Our Newsletter - FIRST THINGS FIRST
A Ministry Newsletter from First Assembly of God
Volume 03 Issue Number 05 July 2010
FREEDOM
Freedom is one of those precious rights that men and women have lived for and died to defend or to secure. The greatest sacrifice made in the fight for freedom is the laying down of one's life so that others may live free.
Many have enjoyed the freedoms that others have long since died for. Those who have secured freedom through perseverance and great personal sacrifice are often honored in celebration with great pomp and mythical recollection. However, freedom itself is often underappreciated until it is encroached upon or lost.
Freedom is often attacked and or denied by those who fear the loss of control over others who live to serve the oppressors' will. Freedom is taken advantage of by those who use it to indulge hedonistic appetites. People use freedom to hurt and to injure others without cause or principle.
In spite of the abuses of personal freedom, it is undeniable that freedom is the cornerstone of creativity, the pursuit of virtue, achievement and happiness. Society is advanced through freedom.
The best and the worst live and operate in the world of freedom. Extremes mark the landscape of freedom. Extreme good and extreme evil plays their hand as we bear witness of it.
It's been that way as God's design has unfolded throughout the history of man. God created the first man with great capacities for good, evil unbeknownst to him intellectually or experientially. However the freedom that God endowed man with, gave him the wherewithal to freely choose a course of disobedience to God. Long story, short, that is exactly what he chose. Freedom was present in the saddest chapter of human existence. Freedom opened the door for willful disregard of God's Word and willful disobedience to God resulting in corruption, disease and death. Man's poor exercise of personal freedom would estrange him from God and mar the image that God had created him in. A hero was needed.
There are many, countless stories that detail great heroism, but one need look no farther than the example of Jesus Christ to view the zenith of personal and corporate sacrifice in the pursuit of freedom for all.
Freedom's heroes shine on the battlefield. They are principled and they are valiant in the fight. Heroes need no monument to secure their place in history. No great ceremony is required to glorify or exaggerate the fight. Their person and their fight stand as monuments through time.
Jesus Christ was freedom’s greatest advocate. He is its greatest champion. He secures it perfectly. His mission was well stated, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted; To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;” – Luke 4:18 Its results are clear, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” – John 8:36
Sometimes it is necessary to take up arms in the battle for freedom. Sometimes great destruction and loss are involved in the battle for freedom. The battlefield relevant to all mankind was stained in blood and marked with a blood stained cross, upon which freedom’s greatest advocate and champion bled and died. The image of Calvary is emblazoned throughout the chapters of the greatest story ever told.
As we celebrate freedom may we consider the following story.
On Nov. 19, 1863, Pres. Abraham Lincoln stood on the battlefield at Gettysburg to dedicate a portion of that land as a national cemetery.
The featured speaker of the day was Edward Everett, acclaimed as possibly the greatest classical orator of his time. A former United States senator, Governor of Massachusetts, & President of Harvard University, he spoke for more than two hours to an audience of over 25,000 people. His was a masterful address, broad in its scope & dramatic in its presentation.
Next was a musical interlude by the Baltimore Glee Club. And then, finally, Pres. Lincoln was formally introduced, & the people settled back down in their chairs & on the grass to listen to him. Lincoln spoke simply & clearly, & startled the people by the briefness of his remarks.
Now folks, I realize that most of you are already familiar with what he said, but would you listen again to a portion of it? After his opening sentences, he said:
"We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting & proper that we should do this.
"But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living & dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
"The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.
"It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, & that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Hebrews 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
JESUS CHRIST DIED TO SECURE FREEDOM FROM SIN AND FREEDOM TO SIN. (MAN ALREADY HAD THAT) THE TRYANNY OF SIN LEADS ONE INTO BONDAGE, JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN TO LEAD MEN OUT OF BONDAGE!