Blessed In America

INTRO.- We are blessed in America. Where else but in America can you do these things or experience these things:

- Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

- Only in America are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

- Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.

- Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage. Hello!

We’ve got it made materially speaking in America and some of it doesn’t make much sense!

ILL.- A 75-year-old grandmother who had escaped from Hungary during the 1956 uprising was eagerly looking forward to acquiring her United States citizenship. Because she didn’t read or write English, her family translated all the history and civics material necessary for the test. She memorized it perfectly.

After she passed the oral portion of the test, the examiner asked for a sample of her writing skill. Greatly distressed, she admitted her weakness.

“Isn’t there anything you can write in English?” he asked. Her face brightened, and she wrote the one English sentence she had memorized: “Dear Milkman, please leave three bottles of milk today.” She passed.

How blessed are we in America?

ILL.- ILL.- Someone else said, “Suppose we could compress the population of earth into one town of 1,000 people. In this town there would be only 60 Americans. And yet we 60 Americans would receive half the income of the entire town. We would own 15 times as much per person as all our neighbors. We would eat 72% more than the maximum food requirement. Many of the 940 people would go to bed hungry.”

ILL.- The guest speaker had just returned from a tour with the Peace Corps. He was troubled about the apathy of American church members. On this particular night he was late to an Atlanta, GA, church. After the opening hymns had been sung he marched to the platform. He hadn’t changed clothes after ten hours of work on the farm. Clumps of mud and manure clung to his clothes and boots. The aroma filled the church. The people began to whisper. His sermon was short.

He said, “You act shocked as though I were a costumed clown. But you are wearing the costumes. Seventy-five percent of the world is dressed like me. Half of the world went to bed hungry tonight. You stuffed yourselves, fed the dog, and still threw away a good meal.”

Could it be that we have taken America for granted? Could it be that we have taken our blessings in America for granted?

Job 12:23 “He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.”

Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.”

Psalm 72:17 “May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.”

If America is blessed it’s because God has blessed her. And it’s not because we’re better than other peoples of the world. It’s simply because God is gracious!

PROP.- Let’s think again about what we have by living in America.

1- Freedom in America

2- Materialism in America

3- Peace in America

I. FREEDOM IN AMERICA

In America, we are pretty much free to do whatever we want. That is, within reason.

ILL.- MASSAPEQUA, N.Y., Jun. 7, 2007. A teenager drove to a crowded suburban mall, smashing through the entrance and cruising past clothing stores before exiting the car to deliver a speech to onlookers, police said. The 19-year-old man drove through the mall’s main glass doors at around 7 p.m., continued past a JC Penney, passed the mall’s central court, knocked over a kiosk and then made two left turns before exiting near a McDonald’s, Nassau County police said.

After breaking through the second set of doors at Westfield Sunrise mall, the driver exited the car and started giving a speech before being restrained by a passer-by until police got there, Officer Thomas Brussell said.

No one was seriously hurt by the car, although one onlooker suffered minor cuts to the foot after stepping on some of the broken glass. The rampage caused about $60,000 worth of damage, police said.

Brussell said he did not immediately have information on what could have driven the man to take a spin indoors. Charges were pending.

Does freedom in America mean that we have the right to break the laws and/or endanger people by doing whatever we want? No, of course, not.

ILL.- CEDAR CITY, Utah, Jun. 6, 2007. Speeding may not be in the Bible. But a Church of Christ minister says traffic laws are God’s laws and must be enforced. Police have received complaints about Alfred Pehl jumping in front of fast cars in his neighborhood, sticking brooms in their way and backing his own car in front of other drivers.