revise or edit His instructions. “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the
commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2).
Introduction
Christ will glorify us as He is glorified, and we’ll have eternity with Him. That’s an amazing thought—we’ll have true freedom forever,
a perfect government Jesus will rule over, without today’s problems. We look forward to that and lift His name with praise because He
is worthy. Amen. [Music] Strength arises as we wait upon the Lord. We will wait upon our God. You reign forever, our hope, our strong
deliverer. You are the everlasting God. You do not faint; you won’t grow weary. You’re the defender of the weak, you comfort those in
need, you lift us up like eagles.
Our God, you reign forever, our hope, our strong deliverer. You are the everlasting God. You do not faint; you won’t
grow weary. You’re the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need, you lift us up like eagles. Strength will rise as we wait upon
the Lord. [Music and applause] The greatest steps to the highest heights hold the endless breath of your hands. By your spoken word,
all creation forms. Can we hear you speak? Oh, come, let us sing, shout of your goodness, praise, and bow down in worship. You are our God.
You are the God of salvation, the song we never stop singing. In our wandering, when we’ve lost our way, you’re still holding us in your hands.
In raging seas, in barren lands, on your promise we will stand. Come, let us sing, shout of your goodness, praise, and bow down in worship.
You are our God, God of salvation, the song we never stop singing. Jesus, my only song, you are the only one worthy of my hallelujah. Come, let us sing, shout of your goodness, praise, and bow down in worship.
We’re teaching a new song, “There Is a Savior.” The bridge says, “We believe that Christ was crucified, raised to life, and He’s coming back again.” It’s a reminder of salvation—past justification, current sanctification, and future glorification. Let’s give thanks to Him for a
future and hope. Amen.
There is a Savior, a King, a power beyond defeat. This is the good news: His name is Jesus.
There is a healer, a friend, a mercy that never ends. This is the good news: His name is Jesus. He says, “Rejoice, all you people.” He reigns.
Awake, awake, the song of our freedom. There is a Savior; His name is Jesus. We are the rescued, the free, forgiven, redeemed. This is the good news because of Jesus. He saves, rejoice all you people. He reigns, He conquered the grave. Awake, the song of our freedom. There is a Savior;
His name is Jesus. Sing it out: we believe that Christ was crucified, raised to life, He’s coming back again. Father, we believe you
were crucified for our transgressions, bore the weight of sin, conquered death, and rose again.
Lord, you give us a future and hope we longingly anticipate. Grant us patience as we wait. We thank you for the freedom to gather as a church, for those who went before us, for our freedom in you, the forerunners of our faith. Bless this morning, give us ears to hear, and by your Holy Spirit, grant understanding. We ask in your name, amen. Welcome to Navigating Rock Harbor. Join us to hear three speakers share messages to apply biblical truth and wisdom in today’s morally corrupt culture. Unwanted desires and addictions keeping you stuck?
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Freedom’s Basis
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to dissolve political bands, a decent respect requires declaring the causes for separation. We hold these truths self-evident: all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Governments, instituted among men, derive just powers from the consent of the governed. When government becomes destructive, it’s the people’s right to alter or abolish it and establish new government. We, representatives of the United States, declare these colonies free and independent, absolved of allegiance to the British crown, relying on divine providence.
Exodus and Freedom
I want to go through Exodus from a bird’s-eye view, showing what our founding fathers used to establish the United States, primarily the Old Testament, especially Exodus. The concept of freedom we believe in comes from the Bible. I’m concerned about our culture and Western society, the Trojan horse attacks aiming to destroy America and the West. If we don’t understand and communicate this to the next generation, we’ll lose freedoms our founders and military secured. Fourth of July isn’t just barbecues and fireworks—it’s about how we got freedom. Most Christians don’t experience our freedom to worship unimpeded, unlike in Europe.
Tyranny’s Default
Exodus is a blueprint from tyranny to liberation. Israel starts in slavery to Egypt’s tyranny. Tyranny is the human default—megalomaniacs and psychopaths, like Iran’s Ayatollahs, gravitate to power and authoritarianism, aligned with a satanic world. Tyranny thrives when society consents. Nazi Germany wasn’t an accident; people elected Hitler. Tyranny arises from the people’s consent. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in the Gulag, said everyone lies about everything, allowing tyranny. He noted, “We know they’re lying, they know we know, yet they lie.” Our media does this, and we consent by giving them and universities our kids, enabling tyranny’s start.
Collective Guilt
Solzhenitsyn said universal dishonesty fuels tyranny. The populace becomes a willing participant. In Egypt, Egyptians consented to Pharaoh’s edicts, enslaving Jews and committing infanticide. They benefited from oppression, prospering until God made them return property to the Jews.
God’s judgment fell on all Egyptians for collective guilt, seen in Joshua, Samuel, Lamentations, Daniel, and Matthew. Not all Israel rejected the Messiah, but religious leaders’ actions led to collective guilt in 70 AD. America faces collective guilt for abortion, LGBT, and transgender promotion.
God spares the righteous, but cultural lies—like men having babies—bring judgment.
Modern Collective Guilt
When a culture accepts lies like homosexuality, wokeism, or abortion, it invites tyranny. How do communists or anti-American figures get elected?
It’s collective guilt—people want them. Hitler’s resentment fed Germany’s post-World War I bitterness, blaming Jews for their flaws, a psychological projection. Anti-Semitism often stems from blaming Jews for personal failures. A society endorsing systemic evil, like Egypt’s oppression, faces collective guilt. God holds both leaders and people responsible. Iran’s Ayatollah lies about victories, yet many support him, showing collective guilt. Some Iranians and Christians resist, but the majority’s complicity enables tyranny’s rise.
