Death to Life

Wow! I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I was looking through some old papers in my room today and I came across a program from Prairie Lakes. I attended an Easter service there when I was home on break in April. I reread the notes I had taken and thought it would be good to share them!

This segment of the death to life series was about freedom.

First off, Jesus/the tomb is symbolism of freedom. This was important to get out in the open right away because it sets the main message for the rest of the sermon.."We can't have freedom without Jesus and what he did for us." The pasage that we discussed first was John 13. This is the chapter where Jesus washes His disciple's feet. We began with this story to give the picture that Jesus came to Earth to serve, not to be served.

After the main message was established, Pastor Fuller connected the sermon to the congregation by using Peter as a symbol of humanity. When Jesus tries to wash Peter's feet, Peter refuses his offer. John 13:8 "'No,' said Peter, 'you shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.'" In those days, the feet were the dirtiest part of a persons' body. This part of the passage shows that Peter is trying to deny Jesus access to the dirtiest parts of his life. Not only does he do this, but he also denies konwing Jesus 3 times, and he pushes Jesus out of the way to cut the ear off of Malchus. We can connect to these things in some sort of way. We are all sinners, and sometimes we make choices that we are not proud of or embarrassed about. We chain ourselves to these sins by thinking that they are too terrible to allow Jesus to be a part of. We deny Jesus access and take it upon ourselves to carry these chains when He has already freed us from our sin. Although Jesus has freed us by dying on the cross, we push him aside and stay chained to our sin. We go about our life unfree until we allow Jesus access to those parts of our lives.

This was a HUGE eye opener to me because I know that there are times when I try to control or punish myself for the mistakes and sins I continue to make. But I, as a Christian, don't have to hold those with me, because they can easily be taken away from me. They no longer need to be my burden because Jesus paid it all. The final statement sums up everything that was said. Jesus has given us the freedom to finally Let Go of what chains us and brings us down.

So I challenge all of you and myself to finally Step into the Freedom.