You can fight.  It’s born in you to take punishment and still plug ahead.”
              –Ernest Haycox (Deep West)

    “Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'”
              –John 8:31-32 (NIV)
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There is much talk of freedom, and, of course, this Wednesday we will celebrate Independence Day – freedom from the tyranny of the British Empire.  However, there are few who could actually tell you what freedom is.  Most would probably say that it means you can do anything that you want to do.  Freedom actually comes from the work of Christ’s finished work on the cross and our desire to be obedient and live a godly life.
    I mentioned three things last week in which we have freedom over, and will add to that today.  We are:
         1)  Free from fear
         2)  Free from guilt
         3)  Free from responsibility for the world
         4)  Free from worry about God’s will.
                 God will work out His purpose for us.  We do not have to simmer and stew about what He wants us to do.  First, we have His Word.  If we are into the Bible, we know the will of God for our lives.  Then, we also have the Holy Spirit, walking right beside us to show us the correct way.
         5)  Free from vested interest.
                 No one can own you.  If we have God’s Word and are following it then we do not have to find or ask for second opinions.  If God is truly the owner of our lives, that life He purchased with His precious blood, then we should have a tremendous feeling of freedom.  We find we are truly servants.
         6)  Free from manipulation.
                 If you have no rights and belong to God, then no one can be manipulated.  It is when we clamor for rights that men will claim to have another truth and if you follow them you can be free.  But if you have no rights, then none can be taken away.
                 Stephen Brown states, “It is important to have convictions, but unless there is a sovereign God behind those convictions, the convictions will eventually dissipate in the face of power or money or manipulation.”
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“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!  I know not what course others may take but as for me; give me liberty or give me death.”
              –Patrick Henry

In this life, you only get so many opportunities.  You must take advantage of them while you can.”
              –Bobby Cavazos  (The Cowboy From the Wild Horse Desert)

    “Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.”
              –Colossians 4:5 (NLT)
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There was a very good movie made several years ago:  How the West Was Won.  Take time to watch it if you have not done so.  The story is of the Prescott family as they make their way west, facing the challenges and obstacles to endure the making of this great country.
    Early in the movie there is a camp scene of a family who have joined the Prescotts.  While they are going about camp chores and supper was being prepared, a lone trapper, Linus Rawlins (Jimmy Stewart) arrived in his canoe.
    The families invited him to join them for supper, which he did and they sat around telling stories.  Rawlins, the trapper, finally went off to his bedroll and after he left, Mr. Prescott remarked, pointing toward the fire.  “These mountain men…they’re sorta like a wisp-of-smoke.”
    James tells us the same thing about our lives.  “Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air].”  (4:14, AMP)
    This is true in the light of eternity.  What is your small segment of life like in compared to the eons of eternity?  A speck, a mist, a wisp of smoke.  The other aspect is that because our lives are so short in comparison, it is important to recognize the responsibility we have to the Almighty for this short time.  We must make the most of every minute to live for Him.  Man is like a wisp of smoke in regards to the Lord, but what we do in that time will affect us through eternity.

What dual character he had–what contrast of thrill and pang, of blood and brain, of desert and civilization, of physical and spiritual, of nature and….”
              –Zane Grey  (Wanderer of the Wasteland)

