Freedom is Never Free
This 4th needs to be America’ Wake up Call!!! Yes our personal wake up CALL to Take some ACTION to keep and maintain our FREEDOM.
Galatians 5:1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
Hosea 6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
**Love God first, love people second using the grace and mercy that has been given to us and the obedience will just fall into place because eventually God’s desires become our desires too.
Freedom Is Never Free
*We are blessed to live in a free country.
* Our freedom is no accident.
*** It is God-given.
However, it has been preserved by brave men and women who have sacrificed their very lives and are doing so now-so that WE might remain free!!
With all of my heart I pray that we might continue to enjoy this great freedom — that our children and grandchildren may know and experience the joy and blessedness of the freedom that we have known — “that WE might Stand Fast in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free.”
Consider this 4th of July as we think about our freedom and as we hold dear to our hearts the memory of those who have fought and died for the love of this great land:
**THE COST OF OUR FREEDOM**
Freedom is never free!!!
The freedom that we enjoy as Americans has been purchased at the cost of the lives of our forefathers.
Reminder: Beginning in Jamestown in 1607, there was structured into the framework of Americanism the story of legions of American patriots who believed in God and followed Jesus Christ with the unswerving conviction that man, created in God’s own image, was to be subservient to no one, God only.
**They loved liberty more than life and were even willing to die rather than be forced to live under the dictatorial and hellish coalition of church and state.
In 1620 the Pilgrims set up the basic principles of Americanism — this was to be a land of liberty, of soul freedom where each and every citizen could worship and serve God according to his own conscience.
In 1776 the issue was clearly drawn between the continued freedom of these Americans or a cruel and depressive dictatorship. On July 4, 1776, the Congress of the 13 states issued their Declaration of Independence from England.
Old Ben Franklin stood up in the company of men who were about to affix their signatures to that document, and he said,
“This is a great risk, for if we sign our names and lose in our cause, then our identity will be known and all will be lost.”
That immortal 56 who stood in old Independence Hall in Philadelphia risked their Lives, their Fortunes, and their sacred Honor — everything was put down in that signature.
We well remember the Declaration, along with the Bill of Rights, passed in 1791 are the most precious gifts ever given to a FREE people.
They are the foundation stones upon which our nation was founded.
How about “Our Freedom in Christ”!
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. (Galatians 5:1 MSG)
*I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your OWN religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. (Galatians 5:4 MSG)
*Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:5 MSG)
*For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: FAITH expressed in LOVE. (Galatians 5:6 MSG)
*It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a FREE life. Just make sure that YOU don’t use this freedom as an EXCUSE to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom.
Rather, use your freedom to Serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. (Galatians 5:13 MSG)
*For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. (Galatians 5:14 MSG)
*My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. (Galatians 5:16 MSG)
*For there is a ROOT of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.
***These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. (Galatians 5:17 MSG)
*Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? (Galatians 5:18 MSG)
*It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your OWN way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; (Galatians 5:19 MSG)
*This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom. (Galatians 5:21 MSG)
*But what happens when we live God’s way?
*** GOD brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal
commitments, (Galatians 5:22 MSG)
*Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified. (Galatians 5:24 MSG)
*Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. (Galatians 5:25 MSG)
*Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. (Galatians 6:1 MSG)
*Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. (Galatians 6:2 MSG)
*Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!— (Galatians 6:7 MSG)harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. (Galatians 6:8 MSG)
Thank you Lord Jesus that YOU ARE the WAY, and the TRUTH, and the LIFE. And letting us all know that ” No one comes to the Father except through me(Jesus)”. Lord help me Love others the way YOU do. Help me Lord because it is not only difficult but it is impossible at times. Open my heart and eyes to see that–Only by the Spirit of God is this possible. Help me see more clearly that Our responsibility is to maintain an attitude of complete dependence upon the Power of Your Spirit and give YOU ALL Praise and Glory for our Faith, Love, Truth, Peace and our FREEDOM IN YOU JESUS!
Lord we ALL need wake up calls by Your Spirit to move forward in obedience and have some personal ACTION behind Your spoken word to help maintain our Freedom. Touch me, Jesus. I feel
lukewarm. I know my service to you isn’t moving forward as it should. I’m
hungry to have more of you than I have ever known. And I want zeal to do your
work—pray for our country, to pray for the sick, save the lost, bring hope to the hopeless. Renew me, Lord. I want to be used for your kingdom in greater measure. Help this Country Turn Back to You Jesus as ABSOLUTE TRUTH! Amen
Other references for obedience vs. sacrifice: 1 Samuel 15:22-23 Psalm 40:6-8 Psalm 51:16-19 Jeremiah 7:21-23 Amos 5:21-24 Micah 6:6-8 Matthew 9:13