America Oh America

America Oh America

Lamentations 1:1-8 Monte T. Brown

March 22, 2009 Sunday Morning

Heart O’ the Hills

Prelude

Last Saturday we watched the movie Fireproof. In that movie, we learned the importance of fireproofing your marriage. However, in life one must fireproof several things, our children, our families, our jobs, and our country.

I see that in the large picture America is in need of being fireproofed.

This morning I would like to speak to you concerning America. Our country is in trouble, we seem to have lost our core values, our scene of right and wrong.

America Oh America what shall we do.

It has been said that we can learn from history, so what better book to go to than the greatest history book of all, the Bible.

Please stand with me this morning as we read from Lamentations 1:1-8 and look at one country in history that seems to have the same start as America.

Scripture

1 How lonely sits the city That was full of people! How like a widow is she, Who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces Has become a slave!

2 She weeps bitterly in the night, Her tears are on her cheeks; Among all her lovers She has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.

3 Judah has gone into captivity, Under affliction and hard servitude; She dwells among the nations, She finds no rest; All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

4 The roads to Zion mourn Because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted, And she is in bitterness.

5 Her adversaries have become the master, Her enemies prosper; For the Lord has afflicted her Because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

6 And from the daughter of Zion All her splendor has departed. Her princes have become like deer That find no pasture, That flee without strength Before the pursuer.

7 In the days of her affliction and roaming, Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things That she had in the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the enemy, With no one to help her, The adversaries saw her And mocked at her downfall.

8 Jerusalem has sinned gravely, Therefore she has become vile. All who honored her despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Yes, she sighs and turns away. Lamentations 1:1-8

Prayer

Introduction

Look around you today it seems that there is a parallel between Jerusalem (Israel) and America.

Jerusalem Oh Jerusalem

God had led his people into the promise land and had blessed them greatly. They had great cities, great allies that respected them. However, in their greatness they forgot the one who had blessed them. Jerusalem was a great city that was lonely, its people where in mourning (verse 2), their allies had forsaken them (verse 2). Jerusalem had been uprooted from their land and placed in captivity (verse 3) and their temple had been violated (verse 10), because of their multitude of sins (verses 5, 8). This was the judgment from the righteous God (verse 18).

America Oh America

God had led a people searching for freedom unto their promise land called America. A land where they could worship God freely and God blessed them with prosperity, allies that respected them, and a heart of compassion for others. However, in their greatness they are beginning to forget the one who had blessed them.

Are we not seeing America the great, becoming America the lonely, are we not seeing its people becoming slaves to money and placed in the bondage of debt. Are not her temples violated and the land covered with a multitude of sins?

Blessed then Judged

You see there really is a parallel between Jerusalem and America.

Jerusalem

God lead a group of people to a promise land and that group of people became a great nation. They where fruitful and multiplied, respected by other nations. There capitol Jerusalem was a place where God dwelled. Its precepts and integrity rang forth the law of God. Israel truly was a country that could say In God We Trust.

Then there leaders turned away from God’s law and sought out the pleasures of the world. They welcomed in other gods, lusted for money and became in debt to another nation.

Then they were in bondage and God no longer blessed them and their nation was in ruins.

America

God lead a group of people to a promise land and that group of people became a great nation. They where fruitful and multiplied, respected by other nations. There capitol Washington D.C. was a place where God dwelled. Its precepts and integrity rang forth the law of God. America truly was a country that could say In God We Trust.