"Proclaim Liberty" By Jesse Rairdon July 10th,
2016
Remain
standing as Brother Mike
comes and leads us in prayer: Mike:
Lord Jesus, we just
praise Your holy Name, Lord God. Thank
You for Brother Jesse, Lord God, as he diligently prepared the message,
Lord
God, that You laid on his heart, Lord God.
And, Lord, just thank You for Your blessing, Lord
God, and for using us,
and helping us through our day-to-day life, Lord God, and all the
things that
we’ve got to do, Lord God. Help
us to
make it to the end, that we can hear, “Well done, thy faithful
servants,” that
we could be in Heaven, with You, forever, Lord Jesus.
Just use this service to help us to tool us,
Lord God, so that we can help others to make it, too.
We ask this in Your name, in the name of
Jesus, amen. Please
be seated. Good
morning, church! Again,
welcome back to all of our brothers
and sisters who went to the conference, and had a great time of
fellowship and
worship. We had a
great time, here, too,
didn’t we? Wherever
two or more are
gathered together, He is in the midst (Matthew 18:20), so, it doesn’t
matter if
you’re one up on the island by yourself, or twelve of us that are
gathered
here, or many of us that are gathered across the country or around the
globe, the
Lord is with us, wherever we’re at, wherever we go.
It’s not the location, it’s the location of
the heart. Amen? Our
Scripture verse for July is
Isaiah 60:12, and our theme is, “One Nation under God.”
Isaiah 60:12 For the nation
and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations
shall be
utterly wasted. Utterly
wasted. The title
for today’s message is, “Proclaim
Liberty.” This
comes from Leviticus 25:10—on
the Liberty Bell, as Parrish had mentioned, last week, in his message: Leviticus 25:10 And ye shall hallow
the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto
all the
inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return
every
man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
There
was going to be three main
points, but we had to add a fourth one: 1.
One
Nation under God. 2.
Indivisible-
A people divided will not stand. 3.
Liberty
and Justice for all. 4.
Everyone
needs to be free, but not everyone wants to be free. The
Pledge of Allegiance was
written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. He
had originally written it to be used in every country in the world. The original wording of
the Pledge, it said: "I
pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for
which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all." In
1923, the words, "the Flag
of the United States of America" were added. At
that time it read: "I
pledge allegiance to the Flag of the
United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one
nation,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." In
1954, in response to the
Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress
to add
the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we all say today,
which says: "I
pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under
God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." 1.
One Nation under God Parrish
talked a little about
America’s Godly heritage, and our founders, and how they had a faith
and a
belief in God. In
fact, a lot of the
things in our Constitution, our judiciary system, was set up—everything
was
Biblically-based. How
we taught our
children in our schools was Scriptures from the Bible.
Imagine what we’ve gone through. A
bunch of us were getting
together to prepare for this month, because it was Independence Day,
and our
sermon topic was, “One Nation under God,” we watched a video, “Our
Godly
Heritage.” I
learned a lot from that
video. Some of the
things I had learned
before, but I learned a little more in-depth about how much of a deeper
faith
our founding fathers had. No,
they were
not perfect—they didn’t have slavery right, yet.
They didn’t have a lot of things right,
yet. So, of course,
“liberty and justice
for all,” it wasn’t for all, yet.
It
wasn’t for the Native Americans that were here.
They don’t celebrate liberty and justice for all
like we do, but there is
a way in Christ that they can, and we’re going to talk about that today. Amen?
Bill of
Rights and even our 3 branches of
government were inspired by scriptures and a deep faith in God. One
nation under God. They
believed they couldn’t be free—even gain
their independence—without the help of God.
They implored God for His aid.
And,
not only did they also believe that, without His help they couldn’t win
the war
with Great Britain, but they couldn’t keep a nation together without
God’s
help. Psalms 33:12-22
Blessed
is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen
for his
own inheritance. The
LORD looketh from
heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all
the inhabitants of
the earth. He
fashioneth their hearts
alike; he considereth all their works.
There
is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not
delivered by
much strength. An
horse is a vain thing
for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the
LORD is upon them that
fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from
death,
and to keep them alive in famine.
Our
soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall
rejoice in him, because
we have trusted in his holy name.
Let
thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. One
nation under God. We
as a nation, we need to fear God.
We need to hope in His mercy.
More than that, we as individuals, we need to
fear God. We, as
individuals, because
God’s looking over everybody and seeing who’s going to trust in Him,
who’s’
going to hope in Him, who’s going to revere Him, who’s going to live
right in
Him, who’s going to rejoice in His Law, His liberty?
Are we perfect, as a nation?
No.
