Let Freedom Reign | Joseph Davis

On the heels of America's 250th celebration, this message traces the surprising history of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and turns a familiar lyric into a fresh revelation: before freedom can ring, it must first reign. Rooted in Galatians 5:1 and its call to stand firm in the freedom Christ secured, the message unpacks five areas where that freedom must take hold this year: faith, health, finances, family, and voice. Along the way come reflections on Jubilee, the promise of a household saved, and the courage to speak truth in a culture that needs to hear it. A timely reminder that freedom isn't just something we celebrate, it's something we're called to walk in every day.

Transcript

Gratitude And Year Ahead

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, I don't know about you, but I I've just been so excited about not just this time in which we're living in, but I've been excited and thankful and grateful all at the same time about all that God is doing in this land, what He's doing in this house and Glorious Way Church. And we're just halfway through the year, and I just I'm just beside myself because I just I mean I'm so excited about what's coming. Anyone else have turned anybody else that's looking forward to the rest of this year with great anticipation? I know I am. Every Wednesday we have our staff devotional time where we come together as a staff and pray. And we pray for the church, we pray for you, we pray for things that are going on, things that are coming up. And this past Wednesday, I woke up with a song on my heart, and it was a song of gratitude. It was uh, I'm forever grateful to you, I'm forever grateful for the cross. And I just couldn't get I just couldn't get rid of that song. I just kept just kept singing it and just kept worshiping and praying. So by the time I got here to the office, usually I have a brief devotional or a scripture or something, and I got here, drove all the way here, and I'm listening and I'm praying and I'm praising, and I got here and I had nothing. And um so I walked to the conference table, and when I sat down, the Holy Spirit met me right there.

unknown 1:27

Praise God.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

And the thing that I had been singing in my spirit, the song that I'd been singing in my spirit and in my heart, of just from a heart of gratitude, just from a heart of being grateful, was how our staff session started. And so I asked the question, I asked everyone at the table, I said, I know we all have things that we could give God praise and thank God for that He's doing in our lives, but what are you thankful for that God is doing through you in Glorious Way Church in the position in which you're in? And so we ran them on the table and I was just blown away by the response. And then, as if that wasn't exciting enough, then we begin to revisit all of the things that God has done just the first half of this year.

unknown 2:11

Praise God.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

You know, we received the word at the beginning of the year that 2026 was the year of new things. Anybody else have been holding on to that promise? And so we were able to just visit for revisit some of the new things that God has done this year at Glorious Way Church and some of the things that He's doing and some of the things that are on the horizon, and as we're looking ahead, and boy, we were just we're so we're excited. And if you're not excited, then you better get excited. Amen. Amen. Because God is doing some incredible things, and if you thought the first six months of this year was incredible, you better get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready. Some of you may need to tighten up your safety belt. Because God's about to blow your mind. Can I say that again? God is about to blow your mind.

Fireworks And A Song On Repeat

SPEAKER_00 3:06

And so this morning, as I woke up, actually it was yesterday morning, I kind of got my days. Yesterday morning, I woke up, and of course, we're in the throes of uh America's 250th and the 4th of July and the big celebration and all of those things going on in the neighbors, how many of you had neighbors pupping fireworks till well past midnight? I'm pleased to report I'm still saved. But you know, aren't you glad we live in a land where we can celebrate? And so I woke up yesterday morning with this song on my heart. You know, lately it's just been that's that's how God just speaks to me or shows things to me through psalms. And so I woke up with this song on my heart, My Country Tears of Thee. Sweet land of Liberty of thee, I see. And so I didn't know all of the words, okay. Don't be looking at me like that. Because I bet you if we conducted a quiz, most of you don't know the words, but I'm gonna help you out. And so I was compelled to do a little research. And so as I began to not only look at the words, the lyrics of the song, I was even more intrigued by the history of the song. And so before I tell you the rest of what's happened, I'm gonna take a brief moment and give you a quick little history lesson. How many of you know the origin or the or or the history of My Country Tears of Thee? Well, everybody, anybody else other than Pastor James? I see that aunt. Well, let me give you a little quick, a brief little history lesson.

