Freedom Is Not Free

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“Christ purchased our freedom and redeemed us from the curse of the Law and its condemnation by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs [crucified] on a tree (cross).” Galatians 3:13 AMP

The Law brought a curse. There it stopped short. That was all it could do. The first thing that Jesus did was undo this result of the Law by deliverance from the curse. John 8:36

This deliverance is represented in the form of a ransom. Christ “bought off” the human race from the penalty of its sins, the price paid to be His death, as it says in I Corinthians 6:20: “You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.”

In the fourth century a champion for God wrote these words:

A Soul Set Free


“Who am I, and what am I?  Is there any evil that is not found in my acts, or if not in my acts, in my words, or if not in my words, in my will?  But you, O Lord, are good and merciful, and your right hand has had regard for the depth of my death, and from the very bottom of my heart it has emptied out an abyss of corruption.  This was the sum of it: not to will what I willed and to will what you willed.
    But throughout these long years where was my free will?  Out of what deep and hidden pit was it called forth in a single moment, wherein to bend my neck to your mild yoke and my shoulders to your light burden, O Christ Jesus, my helper and my redeemer?  How sweet did it suddenly become to me to be free of the sweets of folly: things that I once feared to lose it was now joy to put away.  You cast them forth from me, you the true and highest sweetness, you cast them forth, and in their stead, you entered in, sweeter than every pleasure, but not to flesh and blood, brighter than every light, but deeper within me than any secret retreat, higher than every honor, but not to those who exalt themselves.  Now was my mind free from the gnawing cares of favor-seeking, of striving for gain, of wallowing in the mire, and of scratching lust’s itchy sore.  I spoke like a child to you, my light, my wealth, my salvation, my Lord God.”

THE CONFESSIONS OF 
 SAINT AUGUSTINE
BOOK 9 – A Soul Set Free 
paragraph 2,3

“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.”
John F. Kennedy

The cost to participate in this great American experiment, which we call democracy, has always come at a great cost to some of us. We marched for it. Bled for it. Suffered humiliating indignities for it. And even died for it. We served our country in the military, honorably, to keep it secure and free, yet our struggles are not over.

As I witness the political upheavals in our country today it saddens me. I think of the way it must have been for Jesus when he was laser-focused on setting us free at all costs. The bible says: “Christ purchased our freedom and redeemed us from the curse of the Law and its condemnation by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs [crucified] on a tree (cross).” Galatians 3:13 AMP
He paid the price with his own blood.

Jesus paid a high price for our freedom. The brave men and women who fought in Americas’ wars, from the civil war to Afghanistan paid a high price for our freedom. The brave and courageous men and women who marched were beaten and humiliated and died, paid a high price for our freedom. I pray that it all wasn’t in vain.

The burden of renewing our zeal and, summoning the courage and determination, to take this fight up once more has sent the call out to all who love ‘Freedom’ and ‘Justice’. Will you answer the call?
As for me and my house, we vote yes!

Empty Space

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The space in your heart where the Lord doesn’t reign and rule is an empty space where stray spirits run in and out at will.

When the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote concerning the office and person of our High Priest he said:

“Concerning this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull and sluggish in [your spiritual] hearing and disinclined to listen.  For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food.”

Hebrews 5:11,12 AMP

As followers and co-heirs with Christ, we are obligated to allow His influence to have free access to our whole hearts.  Of course, this is something that is not altogether possible instantly.  It’s a progressive, conscious and, deliberate course of action.

Before Jesus was arrested, He warned Peter that he would deny Him three times:

“And Peter said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death!” Jesus said, “I say to you Peter before the rooster crows today, you will [utterly] deny three times that you know Me.”

Luke 22:33,34 AMP

I can just hear some of you saying that this happened before Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Before Jesus sent us another comforter [Holy Spirit].  Well, if that is your argument listen to this:

“Now when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him face to face [about his conduct there], because he stood condemned [by his own actions].  Before certain men came from James, he used to eat [his meals] with the Gentiles; but when the men [from Jerusalem] arrived, he began to withdraw and separate himself [from the Gentile believers], because he was afraid of those from the circumcision.”

