Spirit of Liberty

 2 Corinth 3:17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

We were once in bondage to sin and the law. Servants to sin that controlled our lives. But Christ has set us free from sin. Sin is no longer Lord over us. The Holy Spirit who leads us to experience a full surrender to His will and control is now our Lord. We now have the freedom to approach the throne of God. We have been delivered from the bondage of sin and now can live a life of liberty to show God’s love to the world. Sin keeps us from doing what is right, it is a road block from obeying God when He speaks to our heart. The world’s concept of being free is to do whatever you desire without any thought of how it may affect others or how it may lead to harmful consequences. Liberty in Christ is not a license to disregard the commandments of God and behave in a manner that will reflect a negative influence on the Christian life. Paul warns the Galatians: You have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. The Holy Spirit is our truth detector. He will lead us into all truth, and the truth will set us free and keep us free. True liberty comes when we are set free to live how God wants us to live without any inhibition or fear of what the world might think.

Surrender to God

 Jame 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The word surrender is not found in the Bible, it is a word normally used in battle when someone gives up their right to fight, and they become prisons of their captors. “Surrender to” is defined as a complete abandonment of oneself entirely to someone or something. Both definitions describe the word “Submit.” Much has been said about surrendering our heart, our lives to God. The term, “Sanctify yourself” used in the Bible also has implications of surrendering. To be set apart, to be used by God. We surrender all our hopes, ambitions, dreams, and wishes to God, and allow Him to use us in any way He pleases for His kingdom. We surrender our desires, and offer everything we have to God, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God,”(Roman 6:13). When we consecrate ourselves to God, we have surrendered the life we have been living and have dedicated ourselves to serve God in whatever capacity He desires. We give up the old life of sin and present ourselves as a living sacrifice. Some would see this as giving up our freedom to do what we want to do. But the way of the transgressor is hard, and all that live in sin are in bondage to the flesh. As Christians, we are told to submit our lives daily to God, pick up our cross and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). Satan will tempt our flesh (members) to fulfill the lust of the flesh, but as we submit ourselves to God, and resist the temptation of Satan, he will flee. For the heart totally surrendered to Christ is empowered by the Holy Spirit to live unspotted by the world.

With All Your Heart

Ps 119:34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Deut. 11:13 to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

To serve and love God with your whole heart. What does it mean to give someone your whole heart. The heart is known to harbor the seeds of affections. Our passions, our desires that will fulfill and satisfy needs and wants. When we speak from the heart, we speak what we really feel without deception. From the heart come the issues of life, the essences of who you really are. All means that there is no place for any other affection to give yourself to. It does not mean that you are not tempted to give in to other desires that may try to infiltrate. That is why we must guard our heart. Living for Christ is not something we do, but something we are. Serving God without loving His precepts is to live in bondage. To serve and love Him with ALL your heart is to know what real freedom is. The truth shall set you free.

A Prisoner set Free

Psalm 146:7-8“…the Lord looseth the prisoners…The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down;…”

Sin is binding, it shackles us with chains that keeps us from being free to serve God the way we should. A prisoner to sin, we live in bondage to Satan who keeps us trapped by deceiving us into thinking that leaving the pleasures of sin will take the fun out of living. The carnal nature enjoys the lust of the flesh, but the fulfilling the lust of the flesh drive us further into a prison that keeps us trapped. Sin leads to a life style that keeps us from serving God in righteousness. Jesus came to set the prisoner free, He has the keys of life that will give us real freedom. Freedom to worship God is the Spirit of holiness. Freedom to be what God wants us to be. His grace, causes the chains of sin to loosen and break. We don’t have to be a prisoner of sin, we can be set free if we choose to live in truth. He is truth and the Truth shall set us free.

Freedom of Choice

Debt 30:19 “ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live,”-

Every day we make choices. Some choices was short term consequences and other choices are life changing.. God has given us the freedom of choice. We can choose to do good or we can choose to do bad. The choice is ours. The choices we make are often influences by what we think the outcome will be. If we perceive that the outcome will make us look less than perfect or will give people the impression that we are not what we like others to think, we will choose to preserve our self image. The decision to live for God will bring us to many crossroads in our walk with Him. In light of making choices that can be life changing, we must always examine what the Word of God says. God’s word is filled with life’s principles of doing what is right. A wrong choice can be made with all good intentions, God looks on the heart of man and will take those choices and turn them into good. That is how God works to them that love Him and desires to follow Him with all their heart. “Lord help me to always make choices that will please you. Help me to choose the path of right living, one that honors God, and loves my neighbor”

Freedom

John 8:31-32 ““If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”-

Freedom is knowing Jesus and being set free from the bondage of sin. Sin is a task master that drive us to do things that seek to satisfy our fleshly desires. We are made in the image of God and made to serve the Lord. Sin has corrupted our nature making self is the most important thing in our life. The world is in bondage, and Christ is the only answer to set it free. His Word teaches us to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is truth and to those who abide in the Vine and live by this truth are set free from all that will destroy the soul. Seek Truth, seek God, and life will no longer be the same.

