Short and Pointed

By Steven Freede

Short and Pointed was started by Pastor Steven Freede as short and to-the-point sermons and sermon notes for future use. As his online ministry began to grow, he started including them with his weekly sermon series posts. Short and Pointed Sermons have become a favorite for many who frequent the Cornerstone Independent Church on the internet. Pastor Freede has become well-known for not holding back or sugarcoating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Word of God is as cutting as it is healing, and there is no place for fuzzy feel-good sermons in this world today. Short and Pointed Sermons cover many topics that will stare you in the face and make you admit who and what you really are. They will make you realize just exactly what God sees in the world and in you. There's no place for halfhearted discipleship, no tolerance for hypocrisy, or excuses for your actions or your children's. Short and Pointed is just good, old, straight to the point preaching. It's as encouraging and helpful in your daily walk toward our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as it is cutting and painful to realize you may be in need of some serious soul-searching. The Word of God is supposed to cut deep, but it will only do so when it is presented in the plain hard truth that is missing in the sermons of many preachers today. Pastor Freede doesn't preach to make friends. He preaches to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Short and Pointed is a collection of sermons compiled for them who are not afraid to go under the knife to become more aware of the things that need to be cut away in their lives. Love it or hate it, this book, in some way, is for everyone! For more of Pastor Steven Freede's sermons, you can go to www.cornerstone-independent-church.org

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781640796461

Book preview

Bound on Earth and in Heaven

Matthew 16:19 (KJV) And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

I have had on many occasions the pleasure of sitting in my study chair with my reading lamp above me and my Bible propped up in my lap. And more times than not, I will read and reread various scripture, and before long, my eyes will become heavy, but my mind continues with the scripture that has just been refreshed within it.

So I turn off the lamp and allow the Lord to continue His teaching. Sometimes only for a few minutes sometimes longer, but most often, I will be awakened with the power of the word fresh on my heart.

This morning, I will share what the Lord has revealed to me in His perfect law of liberty.

We have on our hearts and prayer lists many friends and family, acquaintances, and momentary associates. All who, when asked why they are not attending a house of worship, have at least one excuse. Oftentimes as many as they have fingers to count.

We can, with patience and love, counter every one, sometimes with common sense, sometimes with an offer of assistance and always with the truth of the word of God.

Whether spoken or in deed, the truth can be refused but not refuted.

The word of God, as James states in 1:25, is the perfect law of liberty. The irrefutable command and promise of God for our freedom from all that binds us in this world.

There are many ways to be bound mentally and all are from Satan. There are many ways to be bound physically and most are self-inflicted, due to believing the lie that binds us.

Oh, it’s the only day I have to do this or that.

I’m not a morning person.

I don’t have the clothes to wear.

I can be just as close to God without going to church.

Been there, done that, I’m just as good as anyone that I know that goes to church.

I believe in God, but I’m busy. I’ve got too much to do!

Excuses, excuses, they only come from Satan.

He fills the heads of the lost and makes it easy for them to say and do what he wants as long as they deny Christ.

Have you ever noticed how quick people will say, I believe in God but (excuse, excuse, excuse)?

Have you ever noticed they never say I believe in Jesus Christ before the same excuses?

Why?

Because the god they are talking about is the one they have made up to fit their needs. Man-made gods, physically and mentally, have been present since the fall of man. But even the name Jesus Christ has a power that the lost dare not use with their excuses.

Know if James says that there is Liberty in the Perfect Law of God, then that means we can be free from what binds us. The lost are slaves, chained mentally, physically, and spiritually to Satan and his lies.

The Saved are free slaves, willing and joyfully worshiping and serving in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They have been loosed of their chains and bound in love. They have been freed from their burdens and yoked with their Savior.

The lies that bound have been cutaway with the truth. Oh, praise the Lord, all you saved, praise the Lord!

But tell me, will you, what was the moment you were set free?

