ASSIGNMENTS

1. Once a day read over this material and read or sing the song.

2. Keep the scripture where you will see it often each day.

3. Think about how different your life would be today if you had not received freedom in Christ.

4. Write about a struggle you had to gain the freedom Christ has promised.

5. Plan to tell the class about your experiences with and your understanding of the freedom we have in Christ.

e f h I e f h I e f h I e f

DAILY BIBLE VERSES AND PRAYER THOUGHTS

MONDAY - VERSES: A form of the word free is used over 100 times in the Bible. Romans 6:18-22; 8:2; James 1:25; 2:12	PRAYER THOUGHT: God, help me remember that even though there is freedom in Christ that it is not freedom from all law.

TUESDAY - VERSES: Liberty is mentioned 27 times in the Bible. Jeremiah 34:8-17 PRAYER THOUGHT: Master, help me never try to force my fellow Christians into bondage, but to respect the liberty that you have given them.

WEDNESDAY - VERSES: Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:16-21 PRAYER THOUGHT: Merciful One, help me tell others that the time of liberty has come through Jesus.

THURSDAY - VERSES: 1 Corinthians 8:9; 2 Corinthians 3:14-17; Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16	PRAYER THOUGHT: Father, help me to never misuse the freedom and liberty I have or cause others harm.

FRIDAY - VERSES: 1 Corinthians 10:29; Galatians 2:4; 5:1; 2 Peter 2:18-19	PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord of Liberty, never let me be fooled by those who want to destroy the liberty you have given me.

SATURDAY - VERSES: Romans 5:14-19; 6:5-7; 8:31-32
PRAYER THOUGHT: Savior of All, help me never forget the great price that was paid for the freedom that I enjoy in Christ.

e f h I e f h I e f h I e f

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. - Thomas Paine, American Revolution patriot and writer.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH REGIMEN - WEEK 99

FREEDOM - 7-6-14 TO 7-12-14

SCRIPTURE - John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

COMMENT - Freedom of all kinds seems precious, but there is nothing more precious than the freedom we have through Christ. True spiritual freedom is something that can never be taken away: not by prison bars, not by chains, not by laws, not even by death. Jesus did not promise physical freedom, but spiritual.

SONG - RING OUT THE MESSAGE

1) There's a message true and glad For the sinful and the sad, Ring it out, (Ring it out,) ring it out; (ring it out;) It will give them courage new, It will help them to be true; Ring it out, (Ring it out,) ring it out. (ring it out.)

CHORUS - Ring out (Merrily ring,) the word (Speed it away,) O'er land (Message divine,) and sea, (send it today;) (Still) let (far from) it (Jesus) cheer (many) the (live in) lost (sin) and those (and) in doubt (doubt,) darkness and doubt; (Ring out) merrily ring, (the news) wonderful news, (that makes) Making men free, (men free,) happy and free, (to) Ring, (all the) ring, (lost of) ring, (ev'ry) ring, (nation,) Ring, (Ring,) the (it) message out. (Ring it out.)

2) Tell the world of saving grace, Make it known in every place, Ring it out, (Ring it out,) ring it out; (ring it out;) Help the needy ones to know Him from whom all blessings flow; Ring it out, (Ring it out,) ring it out. (ring it out.)

3) Sin and doubt to sweep away, Till shall dawn the better day, Ring it out, (Ring it out,) ring it out; (ring it out;) Till the sinful world be won for Jehovah's mighty son; Ring it out, (Ring it out,) ring it out. (ring it out.)

THOUGHTS

No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude. There is no such thing as an entirely free man conceivable. - Phillips Brooks

e f h I e f h I e f h I e f

CHERISHED FREEDOM! - CARL HANSON

Today - the Fourth of July - is marked on the calendar and celebrated in the United States of America as "Independence Day". Freedom and independence are cherished. They ought to be appreciated because of the price by which they are often attained. However, freedom does not mean independence from restraint and a right to do whatever one personally desires. Some, in their quest for freedom and independence do not realize how enslaved they have become to the flesh or in thinking it matters not what one believes. However, in Christ, true freedom can be found.

In addressing some still coming to grips with who Jesus was, we read. . . "(31) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, (32) and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."" (John 8:31-32 ESV)

. . . and . . . "(36) So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36 ESV)

Unfortunately, many to whom Jesus was speaking on that occasion would not acknowledge their need for freedom. (John 8:33) It is the same today. If there remains a refusal to accept the truth, true freedom cannot become a reality. Though we may rightly appreciate the rights which go along with national freedom, there is no greater freedom than that which is provided through Christ: freedom from guilt, freedom from the penalty of sin, freedom from fear of the wrath of God, freedom from fear of death, etc. In this way there is freedom that can be experienced even where man's rule has become overbearing. Peter wrote. . . "(13) Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, (14) or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. (15) For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. (16) Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God." (1 Peter 2:13-16 ESV)

Peter acknowledged the role of earthly government. Paul noted this as well. (Romans 13:1-7) How we live respectfully under it — while still submitting to God's Will as Sovereign above all — reveals to those around us the power of the Christian spirit by which we are to live. Still, the freedom we enjoy — even from sin by the grace of God — is never to become a "cover-up for evil." Instead, our obligation is to ultimately live always "as servants of God." To Him be the glory and praise for the true freedom He has provided through His Son. Jesus gave Himself so that we can live free!