And we never will be, really, because we’re human,
we’re flesh. We
lean on the wrong things. We
become selfish. With
the people of God, it’s different, we
have the Spirit of God in us, and God leads us, and guides us, and
helps us
live it according to His will. There
is still no other place in the
world I would rather raise my daughter, than in America. No other place in the
world. The only
other free place, really, out of all
the rest of the places, is, probably, Israel.
When you think about it, all the other nations are
really oppressed, one
way or another. Whether
it be sin, or
the laws, taking away the laws of God out of our schools. We were looking at this
video, it kind of
shows timelines, each time when they took God out of something—when
they took
prayer out of school, this crime sky-rocketed.
When they took posting of the Ten Commandments out
of public places,
crime sky-rocketed. An
all that was,
really, as just to see it, so people would remember that they should
have a
conscience: “Maybe
I shouldn’t
steal. Maybe I
shouldn’t kill. Maybe
I shouldn’t covet my neighbor’s
things. Maybe I
shouldn’t take the name
of the Lord in vain.” Is
that happening
a lot today? My
goodness, it’s common
language around me lately, and it’s like, it grates against my spirit
when I
hear it. It vexes
me, like Lot, who was
in that land, and he was vexed in his spirit, every day. Let’s
go to George Washington. After
we became free, in the first
Presidential Proclamation, in New York City, in 1789, October 3rd,
said
these words: Whereas
it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the
providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his
benefits,
and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses
of
Congress [Really? Everybody
agreed? Both
Houses?] have by their joint Committee
requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of
public
thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful
hearts
the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an
opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their
safety and
happiness.” Now
therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th
day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the
service
of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all
the good
that was, that is, or that will be. [Listen
to his language: All
that He did for us, all that He’s doing
for us, and all that He will do for us.
They understood that we need God.] That
we may then all unite in rendering unto
him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of
the
People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the
signal and
manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence,
which we
experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great
degree
of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for
the
peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to
establish
constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and
particularly the
national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty
with
which we are blessed [There was, really, no division of church and
state. It was all
one, together. They
always called upon God. They
always talked about God in their
writings. You could
really do a lot of
research in this.], and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing
useful
knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he
hath
been pleased to confer upon us. And
also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our
prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and
beseech
him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all,
whether
in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative
duties
properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing
to all
the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and
constitutional
laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and
guide all
Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us)
and to
bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the
knowledge
and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science
among
them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of
temporal
prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Our
founding fathers knew who to
give glory to, knew who was going to keep this nation together, knew
who was
going to allow us to be wise and make the right, just laws. Oh, how far we’ve gotten
from it. 2.
Indivisible- A People Divided Will Not Stand Matthew 12:22-28
Then
was
brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he
healed
him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the
people
were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the
Pharisees
heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by
Beelzebub the
prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto
them, Every
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city
or
house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out
Satan, he
is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I
by
Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?
therefore
they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of
God, then
the kingdom of God is come unto you. Amen. How interesting how people
perceive things. Here
it is, someone called and anointed of
God, the Son of God, Himself, in the flesh, manifested in the flesh,
healing
people, and they’re finding fault, and saying it’s not of God. But I like the point that
He makes, “If a
kingdom—if I really was of the other—of the wrong place, I wouldn’t be
casting
out the wrong things. But,
because the
Kingdom of God is nigh unto you, that’s why I do these things.” The
religious folks were jealous
and filled with hatred. Many people can’t and won’t see the truth, even
if it’s
right in front of them. As
brothers and sisters in Christ
we can disagree on a lot of things in this life, but in Christ, we can
always
agree. We always
need to be on the same
page. We always
need to be able to look
back in the Word—and we need to admit when we’re wrong.
Have you ever been wrong?
I’ve been wrong.
I’ve even preached some things that were
wrong, and I’ve had to admit that I’m wrong.
It’s good to admit when you’re wrong. James
put it this way to the
church, in his general epistle: James 4:1-2
From
whence come wars and fightings among
you? [He’s
not talking about the
rest of the world. Among
you. Right here.] come
they not hence, even of
your lusts that war in your members?
Ye
lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye
fight and
war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. God
has everything you want. Everything
you could ever desire. If
you desire to be a teacher, to be able to
share the Word of God, God has that.
Don’t be jealous of somebody else, cause division. James 4:3
Ye ask,
and receive not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. This
is another point, here: if
you ask of your flesh, it’s all about you.
