Good morning everyone from Hawaii and throughout the world, here in America we are celebrating today our independence of the 13 colonies that came over to this country as a new nation and freedom from England. There is a lot more to it on this day, we celebrate with fireworks and load noises of firecrackers, ash cans, cherry bombs, and rockets that explode and make beautiful decorations of art in the sky, most people have there own special store bought fireworks, and they blow them off in there own front street and they have all kinds of sizzling fire sparklers, and all other types of smaller rockets. But around the country from coast to coast every city or town has there own larger rockets that burst in the air, and it seems the bigger the city or town, the larger the color and sounds in the sky. but all our questions that arise are we truly free without Christ, I would tend to say no, most of us think we are free, but without Christ and His love and forgiveness of our sin, we are still living in sin, so if we are living in sin how could we be free? What we need to analyze today is our independence and freedom and are we truly able to be free.
Dear Heavenly Father, Please calm and comfort us today, please help us to find victory within our hearts with Your strength to combat the evil one. This day is a celebration of freedom for this country. Please O’ Lord help us to remain strong in Your love, it is You Father that we Love, it is You that causes all things to work together for good. We just want to thank you for all the provisions that you have supplied for this church, and how the growth of it has been an accomplishment for Your glory, not ours. We are here to Worship You, to touch you with our souls, and to worship You in spirit and in truth, we can’t do anything without you. You are our joy and peace, you are the ultimate power of the universe, and how can I express into words how we feel about you Father? You are the creation and our leadership and our direction. We thank you for the blessings of the Holy Spirit, that dwells within each and everyone of us, we thank you for the magnitude of your Son Jesus, who suffered and died for us all to grant us total eternal peace and joy with You Father, in the divine realms in the Kingdom of Heaven In Jesus Name, Amen
Medical update: Nothing has changed only I am getting weaker and weaker, I am still running a temperature and losing weight, I ruled out oral inflammatory disease and periodontal disease by going to a peridontist with my own money, my insurance would not pay for any of it, and after I completed the sermon last week, I got an email from the donation box network, and they said they needed an update, I filled out the forms and sent them in, then a few days later the company emails me back after I felt it was suspicious, and I found out it was an identical fake site. I had to spend the next couple of days on the phone which added a great amount of stress, and more pain in my mouth and less sleep, I don’t have a chance to calm down. I am under masses of amounts of attacks, and I am fighting with my life to keep myself calm, to pray and to read the word. I had to cancel my main credit card, for the church, call all the credit bureaus, and then to the police for identity theft, now this fake website has every bit of information on me that exists. I had to call social security, and I had to straighten everything out with the church account at the bank, 4 days of stress, and I can’t eat as it is, now it all has hit me all at once, now my insurance is up for renewal, and my body is falling apart. No one knows what is going on with my health. I can’t even talk without pain; I have another appointment on the 14th, and the 16th. I had to send out a prayer for myself to 20 or 30 networks, and here I am praying for everyone else, and I received a few responses, a man in a long prayer told me I am under so much attack, that he mentioned that 1500 pastors are quitting the ministry a month, because of all the attacks from the Devil and the principalities. He told me I need a group of people around me praying on me constantly. I do have a good prayer partner, but he feels I need more. Everything is going wrong nothing seems to be working, the strangest things are happening. I am being attacked directly at my faith, but the torment of this week has been the hardest I have ever gone through. I tried eating some blended ground beef and that tore my mouth apart, my jaws are in complete pain, inside and out. And I thought I was going to get some answers from this last doctor and it was over his head, he told me to seek a neurologist, and the only one on the island is in a coma dieing, the inside of my mouth is all to sensitive. It is hard to even brush my teeth; I cannot even drink soda, orange juice, or tomato products.
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Deut. 10:12-21 NIV
In the beginning God wanted the male population to be circumcised but the meaning went beyond just circumcision they were just not making a covenant with the lord with our body flesh it was also to be a covenant with the heart, God wanted our hearts to change for the better of mankind. So in other words God wanted a covenant of the body and the spirit. This understanding was very important, if our covenant is not right with God , then our covenant with others would not be right either. This way our compassion and love and reverence work hand and hand, for the entire human race.
The Lord is our God, and Moses expressed and was being lead to guide others not to worship other gods made out of stone, clay, and wood. He wanted to make a point that God was mighty and awesome, with pure love, service, and mercy. His mercy goes beyond all our thinking we are all sinners and we deserve His full wrath and judgment. Our Lord freely gives to all the needy that seek Him. We know God helps us, so we must help any stranger or anyone in need. We have sinned so much that we should be judged beyond what we deserve, but that is why we have Jesus, without the shedding of the blood of his Son, we would still be in sin.
Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God. Deut. 8:11-20 NIV
In our day of possessions and accomplishments we ourselves take credit for the things we think we have done, and we become prideful- as if to say, look at me, look at my house and my car, and my great job and I do this and I do that, we did the work and the managing and we gained our own wealth, that some of us just push God out of the way, and forget that He is in our lives directing our paths. God is the one who gives everything we have, And God asks us to manage everything we have for Him and His glory, and most of the time people forget or just don’t know that God supplies everything to all of us in the first place.
"Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and occupy the land you are about to enter. If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants--a land flowing with milk and honey! For the land you are about to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and dug out irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden. 11It is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain-- a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it day after day throughout the year!
"If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, and if you worship him, then he will send the rains in their proper seasons so you can harvest crops of grain, grapes for wine, and olives for oil. He will give you lush pastureland for your cattle to graze in, and you yourselves will have plenty to eat.
