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my name is Rick Dietzman I'm the minister to adults
here at the church
and today we're going to explore
a little bit more what
freedom
is for
as many of you know I've lived in a lot of different countries overseas or
traveled to many different countries in
various places in my life
and one of the things I've noticed in traveling or in living in those places
is there is a desire for freedom
I think that what we've seen in the news this year
demonstrates what's been welling up for many years in people's hearts
they're saying on the streets
no more despots
we need
Real economic
freedom we need jobs we need democracy
we need basic human dignity
and that is not a cried that originated just this year or a few years ago with
began a long
time ago
even with the founders of our own country or before that when the first
immigrants
came over in the sixteen hundreds
they came
because they had a desire for freedom
in their case it was freedom to worship as they
desired
and those
cries those desires
for basic human freedoms found their way
into our own country in the bill of rights in the first amendment
which was added to our constitution in seventeen ninety one
and it said congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech
Or of the press
or the right of the people
to assemble peacefully
and to petition the government
for redress of grievances
these are important
core values
that we have is a country and as we've
already celebrated today many men and women have died
to guard and protect those freedoms
but today I want to talk about something
that is even deeper
Than these
five freedoms that are mentioned in the first amendment
and that is
how they have freedom
in our spiritual worship how to be spiritually free
it goes beyond the idea of a freedom of worship it goes beyond the idea of
political freedom
is how are we spiritually free
there are many people in our country we live in a free country
who are not free
they're bound up inside with fear
with bitterness
with boredom
with guilt, resentment
and they
are not free
they are in a free country but they're not personally free
the Bible says in John eight
if the son sets you free you will be free indeed
what does that mean
what does it need to be free indeed
Christ didn't come
to make us religious
he came to make us free
and it says in Galatians five it is for freedom that Christ has set us free stand
Firm then
and do not let yourself be burden again
By a yolk
of slavery
we have the privilege here in our country of celebrating things like the
first amendment rights that we have
but as I said I'd been in many places in the world where those freedoms
are not part of people's culture
and yet the freedom that God gives supersedes all that
because it's a deeper freedom that they can experience today
and I have watched people's lives transformed
with the knowledge of the kinds of freedoms that God gives
even when they lived in oppressive
countries
with oppressive regimes
the were free
and they knew it
and today I want to explorer together what is available to us today so that we
can live in the freedom
That God has promised us
the freedom of God, the freedom of Christ has
four things
that it does for us
the first thing is to have
a clear conscience
says in Colossians one fourteen God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has
forgiven all our sins
and that means our guilt
has been wiped out
that means
the things that have held us back are gone
doctors
have told us that guilt and resentment
are the number one things
that that lead to problems in people's lives
the two who most destructive emotions
the people carry
they burden us down
when we carry
guilt
and when we carry
resentment
guilt is what we've done
and resentment is anger about what people have done to us
these both
hold us down
and you can't be guilty and happy at the same time
ever see those signs at the gas station
a clean engine gives more power
well that's kind of like what God does for us
were cleaned up inside it gives us more power to live
and we don't need to carry
around the guilt any longer
How did that freedom get purchased?