Have a great day REJOICING IN BEING FREE INDEED!

e f h I e f h I e f h I e f

Free as a Bird - W. L. Barnes

Recently we put up a hummingbird feeder with four feeding stations. Almost immediately it became popular with the hummingbirds that live in our area. Two, three, or even four birds would feed at one time. We refilled the feeder at least once a day. Suddenly the usage decreased to almost nothing. The feeder needed filling only about once a week. The reason for the decreased usage soon became apparent. A male bird had taken over the feeder as his property. He is now the only hummingbird who uses our feeder. He feeds and then sits in a nearby tree, rising to attack any bird that approaches his feeder. Guard duty occupies his every waking hour. He is an effective guard. The only time another bird gets to use the feeder is when the self- appointed owner is momentarily gone to chase away an intruder.

We soon realized that the hummingbird was teaching us a valuable lesson. By choosing to assume ownership of the feeder, he is forfeiting his freedom. He is no longer free to come and go as he wished. He is tied to the work of guarding his feeder. He is possessed by his possession. His freedom of action is as circumscribed as if he were in a cage. He is caged by a situation he has created.

e f h I e f h I e f h I e f

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

e f h I e f h I e f h I e f

FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE

INTRODUCTION - JOHN 8:36

I. FREEDOM FROM ________ - ROMANS 6:16-23

II. FREEDOM FROM THE ________ ________ - ROMANS 7:1-6 AND GALATIANS 5:1-4

III. FREE FROM THE LAW OF _________ AND _____________ - ROMANS 8:1-9

IV. FREE FROM ALL ________ - 1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-23

V. SPIRITUAL FREEDOM WAS NOT _________ ... IT __________ JESUS HIS LIFE - JOHN 8:31-36 AND ROMANS 5:1-19

FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE

INTRODUCTION

A. John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

B. Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated.

But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution.

These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted ... We shouldn't. Lets All Remember That Freedom Is "Never Free"!!!!

I. FREEDOM FROM SIN - Romans 6:16-23 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? {17} But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. {18} And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. {19} I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. {20} For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. {21} What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. {22} But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. {23} For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

II. FREEDOM FROM THE OLD LAW

A. Romans 7:1-6 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? {2} For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. {3} So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. {4} Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another; to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. {5} For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. {6} But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

B. Galatians 5:1-4 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. {2} Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. {3} And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. {4} You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

III. FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH - Romans 8:1-9 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. {2} For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. {3} For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, {4} that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. {5} For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. {6} For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. {7} Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. {8} So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. {9} But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

IV. FREE FROM ALL MEN - 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! {17} For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. {18} What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. {19} For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; {20} and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; {21} to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; {22} to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. {23} Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

V. SPIRITUAL FREEDOM WAS NOT FREE ... IT COST JESUS HIS LIFE

A. John 8:31-36 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. {32} "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." {33} They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?" {34} Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. {35} "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. {36} "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

B. Romans 5:1-19 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, {2} through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. {3} And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; {4} and perseverance, character; and character, hope. {5} Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. {6} For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. {7} For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. {8} But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. {9} Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. {10} For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. {11} And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. {12} Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned; {13} (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. {14} Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. {15} But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. {16} And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. {17} For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) {18} Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. {19} For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous

CONCLUSION -

A. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE APOSTLES

1. Peter- according to early Christian writers: crucified, upside down at his request. (Unworthy to be crucified like his Lord.)

2. Andrew- According to traditions handed down: he was crucified in Greece.

3. James the son of Zebedee - Acts 12:1-2 states that he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I.

4. John - According to tradition he died peacefully about A.D. 100

5. Philip - According to tradition he was crucified under the Emperor Domitian

6. Bartholomew or Nathaniel - no record of his death

7. Thomas - According to tradition he was martyred, by spearing near madras in A.D. 72

8. Matthew - According to tradition he was martyred

9. James the son of Alpheus - According to tradition he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple when he refused to deny Jesus as the messiah. When the fall did not kill him, he was stoned and then clubbed to death.

10. Jude or Thaddeus - According to tradition, martyred in Persia

11. Simon the Zealot - According to tradition, martyred with Jude in Persia

12. Judas Iscariot - Matthew 27:1-10 hanged himself after betraying Jesus

13. Paul- according to tradition beheaded

B. John 15:18-21 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. {19} If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. {20} Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. {21} But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. - FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.