The Surprising Story Behind The Hymn

SPEAKER_00 4:51

The origin of the song My Country Tears of Thee was originally titled Simply America and was written in 1831 by a 24-year-old American seminary student named Samuel Francis Smith. The song served as one of the de facto unofficial national anthems of the United States until a century later, the Starbucks Spangled Banner was officially adopted in 1931. Now, there's some interesting things about the writing of the lyrics. The writing of the lyrics came about through a request because uh Samuel Francis Smith was studying at the Andover Theological Seminary in Massachusetts and was asked by a friend, the noted composer and music publisher Lowell Mason to translate or adapt lyrics from a collection of German school songbooks. And so as Smith was working on this, he came across a German patriotic tune titled God Bless Our Native Land. He noticed the underlying melody was highly infectious and easily singable. Within 30 minutes, instead of translating the German text, Smith was seized by a sudden wave of patriotism and the desire to create a national anthem centered on liberty and God. He wrote the entire text on a scrap of paper in less than 30 minutes. Wow, you're fact-checking me, aren't you? Now, the melody Smith wrote was actually the melody Smith chose was not uh German in origin. It was the exact tune of God Save the King, the British royal anthem. This musical borrowing, known as contra factrum, carried a strong sense of irony. By taking the premier music symbol of the British monarchy and applying text above the land of liberty, Smith subverted the melody to celebrate America, democracy, and freedom from tyranny. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? And so that's just a little history on the song. Now, it was later uh debuted in the U.S. The song was uh first performed publicly in on July 4th, 1831, at a Children's Independence Day celebration at the Park Street Church in Boston, and it was sung by Children's Choir. It was first printed, uh, it was formally published under the title America a year later in 1832, and the song resonated deeply with the public due to its themes of individualism, emotional connection to nature, and spiritual liberty. Throughout the 19th century, it was frequently sung at schools and civic gatherings across the country. And so that song has a lot of history, but more importantly than that, it also has a history of someone who loved God. And even his writings reflected not just his love for his country, but his love for God.

Let Freedom Reign First

SPEAKER_00 7:44

And so the lyrics of the song, My Country Tis of Thee, the first set of lyrics, My Country Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty, of thee I sing, land where our fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring. Now, there are three more verses, but I couldn't get past the first one. Because as I got to the end of that where it says, Let freedom ring, I heard, let freedom reign. Now think about it. We live in the land of the free. But I heard let freedom reign. And as I began to meditate on that and to reflect on that, I heard this. That in order for freedom to ring, it must first rain. Now some of you are processing that really hard because I can hear your brains on, nope, nope, nope, nope. Let me say that again. In order for freedom to ring or to be declared, it must first rain. And so as I was reflecting on that and meditating on that, I got a scripture. I and Pastor James shared this scripture this morning. He shared quite a few of my scriptures this morning. I was thinking, okay, so are we gonna preach the same message? We were pretty close, but I told him after service, I said, I think I got a second part of your message. That message was powerful this morning. How many of you were here this morning?

unknown 9:14

Yes, it was. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Amen. If you were not here, I encourage you to quickly listen to the media. Boy, it was powerful. And so this morning he shared a scripture that I'm gonna use again tonight over in Galatians chapter 5, verse

