Chains Down, Heads High | Pastor Paul McGee

Amen. Amen.

Amen. I'm glad to be in the House of

the Lord today, Amen, with you folks.

I know we were here Wednesday, but it's good to be here on a

Sunday, Amen. With each one of you here this

morning. And, and we're already 12 days

in and it's the first time I can tell you happy New Year and

which is peculiar even within itself.

Amen. But we'll get started and get

the wheels are rolling on this new year.

I'm sure most of you already have, Amen.

But it's good to be together Amen this morning and see you.

As a matter of fact, right before I got up, I was thinking,

since it's been 3 weeks since we've had a, a Sunday service

And, and I said in the back this morning, I don't know any time

in the history of the church really that that may have ever

occurred where we went that long.

And then I start thinking about my own life of, of, of ministry.

And I couldn't tell you the last time, maybe I haven't preached

or something like that in three weeks.

And so this is just kind of all, I don't know if I can even do

this one. Y'all just have to bear with me

and put the training wheels back on and try to find my balance

and so on and so forth. If you'll stand with me though,

in the House of the Lord today, we'll turn to the book of

Galatians, the book of Galatians.

I'm going to start in chapter 4 and then in chapter 5.

I know that might seem just a little weird, but you know,

chapter divisions and burst divisions are really the product

of man. There was no such thing when the

manuscripts all this was originally done.

So we kind of put those in there.

So a lot of times if you ever read like the first few verses 1

chapter thing, man that all that fits really good with what was

before. Well, it probably does because

we kind of invented those chapter divisions and and so on,

so forth. Amen.

Galatians chapter #4 and I'm going to start reading with

verse #30 today. The Apostle Paul's writing to

the churches of Galatia. And he says this.

He says, nevertheless, what say if the Scripture cast out the

bondwoman and her son with the son of the bondwoman shall not

be heir with the son of the free woman?

So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but

of the three. Chapter 5, verse 1.

Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath

made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of

bondage. Amen.

For a little while this morning when a minister simply this

chains down heads high chains down heads high Amen.

Can we pray the debt together today.

Father we're thankful Lord for this opportunity.

We do not take it lightly Lord, to be able to be here today and

we don't want to squander our time.

Lord Jesus that we have here this morning, I pray God, you

touch every mind, every heart. Lord, let your word God find

where we are. Let it be, Lord, a tool of hope

and encouragement and direction. God for us.

Lord, in the next little while, God, I pray Jesus and those that

are listening, Lord, online, God likewise would be impacted,

Lord, by the word of God. It is a life, God for each one

of us. Lord, if we accepted as such, in

the lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ that I pray Amen

and Amen the church say Amen and you may be seated this morning.

From from 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island processed over 12 million

immigrants, making it the busiest immigration station that

was in the United States. It's estimated that 40% of

Americans can trace their ancestry to someone who came

through Ellis Island. Most of those who arrived there

were seeking a new life or a new leash on life.

They they fled from poverty. They fled many of them from a

system of persecution. Some of them political unrest

had totally taken over their landscape.

And so they were hoping for a better future, a better

tomorrow. But adjacent to Ellis Island is

another island called Liberty Island.

It's the home to the Statue of Liberty that's oftimes referred

to as Lady Liberty. She stands alone as the

welcoming figure for the immigrants that were arriving in

New York Arbor. Her crown there adorned with

seven spikes symbolizing the seven continents and the seven

seas a a representation of the universal ideal of liberty.

Her tablet in her other hand is inscribed with some Roman

numerals that commemorates July the 4th of 1776, which marks our

Declaration of Independence in America.

Her pedestal is inscribed with lines from a poem called The New

Colossus by Emma Lazarus, who some of those words state Give

me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to

breathe free. Many that were crossing over the

sea were emotional as they witnessed this first sign of

hope for a new future and a better tomorrow, the beginning

of a new life. It was the light that

enlightened the path, if you will, to freedom.