You should remember it well. Not the day or the time but what you did that set you apart from all the lies.

It was the very instant: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9–10).

For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:45, Matthew 12:34)

Oh, brothers and sisters, the excuses of those who are not with us are the lies that have filled their hearts. This is not a physical battle and never has been. This is a spiritual battle of the greatest magnitude. For as we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths, so do the lost!

Well, you say, It’s just a silly excuse they’ll come around.

It only takes one silly excuse to keep them from Christ. That’s all Satan needs to keep the lost.

Well, you say, They’re not lost, they just don’t want to come to fellowship and worship.

Let me assure you! If they were truly saved, they would not be able to stay away. They would not want to miss a sermon or lose their fellowship and worship time. Christ would be their first and foremost thought and desire.

But their mouths have bound them, they belong to another.

They have believed the excuses and spoken the excuses and will be separated from God for eternity because of those silly little excuses.

And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever excuses they give for not being in fellowship, not joining the body, not being part of the Bride of Christ. Whatever excuses they give for not being united with the church here on earth will be the reasons they will not be with the fellowship, the believers, the church in heaven. Their mouth has spoken their heart!

But oh, my beloved friends and neighbors, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, for whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Cast off the lies, refute the excuses, grab hold of the truth: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).

The keys to the Kingdom will be added unto you and you will willingly join your brothers and sisters in Christ for praise and worship and eternal life. You will be no longer chained mentally, physically, and spiritually to Satan and his lies.

You will be joyfully worshiping and serving in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ; bound for eternity with the love of Jesus Christ.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Church, waste no time in going to the front line, for the battle is spiritual and our families and friends are falling for the enemies’ lies. Put on your armor and speak the truth.

Be sure they know; the excuses they give for not being in the church on earth; will be the reasons they are given for not being with the church in heaven.

Just Who Is a Teacher?

In our sermon series in James, Sermon #15 has left me with much more to say than I was able to fit in the allotted sermon time. So I will add a portion for our readers and may preach on this subject from these notes at a later date. Be blessed.

My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. (James 3:1)

This leaves us with the very serious question of Just who is a teacher?

Most professing Christians would immediately point to someone else and proclaim they themselves are not qualified or not called by God to teach, therefore excluding them from a stricter judgment.

Please notice the difference here:

Confessing Christians will accept even the slightest, simplest, even the closest semblance to a teaching responsibility without ever looking to the left or to the right, knowing it is a built-in duty for all who humble themselves before the cross of our Savior.

Not one who is called to salvation is excluded from proclaiming the Gospel.

Not one who has been saved is excluded from giving testimony to the grace and mercy of God.

Not one that walks in the power of the Holy Spirit is exempt from proclaiming the source of his strength.

Yet many will still say, Oh, but you’re still talking about pastors and preachers and evangelists and all who have a special calling, not the patrons of the church.

Not the congregation itself.

Not all us mom and pops and grannies and grandpas.

Okay, parents, let’s look at you for a moment!

Perhaps a look into the Word will clarify the matters of responsibility and heart condition in your case because we are talking judgment here.

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons. (Deuteronomy 4:9)

Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. (Deuteronomy 4:9-10)

Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children. (Deuteronomy 4:10)

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:6–7)

As soon as a man and a woman are joined in the sight of God, they are preparing themselves to become teachers.

Holy matrimony is just that. It is a joint effort to glorify God in all they do, including raising and teaching their children by the Word of God.

Oh, that means you, parents and grandparents! You will receive a stricter judgment for what you teach those that you have been blessed with by God’s mercy and grace.

Perhaps even more stringent than your local minister!

Your minister is responsible for the correct interpretation of the Word and its deliverance to you, but he can hardly put restrictions or enforce punishment for your ungodly behavior.

But you, parents and grandparents, are directly and entirely responsible for what your children learn, say, and do!

Good and bad!

Then said He to the disciples, "It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe to him, through whom they come! It were better