• INTRODUCTION:
  • THE TRUE TEST OF SERVING CHRIST IS NOT TAKING THAT FIRST STEP INTO RELIGION BUT CONTINUED PERSEVERANCE
  • NOTICE THE WORD "CONTINUANCE" HAS TO DO WITH THE WORD OF GOD
  • SUCH WORK IS WELL REWARDED
    CLOSER
  • Real freedom is NOT:
  • The liberation of a country from its enemy
  • The release of a prisoner by his captor
  • Liberally expressing yourself in the United States of America

  • Real freedom is:

    • When you become saved

    • It's when you know the truth of the Bible and continue living your life according to its commandments

    • Being free from the constraints of the world (sin's effects, worrying about money, job performance, boss, etc.) because you know God will take care of your every need (Matthew 6:30-32)



  • NAME: John Merrick (1862-1890)

  • His disfiguring disease began when he was 2 years old

  • His mother died when he was 11; When his dad re-married, John's new step-mom said to his dad, "Joseph or me," to which Joseph was cast out

  • Nicknamed "the elephant man" and the ugliest man in the world, he was abused, made fun of and a slave in a carnival freak show most of his life

    • He sold shoe polish on the street and the money he earned (200 pounds) as a carnival freak was stolen by an Austrian showman

  • But Dr. Frederick Treves took him in and cared for him; declared him to be the most gentle of men

  • Merrick studied the Bible, the book of Common Prayers, Jane Austen and Shakespeare and considered a remarkably intelligent, friendly and gentle soul

  • To the world and his own mother, he is considered trapped in the ugliest body in the world; To God, John Merrick is among the world's minority of having inner beauty and being set free (being saved)

  • REFERENCE: David Lynch's 1980 film "the elephant man"
  • John Merrick, the 'elephant man'

    John Merrick, the 'elephant man'

    John Merrick's skull