Happy 4th of July

Today we are celebrating Independence Day. On July 4, 1776, the Congress of the thirteen United States of America signed the Declaration of Independence. In it they proclaimed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Recently, I visited Philadelphia and walked around Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington debated there. In this building, fifty-six brave men mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to uphold the ideals of liberty. They risked their lives to bring our country freedom from tyranny.

Right across the street from Independence Hall is a small building where the Liberty Bell is displayed for tourists. When the bell was forged, it was tradition to inscribe a verse from the Bible on every bell. What verse do you suppose the foundry chose to engrave around the edge of this bell when they cast it? It was as if the foundry knew that this bell would ring for freedom because they wrote, "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof."

This quote is straight from Leviticus 25:10. This verse was supposed to be yelled at the time of the Year of Jubilee! Once every fifty years, every slave was set free and all people had their debts canceled.

Another famous day of Liberty in American history occurred when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. With a single stroke of his pen, he freed thousands of slaves. Those who were held captive were suddenly set free. The chains fell and black Americans were able to take their rightful place in society as free men.

Yet all of these significant events pale in comparison with a day two thousand years ago. when Jesus made it possible for every human being on earth to be free!

Jesus came to give you Independence!

Why did Jesus come?

1. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you FREE (John 8:32).
2. He whom the Son sets FREE is FREE indeed (John 8:36).
3. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is FREEDOM. (2 Cor. 2:17).
4. It is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us FREE (Gal. 5:1).
5. You, my brothers, were called to be FREE (Gal. 5:13).
6. Jesus told the crippled woman, "You are set FREE from your sickness" (Luke 13:12).

Jesus' purpose for coming to earth was to bring Liberty and Independence!

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me...to preach deliverance to the captives...to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19).

When Adam sinned, he caused the entire human race to be put in bondage. Sin became the chains which kept mankind from fellowship with God.

The Good News is a worldwide emancipation proclamation of liberty from bondage to the old terrorist master of sin and sickness - the devil.

Thomas Jefferson, the third American president said, "The tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots..." When Jesus died on the cross, our spiritual tree of liberty was watered once and for all with the blood of Christ!

Our goal as a ministry is to proclaim FREEDOM for the captives...to set people FREE from sin, sickness, and poverty...to proclaim INDEPENDENCE from the devil's bonds...and to help people live in the LIBERTY!