Over two hundred years ago, our fore parents searched for one thing we have on today: freedom. This search went on and on for years at a time. Nat Turner had an infamous slave revolt in Virginia in 1831. Harriet Tubman led the Underground Railroad from the slave-stricken South to the free-man North. Frederick Douglass was an abolitionist born in the free North with striving to give his fellow brothers and sisters what he had and that was being free. Through the help of God through President Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, freedom was given to the slaves in the South and anywhere else in the U.S. at that time. Rosa Parks strived that you and I would not have to sit in the back of the bus. The Greensboro Four strived that we can eat in an establishment without coming through the back door. The work of our fore parents has brought us to the threshold of enjoying freedom on today. The freedom to eat anywhere, the freedom to ride the bus in any seat, the freedom to use public bathrooms with other nationalities. Our fore parents' diligence and hard work has blessed us with physical freedom. In the spiritual world, we often have not found the place where freedom reside. Well today, through the help of God's Word and today's main scripture, we have the location of where your spiritual freedom reside.
Our main scripture for today is located in the book of 2 Corinthians. This book is the second epistle or letter, written by the Apostle Paul, to the church located in Corinth. Scholars stated 2 Corinthians was likely written between 55 and 57 A.D. Within our focus chapter, Chapter 3, we find Paul making some opening comments and eventually, his talk shifted towards the glory of the new covenant (agreement between two parties, at times, an agreement between God and man). Within this particular section dealing with the new covenant, we find where the place of freedom resides.
Paul begins the text by writing, "Now the Lord is that Spirit". Paul establishes that not only that God is a spirit, but He is THE Spirit! Oftentimes, we ask the Spirit to step in and take over our life's situations, the Spirit we are requesting is that of God! When we ask the Spirit to lead us and guide us, it's the Spirit that is God we are asking for! My wife and I have a running joke. She often tells me that she "feels something down in her spirit" and I always say, "you are talking about the lower case s spirit!" At the end of the day, when you feel something in your spirit, make sure the Spirit that you are feeling and/or hearing is that of the living God!
It's critical for us to understand the Spirit of the living God because that's where freedom resides! Paul clinches this thought when he completes today's text. He tells us, "and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". The NIV says, "and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom". If you are looking for freedom from a backbiting spirit, go where the Spirit of the Lord is! If you are looking for freedom from a spirit of financial lack, go where the Spirit of the Lord is! If you are looking for freedom from lackluster fulfillment in your life, go where the Spirit of the Lord is! If you are looking for freedom from a spirit of depression, go where the Spirit of the Lord is! Whatever you need to be freed from, whatever you need to be emancipated from, go where the Spirit of the Lord is, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM!
In closing, we all can applaud and appreciate the efforts of our fore parents for giving us freedom. Thank You Nat Turner! Thank You Harriet Tubman! Thank You Frederick Douglass! Thank You Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.! Thank You Rosa Parks! Thank You Greensboro Four! Thank You to all of our fore parents! Most importantly, I want to say THANK YOU LORD because where your Spirit resides, there is liberty and freedom for us and the problems we deal with on today. If you are ready to lose the spiritual shackles off of your ankles, find a location of where the Spirit of the Lord resides!
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