CELEBRATE FREEDOM: LIVE FREE AND STAND FIRM

Happy Independence Day!  Happy 250^th birthday to our great nation.  We are blessed to be in this land of freedom.  Freedom is never without cost.  The founders of our nation took great risks to secure these benefits for future generations.  The problem we confront is the fragile nature of liberty.  It is a gift that is conveyed from one generation to another.  As we look back over our history, we can see variations, fluctuations, and outright failure in the application of liberty.  Yet, one of the great blessings of our country is that, by God’s grace, we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave.  We continue to celebrate the living God who has given this country and our lives the gift of liberty.  God’s liberty does not change, but we have to choose God’s freedom for our lives.  This week, we turn to Galatians 5:1-10.  The Galatians were struggling to maintain the freedom of their faith.  There were false believers who were convincing them that they needed to follow the Jewish Law to be truly saved.  They had reached a point of decision: either they would stand in the freedom of faith in Christ, or they would return to the chains, the bondage, and the burden of self-salvation.  If they chose the path of the false believers, then they would reject the benefit of the cross, the power of resurrection, and the fullness of the Spirit! In the sermon Celebrate Freedom: Live Free and Stand Firm, we realize that the lies of this world are powerful and prominent, but the light of God’s freedom cannot be extinguished!  Yet, we have to decide to stand upon the Way, the Truth, and the Life found only in our resurrected Savior, because everything else is sinking sand!  We pray that you will experience this liberating light that can lift you out of the mire of doubt and the darkness of despair into the peace and hope of eternal life as you read Galatians 5:1-10.

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)