Our Freedom In Christ

 John 8 verse 36-  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

… Who am I that the highest King, Would welcome me? I was lost, but He brought me in, Oh, His love for me. Oh, His love for me … Who the Son sets free, Oh, is free indeed. I'm a child of God, yes, I am… Free at last, He has ransomed me, His grace runs deep, While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me, Yes, He died for me… Who the Son sets free, Oh, is free indeed, I'm a child of God, yes, I am, In my Father's house, There's a place for me, I'm a child of God, yes, I am … I am chosen, not forsaken, I am who You say I am, You are for me, not against me, I am who You say I am, I am chosen, not forsaken, I am who You say I am, You are for me, not against me, I am who You say I am, I am who You say I am.

2 Corinthians 3 verse 17: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Galatians 5 verse 1: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

… You unravel me with a melody. You surround me with a song, Of deliverance from my enemies, 'Til all my fears are gone … I'm no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God, I'm no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.

… I am surrounded by the arms of the Father, I am surrounded by songs of deliverance, We've been liberated from our bondage, We're the sons and the daughters, Let us sing our freedom.

John 8 verse 32:  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Romans 8 verse 1-2- Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Galatians 5 verse 13-14: 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. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love came down and rescued me, Love came down and set me free, I am Yours, Lord, I am forever Yours, Mountains high or valley low, I sing out and remind my soul, I am Yours, I am forever Yours, When my heart is filled with hope, Every promise comes my way, When I feel Your hands of grace, Rest upon me, Staying desperate for You, God, Staying humble at Your feet, I will lift these hands in praise, I will believe, I'll remind myself, Of all that You've done

And the life I have Because of Your Son.

In everything we see how God who is the greatest of loves because He is love, has rescued us, has sent His Son to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins, so that we wouldn't have to pay the price.

We see our freedom this Fourth Of July is showing us in how no matter we live our life we can be thankful for those who have served, for those who are currently serving and also we can be thankful that we have our truest of Freedom found in Christ because without Him, He may not have sent His Son to die on the cross, and we can be very thankful that it was not like that where He didn't do the opposite of that because with Christ we have Freedom, we have the Freedom to be appreciative of all the things around us and all the things that we are grateful for because with Christ in everything we do, we know that it's God who shows us we are His.

Faith

Rise

Engage

Enjoy

Dream

Onward

Mercy

Inspire

New

Compassion

Hopeful

Risen

Inspired

Saved

Trust

I wanted to end with that because we have Faith to Rise and Engage with those around us. We can Enjoy the Freedom we have in Him and Dream about the things that He has planned as we walk onward in the Mercy of Christ. We can inspire one another in New Beginnings and have Compassion towards one another. We should also be hopeful in knowing that one day as we don't know the day or the hour but there will be a day that Christ will return because just like how we celebrate Easter, we know that He was Risen from the grave 3 days later and this is a very Inspired thing to know because it reminds us in how we are Saved and we need to Trust in His Timing and His Plan for our life because true freedom in Christ is what we should strive for.

Our Testimonies

 I can’t imagine where I would be, If it weren’t for the blood that washed over me , Oh, Jesus over everything, From who I was then to who I am now, The one explanation, the only way how, Is Jesus over everything, Jesus over everything, His cross has covered me, Yes, Jesus over everything, Jesus, Name above all names, Forever I will sing, Yes, Jesus over everything, In every season, in joy and in pain, In blessing and suffering I speak the name, Of Jesus over everything, This is my banner, this is my cry, No matter the outcome, the choice of my life, Is Jesus over everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoOKYQX0xEU

Colossians 1 verse 17: He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

I’ve gone where the hopeless go, The dead end of broken road, And I’ve learned there’s a place so low, You can’t see your way out, Been stuck in a ditch so deep, Thought it might be the end of me, But I’m still here and there could only be, One way how, My life is a God story, Gotta tell the world what He’s done for me, Miracles on miracles, That only He could do, I’m proof that we’re all only, One prayer away from a testimony, There’s only one getting all the glory, My whole life is a God story, From beginning to the end, From who I was to who I am, I can see His fingerprints, On every single page, Now the story I love to tell, Is the story of the one who brought me back from hell, From all is wrong to it is well, And all I can say is, From death to life, from blind to sight, This is my God story, From lost to found, from then to now, I’ll tell you how, God story, Who brought me through from old to new, It’s a true God story, Ain’t hard to see the change in me, Could only be a God story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf246bFwfg4&list=RDpf246bFwfg4&start_radio=1

