This is the weekend that we celebrate our freedom.  Freedom is a powerful word.  It's an even more powerful reality for nations who enjoy it.  Now, you know that in the news the last several months, nations all over the Middle East have been fighting and struggling and marching for democratic freedom.  The story has not unfolded, it hasn't been told yet, what will become of Libya and Egypt, of Syria.  But we do know that there are groups of people in these countries that yearn to breathe free air.  And to be able to be self determined about their own future.

We know that our nation was founded on some great principles.  That 50 men on July 4, 1776 signed what we know as the Declaration of Independence.  We wanted freedom, we didn't want England to rule over us and call the shots.  We wanted to be one nation under God and so here we are years later as the United States of America.  But the thought has been from many people growing up in our country.  That freedom means that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want.  We call that freedom.  Unaware that living that way actually can put a person into bondage and take away the very freedoms that he or she has tried to grasp before.  We've had devastating effects because of it.  And so we've had the freedom called sexual freedom and look at the results of that.  Sexually transmitted diseases, abortion rates sky rocketing, unwanted pregnancies all because of sexual freedom.  We've wanted the freedom politically.  We've wanted the freedom relationally.  We've wanted the freedom to experiment and though we've had the freedom to experiment, it is left us with us with a 40 billion dollar bill, because of the drug use in this country.

So yeah, we have political freedom and we have all sorts of different kinds of freedoms and yet we've discovered we're more in bondage in many areas.  There's a little axiom it would be well for all of us to remember.  The more you do as you please the less you are pleased with what you do.  There's a deeper kind of freedom and Jesus speaks about that in a passage I'm about to read in the Gospel of John.

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him.  "If you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."  And they answered him, "We're Abraham's descendants.  We've never been in bondage to anyone.  How can you say you will be made free?"  Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore, if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed."  There's a word that we read that is the first step to anyone's freedom, it's the word believe.  Jesus said to those who believed in him.  Belief, faith; trust, abandonment in Jesus Christ is always the first step to a person's freedom.  You are not a free person tonight unless you believe in Jesus Christ and your faith in him will set you free.

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  It is said that when he signed the documents his hands actually trembled because he knew the gravity of the document he was signing.  He's been called "The Great Emancipator" because of that document.  But listen, Jesus is the greatest emancipator, what he signed was your freedom and he signed it with his own blood.  So the question that you should all ask tonight as we celebrate political freedom and freedom as an American as good as that is, is how free are you spiritually.

Do you have faith in him?  That's the first step.  The second step, after faith in him is continuing in him.  Listen to what Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed."  Now if you were here this weekend, you know that we talked about the word abide.  John likes that word.  Have you discovered that in the Gospel of John?  Did you know that in the New Testament the word abide, appears 34 times and John hugs 31 of them.  He only leaves a few for all of the other authors.  He loves the word, abide.  It must have been a word Jesus used quite a bit.

It means to continue.  The first step is believing, but that's just the first step.  I hope that tonight you're clinging to more than -- I went forward in an altar call once, I shed a tear, I mumbled a prayer, and I felt an emotional thing that happened inside of me.  The idea is to continue, if you abide in my word then you are my disciples indeed.  I love what Eugene Peterson said, he called it, "A long obedience in the same direction."  Now, Jesus here talks about being a disciple, listen carefully.  It's one thing to say, "I believe in Jesus.  It's quite another thing to say, "I'm disciple of Jesus, I follow him."  And the word disciple means somebody who learns, he or she is a learner.

Are you a learner?  Are you disciple?  Do you have a bible?  Do you read your bible regularly?  Are you growing as Peter said in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ?  So the first step is believing.  The second step is continuing, abiding.  Then Jesus says something else.  He points out that there is a certain kind of bondage, a certain kind of slavery that's worst than any other kind of slavery the world has ever known.  He said, "Most assuredly I say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

One of the unfortunate truths about American history is slavery.  It's a blot.  It's a blemish on our record nationally.  That we as a nation and as a nation that even then said, we were one nation under God held to in certain parts of this country an avowed form of slavery.  As I said it's a blemish.  It's a blot on our record.  But there's a worst kind of slavery and then even that and it's a slavery to sin.  Now, Jesus was speaking to Jewish people at that time and listen to what they said, "We are Abraham's descendants, we've never been in bondage to anyone."  And I'm thinking, are this guys dumb?  Or did they forget their own history?  For if they knew their history, they would have to say, "Boy have we been in bondage to lots of people."

