Free Indeed!

Pastor Keith Hassell

Foundation Scripture:   John 8:31-36

I.       Freedom was invented by God not man

A.      Without this understanding, we will not be able to maintain freedom

B.      The distortion of freedom

          1.       A license for sin?

          2.       An opportunity for the flesh?

C.      Freedom only survives where the word of God is sown

D.      Freedom only survives in an environment of righteousness, love, and responsibility

II.      What is freedom?

A.      There are four types of freedom:

1.       Personal freedom:  The sense of being able to do something without coercion.

2.       Sovereign freedom:  The ability to act as one pleases regardless of the wishes of others.

3.       Civic Freedom:  The sense that one belongs to a community, has a place in it, and is involved some way in its governance with clearly defined rights and obligations for every citizen.

4.       Natural freedom:  This exists in the very nature of man as a God-given right and responsibility established from the creation of man.  It is the human right delegated by God to men in Genesis 1:26.

B.      Freedom is “free dominion.”  It is the liberty to dominate the earth though one’s unique gifts and talents in fulfillment of God’s purpose.

C.      Freedom is the liberty to fulfill God’s will in serving others with the gift of that purpose, without restricting or controlling another while that person fulfills his or her purpose and serves you.

III.    What is slavery?

          A.      Slavery is any domination of another man’s spirit.

B.      Slavery is always an excommunicated person.  He only lives for the master.

C.      Slavery is the perpetual condition of dishonor.

D.      Slavery is any attempt to limit, control, hinder, restrict, inhibit, prevent, or stop the fulfillment of God purpose and will in another’s life.

E.      Jesus said that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.  A slave will not remain in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

F.      Slavery awakens the desire for freedom.

VI.     Deliverance vs. Freedom

          A.      Proverbs 23:7  As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

          B.      Your mental state is more important than your physical state.

          C.      You are not free until your mind is liberated.

D.      Freedom is first a mental condition before it is a physical condition.

E.      John 8:32  Freedom comes through knowledge.

F.      It is possible to be delivered and not be free.

G.      Deliverance is physical liberation from physical restrictions.

H.      Deliverance prepares us for freedom.

I.       Freedom is the mental liberation from mental bondage.

J.       Freedom comes through abiding in Christ’s word (New Testament).  Otherwise we slip back into legalism.

V.      Freedom prepares us for responsibility

A.      Myles Monroe: “We must learn that freedom is not the absence of law, work, or labor but the embracing of responsibility. We must be awakened to the reality that true freedom imposes more laws than slavery, demands more work than slavery and demands more self-control and discipline than slavery.”

B.      Responsibility of self-management (in slavery we are managed)

C.      Responsibility to manage of our environment & resources

D.      Responsibility to dominate rather than to be dominated

E.      Responsibility to do what is right (not what we want to do)

F.      Responsibility to free others

F.      Responsibility to serve one another through love (Galatians 5:13)

VI.     Receive and walk in true freedom!