Let's talk Freedom 2025-06-29

Happy Four of July everyone!

I hope you have a safe and sane, celebration

of our nations freedoms this week!

Freedom is a universal desire

We all want freedom in many ways, Good ways and Bad ways.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve wanted the freedom to become wise

they wanted to know Good and Evil

Was that Good or Bad?

A Toddler

A toddler wants to run his or her own life!

Should we let them?

Would that be Good or Bad?

Young Adult

A young adult wants to make their own choices

be free of their parents control!

Is that Good or Bad?

We don’t know

We don’t know enough to judge that desire

Factors might be

Are they living on their own,

supporting themselves?

Are they reasonably intelligent?

for example

Are they a downs syndrome adult?

In that case they may be able to live on their own but

not totally on their own

Good Desires for Freedom

In the Mariners’ Museum

in Newport News, VA,

there’s a special display for a rickety,

home-made

aluminum kayak.

This tiny, makeshift boat seems oddly out of place in the midst of displays for impressive Navy vessels and artifacts from significant battles on the sea.

But a bronze plaque tells museum visitors the story behind this kayak’s heroic makers.

In 1966, an auto mechanic named Laureano and his wife, Consuelo, decided that they could no longer live under the oppression of Cuba’s totalitarian regime.

After spending months collecting scrap metal, they pieced together a boat

just barely big enough for two small people.

Then Laureano jury-rigged a small lawn mower engine on the back of the kayak.

After months of planning and

on a moonless night,

they set out into the treacherous straits of Florida with only their swimsuits on.

They had enough food and water for two days.

After 70 hours, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued the couple just south of the Florida Keys.

Was it worth the risk?

Laureano said, “When one has grown up in liberty, you realize how important it is to have freedom.

We live in the enormous prison which is Cuba, where one’s life is not worth one crumb.

Where one goes out into the street and does not know whether or not one will return because the political police can arrest you without any warning and put you in prison.

Before this could happen to us, we thought that going into the ocean and

risking death or

being eaten by sharks,

is a million times better than to stay suffering under political oppression.” (sermon central.com)

Bad desires

Some people are mean.

They treat others badly and there is a freedom they would like to have

The freedom to do as they please

WITHOUT any consequences.

They don’t want forgiveness once

they want to get away with hurting

with harming others

CONTINUALLY.

In a much lighter way

a Toddler want the freedom to do as they please.

when you slap their hand

to keep them from touching the hot stove,

they cry and wail for a while

Or when you let them touch the hot stove

they suffer and cry mo re.

Letting the child have total freedom is not wise.

Illus.

The first house we lived in when I was born was on a busy street with a steep driveway in Redondo beach CA.

My older sister had a tricycle and was told never to ride it into the street.

Then one day, Cammie was playing on her trike and mom saw her zoom down the driveway and across the busy street.

Immediately after recovering from the fearful site,

our mother gathered up the trike and my sister.

That night, daddy was told, we are moving

immediately

and they did.

The house i remember was on a quiet street.

The driveway and the road were flat.

My sisters days of zooming down the driveway were over!

Some of our desires for freedom, are

just

not

good.

What about spiritual freedom?

freedom from slavery to sin?

Paul said in Romans

Romans 7:24 MSG

24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

Paul wanted freedom from the pull

the power of sin over his life.

Romans 7:25 MSG

25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

or as the NIV puts it

Romans 7:25 NIV

25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Freedom isn’t free

You have probably heard that before.

But it is true.

Freedom cost

This coming week, we celebrate the singing of the Declaration of Independence.

The elected leaders of the American Colonies declared the American colonies free of British Rule

and cited many reasons for this action.

It took 8 years and many American lives to secure freedom for our country.

Without God’s providence, freedom may never have been gained.

How did the 56 signers of the declaration of independence fare?

Not too well.

Signing that declaration was a hanging offence

So it should be no surprise that the signers names were kept secrete for 6 months.

Paul Harvey tell a great story of what happend to these men and their families,

as a group, they suffered a lot

I asked google, how many Americans died in the Revolutionary War

The answer was between 25,000 and 70,000.

A rather broad range of number but we can clearly say, thousands died, to bring us freedom.

Freedom isn’t cheap.

In WW I over 100,000 American’s died

In WW II over 400,000 Americans fought and died to keep us free.

What about our spiritual freedom?

For God to justify His forgiveness of all who have faith in Jesus,

it cost him the life of his only Begotten Son.

How should we respond to the men and women,

alive and dead, who prepared and fought to keep us free?

With thankfulness.

With kindness

With honor

What about our freedom through Christ?

What has been provided?

1. Freedom from Sin

John 8:36 NIV

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Sin no longer has a hold on you, to keep you sinning

Your debt and my debt for our sins, has been paid

we are free!

2. Freedom from Guilt

Romans 8:1 NIV

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

see also

1 John 1:9 NIV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

When do we received that forgiveness.

Right away

when we confess and receive Christ as our savior.

Christians are called to live as free people, not using their freedom

as an excuse for sin,

but as an opportunity to serve God

and others.

3. Freedom to Serve:

Galatians 5:13 NIV

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

4. Freedom as a Gift and Responsibility:

Galatians 5:1 NIV

1 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.

5. Freedom from Fear and Worry:

People seldom come the the altar to pray any more but I remember hearing about a women who came to the alter a lot.

You see she was really struggling with unbelief. But what does the scriptures say

Romans 10:9 NIV

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I can remember, as a younger Christian, being uncomfortable with death, the idea that I would die some day.

Then there came a day, when it was ok, I am secure in Christ. I know where I’m going,

I just hope the journey won’t be too rough.

6. In Christ we are made new

we are declared to be a new creation

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

part of how we are made new is by the transforming of our minds.

Romans 12:2 NIV

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Freedom is something we all desire.

Loosing freedom made one Cuban couple risk everything,

to escape to freedom.

They had a greater awareness of what living without freedom mean.

Our country exists, because men and women valued political freedoms for this land and their families

more than there own lives.

So how should we celebrate the Fourth of July,

we should honor those serving or who have served,

at my house, we need to buy a new flag and put it up.

but honoring vetrans is more of an attitude then just flying a flag.

Have you found Freedom in Christ?

That is something worth celebrating.

My friend Jon’s birthday is in February.

but he was born again in Christ at maybe 4 years old in June or July

her remembers the day

and celebrates it every year.

If you have not yet found freedom in Christ,

you can pray to confess your sins and receive him today!

and in closing we will give you a chance to do that.

To you Christians,

are you thankful for Jesus work on the Cross,

to bring us, you and me to freedom from sin

Are you thankful for that?

Are you thankful for your freedom from the penalty of sin

and are you letting Christ change you by the renewing of your minds.

He can do that, if we if we are willing.

One of my seminary professors was a very calm mild man,

but he was plauged by a wickedness in his heart

that would not leave him.

His heart was especially moved by a week of camp meetings.

special church services every night focused on salvation and

sanctification.

If I remember right, he said

On the final night of the meetings,

he didn’t go to the service.

he went up the hill to the cemetary

he laid down on a grave with his arms out

like a man on a cross and

he cried out to God,

to change his heart because ,

he did not want to continue living his life

with such wickedness in his heart.

And God broke through his reserved nature and

changed his heart that day.

purified his heart.

Sanctified him.

That doesn’t mean he was no longer human,

he still had good days and

bad days, but things were different,

from then on.

Why don’t you stand as we close in prayer.