Let me name a few.  They were in bondage to the Egyptians at one time.  After the Egyptians they were in bondage to the Assyrians.  After the Assyrians they were in bondage to the Babylonians.  After the Babylonians they were in bondage to the Medo-Persians.  After the Medo-Persians they were in bondage to the Macedonians.  After the Macedonians and at this very time they are in bondage to Rome and they say, "Were Abraham's descendants, we've never been in bondage to anyone."

And you know what they mean by that, right?  They're acknowledging that they were slaves physically but in their hearts they're saying we were never slaves because we have been Abraham's descendants, we're of the Jewish race.  So the whole denial of physical slavery is to really avow that they have spiritually been free.  As wonderful as that might sound, what they were doing is saying, "We're automatically okay with God, because we were born Jews, we have a heritage.  We have Abraham.  We have Moses." And they're tracing their spiritual lineage back.

But freedom is believing, is continuing and is stopping that cancerous process called sin.  It does no good to deny it but to own up to it.  We live in a nation as I mentioned that has lots of addictions.

Here we are talking about our freedoms while so many people are still sold as sex slaves in this country.  And that drug use is astronomical and there is pornography addiction.  Now Jesus says, "A slave does not abide in the house forever but a son abides forever.  Therefore, if the son makes you free you will be free indeed."  In ancient times, a slave had no status in the household.  A son had status.  The point Christ is making is that he the son in the household of God, in the Kingdom of God can give freedom to anyone who is a slave of sin.

Anyone who is enslaved and bondage to sin, the son who has status in the house, can turn a slave into a son.  You know the bibles calls us adopted, right?  We're adopted children of God.  We've been adopted into Gods family and how have we been adopted?  The son, Jesus, who has the status in the Father's household has brought us in and made us adopted sons and daughters of God.

We used to be slaves.  We've been set free by faith in him.  By abiding in him, that follows our faith that proves our faith and then we find that our lifestyle changes as we follow him.  And that sinful lifestyle drops off.  As we close and as we enjoy our weekend, ask yourself, is there some behavior, some besetting sin that has gripped your life that you find it really hard to let go of.  A lot of Christian still struggle with a lot of different things.  Could it be that you would have to admit that you need some growing up to do spiritually, that you need to go further and deeper.

Perhaps like the little girl who fell out of bed one night and hit her head on the floor and she cried out and her mommy came in picked her up and put her back in bed.  And said, "Sweetie, how come you fell out of bed?"  And the little girl said, "I don't know mommy, I supposed it's because I stayed too close to where I got in."  I find a lot of Christian stays too close to where they get in.  They get in, they come by faith but they just sort of live on that edge with the world, instead of moving closer in to him.  Into Christ growing in faith, growing in Godliness, hanging out with a different set of friends, doing a different set of activities.

Christian disciplines that will root you and grow you and keep you.  So the word for all of us, is to grow up and to grow deep in him.  And the more you do, the freer you will discover you become.  I'm going to ask Ives to come back up and I want to give an opportunity.  First of all, let's just bow our heads for a moment and we'll close our eyes.  We'll just do business with God privately even though we have a large group.  As we're gathered in this place, if there is some area your struggling with, some besetting kind of a sin, some habit that's been hanging on for a long time.  The lord knows all about it.  He is still your Father, he loves you and as we mentioned today perhaps God is going to prune you lovingly to bring forth more fruit.

But this would be a good time to admit that.  And then in this time and where we're just standing before the Lord, sitting before the Lord.  If you've got some area in your life that you're struggling with, raise your hand up.  It could be a drug issue, it could be an alcohol issue.  It could be a lust issue or a pornography issue.  It could be spending issue, a status issue, just raise your hand up.  Where do you see us?  You know us.  You know our down sitting, you know our up rising, you know our thoughts before we think them.  There's not a word on our tongue but lo, Lord you know it all together.  And Lord because you know us and because you love us the way are we trust that you can deliver us and you can set us free from anything that grips our lives.  We want you to grip our lives Lord.  We want you to hold tightly onto us and set us free to walk in holiness and upright behavior before you.

