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binding Paul, tying him down so he won't be able to move. The Bible says that they bound him with thongs. Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned? He brings out this Roman citizenship card. He brings out the idea that you are punishing me illegally, that he was a Roman citizen. This information's never been revealed before. And so the Bible says in verse 26, when the centurion, which was a commander over a hundred soldiers, heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman. Now, the Roman Empire was the largest empire in that area of that time. It lasted almost five to six centuries. The Roman Empire, with all the different Roman emperors that come and go, people that had Roman citizenship were influential, and they also were respected, whether it was by power or fear. But the scripture here tells us that this centurion reported to his captain, you better take heed, this man's a Roman citizen. When the centurion heard that, he went and told him. And then the Bible says the captain came, said unto him, talking to Paul, tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, yea. And the chief captain answered, with a great sum, obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, but I was freeborn. Now I want to use that phrase, freeborn, and turn it around to a little more modern adjustment of born free, amen? I wanna look at that a little bit this morning. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for this privilege to having Sister Lois with us today, Lord, and allowing us to be able to minister and serve together. I ask you, Lord, to bless her greatly. Bless this message, these thoughts, and Lord, may they penetrate our heart today for the saved and the lost that might be here. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Paul uses the phrase born free or freeborn. And so in Acts 21, we find here in verse 39, Paul said, I am a man, which am a Jew of Tarsus. a city of Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city. And I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people." But they didn't want to hear him. But he already laid out some of these credentials, brother Jeremy, before he ever began to get into trouble and face imprisonment or the flogging or the scourging. Now, what was interesting in this time, Brother Jerry, in the time of the Roman Empire, the Roman Emperor Claudius had been selling citizenship to people for money. A great sum that this one captain said, it was a great sum, a great amount of money is how I obtained this freedom. And Paul returned it and said, I was free born. Means he was born a free Roman citizen. And so, Paul being born in the city of Tarsus, in that area, was given that citizenship and all the rights of the freedom that come with it. And so, as a temptation that comes many times when we are born with great freedoms, many times we do not appreciate what we have until it is gone. And I'll say this, although I've been kind of like a frog slowly boiled in water over a few years, we have lost a lot of freedom in America. We still have a lot, thank God, but we have lost a lot of our freedoms in our nation that we live in. But a lot of people that are here that were born free, as we say, they don't really understand what it's like to be in another country, to be in another place or position where there is no freedoms. Some of you know what that's like, but sadly, most of us in America do not. Paul valued being born free, even though that's all he ever knew as far as his citizenship. There is a temptation to us to take it for granted and not quite understand it. You could have one generation that fought for freedom and the other one be born in freedom and then the next generation won't even understand what it's like not to have freedom and then the next generation could lose all of its freedom. We're on the pathway of that in America. We're seeing that trend take place. Paul understood that being born free shouldn't be one of those things that you feel is owed to you. A lot of people in our world today, especially America, feel that so much is just entitled to them and owed to them. That's a bad mentality to have, amen? And so Paul understood that he had freedom. We were born free. He had Roman citizenship. And he'd always known this freedom, yet he brought it out and represented it at that time, knowing that this power of this freedom would save him from being flogged or scourged. This freedom that was purchased by the captain, what a phrase when he says, tell me, art thou a Roman? And he said, yea. And he said, with a great sum I obtained this freedom. It took a lot of money and no doubt this freedom that he had earned or bought or paid for. that he had known only by purchasing it, it might have been a long time that it took to save this freedom. He may have had to do some special things in the military and campaigns to be won to be able to even have the opportunity, Brother Mike, to even be able to purchase this freedom. And see, as I'm speaking about this this morning, none of us hardly, may not be a few of you, but most of us do not understand what it's like to not have freedom. to be able to just to get up on the 4th of July and drive wherever you wanted to go and not go through checkpoints and gates and not have to be searched or whatever. And then when you got through, you were able to come back. We were able to go to the Greer camp meeting on the 4th of July. First time we've ever gone on the 4th ever, never been before. Watched the fireworks, man, there was some really good fireworks there and had a meal. And I got to thinking, we drove, I didn't tell anybody where we were going, just our family knew pretty much. I didn't have to report in, we went, we worshipped, we worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ, we fellowshiped together, and we would come back home, and not one time was I ever stopped, and searched, or had my freedoms infringed upon. And yet many people in this world around