Psalm 139 verse 16-17: Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

You feel like a candle in a hurricane, Just like a picture with a broken frame, Alone and helpless, like you've lost your fight, But you'll be alright, yeah, you'll be alright, 'Cause when push comes to shove, You taste what you're made of, You might bend till you break, 'Cause it's all you can take, On your knees, you look up, Decide you've had enough, You get mad, you get strong, Wipe your hands, shake it off, Then you stand, oh, then you stand, See, life's like a novel with the end ripped out, The edge of a canyon with only one way down (Canyon, oh, one way down), Take what you're given before it's gone, And start holdin' on, keep holdin' on (Hold on), 'Cause when push comes to shove, You taste what you're made of, You might bend till you break, 'Cause it's all you can take, On your knees, you look up, Decide you've had enough, You get mad, you get strong, Wipe your hands, shake it off, Then you stand, Every time you get up And get back in the race, One more small piece of you, Starts to fall into place, 'Cause when push comes to shove, You taste what you're made of (What you're made of), You might bend till you break, 'Cause it's all you can take (All you can take), On your knees, you look up, Decide you've had enough (You've had enough), You get mad, you get strong, Wipe your hands, shake it off, Then you stand.

https://youtu.be/57kP_BpmnLA?si=ms5HPVVC8rfeXe1P

Philippians 4 verse 1:  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Somewhere out there hanging by a thread, All of your strength is gone, Strength to keep holding on  And don't buy those lies that are in your head, That say you should just give up, That you'll never be enough, Remember you're a child of the King, Sing, sing like you've already won, Be grateful for all He has done, As long as there’s air in your lungs, sing, You're so much stronger than you think, The Spirit that brought Christ back to life, Is the same one you have inside, So next time there's a wall standing in your way, Sing along with that new song in your soul And watch them fall like Jericho, Sing, sing like you've already won, Be grateful for all He has done, As long as there's air in your lungs, sing, Sing, sing like you finally believe Your name has been changed to redeemed , So with every breath that you breathe, sing, Don't give up, don't give in, Go on and raise your voice , Don't give up, don't give in, Make a joyful noise.

https://youtu.be/SQQR_9Q1B_g?si=4MQcBD35tz8VQy_B

Zephaniah 3 verse 17:  The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Lord, I confess my attention has wondered from You, My heart needs a course correction, Back to what is true, Of a thousand things I’d run to, You’re still the only one who satisfies, So, Jesus every time, I choose You, Nobody loves me the way that You do, I choose You, Over and over, Because You chose me, When I gave you nothing You gave everything, All my life, You’re calling me closer, So, I choose You, Over and over, Hands lifted up as I lay down, For good for what is best, Surrender all at the alter And trust You with the rest , You’re calling me out of my grave, No turning back now I’ve made up my mind, Jesus, every time.

https://youtu.be/gWH0nQ7Rrkc?si=O-qTbDmeliliKu-o

John 15 verse 16: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

In all of this, I wanted to share what God has laid on my heart because these songs shape us and mold us. These songs can make a difference in our life. We are God's Beloved. In everything we see from the lyrics of each song, and the scriptures that go with it, we see that God is shaping our testimony. He is calling us for such a time as this and showing us that we can be who we are created to be in His Image.

When we think about being made in His Image, we think of how wonderful that is to know that God doesn't give up on His Children, that He keeps shaping us for such a time as this one to do strive well.

In a Matthew West Song called Don't Stop Praying, we see that even in that song, we shouldn't stop praying when life gets bad, we should continually pray and praise God for when the times are great too.

We all go through life in our testimonies where we have bad days but we also go through life with good days and what we do with each day should count.

We may not be here forever because one day, we will be with Jesus and when we really realize that we see how in everything, with prayer and petition, when we make our requests known to Him, we can see that God will shape and mold and answer our prayers in His Timing and reveal to us what needs revealed.