But, if you start to look at the needs of others,
and say, “God,” like
Solomon prayed when he dedicated the Temple, he said, “God, not for me,
but for
Your people,” and God said, “Not only that, but I’m going to give you
all the
riches and wisdom past all you desire, because you didn’t ask
selfishly.” (2
Kings 3:5-14) So,
God has it for you, but
you still talk to God about how you want it for yourself. You’re not willing to
serve others, amen? James 4:4
Ye
adulterers and adulteresses [that’s some
heavy language], know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God. Now,
be careful, in these times,
who you pick sides with. Especially
with
social issues, be careful in these times that you re on God’s side,
because you
might end up being on the side of an enemy with God, and that’s not a
good
place to be. Amen? The
world likes to put us in
categories and cause division: Rich
vs
Poor, North vs South, East Coast vs West Coast, Democrat vs Republican…
They try to
divide us because of our races.
This is often one of the meanest, and the ugliest divisions that I’ve
seen,
especially in our history of our nation. People
have even tried to prove to me that Jesus
was one race or the other, but the Bible that I read says God is a
spirit, not
a race. God looks
at your faith, not at
your race. God
loves you, not because of
what race you are, but because of the faith that you have. Jesus said, “When I
return, am I going to
find any faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
He didn’t say, “Am I going to find the right race on
the earth?’ He
asked if he was going to find any faith on the earth.
So, God looks at your faith, not your race. 1 Corinthians 1:10-15 Now
I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye
all
speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but
that ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared
unto me of you, my
brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are
contentions
among you. Now this
I say, that every
one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and
I of
Christ. Is Christ
divided? was Paul
crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I
baptized none of you, but
Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own
name. Now
we are of the same mind, and
speaking the same thing. We
as the Body
of Christ cannot be divided. It’s
kind
of easy to be around people of the same culture, the same background,
same
political affiliation. “They
kind of rub
me the wrong way!” But,
sometimes, when you
hang around folks who’re a little different, you’re kind of like, “I
don’t know
if I want to hang around with them, I don’t quite agree with them.” But, you’ll never learn
anything about your
brothers and sisters unless you spend some time with them, and you’ll
never
know how to pray for them unless you spend some time with them. Amen?
So
we tend to kind of cling to that. When
I was in the Navy, I was stationed
a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean, and the mainland
Italy had a
bigger fellowship; they had a couple of families there. And, these two families were
all baptized in
Jesus name, all heard the same doctrine, all raised in the faith just
like me,
but, they both stop communicating.
Both
of them! So, the
elders of the church
called me up, and said, “Why don’t you go pay them a visit, and see if
you can
encourage them?” So,
I went and paid
them a visit, and, first off, I started noticing, you know, I had to
kind of
work to even get them together, in the house together.
They were from totally different backgrounds,
totally different races, from different sides of the world. They were looking at their
differences,
though, not at the requirement to do their mission.
Jesus had saved their souls, and they were
called together to work together, to do a work, there, but they were so
focused
on their differences, nothing was being done.
Souls were not being saved.
This
could happen to us, too. If
we just hang
out—“Oh, I like Parrish, because I like the way he teaches. I’ll go hang out with him.” Or, “I like Brother Andy,
because I like the
way he’s quiet, and doesn’t say much.
I
like him more, so I’ll just go hang out with Andy more.” We sometimes have our
likes and our dislikes,
don’t we? But,
maybe the person that
rubs us the wrong way is just the person we need to hang out with. Maybe the person that
needs to share things
that we need to get a little further in our walk.
Maybe we’re stalled, and there might be some
sin in our life, or some error in our life, and this brother or sister
might be
able to say, “You know what? You’re
wrong!” A
divided people will not stand. There
is a lot of division in our world, and
in our country, isn’t there? Even
people
that go out to do a friendly protest, there’s division.
There’s hatred, there’s anger.
But, there should never be that kind amongst
us, because people need to see the true light, the true liberty, and
that’s the
Lord Jesus Christ, amen? 1 John 1:1
That
which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and
our hands have handled, of the Word of life; They
had seen Jesus in the flesh;
they could speak about this. 1 John 1:2-7 (For
the life was manifested, and we have seen
it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was
with the
Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard
declare
we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our
fellowship
is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things
write we
unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we
have
heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk
in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as
he is
in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of
Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Some
of you, who refuse fellowship,
are refusing the blood of Jesus Christ in your life.
It’s that blunt.
It’s that simple.
This is the only other place, besides baptism,
where blood is applied to your life, is when you fellowship, have true
fellowship, and walk in the light, as He is in the light. Amen? 1 John 1:8-10 If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If
we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not
in us. We’re
all a bunch of liars, aren’t
we? Without God,
we’re all a bunch of
liars. Let the Word
of God be true, and
every man a liar (Romans 3:4), amen?
It’s not a happy message, today, but it’s a good one. Amen?
And we live by it; don’t just hear it—live by it! 3.