us, that's what they live through every single day of their life. So Paul understood it even though he was born free. The captain had to purchase that freedom. And with those things involved, there are factors that come sometimes that either allow us to lose that appreciation of our freedom or they help us to hold that appreciation of our freedom. And sadly, we a lot of times don't understand or appreciate what we have in many factors of life until it is taken from us or until it is gone. Paul brought this point up when he was being treated in a way that he did not feel was right. He brought up his citizenship of being a Roman. It drew great attention and the captain got involved and it brought ability of access and accommodations and amenities as a Roman citizen all throughout the Roman empire. A Roman citizen could vote. You know, that wasn't too long ago that there were many categories of people in the United States of America who could not vote. Now we're still progressing, but backwards, we are digressing in many places as well. Roman citizens could vote. They could hold office. They could have legal protections throughout the empire and other types of rights as they traveled. Remember as the Jews were required to go that extra, that first mile, the Roman soldiers could make the Jewish citizens carry their gear an entire mile. It was required by law. There were a lot of things like that for soldiers and citizens of being a Roman citizen within that empire. Now we live in a great nation, amen, the United States of America. And most everybody that I know was born free. Most people I do know. I don't know a lot of people, I know a few that weren't. But most people I know were born free, born here. And sadly, the ongoing battle is taking place. The mentality attacking our mind, attacking our society to where this freedom is under attack. And many people, what they exercise as the right of freedom is to go protest, to blow up something, to burn someone else's property, burn their car, attack them, throw a brick through their store window because their rights are being violated. Well, you do that in some other country, you either be killed or you go to jail. So I think many times what we're exercising is freedom is just wiping the mud of our feet upon the freedom of our land. Freedom isn't free. And freedom doesn't mean you can freely do anything you want, anywhere you want, anytime you want, to anybody else you want. I had what we'll call a a drama and a speech teacher. I know y'all don't believe the speech part but I did go to drama and of course that's a whole nother story. But anyhow, he was a great teacher and I enjoyed him in high school. And one of these little, he was very political and he would bring up little things and he says, your rights and your freedoms end at the tip of my nose. You're not allowed to touch me or hit me or infiltrate my space. I thought that was a powerful image to think that. Many times we think our freedoms allow us to do whatever we want to do. Many people do anything they want to do. They think it's all about them. They're self-centered and self-focused and they attack and destroy. and they spit on our flag and they wave their fist in defiance against our government. We need to realize we have been blessed with great mercy and grace in our land. This place is not perfect, America, but it is one of the greatest places in the world because we have elevated the gospel and allowed the gospel to be shared. We were built upon religious freedom and yet many of those principles, our foundations, we are undermining, we are throwing to the side. We live in a great nation, I believe we still do, amen? Many don't appreciate the fact that you were born in America and there's people saying, I'm gonna move somewhere else. Well, my attitude is just please move, amen? There might be some who wanna come here legally and would love to come from another country and live here, amen? So maybe you should just go if that's what you feel like. Our liberties and the means and the comparisons of what we have, if you compare it to other nations, it's vastly different around the world. Those who were born free, who might not have been born in America are born in a free land. And those who are here in America and they've come here to pursue it in a legal manner, you may be from another country that did not enjoy those liberties, but you're here because you want to embrace these liberties and you want to uphold the constitution that provides the security of those blessings and liberties in our land. I noticed three things. I know y'all don't believe this, but I'm moving. I noticed there's three things, and there are those who value freedom generally have been influenced by the three following things. I'm sure you could come up with more, but I just want you to think about these. Those who have seen or visited or lived in another country. they usually, when they can compare our freedom here, no matter how abused it might be, when they compare it to other countries, they realize America is a free place to live. Now, I have never been to another country that was so infringed. I've traveled on a trip to Canada. I had to get a passport just to get on the airplane. Then I could get on a boat. And then I get off that boat into that other country. And I was not alone. I had to prove that I was who I was and why I was there. And I didn't go into that country in a way that they were not aware of my presence was there. But yet, once I went through those channels, I freely walked around the streets. I walked up even in Canada up there. And yet you go to some places you could not do that. You don't have that liberty. You don't have that freedom. So those who have seen or visited other countries many times they are in a better position to compare the freedom and the liberties we have in America. And the most of those that I have seen, they appreciate it. I know there's some people who want to destroy our freedom. They want to impose their ideologies and what they believe