Oh!  Lord, we ask for your deliverance in our lives.  To be known, to be experienced.  Forgive us of our sins, Lord and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and like the prophet said, "We acknowledge our sin, our sin and we pray that you would heal our land.  Heal our land.  But begin with us Lord.  Do a work of revival in our hearts.  Clean your church, make us pure and holy, we're not perfect, we acknowledge that.  But I pray we would walk before you and truth and then holiness as you set us free."  In Jesus name, Amen.

A second thing, you could be invited here by a friend or a family member.  Maybe you've come to church for a long time.  I made people who've come to our church for a long time.  And don't come to Christ for a long time.  They listen every week, they watch every week.  They go to hang out with friends or to meet people they know or they come because their husband or wife or son or daughter or parent begs them to come or ask them to come or bribes them to come whatever it takes.  But it could be that you're here and you've never personally given your life to Jesus Christ.  You've never just taken that first step of believing in him of trusting in him.  And I want to give you that opportunity.  I went to church all my life before I gave my life to Jesus Christ, many years later.  And I remember the night I did it, it was the night very similar to this evening.  It was cool.  It was summer time.  And an invitation was given and I prayed to receive Jesus Christ.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  And I remember that's when the light switched on for me.

I remember the feeling of freedom like I've never felt before.  I didn't see bright lights.  I didn't hear lightning from heaven but I felt God's peace.  I knew my sins have been taken away.  I knew that I was brand new.  I really couldn't explain it.  I can explain it better now but I couldn't explain it then.  All I know is that it was very real.  Tonight God wants to meet you and give you freedom, forgive your sin and cleanse you but he won't force himself on you.  I want you to know that the Holy Spirit of God is a gentleman.  Jesus said, he knocks at the door of your heart.  He's not going to come in with a bulldozer or knock you down with his foot.  He's just knocking.  Can you hear that knock?

Some of you have heard it for a long time and you haven't opened.  In fact, you've heard it for years and you haven't opened.  And as time has gone on, though you still hear him knocking that knock is getting fainter and fainter and fainter and for some of you, you can barely hear it.  Because you've learn to say no to God for far too long.  I urge you.  I beg you as Paul did by the mercies of God, if you are not a saved man or woman tonight, if it's not a real relationship with God.

I'm not talking about going to church or playing religion or singing a few songs here and there but following Christ as a disciple.  If you can hear him knocking on the door of your heart, have the courage to respond to him.  And let him love you and let him forgive you and let him give you life he wont force himself on you.  He waits for that door to be opened.  Will you open it?  Only you can open it.  The door knob is on the inside not the outside, he's knocking you've got to open it.  If you want to do that, you want to surrender your life to Christ. For some of you, if you want to come back to the Lord, you remember what it felt like years ago when you walked in freedom with the Lord.  And the peace that you've experienced and you've learned to sort of relegate that to, "Yeah, but I was young and idealistic.  Life has really changed my way of looking at things."

Okay, fine let Jesus change your way of looking at things again.  The real Jesus not the Sunday school Jesus, the real Jesus who rose from the dead is alive and here right now to meet you and forgive you of your sin.  As we sing this song, I'm going to ask you to get up from where you're seated.  You might be gathered around us, thousands of people or you might be in that park on that side watching by television.  I want you to get up.

I want you to make your way right up here and stand and I'm going to lead into prayer, where you give your life to Jesus Christ, you give him the pink slip of your life, you're surrendering to him tonight.  This is it, this is the moment of truth, and this is your doorway into freedom as we sing you get up and come and stand right up here in the front.  Just a little bit longer.  I'm so glad that so many of you decided to leave wherever you were sitting a moment ago and to stand right up here.  And here we are together and I'm going to lead you who have come young and old, male and female.  I'm going to lead you all in a word of prayer.  And I'm gong to ask those of you who have come to pray with me, to pray out loud after me, okay?  So in this prayer you're basically asking God to come into your life and to take control, to take over.  This is you giving your life to him.  This is you turning from the past and turning toward God in your future.  It's called repentance, so let's pray.  I'll pray and you pray out loud after me.