Stand Firm And Never Again

SPEAKER_00 9:29

1. And I've got a couple of different translations, and we're gonna uh look at that. I'm gonna read it from the New King James, and I'm gonna also read it from the message translation and also from the amplified translation. So in the New King James translation, uh Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, it says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now, before I go to the next translation, I want you, most of you have New King James or King James, I want you to underline something there. And that's stand fast. And then put a double underline, a double underscore on the do not be entangled again. Do not again. We're free? Stay free. That's the Cliff Note version. Stand fast, don't be entangled, do not again. Now the message version of that translation says this. It says, Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand. Never again. There it is again. Let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. Wow. Let freedom ring. And then the amplified version says this. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1. In the amplified version, it says, for it was this freedom that Christ set us up free, completely liberating us. Therefore, keep standing firm. So there you see it again. And do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery, which some of you were once removed. So we see two important things in that scripture. First of all, there's something you've got to do. Well, there are two things you've got to do. First thing you gotta do is take a stand. That's the first thing. Take a stand. The second thing that we see that we have to do is it's more of a warning or an admonishment of do not find yourself in a way that you once were. Now, if you understand the whole concept or the context of this scripture, it was the Apostle Paul talking to believers or talking to people, and basically was saying, listen, you don't have the law anymore. Christ came and dealt with that. And so you've been redeemed from the law, and so now you live under grace. So don't go back to all of the rituals of the law, live under the grace. But as believers, there's so much more there that speaks to us when we think about freedom. He's saying, first of all, take a stand. If you're gonna be free and stay free, then you're gonna have to stand. You're gonna have to decide, I'm gonna be free. Now, some of you are saying, well, where's he going with this? You know, I'm free, I'm free. I don't know where he's going. Okay, just hang on. I'm free. It's not about whether you're free, but I believe that we are in a season where God wants to do some things that you've not experienced yet. God wants you to experience some freedoms. Remember, this is the year 2026, the year of new things. God wants you to experience some freedoms that you've not experienced yet. And in order to experience those freedoms, there are a couple of things you have to do. First of all, take a stand. We've got a little Maltese at home. She's a Maltese sheet soup mix. And they call her a maltie. I'll call her a mess. And I have to remind her often that I don't work for her. But she's one of those dogs, when she gets her mind made up, when we walk in the door, the first thing we're gonna do is you're gonna have to talk to me. You're gonna play with me. I don't care if you've worked all day, you're gonna have to talk to me and play with me. And if we go outside, which I better go outside, I'm taking a toy. It's like having a kid, and it's like Flora, get your child. That's Flora's dog. But you have to take a stand. If you're gonna experience all the all of the freedoms, all of the liberties that God has for you in this year, the year of new things. And these are things that you've not experienced yet. Maybe these are some things that you that the enemy has, you've been locked in on them, and God is saying to this year. Daddy is serious about what he said. This year, the year of new things. And so you're gonna have to take a stand, but not only are you gonna take a stand, you're gonna have to decide, I'm not going back. I'm done with that. I'm free from that. That is over. Now, how can we be so confident in that? First of all, we have some scriptures or some promises. John chapter 8, verse 36, you all know it. It says, Therefore, the Son of Man makes you free. You shall be free indeed. If the Son of Man makes you free, you're free. Well, did He not do that? Did He not handle that through the work of the cross? Did He not deal with that? Made you free? Then you're free. 2 Corinthians chapter uh 3, verse 17. For the wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, for the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Let freedom reign. There's freedom. And I said this earlier, and I'll say it again. So in order for freedom to ring, freedom must first have to reign. The ring is the demonstration of the manifestation. Okay, I didn't ask you what time it was. Now, what's interesting about that, as you look at Isaiah chapter 61, verses 1 through 2, uh Pastor James shared this this morning as well. Uh he shared it from the Gospels version where Jesus went and opened up the scrolls and read and basically made the declaration by himself, and he said, For uh the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison, there's that freedom, to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Boy, I can't wait to get to that part. Because he said something this morning that, boy, if you didn't get that, now it wasn't a drive-by, but if you didn't get it, I'm gonna make sure you get it tonight. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance for our God to comfort all who mourn. Now, I noticed as I was reading this, there was something real interesting when you think about freedom and ringing and the declaration and all of that of the freedom. Now, normally there's a declaration before the manifestation. Is that right? Normally there's a declaration speaking to something, and then once it's spoken to, there's a manifestation, right? In the beginning was seven and earth, was the earth, and the earth was without form, it was void, and God began to speak to it, and then the manifestation of order came, right? But I noticed here when Jesus showed up that there was a manifestation first and then a declaration. Well, how is that? Well, because when he spoke what had been spoken over him, he had to show up first in order to declare what had been spoken over him. You track it with me? Normally there is a declaration and a manifestation, but in this instance there was a manifestation first. Jesus showed up first and then declared who he was and what was about to happen, what he was going to do. And then we have a confirmation of the manifestation and the declaration. We have a confirmation in John 10, 10 when Jesus said, For the thief comes only not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I've come that you, point your finger and say he came for me, that I might have life and have it more abundantly. Now I like the way the Amplified says, it says, The thief came in order to steal and kill and destroy. And Jesus said, But I've come that they may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance to the full till it overflows. That is freedom reigning. That's freedom in full control. That's freedom doing what freedom was designed to do. I came that you might have. Now, there's a part there that you have to play that you might have. Does that mean it's optional? Well, it depends on how you respond. You got a part. But the intention is that he wants you to have it. So then I don't want to give you five areas that freedom must reign in your life during this season of new things.