As a matter of fact, I did a little bit of a study and on a

clear day, immigrants could see Lady Liberty and that torch from

the deck of the ship that they were selling on at 15 to 20

miles away with the curvature of the earth.

On a clear day, they could stand there.

And the first sign of that New Hope would be that torch that

would start to Crest over the horizon that their eyes could

see. And so she's Lady Liberty,

though then here in this very, very moment that they could

catch their eyes that may be of a glimmer of what they would

have tomorrow. And so the Statue of Liberty is

iconic. People every year flow into the

Statue of Liberty and around it to just get pictures.

It's iconic for for liberty, for what our nation stands for.

The torch she holds in her hand, everything about it they look to

as as if you will a welcoming mat for the United States of

America. But equally if not more moving

than what is there in her hand is ofttimes overlooked aspect of

her and it's what lies at her feet.

Because at the feet of the Statue of Liberty is a broken

chain. And it is the torch that's

raised high that many times gets all the acclaim and, and, and

and the tablets in her arms that get a lot of attention.

But those that look upon her and looked upon her from a distance

must realize that as they look at the torch, it would never be

found in her hand if there was not a chain at her feet that

have been broken. She's Lady Liberty, not for the

torch, but for the unfettered hands, the unfettered life.

She's a testimony to her liberty.

She's a testimony to every lit torch.

Torch, because she has broken shackles at her feet and as the

immigrants today would see maybe that particular picture, they

would be able to identify better with her than others.

But as they would come from their other countries, I say

this morning that there are still yet people that come

sometimes, if you will, even to the Church house or the place of

worship. And they likewise have come from

various backgrounds. And they likewise are hopeful

for a new beginning or a better tomorrow or perhaps a better

future in a different way. Because they've come to the

church or they've come to that place, that arc of safety, if

you will. And they carry some things as

well. They, they carry some invisible

weights of hardships that they've had to endure in life.

They carry some dreams that they've had to defer and some

promises that have been left unfulfilled.

And they have all of their possessions, but the possessions

even that they've had in this life have left them

discontented. Their relationships that they

have had up to this moment that's hindered their trust just

even in simple mankind. And so they are on a journey to

discover, if you will, many people.

It's the thing that philosophers have entertained for centuries.

What is the meaning of life? And there's still yet people

today that searching, why am I here?

What is my purpose? What is the plan?

Why am I living? Amen.

Because everything up to the moment that they have met,

perhaps even the Lord Amen, seem somewhat very empty and somewhat

meaningless. Amen.

They, they mirror, if you will, the voice of Solomon, Amen

throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, who the Bible said

searched for life under the sun, life in this, this real world in

which we live. He was just looking and

searching for life under the sun, mainly and predominantly

apart from God. And as he began to investigate

and you read the book of Ecclesiastes pasties, the Bible

says, here he is. He's looking at everything that

is secular, everything that is distant from God.

And the, the preacher Solomon raises up his voice and just

declares it all. It all is vanity.

In other words, it all is meaninglessness, it all is

empty. Amen.

He even says, I, I, I increased knowledge.

I was a man of knowledge. I knew many things and I was

increasing my knowledge. But I understood as I increased

knowledge, there was greater sorrow than that came along with

that knowledge, he said. I begin to look at everything

that the water departs and it comes back in where it once

exited. And I looked at the winds and

they swirl around and go back to the same place that they were

before. And I beheld the seasons and

it's like they die off. And then everything is in a

pattern. Everything is in a cycle,

everything is in a routine. And so there's seemingly nothing

new under the sun. That was Solomon's declaration.

He said, I even built. And you read about Solomon.

He's building gardens, he's building buildings, he's

expanding this and that. He amassed wealth.

And he says, but you know what, Whatever I desired, even with my

eyes, he said, I obtained it. It didn't matter what it was, I

got a hold of it. He said I labored hard.

