I Pledge Allegiance To… (July 4th Sermon)

For example...

Illus: A seventeen-year-old girl made Elvis Presley not just an entertainer, or a mortal. She made him an idol and she literally worshipped him.

It is a matter of record that she has seen his movie:

• “LOVE ME TENDER” 107 times.

• “LOVING YOU” 110 times.

• “KING CREOLE” 91 times.

• “JAIL HOUSE ROCK” 79 times

• She has twelve scrapbooks of him.

• She has 40,000 pictures of him.

• She actually moved from New Orleans to Memphis to be near him..

This woman may be a extreme, but she represents the many “Creature Worshippers” across America.

But no man is worthy of worship, only God the Creator is worthy of worship

As we look at the idols Americans worship, we can certainly relate to how Elijah must have felt when he stood before the prophets of Baal.

Those people were also “creature worshippers.”

The only difference was that the creatures they worshipped included creatures they made with their own hands.

As the false prophets called upon their idols to send rain, Elijah had to be thinking, “These people are pitiful! If this is all they have to worship, they are in bad shape!”

They were in bad shape, and Elijah probably was not in the mood for pitying them at that time.

Before America, and other nations, ever get straightened out, they will have to find a whole different kind of role model to hold in high esteem.

I believe one of the best places to find great men and women who qualify as role models is in God’s Word.

The great prophet of God, WHOSE NAME IS ELIJAH, of our text is actually one of the greatest men who ever walked on this earth!

Let me show you THREE reasons why Elijah was a great man of God:

• Why he should be held in high esteem.

• Why he is a good role model for our young people and adults alike.

First, he knew about…

I. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

Illus: A young boy was waiting after church for his family. The pastor saw him standing around and struck up a conversation.

Since the boy had just come from Sunday school, the pastor decided to ask him some questions to determine just how much the children were learning there.

• He said, “Young man, if you can tell me something that God can do, I’ll give you a big shiny apple.”

• The boy thoughtfully said, “Pastor, I will give you a bushel of apples if you can tell me one thing that God can not do.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GOD?

Elijah knew a great deal about God.

Look at verse 37. We read, “...thou art the Lord God...”

Notice, Elijah says in this passage:

- “I am not God; THOU ART GOD!”

- “These idols are not God; THOU ART GOD!”

Elijah knew WHO GOD WAS! He said, “...THOU ART THE LORD GOD...”

He was saying, again, that he was not God and the idols the false prophets bowed to were not God, but that the true, living God is God-- “THOU ART GOD!”

Illus: To his credit at one of Elvis Presley’s concert we are told that one woman that worshipped him as God wanted to show her love for him she bought the whole first row of seats just for herself.

After one of his song she stood with the crowd and started screaming that he was THE KING and he looked back and yelled back to her “I AM NOT THE KING, JESUS CHRIST IS THE KING!”

WHO IS GOD?

• God is the Creator of everything!

• God is Omniscient He knows every thing

Through the centuries idols that men worshipped have come and gone, but GOD is God, and IS GOD STILL TODAY!

Illus: One atheist made it known that he did not believe in God. He would take God’s name in vain and says some of the most vile things that come out of the mouth of a human.

One man confronted him and said I UNDERSTAND YOU DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS A GOD?

The atheist said, “You are right, there is no G…D.. God?

The man said if there is NO GOD WHY DO YOU CURSE HIM?

• The most WISE MEN on earth are the men who KNOW GOD IS GOD!

• The most FOOLISH MAN on the earth that God has created is the man who is dumb enough to believe that all this just happened.

Illus: A pastor was confronted by an atheist in a public gathering. The atheist, wishing to embarrass the pastor, said loudly, “There is no God.”

• The preacher said, “Friend, what you said is not new--the Bible said that more than 2,000 years ago.”