"But do not let your heart turn away from the LORD to worship other gods. If you do, the LORD's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and your harvests will fail. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is now giving you. So commit yourselves completely to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. Deut 11:8-21 NLT
We sometimes wonder what our great God wants us to do? We do love the lord and our main objectives are to be in obedience, and love our Lord. We have to obey his commands. We as His children have to obey His rules and to fear Him, of His power and have respect, in the dictionary; love will state respect with affection. We have to worship Him with all our hearts soul, minds and strength. We have to live our lives according to his will; we must follow His direction through His word. We must read His word to gain understanding of Him, and receive a closer relationship, also a spiritual direction for our future lives. We are constantly tossed from the worldly rules and regulations that are written by men. We must be out of the world but yet we must still exist in the world. Like today we have to follow the rules of our country we live in, that is why this is the day of celebration, of following the laws that were written 228 years ago, but most of the men that signed and written the Declaration of Independence were Christian, then came the Constitution, and out of the 55 writers and signers, 29 were Anglicans (the Anglican Church in America is a branch of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church instituted by Jesus Christ, The word Anglican refers to their spiritual heritage and roots in the church of England.) also 16-18 were Calvinists, 2 were Methodists, 2 Lutherans, 2 Roman catholic, 1 Quaker, and one open deist *, Dr Franklin who attended every kind of Christian worship and contributed to all denominations, Also George Mason who was assumed as the father of the Bill of Rights with the first 10 Amendments , his words out of history say The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can not be replaced by no power on earth. James McHenry was the first president of the first bible society in Baltimore.
* Belief in God based on reason rather than revelation or the teaching of any specific religion.
A form of natural religion, Deism originated in England in the early 17th century as a rejection of orthodox Christianity. Deists asserted that reason could find evidence of God in nature and that God had created the world and then left it to operate under the natural laws he had devised. The philosopher Edward Herbert (1583–1648) developed this view in On Truth (1624). By the late 18th century Deism was the dominant religious attitude among Europe's educated classes; it was accepted by many upper-class Americans of the same era, including the first three U.S. presidents. “Encyclopedia Britannica Online”
This holiday marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was a day of equality and a day incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred of our rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote most of it, and gave it over to Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to look it over, and make some changes. They made about 26 changes, the Declaration went into effect on July 2nd 1776 and John Adams thought the celebrations that we have today would be on the third, but on the second two of the delegates did not attend the session and another was absent, but the 12 colonies voted on July 2nd and they declared their independence from Great Britain. Technically on July 2nd the United Colonies of America became the United States of America, so after the continental Congress had a two day debate on the 3rd and 4th and altered the document, then they all appeared to be on agreement. So that is why we celebrate Independence Day on the 4th.
The constitution came into effect on September 12th, 1787
The Bill of rights but only 10 came into effect on Dec. 15th, 1791
The Flag everyone believes that Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress made the first one, But it seams know one knows with certainty, we have picked up some information that Congressman Francis Hopkinson was the most chosen designer.
There is another thing Allegiance- which is another part of the celebration is the flag, which many flags are put out on this day, but down the path, at the end of the 19th century as millions of immigrants were coming into this county, People thought they needed some sort of a symbol to bring all the nations together, then there came the pledge of allegiance. Colonel Balch from New York, came up with a simple pledge of faithfulness and devotion, it was a small pledge, then in 1892 Francis Bellamy, an ordained Baptist minister, he composed a pledge but his idea was not adding only devotion to the nation but added the liberty and justice for all, then other words were added to the republic, and that came together in September 1892.
and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2Chron. 7:14 NASB
I am only a preacher, not a history major, so this is all the information I could gather together and is written the best way I could for this day of celebration, I try to be perfect, but I know I am not. God is perfect.
So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you. I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all of the regulations in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.
But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive everything promised to us who are right with God through faith. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, it makes no difference to God whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
You were getting along so well. Who has interfered with you to hold you back from following the truth? It certainly isn't God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. But it takes only one wrong person among you to infect all the others--a little yeast spreads quickly through the whole batch of dough! I am trusting the Lord to bring you back to believing as I do about these things. God will judge that person, whoever it is, who has been troubling and confusing you.
Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised--as some say I do--why would the Jews persecute me? The fact that I am still being persecuted proves that I am still preaching salvation through the cross of Christ alone. 12I only wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. Gal 5:1-15 NLT
Freedom in Christ / Freedom of the gospel
So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealous of one another. Gal 5:16-26
O’ Lord of light and grace of our salvation, as we close for another day of worship, please help all the members and the staff that have prayed, to keep all things together. I cannot express the love that we have to truly magnify your Name. We have gone through great amounts of uneasiness this week, but we realize that we must be doing well for you otherwise we would not be under so much extreme attack. We wish to focus on the blessings, and not the hardships, because we do all love You, and we wish to thank you before hand for the joy and protection of this next week, cast away all fear, because perfect love does away from all sorts of fear. Christians are never to be afraid of anything, everything is guided by You. You are in complete control. We have to go through these tests and trials to make us stronger and to learn and gain that extra potency to educate us, and to make us sanctified and holy, we try to be perfect just as You are perfect, please help all the people who have sent letters from distant lands, and Lord please help me to figure out a way to send some bibles many miles away, please grant us a few with some large print for the elderly, my God my God in whom we trust, help us all this week, please make a change for the better, please hold us in your hands, and bring us full joy this week, you are our healer, you are our God, In Jesus Name, who is above all names, and every knee shall bow, Amen and Amen.
