Independence Day

Independance Day

On the 4th of July, my family went to a drive in movie theater. We saw the movie "Finding Nemo". The movie was about a little fish named Nemo who swam too close to a boat. He was captured by a scuba diver and put in a fish tank in the office of a dentist. The whole movie was about Nemo’s father Marlin, crossing the ocean seeking and trying to save his Son.

God has done the same for us. Satan wants to capture us and enslave us. His goal is our destruction. But God would do anything, cross the ocean, the universe, time and even send His only Son to die for us, just to save us.

While Satan’s goal for us is enslavement and death, God’s will for us is freedom and life. So how do we acheive that?

Jesus gives us the key to freedom in Matthew 22:37

Matthew 22:37

37Jesus replied: " ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

We can experience true freedom:

Mentally

Our minds

Satan knows the battle for our souls begins in

the mind.

The book of James clearly tells us that we sin

when we are enticed and dragged away by

our sinful desires which start in the mind.

Satan is very good at making sure evil things

have a chance to get in our minds.

He puts things in front us, books, television,

movies, internet and so often we allow those

things access to our mind.

Satan would love nothing more than to enslave

us to our thoughts and desires, so that we

cannot love the Lord with our mind.

God wants us to be free mentally. His word

says to "take captive every thought."

(2 Cor. 10:5)

The Christian is instructed to think on

whatever is lovely, whatever is noble,

whatever is admirable.

We can only experience freedom in Christ

mentally when we fully give our minds to God.

Our Emotions

Satan also tries to enslave us to our emotions.

Anger- he loves for us to be

filled with anger and hatred toward

others.

Jealousy- he loves for us to envy and

lust after other things.

Guilt- he loves for us to dwell on our

sins even after God forgives us.

God can free us, His Holy Spirit can

help us live a controlled life. When

we love him with all our heart (the

seat of the emotions.)

Physically

Physical consequences of sin

The first consequence for Adam and Eve was

physical. They looked at each other and

realized they were naked. Sin always has

physical consequences.

Addiction- Satan has used alcohol, drugs, sex,

to addict God’s people.

Health- As a result of our sin, our health is

often affected.

Broken Relationships-Sin messes up our

relationship with him and others.

Spiritually

Legalism- Jesus condemned the Pharisees for

their legalistic ways of doing things just

for appearances sake. Paul told new Gentile

Christians not to be enslaved by othes after

Christ had made them free. Jews wanted

Gentiles to become Jews before they could

become Christians. Paul told them they were free in Christ, and not a slave to any man.

Spiritual Apathy- another area of attack by

satan is apathy. He doesnt care if we are

Christians so long as we aren’t effective

Christians. He doesn’t want us reading

our Bible, praying, witnessing, worshipping.

He wants us to be Christian in name only.

God wants to be free spiritually in Him. He

gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us, to

encourage us, to rebuke us, to help us grow

spiritually.

Eternally

Satan’s ultimate goal is to take as many

people to hell with him as he can.

He knows that there is no escape for him. He

will spend eternity in hell. He also knows the

pain he can bring God, if he can take people

with him. Hell was created for Satan and his

demons, not people. But Satan’s goal is to enslave people and drag them to hell with him.

God’s goal is to make us free in heaven with

Him for eternity. God tells us how we can

become free:

Believe in Jesus

Confess Christ

Repent of our sins

Be baptized into him.

God also tells us how we can stay free:

Jesus replied: " ’Love the Lord your God with

all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’