He said, but I understand even in man's laborers, it's all but

vanity. And he said riches, they fade

away. This is Solomon looking at life

under the sun. And his conclusion of the whole

matter was this. He said there is no profit under

the sun. There is no gain under the sun

today. Sometimes the life feels like

that endless search, Amen. Through a deserted land, Amen of

meanness, lessness, Amen. We're wonders often time in this

world. And every step that we take

forward, we're hoping, Amen, to discover something real,

something genuine, something that would propel us onward.

We live in an hour still today. The people are looking for a

beacon of hope, a truth that transcends their brokenness, a

light that will shine in the darkness in which they live.

And so like immigrants were looking for Lady Liberty herself

as a promise of a new beginning. There are souls.

There are people be on the walls of this assembly today that are

looking for something that like wise of hope and a new beginning

and a significance and a healing and a place of belonging.

The Apostle Paul wrote then to the churches of Galatians, the

book of Galatians. He wrote to predominantly a

Gentile Christian Church who were a part of these Galatian

churches, and they lived during an era where there were a lot of

Jews that basically we're trying to convince the Gentiles that to

be Christian was to be Jew. That wasn't the matter.

Jews had a lot of different things from the Old Testament,

ceremonial things, even circumcision and things of that

matter that a Gentile didn't have to do in order to be

Christian, all right, Didn't have to do in order to be

Christian. A lot of traditional practices

and such that Christ in his earthly ministry fulfilled all

those things, right? He fulfilled all the ceremonial

law through his life and ministry.

And so he was insisting to the Galatian churches and those

Gentiles don't, don't get entangled again.

The Bible tells us there in that first verse of chapter 5, don't

get entangled again or your lives wrapped up with that yoke

of bondage, right? That yoke that could have just

as easily represented some of those ceremonial traditions, but

also could have easily represented the power and the

guilt that comes with sin, with a life that's lived apart from

God. He said don't get entangled in

that again. Don't get fettered or in

bondage. A man to sin or those type of

things again, which denotes that somewhere in their life they had

been bound, which denotes that somewhere in their life they had

been fettered, so to speak. As a matter of fact, the Bible

mentions various physical means of binding a person throughout

Scripture. That includes such things like

people were bound with chains, they were bound with fetters.

Sometimes they are called bands. Hey, man, we're not talking

about the tuba and the, you know, the Trump.

They were bound with bands. They were bound, the Bible says

also with chains or with yolks. Psalm 68 and six says this.

He bringeth out those which are bound with chains.

Chains were used to buying people.

Those that were carried away captive were all time spoken of

being bound with chains. Some are even said to be put in

ward or like in a cell with chains.

Chains and fetters all times are used interchangeably throughout

the scripture. However chains is more of a

general binding. You can bind any part Amen with

chains, but fetters usually referred to the restraints that

were on the feet or the ankles. Psalms 105 in verse 18 states

whose feet they hurt with fetters regarding a man from the

Old Testament who who died. His name was Abner.

David was Speaking of him and remarked nor thy feet put in

fetters. He said Abner, he died but his

feet weren't put in fetters. So again, fetters all times

associated with the feet, Amen. But so there's hands that are

changed. There's there's fetters that are

up on the feet. It was was even prophesied

concerning the Apostle Paul. He was going to go around on

this missionary trips and journeys and he was going to

minister. And there came, excuse me, there

came down a prophet Agabus, a man who took Paul's girdle and

bound his own hands and his feet.

And he said this, this I'm prophesying that who's ever

girdle this belongs to that I'm binding my hands and feet with

his hands and his feet will be bound with chains or with

fetters. You'll remember that the

demoniac in the Gospels, the Bible says they tried to bind

him with chains and they tried to bind him with fetters.

The the bottom line of all of that is this bondage throughout

Scripture oftimes involve chains or some type of bonds.

Freedom, then, that we see in Scripture is akin to the absence

of said bonds, the absence of said chains.

Let's just investigate this a little closer this morning in

Acts chapter #12 and a few verses of Scripture.

We'll get to the verse #6 the Bible stages the story that the

apostle James had been captured and he had been killed already.

