True Christianity Comes Through Freedom

Intro:

True Christianity comes Through Freedom? What does that mean? Well it mean just what it says it means: True Christianity can only come through Freedom. I mean, our whole religion is based off of Freedom. Freedom from sin.

Body:

But you don't have to take my word for it. You can just read Romans 3:24, which says: “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sin.” Of course that could just be a misprint, right. Well, if you turn just a few pages you'll come across this strange concept again in Romans 6:7. “For When we died with Christ we were set Free from the power of sin.” Hmm. Well I suppose it's possible to have two misprints in the same book. Oh! Wait a minute! What's this here in Romans 6:18? (I will have my bible open in front of me at this point). “Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.” You know, I'm starting to think that these verses aren't misprints. But there are still more! Galatians 5:13 says: “For you have been called to live in Freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your Freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”

So now that we know we can get freedom through Christianity, let's talk about how to get it. It says in John 8:32: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The truth this verse is talking about is the truth about who God is. If you spend a lot of time with God then you will know who He is, and if you truly know who god is then that truth will set you free.

But what does it mean to be truly free? Well, if you are truly free you'll be absolutely crazy about God! You'll be totally willing to do anything for him! This freedom is not easy to get or keep, but once you've had it you won't want to live your life any other way. I can guarantee that!

I, myself, had that freedom for the whole of last summer. It was an amazing feeling! I was totally willing to do anything for God! Unfortunately when the school year started again I started going a million different directions. I stopped spending time with God, and so I lost that freedom. Since then my life has gotten much harder. But I have never stopped trying to get that freedom again. It is something that I know I can't live without.

Challenge:

And I challenge You to strive for that freedom too. Start spending more time with God and ask him to give you that freedom, because,v as it says in John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free!”

True Christianity Comes Through Freedom

So here's a basic outline of the sermon I will be preaching on the worship night. :)

Intro: explain concept behind title.

Body: explain how to get freedom, what it means, how it feels, how you can tell you're free, and share my own story about God's freedom (not necessarily in that order).

Challenge: repent and ask God to set you free!

It's not long but I really didn't want to have too much detail yet.

Taste and Sight

We all have five senses. Right? Seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and hearing.

We seem to take all of these senses for granted sometimes, but if we lose even one of those senses our lives are completely changed.

But today I am going to explain how not having two of these senses in your spiritual life can completely change your relationship with Christ.

The two senses are seeing and tasting and I am basing my sermon on one of Jesus' sermons, the sermon on the mount.

Although there are a lot of good teachings in the sermon on the mount I am only going to touch on one. The teaching on salt and light.

So what do seeing and tasting have to do with salt and light? Well, everything, for if you can't see then everything is dark and if you can't taste then everything is flavorless. Right?

Well if you lose your senses of taste and sight in your spiritual life then how will you be able to see and taste Gods see and taste all the good things God is trying to give you?

But as anyone who's read Matthew 9:27-34 knows, Jesus can restore our sight. He can also, I believe, restore our spiritual sight.

And, although there is no evidence of it in the bible, I know that God can restore our sense of taste both physically and spiritually.

So now I have a question for you. Do you want to live your whole life seeing Jesus, the Light of The World. Or do you want to walk around in the darkness like a blind man? And do you want to taste Christs goodness? Or do you want to eat the flavorless food of the world?

The choice is up to you, but I challenge you to open your eyes and mouths to Gods goodness.