Galatians 2:11,12 AMP

Peter obviously still had an empty space he hadn’t allowed the Holy Spirit to fill yet.  He was ‘afraid’ of what the Jews back in Jerusalem would think about him fellowshipping with gentiles.

How do you recognize an ‘empty space?’  An empty space is one that is  unruly, unmanageable, unattended, uninviting, etc.,

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says this: Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away.  Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]”.

When we become new in Christ we stop practicing those things of the old nature that kept us slaves to sin.  We don’t suddenly become perfect, but we do continually strive toward perfection.  When we stop practicing lying, hatred, sexual immorality, anger, and such things, we create empty spaces.  Spaces that they once filled.  We have to quickly allow the Holy Spirit to fill those spaces in our hearts with things that will characterize the new person we have become.  How do we do that?

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippian church said this:

“Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]”. Philippians 4:8 AMP

That is how you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, fill those empty spaces.

The African Connection to Christianity – Part 1

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Saint Mark

Why are so many young and, middle-aged people leaving the church?  I can’t speak for all of them, but I can speak to the ones I have personally talked to over the last 30 years in the African American community.  Many African Americans feel disillusioned from misinformation, disinformation, and the commercialization of the Christian faith by some.  Thus, leaving many shipwrecked in their faith.

The African Connection to Christianity series is meant to answer many of those questions I’ve been getting over the years.  This is not to lift one race or ethnic group over another, but to include ALL races and groups as it was always intended.  We will see that throughout this series.  But, like all things, there has to be a beginning.

The Christian faith began its trek around the world from the African continent.  Not only that, but those who carried the gospel were African people.  This is something that a large part of the world either neglected to mention or, intentionally deleted from history.

Dr. Thomas C. Oden wrote in his book: HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND

“The global Christian mind has been formed out of a specific history, not out of bare-bones theoretical ideas.  Much of that history occurred in Africa.  Cut Africa out of the Bible and Christian memory, and you have misplaced many pivotal scenes of salvation history.  It is the story of the children of Abraham in Africa; Joseph in Africa; Moses in Africa; Mary, Joseph and Jesus in Africa; and shortly thereafter Mark and Perpetua and Athanasius and Augustine in Africa”.

Judaism and Christianity have their roots in the story of a people formed in the space between Africa and Asia.  The people from these two groups, Jews and Christians traveled from Egypt to Jerusalem to Samaria to Antioch, and from there to the rest of the world.

The early Christian footprint was formed on three continents – Asia, Africa, and Europe.  On each of these three lands were three great cities in the maps of late antiquity: Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome.

At the height of its prominence, the Afro-Hellenic city of Alexandria was the larger of the three cities.  Its importance far exceeded that of Antioch and Rome in the world of ideas, literature, and learning.

It’s important to note that the Christian leader of Alexandria came to symbolize and represent all Christians on the continent concerning the ecclesiastical organization.

Other than Alexandria, there was only one other city in the ancient world internationally recognized on the African continent as representative of a large part of Africa, Carthage.

The stand-out difference between Alexandria and Carthage was that Carthage had no known first-generation apostle comparable to St. Mark.  We will get more into the important part St. Mark played in the second part of this series.

Alexandria representing Africa was comparable to Antioch representing Asia and, Rome representing Europe.

In the first half of the first millennium, the African intellect blossomed so much that it was emulated and widely sought out by Christians of the northern and eastern Mediterranean shores.  Origen, an African, was sought out by the teachers of Caesarea Palestina.  Lactantius was invited by Emperor Diocletian (245-313) to be a teacher of literature in his Asian palace in Bythinia.  Augustine was invited to teach in Milan.  There are many other intellectual movement cases from Africa to Europe – Plotinus, Valentinus, Tertullian, Marius Victorinus, and Pachomius are just a few.

As we deep dive into the historical annals of Christianity, we need to understand how the first Christians understood and transmitted the gospel.  It is my opinion that leaving this crucial part of our Christian heritage out of our collective, and personal, conversations could leave us wanting.

For the first five hundred years of Christian history, Africa played an undeniable and pivotal role in shaping the global Christian mind.  If we are going to tell the Christian story we need to tell it all.

I hope you will find it important enough to search and find out for yourself that the Christian faith is for us all, from all of us.

This is the first of a three-part series concerning Christianity’s African connection.

