We want Freedom; We need Freedom...

Hey there, Beloved… Why is freedom so important to you? Is the impulse you have to both celebrate and defend your freedom simply something political, or does it have roots in your spiritual life as well? I want us to see and know God’s heartbeat on this and how our Christian faith demands something of us in response. Let’s talk in Deeper Thoughts below… 
 
But first… a few quick notes… 
 

• There will be no Youth group this Sunday—but we will next Sunday, 6/28 after church.  We have a new summer schedule—reach out to Jess Sauder at [email protected] for more details! 

 

• Ladies: Mark your calendars for our annual Women’s Retreat, September 11-12!  

 

• We have a new Facebook page called “Mt Hope Church Women’s Ministry”.  Ladies can join here. 

 

• As we prepare for Sherri’s and my upcoming sabbatical, we will share with you this Sunday our exciting plans for rich Bible teaching and personal study resources planned throughout the summer, as well as the professional and spiritual goals we will be pursuing during sabbatical. There is much we can pray together as we all seek God for the fresh anointing, fresh vision, and renewed focus Sherri and I—with the Holy Spirit’s power—will be bringing back this fall. 

 

• LAST WEEK of The Daily Six!! Join us for six minutes each day, Monday through Friday, as we dig into the Psalms to learn how to pray and cherish scripture. This Friday, we will conclude our current season of The Daily Six, taking a three-month production break through September. Click here for our Daily Six webpage to find new content on Monday morning, OR… click here to sign up for our daily email reminders (if you’ve not already done so!).  

 

• And note: Our Daily Six reminder emails and webpage will continue throughout the summer to provide written content and guidance to be in the Word of God together, studying through the whole of the Old Testament prophets this summer! 

 
OK… that’s it for you email skimmers and those who hate long emails…  
 
BUT… 
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts… 
 
This is a big year to celebrate freedom. We are within just a couple of weeks of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding upon the principle that all men (and women) were created equal by God, and that the free pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness without the control and coercion of political tyranny is the God-created design of our humanity. 
 
(BTW… Fun note: I am a direct descendant of one of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. William Whipple of New Hampshire put his own neck on the line to throw off the tyrannical British monarchy. I have some of his family’s personal books on my shelf at home.) 
 
On the federal holiday of July 4, my wife and I plan to walk down to the city park with our close friends and neighbors to watch the Town of Lovettsville light off some airborne explosives to celebrate our freedom. The fireworks are not just intended to be entertaining, even though they certainly are. I love the bright colors, the thump in my chest as they explode, and the silly “oooohs” and “aaaahs” everyone makes when one of those shells proves to be creative.  
 
The fireworks have a deeper meaning. They are meant to remind us that freedom from tyranny never comes without a struggle. Usually war. Lovettsville’s [insert your town name] explosives are harmless (and pretty) reenactments of the harmful and deadly shells used in the Revolutionary War of the 1780s and the War of 1812 where we painfully fought to gain and maintain human freedom.  
 
Today is another federal holiday, and we would do well to reflect reverently on its meaning, too.  
 
While most signers of our Declaration of Independence believed in their hearts the biblical truth that God has created all men and women with equality—formed in the image of God to bear the likeness and design of the Creator—they also were afraid to let that equality to be enshrined in our original, unamended Constitution, bowing to the pressures of culture to separate out women and slaves as unequal in their human rights. In cowering to political pressure, these Founding Fathers—half of whom had biblical theology degrees or served as pastors—violated the revealed truth of Galatians 3:28: “You are all sons [daughters] of God through faith in Christ Jesus… There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.” 
 
It took another war, and more exploding shells, to force and confirm this God-created freedom. 
 
In 1861, the United States of America and the newly declared Confederate States of America had it out at the expense of 750,000 American deaths to once and for all settle the freedom of our African American brothers and sisters. In 1863, during this horrifically bloody conflict, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to declare this freedom complete. But it was not until June 19th, 1865—some 71 days after the Civil War ended—that this message of freedom reached the slaves of Galveston, Texas. Today, our nation has set aside this day to commemorate the good news of freedom and to honor the sacrifice and struggle necessary to secure it. We should all join in this thankfulness. 
 
There has been yet another war—and this one perhaps the greatest—to bring to you the personal freedom you enjoy. This freedom is in your interior, in your emotions, in your thoughts, in your desires, in your love, and in your spirit. It is, in fact, the source of our Founder’s belief that God has indeed created equality and freedom as a matter of Divine authority, and any man who opposes such freedom should be overthrown—even by war, if necessary. 
 
The war that has been waged against your interior soul has been fought against the greatest tyrannical despot in universal history. His names are many: Satan, the devil, Beelzebub, the Accuser, the evil one.  
 
And much blood was also shed to win this war. This war started not with the blood of 750,000 Americans, but rather the blood of the sovereign Lord of the universe, Jesus the Almighty Christ. And then, over the next 2,000 years, best estimates put the number around 71 million Christ-followers who accepted their death as martyrs to bring news of this freedom to every slave to sin throughout the world. 
 
Would you pause for some gratitude today? Would you be grateful that the foundation of our political freedoms was laid on July 4, 1776? Would you express great thanks that the message of freedom was confirmed for all Americans on June 19, 1865? And would you worship with great joy that freedom for every soul was purchased by Jesus Christ in 33 A.D.? 
 
And what does this call for from you and me? Just like it took the Union Army to enforce the physical freedom already won in Texas, it takes every Christ-follower to enforce by faith in our own lives the spiritual freedom we possess. Stand firm in your resistance to the devil (see Ephesians 6:10-18). Consider yourself no longer a slave to sin (see Romans 6:1-14). And believe and respond to this: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1), not only physical and political freedom from tyranny, but from the spiritual oppression that holds us down when we do not stand by faith in emotional, spiritual, and interior freedom. 
 
Let’s meet at 10:00 a.m. Sunday! We will continue our study of the prophet Hosea. He speaks, too, of a deliverance from evil that we do not want to miss. Don’t be late… bring your Bible and a pen!! 
 
Much love to you all…  
 
Chris Eads 
Mt. Hope Pastor 
Friend 
[email protected] ​