Greetings to you friend! Today is July 4th, the 234th anniversary of the birth of America! Our “Founding Fathers” were possessed by a firm belief that God was the overpowering influence in what they were doing. As proof of that a person needs only to visit the nation’s capitol and see for himself the frequent mention of God engraved in so many of the stone monuments and buildings there. Well, God has blessed the fruit of their labors. Their prayer was, and ours is today: God bless America. Please stay tuned.
What a joy it is to welcome you to our Bible study program, In Search of the Lord’s way to become a Christian and His way to live the best life mankind has ever known. Thanks for joining us. Some churches of Christ in the area of this station make it possible for us to be here every week without any appeals for money. They would like you to pay them a visit one of these days, also; and I hope you will real soon. Why don’t you just do it today if there’s time? We’d be so glad if you did.
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We’ve all had our hearts stirred by the singing of the prayer, “God bless America, Land that I love, Stand beside her and guide her, With light from above. From the mountains, To the prairies, To the oceans, White with foam; God bless America, My home, sweet home.” Well, we even heard our National Congress sing it on the steps of the Nation’s Capitol the day after 9-11, you remember. We’re giving the program today the title, “God Bless America.” Our Scripture reading will be 1Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 to 7. I’ll be back to read it with you after Ken Helterbrand leads us in a hymn.
We’re reading the first paragraph of the second chapter of the book of 1 Timothy. “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in truth.” Now with that reading let’s go to God in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we are so thankful to You for all of the blessings that You have granted us personally and as a people and as a nation for all these years. We are thankful for Your guidance and for Your help in the strength that You give us through the reading of Your word and the leadership that You provide for us in all righteousness. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen!
For more than two-and-a-quarter centuries now, July fourth has been a day of celebration, not for the people of every nation in the world; only for citizens of the greatest– the United States of America! Over the years, we've observed it in a variety of ways. Some of us can remember when we had a July 4th community picnic in the park. Everybody went. In the rural areas, some farmer usually made his place available for it. And there were public and patriotic speeches, and a high school band or some other band played, and they played patriotic music, prayers were offered in behalf of our nation, and there was lots of, well, homemade ice cream and watermelon. Well, things have changed. Much of that would be illegal nowadays. May 6th was to have been our National Day of Prayer, too. We’ve been observing the first Thursday of May as a National Day of Prayer for more than a half-a-century but a Federal Judge has now declared it’s unconstitutional. So, shall we pray aloud in public? Our young men and women are dying daily on battlefields abroad to protect our freedoms; one of which is the right to pray anywhere and everywhere. “God bless America…”
Well, America has been the envy of about every nation in the world. Millions of people on every continent would gladly forfeit everything they own and even hazard their very own lives to live in America and become an American citizen. America has been "the land of opportunity" for the whole world. The Statue of Liberty stands in the entrance of New York Harbor, beckoning to the world, "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
Some people don't feel it's Biblical to pray “God bless America.” Some are unbelievers and are offended when believers pray in their presence at all. Some believers think that Christians should not be concerned with affairs of government. But there doesn't seem to be much meaning in worshiping a God, at least to me there doesn’t seem to be much meaning in professing to worship a God so powerful as to create the world, who would then cut himself loose from it and feel no responsibility at all in the management of its affairs. The Bible preaches another God than that in Acts 17:22 to 34. To the wise men of Athens He is preached as the Supreme Ruler of the universe. Yes, the Bible teaches us in such passages as our text to pray for our leaders.
America was founded on belief in God and the morals He teaches in His word. And God has blessed America. He has been the over-riding influence in making America great! Historically our national leaders, our presidents, our national congressmen and women, and others have believed that. Our first President, George Washington said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God and to obey His will.” John Adams, the second president of our country said, “Our Constitution was made for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other people.” Our third President, President Thomas Jefferson said, “God who gave us life gives us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God?” And did you know that until in the 1950’s Sunday worship was held in the House wing of the United States Capitol Building? And did you know that Thomas Jefferson, of whom it is being said that he argued for a secular state, actually worshiped there on Sundays?
Yes! Unashamedly our forefathers believed that it is impossible to maintain a free, peaceable society without belief in God. But America is rapidly changing from that, friend! Just is! Life in America today is not what our founding fathers envisioned. America is, well, on its way to becoming a secular state-- a nation without God. Efforts to remove the references to Him in our pledge of allegiance, and “In God We Trust” from our monies, and to prevent prayers in the public schools and gatherings, and court ordered observance of them, the Ten Commandments in public places, and the furor over state recognition of religious holidays are all a sign of that. I attended the commencement for one of my granddaughter’s high school graduation. God was not there! His presence was forbidden. It was illegal to mention God on that occasion or to call upon His Name. There were no prayers to God for the graduates. And there was so much confusion we didn’t even know when our granddaughter received her diploma. It was actually riotous. What would you expect-- without God?
