It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

God wants us free.  He wants you free, He wants me free.  He wants me to point you to His freedom, and you to point me there.  He wants each of us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

A methodology that does not leave each individual person responsible for their own growth, pursuit, and desire will always fall short.  Even looking at it from a Faith perspective, considering Matthew 13:44, if you can only have faith for the treasures you have seen, the words you have heard, you want as many people listening as you can.  If an entire church or body or organization depends only upon the leader hearing, it will be much less apt to hear every proceeding word from above.

God desires us all to come to the fullness of the knowledge of Him, and that only comes through pursuit.  He is a rewarder of those that diligently pursue Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Freedom is the mark of the Kingdom, and hence, the church.  Jesus said, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.”  (Luke 11:17 portion).  Deliverance is a Kingdom act, because it is distinctly a work of Jesus.

As Jesus spoke, concerning Himself and those of the Kingdom.

“But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.”

Luke 11:22

Not only are we called to live free from the dominion of darkness, He designated each person to make their own decisions to follow Him.  The church can make bylaw after bylaw, and write training manual after training manual, but it only by hearing of the Word that faith comes (Romans 10:17).  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.  A training manual, a sermon, a bylaw is useful, so long as it brings the word.  So long as it is man’s word, and not God’s, it is worthless.

We are not looking for another legal code or a new liturgical structure by which to approach God.  God gave one, for all time, that was absolutely perfect, and He gave it to Moses.  And, it is absolute bondage to the flesh to pick up even the smallest portion and attempt to derive any righteousness or merit from it.  It is condemnation and death.  Do not let yourself be brought into a yoke of bondage again.

The tabernacle, the mosaic law, the feasts, all of these were a shadow of the real, of Christ.  They were a fleshly working out of a Spiritual reality, namely Jesus.  The problem is when, out of unbelief, we turn back to these structures.  You cannot mix faith and the old way.  As you look up on Jesus, more and more, the reality of what those structures intended becomes more and more clear.  It becomes evident that they were merely simple pictures of who He is.  To turn back to the weak and poor elements of the tabernacle becomes such a base and ignorant thing, it becomes sad that anyone would ever turn to them.

God provided them for a season, but the reality is found in Christ.  You COULD find salvation, outside of Jesus mind you, in the feasts, so long as you kept them, and the rest of the Mosaic law perfectly.  Or, if you had.  For most people, we have already sinned, already failed, and fallen short of our true goal, His Glory.  The law was, do these things and you will live.

But, now, we have a new a better covenant, and to attempt to live by the old simply reveals the lack of complete faith in the other.  It is for Freedom that Christ has set us free, and none other.

We are free from sin, sickness, disease, death, poverty.  We are freed from liturgies, structures of worship, schedules and disciplines of man, and from man’s legal codes.  Our source is the Bible, our teacher is the Lord Himself.  It is good to be shepherded and guided as Christ is formed in us.  It is good to have iron sharpen iron, but, ultimately, we stand before God alone in that day anyway.

While all of man-instituted religion may have a form of godliness, it denies the power thereof and substitutes the power of God for a lie.  It replaces true worship from a pure and undefiled heart with an empty form which neither moves the heart of man nor, for the most part, God.

Faith moves God.  Prayer moves God.  Love is what He is after, Truth is His standard.

A freedom that pursues God, that perfects holiness out of reverence for God (2 Corinthians 7:1), and that seeks to be like Him out of a sincere love is the pure walk.  And, a love that lays its own life down for its friend is our goal.