June 30, 2025 • 16 mins
This message reflects on America’s journey as a free nation, emphasizing how young the country still is in the scope of world history. The message illustrates how freedom is a fragile, hard-earned gift that is passed down through just a few lifetimes. Drawing from the words of John Adams and the sacrifices of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the message underscores that political freedom has always come at a steep price—suffering, loss, and unwavering resolve. It then shifts to a deeper, spiritual freedom—offered not through war, but through Jesus. Citing John 8:31-32, it reframes freedom not as personal license but as the result of discipline, truth, and obedience to God’s Word. Real freedom is found not in doing whatever we want, but in becoming who we were meant to be, grounded in truth and love. True freedom—national or spiritual—is never free. It demands sacrifice, discipline, truth, and above all, love.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In a few days, America is going to be two
hundred and forty nine years young. That's pretty impressive, not
bad for a country that is basically a teenager. Really
(00:27):
think about it, we're really a teenager compared to places
like Egypt, or China.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Or Greece. We're young.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And snappy. Think of the youth, look at the teens,
and somehow we're still standing. We're still standing, and we
also need to be honest. Freedom has it exactly come cheap?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It never does, It never does. And so today, while
you might be thinking.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
About burgers and broads and yes, I guess beer and
stuff that blows up in the sky, I want to
invite you to pause for just a moment, not to
kill the vibe that we're gonna have on the fourth
of July, but to go to a deeper level of
(01:35):
what freedom can mean.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
What can that mean both for our country but also
for our souls. There's a dynamic about the freedom we.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Have that has a lot to do with the soul.
But first, just just to remind you, it end up
with we are younger than Oh what happened? We're younger
than you think. In fact, when you think of the
lifespan of America. It can be connected to five people.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Think of it.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
When Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson when he died. Abraham Lincoln
was seventeen when Lincoln was assassinated. Woodrow Wilson was eight
when Wilson passed away. Ronald Reagan was twelve when Reagan died.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Donald Trump was fifty eight. Fifty eight. That's five lives.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Spanning the entire timeline of our country. We're still still
kind of snotty, those teenagers, if you think about it.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We're young, and yet we have stood tall. We have.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Not because we have always gotten it right.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Because we haven't, but because.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
We were focused on something that was enormously radical.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
For its time.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
That all are created equal, endowed by their creator, with
certain inalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
That's radical thought, beautiful words, bold claims, but they came
with the price. The freedom that we enjoy really costs, something,
really did.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It was on July third.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
In seventeen seventy six, the day before the Declaration of
Independence was officially adopted, that John Adams wrote this note
to his wife. You will think me transported with enthusiasm,
but I am not. I am well aware of the
toil and blood and treasure that it will cause us
(04:47):
to maintain this declaration and support and defend these states.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yet through all the gloom I.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I
can see the end is more than worth all the means,
and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even
although we should ruin it, which I trust in God,
we shall not. Exciting day it's going to be signed,
(05:21):
a country is going to be born.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And Adams was scared silly.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
It's going to cost to something, blood, treasure and heartache.
But I believe even though through all the darkness, there
will be what.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Light and glory, light and glory.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And that is true not just for a land, but
I think of also a light.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I think of Pastor stew He had gone through some
rough dark times.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
But there is light, and there is glory, light and glory,
and that glory, especially in this land. Obviously it didn't
come easy, got it. We need to remember of those
fifty six men who signed the Declaration of Independence, twelve
(06:21):
I mean five were captured and tortured, twelve had their
homes buried two lost sons in the war. Nine died
from wounds related to hardships. And these weren't just names
in a textbook, but they were real people with families
and hopes, and it was not easy, and they believe.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Freedom was worth worth.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
The costs, not just freedom from something that's tyranny, but
freedom underscore for something, not freedom from the freedom for
to live, to believe, to speak, to worship or not
(07:16):
to worship.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Their sacrifices. They gave us that. Well, I would now
like to focus on another aspect of freedom. Why we
have that in this land?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
There is also a spiritual side of freedom.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
There is spiritual freedom.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
And Jesus what's introduced us by saying something When you first.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Read it, it reads like a riddle. Jesus had these
words in John's Gospel. He said, if you continue in my.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Word, continue my word, you are truly my disciples, and
you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you're free.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Know the truth. The truth will set you free.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Free from what What was Jesus getting in what was
the bondage spiritually that we needed to be free from.