And then they likewise imprisoned the apostle Peter.

Hey, man, that there was a festive day that was coming.

So they didn't execute him right away.

They put him into a cell or a jail awaiting execution.

He was put quite deeply within that cell.

We later learned from Scripture. Amen.

Because on his way out, the Bible talks about he passed the

the first ward and then the second ward, and then came to

the iron gate that led into the city.

So he was quite deep within that particular cell.

But verse #6 says this. And when Herod would have

brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between

two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers before

the door kept the prison. Verse 7 And behold, the Angel of

the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and

he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, arise up

quickly, and his chains fell from off his hands.

Now, no, his chains fell from off his hands.

The Bible doesn't tell us where the two chains were that were

put on him in verse #6 but it's my assumption that if chains

fell off his hands that they were probably then placed on his

hands. Hey man.

And the Angel of the Lord written here in scripture helps

Peter up. Notice the Bible says he raised

him up and Peter's chains fell away.

That means that we envision now here in this jail cell, a man

that is upright but with chains that were once binding him at

his feet. Don't overlook his chains at his

feet because his current position of being able to be as

he is upright and visible. It's because the chains are now

laying at his feet. As a matter of fact, the story

goes on. You can read it in next chapter

#12 Soon he'll be standing outside of the prison.

Soon he'll be standing in the middle of the city and the Angel

will have departed. Soon he'll be standing at the

door of a household that whenever he was incarcerated,

they went to a prayer meeting, praying for his release.

Soon he'll be knocking on that door.

Soon a girl named Rhoda is going to open, almost like a pico, a

door within the door. And she's going to look out and

catch a glimpse, if you will, of freedom, because Peter's going

to be standing on the opposite side of the door.

And she's going to be so overwhelmed by what she sees and

what she hears, She's going to go back into the house and begin

to tell others Amen about the liberty that Peter is on the

other side of that door. But can I tell you today, as

they celebrate and as they appreciate Peter being on the

opposite side, delivered, they should appreciate the change

that had been. In at his feet, in that prison,

more even than the knock on the door, because it's that liberty,

that setting free that enabled him to be where he was that day.

Yes, with great regard. Peter points this out in verse

#17 the Bible says. But he's Speaking of Peter.

Because they're overwhelmed by what has they're overwhelmed.

We've been praying for this and here he is here we thought he

was good as written off. The mourn was going to come,

execution was going to take place.

But notice the Bible says, but he Peter beckoning unto them

with the hand to hold their peace.

He's like, wait a minute, be still here for a moment,

declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the

prison. Do you notice?

Peter wanted to take a moment in all of the celebration and all

of the rejoice and said, wait a moment, there's something that

you must know. The Lord.

I was bound. I was incarcerated, I was in

chains, I was in shackles, but the Lord has caused me to stand

here before you this day as I stand.

Can I tell you this morning if you walk into a church, you're

going to see people celebrating their liberty, celebrating their

freedom, but don't get all up in arms over that.

They were bound, they were incarcerated, they were in

prison, but had it not been for the Lord?

If you see a high head, if you see a torch in the sky, you

better look at their feet because there's broken chains

that are laying there, he said. Calm down for a moment.

I got to tell you that the Lord has brought me out of prison.

I'm saying he's saying don't get too excited about the torch.

If I can put it in most terms, don't get too excited about the

torch. He says, let me share something

with you. You might not notice there was a

chain. I mean, he he's he's 33 levels.

It almost seems deep soldiers. Actually as you read that the

the culture chain to him deep in this, but he standing where he

was standing, he stood where he stood because something fell

over there. Someone say man, folks, our

chain may not be resting at our feet, so to speak, as Lady

Liberty has it, a man at her feet.

But perhaps your chain, it's laying somewhere.

It might be laying at some altar.

It might be laying at some bedroom closet where you prayed

through and found God and God found you.

It might be laying at some camp meeting Pew, or it might be

laying at some conference auditorium.