    “You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.”
              –Psalm 8:6-8 (NLT)
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Adam was placed in the Garden.  What was his purpose?  Why did God place him there?  It was not just to walk with God, or to lie down in the lush grass by the riverside where he could dip his big toe in the cool water.  God placed Adam in the Garden to tend it.  Creation was placed in the hands of man, to tend and to keep.
    Man was created in the image of God, therefore, man was created to be God’s representative on earth.  Man has a tremendous responsibility to care for that work of God.  Remember, Jesus said that if man does not praise Him, then the rock would cry out.  Bernard Brady states that, “Humans are commissioned to take care of the earth, use it appropriately, keep it healthy and beautiful.  The world, after all, belongs to God, not to us.  It will endure long past our lives.”
    The term “worship” most often in the Scripture means “to do service.”  There are many ways to worship, one of which is to be a caretaker of the Lord’s creation.  Creation was made to do service for man; man then is the spokesman for creation.
         “Man is, as it were, the high priest of God’s creation, to offer the sacrifice of praise for all his fellow-creatures.  The Lord God expects a tribute of praise from all His works.  Now, all the rest do bring in their tribute to man, and pay it by his hand.  So then, if a man is false, and faithless, and selfish, God is robbed of all, and has no active glory from His works.”  (Joseph Alleine)
    But man, in his relation to creation, has not been a good steward.  Man has despoiled creation.  Man, because of sin, is guilty of robbing and spoiling the praise that belongs to God.
    Ponder for a moment–food serves to nourish man to strengthen man to work for God.  But with sin the work is rotten.  Light from the sun is to give light for the accomplishment of God’s work through man.  But with sin, it is hated for sin loves the darkness and the work that is done in the light is for the selfishness of man.  Clothes were made so that you could work in all kinds of weather, is now used to satisfy man’s craving for self.  All these things from the earth are all in vain unless there is salvation and the believer recognizes his duty, service, and responsibility to his Creator.
    One of my very favorite books is Wanderer of the Wasteland.  There are so many scriptural analogies in the book.  Here is one passage from the pen of Zane Grey from this wonderful book.
         “The clean white sand, the mesquites bursting into green, the nodding flowers in the grassy nooks under the great iron-rusted stones, the rugged, upheaved slope of mountain, and to the east an open vista between the trees where the desert stretched away gray and speckled and monotonous, down to the dim mountains over which the sun would rise; these could not but be pleasant and helpful.  Love of life could not be separated from such things.”
    Yet, because of sin, the “whole creation groaneth”. (Romans 8:22)  Under “unsanctified men who pervert all things to the service of their lusts,” (Alleine) nature groans waiting for the curse to be removed.  Ask me why there are so many “natural disasters” and I will say it is part of nature’s groaning, asking God to remove the curse.  This was not the purpose of creation.

He seemed fitted for this task, and his motive had the strength of love and passion and the sanction of right.”
              –Zane Grey (Nevada)

    “I, the Lord, have dedicated these soldiers for this task. Yes, I have called mighty warriors to express my anger, and they will rejoice when I am exalted.”
              –Isaiah 13:3 (NLT)
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Each of us has a task to perform for the Lord.  It will vary from person to person.  Some will be called into actual ministry, such as a pastor, teacher, or evangelist.  Others will be called to serve Him in lay positions, but we all have a task of giving forth the Gospel.
    How we do this is also different.  Some may preach, others may teach.  There will be some who are working in the public and they may meet so many people in a day, all they can give them is a smile, and wish them a good day.
    Each of us also has their individual, personal task of growing in the Lord.  Most growth is slow, but there are spurts of growth, and situations that come that make a person grow.  Lessons are given in various ways by the Lord to help us grow, and, of course, we must be in the Word to have a proper nutrition.  It is hard for the Holy Spirit to use someone in their task if they are not constantly feeding upon the Word.
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                    “Do not fret because of evildoers,
                     Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.”
                             –Psalm 37:1 (NKJV)

This is a good verse for the day in which we live.  There seems to be so much evil, and the devil would love to see us live in the throes of anxiety.  Moral values are now being determined by society, “workers of iniquity.”  However, we are not to fret.
    I like what a Naval Chaplain wrote, “The advice is pointed.  Don’t fret.  How easy it is to get upset and stew over issues that you can’t control or alter.  Don’t fret because of evil men.  You can be surrounded with moral values and conduct that contradict your own.  You can’t run away from your environment, but you don’t need to ‘capitulate’ either!
         “An antidote is offered:  ‘Trust in the Lord.’  Your strength of will is just so strong.  This invitation from the psalmist to trust in the Lord is for those with weak wills and human limitations.
         “The central truth of this psalm and of life is, ‘Commit your way to God.’  You cannot live in neutral.  You cannot be half-committed in your faith.  Jesus calls you to a whole-hearted surrender.  Stay loose, don’t get shook.  Trust in the Lord and commit your way to him.”  (I.W. Dodson, Jr)
    Things that come your way have meaning.  Answer the issue with a biblical viewpoint.  There is nothing that you do or that you will face that is not either going to lead you closer to the Lord or move you away from Him.  Life is not neutral!
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A Quick Lesson is Politics:  Definitions –
    Socialism:  If you have two cows, you give one to your neighbor.
    Communism:  If you have two cows, you give them both to the government, then the government gives you some milk.
    Fascism:  If you have two cows, you keep the cows and give the milk to the government; then the government sells you some milk.
    New Dealism:  If you have two cows, you shoot one and milk the other one; then you pour the milk down the drain.
    Nazism:  If you have two cows, the government shoots you and keeps the cows.
    Capitalism:  If you have two cows, you sell one and buy a bull.