Are you a follower of Jesus? Don’t answer too quickly. You may indeed be a passionate, fully devoted follower of Jesus. Or, you may be just a fan who admires Jesus but isn’t ready to let him cramp your style. Then again, maybe you’re not into Jesus at all. Some people don’t know what they’ve said yes to and other people don’t realize what they’ve said no to. Join us for this series as we learn to live the way Jesus lived, love the way He loved, pray the way He prayed, and never give up living for the One who gave His all for us.

Join us this Sunday as we begin this brand NEW series!

Worship Experience Schedule:

Sundays @ 9:45 & 11:30AM
Location: Barber Middle School (Next to Acworth Elementary)
www.freedomchurch.tv

I’ve mentioned before that I see this verse every time I open my computer.

God has been so good to us.  So much better than we could ever ask, think, or imagine.  Even in tough circumstances the hand of God has been evident every step of the way.  I am not just writing that to write it.  I write it because it’s true and because I realize it now more than ever before.

We have seen 651 people give their lives to Christ in our 1st 4 years.  220 in 2011 – more than any other year of our history.   However, I believe that we are going to see even greater things in 2012.  Greater things in the lives of those far from God.  Greater things in the lives of those who have been followers of Christ for years.   He has done it before, Now God, do it again…

…So that people far from God – can experience life in Christ!  It’s not just a slogan. It’s a vision.  It’s God’s vision.  Therefore, it’s ours as well.

1. Our staff, volunteers & all who make it happen – you are stellar & I’d do it again with all of you! #FreedomChurch
2. Wow and Gratitude are my words for the day we experienced at Freedom. God is good!
3. 4 years young; 638 Salivations; 290 Baptisms; Freedom Church is just getting started. Looking forward to whats to come!
4. Happy Birthday Freedom! Thank you for investing in Genesis Church! You’re making an impact in West TN as well.
5. Major shout out and many thanks to Nikki Barden for an Awesome day with our Freedom Kidz!!!!! You are also my superhero!!!
6. 638 salvations! 290 baptisms! All in 4 years at Freedom Church!! Way to go God!!
7. Happy 4th birthday Freedom Church! 638 balloons = 638 lives changed — at Freedom Church
8. All Things New was an amazing series at Freedom Church, We’re so blessed to have amazing pastor/speakers like JR Lee, Austin Porter, Todd Lollis, and Tony Nolan. Already stoked for Not A Fan. Is it Sunday yet?
9. Awesome worship experience at Freedom church this morning and lunch w friends.
10. Just Love Freedom Church!

The Last 10 Via Twitter:

•  11LocsJan 29, 9:25pm via Twitter for iPhone

  @malthegal it was soooo good being at @freedomchurch today! Can’t wait to join you again soon :-

• daniellucasJan 29, 4:10pm via TweetCaster for iOS
  
  Happy Birthday @CrosspointKY and @freedomchurch! Can’t believe it has been 4 years! So happy for @Jrlee and his friendship! Best is coming!

• KaylaPellumJan 29, 2:50pm via WebAwesome service this morning! The performance at the end was incredible!! Oh how I love me some @freedomchurch

  ToddLollisJan 29, 1:49pm via HootSuiteDear @freedomchurch vol., You’re not just a vol. You’re an instrument that God is using!! The last 4 yrs proves YOU are making a difference

  TerriBrooks1Jan 29, 1:35pm via Twitter for iPhone@freedomchurch best birthday ever! Christ was in the house!!!

  missterimom1Jan 29, 10:45am via HTC PeepRT @ToddLollis Happy 4 year anniversary @freedomchurch ! We’ve seen God do many, many great things. But we haven’t seen anything yet!

  tonynolanliveJan 29, 10:19am via Twitter for iPhone@Jrlee is giving God glory for the “preview reel” HE created with @freedomchurch.#bestisyettocome

  ToddLollisJan 29, 10:16am via HootSuiteHappy 4 year anniversary @freedomchurch ! We’ve seen God do many, many great things. But we haven’t seen anything yet!#TheBestIsComing

  hales3trJan 29, 9:03am via Twitter for AndroidHappy 4th Birthday, @freedomchurch! You’re growing up so fast!

  kelsianneJan 29, 8:24am via Twitter for iPhoneHAPPY BIRTHDAY @freedomchurch! You’ve taken me on the most incredible journey the past four years and I can’t wait to see what’s next!

  BrandonJ_MillerJan 29, 7:44am via WebCONGRATS on 4 great years to @Jrlee and the @freedomchurch team that are impacting this community for the Kingdom. Your risk = His reward!

  TerriBrooks1Jan 29, 6:03am via WebHAPPY BIRTHDAY @freedomchurch!!!! I LOVE YOU! HAPPY TO SERVE WITH THE BEST!!!

  Jason_BolinJan 29, 12:06am via Web@freedomchurch Happy 4th Anniversary! You guys are impacting our community in a big way and I celebrate with you!#YourBestIsYetToCome

  tonynolanliveJan 28, 7:42pm via Twitter for iPhoneI’m stoked for @freedomchurch ! 4 awesome years of hundreds getting saved and baptized and the community experiencing Jesus!

The next several weeks are going to be more of the same!

This coming Sunday we celebrate our 4 Year Anniversary!  Bring as many people with you  as possible as we celebrate in style all that God has done in our past as we believe it is a preview of what He is going to do in the future!

The following week we are kicking off a brand new series entitled “Not a Fan“.  Earlier in 2011, I spent some time with a 5-6 other guys and an incredible Pastor named Bob Russell.  Long story short – he gave us a book entitled Not a Fan and after reading I knew we would eventually make it into a series at Freedom.  I can’t wait to see what God is going to do during these 5 weeks!  Trust me.

I haven’t preached since January 8th and I can’t wait to give you what God’s given me for Sunday!  See you then!

“Tell me what distinguishes him from so many others”.

I had never been asked that question about this particular person so I thought about it for a few moments before answering…

1.  Good communicator?  Yes.    Distinguishing characteristic?  No.
2.  Good leader?  Yes.  Distinguishing characteristic?  No.
3.  Engaging Personality?  Yes.  Distinguishing characteristic?  No.

After a couple minutes of thinking through some of the potential answers, I blurted out the following.  ”The distinguishing characteristic of that man is that when I am around him it is evident that he has been with Jesus.  As a matter of fact, I want to be more like Jesus every time I am with this person.”

I am not sure that there was a greater compliment I could have given him.  I am not sure there is a greater compliment that anyone could ever give us.

That said, what is our (yours and mine) distinguishing characteristic?   I am not sure what it is right now but I know what I desire for it to be.

Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

At Freedom Church we believe that God has called us to impact the world with the Gospel. We believe that the message of Jesus Christ can and will change lives!

• No matter how far you/they have gone…
• No matter how bad it’s become…
• No matter how long it’s been…
• Our God can make ALL THINGS NEW!

We have seen it happen hundreds and hundreds of times and that is going to continue this Sunday in a powerful way!  Here’s where I need your help.

You do a fantastic job week in and week out by bringing friends and family with you but beginning this week I want all of us to step it up even more.  The next couple of weeks are going to be some of the most powerful we have ever seen and I want as many people in our city as possible to experience it with us!

• Make phone calls.
• Send invites via Facebook/Twitter.
• Do whatever you have to do.

Let’s pray that the people we bring with us will be impacted by the message of Jesus and I guarantee your life will be impacted in the process as well.  You don’t have to do this alone.  God is with you in your invitation!

Acts 1:8 And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

I love what God is doing during this season and I look forward to seeing you – and those you bring with you – on Sunday!

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³