"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

  - John 8.36

Christ has chosen him as his representative on earth,/ who frees captives from a twofold servitude:/ very many men has he redeemed from slavery,/ countless are they whom he has loosed from the Devil's dominion.

  - Sechnall, Audite Omnes Amantes (Irish, 5th century)

Today Americans celebrate freedom, and we are surely right to do so.

Patrick understood the value of freedom. He testifies in his Confession, and Sechnall confirms it here, that he paid for the freedom of many slaves during his ministry in Ireland. God did not intend for men to be slaves - whether to political powers, habits of the flesh, ignorance, or spiritual forces of wickedness.

The Gospel is the key to ultimate freedom, freedom nothing can restrain because it is lodged in heaven with an indestructible King. We are free to know the truth and to know God. Free to serve Him obediently and with joy. Free to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. Free to enjoy the filling of the Spirit, the oneness of Christ's Body, and the hope of living in the glory of God.

When the Son makes us free, we are free, indeed. Revel in it. Celebrate it every day. Shout it to the world. Show it off, talk it up, hold it out, offer it to every man, woman, and child in your life.

Then you'll be living like Patrick, whose simple everyday obedience in celebrating our freedom in Christ sparked a revival that transformed all of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Low Countries, France, Switzerland, and Northern Italy. People - "countless" people - came to know real freedom because of the simple but courageous faith of one man.

We must not keep our freedom to ourselves. We're proud of our free country and we shoot off fireworks boasting to the world that there is no other place on earth like America.

If only we were so proud of, joyful in, and willing to boast about the freedom we have in Christ.

That might spark a fireworks of revival that could change the world.

Happy Freedom Day.

T. M. Moore, Principal

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.