The Enemy Is In The House

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Why are so many folk, especially young people, leaving the church? The numbers are staggering. People are flocking to social media as if they can find God there. They are abandoning their parents’ faith. They are looking on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Should we be concerned? Did we fail our children?
The bible speaks exactly to what we are seeing take place. We can’t stop it. We can’t pray our way out of it. It is inevitable that such a time as this should take place. The times are unfolding precisely the way they should. Unless you don’t believe what the Word of God says:
“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division [between believers and unbelievers]; for from now on five in one household will be divided [over Me], three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law”. Luke 12:51-53 AMP
There are a number of reasons why the community churches are not the stalwarts that they once were. I won’t attempt to speak on all the reasons, but there is one recurring theme that I hear quite often as I talk to young folk. The complaint I hear the most from them is that they hear one thing and see something different. They seem to be insinuating that the ‘enemy is in the house’. Wow! Think about that. People are saying they are not willing to be a part of a group that comes together every week in the name of God and acts as though the bible is just a suggestion. What they witness at church, in people, is different than what they see at home or in the neighborhood. That is ‘hypocrisy’. For them, ‘the enemy is in the house’.
To be fair, this is not exclusive to the church. Every institution has its own shortcomings. The problem is that the church is supposed to be set apart from ‘all’ other institutions. We are supposed to be a shining example to the world. It seems as though the world is influencing the church when it is supposed to be the other way around.
The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to always be ready to share the gospel with whoever was willing to hear it. These instructions were memorialized in the last letter he wrote to Timothy:
“Keep and follow the pattern of sound teaching (doctrine) which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard [with greatest care] and keep unchanged, the treasure [that precious truth] which has been entrusted to you [that is, the good news about salvation through personal faith in Christ Jesus], through [the help of] the Holy Spirit who dwells in us”. 2 Timothy 1:13, 14 AMP
How we live should reflect what we say. That should be a simple enough rule. Unfortunately, this simple rule has lost its luster. The times that we live in now have little or no memory of what Paul handed down to Timothy.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables”. 2 Timothy 4:3,4 NKJV

There is a parallel story in the book of Joshua that speaks to this present-day issue.  Immediately after Joshua led the Israelites over the Jordan into the land the Lord promised them, they suffered a humiliating defeat. Joshua then cried out to the Lord, “Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.  And Joshua said, ‘Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all – to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth.  Then what will You do for Your great name?  So the LORD said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?  Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them.  For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.”   Joshua 7:6-10 

The Lord told Joshua that the enemy is in the house.

How sad it will be on that day when we are called to give an account for the things we did or did not do in this life. Can we honestly say we did all we could to bring our children up in the ways of the Lord? Did our lives reflect that of a moral, just, loving, and God-fearing child of God?
The church isn’t the only place we learn about the Lord. Our home is also our sanctuary. The Lord should be a member of our household. If He isn’t a member of our home, then “the enemy is in the house”.
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them”. Matthew 18:20 NKJV
Paul was obviously very concerned with what he was witnessing as the infant church began to grow. During the time he was personally disciplining Timothy, false teachers were already beginning to rise. Timothy was young, and Paul wanted him to be prepared for what was coming. Not only that, but the Lord wanted every succeeding generation to be on guard as well.
In the 21st century, we are still called upon to preach, teach, and guard the gospel. No one said it would be easy. Our challenges are quite daunting, but we don’t need to make it more difficult by allowing the “enemy in the house”. There is no time to be complacent. It is time for a good old-fashioned spring cleaning.
In the first letter Paul wrote to Timothy, he spoke to him about the Great Falling Away (Apostasy):
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…” 1 Tim.4:1,2.

Deception has crept in among us.  It has turned believers into spectators.  Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”  Instead of feeding the sheep, we have become consumers of the world.  The pulpit has become a stage and worship entertainment.

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Twilight

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A shimmering glint of magnificence stretches across the sky where darkness meets light.  The Sun strains to stay relevant, but night had its own beauty to showcase and would not be denied.

What an awesome sight …, Twilight, when day and night meet in the sky and all of creation pauses to witness a cosmic dance that has gone on twice a day, since the beginning of time.