My hope in this particular study is to allow ourselves with these scriptures, this message and the songs to reach us in a way that allows us to not only see the hope inside ourselves this week but to show hope to others, to share our testimony with others, to share God's Story with others and listen to their stories.

My prayer is that this study allows you to not give up in what God is calling you to do for Him daily.

If nothing more, my hope is to know that no matter what God gives me to say in these studies, that wherever and however God gives me the topic, that God works through you as He works through us all and allow Him to show you that in the week ahead that when you feel down, He'll pick you back up.

Let these last things be a reflection this week in how God will use for His Good and Glory.

Coming Back Home To Christ

 We are not alone. The God who stands beside us is the One who will go before us.

The story of the prodigal son is the story of a God who goes searching for me and who doesn't rest until He has found me.

Jesus told the story of the Prodigal Son to make a point: Never mind what you've done, just come home.

Mercy is a song, singing to my heart, Telling me it's okay, come just as you are, I never heard a melody, like the one they're singing over me And I just wanna sing along, 'cause mercy is a song, Freedom is a choir, swaying back and forth, Shining in the shadow of a stain-glassed Sunday morning, Shouting hallelujah, yesterday is gone, Oh, freedom is a choir and mercy is a song, Singing oh, there is a life for every soul, No matter where you've been just come on home, Let all God's children sing along, Hallelujah, chains are gone, Mercy is a song.

I've read the words in red, How You leave the 99, To find the one missing, Feels like that was written, With me on Your mind And the prodigal son who ran, leaving his home behind, The part where the father came running to meet him, Did You say that with me on Your mind? Who am I that the King of the world, Would give one single thought about my broken heart? Who am I that the God of all grace, Wipes the tears from my face and says, "Come as you are"?, You paid the price, You took the cross, You gave Your life and You did it all with me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) Me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) Just knowing You're mindful of me, Just knowing You call me Your child, It's flooding my soul with unspeakable hope, Thank You, Lord, that it's me on Your mind.

Father, meet me with Your arms wide open, The world's done broken Your prodigal son, Down that road I traveled, Everything raveled only came undone, Father, lead me down to the river, Wash me in the water 'til I'm whiter than snow, I know I'm not worthy, But tell me there's mercy for the wanderin' soul, I lost my way but now I'm on my knees, If it's not too late, won't You tell me please? You gotta place for me, A little grace for me, Father, meet me in the cool green valley, In all of Your glory, when my days are done, Name me as one of Your chosen, Heaven's unbroken prodigal son.

John 14 verse 6- Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

James 4 verse 8- Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Jeremiah 29 verse 13- You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Acts 17 verse 27- God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

Matthew 11 verse 28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Deuteronomy 4 verse 29-  But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Psalm 51 verse 10-12: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Isaiah 40 verse 31- But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

In all these scriptures and everything that I've shared, for me it reminds me of how we can find our way back home to God and how even in these things just like the Prodigal Son, God would leave the 99 to bring back the one to help us in the moments that we can see clearly.

In these moments that God has given us the opprotunity to reach and to show others in the things that we do in order to grow and in order to bring us to our Father in Heaven who is waiting with open arms to say to us well done, good and faithful servant.

I've carried a burden, For too long on my own, I wasn't created, To bear it alone, I hear Your invitation, To let it all go, Yeah, I see it now, I'm laying it down And I know that I need You, I run to the Father, I fall into grace, I'm done with the hiding, No reason to wait, My heart needs a surgeon, My soul needs a friend, So I'll run to the Father, Again and again.

You saw my condition, Had a plan from the start, Your Son for redemption, The price for my heart And I don't have a context, For that kind of love, I don't understand, I can't comprehend, All I know is I need You.

