Dominican Republic Update
What an amazing first day! We were able to enjoy an authentic Dominican breakfast as a team before heading to Pastor Pive's. Once we arrived, he was able to tell his story, give updates and explain the way the feeding program works. It was an amazing experience for us as a team to be able to walk the neighborhood, meet families and feed over 200 children. A couple hours later we were blessed to see children sitting in on their own children's service at Casa Belen. The children are amazing. Tomorrow we start VBS with the kids . We are ending the night with worship as a team. We have grown so much as a family already.
You can follow (some of) our photos at #2ndcityDR2017
John 8:31-38
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
The Importance of Abiding
Abiding in God's Word helps you remember the reality of His meta-narrative. It centers you in worship, the gospel and the purpose of God expressed through Jesus and His cross. Without this, we drift quite naturally into worship of some other kind.
"Man, so long as he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
True Freedom
The truth about relationships, pleasures, happiness and life purpose, satisfaction and peace are all in Christ through His word. It is your very plain roadmap to achieving what stands at the heart of all mankind as most desirable. It is because we were made that way, designed by God and for Him. True freedom is being able to walk in your ultimate design and life calling.
"Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed."
- George Macdonald
Real Slavery
"He that is kind is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king."
- Augustine
They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. - Jesus
Who's Your Daddy?
Unbeknownst to us, we can be shaped by the pattern of the world around us if we are not being shaped by Christ. This is when someone other than God begins fathering you.
"If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."
- C.S. Lewis
Jesus fought the penultimate battle for us, voluntarily laying down His life for our sins at the cross. He became sin so that He might not only take the punishment for our sin, but redeem us/buy us back from its power having paid the price of our servitude.
"Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want."
- Martin Luther
We are no longer slaves, but free to live as children of God in His resurrection power as we choose to love Him as He has loved us.
"In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we're pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our maker's praise without anxiety."
- A. W. Tozer
Second City Church: Freedom Sermon 2017