300. Celebrating God's Grace, Freedom in Christ

Join Janet Berrong on today's episode of Celebrating God's Grace as she discusses the freedom through Christ which allows us to live in the fullness of love, joy, and peace. ******* Welcome to Celebrating God's grace, a women world leaders podcast. I'm your host, Janet Berrong. Thank you for joining us today as we celebrate God's grace, in ministry, and around the world. Please join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for our podcast series, Monday with Kimberly Hobbs and empowering lives with purpose. Wednesday with Julie Jenkins walking in the Word, and Friday we have a variety of women sharing and celebrating God's grace. I enjoy our time here together. And I am honored to share with you today the message of freedom in Christ. The definition of freedom is the power or the right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or resistance. In life, we have freedom to choose a lot of things. And here in the United States, I am grateful for our freedoms. And today I want to expand on the freedom in Christ. The freedom we have in Christ is the freedom to live in faith, to put our hope and trust that God welcomes us through His son into His kingdom. freedom in Christ is not the right to do what we want. It's the ability to do what we ought. Without Christ, we are slaves to sin, unable to do what is right. Christ's death on the cross has set us free from the penalty and the power of sin. Galatians five one reads, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. We are delivered from the bondage of sin and its punishment and have new life in Christ. Christian freedom is for enjoying what we are made for who we were made for, and that's God in Christ. Christ made us to live abundant full lives. In John 1010 reads, The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. God created humanity in the image of God and called them to partner with him expanding his creation. But partnership requires trust. So God gave humanity the freedom to make their own choices. Sadly, the first humans made a choice to trust your own wisdom over gods. This began a downward spiral of selfishness, violence and pain for humanity. But God intervened with a plan to restore humans to their place of true partnership. The consequences that humans face for neglecting God's warnings are difficult. But God's promises have hope. In Jeremiah 2911 reads, For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord their plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. The Holy Spirit longs to make us joyful people He longs to lead us away from which will steal our joy and guide us to green pastures and still waters. But a choice remains constant before us. Will we choose the stress, burdens and insecurities of this world? Or will we follow God into the more abundant life of his joy filled presents. We have a very real enemy tempting us every day to choose a world that will never fulfill us. Galatians 513 reads For we were called to freedom brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. One of our reasons it's so important to understand that you are free from the bondage, penalty and guilt of sin is because now it increases your capacity through Jesus to love to have joy to experience peace and enjoy life. He wants us to increase our capacity to have the relationship with your heavenly Father. John 836 reads so if the sun set you free, you are free indeed. What is Christ freed you from? Can you identify a specific area in your life where you sent you need of redemption. With that in mind? How does this promise specifically impact you today? Dear sisters, if you're wanting more freedom today, I encourage you to get hungry for the Word, God's word the living word. Father, only your word can feed our deepest hunger for our souls. It is such a blessing today to have access to the Bible. Give us wisdom, humility, as we listen to you in Jesus name. Amen.