Freedom Must Reign In Faith

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Turn to your neighbor and say, let freedom reign. The first area in your life that freedom must reign during this season of new things is your faith. Now I know you are people of faith. I know, listen, I've heard the testimonies. I mean, you're the night crowd, okay? You're people of faith. But there's an increase about to take place. And anybody understands that with the new level comes a new devil? Anybody know that there's no testimony without a test? No test, no moaning. And so freedom must reign in your faith. In other words, you have to get to the place that you decide, I don't care what it's like, I don't care what's going on, I don't care how I feel, I don't care what it looks like, I don't care what's been said, I don't care what I see, I don't even care what I hear, I'm gonna stick with what I know. And what do I know? Well, I know that what Jesus did on the cross was enough. And what he did on the cross, not only was it enough, but it was all inclusive. He dealt with any and everything that I would have to deal with in this life: sickness, poverty, issues in the family, work-life situations. He's already dealt with it. As a matter of fact, he even said in the scriptures, in this life, you will have tests and trials. But be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world. He's already dealt with it. And so freedom must reign. In other words, your decision that I'm gonna be free, I'm gonna allow freedom to reign in every aspect of my life, it's gotta reign in your faith. When Jesus went on the cross, I love this part because it it confirms what we already know and believe, but it confirms because he said it. In John chapter 19, verse 28 through verse 30, this is the telling of Jesus on the cross, and he's about to die. Verse 28 says, After Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now he's to the place where he's on the cross. He's about to die. The ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate price is about to be paid. He said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled the sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it in his mouth. So when Jesus received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. And so I can be confident in saying that freedom must reign in my faith because Jesus already said it's done. That's a wrap. There's nothing else to worry about. I don't care what it looks like, I don't care what it sounds like, I don't care how you feel, I don't care what the doctors report, it's finished. The work is done, the way has been made. The problem has been solved. But you're gonna have to decide that your faith is gonna let freedom reign. In other words, my freedom and my liberty and what has been paid for, it's finished. It's gonna speak louder and stand stronger than the opposition. It's finished.