Free From Sin

Romans 6:22 “But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end, everlasting life.”-

We were all born in sin and therefore sinners from birth. The nature of sin effect each person differently, but we all are slaves to it. If raised in a good Christian home, we learn what is right and what is wrong and are trained to do what is right. At some point in our lives we realized that our good works will not free us from being servants to sin, we need a Savior who is able to free us from the bondage of sin. Being free from sin does not immune us from the temptation of sin. Sin still has it’s allurement and Satan does all he can to trap us. That is why we always need to be on guard, for Satan is like a roaring lion out to destroy us. But grace gives us the ability to resist temptation and from willingly sinning. Sins that we are accountable for, are those that we know are wrong and make the choice to give in to those wrong choices. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we are not able to yield our members unto God and holiness. With the Holy Spirit, the fruit, or behaviors that we now live reflect that of the fruit of the Spirit. Our hope and desire is to serve God and live to please Him. Paul goes on to talk about presenting ourselves a living sacrifice to God in complete consecration. (Roman 12). The infilling of the Holy Spirit will empower us to live free from sin and our inclinations are now influence by the Holy Spirit that lives within us. Christians do not have to live in sin, they can live above sin, and be holy unto the Lord. Praise God for full deliverance from sin and freedom to live a life of holiness.

Walking in the Spirit

Galatians 5:13-26
April 27th, 2008
There are many scriptures in God’s word that speak of a definite second work of God’s grace. The experience of the in-filling of the Holy Spirit, or “thee sanctification” is clearly taught in the scriptures. Paul does not mention in this book of any second filling of God’s Spirit, but Paul was concern that the Galatians were not allowing the Spirit to led them to a life of complete surrender to God. He sets the standard for Christian living, and insisted that the Holy Spirit is the only one that can bring them to the place of full deliverance and complete consecration to God. The Spirit leads Christian to the realization that Christ not only died for the sins that have been committed, but to knowledge that the nature of sin must be crucified. This is done as we walk in Spirit and come to the truth of full surrender to the complete will of God.

Liberty in Christ
• Set free from the law
• Freedom from bondage of sin
• Freedom with responsibility
Love and Serve
• Love trumps liberty
• Greatest commandment
• What does it mean to love self?
• Serving- doing for others
Lust of the Flesh
• The line between the carnal & human
• The war between the Flesh & Spirit
• Manifestation of the Flesh
• Sinning religion- “shall not inherit the kingdom”
Led by the Spirit
• Walk in the Light (Christ)
• Let us go on unto perfection
• Follow peace and holiness
• Failure to walk in the Spirit results in backsliding
Living in the Spirit
• Demonstrated by the fruit we bare
• They that belong to Christ will not fulfill the flesh
• How do we live in the Spirit?
Letting go of Self
• The flesh has to be put to death- “death route”
• Entire Sanctification is completed when Self is surrender to God
• It is not about me (vain glory), but about Christ

As Sons of God

April 20th, 2008
Galatians 4:1-16
Paul is totally amazed that the Galatians could be so easily removed from the message that he first preached. Paul begins his apologetic letter by setting forth truth in a way that is logical. He speaks to the intellect and the free spirit of the Galatians. Answer the simple question, “Do you want to be free to serve God as a son, or do you want remind in bondage to the law as a servant?” Any logical thinking person would not have think twice.

Child in Tutorage
• Analogy used by Paul
• Until the fullness of time, or come of age
Constraints of the Law
• The Jews were heirs, but under constraints
• The law taught that they were sinners in need of a Savior
Coming of the Son
• The appointed time- Conditions ripe
• Born to fulfill the law by coming under the law
Captive Set Free
• Set free and redeem man from the penalty of the law
• We our now true sons of God, not by the law, but by Christ
Crying, Abba, Father
• Personal relationship-
• With respect, we call Him “Daddy”
• We now live free to do His will- We desire nothing more
Changed to a Son
• From a servant to heir
• The Spirit of Christ now rule the heart
Conditions of Bondage
• Returning back to bondage
• Weak and beggarly elements
• Legalism- law without love
Christ Received
• Paul’s fear of vain labors
• Paul’s sacrifice to share Christ
• Convince of Paul’s authenticity
Conviction of Heart
• Turn against those who tell you the truth
• A friend speaks the truth in love
• What is our reaction when God reveals truth?