well Jesus died for us
And He rose again
and that guilt is gone
the Bible says in first Corinthians that God will keep you free from all blame
on the great day when our Lord Jesus is revealed, He will keep us free from blame
and I think, many people think when they get to heaven
there's going to be a big IMAX theater up there with our whole life story there
for everybody to see the good and the bad
and we might get a little embarrassed about what's shown there
but according to this verse
that's not going to happen
when we are believers in Jesus
God will keep you free from all blame
there won't be that movie playing with the bad stuff
because that is taken care of
and that is remove
the guilt is removed and it was paid for
at the cross
now the second
great freedom we have
through Jesus
is to have personal
access to God
says in Ephesians three in Christ and through faith in him we may approach
God with freedom
and confidence
now this is a big one, personal access to God
imagine if you had access to the President of the United States
You could walk into the oval office
and express
your opinion about something
think about that multiplied now when you think of God because
you're not only approaching God like you might approach the president but God is
called our father
you don't have to knock on the door
you can just come on in
Jesus describes God as our father that's the kind of access
that we are given to God
as Christians and I want to look at that verse a little more carefully
if you have a pen or a pencil
I want you to circle through faith in Him
through faith in him we may approach God with freedom
and confidence
You see not everybody
gets direct access to God
it's only those who put their faith
in his son Jesus Christ
that's who gets the access to God
and that excesses precious because we can come to God
with anything
any fear we have any problem we face
any temptation we are going through it's not the time to flee or to put God away but
it's to say
Lord I can have free access to you with anything going on in my life
I might
go to Costco some time to be tempted and think
but I'm tempted to buy everything in Costco I need your help
we can go to God with anything
the simplest things, the more difficult things
because we have personal access to God
now these first two are pretty amazing in themselves
that was our sins are forgiven
that we have access to God that the third one
Really, really makes a difference and that is
we live without fear
he set us free from living our entire lives as slaves
to the fear of dying
fear of death is a universal fear for people
because everybody dies
but we know
when we are trusting in Jesus that we are free from fear because he has
conquered death
by the cross
and there's no need to be worried about that
or to be afraid really of anything
Bible says do not fear for I am with you
and we can take every fear we have to God
so many people
live in fear
they don't have the assurance that God is with them
and that is a great and powerful freedom
there is no fear
in love
and love and fear cannot operate in the same time
and the Bible says
fill your life with love
and you will have no fear
you know when we're afraid we are actually choosing to believe a lie
often that lie comes from Satan
we are
not receiving what God says when He says don't fear for I am with you
and Satan is the author of lies and he often lies to us and
keeps us from knowing the truth and that's why this fourth thing is so
important
that is to have the power
to do what is right
that's the fourth freedom we have in Christ the power to do what is right
Those that decieve
promise freedom but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption
for you're a slave
so whatever controls you
now this is an important point because a lot of times when people hear the word
freedom
they think freedom means no rules
nobody telling me what to do
in fact when
the time of the enlightenment in the seventeen hundreds
a famous author name Immanuel Kant
who wrote seventeen eighty four about at the idea enlightenment what that meant
and he talked about the emergence from self-imposed immaturity
that people had
and he said
immaturity is the inability to use ones understanding without guidance from
another
this immaturity itself imposed when it's cause lies not in a lack of
understanding but lack of resolve and courage
to use it
without guidance from one another
have courage to use your own understanding
was his idea of freedom
and many people took that idea to heart and that became their idea freedom I
could just do what I want with my own mind without guidance from another
the problem with that
is it goes completely counter
what God says
you know you look at the old testament
and a number of times in the old testament
God says the people of Israel
just did what was right
in their own
eyes
and you know what that got them,
lots of trouble
lots of trouble
you see, freedom
when we look at the way God does, is something completely different it's not
no boundaries
no rules, no regulations
no restrictions, no mandates
freedom is not the absence of limits
freedom
is a power that we have
to say yes
to the right things
and no
to the wrong things
we say yes to the right thing so that we can grow and we can be a blessing to
others and we say no
to the wrong things
so they don't trip us up and keep us
in bondage
the lack of the ability to say no is called something you know what it's called
Addiction, inability to have control
They have compulsions that happens
that hold us back and many of us
still wonder about that we have things that that have held us back for years
we wonder can God take care of that while the promise of God is very clear
Romans six
are old sinful selves were crucified with Christ
so that sin might lose its power
in our lives
we are no longer slaves to sin for when we died with Christ we were set
free
from the power of sin
freedom is power
now there are many self-help books that are written every single year
and people buy them by the millions
self-help books are great they help you with
getting some wisdom they often give practical tools
but self-help books lack one thing
to make it better, know what that is
they lacked the power
to give us the ability to change
and Jesus says I've set you free
from the power of sin when you trust in me
it's not just us
facing
our fears
our troubles
our limitations we now have the God of the universe
on our side and helping us in our life
and I want us to look just as we close about three things
