Thankful For This Freedom

Judges 2:10 (ESV)

¹⁰ And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Judges was written as a warning to Israel as a warning of what happens when we forget our history

“They Came”

Martin Niemöller 

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

Four Key Take Aways From Maria’s Story

# 1 LOVE AND HATE IS A CHOICE 

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another (1 John 3:11, ESV).

Hatred is a human attribute. It takes life.

Love is a divine attribute.  It gives life.

# 2 HOPE IS POWERFUL

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope (Romans 15:13, ESV).

Never forget that in all things and in ever situation, God is at work for our good and His glory! We must never lose hope.

# 3 FREEDOM IS PRECIOUS 

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1, ESV)

Freedom is never free. It comes at a great cost and must be safeguarded in every generation.

# 4 I MUST ALWAYS STRIVE TO DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deuteronomy 30:19–20, ESV).

 “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”