✝ Daily Encouragement (7/4/25) "Free Indeed"
Published: Fri, 07/04/25
Updated: Mon, 07/07/25
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(Click refresh or reload for current message) Friday, July 4, 2025 
Watching
fireworks from
Old Windmill
Farm
"Free Indeed" Message summary: Today, are you free indeed? The greatest sense of freedom is our spiritual freedom.
Listen
to our message
on your audio
player.
"So
if the Son
sets you free,
you will be
free indeed"
(John 8:36).
Last
night we
headed over to
the Old
Windmill Farm
to watch the
fireworks
display from
the Barn at
Paradise
Station where
they had a big
event called
"Celebrate
America!
Patriotic
Concert &
Fireworks
Spectacular"
culminating
with
fireworks. We
avoided the
crowds (and a
$25.00 parking
fee) by
joining
friends (Lapps
and
Waldvogels)
and watching
from the farm.
As you can see
from our lead
photo we had a
great view!
Today
is
Independence
Day here in
the USA and
many have a
day off work.
Many will
celebrate and
gather with
family and
friends. Lots
of picnics,
cookouts,
camping and
pool parties
are planned on
this beautiful
sunny day.
Costco
Magazine
states that
more than 150
million hot
dogs will be
eaten today,
which is
enough to
stretch from
Washington DC
to Los Angeles
five times!
(But I would
have to see
that to
believe it!)
We
got a chuckle
out of a story
which
illustrates
how children
misunderstand
adult words
and concepts:
The
Fourth of July
was coming up,
and the
nursery school
teacher took
the
opportunity to
tell her class
about
patriotism.
"We live in a
great
country," she
said. "One of
the things we
should be
happy about is
that, in this
country, we
are all free".
One little boy
came walking
up from the
back of the
room.
Exasperated,
he stood with
his hands on
his hips and
declared, "I'm
not free. I'm
four."
Regardless of where you live, today is July 4, but the words "July 4th" or "the 4th of July" has special meaning here in the USA. Independence Day is a time we consider our history and express thanks for our freedoms. Many Americans take these freedoms for granted so it's important to set this day aside (particularly on the 249th birthday of our country). There are those who don't even notice or choose to ignore that our freedoms are systematically being diminished. Sadly, we read that there are many who are disregarding this 249th birthday of our country. We were married on the bicentennial in 1976 so next year we will celebrate our 50th anniversary while America celebrates its 250th birthday. Daily Encouragement readers live in a variety of countries and under varying degrees of political freedom or lack thereof. Most live in countries with a relatively strong freedom, but others live in places with religious oppression and in some cases outright persecution. It's doubtful that this material reaches those living in slavery, although millions live under such conditions. But today, regardless of where we live or the conditions we live under we can all share one freedom in common based on our daily text: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed". This freedom, available to all, is infinitely greater than any political or religious freedoms we may or may not enjoy in this present life. One hundred or one thousand years into eternity no matter where we lived or the conditions under which we lived will be of little regard, with the one exception of our decision that we chose to place our faith in Jesus Christ and accept His provision for our slavery to sin. If you are a citizen of a free country don't take it for granted. Give thanks to God for the privilege while also considering those who sacrificed for your freedoms. Be sure to pray for our brothers and sisters who do not live with these freedoms. But above all give thanks to God that Jesus paid the supreme sacrifice so that we might be freed from the slavery of sin for all eternity. That's something that we can all rejoice in no matter the political conditions of our country. Today, are you free indeed? B e encouraged today! Hebrews 3:13
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
1)
Freedom from
the bondage of
sin (Romans
6:18)
2) Freedom from guilt and shame (Colossians 1:21-23) 3) Freedom from fear of death (Hebrews 2:15)
Jesus
told the Jews
who had
believed Him,
“If you
hold to my
teaching, you
are really my
disciples"
(John 8:31).
Then He said
to them "You
will know the
truth, and the
truth will set
you free"
(John 8:32).
This
especially
infuriated the
proud
Pharisees who
responded, "We
are Abraham's
descendants
and have never
been slaves of
anyone. How
can you say
that we shall
be set free?"
(v. 34).
But Jesus was speaking of a slavery that impacts the entire human race; whether rich or poor, powerful or weak, intellectual or unlearned, the politically free, oppressed or even enslaved. People from every background and every time period since the fall are slaves to sin! Yet this is the very slavery that Jesus came to free us from: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Free Indeed" Watch on YouTube River Valley Worship
"Man
of Sorrows"
Watch
on YouTube
The
Acappella
Company Now my debt is paid It is paid in full By the precious blood That my Jesus spilled Now the curse of sin has no hold on me Whom the Son sets free, oh, is free indeed!
"Celebrate America! Patriotic Concert & Fireworks Spectacular" This describes the event last night. Here's a video from the 2024 event. 
Before
driving back
the long lane
to the farm
last night we
drove by where
the main event
"Celebrate
America!
Patriotic
Concert &
Fireworks
Spectacular"
was held. Not
only did they
park cars on
the property
and adjacent
properties but
people also
parked at The
Strasburg
Railroad
parking lot.
The train then
shuttled them
to the big
event via the
Lancaster
scenic route!
Ester took
this photo of
the engine
when the they
were unloading
people at the
station. The
train is not
moving; if it
was, you would
not be seeing
this
photograph and
we would not
be alive
today!
Before
it got dark
the children
were swimming
in the farm
pond. The barn
where the
event was held
stands just
above the corn
in the
background.
Years
ago in 2007 I
took a dip in
this pond but
really have no
interest in
doing so at
this point in
life! But when
I was young I
sure liked to
swim in farm
ponds and
that's all
Brooksyne swam
in until she
graduated from
high school
(with one
exception when
her family
went to Six
Flags Over
Texas).
One
summer I was
staying with
my
grandparents
in tiny
Harwood,
Missouri one
summer.
My PaPa (as I
called my
grandfather)
had been in
business and
was well known
throughout
that rural
area as a man
of honor and
integrity. I
wanted to go
fishing so he
called a local
farmer to get
permission for
me to fish in
his farm pond
but I was
explicitly
told not to go
swimming.
Well, what do you suppose a fourteen-year-old does when the fish aren't biting? I looked up toward the farmhouse and seeing no one I went swimming.
Well,
it turns out
someone was
watching. When
I got back did
I ever get
chewed out!
PaPa
emphasized
that he had
trusted me and
I had violated
that trust. I
still remember
that lesson to
this day. What
hurt me most
is that I had
disappointed
my
grandfather.
On
the way to the
farm we passed
this man as he
was riding his
horse through
a field. Ester
captured this
view on camera
that looks a
little like a
scene from an
old western.
We just need
the mountains
in the
background
which
Lancaster does
not
have!
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