Monthly Archives

June 2021

FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE ARE NOT THE SAME

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“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31b-32)

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

 

[As we approach Independence Day 2021, with more and more people believing freedom is the right to do anything you want, I offer this column from seven years ago.]

Americans love to talk about freedom.  Our Declaration of Independence declares freedom (“liberty”) to be our God-given right.  Our Constitution’s stated purpose is to secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.  Our national anthem sings of “the land of the free”.  One of our favorite patriotic declarations is Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death.”

This national focus on freedom has sometimes been used to justify our involvement in wars to support people seeking freedom from tyranny.  Our most recent examples are Iraq and Afghanistan.

How have those efforts worked out?  Saddam Hussein was killed, and the Taliban were dislodged.  Both nations made initial moves, with our help, toward a democratic form of government and the freedoms they hoped democracy would secure.  Both nations are now in chaos while we simply try to find a way to “get out”.

The crucial lesson to be learned: freedom and independence are not the same.

At the political level, the lesson is that democracy is not enough.  In the absence of faith-based moral principles that undergirded our nation in its birth, democracy can simply replace one form of tyranny with another – greed, corruption, the desire of the majority to control minorities, and the desire of the few to manipulate the many.

At the individual level, this lesson has been learned the hard way by many youths who rebelled against parental authority and ran away.  Through independence from their parents, they sought freedom – the right to do what they want to do when they want to do it.  Instead, they too often found bondage to drugs, poverty, or even a life of prostitution or other crime motivated by that poverty.

And at the ultimate level, the level that engages all humanity, this lesson was learned the hard way by our earliest ancestors: Adam and Eve.  They were tempted to independence from God’s authority, so they could decide on their own what is good and evil, and led all of us into the worst tyrannies of all: Satan, sin, and death. (Genesis 3; 1 John 5:19; Romans 6:16-23)

God sent Jesus Christ to set men free. (Luke 4:17-21; Psalm 146:7) So it is essential we understand what freedom really is.

Freedom is both freedom from things and freedom to do things.  But it is not freedom from authority or freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want.  Although created in the image of God, we were never created to be God.  Instead, we were created to live in intimacy with the Lord under His loving, wise and benevolent authority.  We will never know freedom until we begin living as we were designed to live.

Jesus revealed this truth in His teachings and His life.  The Son of God became one of us, emptied of His divinity, but remained in intimate communion with His Father through the Holy Spirit.  He and the Father were “one” while He walked this earth. (John 10:30)

Likewise, Jesus prayed we will become “one” with Him.  (John 17:21-23) The Holy Spirit was sent to live in us even as He lived in Jesus. (John 14:15-20, 16:7-15)

Jesus was also totally submitted to His Father’s authority, even when the Father asked Him to do the most difficult task anyone has ever done.  Because Jesus became “last of all and servant of all”, the Father exalted Him to “first of all”, the name above every name. (Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 9:33-37)

Likewise, as disciples of Jesus, we are to abide in His word, learning and obeying all His teachings as we humbly walk like He walked into “the freedom of the glory of the children of God”. (Matthew 28:20; 1 John 2:3-6; Romans 8:16-21)

The scriptures at the outset of this column summarize this narrow path to true freedom. (Matthew 7:13-14) Learn and obey God’s Word – all of it!  Be filled, led, and empowered by God’s Spirit! (Ephesians 5:18; Romans 8:14; Acts 1:4-8)

We can experience freedom from sin, death, fear and anxiety, anger and bitterness, hopelessness, deceptions, foolish decisions, loneliness, addictions, poverty, and lack of purpose.

We can experience freedom to intimacy with God, trusting obedience, everlasting life, loving and forgiving community, wisdom and understanding, awesome purpose with eternal significance, peace, joy, provision, rest, and unlimited hope in an unlimited God.

And as we walk this glorious path of freedom in our own lives, we will reveal that path to others in our nation, which is presently heading in the wrong direction.

God bless you, and God bless our community.

 

“Be With Jesus” Conferences

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Dear friends of the King,

 

            I am truly excited to announce that we have now scheduled two “Be With Jesus, Be Like Jesus, Be For Jesus” Awakening Conferences in the region, with a third in the works.  This conference, with three sessions, is based on my new book, “Be With Jesus, Be Like Jesus, Be For Jesus: A Path to Christian Maturity and the Next Great Awakening”. Thank you so much for the very encouraging responses we have been getting to the book.  Each conference participant will receive a free copy of the book as part of their engagement.  The book, as many of you already know, is short (100 pages) but contains 577 scripture citations for the topics we will be dealing with in the conference.  So it will be a great follow-up reference.

            The first conference is scheduled for Rogersville early next week: Monday, June 28 through Wednesday, June 30, starting 7PM, at the Marketplace, 1206 W. Main Street.  I am attaching that conference flyer, in large part so you can see what a wonderful job my daughter Jes did in creating it!