When heaven and earth pause to witness this phenomenal spectacle, the stars sing, the earth dances, and all creatures everywhere are awestruck.  Beauty and power coalesce for all creation to witness.  The beginning and the end meet, what a sight.

While many would say ‘Day’ is more beautiful because we can see and distinguish more, yet, even in darkness, all that we see in the day is still there.  And those who prefer the ‘Night’ because they can better see the heavenly host have to know that even in the day, they are still there.

Twilight

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An Angel Descended Upon the City

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An angel of the Lord descended upon the city delivering a message for one called ………Saint, for the Lord said, “There is a family that has cried out to me, but the cares of the world have made them deaf, they cannot hear me. Go to the one called Saint and say to him, ‘I want someone to go and reveal me to the family that has cried out to me”. When the angel found Saint, he told him what the Lord had instructed. Saint looked to heaven and said, “send me Lord, I will go”.

“This is not an easy task, there is much difficulty and many struggles that lie ahead”, said the Angel. “I have no illusions of it being easy, my only hope is that I complete, and not shrink, from the assignment entrusted to me, as one worthy of being called ‘a son of the living God’, said Saint. “Well said, mortal man; the first difficulty is finding and recognizing her”, said the Angel. “But, where should I look”? asked Saint. “Worry not, my friend, you are favored by the Most High God, you will not fail”, said the Angel, as he faded from sight.

Saint is a born-again Christian who came to the Lord late in his adult life. A former drug addict, booster (professional shoplifter) and, ex-con. He accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior while doing time in a State Prison. He spent the last six years of his sentence as a Christian. Fifteen years after leaving prison he is still a committed Christian.

“Life has many twists and turns, ups and downs, tragedies and pleasures. None of these are to sway you from the commitment you made to the Lord”, Saint whispered to himself. These were the words of the Angel seventeen years ago; or was it all a dream?

The Keller family, headed by Dana Keller, a single mother of three (3), two boys and one girl. Dana came to our Church four (4) years ago after volunteering in our ‘Thrifty Clothing Store’. She was between jobs and wanted to stay busy. She especially wanted to keep her children active. Even though we could only pay her, and one of her sons, minimum wage, Dana worked as though she was at a Fortune 500 company. She was the epitome of courtesy, respect and service. People started coming from miles around because of her.

Usually, people have very low self-esteem when they lose everything (material) like she had. Some even walk around mad at the world and everyone in it. Then, there are those who give up, and succumb to a beggar’s life; but not Dana. She could rub shoulders with all of these, and inspire them, what they thought had been lost. Hope! Her children, ages 15, 17, and 21, had great respect for her. She was a walking epistle if I ever saw one.

When Dana came to our Church four (4) years ago she was biblically illiterate. She had a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, but because of all the downsizing going on she was cut from her high paying white-collar job. It never occurred to her that this would happen. After eighteen (18) months of sending out resumes, and going on countless interviews, she had finally hit rock bottom. Her money ran out, she was forced to sell her suburban home and she and her children had no health care. She couldn’t even afford to get sick. She was desperate.

Dana’s sister, Corrine, invited her and her children to come and stay with her. Dana was a tremendous help to her five (5) years ago when she lost her husband to prostate cancer. Dana stepped in to help while Corrine began readjusting her life without her husband of 26 years. Corrine often testifies in Church how Dana was a tower of strength for her when she just wanted to give up. But Corrine was on a fixed income, and could only do so much. Being a member of our Church, Corrine brought the situation to our attention, and asked if we could help.

We were a small Church, with only 81 members, a third of which was unemployed. How could we take on another family on such a shoestring budget? I did what any mature, prudent and wise pastor would do, …I Prayed. The answer came back ……silent. After three (3) days of silence I knew what had to be done. I learned over the years that, many times, silence means you already have the answer, do what’s in your heart. So, I did. I hired her and her oldest son to work in the second-hand clothing store we had. She inspired people to give to the store as much as she inspired others to come and buy from the store. Soon afterwards, the one store we had turned into two, and then three. Within nine (9) months we had six (6) thrifty stores, and two corporate donors.

After attending our Church for a year, she and her family became members. For the first time in many years, after fellowshipping with the saints, she could see and hear Him. “Now I remember”, said Saint. “It was not just a dream”.