Women of Warren Vlog – Adore the ONE Who Frees

Good morning. I cannot believe we are here, but this is the last of our video devotionals in the Christmas series, Adore. We have looked at adoring the one who came, adoring the one who pursues and adoring the one who gives. Today we are going to challenge our hearts to adore the one who frees us. This series comes out of my favorite Christmas song, Oh Come Let Us Adore Him. And that song and that anthem, how appropriate is that really for our hearts all year long. But what a beautiful way for us to end out 2024 adoring our Savior. So as we look at the one who frees, we're going to first look at a few verses that show the freedom that the Lord has brought us as he came, Emmanuel, God with us. We're going to look first at Galatians chapter 5 in verses 1 and in 16. Verse 1 says, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. In verse 16 it says, so I say live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Romans eight verses one and two say, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Jesus coming to earth set us free from the law. He came and set us free from sin. He set us free from shame. There is now no condemnation for those in Christ and he set us free from death. We see that also in John 3 16 that whoever believes would not perish but have everlasting life. Second Corinthians 4 verse 16 says it this way, therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away. Our bodies are still fading, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Christ coming to earth, he defeated death, he defeated sin, and he fulfilled every part of the law. We see in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14 and 15 that there is another freedom that the Lord has given us as Christ came. Verse 14 says, for Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. We know that Christ Jesus was born to die and he died to set us free from living for ourselves. I am free because of what Jesus has done for me. free from the bondage of living for myself, for living for my desires, my preferences, my agenda, and my own glory. I don't know about you, but I lived that way for a really long time, and I will slip back into it in a hot minute, if not for the grace of the Lord, to hem me in behind and before. And every time I slip back into it, it never goes well. It never goes well when I am out to pursue what I want or what I think is best or my own glory. It never goes well ever. I should really know better by now, but I can be a slow learner sometimes. But what grace from the Lord. And every time I do slip into that, every time I do begin to live for myself, every time it produces discontentment. It produces dissatisfaction. I get a lot more easily irritated with my family. And peace, it definitely does not grow. And I have to be reminded through the power of the holy spirit that he has set me free from living for myself because when i do that freedom it's the last thing that i feel my son recently um prayed at bedtime just offering a plea to the lord that really um it was sweet to hear from my son but also my own heart needed it just personally as well and he pleaded with the Lord just to change his heart that he would not want to go his way but that he would actually want to go God's way that he would actually want to live for the Lord and not for himself and then he said because when I live for myself. And when I go my way, it never goes well. And isn't that so true? Anytime I am out for my own gain, it never goes well. It is always, always goes better when I pursue the Lord and when I am out for his glory and when his desires are my desires. We know that our freedom has already been purchased on calvary jesus purchased it with his blood and we know that he was born to die he was born to save us to rescue us to free us he brought us freedom from the law he brought us freedom from sin freedom from shame and freedom even from ourself as we see the christmas story begin to unfold this is where the plan of freedom started as those first newborn cries pierced the air in that smelly dirty stable on the very first christmas that was the start of our freedom plan he was born to die and he came into this world to free us i know that many of you listening to this message there is a lot of excitement and anticipation um this week with christmas just two days away but i i know that there are also many who come in to this week of christmas with heavy hearts because there is someone you dearly loved who's not going to be there this week and that's sad it may have been months and months and months ago but that fresh wave of sadness it can hit us And we're told in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 that we don't mourn and grieve the way the rest of the world does. It doesn't say that we don't still mourn. It doesn't say that we're not still sad. Just not in the same way of the world, because we have hope. And a big piece of that hope, of course all of that hope really it's jesus and we may not have freedom yet from sadness we may not have freedom yet from tears and from grieving but that freedom is coming it is coming one day when our savior returns and in the meantime for all of you my dear sisters who are feeling both that opposite feelings sort of of both sadness and grieving this week and also joy and excitement i just pray over you the truth of psalm 34 verse 18 that tells us that dear sister the lord is close to you the brokenhearted and he saves you as you are crushed in spirit may we adore the one who frees us may we adore the one who draws near to us in our sadness i hope you have a merry christmas

Originally published at warren.church.