that lead to a life of freedom with this in mind
the first thing
is we need to invite the spirit of God
into every
situation
when you become a Christian
the Holy Spirit comes into your life and indwells you
and we have that resource there
that we didn't have before
that resource of the Holy Spirit needs to be turned on like a
light switch
and when we asked Jesus we ask
God
to help us
He enables us to have freedom
It says in
second Corinthians three seventeen where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
that still small voice
and our response to it
gives us freedom
now I want you to understand something about this and how it works
Freedom is like a muscle
That you develop overtime by use
and as you practice
the leading of the Holy Spirit and listening to God's voice and responding
To it
You grow and you enable yourself have more freedom
if I was asked to do a brain surgery
I think I have a little problem
I could go there and say hey great give me those tools get
The anesthesiologist
and let me have at it
but I'll tell you I wouldn't do very well
because I'm not trained I've never studied
I don't have the ability
to do a brain surgery
but the thing is with the Holy Spirit is that
when we practice listening to God
and responding to him we are able to grow our freedom because we get practiced at
it and the way we do that is number two learn and hold to Jesus' teachings
Jesus said that if you hold to my teaching
you are really my disciples
and then you'll know the truth
and the truth will set you free
the way you grow in freedom is to trust in the truth
and to obey it
now we
often like to trust our feelings
more than the truth and we know that we we hear
what God has for us but the first thing we do is do what we feel like doing
for example
you hear on Sunday morning
God wants you to tithe
and we think well
yeah that's a great idea but I have these limitations I have bills
to pay or I don't really feel like giving that much I'll give this
and if we hold back and we don't do that we stay the same but the minute you
start tithing and giving to God guess what happens
financial freedom
comes into our lives
because we're obeying what the true says and that brings a new power and a new
freedom in our life, same thing with forgiveness
If I've got someone in my life that but I'm really angry with
and I refuse to forgive them
I was going to hold onto that bitterness
what will grow well, bitterness will grow a bondage will grow in my life
but if I know
what Jesus said
about forgiveness
and I do that, I approached the person I begin talking and trying to
reconcile with them what comes out of that
Relational freedom
because freedom isn't exercise the power comes by exercising the right things and
doing the right things that God has asked us to do
it's about obedience
Very, very different than the idea of freedom that we've had from the
enlightenment
the more you get of God's truth into your life
the more free you will be
very different than just make your decision and you what you want
but the truth of the matter is those who make their own decision and do what they want
often don't end up very free
this is the way to freedom
now the third thing
that we do
to grow in this freedom
is we empower others
to be free
themselves
God did not create us to exist independently
he created us to be with other people and to help other people and be helped
by other people
and that is what he wants us to do that's why being in a small group is
really important that's why
being with other people and getting to know people within the church is so
important
because we need to encourage one another
in the truth
now I want you to think about what tomorrow will be like it's
the fourth of July tomorrow
what tomorrow will be like if you get up
and pray this prayer you're going to be thinking about freedom again, right?
we've already talked about that today
and you get up and say Lord
I just want to remember those four
freedoms you gave to me
Lord I thank you
that I am completely
forgiven
amazing you're not going to take all the bad of my life and play it for other
people to see
you have forgiven me
and I have access to you as my father
Lord I
don't have to be afraid of anything because I know you're with me
and Lord I thank you that you're going to give me the power
to say yes to the right things and no
to the wrong things
you know
when the Navy Seals go in and unlock the door
of a prisoner who has been kidnaped, what does he do?
Well, usually they get the keys and they release everybody else is in the prison as well
and that is the job we are given to do
when we understand that the true freedom
that God has given us
because Jesus has set us free at the Bible says very clearly you my brothers
and sisters were called to be free
but don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh rather
serve one another
humbly
In love
it's really all about love
and service
And everyday
our lives are either getting wider
with more
freedom
to do the right things
and grace
and love
and help to others
or it's getting narrower
with more fear
or with more judgment
or with more of seeking approval from others instead of God
We are either going one way or the other
and we need to
look to God
and to seek him for the true freedom
now I want to go back to the first page here and look at the verse we first
started with Jesus said if the Son
sets you free
you will be free indeed
our freedom
comes from Jesus
now there are plenty of things out there trying to take away our freedom
Turn us into once again
and we can resist those things
God does not want to be a captive
any longer
but he wants us to be free ourselves
and he said others free
as well
so will you pray with me
Lord,
I thank you once again for this reminder that we have today
of the freedom that you have given
and this is such a broad subject Lord
but particularly how you purchased our freedom on the cross
forgiven our sins
and given us a free conscious
Lord, I thank you that involves having access to you, personal access
and thank you that I am free from fear
and you've given the power
to do what is right
Lord, I thank you, you have
placed us in a country that values the idea of freedom
and dignity
and at times where that ideas distorted to become freedom to do whatever I want
Lord I pray you use the freedom that you give
to serve others
or help us to do that
Lord as we give our lives away
you will give us more
so Lord help us to be your people
and to serve one another in love
In Jesus name, Amen
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