Left-wing media, even in Israel, shares collective guilt, spreading lies like claims of IDF shooting unarmed Gazans, creating conditions for tyranny.
The lie in America and the West is that Western civilization must be destroyed by communists, Marxists, socialists, fascists, globalists, wokeists, and Islamicists seeking tyranny. Open borders under Biden allowed millions of illegal aliens, including potential Iranian terrorist cells, into the U.S., raising concerns. A New York primary elected a pro-Hamas, anti-American communist, reflecting collective guilt. Who votes for such figures?
Cities like LA, Chicago, and Atlanta show similar patterns, risking freedom’s loss.
Resisting Tyranny
Churches share collective guilt through silence. Pastors protest ICE instead of preaching truth, risking our freedoms. Individuals like Rahab, Lot, Daniel, and the remnant escaped collective guilt. Matias Desmond says 30\% believe lies, 65\% go along for comfort, and 5\% refuse lies. We must be the 5\%. During shutdowns, many complied, valuing security over freedom. God desires freedom, seeing Israel’s oppression in Egypt and delivering them to a land of milk and honey. Freedom comes from God, not man. We’re born slaves to sin, but God calls us out, per Romans 6:17, if we choose liberty.
Freedom’s Purpose
To stop tyranny, we must oppose lies, as Moses did with Pharaoh, demanding, “Let my people go to serve me.” Freedom isn’t to do anything—it’s serve God, not Satan, sin, or death. Public schools don’t teach this, but our founders understood it. Solzhenitsyn said one person refusing to lie breaks tyranny. Telling the truth—men can’t have babies, there aren’t 52 genders—stops tyranny, despite accusations of phobia. RFK Jr. cut funding for Bill Gates’ vaccine alliance, and Pete Hesith removed Harvey Milk’s name from a Navy ship, examples of pushing back against lies.
Truth as Resistance
J.K. Rowling resisted trans ideology, sarcastically rebuking trolls calling her a trans woman, exposing their bigotry. A pro-Israel speaker defended Israel’s protection of democracy and human rights, urging support over criticism. Pastors, like Steven Furtick, remain silent on abortion and homosexuality for profit, selling out free speech. Freedom comes at a cost—Egypt’s plagues and Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea show this. Passover’s lamb prefigures Christ’s sacrifice, granting spiritual freedom from sin and death. Maintaining freedom requires continual sacrifice, like sanctification’s living sacrifice. Without effort, freedom is lost, and younger generations may not grasp this.
Wilderness Challenges
Frederick Douglass said, “Without struggle, there’s no progress.” In the wilderness, Israel, freed from Egypt, complained to Moses, preferring slavery’s comfort—pots of meat—over freedom’s challenges. This shows humanity’s tendency to choose slavery for security. Many today depend on government, committing welfare fraud, avoiding responsibility. Galatians 6:5 says, “Each shall bear his own load.” Freedom requires responsibility, but shutdowns showed people preferring comfort, like teachers unions extending closures. Benjamin Franklin warned, “Those who give up liberty for safety deserve neither.” Pastors taking government money during shutdowns betrayed freedom, proving they don’t value it.
Preventing Tyranny
To prevent a new Pharaoh, God sanctified Jethro’s advice to Moses: select men of truth to rule, inspiring U.S. checks and balances. James Madison said,
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Human sin requires balanced power. Supreme Court rulings stopped lower courts’ abuses, like nationwide injunctions on deportations, and protected parents against LGBT curriculum for young children, cutting Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding.
Accountability prevents tyranny, personally and governmentally. We need others watching us, not spouses, to avoid echo chambers. Freedom isn’t lawlessness; Exodus 20’s Ten Commandments provide a moral framework, violated today by idolatry and murder.
Moral Framework
America worships money, fame, and sex, identifying with immorality, taking God’s name in vain. With 63 million abortions, adultery, theft, lying, and coveting—core to Marxism—society breaks God’s commandments, inviting tyranny. Sin enslaves. Eden’s temptation was autonomy—eating from the tree of knowledge to be like God, leading to death. Satan’s lie promised freedom through self-rule, but it brings despair. Freedom requires God’s rules, like a game’s structure. John Adams said the Constitution is for moral, religious people. Rejecting Judeo-Christian values for wokism or Islam leads to tyranny, requiring a strongman to restore order.
Spiritual Freedom
Noah Webster said scripture’s moral principles form civil laws, owing freedom to Christianity. Personal freedom requires internal transformation, respecting life and property per God’s law. Galatians 5:13 urges using liberty to serve, not harm, others. The ultimate freedom is through Christ, freeing us from sin and death (Romans 8:1-2, Colossians 1:13-14). John 8:32 says, “The truth shall make you free.” Believing Christ’s sacrifice (John 3:14-16) liberates from bondage. Daily effort, like a living sacrifice, transforms us to reflect Christ, growing freer each day. God values freedom, not creating robots, but we must choose it.
Prayer
[Braveheart Movie] William Wallace: “Sons of Scotland, I am William Wallace. I see an army of countrymen in defiance of tyranny. You’ve come to fight as free men. What will you do without freedom? Fight, and you may die. Run, and you’ll live, at least a while. Would you trade all the days for one chance to tell our enemies they may take our lives, but never our freedom?” Father, thank you for freedom through your Son, from sin and death, to obey and live by your standards. Help us be diligent, pass this to the next generation, and guard our freedom. Amen.
