Sermon Central
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Freedom!
Contributed by C. Philip Green on Sep 14, 2016 (message contributor)
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1. Freedom's Gospel
Contributed on Sep 22, 2016
If you want to be free from your sin, don't believe in a different, distorted or damned gospel. Believe in the divine Gospel that Jesus sets the believer free!
Several years ago (December 2008), I had the opportunity to go to Belarus to teach church multiplication to young Belarussians getting ready to plant churches in various parts of the country. I had about a hundred pages of notes for the students, so I looked into translating them into Russian. ...read more
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2. Breaking Free!
Contributed on Sep 14, 2016
If you want to break free from the sinful habits and attitudes that keep you from soaring, listen to God and believe Him when He tells you, "I am setting you free!"
Kung Fu Panda is the story of a flabby, out-of-shape panda bear named Po who longs to learn the ancient art of Kung Fu. Amazingly, Po is selected by the village leaders to become the Dragon Warrior – the greatest Kung Fu master of all time. But in spite of his new status, Po is still a ...read more
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3. Freedom's Maturity
Contributed on Nov 17, 2016
You are adult sons of God, so don’t behave like children; behave like the adult sons you are.
Marian Obeda, from London, Ontario, talks about a time when her husband, a pastor, was asked to officiate at a lot of weddings over a short few months. During that time, they were also preparing for their son's birthday party, so Marian asked her son who he wanted to invite. He responded with a ...read more
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4. Freedom's Relationships
Contributed on Nov 8, 2016
You are free because you are loved!
Pastor Lee Eclov, from Vernon Hills, Illinois, talks about his first visit to a health club in the 1970s. His friend Frank had invited Lee to go with him, and when they arrived, they entered a room filled with weight machines. Pastor Lee had never seen those things before in his life, so Frank ...read more
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5. Freedom's Children
Contributed on Jan 3, 2017
Know your mother and throw out the other. Stop trying to earn your way, and start enjoying your way to heaven.
Mary Hickey talks about the time when she was expecting her first baby. Then, a six-year-old neighbor girl was particularly curious. She wanted to see the baby furniture and hear her list of possible names. When she asked where the baby was, Mary was a walking show-and-tell even at four months. ...read more
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6. Freedom's Influence
Contributed on Sep 27, 2016
If you want to influence others to follow Jesus, commune with Him and let Him change you from the inside out.
Once upon a time, a man walked into a little mom-and-pop grocery store and asked, “Do you sell salt?” “Ha!” said Pop the proprietor. “Do we sell salt! Just look!” And Pop showed the customer one entire wall of shelves stocked with nothing but salt – ...read more
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7. Freedom's Threats
Contributed on Oct 5, 2016
If we're going to enjoy our freedom in Christ, we must come together FOR the truth of the Gospel and work together IN the truth of the Gospel.
An Arab chief tells a story of a spy who was captured and then sentenced to death by a general in the Persian army. This general had the strange custom of giving condemned criminals a choice between the firing squad and the big, black door. As the moment for execution drew near, the spy was brought ...read more
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8. Freedom's Power
Contributed on Oct 12, 2016
If you want to be a better person, don't depend on a list; depend on the Lord.
A couple of years ago (2014), Lowe's produced a commercial that shows a proud do-it-yourselfer installing a new ceiling fan in his family's living room. Take a look (show Lowe’s Commercial, Ceiling Fan, 2014) After he proudly gives the fan one last little turn, climbs off the aluminum ...read more
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9. Freedom's Spirit
Contributed on Oct 20, 2016
Start, finish and continue your life with the Spirit by faith.
On February 10, 2013, a fire broke out in an engine room of the Carnival cruise ship, Triumph. The fire knocked out the ship's power, leaving the vessel drifting in the Gulf of Mexico and more than 4,200 passengers and crew in limbo. The lost power made it impossible to operate the flush toilets, ...read more
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10. Freedom's Love
Contributed on Dec 27, 2016
If you want to be an effective lover, demonstrate GRACE in all your relationships; love freely and without conditions.
