Mini--story: The Freedom Declaration

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The story of the world is a story about freedom.

 

God created human beings to be free, but we abused our freedom and lost it. He is giving it back to us. He started by freeing his people from slavery in Egypt and giving them a homeland where they could be free. They lost that freedom, too.

 

Jesus came to bring a new era of freedom to the world. He gave up his own freedom and was unjustly executed. Then God the Father set him free from death. Now his followers call others to be part of the Freedom Era. 

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Expanded version: The Freedom Declaration

 

God, the Real GOD, created a beautiful world with life everywhere. He gave the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, freedom to enjoy it all, except for the fruit of one tree.

 

An enemy of God conned Adam and Eve into thinking they should be free to eat that fruit, and they did. Instantly they lost their freedom--freedom to hold their heads high, to enjoy life without working, to give birth without pain, to live forever, and to have face-to-face visits with God. From there things went downhill for generations—each generation seeking to regain freedom, none able to find it.

 

So starting with Abraham, God launched his own freedom restoration plan. According to this plan, Abraham’s descendants would become God's "Freedom Tribe". Through them God would bless the world by showing the world how to trust God like Abraham did.

 

Sorry to say, the dysfunctional Freedom Tribe soon got enslaved and oppressed in Egypt. They couldn't free anybody, not even themselves.

 

So God freed them his way. Through Moses he sent so many plagues on Egypt that the ruler (the Pharaoh) finally decided the whole Freedom Tribe was a curse to his country. He freed them just to get rid of them.

 

God promised Abraham's descendants a land flowing with milk and honey, then gave them victory over other tribes that were living in that land,  polluting it with vile customs like child sacrifice. For centuries the Freedom Tribe lived that promised homeland, but they abandoned their trust in God. Eventually God let them be carried off as captives to Babylon, but he did not abandon them. He engineered their liberation from Babylon and brought  them back to their homeland after 70 years.

 

Do you know what kept them going through all their national ups and downs? Their prophets who told them that one day God would send the Freedom King, the Liberator, the “Messiah,” to deliver them. He would be a descendant of their most famous king, David, and he would be born in David’s hometown, Bethlehem.

 

In God’s time, it finally happened. The Messiah, Jesus, arrived to issue the Freedom Declaration: “This is it! God is setting us free now! Follow me and see what I mean.”

 

Many people assumed he was hinting at starting a revolution against the Roman Empire, which ruled over the Freedom Tribe at that time. The crowds loved Jesus, but the leaders did not trust him. They arranged with the Roman governor to have him executed for blasphemy and treason.

 

Instead of rallying his many followers to rescue him as a liberator, Jesus sacrificed his freedom to win ours. And, oh, how he won it!  His death as a willing sacrifice freed us from our sin debt to God, and on the third day, God freed him from his tomb!

 

Then Jesus took his liberating mission to a new level. He showed himself alive and well several times before ascending to take his throne in heaven as the Freedom King. From his throne he sent his Spirit down into his followers, breaking all their chains and fears. They were so thrilled that they eagerly got to work as freedom activists all over the world, and they backed up their cause by living freely, powerfully, and graciously. 

 

Some people welcomed their freedom message, but others, often the powerful people, kept pressuring these activists to tone things down. They threatened some, jailed some, and killed some. It has been the same ever since, but the freedom activists do not give up or shut up. We are able to show the mercy and courage of Jesus because his Spirit lives in us.

 

We also know the secret. Unannounced, the Freedom King will suddenly come back to earth in person to complete the freedom mission. His cause cannot fail.

 

So that’s our story. That’s why we live the way we live and tell this story to anybody who will listen. Who are we? We are activists for the new era of freedom in Christ. His cause is our cause. We will do anything, anywhere, any time, at any price to draw more people to pledge their loyalty to the Freedom King and become free citizens of his kingdom.

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Reflections on SYNCing with the story, The Freedom Declaration

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Already SYNCing?

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If you have already said, “I’m in. SYNC me! Sign me up for the Freedom Tribe,” Jesus Christ has set you free from all kinds of things and turned you into a freedom activist. So let’s get the party started, celebrating with a huge “Yes” to all five of these things:

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1. Yes, God is the great promoter of human freedom, not the great restrictor. He is proactively working his freedom restoration plan.

2. Yes, God’s whole plan revolves around his Messiah, Jesus, who issued the Freedom Declaration and sent all his followers to keep declaring it and showing what it looks like.

3. Yes, Jesus puts his Spirit, life, and power into us, deputizing us as his activists, not to create the new era but to announce that he already created it by his Freedom Declaration.

4. Yes, I will live the freedom I talk about. When people wrong me, I’m not going to say, “You’ll pay for that!” I’m going to let them go free, and I’ll pray that forgiveness transforms them like Jesus’s free forgiveness transformed me.

5. Yes, I will trust Jesus and his Spirit to get me through any loss of freedom I may suffer because powerful people don’t want to hear the Freedom Declaration.

 

If those five yeses are yours, click here to start using the Freedom Tool Kit to discover more freedom in Jesus the Messiah. (No registration or fee)

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Still undecided?

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If you have not yet said, “I’m in. SYNC me!” what else would you like to discuss about this story before you would say yes to these things? Use the "Contact us" link at top right to send your question(s) privately.

 

As you think it over, remember that Jesus won’t force you into his freedom story, but once you say yes, he brings you in. He makes you a free person and gives you a role in his freedom restoration plan. That is what the rest of your life will be about—finding out what Jesus meant when he said, “God is setting us free now!”

 

You won’t be free to run your own life or build your own kingdom any more, but you will be both freer and better connected than you have ever been, and you will know why the name Jesus means, “The Real GOD sets free.”

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More about what it means to say, SYNC me!

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