But somewhere the mark in your path is a chain that once was on

you. It's now no longer there, and

you are who you are. You are because you're no longer

bound. You are standing fast in the

liberty that Christ Jesus has offered and extended to you.

It's somewhere and it's absence is what empowers me even now

because it's broken somewhere. Our text warns them too.

We warned them to avoid the burden of the yoke.

Again. Leviticus 613 states this.

God said to Israel, He said, I have broken the bands of your

yoke and made you go upright. Don't forget that I was the God

that delivered you out of Egypt was the God that delivered you

from slavery and hard taskmasters.

So I've broken the band so that you could go up, right.

This is really some imagery that's here in the Old

Testament. Likewise in the new Galatians 51

talking about a yoke, a bondage referring to that that pole or

that bar that goes across a literal yoke that are on

animals. All right.

That that, that, that yoke, that that pole or that bar that would

latch in the animal within the yoke.

And ofttimes one of the purposes of that bar going across their

necks and yoking them in, so to speak, is so that that animal

can't raise its head up as high as it could without that yoke

being on it. Because the purpose is for, to

keep that head and that neck built bit down for the purpose

of, of plowing the field or for whatever work, Amen, That the

one that has the harness wants them to do.

And so their head would be bowed down by that yoke or that pole,

that bar that latched in. Amen.

So once God was telling them, he said, I removed, I broke the

bands, I broke the bar, I broke, if you will, the PO of that

yoke, and now you're able to be upright.

Your neck, your head's not bowed over low, but now it's stretched

up high because I've removed that, that yoke off you.

In other words, he said, Israel, you can walk upright.

As a matter of fact, the Bible says when Israel left Egypt,

they walked out with a high hand.

Hallelujah, they walked out with a high hand.

How could they do that? Because some bands were broken

off them in order for them to exit.

Who broke them? God broke them.

The Lord broke them. Can I tell you this morning that

He's still willing and He's still able to break some yokes

today? You might be an immigrant from a

background of another world, so to speak, and you're looking for

the hope. I'm talking about today.

You're looking for the new beginning.

I'm talking about today. He's still a chain breaker.

He's still a Poe and a bar Buster.

He's a Liberator of men and women's lives.

Again, we understand all these things here or if you didn't, I

hope you do now. But these these chapters, these

first divisions, they're they're in they're the inventions of

mankind. All right, so many don't even

consider verse #1 of chapter 5. It's grouping possibility with

chapter #4 But when you look at the context of Galatians chapter

#4 Paul had just been talking about Hagar, which was a servant

made to Abraham and Sarah, and he was talking about Sarah.

He's talking about these two women, right?

Hagar being the handmaid Sarah had given to Abraham to have a

son, because Sarah was barren, could not have any children.

She says, take my handmaiden, go into her, have a child.

We'll count that as our child. But God already had a purpose.

Sarah, I'm going to give you a child, right?

They, Abraham and Sarah, in their waiting, they got, they

got anxious all right, they got impatient.

And so they make provisions. They have a son whose name is

Ishmael. And then later Sarah would

indeed have a son according to the word of the Lord, the son of

promise, as it would be called Isaac.

He would come from what was once a barren womb.

And so the apostle was talking to these two women of Haggar and

Sarah, and he talks to them as being the bondwoman being Haggar

and Sarah being the free woman, Amen.

He talks to them about how Hagar, what she had, Ishmael,

was born after the flesh, meaning, meaning mainly this,

that it was the invention, if you will, the ideas of Sarah,

Amen, and Abraham to follow this path, Amen, in order to have a

son. But he also talked then about

the son of Sarah, how she was one of promise because it

happened, Amen, because they could have done everything they

could have done. But had God not open the womb,

there would been no son of promise on that side.

And so how Isaac was the son of promise.

And so he pits these two things in on the canvas before us.

Sarah is the free woman, all right.

But there is Hagar, who is the bond woman.

Let me just read it to you because I don't want anything to

be missed and I asked them to include it.