Freedom Must Reign In Health

SPEAKER_00 20:50

The second area that you're gonna have to allow freedom to reign, that freedom must reign in in this year of new, this season of new things, is your health. We already know in John 10, 10, the Bible says, for the thief comes but to steal, kill, and to destroy. Now look, the thief comes in many ways. It could be a pie. Come on, some of you know what I'm talking about. Maybe it could be other things that cause health issues. I'm not gonna get in some of y'all's business. He's not preaching any meddling. I'm not gonna do that and I'm not gonna step on any toes, but if I do, come on up and we'll pray for you. But we've gotta be smart, we've gotta do our part. I'm praying, look, I'm talking what I've been living, what I've been doing. My wife's like, don't eat that. You can't have that. You've had two snacks tonight. Okay, you keeping count. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Come on, husband, y'all know say oh me. I got a couple amens and a couple of groans back there. But you've got to do your part. You've got to allow freedom to reign in the area of your health. In other words, you've got to decide Jesus has already paid the ultimate price for me to be healthy, to be whole, to be strong, to be victorious in every area, even with my health. This body is a temple of the Holy Ghost. I remember one time I was in a buffet restaurant. We don't do those anymore. And I'd gone up for my third round. Or was it the fourth? I don't remember. But I'm walking up to reload my plate. And I was a lot heavier. But I walked up and I piled the food on, got back to the table, and I'm sitting there about to gorge myself again. And I heard stop. I'm mid mid-air with the fork. Okay, I'm talking about I'm working out. I'm doing forklifts, okay? I'm working out. The fork lifts. And I heard stop. Then I heard look around. I looked around. And for the first time I saw, I really saw. Everybody in the room was grossly overweight. And then I heard Paul says, I buffet my body daily. He didn't mean buffet. Buffet means to control, to exercise restraint and discipline. And the enemy has taken the word buffet and put it out there, which means no control, no restraint, no discipline. All you can eat, all you wanna eat. Now, I'm gonna get us back on track here for a minute. It's like, whoa man, that's heavy. I can mean I can't go to another buffet. I'm just saying, look, you know, you got the same Holy Ghost that I got, he will talk to you. Then he asked me, so if your body was a hotel, your body's a temple of the Holy Ghost, if it was a hotel, would it be five stars or no stars? Let's just say that I was done eating. We can't treat the temple any kind of way and expect God. We've got to give him something to work with. We've got to do our part. Faith without works is is is not enough. It's dead. That's what the Bible says. Faith without works is dead, right? Now, not only do you must allow freedom to reign in the air of your health, but you can do that because there are so many promises concerning healing. You got a bad doctor's report, but the word says by licious stripes, I'm healed. Your blood sugar is too high. David said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that's within me. Bless his holy name, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his benefits, who forgives all of my iniquities and who heals all of my diseases. First of all, I've decided they're not my diseases. You ever know anybody that just they take pride in owning their sickness? Oh, my migraines, oh my matters, oh, you know, if you wear it, they're wearing it like a badge of honor. And you want to grab them and shake them and say, How long are you gonna put up with that? I remember when the COVID first hit, and everybody was ah, ah. This is before they went, totally lost their minds and shut everything down, and and it was just coming on the news. Actually, before that, was what was it before that? Bird flu, SARS, something bird flu, Ebola, we, you know, they all be kind of pastor here. But every time I see that on the news, and you know, we don't do much of that in our house anymore, the news. Not the world's news, but usually when those things come across and they're talking about how bad it's gonna be and how it's scary, I turn the floor and I say, that's not for us. We're exempt. We have a Psalm 91 covenant. Only with our eyes shall we see the reward of the wicked, but it shall not come near our dwelling. That's not for us. But you're gonna have to allow freedom to reign in the area of your health, whom the Son sets free, is free indeed. He set you free from any and all ailments. Now, your part is how radical and how will how how how bold are you willing to be on it? Well, a doctor said, I gotta take this. Okay, well, have you talked to Dr. Jesus? As a matter of fact, let me encourage somebody, I don't know who this is for, but next time you find yourself, you've got a report or something, don't run to the phone, run to the throne. Well, I just gotta talk to somebody, talk to Jesus. I can't tell you how many times I've said, Lord, a while back I was at the doctor, and the doctor said, Well, you need to take this and you need to take this, and I'm gonna give you this, and it's like I didn't have peace about any of that. And then I got to the pharmacist, and when the pharmacist says, They gave you this, I wouldn't take that. The pharmacist said that. I wouldn't take that, and I thought, okay, well, thank you for confirming it because I wasn't gonna take it. I didn't have peace at all. But you know what I did do? I prayed. I said, Lord, you make this body. Your word says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. You know what I need, so I'm counting on, I'm leaning into you, looking to you to tell me what I need to do. Then the minute before I could even say amen in the benediction, I had my answer. Double up on your vitamins. That's all I needed. Double up on your vitamins in two days. The doctor was saying, Oh, you're gonna have to deal with this for a week or two. No, but you've got to allow freedom. Why? I've been made free. Christ has redeemed me. Has he redeemed you? Then freedom must reign in the area of your health. When a bad report comes, talk to the hand. Have you noticed all of the stuff now, all the commercials? Have you ever noticed these prescriptions now? They they read the side effects so fast that you can't. Whoa. And then they get to the end of the commercial and somebody's dancing or smiling. It's like, okay, they just promoted something that could possibly kill me, or something could fall off, and you're gonna dance a jig at the end of the commercial. How messed up is that? Now, I am not anti-doctors and anti-medication. Let me be clear. I don't want anybody say, well, Pastor Joseph's against doctors and you know, listen, they are licensed drug dealers. Well, they are. I'm not against them. But use wisdom. We have a covenant. Freedom reigns in our lives because we've been made free. And so we don't have to put up with that.

