LET FREEDOM RULE YOUR HEART
John 8:32
America celebrated 250 years of freedom from Britain this year. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. However the slave trade begin in a America in 1526 by Spanish slave traders is South Carolina. Another group of African slaves arrive in August 1619 at Point Comfort
Present day Fort Monroe in Hampton Virginia. The signing of the Declaration of Independence did not address human slavery in America.
Slavery in the US was constitutionally abolished in the 13th Amendment in December 1865. Black males didn’t get the right to vote until the 15th amendment was added in 1870.
Congress never made holding slaves a crime until 1941. The 14th and the 15th Amendments to the constitution were not enforced until the 1960’s.
Black women did not get the right to vote until the 1950’s
Today in America many immigrants who came looking for the American dream are being forced out. Except for the native American Indians, we are all immigrants. So whose freedom are we celebrating?
Dr Martin Luther King had a dream for the future of America. It was doing the Civil Rights movement in 1963. It was about physical freedom and the equality of men and women with equal rights.
His I Have a Dream statement was made in Washington DC. An excerpt is below
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. “
We live in a society where freedom is based on whose perception you are looking from. In America today we are not free to voice our opinions without physical reprisals or violence. Your freedom depends on how much money you got, what political party you claim and what connections you have in government. And that changes from day to day,
WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT FREEDOM
Gal 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.
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1 Peter 2:16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
John 8:32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
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Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.
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Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
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THE WORD OF GOD ABOUT TRUE FREEDOM
I have the Word of God about true freedom. God promised us spiritual freedom over 2000 years ago. It was ratified with the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. It has nothing to do with our physical circumstances but all to do with our spiritual freedom. Physical freedom want get you into heaven but Jesus can.
John 8:32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus is the truth, Freedom of the soul. Jesus came to make us free from the inside out. Jesus came to set us free from sin. In the Bible sin is missing God’s perfect standard of righteousness or breaking His law. Unless we get puffed up
God reminds us; Rom 3:23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.
God further emphasizes our inability to be perfect in His sight with
Rom 3:10 as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one;
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It is only through a relationship with Jesus Christ can we be set free from Sin
John 8:36 If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
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SLAVERY TO SIN ALWAYS A HUMAN PRODUCT
Slavery to sin has always been a factor in human relationships. It started in the Garden of Eden and continues today. Sin binds us to a lie; you want die. It blinds us to the truth which is the Word of God and it grinds us into the pit of hell.
JESUS NEVER CONDEMNS YOU BUT EMPOWERS YOU
Jesus never condemns us for our sins or put us on a guilt trip. Jesus went out His way to meet the Samaritan women at the well. A woman who had had five husbands and was living with a six man who was not her husband,
Jesus told her he knew who she was and offered her living water, which she accepted and became a missionary in Samaria.
The woman with the issue of blood for 12 years by law was not to be in the crowd, quietly made her way to Jesus and touched the helm of His garment
And was immediately healed. She intended to slip away unnoticed. But
Jesus recognized the healing power had come out of him. He called her out and she confessed. Jesus said your faith has made you well. She was free from the blood issue and could live a normal life. But she was bound to the blood of Jesus for her spiritual freedom.
Peter who denied Jesus three times the night of His trial, was forgiven and restored with preaching power. Peter converted 5000 souls in his first two sermons.
Jesus came that we might have life abundantly. Jesus did not come to start a religion, but to start a relationship with Him. Religion is something you do out of habit. A relationship is a free gift from Jesus. You did not have the good sense to come to Jesus until you were drawn.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day.
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SIN KEEPS YOU IN A WALL OF GUILT
There are some who build walls around their sins. They get comfortable in their misery, It is their norm. Like Judas He was the keeper of the donations given to Jesus. He regularly stole from the money bag. He sold Jesus out to the Jewish leaders for 30 pieces of silver. He knew he
was wrong and gave the money back to them. BUT, he was too proud to confess his sin to Jesus and accept forgiveness. The tragedy was that forgiveness was his for the asking. He was blinded to Jesus’ words that
He had the power to forgive sin;
Matt 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go up unto thy house.
Judas had been with Jesus for 3 ½ years. He heard and witnessed this. Blinded by Satan he committed suicide.
Judas didn’t start out to be a thief. His name means “praise be to the Lord”.
Jesus trusted him with the donations. He took a little once, got away with it
And kept doing it and in some way justified it in his mind till it became a habit. He accepted the lie from Satan, you can quit anytime and no one will know,
THE PRICE FOR YOUR FORGIVENESS
Anything worth having has a price. To be any athlete takes years of training. To pursue a professional career takes years of study.
Our spiritual liberty was not cheap. It cost Jesus His life, A man without
Sin received the death on the cross, the cruelest punishment.
On the cross with arms stressed wide , his final words was it is finish, Into
Your hands I commit my spirit. The word finished was a legal business term. The transaction between Jesus and the Father was complete
Jesus paid the price for you sins and mind forever, past present and future,
God chose to forget your sins. He is the only one that can do that
Ps 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
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WHAT DOES SPIRITUAL FREEDOM COST YOU?
Give up self for God
Give up hate for love
Give up you getting even for God’s vengeance
Give up intolerance for patience
Give up your will for God’s will
Give up religion for relationship
Give up independence for dependence on Jesus
Give up your opinions for the truth
THE BENEFIT OF YOUR SPIRITUAL FREEDEM
The Truth will set you free John 8:31-32
Freedom from the Law to Grace John 1:17
Freedom to love and serve Gal 5:13
Protection over your freedom 1 Cor 6:12
Freedom From Guilt
Freedom From the Bondage of Sin
Prepared place in heaven John 14:2
WHAT DOES A LIFE OF TRUE FREEDOM LOOK LIKE?
LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOU MIND BODY AND SOUL
ACCEPT JESUS AS THE ONE WHO PAID THE PRICE FOR ALL YOUR SINS
TRUST GOD FOR ALL YOUR NEEDS AND THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART
EXPECT GOD TO GIVE YOU A LIFE OF ABUNDANCE
START EACH DAY WITH PRAISE AND WORSHIP
LIVE EACH DAY WITH AN ATTITUDE OF GRADITUDE
SEE EACH DAY AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE OTHERS
LIVE EACH DAY IN JESUS JOY, THE WORLD DIDN’T GIVE IT AND ONLY YOU CAN LET IT SLIP AWAY
LET THE PEAC
E OF GOD RULE YOUR HEART IN MIDST OF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
MAKE ALL YOUR REQUESTS KNOWN TO GOD WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING
IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AND HE WILL DIRECT YOUR PATH
WE ARE FREE THANK GOD ALMIGHT FOR THE GIFT OF FREEDOM
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