In this sermon, we get stuck on one verse in Romans 6-22, where were called slaves of God. Slavery conjures up many negative thoughts and feelings. Why would we be called slaves of God-- Let's not get too excited here. Were called many things as followers of Christ. The Bible also calls us friends of God, the bride of Christ, adopted sons and even sheep. Each of these titles, teaches us some interesting and beautiful things concerning our relationship and standing before God. Being a slave of God is not different.-But in order to really explore this subject fully, we need to look at what slavery looks like in the Bible and this blows the doors open for yet another controversial subject- why does the Bible seem to condone slavery-- It's mentioned in both the old and new testaments and it's never explicitly condemned. What's going on here-- Does God condone kidnapping people and making them slaves-- What about all the other horrific abuses we see connected with slavery---In this sermon and in part 2, we will discuss what slavery looked like in the Old Testament. In this we will see that the slavery that is found in the Old Testament is completely different than the slavery that we see all around the world today. If your struggling with this issue, this sermon will put to rest all your fears. God's love and name will be vindicated and your doubts will be put to rest. We serve a good and loving God. And once all the confusion is cleared up, we will go back to this imagery of being called a slave of God and see what being a slave of God can teach us about our relationship and standing before God.

In this sermon, we get stuck on one verse in Romans 6:22, where were called slaves of God. Slavery conjures up many negative thoughts and feelings. Why would we be called slaves of God? Let's not get too excited here. Were called many things as followers of Christ. The Bible also calls us friends of God, the bride of Christ, adopted sons and even sheep. Each of these titles, teaches us some interesting and beautiful things concerning our relationship and standing before God. Being a slave of God is not different. But in order to really explore this subject fully, we need to look at what slavery looks like in the Bible and this blows the doors open for yet another controversial subject; why does the Bible seem to condone slavery? It's mentioned in both the old and new testaments and it's never explicitly condemned. What's going on here? Does God condone kidnapping people and making them slaves? What about all the other horrific abuses we see connected with slavery? In this sermon and in part 2, we will discuss what slavery looked like in the Old Testament. In this we will see that the slavery that is found in the Old Testament is completely different than the slavery that we see all around the world today. If your struggling with this issue, this sermon will put to rest all your fears. God's love and name will be vindicated and your doubts will be put to rest. We serve a good and loving God. And once all the confusion is cleared up, we will go back to this imagery of being called a slave of God and see what being a slave of God can teach us about our relationship and standing before God.