Freedom

Ask God About Freedom?
I Cor 7:22-24

NLT22 And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, the Lord has now set you free from the awful power of sin. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.
23 God purchased you at a high price. Don't be enslaved by the world.
24 So, dear brothers and sisters, whatever situation you were in when you became a believer, stay there in your new relationship with God.
NIV 22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.
23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
24 Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.


INTRO:
One of the very special days, holidays, of the summer season in the United States is that great day of leisure and relaxation, the Fourth of July. We take off from work, pop fireworks, go to the lake, make hamburgers, grill hotdogs, and have a carefree time. Is that what your Fourth is?
For many of us, we take time to remember, even commemorate, the reason for this celebration. Over 200 hundred years ago, our ancestors threw off the yoke of tyranny. They decided that it was time to tell the King of Great Britain that they would no longer live in bondage. It was time to be free.
Then, and down through the years, there has been a misconception of what freedom really is. It is not anarchy. When a person is truly free, he is not free to do without consequences. There is always responsibility. Freedom is not free. There is always a cost. Freedom is not whimsical. There is no sense of chaos in true freedom. Free people have a purpose.
This definition of freedom was not written first by our 18th century leaders. They wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” They believed that what they sought began in the heart of God.
In this text we see true freedom. For those of us who know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we are reminded of three important aspects of spiritual, and true civil liberty. We have an Expected Responsibility that was purchased with an Extreme Cost for an Expedient Purpose.

Power Failure

I blew a fuse this morning. Too many attempts at one time to put too many appliances into action can draw so much power that something is going to blow.

Oh, did you think I was talking about electricity? I may have been telling you about a morning that many of us have.

In life it is not the building up of the power needs of one morning. This stress may build up over many mornings, weeks, or even months. The fuse blows. Then we find out that we have no power to go on.

Turn off some of the appliances. Reconnect your power cord to a new source. That source can be Jesus. He has all the energy to power all of your needs.

The Galloping Theologian