Freedom Must Reign In Finances

SPEAKER_00 28:42

The next thing that you're gonna have to allow freedom to reign in, freedom must reign in, is your finances. God can't bless a mess. He wants to bring you out, but you keep going back in. He wants to increase you, but you won't give him something to work with. Well, you don't understand my situation. I can't afford to tithe. You can't afford not to. I'm just and listen, if you earnestly ask God, how listen, I'm gonna share this testimony. When Pastor Share Pastor uh first gave us uh the the uh encouraged us regarding Revelation 21, 5, I had no idea where that was gonna come from. We hadn't we had an amount in our heart, and it was like, okay, I have no idea where that's coming from. No idea. And we prayed. Then I was reminded of the story of the widow and the oil and the prophet. When the prophet asked, What do you have in your house? What do you have? And so I started saying, Okay, Lord, what do we have in the house? I can't sell the dog. Nobody would buy her. I can't put flora out. Can't do that. I kind of like her. But Father, you I don't know, show me. And within two, three weeks, all of a sudden, something came on the radar that we had no clue about. Had no idea what he showed us. But I had to allow freedom to reign in that area. You're gonna have to allow freedom to reign in the area of your finances. You're free. I don't know who this is for, but somebody's been trying to get out of debt and you just can't seem to get out of it. Well, tonight the liberty bell is ringing. I hear the liberty bell ringing in the spirit. Now, I'm again, I'm not anti-dept. There's good debt and there's bad debt. But if it's crushing you, if it's got you weighted down, you gotta let freedom reign. I told you this morning. Well, first of all, let me remind you of something. Why can't I say you can let freedom reign in your finances? Because in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9, it says this, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, think about that for a minute. Jesus was rich. He's our heavenly father's son. Daddy got bucks, the son got bucks, he's rich. He was rich yet for our sake. I write in there, yet for Joseph's sake. He became poor. That you through his poverty might become rich. That scripture right there ought to make you stand up and slap dead in the back of the head and say, get out. That scripture right there will make you stand up and demand that lack pack and get out of your house. Right there. Lack's got to pack. You can't stay here another night. I'm gonna make it so uncomfortable for you, I'm going up on the rent. What do you mean you're going up on the rent? I'm gonna make lax so uncomfortable that it's gonna cost them to stay here with me. Lacks got to go. Now, this morning, Pastor James was talking, and he said something when he brought up the book of Leviticus, that you know, the book that most people don't read. But something he said in relation to America's 250th, and this was our, how did you say that this morning? The Jubilee year. And it being our fifth fifty. Now, we don't typically keep up with the Hebrew calendar, but I just found it very interesting, and actually when he said that this morning, something just went off inside of me, just exploded. Jubilee, Jubilee, Jubilee, Jubilee. The year of new things. This is a year of Jubilee. Now, you don't have to be Jewish to take advantage. Why? Because we we've been grafted in. I I'm part of the family. And because I'm part of the family, I'm eligible. Anyone else eligible? You've got to allow freedom to speak to you in such a way and reign in such a way that you don't miss out on your jubilee. Don't miss out on it. As a matter of fact, I encourage you to go back and spend some time in Leviticus chapter 25, verses 8 through 17. There's all kinds of stuff in there. And I believe there's going to be an explosion in your spirit and your heart as you begin to read and see what's yours. Don't miss it. Let freedom reign. Let freedom reign. Can I say that again? Let freedom reign. Freedom can reign in your finances. It doesn't matter how deep you're in, freedom can bring you out. It doesn't matter how much you owe, freedom can bring you out. Freedom can pay it off. The price has already been paid, as a matter of fact. Let freedom reign.

