Freedom To Do Good! - July 5, 2020

Freedom To Do Good!

Pastor Jayson Martindale

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

Thesis: “When I accepted Christ in my heart I began to step into the freedom that Christ gives! And now it is my heart’s desire to share this love, this tangible freedom… I have decided to take this time to choose freedom. To show up every day and follow exactly what God is putting down.” 

- Dana Seward

1. 
   Where Does Our Freedom Come From?
2. Our Freedom comes from the blood of Jesus Christ!
3. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though                  for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demon-                                   strates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died                             for us (Romans 5:6-8).”
4. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit…” (Excerpt from a Prayer of President George                           Washington)
5. We receive liberty from the burden of sin, and relief from the wrath of God!
   1. “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we                      be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:9)” 
6. 
   How do we use our Freedom?
7. The blood of Jesus does not give us a pass to continue in immorality.
8. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may in -                           crease? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live                            in it any longer (Romans 6:1-2)  
9. We can use our freedom to help or to harm. 
10. “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any ten-                 derness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded,                      having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind                                            (Philippians 2:1-2).”
11. “The happiest people are those who do the most for others. The most miserable are those who do the least.” (Booker T. Washington)
12. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in                                       love.”  (Galatians 5:13)

 

III. Are we willing to Limit our Freedom for the benefit of another?

1. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of                            you to the interests of the others (Philippians 2:3-4).”
2. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in                                       love.”  (Galatians 5:13)

 

1. Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should!
2. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis 50:20).”
3. Is it beneficial? Is it constructive?
4. “A freedom which is enjoyed at the expense of detriment to others cannot be really beneficial to oneself. Paul declares that a Christian has the ab-                                     stract and theoretical right to whatever is not itself sinful, but considera-                  tions of expediency and of the welfare of others place practical limits upon                       this liberty.” (Beacon Bible Commentary, 1968)
5. For no man who lives at all lives unto himself. He either helps or hinders all who are in anywise connected to him.” (Frederick Douglass)
6. “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed                                                    (John 8:35-36).”