CELEBRATE FREEDOM: LIVE FREE AND STAND ON THE PROMISES

Even though the anniversary of the founding of our country has passed, our need to understand, clarify, and support the freedom of our country has not.  All human freedom is limited and has to be maintained and reaffirmed.  We believe that the freedom we enjoy reflects the freedom that God desires for all of humanity.  Yet, the impact of sin is apparent in our world.  It is only by grace, God’s undeserved kindness, that we experience the light of freedom.  God has truly shed his grace upon our country, and more importantly, on our lives.  Even in the Christian life, our liberty must be maintained and reaffirmed, because of our broken human nature, we love the darkness of our bondage more than the light of God’s liberty. The purpose of our series Celebrate Freedom is to help us expand God’s strength and power by reaffirming God’s freedom in our lives.  The darkness of bondage is very apparent in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatian church.   Even though the Galatians had left the bondage of pagan sacrifice, they were being tempted by the bondage of self-salvation through following the Jewish law.  In the sermon Live Free and Stand on God’s Promises, we return to Galatians 5:1-10. We realize that the power to stand is not based on our actions but on God’s promises.  If we are to find the power of God’s liberating Spirit and sense the strength to throw off the chains of our sins, it is by realizing that the freedom of Christ is a promise to be claimed, not a prize to be earned!  We pray you will find the laser light of faith in Christ cutting through the darkness of doubt, and the discouragement of fear as you stand upon God’s promise to claim you as his child, simply because those whom the Son has set free are free indeed. 

Galatians 5:1-10: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³ Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. ⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. ⁷ You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? ⁸ That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ⁹ “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” ¹⁰ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. (NIV)