Does America Still Trust In God?

Does America Still Trust in God?

(All my sermons use illustrations from sermoncentral.com and use the NIV unless otherwise noted)

(This sermon was inspired partly by the lyrics from Diamond Rio’s song “In God We Still Trust”)

In the world of country music, there is a group called Diamond Rio that wrote a performs a song entitled, “In God We Still Trust.” This song is NOT played on local radio stations simply because it has been deemed to be politically incorrect, and the media is afraid they might offend some people. I personally do not care if it offends anyone because it speaks the TRUTH very clearly. This morning I would like to start this sermon by reading to you some of the lyrics of that song:

You place your hand on His bible, when you swear to tell the truth.

His name is on our greatest monuments an' all our money too.

An' when we pledge allegiance, there's no doubt where we stand:

There's no separation, we're one nation under HIM.

In God, We Still Trust, Here in America,

He's the one we turn to every time the going gets rough.

He is the source of all our strength, The one who watches over us.

Here in America, in God, we still trust.

Now there are those among us, Who wanna push HIM out.

And erase HIS name from everything, This country's all about.

From the schoolhouse to the courthouse, They're silencing HIS word,

An' now it's time for all believers, To make our voices heard.

In God, We Still Trust, here in America,

PRAYER

My question this morning is simply this: Does America Truly Still Trust in God? It is easy to give this question lip service and say, “Of course we do,” or say something like, “Well I trust in God but I can’t speak for the rest of the country.” BUT, the truth is that although we as Christians should be setting the example of our TRUST in our God, many of us fall short when it comes to setting a good example.

The scripture gives us numerous examples of people trusting God in situations where anyone of us would have had doubt, Abraham being told to sacrifice his son, Moses crossing the Red Sea, Gideon downsizing his army, David fighting the Giant Philistine. There are also many commands in the scripture that tell us that we should TRUST God. If you have your Bible turn with me to Proverbs 3:5, here is wisdom from King Solomon. God’s infinite wisdom, and a verse many of us have heard many times before. I think it is one of those verse we love to hear and read, BUT, it is a command that is much harder to carry out completely.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

To TRUST in God with ALL our heart is something much easier discussed then carried out. It means to confide completely in God’s Will our life, to rise above all our worries and fears and doubts and do as we KNOW God would have us do. I can tell you, I have faced this dilemma many times in the years I have been an ordained minister. Actually, today is the anniversary of my 11th year as an ordained minister. I was ordained on July 4th, 1999 in Paonia, Colorado. Since that time we have served in 4 churches, most who had small budgets, and small housing, and big problems. I had doubts, I was scared, and yet each time we rose above the doubt and worries, GOD BLESSED US. We have been blessed by God through His children simply because we did not lean on our own understanding of the situation but instead TRUSTED that God had a plan. HE MADE IT WORK! Our limited understanding of the obstacles we see, and our inability to let go sometimes keeps us from receiving the blessings God wants to bestow upon us.

A fella was walking along the edge of the Grand Canyon all by himself one afternoon, when he lost his footing and slipped over the side. He was lucky enough to grab hold of a root that was protruding from the dirt and he held on with all his might as the drop was extremely high. He called to the heavens, “Is their anyone up there?” But no one answered. He called and called again, “Is there anyone up there?” Finally after hours of holding on he heard a booming voice from the heavens call back to him. “I am here what is the problem?” The man yelled back, “God, I have fallen and I am hanging on for my life, please rescue me.” God answered the man, “Ok, my son, just let go.” The man thought for quite some time and then he looked up to heaven and asked, “Is there anyone else up there?”