Sometimes on this journey, I get lost in my mistakes, What looks to me like weakness is a canvas for Your strength And my story isn't over, my story's just begun And failure won't define me 'cause that's what my Father does, Yeah, failure won't define me 'cause that's what my Father does, Ooh, lay your burdens down, Ooh, here in the Father's house, Check your shame at the door (ooh), 'Cause it ain't welcome anymore (ooh) Ooh, you're in the Father's house, Arrival's not the end game, the journey's where You are, You never wanted perfect, You just wanted my heart And the story isn't over, if the story isn't good, A failure's never final when the Father is in the room And failure's never final when the Father is in the room, Ooh, lay your burdens down, Ooh, here in the Father's house, Check your shame at the door (ooh), 'Cause it ain't welcome anymore (ooh) Ooh, you're in the Father's house, yeah, Prodigals come home, The helpless find hope, Love is on the move, When the Father's in the room, Prison doors fling wide, The dead come to life, Love is on the move, When the Father's in the room, Miracles take place, The cynical find faith And love is breaking through, When the Father's in the room, The Jericho walls are quakin', Strongholds now are shakin', Love is breaking through, When the Father's in the room, I said love is breaking through, When the Father's in the room.

Every time I tried to make it on my own, Every time I tried to stand, I start to fall And all those lonely roads that I have travelled on, There was Jesus, When the life I built came crashing to the ground And when the friends I had were nowhere to be found, I couldn't see it then, but I can see it now, There was Jesus, In the waiting, in the searching, In the healing, and the hurting, Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces, Every minute, every moment, Where I've been, and where I'm going, Even when I didn't know it, or couldn't see it, There was Jesus, For this man who needs amazing kind of grace (oh yeah) And for forgiveness at a price I couldn't pay, No, I'm not perfect, so I thank God every day, oh yeah, There was Jesus, There was Jesus.

In these last few songs, we are reminded that there is hope and there is light, because just like a Jordan Feliz song reminds us as well. we are never too far gone.

This should be a sole reminder that we can come back to God and God will welcome us home.

The Strengthening Of God's Love

 Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me, You have been so, so good to me, Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me, You have been so, so kind to me, Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine, I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away, Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah, When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me, You have been so, so good to me, When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me, You have been so, so kind to me, Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine, I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away, Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah.

I'm Amazed That You Would Give Your Life For Me, You Bore The Weight Of Shame And Suffering.

It's Incredible, Astonishing, You Would Go To That Extreme, You Chose The Cross, You Paid The Cost.

Your Love Is Outrageous, It's A Love Beyond Belief, It Never Changes But I Know It's Changing Me.

For Your Goodness And Your Mercy, I Will Praise You Endlessly. Your Love Is Outrageous For Me.

I Don't Deserve Forgiveness But Your Kind, You Heal The Brokenness I Hold Inside. It's Incredible, Astonishing, I've Been Redeemed From Death To Life. A Heart Revived, Your Love Is Outrageous It's A Love Beyond Belief, It Never Changes But I Know It's Changing Me. For Your Goodness And Your Mercy, I Will Praise You Endlessly. Your Love Is Outrageous For Me.

I chose Cory Asbury's Reckless Love and Dave Langdon's song Outrageous Love because I wanted to share these two songs before going into the scriptures because I think it's important to understand that in Romans 5 verse 8 it says: While We Were Still Sinners, Christ Died For Us. You see in these two songs, we aren't focusing on God's Word being Outrageous or Reckless, we are focusing on His Wondrous Love, The Beauty of His Radiant Love for us because when you think about the lyrics from the first song, you see that before we spoke a word, and even took a breath, we were made in the Image of Christ because if you really think about that for a second, God loves us so much that He doesn't see His Children as Outrageous or Reckless, but He sees us as Beloved and Beautiful. 

The moments we take from the second song of I'm Amazed That You Would Give Your Life For Me, you see God sent His Son to die on the Cross, so that we could have everlasting and eternal life. His Son paid the price for our sins, so that we could be forgiven and what great it is to know that His Love Is Outrageous and what I mean with that is knowing that His Love is Radiant and Extravagant that It's A Greater Love Beyond Belief because it never changes but we know it changes us for the better.

We need to let our Hearts be Revived and we we need to praise Him Endlessly because God's Love is enough for us and every step we take, we know that God is changing our lives for the better of it all.

John 3:16-17- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

1 John 3 verse 1- See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

John 15 verse 13-  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jeremiah 29 verse 11- For I Know The Plans I Have For You Declares The Lord, Plans To Prosper You And Not To Harm You But To Give You A Hope And A Future.

