CELEBRATE FREEDOM: LIVE FREE AND REPENT

Although we are several weeks past celebrating America’s 250th year, we have not finished celebrating God’s freedom in our lives.  We have focused on the idea of freedom, but not necessarily the disciplines of freedom.  Ideas can inspire and inform us, but actions and disciplines maintain our liberty, whether it is in our nation or in our spiritual walk.  We have been set free in Jesus Christ, but we have to stand firm in this freedom, but how?  In our series Celebrate Freedom, the sermon is Live Free and Repent.  Repentance is not just a choice, but it is one of the important disciplines to stand firm in our spiritual liberty.  There is always a disconnect between God’s will and our desire to follow God’s will, even when God’s will is very apparent.  One of the clearest examples of this is found in the prophet Jonah.  The only thing you may remember about Jonah is that he was swallowed by a great fish. Unfortunately, he knew God’s will and God gave him a mission, then he went away as fast as he could! We can all identify with the temperament and temptation of this prophet. Our scripture focus for this sermon is Jonah 2:1-10 and his prayer from the belly of the whale.  It is a sterling example of the process and power of repentance, in which he is truly set free but not completely transformed!  As you read this short book, you realize God continued to work with Jonah’s heart and mind.  God did not give up on Jonah, nor does he give up on any of us. This is the point where God’s faithful promise of liberty has to break the chains of slavery to our determined will! We pray that as you cry out from the depths of your soul, you will experience the transforming power of God breaking every chain of despair and every handcuff of hopelessness!

Jonah 2:1-10: From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. ² He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. ³ You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. ⁴ I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ ⁵ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. ⁶ To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit. ⁷ “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. ⁸ “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. ⁹ But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.'” ¹⁰ And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (NIV)