Freedom Must Reign In Family

SPEAKER_00 33:26

The fourth thing that you must allow freedom to reign in during this season of new things is your family relationships. Anybody in here got loved ones you've been believing God for and you've been praying for, and you've been calling their names and you standing and you believe in God? Let freedom reign. I was praying about a family member the other day, and the Lord told me, Love them just like I love you. And I'll deal with the rest. I'll deal with that heart. Let freedom reign concerning family relationships. First of all, you've got a promise. There's several promises. There's examples. One of my favorite ones is Joshua's declaration in Joshua 24.15. As a matter of fact, my wedding band is Hebrew. Joshua 24, 15. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now, you can speak that promise and you can apply that word over in-laws, outlaws, mother-in-loves, not so in-loves, stepcharing. Yeah, I said stepcharing. But you can chill it. But you can speak that promise. That's for me and my house. Listen, they don't have to live under your roof to be part of your house. Do you claim them? Well, I don't really want to, but yeah. But we shall serve the Lord. That's a promise. That's a declaration. And when you make that declaration, what happens? The manifestation comes. Now, some of you, now, and let me look, can I give you a shortcut on how to see God move quick quicker or see things happen quicker sometimes? Get busy ministering to somebody else's family member. Get busy witnessing to somebody else's family. That person that you work with that the Lord's been prodding you to go over and share the gospel with. Get busy ministering to that person. Start with praying for them. And you know what else I don't do now? I don't tell somebody, I'm gonna pray for you. I say, can I pray with you? But get busy taking care of God's business, ministering to somebody else, and God will make sure that someone comes to minister to your loved one. Freedom's gonna have to reign in that area. Let freedom reign. I never get tired of sharing a testimony. Years ago, I was at another church and I was teaching a class. I was teaching a class on evangelism. And my half-brother, the only brother I've ever known, he and his wife were in church in the second service. And I was teaching about being evangelistic and reaching the lost and sharing the gospel and how to how to minister to people and how to approach people and all of the things. And I said, You get busy taking care of God's business, and he'll get busy taking care of yours. He'll take care of yours. Now, we've been praying for this brother and this wife. We've been praying long and hard for them. And the very moment that I that was speaking out in the classroom, they were walking down the aisle in the church service to receive salvation. God's no respect of persons. What he did for my family, and yeah, I claimed him. We wasn't blood brothers, but he was the only brother I've ever known. He'll do for yours. You got a way with child? As for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. But I've got a coworker who's got a child that's that's in trouble. I'm gonna begin to pray for that co-worker. I'm gonna pray with that co-worker. I'm gonna encourage that co-worker. Let freedom reign. And as you let freedom reign in your life and in your family, God's gonna, uh somebody else's family, God's gonna make sure that he who waters, the scripture that talks about when you water, you yourself will get watered. That works with the family and household salvation. You have several accounts where Paul and Silas over in Acts chapter 16, verse 31, Paul and Silas, they were telling the Philippian jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Now, if God did that for a jailer that had Paul and Silas in the bowels of the prison. As a matter of fact, the jailer, when when God came to him, they had that great jailbreak, that Holy Ghost jailbreak, he was so concerned and so scared, he was about to kill himself. Not only did they save his life, but they got the whole family saved. Look, if God did that for them, what's so hard about your family? Lord, you don't know that knucklehead of mine. Yeah, but no, stop speaking that over them, first of all. Stop that. Death and life is in the power of the tongue. What are you speaking? What are you saying? Are you are your words in alignment with God concerning your children, concerning your family members, concerning your lover? Yeah, but you don't know. Look, last time we got together, we almost broke out into a fist fight. You know what? Fight the devil. You gotta recognize that what you're wrestling with is not that person, but it's the spirit. And you've got to deal with it in the right way. Besides, you don't want to spoil or worn your testimony. The minute you get there, you know better. The other problems we see in the book of Acts is in Acts chapter 11, where Cornelius receives a message about household salvation. An angel tells him, Go get Cornelius. His whole family's gonna get saved. God is pro-family salvation. He's pro-household salvation. Let freedom reign.