Sometimes we think of freedom as well, I'm free now
I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. However,
I want no rules, no guilt, no consequences. But that's
(08:24):
not freedom.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
That's chaos in yoga pants. I like it phrase. That's
what it is. It's chaos and yoga pants. I'm free
to say. But Jesus says that real freedom is knowing something.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It is knowing the truth, and not just any truth.
But obviously this King of kings is Lord of lords
who even death could not confine to to talked about
his truth, the kind that sets you free from yourself,
(09:11):
from your shame, from lies, from having to prove your
worth or your value. For freedom becomes really the reward
of a particular kind of discipline, not absent of it.
(09:34):
I know we got a lot of musicians. Are you
ever watch Jeff Beck play guitar? Or how about Eric Clapton,
Joe Bonamasa.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
They absolutely shred a song when they're playing their guitar leads.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But you don't get that kind of freedom to play
like that without discipline.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
It takes a lot of skill to be able to play,
and that sets you free because you paid the price
for the discipline and play an air guitar isn't gonna
cut it.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
But Jesus said this, He said, continue in my word.
That's a discipline, that's a word of Continue in my word.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Stick with me, he says, learn my ways, Let my
truth soak into your daily grind, and you'll start to
experience a freedom.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
That doesn't rely on the paycheck.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Coming in your relationship status or the number of likes
on your Facebook or Instagram post. Okay, freedom it has
to have boundaries or it's not free. It's yoga and pants,
(11:09):
and it's a good thing that you need boundaries.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Think of this.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Now you're a skydiver, all right, and it's ten thousand
feet you're in the air, and say that skydiver there
without a parachute yells I want freedom, and jumps without
a parachute.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, he's not flying, he's falling. He may think he's
free for a moment, but he's not flying. And here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
True freedom is really found within constraints. The right ones
like gravity or a pair parachute would be an appropriate
constraint here. But I would also say for the soul,
it is the scripture, God's word. It's like that parachute
(12:14):
that we live through and constraint. It is really not
the enemy of freedom, not at all. It is the
security we have. If you know how to use a parachute,
you can jump out of a plane ten thousand of
feet in the air any time because you've got what
it takes to soar.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
But without it, you don't. And we are free spiritually.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
When we trust God's word over our own, because, let's
face it, left to our own devices, we tend to
rack stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
We racket, and that's not being edgy. It's also what
we call human nature. You know, sometimes we just wreck stuff.
We're not perfect. And now here's where in the scripture.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
It starts getting a little more real, starting to come
home a little more.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
And it's from that reading in Galatians.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
If we believe that within these restraints biblically, we are free.
We find these words from Paul where he says, but
you and my brothers, you were called to be free,
but do not use your freedom to indulge in sinful nature.
Rather serve one another. You're free to serve one another
in love. The entire law is summed up in a
(13:38):
single command of.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Your neighbor as yourself. Can anything be simpler? Than that.
That's that's real freedom. Freedom isn't a license to do
whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It's a call to love others boldly, not because you
have to, but because.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You can very different.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
You are free for something, not from something, and even
bringing home a little deeper.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Freedom, as you know.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Costs Jesus everything, everything, And this is not forget that
the ultimate price of freedom wasn't just paid by soldiers
and patriots, but Jesus also paid it.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The son of God, Jesus took a tour of duty
to Hell.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
That was his tour of duty to Hell by way
of the cross, to give us.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Freedom from sin and shame and death. You can't earn
that kind.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Of freedom, none of us can. We can only receive it.
Receive it, live with it, embrace.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
It, and live like it's real, because it is.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Let us pray we are grateful Lord.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
That of all times and of all places, we have
this occasion to pause to reflect on the dynamic freedom
we have as a land, but also as persons of faith.