I don't know if it's up there, brother Mason Galatians chapter

#4 in verse #22 Let me just read a little bit of scripture here

if that's okay. For it is written that Abraham

had two sons, the one by a bond made, and the other by a free

woman. But he who was of the bond woman

was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by

promise. Which things are an allegory or

an analogy? For these are the two covenants,

the one from Mount Sinai, which gendered to bondage, which is a

guard. Whenever they left Egypt, God

had them go to Sinai, and Sinai is where the law was given

Sinai. He delivered his people and then

he took them to the Mount Sinai to tell them about the ways that

they ought to conduct their life.

Number one, and this is kind of a little tangent here, I'm

trying to get not get very tangented here, but number one,

it's important, I think to note that the law of how to live came

after they were delivered. Mount Sinai did not predate

their deliverance. Right, so he's talking about

Sinai here. So this is where the law Amen is

given. Let me look back where I'm at

here. Amen verse #25 for this Agar or

Haggar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, an answer to Jerusalem, which

now is and is the bondage with her children.

So he's talking about the literal place of even Jerusalem

of that day. He said that Jerusalem, which is

above, right? John spoke in the Book of

Revelations that there would be a new Jerusalem coming down from

heaven. So now we're talking about

something very natural and then something spiritual.

He said, But then the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is

the mother of of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou

barren, that bearest not Amen. Break forth and cry thou that

travail is not, for the desolate hath many more children than she

that hath an husband. He says, Now we brethren as

Isaac was, are the children of promise.

And that's wonderful. And I'm thankful to be a part of

that line of Sarah, so to speak, or at least born into that

family by new birth, to be a part of the children to promise.

So thank goodness Sarah's a free woman.

But listen, Sarah's origins was a Pagan origin.

Sarah, Abraham, Tara, all of the Bible speaks.

You can look in the Old Testament they were Pagan

worshippers. But if that's the case and she's

a free woman, then that means I need to be looking for a change

somewhere because you can't be have been bound and now free

according to all the Old Testament stories.

If there's not a change somewhere in your past that's no

longer there, someone say, Amen, we are children of the three.

He says we are children of the promise.

We are children. If I could say it like this, we

are children of Lady Liberty, and I'm not talking about the

Statue of Liberty right now. We are children of Lady Liberty.

We stand fast in that liberty. That's what the apostle said in

the first verse of Galatians 5. He said stand fast, therefore,

in the liberty that Christ hath made us free.

The word stand fast means to stand upright stand upright Amen

and that standing upright is a testament of a broken chain

somewhere, an upright. Apostle Peter of Acts 12

standing at the door that Rhoda answered was because chains fell

at his feet in the prison. An upright animal that has its

ability to look around other places.

It's because the yoke that was on its neck has been destroyed,

has been. So what are you saying then,

Pastor McGee? I'm saying this when I read

Galatians 51I envision an individual that's standing

upright in their liberty. Amen.

The chains or the bonds of their past bondage and yoke, if you

will, are lying at their feet. I picture a person that has the

quote UN quote lady of liberty type of status, a torch held

high, documents in her hand about her day of independence

but don't overlook the chain that is at her feet.

Can someone say, man, I'm here to tell you today, I believe

many times whenever people look at the church with longing eyes

that they notice her torch, Amen.

They notice that light that's gleaming from her in the midst

of darkness and despair, Amen. And that's great.

It's impossible to overlook the light, if you will, and the

brilliance of the hope, Amen, that's found in the Church of

times. Whenever people come to a

church, Amen, they witnessed the raised hands in worship, Amen.

They understand those are not empty gestures, Amen, But

they're symbols of victory. They're symbols of surrender,

Amen to something greater. They're captivated off times

concerning the church, Amen of her unmatched love, a love

that's not limited to conditions or qualifications, but that

flows deeply and freely. They are overwhelmed off times

when they come and sit on the Pew to hear the the exuberant

shouts or the other tongues that are spoken.