It was tax season, and Jane Osinki decided to surprise her husband, Henry, by getting their tax information in to their CPA early. She picked up the tax package their CPA had sent, scanned the forms, and noticed that Henry had already filled in some of the lines. To the question, “Did ...read more
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11. Freedom's Blessing
Contributed on Oct 25, 2016
Stop trying to keep the law and start trusting Christ with your life to be truly blessed.
Tim Wilson, a pastor in Colorado, talks about his days at Fort Benning, attending the United States Army Airborne School. He and his buddies were sitting on hard wooden bleachers as they prepared for their first parachute jump. Soon they would soar hundreds of feet above the red Georgia clay and ...read more
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12. Freedom's Promise
Contributed on Nov 2, 2016
If you want to enjoy the life God has called you to live, depend on God's promise, not His law.
Just a few years ago (2010), Audi had one of the best commercials aired during the Super Bowl. It poked some fun at the imaginary “green police” out of control. Take a look. (Show Green Police Audi Ad Super Bowl 2010) Standing at the checkout counter of a store, the clerk tells a ...read more
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13. Freedom's Enemies
Contributed on Jan 11, 2017
Stay free from the law and the legalist!
One morning, during an adult Sunday school class, a pastor in San Angelo, Texas, picked up the podium and walked back and forth with it. When someone asked, “What are you doing?” he replied, “Well, sometimes you just need to take a stand.” (Rebecca Livermore, San Angelo, Texas, “Lite Fare,” ...read more
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14. Freedom's Service
Contributed on Jan 25, 2017
Through God's love serve one another, satisfy the law, and stop fighting.
A pastor in Kansas City, Kansas, was organizing opportunities for people in his church to do small acts of kindness as a demonstration of Christ's love in the community. He phoned several neighborhood grocery stores and Laundromats for permission to do specific services. In one call, the ...read more
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15. Freedom's Fruit
Contributed on Feb 8, 2017
Defeat the flesh by depending on the Spirit: live by the Spirit and so conquer the desires of the flesh; be led by the Spirit and so conquer the deeds of the flesh; and walk with the Spirit and so enjoy the death of the flesh.
Jo Guerrero’s five-year-old daughter, Barbara, had disobeyed her mother and had been sent to her room. After a few minutes, Jo (the mom) went in to talk with her about what she had done. Teary-eyed, the little girl asked, “Why do we do wrong things, Mommy?” Jo replied, “Sometimes the devil ...read more
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16. Freedom's Restoration
Contributed on Feb 16, 2017
If we as a church want to be known as a place of healing for broken people, we restore them spiritually, gently, humbly, and lovingly.
Tell me: If you were caught for drunken driving, and the headlines in the Lyons News said, “So-and-so Arrested for Drunken Driving,” would you go to church the next Sunday? Most people would say, “No,” because they’d be too embarrassed to face their Christian friends. But why not go to ...read more
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17. Freedom's Harvest
Contributed on Feb 23, 2017
The best use of your money is to share, gain and share some more, so that the Kingdom of God can be expanded around the world.
Deron Smith of Springfield, Missouri, is one of many believers around the world who observes Lent, which starts this Wednesday. Not too long ago, he and his wife sat at the dinner table with their three daughters, ages 6, 8, and 11, and attempted to explain what Lent was all about. As part of ...read more
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18. Freedom's Cross
Contributed on Mar 1, 2017
If you want to be free from the pressure to perform and impress others, don’t seek to impress others with yourself. Instead, just be impressed with what Christ has done for you on the cross.
Once upon a time an old man and his son were on their way to market. The old man was leading a donkey and the boy was walking behind when they went through the first village. There, the people called the old man a fool for not riding the donkey, so he climbed up on the animal’s back. In the ...read more