We pray Lord, that we will treasure these freedoms, that
(15:53):
we will steward them appropriately, that we will realize that
with the kinds of discipline and restraints we are able
to really be.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Free into soar. So we thank you Lord that we are.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Free, so that we can love others boldly, and do
so in.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Your name and for your glory.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Ah Man
In a few days, America is going to be two
hundred and forty nine years young. That's pretty impressive, not
bad for a country that is basically a teenager. Really
(00:27):
think about it, we're really a teenager compared to places
like Egypt, or China.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Or Greece. We're young.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And snappy. Think of the youth, look at the teens,
and somehow we're still standing. We're still standing, and we
also need to be honest. Freedom has it exactly come cheap?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It never does, It never does. And so today, while
you might be thinking.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
About burgers and broads and yes, I guess beer and
stuff that blows up in the sky, I want to
invite you to pause for just a moment, not to
kill the vibe that we're gonna have on the fourth
of July, but to go to a deeper level of
(01:35):
what freedom can mean.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
What can that mean both for our country but also
for our souls. There's a dynamic about the freedom we.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Have that has a lot to do with the soul.
But first, just just to remind you, it end up
with we are younger than Oh what happened? We're younger
than you think. In fact, when you think of the
lifespan of America. It can be connected to five people.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Think of it.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
When Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson when he died. Abraham Lincoln
was seventeen when Lincoln was assassinated. Woodrow Wilson was eight
when Wilson passed away. Ronald Reagan was twelve when Reagan died.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Donald Trump was fifty eight. Fifty eight. That's five lives.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Spanning the entire timeline of our country. We're still still
kind of snotty, those teenagers, if you think about it.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We're young, and yet we have stood tall. We have.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Not because we have always gotten it right.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Because we haven't, but because.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
We were focused on something that was enormously radical.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
For its time.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
That all are created equal, endowed by their creator, with
certain inalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
That's radical thought, beautiful words, bold claims, but they came
with the price. The freedom that we enjoy really costs, something,
really did.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It was on July third.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
In seventeen seventy six, the day before the Declaration of
Independence was officially adopted, that John Adams wrote this note
to his wife. You will think me transported with enthusiasm,
but I am not. I am well aware of the
toil and blood and treasure that it will cause us
(04:47):
to maintain this declaration and support and defend these states.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yet through all the gloom I.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I
can see the end is more than worth all the means,
and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even
although we should ruin it, which I trust in God,
we shall not. Exciting day it's going to be signed,
(05:21):
a country is going to be born.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And Adams was scared silly.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
It's going to cost to something, blood, treasure and heartache.
But I believe even though through all the darkness, there
will be what.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Light and glory, light and glory.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And that is true not just for a land, but
I think of also a light.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I think of Pastor stew He had gone through some
rough dark times.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
But there is light, and there is glory, light and glory,
and that glory, especially in this land. Obviously it didn't
come easy, got it. We need to remember of those
fifty six men who signed the Declaration of Independence, twelve
(06:21):
I mean five were captured and tortured, twelve had their
homes buried two lost sons in the war. Nine died
from wounds related to hardships. And these weren't just names
in a textbook, but they were real people with families
and hopes, and it was not easy, and they believe.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Freedom was worth worth.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
The costs, not just freedom from something that's tyranny, but
freedom underscore for something, not freedom from the freedom for
to live, to believe, to speak, to worship or not
(07:16):
to worship.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Their sacrifices. They gave us that. Well, I would now
like to focus on another aspect of freedom. Why we
have that in this land?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
There is also a spiritual side of freedom.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
There is spiritual freedom.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
And Jesus what's introduced us by saying something When you first.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Read it, it reads like a riddle. Jesus had these
words in John's Gospel. He said, if you continue in my.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Word, continue my word, you are truly my disciples, and
you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you're free.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Know the truth. The truth will set you free.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Free from what What was Jesus getting in what was
the bondage spiritually that we needed to be free from.
