Christians, Countries, And Kingdom

A. The story is told of a boy, who wanted $100 very badly, so he prayed for two weeks but nothing happened.

1. Then he decided to write GOD a letter requesting $100.

2. When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to GOD, U.S.A., they decided to send it to the President.

3. The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the boy $50.00. The President thought that this would satisfy the little boy.

4. Well, the boy was delighted with the $50.00 and immediately sat down to write a thank you note to GOD that read: “Dear God, Thank you very much for sending me the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington, D.C., and, as usual, those devil’s took half of it.”

5. Just like that boy, must of us are suspicious of what goes on in Washington, D.C. and at times we are fed up with what goes on there.

6. But in truth, there are many good people and many good things that do go on there.

B. As you know, two days from today, our nation will gather at the polls and cast our votes for the next President of the United States of America as well as many other governmental officials.

1. What a tremendous privilege and what an awesome responsibility that is!

C. If you have been around Wetzel Road for a while, then you realize that I try very hard to stay out of politics.

1. I am a preacher, not a politician nor a political expert.

2. The last time I devoted an entire sermon to this subject the Sunday before the presidential election dating all the way back to 1988.

3. Usually the Sunday before an election we just devote a special prayer to God concerning the election.

4. And certainly, that is the most appropriate and powerful thing that we can do.

5. But for a number of weeks, I have felt compelled to share with you something about the election and its connection to our spiritual lives.

6. So here we go.

D. Let me begin by saying that I am an American, and I’m proud and thankful that I’m an American.

1. There is no other country that I would rather have been born into.

2. It wasn’t that long ago that my relatives came to the United States. Had they not, I would have been born somewhere else in the world.

3. My grandfather Owens’ mother came from Germany, and his father’s father came from Wales.

4. My grandmother Owens’ relatives from one side came from Germany, and from the other side came from England.

5. Whereas, my mother’s grandparents came directly from Poland.

6. So in that sense, my family hasn’t been Americans all that long, but seeing that our country is relatively young in the history of the world, none of us, except for the native Americans, have been Americans very long.

E. There are many things about being an American that I’m proud of, but there are also many things for which I am ashamed.

1. Being a white male, I have had more opportunities available to me than any other group in the United States during my life time.

2. For that I’m thankful, but I am also greatly saddened for everyone else.

3. I’m frustrated by what we have done to the Native Americans: the way we took advantage of them and the promises that have been broken.

4. I’m sad for the lack of opportunity in the past for women in our country.

a. It wasn’t until 1920 that women were given the right to vote.

b. We are still trying to equalize the playing field and break the “glass ceiling” as it is called so that women have equal opportunity in business and receive equal pay as their male counterparts.

5. And, of course, I’m horrified by what has been done in the past, and what continues to be done to those of other races, nationalities and religions.

a. I’m sorry that it took a Civil War to do away with slavery in the 1860s, and then another 100 years for the Civil Rights movement to make progress for black Americans.

b. I hate racism, and I’m so thankful that all of the churches of Christ that I have been involved with have been multi-racial.

c. I remember growing up in the Southside congregation beginning in 1973, and we were all one in Christ. From my vantage point there wasn’t any black and white, just brothers and sisters.

6. As a country, I know we still have a long way to go before we will truly be color blind, and nationality blind, and even religious blind, but we need to keep striving toward that goal.