556. Freedom, Purpose and Result Galatians 5_1

Hey, it's Mike Henry with the Follower of One podcast. Welcome back. Thanks for joining us. Today, let's talk about Galatians 5:1 (ESV) "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to yoke of slavery." I think it's interesting because I believe Jesus came to set us free.

Sometimes I think we take that freedom for granted. We're created with the freedom to choose. God created us with this ability to choose. And all of the effort that I believe that Jesus has gone through to save us is designed to protect our freedom of choice. We choose wrongly before we even know, and we suffer the consequences of being separated from God.

All of us choose some way of life other than Jesus. But then Jesus paid for our poor choices so that we could still have another chance. In our previous episode, I asked you to consider the question, "God, what do you want me to change today?" Jesus set us free to hear God's answer and then to choose to do it.

Galatians 5:1 says it was for freedom, that Christ set us free. He got us back out of our yoke of slavery, our bondage to slavery. We go back into that mode when we choose to obey our own flesh. But we have the freedom to step out of that mode because Christ died on the cross for us and he gave us the opportunity to step out of this yoke, this chain, this slavery model.

And we can stand firm, therefore, as it talks about here today, Jesus set us free to hear God's answer to that question and then choose to do it. We were set free for that very freedom. What was your choice? Jesus paid for your freedom. Did you take advantage of that payment by Jesus yesterday? Or will you today?

If we want to be active with our faith every day, we begin by saying yes to God. We listen to the Holy Spirit, and we do what he says. This verse goes on to say that we can stand firm in our new life and not be a slave to sin any longer. Let's ask God the question again today. God, what would you have me change today?

Then let's do what he says. Let's choose today to do whatever he challenges us to do. This is convicting to me, because there are things going on in my life, I know I ought to be doing. And so, I have to confront those as I speak to you about this, on this podcast. It's a challenging place to be, but let's be there.

Let's challenge ourselves to follow Jesus, to step into the freedom that he paid for and not submit again to this yoke of slavery. Our habits and our environment are powerful things. If we can start the habit of saying yes to God, we strengthen our muscle. We may need to hang out with some other believers who have the guts to ask God this question over and over and over again, and then step into the answer.

Don't underestimate the pull of our enemy, our flesh, and our habits. Let's get the help we need. You can join the online community of Follower of One. That's what it's designed to do. It's designed to create an opportunity for us to be able to connect with other believers who intentionally try and live their faith every day.

Check it out at https://followerofone.org. You can join the online community for free. You can take part in the Marketplace Mission Trips for free as well. We simply ask you if it's beneficial to you to pay it forward. Thanks for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people that you're around every day.

Let's ask God the question, "God, what would you have me change today?" And then do what he says.

Thanks very much.