Jesus World Fellowship Ministries

    Hi, my name John David Butler. I’ve walked with a cross over 50,000 thousand miles, the distance around the world two times in the past twenty-two years for Christ. I am also a Vietnam Veteran and a former United States Marine.

 

    Staring the year 2002, my wife Mary Jo and I started our walk from city to city across America carrying the cross and the American flag, in honor of those who lost their lives last September, and for those who are sacrificing their lives to fight for our freedom. I’m carrying the flag and the cross because both represent the truth about freedom and it’s price.

  

    Now we know that Jesus came to set people free. But the price for that freedom was not free. Jesus had to die upon the cross for us for our freedom. “You are not your own, for you are bought with a price:” (I Cor: 6:20) Do we really comprehend and know the price of our freedom? Our do we take it for granted?

    

     Have you ever sat down and counted the cost of freedom? Have you ever sat down and counted the cost of being a real Christian? It cost God his only begotten Son to obtain freedom for you and me. The Scripture says that God purchased us with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) And without the shedding of blood there is no freedom of sin.

   

         Our natural freedom here in America has also had to be purchased with the blood of many of our sons and daughters. Freedom always has a high price, but very few people understand the price that others have paid for them to enjoy it. Even very few Christians understand their freedom from sin was purchased with the blood of Jesus.

 

If we do not understand the price for our freedom then we will lose it. So many do not know what they have until they lose it.

 

Many here in America have walked away from God because they did not respect and appreciate the freedom God gave them through Jesus Christ. “Stand fast therefore in the freedom wherewith Christ has made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal: 5:1) Now we as Christians do not fight with man’s weapons to defend our freedom in Christ. But for you and me to be a free people and live in a nation at peace, someone will have to fight for that freedom and peace for us. It is a universal law.

 

There is good and evil in this world and if we do not fight against evil, then it will rule over us and take our freedom from us. If we as Christians do not pray for our nation’s freedom and for the men and women who are willing to lay down their lives for our freedom, then what kind of Christians are we?

 

“But now in Christ Jesus you who were some-times far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he made peace for us with God by the shedding of his blood.” (Eph: 2:13-17) Just as Christ shed his blood for all mankind to be saved, someone will have to shed their blood for freedom here on the earth. Their will always be someone who will try and take our freedom away and someone will always have to die to defend it and keep it for us. Freedom is not free.

 

Freedom is only free after someone has paid the ultimate price, and is willing to keep paying that price to keep it. We should be holding pray meetings to pray for our nation. It is sad that many have forgotten the real price of freedom.

 

The church has a long history of its own martyrs who have died for their stand for Christ. The blood of the martyrs tell us freedom to worship and obey God has always been what evil seeks to take from us.

 

Today our fathers of generations past who gave their life for their country and freedom seem to be forgotten, because we seem to have fallen asleep to the cost and price of our freedom.

 

On September the 11^th of 2001 our freedom was attacked and we had to defend our nation’s freedom or be conquered by evil.  Thousands of men and women lost their lives because of an evil attack against our freedom.

 

Thank God that we are a nation that is willing to die for its freedom. But if we do not defend our nation from that terror, then that terror will rule over us. To defend us from any evil that wants to destroy us, someone has to be willing to lay down their life for our freedom.

 

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: but for a good man some would even dare to die?  But God showed his love to us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:7,8)  

 

Who will lay down their life for Jesus? Who will forsake all to follow his will for their life? Who will go into the fields of the world and give their lives to live for Jesus, for the freedom of others.

 

We know the world will sacrifice their lives for what they want. But who among us will become a living sacrifice for Jesus Christ? Who among us will lay down this world’s riches and seek first the kingdom of God?

 

Will Jesus find the faith that forsakes all to follow him when he returns? We have a faith for wealth and the blessings of God. But do we have the faith to sacrifice our lives for the sake of the gospel?

 

I personally admire America and the freedom it stands for and is willing to defend. I’m willing to lay down my life for my country, because I have the wisdom to understand it’s not free.

 

Where shall wisdom and understanding found? It is not found in the land of the living. It always takes war and the shedding of blood for us to understand our freedom is not free? We have to face evil and terror to keep the freedom we have in this nation?

 

We as Christians in America need to be willing to volunteer to serve others, because they are willing to serve us with the blood of their sons and daughters.

 

The universal law of Freedom is that freedom is not free. But our freedom in Christ and in this country was obtained with a great price. Let’s remember the price Jesus has paid for our spiritual freedom. Let’s also remember the price our fathers and children have to pay for our freedom here in America.