Title: Praying for America
Text: Amos 7:1-9,
Date: July 6, 2008 a.m.
Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist Church
Introduction: Friday was the fourth of July, the day we as Americans celebrate our Independance. I don’t think anyone would argue that God has richly blessed the United States of America during the last 232 years. Our Standard of Living and Quality of Life have been the envy of nations all around the world for many years.
But that may be chaning. The value of the U.S. dollar on world markets has dropped significantly in recent months. This is one of the contributing causes of the higher gasoline prices we are paying at the pump and at the grocery store right now. In an Interview with Bloomberg Television a couple of weeks ago, Steve Hank, who is a Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University said that “we are in a recession and inflation is accelerating.” So from an Economic standpoint things are tough right now.
From a military standpoint we are still fighting The War on Terrorism in Iraq and Aphganistan, and now according to CNN the Bush Administration has sent U.S. Commando’s into Iran to spy on the countries nuclear facilities and to work with Iranian dissidents to undermine the Iranian government. At the same time Israel has made it clear that if the United Nations refuses to do anything about Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions that they will not hesitate to take matters into their own hands. Just last week the Israeli Air force held a massive airiel exercise in the Eastern Medditerian that many are saying was a practice run for what seems to be an innevidable military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. It now seems that it is not a matter of “if” Israel will bomb Iran, but a matter of “when.”
When that happens it very well could be the beginning of yet another war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. It that happens it would only be a matter of time before the United States and Russia would be drawn into the conflict, which might be setting the stage for the Battle of Gog and Magog, that is mentioned in chapters 37 & 38 of the book of Ezekiel.
From a political standpoint our nation has never been more polarized than it is today. Neither one of the two major political parties seem willing to work with the other to solve problems like illigal imigration or our dependance on foreign oil. All they seem to care about is being elected and staying in ’power.’
With all of this in mind, let me ask you a question. "What can we as American citizens and more importantly, what can we as Christians do for our country?"
As Christians the Bible teaches us that it is our responsibility to vote, pay taxes, and honor those in authority over us. Some Christians go a step further by serving in various capacities in local, state, and federal governments. But perhaps the most important thing that we can do for our country is something that we can all do, regardless of our age, or our physical abilities. I believe the most important thing that we as Christians can do for our country is to pray. That’s what the Prophet Amos did when God revealed to him that He was getting ready to judge the nation of Israel for its disobedience.
Background: Amos was shepherd, and a fig tree farmer. He didn’t have any formal religious training, he hadn’t gone to Seminary or even Bible college.
But God had a special assignment for him. God called him to deliver a very important message to the nation of Israel.
You see God had made the decision to judge the nation of Israel for their disobedience. In the seventh chapter of the book of Amos God revealed to Amos exactly how He was going to do that. Turn with me if you will to Amos 7:1-9.
When God revealed how He would bring destruction on the nation of Israel Amos fell on his knees and humbly cried out to God. He begged God to forgive the nation of Israel of her sins. When God heard Amos’ prayer saw his tears, He decided not to send the Locusts and fire upon the land of Israel as He had planned on doing.
Billy Graham, who has spent over 50 years preaching the gospel all over the world once said "If God doesn’t judge America, then He is going to have to Apologize to Sodom and Gomorah,” and I tend to agree with him.
In fact in my mind the question is really not a matter of if God will judge America, but when. In 1996, Jerry Falwell, the pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, and founder of the Moral Majority preached a sermon entitled “Is America under God’s Judgment.” In that sermon he said, “If America is NOT under the judgment of God…, I believe she is dangerously close.” Those are ominous words, words that we don’t like to hear, much less believe.
This subject came up a few weeks ago at our monthly minister’s breakfast at the Associational office. One of the men made the comment that he believed America was very close to experiencing the Judgment of God. Wyman Copass, the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church quickly responded by saying that He believed we were already experiencing the Judgment of God. I would agree with Wyman but would even go as far as to say that if we do not repent of our sins and turn back to God then we will experience His Wrath. Only the most wicked cities and countries have experienced his wrath. Cities like Sodom and Gomorah, and countries like Egypt and Edom.
With that in mind, what, if anything can we do about it? As Christians in America I believe it is our responsibility to do what Amos did. We need to get down on our knees and pray like we have never prayed before. With this in mind, I want to discuss a few things with you.
I.First of all, How should we as Christians Pray for Our Nation?
A.I believe, we’ll be able to answer that question better when we realize that
the kind of prayer we need to pray begins when we see what others do not see.
That’s the way God works. He always reveals what He is getting ready to do before He actually does it. In our text, God allowed the prophet Amos to see two impending disasters before they actually took place.
1.The first vision that God gave to Amos was a swarm of locusts that was
poised and ready to invade the nation of Israel and destroy all of its crops. If this disaster had taken place the people of Israel would have suffered terribly.
2.The second vision was a "judgment by fire". The kind of fire that Amos
saw was like some of the forest fires we see out West from time to time. It was the kind of firestorm that would burn, and destroy everything in its path.
After seeing each one of the visions, Amos clearly understood the threat to the nation of Israel and he got down on his knees and prayed and begged God not to send these judgments upon the land of Israel.
I don’t think most people in America today have a clue about the Judgment of God. Now some people would say I’m crazy. But I believe God is doing everything he can to get us to repent of our sins and turn back to Him before it’s too late. Just take a minute to think about everything that has happened in the past 7-8 years. Sept. 11, 2001, The Wars in Afganistan and Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, August 2005, The Drought of 2007. The tornadoes and floods that have ravaged the South and Midwest this year. According to the National Weather Service we have already had over 400 more Torandoes than a normal year and its only July.
In 1985 the Lord used one of my seminary professors to inspire me to write a Sermon entitled “Wake up America!” that I have preached numerous times. It too is taken from the book of Amos. In that sermon I have said time and time again that we as a nation better wake up before its too late.
We like to think of ourselves as a Christian nation but the truth is we are Christian in name only. We are not one nation under God, but a nation of many gods, and many religions. I’ve read some reports that claim Budism and Mormanism are the two fastest growing religions in America today.
We like to believe that we do everything within our power to protect innocent children, but the truth is since the Supreme Court legalized abortions in America 50 million abortions have performed terminating the lives of 50 million innocent lives.
Thousands of other innocent children and teenagers are forced into prostitution or pornagraphy every year. It makes me sick at my stomach just to think about it. What’s next, child sacrafices?
We like to think of our nation as a family oriented nation that supports the traditional family and the Biblical model that marriage should be between one man and one woman. Unfortunately a growing number of Americans see nothing wrong with men marrying men, and women marrying women. In May of this year the California Supreme Court struck down a law that had defined marriage between one man and one woman. Ever since homosexual couples from all over the nation have been going to California to get married.
In 1996 Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act that essentially says that states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. But at least one of the candidates running for President wants to repeal that law.
Now most of you here this morning probably agree with just about everything I’ve said up to this point. However, some of you may be surprised and may not agree with me concerning what I believe is to blame for most if not all of these things. You see, I believe we are the problem. I believe The Christian Community, The Church in America is to blame for the despicable moral condition of our nation. We have kept our mouths shut, we’ve minded our own business, we’ve sat idly by, and tolerated all of these things. As a result the Church in America is on life support, and is in danger of experiencing the discipline and Judgment of the Lord, just as the churches in the Book of Revelation did