It astonishes them but they feel a sense of authenticity in it

all and passionate it all. Someone say man, but can I tell

you this morning if there is and where there is the atmosphere of

freedom, there have been chains broken, burdens lifted, Amen.

But broken have been made whole in the church because we've been

set at liberty by Christ Jesus. The churches says light,

promise, the promises that they have gives us more than just

comfort because it speaks of a transformation.

It speaks of, it seems, the wrongs being made right.

You'd said sometimes I've been in churches, I've been a lot of

different places. Even here person might run

around the Pew of like some type of zeal of a new found freedom.

Somebody else over in the corners crying, groaning almost,

moaning almost, and they're overwhelmed by the grace that

they feel. They're overwhelmed by the

redemption that has come to them.

Another one's lifting up their voice.

Loud, like my voice is loud right now.

They're lifting up their voice. Why?

It's swelling from their mouth. A heart of gratitude, unable to

contain the joy, unable to be silent, unable just to be normal

or normalized by what they've experienced.

Someone say, man, what are you saying, Brother McGee?

That person running, that person crying, that person shouting,

that person lifting their voice. That's not a performance.

It's the language of those that have tasted liberty.

It's the language of those that have experienced, if you will, a

setting free from the barn. It's the language of liberty.

If you've ever stood outside of a prison or a jail, of somebody

that's ever finished a sentence that can come out to their loved

ones, if you're looking for something that's just all prim

and proper, you might as well forget it.

Tears are going to be going down some faces.

There's going to be joy that's going to be over.

Why? Because it is the language of no

longer being behind bars. It's the language of no longer

being told what to do, when to do.

It's the language of liberty. Yes, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

This is not just a building. This is not just a gathering.

I'm hoping for some immigrant, if you will, from another land

or culture, so to speak, that this will feel like home.

It'll be a place that their soul has been seeking for, and all

the shout and the crying and everything else, you know what

they've done. They've caught the glimpse of

the torch. There's an irresistible pool

with the glimpse of the torch. Before they can embrace the

brilliance of the torch, they got to recognize that that's

only possible because of closer investigation reveals the chains

that are broken at the feet. Someone say Amen.

Testimony of the Church, of her liberty and freedom is what

she's been freed from, what she's been set at liberty from.

Every hand that raised in worship was once shackled in

despair. Every shout of joy that comes

from those that are on a Pew emerge from some place in the

past of sorrow. The Church's freedom is not a

revolt, a result of her effort or her traits or her gift or her

ability. No, no, it was.

It was secured by a divine deliverance.

The chains at her feet that are not signs of weakness.

No, they're a symbol of her victory.

They're reminders of all of the battles that were fought and the

grace, more importantly, that secured her release from them.

This is the paradox of the church and her torch.

Flames burning bright. We don't understand that that

flame was ignited by a past of brokenness.

But her light yet still draws others in, right?

It's kind of, I guess in some ways we're all just kind of like

a bunch of bugs. We're just kind of drawn by the

light. I just want someone to be

encouraged today as you leave here, that torch is talking to

me about freedom. That torch is really talking to

me about the price of that freedom that torches talk to me.

It's not boasting about its own strength, but in reality it's

point to the one who shattered the chain, freed the captive

again. Leviticus 2613 told us, God

said, I have broken the bands of your yoke.

I made you go upright. Jesus even said, said it was on

one of those days that he all times he would go to the

synagogue and it came upon the time that it was his time to

read. They would read from the

scriptures and it came upon his time.

What a great opportunity to read and they so happened to be at

the place not coincidental, absolutely divine from the

Scriptures of Isaiah and Jesus would say, and the whole

Scriptures, I don't know if I got it up there.

Luke 418, Amen. But nonetheless, the Scripture

would say that Jesus said I am anointed.

There were two particular things in that passage of Scripture

that He said He was anointed for or to do.

He said I'm anointed to preach deliverance to the captives and

to set at liberty them that are bruised.

