Freedom For Iran
This sermon was delivered by Pastor Massoud Sadeghi on Sunday, July 5th, 2009. A video of this sermon is available on YouTube in three parts. Below are direct links to the videos in Farsi (Persian). If you are interested just click on each link below:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO4Yhw31cCU
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Ul6qjb5EQ
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAji23nlMI8
Here is a summary of the sermon.
God has created mankind to be free
I want to talk about freedom today. This country was founded on freedom and on the Word of God. A heavy price has been paid by men and women everywhere for sake of freedom. This is the time of celebration because God has delivered freedom to us through his son, Jesus Christ. People from all over the world come to this country to find freedom. Many sacrifice their homes, wealth and comfort of their life and journey to this country to find freedom.
Freedom is a natural aspect of humanity. I can tell you that there is freedom in Jesus’ glorious name. In His name, there is life in abundance, healing, blessings and freedom. The most precious thing in life is freedom. God created us as free individuals with free will to choose. He has given His Son so we can attain this freedom. We thank God for sending His Son, Jesus Christ for our salvation and freedom.
(Read Romans 8:2) God has freed us from sin and slavery to satan. Patrick Henry once said ” Give me freedom or give me death”. In Spanish, there is a saying “It’s better to die standing free than to live bending in slavery”. Today, Jesus is working to free people of Iran. Many have left the comfort of their homes, separated from their friends and relatives, and made personal sacrifices to live in freedom. How can we forget or ignore the situation in Iran today?
The uprising of youth in Iran is reminicient of the demonstrations about 30 years ago. Is the history repeating itself? The majority of the Iranian youth are too young to know the revolution of 30 years ago. But their cries for freedom echo the same movement of 30 years ago. The youth today are brave as they are standing for the same thing that their parents demanded 30 years ago; freedom. I applaud the bravery of these young men and women in Iran.
God gave His Son so we may live in freedom. God created us as free beings having the right to choose our path. The voice of freedom can never be silenced. The right of Iranian people and Iran is to live and to be free. The men and women who want freedom have risen. Did you know that the first human rights proclamations were made by King Cyrus of Persia? This is written in the Holy Book. Cyrus governed 180 nations with freedom for its people. Many Iranians throughout its history like Abu-Moslem Khorasani rose against oppression and faught for freedom. God created us to be free and wants us to be free and live freely.
God is spirit and he is love. For freedom, only one person is needed to stand up and then others will follow the same. For us, Jesus was the one who stood up for freedom. Let’s look at the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament. Nehemiah came to visit the Persian King Artaxerxes when Jerusalem had been pilaged and its gates burned down. He asked the king for letter of support so he could return and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The Persian king granted his wish and from their Nehemiah continued to pray and worked to rebuild the city. When Nehemiah started to rebuild the city, even the women came to help him in reconstruction; just as women in Iran are working to bring freedom side by side as men. Just as Nehemiah cried, and prayed to God; just as he repented and confessed to his sins, we too must pray and confess before our God. We must confess and ask for forgiveness so Jesus would forgive our sins.
Just as Jesus said, there will be a day when they will drive you out of churches and kill the believers; those days have arrived in Iran. Today, my people, men and women alike are active in their struggle for freedom. Iran is the land of the free. We must follow Nehemiah’s example. We must pray and pray, then go to the King of all kings, namely to Jesus Christ who is the only one who can free the people of Iran and ask for forgiveness and for His intercession. Jesus is capable of transforming all things; His name is above all names. He has dominion over all things. Let us pray to Him to bring His true and lasting freedom to Iran. Amen.
Nejat Church