John 13 verse 34-35-  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

To me these last two things remind me of why I wanted to do this study, and why I felt it was important to share about God's Love for us because no matter what with the overwhelming and ever ending reckless love and outrageous love, we can go out into this world and share about His Unfailing Love that doesn't end because He is Love and because of that, we can count on the Love of God to be forever and He'll continue to Love us forever and always because no matter we go, we should want to as a Matthew West song title says: Love On The Radio, because that's what we should want to do. We should want to go out into the world and put His Love on the radio, we should want to show Love towards one another just as Christ has and continues to do for us and we should first and foremost want to spread God's Love to those we know and love but we should always want to spread His Love to those who may not know Christ and are longing for that relationship and looking for God's Unfailing Love.

I think even in the scriptures that this study can speak to the heart of many who are looking for that purpose and plan that God has for them, but also look into the heart of God's Love where He doesn't abandon us, but He strengthens us and equips us to do a good work in Him because without God we would have nothing and with the Love of God we know we have everything because just like in Sarah Kroger's Song Belovedness, she says: Beloved Believe, He died to make your heart His Home. That line for all of us, should be an indication as to why we need God's Love surrounding us in Hope, but also why we need God to help us show the kind of love to those around us even more because God gives us the strength and the ability to overcome in the kind of Love that He has for all of us as His Child.

Above All Study

 1 Chronicles 29 verse 11- Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.

To me this verse means that no matter what God's goodness, His mercy, everything about Him is His because we are made in the Image of Him, and He is ruler of all the Earth.

Above all powers, above all kings, Above all nature and all created things, Above all wisdom and all the ways of man, You were here before the world began, Above all kingdoms, above all thrones, Above all wonders the world has ever known, Above all wealth and treasures of the earth, There's no way to measure what You're worth, Crucified, laid behind a stone, You lived to die, rejected and alone, Like a rose, trampled on the ground, You took the fall and thought of me, Above all, Above all powers, above all kings, Above all nature and all created things, Above all wisdom and all the ways of man, You were here before the world began, Above all kingdoms, above all thrones, Above all wonders the world has ever known, Above all wealth and treasures of the earth, There's no way to measure what You're worth, Crucified, laid behind a stone, You lived to die, rejected and alone, Like a rose, trampled on the ground, You took the fall and thought of me, Above all.

I love You, Lord, For Your mercy never fails me, All my days, I've been held in Your hands, From the moment that I wake up, Until I lay my head, Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God, 'Cause all my life You have been faithful And all my life You have been so, so good, With every breath that I am able, Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God, I love Your voice, You have led me through the fire, In darkest night You are close like no other, I've known You as a Father, I've known You as a Friend And I have lived in the goodness of God, yeah, 'Cause all my life You have been faithful, oh yes You have And all my life You have been so, so good, With every breath that I am able, Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.

In this, we can see how just with remembrance of God's goodness, that Above all things His Mercy doesn't fail and His Love doesn't either because He is Love and because of that we put our Faith in Him, we put our Trust in Him and we remember that Above All, God is ruler over all just like it reminds us in the beginning scripture that I started out with tonight.

John 14 verse 6-  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 4 verse 4-  Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’'

Hebrews 4 verse 12- For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Romans 5 verse 8- But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In these scriptures, I'd like to think that it goes back to what the main scripture I started out with says, because I feel that while we think at times that we have it all figured out in what the plan should be, God reminds that above all in His Kingdom, in His Glory, in His Presence that He has a plan set for us.

Jeremiah 29 verse 11 is a perfect example of that because it talks about that the plans God has for us, are to prosper us and not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future.

Admire in Humility what God wants for your life.

Be the best that you can be in who God calls you to be.

Open your heart to Jesus and He will show you His plans for you in His Timing.

Victories may be small or big but be thankful in gratitude for the victories won.

Enjoy your life to the fullest and always hope for the best in what you do to succeed.

Always keep your head held high and keep striving to own your Belovedness daily.

Live your life with people that God has brought into your life for the better because it's worth it.

Let your light shine and let your heart be open to enjoying what God brings your way for a lifetime.

Let all of this be a reminder that God is in control and above all, God will never let go because He is our Redeemer and He is our Friend and He will continue to fight our battles for us and find a way for us to continue to grow in Faith and in our Relationship with Him.