Location 1064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1064))
- I believe God wants to build His church, but he has to lay the right foundation in us first, because we are the church. The apostle Peter wrote, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God” (1 Peter 4:17). The process of building first begins in the life of the pastor. People cannot rise above their leadership. ([Location 1125](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1125))
- God can change in a moment what we can’t change in a lifetime. ([Location 1250](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1250))
- The point is, never doubt in the darkness what God has clearly shown you in the light. We must keep on walking in the light of previous revelation. ([Location 1252](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1252))
- If God’s ministry of darkness should envelope you, keep on walking in the light of previous revelation. ([Location 1258](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1258))
- There were days I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it. If it weren’t for the message given in Isaiah 50:10–11 (NASB), I’m not sure we would have passed this test: Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from My hand: You will lie down in torment. Isaiah is talking about a believer, somebody who obeys God, and yet walks in darkness. Isaiah is not talking about the darkness of sin, nor even the darkness of this world (that is, the kingdom of darkness). He’s talking about the darkness of uncertainty, a blanket of heaviness that hovers like a dark cloud over our very being. The assurances of yesterday have been replaced by the uncertainties of tomorrow. God has suspended His conscious blessings. ([Location 1264](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1264))
- Don’t light your own fire is another lesson we must learn from Isaiah. In other words, don’t create your own light. The natural tendency when we don’t see it God’s way, is to do it our way. Notice the text again, “Behold all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire…” God is not talking about the fire of judgment, He’s talking about fire that creates light. Notice what happens when people create their own light, “…And among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from my hand: You will lie down in torment.” Essentially God is saying, “Go ahead, do it your way. I will allow it, but misery will follow.” ([Location 1277](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1277))
- The devil has a ministry of darkness that threatens to destroy us. God also has a ministry of darkness that purifies our faith. The devil tempts us with our destruction in mind. God tests us with our purification in mind. ([Location 1301](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1301))
- There was no need for Robert’s Rules of Order to govern our behavior, since they didn’t vote on anything. They practiced a process called “sensing.” The moderator of the church would bring issues before the congregation and invite comments and questions to seek consensus. After a period of discussion the moderator would “sense” the direction God was leading, and make a decision reflecting that. If there was no consensus reached, the issue was tabled. ([Location 1335](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1335))
- The proper order in life should be character before career, maturity before ministry, and being before doing. ([Location 1374](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1374))
- My eyes were opened a little wider when I carefully looked at Genesis 3:6 (NSAB), “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food [lust of the flesh], and that it was a delight to the eyes [lust of the eyes], and that the tree was desirable to make one wise [boastful pride of life], she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” The apostle John (see above) was describing three channels that Satan used to tempt Eve, which were exactly the same three channels that Satan used to tempt Jesus (see Matthew 4:1–10). ([Location 1416](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1416))
- Satan’s temptation of Eve questioned the will of God, the word of God, and the worship of God (Genesis 3:1–5). ([Location 1420](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1420))
- I also came to realize that all temptation is just an attempt to entice us to live our lives independently of God. ([Location 1422](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1422))
- We have the privilege to present a whole gospel that is summarized in Colossians 2:13–15 (ESV): And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him. ([Location 1484](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1484))
- It is not what we do that determines who we are. Who we are determines what we do. ([Location 1496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1496))
- “But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.” As I read, I saw it all! “If we believe not, He abideth faithful.” I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how the joy flowed!) that He had said, “I will never leave thee.” I thought, I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more… ([Location 1557](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1557))
- Galatians 2:20 (ESV), “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” I ([Location 1564](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1564))
- Meanwhile, I was providing free counseling at Granada Heights Friends Church as well as at the seminary. I began to notice that every inquirer who came to see me had one thing in common. None of them knew who they were in Christ, nor did they understand what it meant to be a child of God. ([Location 1647](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1647))
- The second reason is the lack of repentance. The prayer above asks that we may have a true knowledge of God, having the eyes of our hearts enlightened to know who we are, that is, our identity in Christ. I would later learn that a true knowledge of God and true knowledge of who we are in Christ is the real basis for mental health. ([Location 1663](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1663))
- Realizing that she had a distorted image of God, I gave her a set of recordings by A.W. Tozer on the attributes of God. ([Location 1676](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B009P1EUGA&location=1676))