One of the saddest incidents in all of the Bible is described in Judges chapter 2, verse 10. On the death of Joshua, who led the people of Israel in their successful conquest of the promised land, and all that meant to the children of Israel, when “all that generation had gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.” Well, you need to read the next few verses to get the whole story. Listen: “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after other gods from among the gods of all the people who were around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against them. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies.”
Yes, friend! God loved the children of Israel. Oh, how He did love them! He had blessed them with deliverance from the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt by their “baptism (miraculously) in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10 and 1 and 2). He had preserved them as His people in forty years of wanderings in the dessert and He had delivered them safely into the “land that flowed with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:17). It was through them that He was to bring the Savior into the world. Therefore, He had given them the law to preserve them as His chosen people for that very purpose. He had said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.” That’s the reading of Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 5 through 9. Apparently they had not done that. I mean, they had not lived by the statutes that God had given them; neither had they taught them to their children. Therefore, “there arose another generation who knew not God, and practiced evil and even broke the first commandment: You shall have no other god before (or besides) Me.”
My friend, it’s a matter of historic record that preceding and contributing to the collapse of every fallen nation, there was the failure of its religion, or that nation’s religion. And it seems that there is a generation of Americans today who know not God. On April 27th, this year “USA Today” ran a front page news story by Cathy Lynn Grossman, with the headlines, “Young adults less devoted to faith.” It was a report of a survey of the “National Millennial Generation,” the ages 18 to 29; 72% of them said that they are “really more spiritual than religious.” The article said, “Of the 65% who call themselves Christians, many are mushy Christians or Christians in name only.” Those are direct quotes. Many are unsure that Jesus is the only path to heaven; half of them said yes, and half of them said no. The pollster says, “We have dumbed down what it means to be a part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, to the people who already say they are a part of the church.” I say without apology or equivocation, friend, American style Christianity has been dumbed down to the point of failure.
Well, as we have just seen, America was boldly and unashamedly founded by believers in God on the moral principles taught in the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. At unbelievable sacrifice our founding fathers came to these shores with the intent of prayerfully carving out a nation whose citizens would enjoy the free exercise of their faith. And God did bless America so that it became so. But it happened to us as it did to Israel in the long ago. We've now opted to be a Godless country.
But, "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1 and 5), and when we put God out, out went the light so that we now live in the dark, dark, darkness of evil. While we denounce, and in some instances even go to war to overthrow despot rulers who kill hundreds and sometimes thousands of their very own innocent citizens; we kill off about a million of our own little unwanted, innocent, helpless, preborn babies every year. Virtually every issue of the newspaper or news broadcast reports from one to any number of cases of abuse or killings of babies and young children. Baseball is no longer our national pastime; it's been replaced by gambling, much of which is government sponsored, friend. There are even half as many divorces as there are now marriages in the U.S. We give social acceptance to the ugly sin of fornication and homosexuality from which we suffer widespread and disease and illegitimacy. Alcoholism is a major health problem which we don’t talk about. All of which is a revolt against God and His way. So then how can we stand tall and sing "God bless America" on our nation's birthday? Let us pray. Holy Father, we pray You to bless America. Help us get our heads on straight and do the things that comply with Your will and gain Your favor. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Well, God has said in 2 Chronicles 7 and 14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." We're not saying that America is God's chosen people; no, that isn't our message. But Romans 15:4 says those things that "were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we may through patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope." God has blessed America greatly, friend, as He has blessed Israel, and He will surely repent of any destruction He may have had in mind for us, if we will repent of our rebellious waywardness and turn again to Him and to live His way. Our turn back to God won't be by legislation or a court order or even an executive order of the President of the United States. It must come from the hearts of the people like you and me. You and I, like others make this nation what it is!
Today, July 4th, let us pray a special prayer for America, for her leaders. Let us pray as Paul taught, for all that are in authority and the people that we may live a quiet and peaceable life with all godliness and honesty. Let us resolve to exercise our responsibility, our citizenship and be active in improving the conditions that will restore America to her greatness. And God will bless America.
Oh by all means, if you're not a Christian and living the Lord's' way, you ought to begin at once, today. I urge you to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, and put the Lord on in baptism, and start living for Him; and if I may help you to do that, please call me, ok?
We're glad and honored that you have seen and heard our program today. And I pray you've been blessed, and if so, may we hear from you? A free audio cassette tape or a printed transcript of today's message can be obtained by writing us: In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail at searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may want to visit our website as so many other people do. You may want to use the telephone and just call us. We have a toll free number for your use. That number is 1-800-321-8633. Please give us a few days now to fill your request, because we're sending out literally thousands of copies of these programs every week. It might be of interest to you, too, that much of that work is done by volunteer help from Christians, who are members of the Edmond Church of Christ in Edmond, Oklahoma where these programs are made. I hope you'll want to be with us next week and study with us more about the Lord’s way and His way to live. Until then, God bless you and keep you. We love you.
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