Sometimes we think of freedom as well, I'm free now
I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. However,
I want no rules, no guilt, no consequences. But that's
(08:24):
not freedom.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
That's chaos in yoga pants. I like it phrase. That's
what it is. It's chaos and yoga pants. I'm free
to say. But Jesus says that real freedom is knowing something.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It is knowing the truth, and not just any truth.
But obviously this King of kings is Lord of lords
who even death could not confine to to talked about
his truth, the kind that sets you free from yourself,
(09:11):
from your shame, from lies, from having to prove your
worth or your value. For freedom becomes really the reward
of a particular kind of discipline, not absent of it.
(09:34):
I know we got a lot of musicians. Are you
ever watch Jeff Beck play guitar? Or how about Eric Clapton,
Joe Bonamasa.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
They absolutely shred a song when they're playing their guitar leads.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But you don't get that kind of freedom to play
like that without discipline.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
It takes a lot of skill to be able to play,
and that sets you free because you paid the price
for the discipline and play an air guitar isn't gonna
cut it.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
But Jesus said this, He said, continue in my word.
That's a discipline, that's a word of Continue in my word.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Stick with me, he says, learn my ways, Let my
truth soak into your daily grind, and you'll start to
experience a freedom.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
That doesn't rely on the paycheck.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Coming in your relationship status or the number of likes
on your Facebook or Instagram post. Okay, freedom it has
to have boundaries or it's not free. It's yoga and pants,
(11:09):
and it's a good thing that you need boundaries.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Think of this.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Now you're a skydiver, all right, and it's ten thousand
feet you're in the air, and say that skydiver there
without a parachute yells I want freedom, and jumps without
a parachute.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, he's not flying, he's falling. He may think he's
free for a moment, but he's not flying. And here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
True freedom is really found within constraints. The right ones
like gravity or a pair parachute would be an appropriate
constraint here. But I would also say for the soul,
it is the scripture, God's word. It's like that parachute
(12:14):
that we live through and constraint. It is really not
the enemy of freedom, not at all. It is the
security we have. If you know how to use a parachute,
you can jump out of a plane ten thousand of
feet in the air any time because you've got what
it takes to soar.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
But without it, you don't. And we are free spiritually.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
When we trust God's word over our own, because, let's
face it, left to our own devices, we tend to
rack stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
We racket, and that's not being edgy. It's also what
we call human nature. You know, sometimes we just wreck stuff.
We're not perfect. And now here's where in the scripture.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
It starts getting a little more real, starting to come
home a little more.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
And it's from that reading in Galatians.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
If we believe that within these restraints biblically, we are free.
We find these words from Paul where he says, but
you and my brothers, you were called to be free,
but do not use your freedom to indulge in sinful nature.
Rather serve one another. You're free to serve one another
in love. The entire law is summed up in a
(13:38):
single command of.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Your neighbor as yourself. Can anything be simpler? Than that.
That's that's real freedom. Freedom isn't a license to do
whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It's a call to love others boldly, not because you
have to, but because.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You can very different.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
You are free for something, not from something, and even
bringing home a little deeper.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Freedom, as you know.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Costs Jesus everything, everything, And this is not forget that
the ultimate price of freedom wasn't just paid by soldiers
and patriots, but Jesus also paid it.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
The son of God, Jesus took a tour of duty
to Hell.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
That was his tour of duty to Hell by way
of the cross, to give us.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Freedom from sin and shame and death. You can't earn
that kind.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Of freedom, none of us can. We can only receive it.
Receive it, live with it, embrace.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
It, and live like it's real, because it is.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Let us pray we are grateful Lord.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
That of all times and of all places, we have
this occasion to pause to reflect on the dynamic freedom
we have as a land, but also as persons of faith.
We pray Lord, that we will treasure these freedoms, that
(15:53):
we will steward them appropriately, that we will realize that
with the kinds of discipline and restraints we are able
to really be.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Free into soar. So we thank you Lord that we are.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Free, so that we can love others boldly, and do
so in.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Your name and for your glory.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Ah Man
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