religiously upon us. They want to make us like they are somewhere else. It's sad to think about that, but that is the truth. But there are many who come who desire to be able to embrace and live and breathe in the airs of the freedom that we have in the United States of America. So maybe you've been to another country and that other country compared to their liberty, their freedom, you're here in America and you go, wow, this place has a lot of freedom, a lot of liberty that you can enjoy. And many times when you've seen something else to compare it, you realize how free America is, how blessed it is to have freedom. Amen. Number two, those who have served in the military. Many times they have to be deported or travel or stationed all across the world. And many times because of that, that spark of patriotism and that servitude and that submission to take care of things, they're influenced by that. And they want to serve our country and they have to do it in other countries. And while they're doing that, they are upholding portions of the Constitution, providing for the common defense. But as they are stationed in other places, I know Brother Jerry is a, Help me out. What's your position? Colonel. I demoted him, and he's going to be so mad at me. I demoted him. He's a colonel. I've known him a long time, and he keeps going to the next stage. And after a while, I'm just going to start calling him General. I probably will get him in trouble then. Amen. Well, he has traveled around the world. He served two times that I know of in Iraq. He sent me pictures sometimes from those other places and territories around Kuwait and other places there that he served. And I know he understands this. He has experienced there are areas there that do not have the freedoms that we have in the United States of America. So serving in another country, whether it was military or some other type of position or thing that brought you to another country, can bring an appreciation. and awe of the freedom we have in America. That patriotism and that willingness to sacrifice and dedicate themselves to their country is inspiring. I'm glad I'm in a country where I don't have to maid to honor our military, but I desire to honor them. I want to honor them on Veterans Day. I want to look back on those who sacrificed their life in Memorial Day. And I appreciate my freedoms. And it's more than a hot dog on the 4th of July or fireworks. God has allowed our country, but it was blood that was shed to give us this freedom. And many involved, those who have served in the military, they appreciate that freedom. And maybe it was influence because they had seen another land. They had seen another culture. Number three, those who have scriptural influence. I believe this is where I fall in. I've only been to Canada and didn't go very far. I've never been to some other country like Sister Lois has explained in some of the places she's traveled. Some of you have been to other places. There are countries in this world where you have to have creative access, nations where someone goes in with the gospel, but they have to do it in a creative form because they would be in trouble. They could be in prison. They could be deported. And there are nations where they boldly say, we do not want the gospel in this nation. It is illegal. Churches that will be destroyed. People will be imprisoned. And in some places, people are beheaded and killed for preaching the gospel. When certain Muslims get saved and born again, their whole family disown them and they become an enemy. You can see the power of the division of the line of the gospel drawn in the sand. And it is scriptural influence that makes me patriotic. That makes me appreciate and understand the freedom that I have. That freedom is not free. And we have been graced in America with a freedom unlike any other country. And we originally used it for many religious benefits and spreading of the gospel. And now many of the universities and colleges that promoted the gospel are so secular that they have kicked out Christ and anything naming Christianity at all. Boy, we have really turned the tables over time, have we not? The truth of who Jesus is, the gospel message, it elevates a nation. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. The penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin is preached. And we are forgiven when we get saved and we have a hope one day we'll leave this old wicked world behind. We won't have to deal with the sin and the things that take place around this world. And that brings us hope and it brings us peace and it brings us joy. Within the Constitution it talks about a domestic tranquility, but this world And our country is losing that understanding of what tranquility or peace really is. The Bible says, if the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8 36. I got the peace of God that passes all understanding because I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. As that captain responded to Paul talking about his freedom of being a citizen of Rome, he said, with a great sum, with a great sum, I obtained this freedom. I'll say this to you. It took a great sum for me to be able to have the freedom in Christ that I have. It took the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had to pay for my sins with His own blood. With that great sum was I given freedom. With that great price paid, I was given life through Jesus Christ because He gave His life. Hebrews 9, 12 says, neither by the blood of bulls and goats, or calves, excuse me, but by his own blood entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The Bible says he's the propitiation for our sins, 1 John 2, 2. