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Sermons on Freedom

GOD ORCHESTRATED THE ENTIRE DRAMA

When we look at our world today we think that God somehow lost control of everything that is going on. That God orchestrated the entire drama even during out lifetime becomes evident whenever we consult God’s book, the Bible, instead of consulting political or economic periodicals.
Jonah is the son of Amittai, a native of the tribal area assigned to Zebulon. This region was later a part of Galilee. Jonah was born a few miles away from the city of Nazareth, where our Lord Jesus Christ was brought up.
Why did Jonah decided NOT TO GO? The Assyrians where arch enemies of Israel. Why should Jonah get a better treatment than being killed by those enemies? A dangerous mission indeed. Well, once on the ship, Jonah proved however that he was not afraid to die.
No, Jonah hated the people in Nineveh so much that he was afraid that if they hear that God is about to destroy them, they would have a chance to repent and God would spare them.
There are a few things we need to highlight in these verses.
How did Jonah KNOW that the storm would cease once he was off the ship? Jonah told the sailors to send him to his death. He was willing to die so they could live. Did God tell Jonah to do this? I believe that it could have been so because Jonah heard God speak to him before. Remember, Jonah was now in the middle of the Mediterranean or Atlantic and how could he ever get back to Nineveh. God must have told him that He already had a great fish on standby to take him back to where he is supposed to be. Seems like Jonah was willing this time around to follow orders.
Jonah knew his God. He never starts anything and then leaves it half finished. He always finishes what He starts.
What Jonah did not know is HOW GOD IS GOING TO BRING HIM BACK WHERE HE BELONGS.
What can we learn from this?
First there is nowhere in this world God’s people can hide from God. We can run, we can disobey, we can go the opposite direction, but God will meet you and me somewhere on our journey. If necessary, a mighty storm in our life will bring us to our senses. The people who have helped us to disobey God without even knowing it will be a part of this storm. If we repent God will tell us what to do, saving those around us while at the same time bringing us back to where we belong.
God’s people are NOT CALLED to make our nation a better place or to help the world to live a better life.
God’s people are CALLED TO
GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU, AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE. AMEN.
That is when we enjoy the freedom God has given us. That is when we are truly free. Not free to do our own thing as Jonah did, but free to serve Almighty God who orchestrates the entire drama. Hallelujah.

THE TASK OF REMAINING FREE

Was Jesus proclaiming that once someone is set free, they would be free forever? This question demands a Biblical answer because it does not just address the problem individual Christians in America and around the Word have to deal with, but also, in this crucial and sensitive time of our country, our nation, America as the beacon of Freedom in this world, has to find out.
Abraham Lincoln understood this challenge: “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all times, or die by suicide.”
“The problem is not wolves at the door but termites in the floor” says Os Guinness.
Listen free people have no one else to blame but themselves. That’s exactly what Jesus said to His own people, in His hometown of Nazareth. I came to set you at liberty, I give you freedom, I have come to purchase your freedom with my own life. But how did they appreciate that freedom? They were not willing to take it by faith and sustain it by faith.
Jesus, our foundation, won freedom for us on Calvary, and proved to be victorious when He rose from the dead 3 days later. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the cornerstone of our faith and our freedom.
Our forefathers not only won freedom for us, they also went on to provide a moral, cultural and above all, political framework in which freedom can flourish. People who would be free must be able to rule themselves, which is another way of saying that free people need saving from themselves as much as from an oppressive regime.
In other words, true freedom is far more difficult to sustain than most Americans realize. Spiritual freedom is no different. It is one thing to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and be set free from the power of sin. It is quite another thing to SUSTAIN THAT FREEDOM daily. We can claim freedom and liberty, but without being willing to sustain that liberty and freedom, we are only hearers of the word, NOT DOERS.
We replaced freedom with the word CHOICE without meaning and without value. Choice has become the heartbeat of freedom.
We have forgotten that spiritual freedom is the foundation of political freedom. And spiritual as well as political freedom has its requirements for self-control, self-restraint and self-government. You can easily conclude that Freedom is not free. It has its demands. The task of remaining free is ours and ours only.