            The second conference is with our dear friends, Pastor Andy and Marsha Barnes, at First Baptist Church, Gate City: Sunday, July 18 through Tuesday, July 20, with details to follow.

            Our third conference, in the works, will be at a church in the Kingsport/Blountville area, and I am earnestly interested in scheduling more!  So if any of you are interested, please contact me.   I am also open to sharing the materials through small group retreats.

            With all my heart, I believe the next move of God in our nation and world will be rooted in agape love that is pursued by us through intimacy with the Lord (Be with Jesus), partnership with the Lord in our own sanctification  (Be like Jesus), and a life commitment to Kingdom mission (Be for Jesus). And I passionately desire to see that move of God take place in our East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia region.  Please pray for us!

 

            God bless you all – Doug Tweed, Friends of the King Ministries

GOD WANTS YOU TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

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GOD WANTS YOU TO CHANGE YOUR MIND

 

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

 

God wants you to change your mind.

If you are a “not-yet Christian”, God wants you to change your mind about how you can receive everlasting life through Jesus. (John 1:12-13, 3:16)

If you are a Christian, God wants you to know the change in mind that brought you into everlasting life was only the first change in mind He desires for you. (Hebrews 5:11-14)

I have repeatedly asserted in this column that “agape” love is the fundamental law of God’s kingdom, and it is, but the fundamental battleground for God’s kingdom on earth is the mind, not the heart. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

What we think, consciously and subconsciously, continually dictates how we feel: love, peace, joy, hope, and a sense of purpose, on the one hand, or fear, anxiety, anger, isolation, depression, and aimlessness. Which set of emotions dominates our nation and world today? Which set reflects your own life and the lives of those around you?

Even more important, what we think and how we feel dictate what we choose in every circumstance based upon what we consider important, possible, desirable, frightening, urgent, and good or evil.

We have all learned, often the hard way, that we are never fully in control of our circumstances. Our control is limited to our ability to make personal choices based upon the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Do we want those choices to be grounded in truth or lies? (Psalm 51:6; Proverbs 23:23)

Satan, the consummate enemy of God and mankind, is called “the father of lies”, and “the deceiver of the whole world”. (John 8:44; Revelation 12:9) We have been learning life lessons from this deceived and broken world since birth.

To counteract this, God sent His Son Jesus: The Truth, the Word made flesh, and the light of the world. (John 1:1-14, 8:12, 14:6) God also gave us His Holy Spirit of truth, who can lead us into all truth. (John 16:13-14) And through the Holy Spirit, God gave us the Bible, the Spirit-breathed scriptures that teach us what we need to know and do. (2 Timothy 3:3-16-17; Psalms 1, 119)

Because the mind is the fundamental battleground, the Gospel invitation to the lost is, “Repent and believe!” (Mark 1:14-15, 6:12; Luke 24:45-47; Acts 2:38-39, 17:30-31) The Greek word used for “repent” is “metanoia”, which literally means “change your mind”. The truth sets you free. (John 8:32)

And because the mind remains the fundamental battleground after you become a Christian, the invitation for disciples of Jesus is to keep changing your mind and your ways by learning to obey everything Jesus commanded. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:42) As Paul put it in Romans 12:2, stop conforming to this broken world by living in accordance with what the world teaches.  “Renew” your mind so you can “transform” your life to the wonderous ways of Christ.  More truth will set you more free.

The Greek word used in Romans 12:2 for “transformed” is “metamorphoo”. It indicates major change, and so, today, we use the word, “metamorphosis”, to describe how caterpillars become butterflies and tadpoles become frogs. 2 Corinthians 3:18 describes our process of metamorphosis into the image of Christ.

The Greek word used for “renewal” of our mind is “anakainosis”.  It also indicates major change – making something new and improved, or superior to what it was before. It comes about by what Paul calls “testing”: the Greek word “dokimazo”, which means to learn by examination and actual use.

Otherwise put, we must be both hearers and doers of the Word, having and keeping His commandments. (Matthew 7:24-27; John 14:21, 23; James 1:22-25) Because the Spirit who inspired the Bible now lives in us, we have access to the mind of Christ and can, by our testing, understand things of God our natural minds could never comprehend. (1 Corinthians 2:9-16)

My friends, our nation is struggling, and the research of Barna Group and Pew Research Center reveal: (1) the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian is shrinking significantly; (2) church participation is shrinking dramatically; (3) we are losing our young people at a devastating rate; and (4) the majority of American Christians are biblically illiterate. Few have a biblical worldview.

These developments are causally related. When Christians remain conformed to the world rather than transformed into Christ’s image, we are ineffective in our mission to witness and disciple.  To be transformed, we must recognize Bible study and practice are not religious options.  Through them, we reframe our worldview and understanding of reality so “the eyes of our hearts” are enlightened and we know the hope to which we have been called. (Ephesians 1:18-21)

We need to change our minds.

God bless you, and God bless our community.