If you can stand for me this morning, I won't hold you much

longer. So still today, Lady Liberty

stands, the original metal tarnished in that greenish color

that is upon her. That torch is still there as a

beacon of hope for many who come.

But the invitation. The invitation is clear though.

The lights not just for her. It's not exclusive just to her.

It's meant for the drawing and the hope for all that would see

it. And this morning, the experience

of what happens in the church is not just for the church.

It's not exclusive to her, but it is to be a drawing power for

all those that would witness it. Stand fast, Paul says in the

liberty that Christ has given. Because each one of us and us

collectively, The torch that is in our hand and our uprightness

of head is because somewhere, I don't know where the location

is, we left the chain. Your chain may not look like my

chain, might not have had the same number of links, the same

color or configuration, but you had one or you have one.

Could be someone here this morning.

If we can just close our eyes that it could be someone here

today. There are maybe even in that

contemplation mode, maybe like Solomon trying to figure out,

trying to figure out this. What is the meaning?

What's the meaning of life? Maybe you're caught in that,

that very routine that that he observed and even told of.

It's the passing away of the seasons.

They come and they go. It's the cold in the heat

extremes. It's it's the water being

collected in the clouds of being dispersed and mountain heads

going into creeks and creeks into rivers and rivers into

other streams that lead to the ocean and circle back around to

start all over. And perhaps your life just feels

like one of those cycles. I get up, I do XYZI, go to work,

I work, I come home. And what's really the purpose of

all of this? Someone might be looking for a

new life, a New Hope, new meaning, a new leash on

something that is so routine why everything else seems

meaningless and everything else seems void and vacant and empty.

Off times and even happiness is fleeting.

It's like only you there for a moment, don't really know true

joy because it can't be found. I urge you today to look to the

church because her hair, her head is held high and her torch

is in her hand. But as you noticed that probably

first cast your eyes down at her feet because she stands fast or

she stands upright in the liberty that Christ has made her

free and he desires to do the same for you today.

That light is to be a drawing power upon your soul.

That light is to be a drawing power upon your life.

His invitation is clear through Scripture, whether it's in John

7 or whether it's in the last chapter of Revelation.

The Spirit and the bride says come the last day of the feast

of John 7. He said if any man purse, let

him come. Yes, the invitation that's still

relevant today. He's calling others to come.

He's calling you to a place of freedom.

He's calling you to a place of hope.

He's calling you to a place of new life.

Let let 1121 Cedar St. today be the place where your chains

left. Let it be where your chain

remains as you leave upright in your life, standing fast in the

liberty that He has made you free.

This altar is open today for those that would come.

And if you say, Brother McGee, I am at liberty and thank God,

then you need to come with a heart of gratitude.

You need to come with a heart of Thanksgiving.

If you don't know the liberty that I'm talking about today,

I've never felt that that compelling of lifting my voice

or my hand or some of these things that you described.

Well, listen, those are just the languages of freedom.

Those are just the languages of freedom.

Hey man, even in the Psalms or talks about clap your hands, all

you people, hey man. And shouting to God with a voice

of triumph. The old histories even say that

it was the clapping of the hands that sounded to the to the

Israelites like the chains that they used to be incarcerated by,

the jangling and the clanking of the chains against each other.

And so when they would clap their hands, it gave them that

similar sound, reminded them of where they used to be and what

they used to be and bonds to. But that hand clap now took on a

different form. It's the language of their

liberty. It's the language of the

freedom. Hallelujah.

You can leave today with your head high and your chains.

Amen low, Amen at your feet. This altar is open for whosoever

will let them come. You don't have to be a child of

the bondwoman. You can be a child of the three

because of Christ, because of what he does, because of what he

accomplishes, and he still yet desires to do the same day after

day, year after year, for whosoever will, Hallelujah.

This is an opportunity for us. Be drawn by the light, yes, but

recognize the freedom because of the broken chain.

That's the Lord, that's his doings, That's God's doings.

Hallelujah.