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, that Jesus was made to be sin for us. that who knew no sin, he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of Christ in him. 1 Peter 3.18, Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit. 1 Peter 2.24, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. I put on that sign out there a few weeks ago, our church sign, the cross is our statue or my statue of liberty. not disregarding, disrespecting that statue of liberty that we have in that harbor in New York given by France, but I want you to understand the cross is the greatest symbol of my spiritual freedom. I know that when I die, I won't have to go to hell. My sins are forgiven and be absent from this body. I'll be present with the Lord and I'll have eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus is the only way to be free indeed. To say that statement, I was free-born. Man, that jumped off the pages at me. I was also free-born. May the 15th, 1989, I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he delivered me from the clutches of Satan, delivered me from the bondage of sin, and set my soul free, brought me out of darkness, and put me into his marvelous light. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. To have your sins forgiven and have a home in heaven, you'd have to look back and say, with a great sum, that freedom was purchased. And that was the blood and the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you here today truly know what salvation is, you know the greatest form of freedom that this world, this universe, could ever understand or grasp or know. If you are not saved this morning, And you do not know Him in that saving, delivering, that word salvation even means deliverance. If you don't know what that is, you truly are not free indeed. And the Bible says, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Amen? I am made free, set free, took the bondage of sin off of me. And when I die one day, I'll leave this world to enter into heaven's glory, to see the one that paid the ultimate price for me. No doubt we'll all lay down any crown we might have, and we're gonna adore him when we see the wounds in his hands to know the price that was paid for our freedom. If you are saved this morning, I hope that you'll understand the freedom and the liberty that we have to assemble on any given Sunday. Boy, you better worship in spirit and in truth, because there are many who cannot. They're not allowed to raise their voice in song. I could not dare preach as loud as I am this morning. Some of you wish I would be quiet, but in some countries they would make me be quiet. Thank God we have the liberty to sound out the gospel, to share that gospel, to be alive, to be a witness and enjoy the freedoms that we have in America. Let's not take for granted that we have been born free. Make sure you understand what it is to be free born or born free in Christ Jesus. Sister Tonda, would you please come? Every head bowed. Every eye closed. If there's anybody here that's a preacher, I'm in bondage to sin. There's so many things I do. Every day I try, but I can't seem to shake loose the things, the bondage of sin, Maybe this drugs or drinking or pornography or something else that's going on in your life And it's just keeping you enslaved and you don't know what it is to be set free Well, I wish you'd step out by faith this morning and say I'm gonna try Jesus. I'm really gonna turn my life over to Jesus I'm tired of being bound in sin and I want to be set free Who the Son hath set free shall be free indeed Anybody who's a preacher pray for me. I'm truly not saved. I don't have joy. It's hard to even smile in church. I can't sing the songs. I don't understand it. I don't know what it's like to be set free. I remember this little story that one of the ladies told me. I used to go to church with it at Galilee. They owned little chickens and hens and roosters. And this set of little chicks was in the barn during the colder time of the spring. All they ever knew was the barn life. They just stayed in that barn and that's all they ever knew. She said she remember watching the first day when the mama hen went down the little plank into the yard. Those little chicks were looking around and they were kind of afraid. Mama hen kept coaxing them and finally those little chicks and their little legs just to flying down that little plank board and went out in that big wide open field of that past that land that little farm where they began to pick bird but those pieces of seed and bugs be able to sprout their little wings jumping and hopping around and her mind got to thinking that's what it's like when Jesus saves you and sets you free. You don't even know what you're missing until he lets you out in that open field that open place to the grace of God. Well, I hope you know that you're saved this morning, but if you don't, you can be saved. Jesus paid the price to provide you that freedom so you could be born free. If you are saved this morning, may God touch our hearts that we not take for granted any church service. Anytime we're able to open our own Bibles and have our own copy to read. Anytime you have the ability to share the gospel, the freedom you have to do that. It's a great freedom provided by a great price paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that you'd speak to hearts. May you work in our hearts and our lives. May we never take for granted. May we truly appreciate our freedom of our country and the freedom that the cross has provided for us. We thank you, Lord, for allowing Sister Lois to be here with us today. We pray that you'll put your hand upon her ministry. Lord, these places that she desires to go, these ministries and outreaches, Lord, all the potential, God, we pray you'll provide it, take care of her and give her the desires of her heart. I pray you'll provide the financial needs and the protection and safety that she goes. Give her a great favor, Lord, in the eyes of man and God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Sister Lois, would you like to go back on to your table back there? All right, you're at liberty to go.
Born Free
To be born again in Christ is to be set free to follow after Him with all your heart and strength!
설교 아이디( ID) | 71525113345715 |
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