Liberty to Serve

Extracted Verses and Quotes from the Sermon

Biblical Verses

Deuteronomy 30:19

“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”

Luke 14:16-24

(Parable of the banquet where the master sends out servants to compel people to attend the feast.)

Romans 13:1

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

1 Timothy 2:1-2

“I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Jeremiah 25:11

“This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”

Daniel 3:16-18

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “We have no need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

Daniel 3:24-25

Nebuchadnezzar said, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

Daniel 3:28

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.”

Daniel 6:7

“All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict that whoever prays to any god or man for thirty days except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of lions.”

Daniel 6:21-22

Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

Acts 5:27-29

Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

1 Peter 3:15

“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.”

Proverbs 31:8

“Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute.”

Galatians 5:13

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.”

John 19:12-15

“The Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes the emperor.’ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement. He said to the Jews, ‘Here is your king!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ They answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’”

Revelation 22:17

“Whoever wishes, let him take the water of life as a gift.”

Revelation 3:20

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Joshua 24:15

“Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Memorable Quotes

“We are living spiritually in the changing of these seasons. We are living in the time when the sunlight of liberty is gradually giving way to the darkness of oppression around the world.”

“Religious liberty is thus the gift of God inherent within the gift of rational existence itself.”

“Any service rendered to God that is not freely given is not in fact given to God, for God is love and love and coercion can never go together.”

“When church and state have been united, this union has proved nothing but a curse for suffering humanity.”

“We are here by conviction and God only wants us here by conviction. God doesn’t want us necessarily here if we’re here because we’re told we have to be here or we’ll lose our jobs.”

“Religious liberty is like a Christmas present — it’s no use when it’s sitting unpacked.”

“To say I want religious liberty while refusing to use that religious liberty is like having the keys to a Ferrari and never wanting to drive it.”

“We uphold religious liberty because it is God’s inherent gift to His creation, and no man has the right to limit God’s gift to another man.”

“As Adventists, we are called to speak up not just about salvation and fraternity but to minister to those who are caught in family breakdown, environmental degradation, moral chaos, systemic social injustice, and human trafficking.”

“We are to live for the lost, live with our brothers and sisters, and finally live before God.”

“When we break laws that impinge on religious liberty, not only are we blameless before God, but those countries that impose such laws are actually working against God.”

“We are to know for ourselves what we believe, why we believe it, and whom we believe.”

“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.”

“The proclamation of the Three Angels’ messages presupposes that whatever other freedoms are taken away, the freedom to respond to God’s call remains until probation closes.”

“Jesus is coming soon, and I’ll be ready to meet Him. To be ready means I stand before God with no sense of my own goodness but trust solely and exclusively in the merits of my Savior Jesus Christ.”

Other Quotations

Pope Francis, June 18, 2023 (Encyclical on Climate Change)

“Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationship with God, with others, with ourselves, and with the world.”

President Barack Obama, June 18, 2023 (White House Press Release)

“I welcome his Holiness Pope Francis’ encyclical and deeply admire the Pope’s decision to make the case clearly, powerfully, and with the full moral authority of his position for action on global