CELEBRATE FREEDOME: LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

Happy Father’s Day!  We hope you are able to remember and rejoice over the commitment of your father as we come to this Sunday. As we continue our series of Celebrate Freedom, we want to acknowledge the commitment and contribution of the Founding Fathers of our nation.  We continue to benefit from their inspiration and commitment.  We are moving closer to the celebration of the 250^th anniversary of our nation’s freedom.  Our national freedom is a precious and powerful legacy.  It is rooted in God’s desire to set all of us free in Jesus Christ.  God’s freedom is the purest form of freedom.  Our founding fathers were steeped in this Biblical understanding, yet they also understood that limited freedom was a possibility in a society and a nation.  They knew that freedom could never be perfect because of human sin, but it could be refined and reformed through the processes of government. The title of this week’s sermon is Live Free or Die Hard, and the scripture is 1 Peter 2:16-25.  Although this title may remind you of a disastrous 4^th of July as part of the Die Hard movie series, it also reflects the point that the Apostle Peter is trying to communicate under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  The lives of the early believers were hard, and they were suffering persecution.  Peter reminds them that they could choose to live in God’s freedom or use it as a pretext for bad motives and actions.  Choosing to move deeper into God’s freedom would determine if they would experience a greater joy, strength, and hope despite the difficulty of their lives.  This is the freedom that every believer needs to experience because it transforms persecution into purpose, anger into accountability, and badmouthing into blessing!  We pray that you will experience this freedom of transformation that turns your sorrow into joy, and your mourning into dancing through the presence of the Holy Spirit as you read 1 Peter 2:16-25.

1 Peter 2:16-25: Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. ¹⁷ Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. ¹⁸ Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. ¹⁹ For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. ²⁰ But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” ²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴ “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” ²⁵ For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (NIV)