Liberty and Justice for All. Our
country hasn’t had this right,
liberty and justice for all, all the way along, amen? True
liberty and justice can only be found in
Jesus. We are here
to proclaim that
liberty. This
is the same scripture that
Jesus stood up in the Temple, when He began His ministry; He quoted
this
Scripture. Isaiah 61:1-2 The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because
the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath
sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the
opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the
acceptable year
of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that
mourn; It’s
a little bit different of
liberty than what we sometimes see or hear about in our history books. This is a liberty that’s
for all men,
everybody, everywhere, all nationalities, all races, all countries, all
peoples… Isaiah 61:3
o
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. There’s
a heaviness in the world,
today, isn’t there? A
heavy sorrow in
the world. We
proclaim, and set the
captives free. Proclaim
liberty, God’s
liberty Isaiah
61:4 And they shall build
the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they
shall
repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. It’s
talking about Israel, here,
too, but it’s also can apply to us. Isaiah 61:5-11 And strangers shall
stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your
plowmen and
your vinedressers. But
ye shall be named
the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God:
ye shall
eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast
yourselves. For
your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion
they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall
possess
the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. For
I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery
for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will
make an
everlasting covenant with them. And
their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among
the
people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the
seed which
the LORD hath blessed. I
will greatly
rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath
clothed me
with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a
bride
adorneth herself with her jewels. For
as
the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things
that are
sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness
and praise
to spring forth before all the nations. See,
when they rang that liberty
bell, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they knew you could only hear it
so
far. You had to get
the word out. It
has to spring forth. That
liberty that’s in us, we have to carry
that, wherever we go. We
have to share
the message. We
have to live it, we have
to share it, people have to know that there’s hope, people have to know
that
there’s deliverance, people have to know that there’s a God who cares
about and
loves them, more than anybody else.
4.
Everyone Needs To Be Free, But Not Everyone Wants To
Be Free. This
was a later addition, like,
early this morning addition to the message. John 8:31-38 Then said Jesus to
those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are
ye my
disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you
free. They answered
him, We be Abraham's
seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall
be made
free? Jesus
answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And the
servant abideth not in the house for
ever: but the Son
abideth ever. If
the Son therefore shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to
kill
me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have
seen with
my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They
didn’t know that they were
under bondage. They
said, “We’re
Abraham’s seed. What
are you going to
free us from?” Sin. It was mentioned in
testimonies today, the
whole world is in sin. That
is what Christ
came to free us from. That
is what Jesus
came to free us from, was sin. Yet,
most
people, when it’s evident in front of them, won’t even see it. Harriet
Tubman, a great deliverer
of the slaves in the South, had two great things.
They asked her, “What kept you through all
this time of fear, and trouble, and escaping?”
And she said, “Two things:
My
faith in God, and the pistol on my right side.”
Because, some people were like to turn her in, along
the train route,
because she had a bounty on her head.
She was wanted, dead or alive, because she was
freeing people, and that
wasn’t the law, at the time. So,
she was
going about to free people, and her quote, that she’s famous for, she
said,
“Dead men tell no tales.” So,
they knew
that she was going to use that gun on them, that she was going to
liberate
them. One of the
code words, as she was
coming, that they would use, they would sing a song, “Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot,” and they knew that Harriet Tubman was in the area. And then they would sing
another song, “Go
Down, Moses.” They
called her the Moses
of the Underground Railroad. “Go
down,
Moses, tell old Pharaoh, let My people go.”
And they would sing that song, and, whoever wanted
to be delivered,
whoever wanted to be free, would be free.
And, later on, years later, after the Civil War, and
after she had done
many other great accomplishments, that she was not recognized for until
after
her death, many, many years later, before she died, she was asked, you
know,
“You saved over 500 people; we see a record, probably more than that.” She stated “I could have
delivered a lot more,
had they known they were slaves.” Sometimes
people don’t realize the
state they’re in. They
don’t realize
they’re in sin. That’s
why we’re to go
out. That’s why
we’re to proclaim
liberty. That’s why
we’re to realize
that we have a purpose and a calling in our life, that the fields are
white,
and ready to harvest. It’s
not to sit
around and be comfortable at home and watch TV and just let everything
go by
and people just be in anguish, and in peril, and be afraid. We are the light! We’re the ones to do it. I’m the one to do it. I might be preaching,
today, but I’m in that
boat, too. Our
job I to proclaim
liberty. It’s our
job to lead people to
the freedom Jesus has to offer. Proverbs 21:13 Whoso
stoppeth his
ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not
be heard. 2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the
Lord
is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Wherever
you take the Lord with
you, there’s liberty. If
you leave God
out, there’s no liberty; all there is, is your flesh, and your opinion,
and
your anger, and your whole take on that, your fleshly desires,
everything that
you have wrong about you, you’re taking it with you, if you’re not
taking the
Lord. But, if you
take the Lord, you’re
setting captives free. Give
the Lord a
praise as Andy comes up.
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