Speak Life And Obey Promptings

SPEAKER_00 38:44

And then the last point that I wanted to make, that you must allow freedom to reign in during this season of new things. You must allow freedom to reign in your voice. Now, freedom must reign in your voice in several ways. First of all, it must reign in what you say, how you say, okay? Everything that comes out of your mouth needs to agree with God's word, first of all. There's no other options, but I agree with God. I love our pastor because one of the things Pastor has taught me is it's not bad as it's not as bad as it looks. But wait a minute. They laying over there, got a big old hole in their head, they're bleeding. It's not as bad as it looks. They're living, not die. But you've got to allow freedom to reign in your words, in your voice. Not only do you have to allow freedom to reign in your voice in that way, you've got to allow freedom to reign in your voice concerning being a voice in this day, this time, this hour. You are here for a reason. None of us are called to be sideline Christians. Oh, that's somebody else's job. No, that's your job. Get in the game, get up, speak up, step up, allow freedom to rain. Yet one opportunity, I'll never forget this as long as I live because it impacted my life. One act of one simple act of obedience can change somebody's, can change the trajectory of somebody's life. I'm in a grocery store years ago, in a grocery store. This lady's in front of me and she's checking out, and I kept hearing, telling that lady I love her. I'm like, Lord, I don't know that lady. Tell that lady I love her. Lord, I'm married. I don't know that lady. I don't, you know, I don't want to think that I'm trying to hit on her. Well, I don't know her. Tell her I love her. I didn't tell, I didn't say you tell her you love her, you tell her I love her. I kind of argue with God for a minute, but finally, ma'am, I don't know you and you don't know me. But the God that I serve knows you. And he has instructed me to tell you that he loves you. Oh my goodness. This woman starts bawling, and I mean it's not just crying, she's wailing, and people are looking at us, and I'm like, oh, like, what'd you do? What'd you do? What'd you do? I just told her God loves her. I mean, people are looking. She's she's putting on quite the she is crying so hard. But when she was finally able to get regain composure of herself, she was saying, You don't know what that meant to me. I felt so unloved these last few days that I was literally thinking about ending my life. How many people are gonna miss heaven because you won't speak up? We can no longer be concerned about me, my four, and no more.

Faith And Politics Without Fear

SPEAKER_00 41:15

Because people are dying and going to hell every day. We can't be silent. One of the things I so appreciate about this church is we're not afraid to step into the arena of politics. I was talking to a pastor the other day and we were talking about, he said, Yo, y'all, y'all tell people how to vote in your church? Well, you sure do, don't you? Well, but what about the 501c3? What about standing before God on that day and him asking you why you didn't tell your folks? I'm not afraid of the 501c3, but I'm afraid of standing before God. Let freedom reign.