Nov 23, 2020
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There's a lot of anxiety among many Christians today about the
potential for a Biden/Harris administration and in particular what
it will mean for social issues they care about like Abortion and
the LGBT agenda, but also what it will mean for freedom of
religion.
So let's talk about the issue of Freedom from a Christian
perspective.
(First Light received 11/13)
Freedom and Responsibility
"Unto whom much is given,
much will be required."
Luke 12:48
Perhaps one of the greatest levels of freedom enjoyed is when a
sixteen-year-old is finally allowed to drive by themselves. If you
throw your car keys to a new teen driver and tell them to have fun,
they had better have the corresponding level of maturity and
responsibility required to match the newfound freedom. If they do,
you have blessed them greatly. If they don't, you have killed them.
Freedom either blesses or destroys depending on the responsibility
level of the person. That's why the Bible says that if you are
given much, much is required of you. No nation has enjoyed the
liberty and freedom that America has been blessed with. Countless
millions would give everything to be able to live here and enjoy
what we do. Our founders believed that God raised this nation up as
an experiment in freedom with a government "by the people, for the
people". Our founding documents allow for the greatest possible
freedom a people can enjoy. However, along with that freedom comes
a responsibility to be governed at heart level by the Creator that
ultimately determines the fate of nations. William Penn stated
that we will be "governed by God or governed by tyrants". True
freedom only exists where men will allow God to rule in
their lives. John Adams said, "this constitution is made only
for a moral and Christian people, it is wholly unsuitable for any
other". As we watch our freedoms slowly slip away in this land it
is due to the truth that we have not lived responsibly
enough to deserve to be blessed with great liberty. We
have elevated selfish appetites above the Bible and now
instead of being "free indeed" we find ourselves enslaved to those
appetites and in bondage to our carnal nature. There is no greater
misery than to be free on the outside and yet in bondage on the
inside. Our refusal to live responsibly before the God of
heaven is robbing us of the freedom, He blessed us with.
Both on the inside and also as a nation as we find
our God given freedoms being encroached by a government that
is now hostile to the Creator Himself. Our heavenly Father
is desirous that all men live free "with unalienable rights
endowed by their Creator; life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness". Do you cherish freedom? Do you align with Patrick
Henry who said, "give me liberty or give me death"? As our
statue reads "those longing to breathe free". Friend, the only path
to true freedom inside and out is to bow your
knee before the Lord Jesus and allow Him to be Lord of all. Only
then will you find that "whom the Son sets free is free
indeed".
I praise you that you are the God of freedom. Thank you that
"where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty". Jesus, I
choose ultimate freedom by making you the Lord of all in this
life.
Victor Frankl - Austrian Holocaust Survivor
"When
we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to
change ourselves.
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the
last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given
set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way
"
"
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are
challenged to change ourselves.
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last
of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one’s own way
Gal 5:1 NIV "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."
Are we really free here in the U.S.?
Set aside the Bill of Rights, we are slaves to
pornagraphy and other sexual signs
busyness
alcohol (don't have to get drunk to be a slave to alcohol) and
other drugs
Success
Self-reliance
fame
politics
freedom
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movie Braveheart -Braveheart is a 1995 American epic
historical fiction war film directed and co-produced by Mel Gibson,
who portrays William Wallace, a late-13th-century Scottish warrior.
The film depicts the life of Wallace leading the Scots in the First
War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England. -
spoiler alert here for those of you haven't seen it, but in the
final scene Wallace is gruesomely executed and as this is occurring
he shouts loudly Freedom! I don't know exactly where are
in the end times timeline, I have opinions, but I won't go into
that topic right now, but I believe it's clear that persecution in
many forms is ahead for those of us who are Christians, who are
followers of Jesus Christ. As we prepare our hearts and minds
for the uncertainties that lie ahead and as we resolve in
ourselves we will stand firm for Christ, as a first step let
us commit that whatever it takes we will cast away
anything that is enslaving us and pursue Jesus Christ
passionately. Let us turn over everything to Him. Yes,
that includes our work and careers and every aspect of our work,
and it includes our relationships and interests outside of
work. As Hebrews 12:1 KJV says "Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us"
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COD - Dietrich Boenhoffer
Ch 30, p 264 “Let the Christian remain in the world, not
because of the good gifts of creation, not because of his
responsibility for the course of the world, but for the sake of the
Body of the incarnate Christ. Let him remain in the world to fully
engage in frontal assault on it, and let him live the life of
secular calling in order to show himself as a stranger in this
world all the more “
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1 Thess 5:11-14 NKJV "Therefore [b]comfort
each other and [c]edify one
another, just as you also are doing.
A12 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and [d]admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we [e]exhort you, brethren, warn those who are [f]unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. " Censorship
Interesting hypothesis by Youtuber Fisher Man of where we are
in the end times calendar using the constelations as well as world
events, Gen 1:14 " Then God said, “Let there be lights in
the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and
years;"
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