INTRODUCTION
• SERMON VIDEO
• SLIDE #1
• America, when you hear the name, what do you think of? Do you think of America as the land of the free and the home of the brave?
• Do you see a nation where one can climb out of the clutches of poverty to the highest office in the land?
• Do you still think of America as a Christian nation?
• When you think about America, have you ever wondered how a bunch of rag-tag soldiers lead by a General who lost more battles than he won?
• How do you think America rose from her humble beginnings to the power house and bastion of freedom the country had achieved?
• America has been a light in this dark world for over 240 years now, but is that light getting a bit dim these days?
• Is our once great nation losing some of its luster? Are we the nation we once were? America, much like all the other nations has had its share of problems throughout history. Are we missing something are we missing something that could potentially lead our nation to ruin?
• In the book of Judges in the Old Testament, you will find a vicious cycle with the nation of Israel exhibited. They would go from prosperity to sin. sin to slavery, and slavery to repentance, repentance to freedom. The cycle continued though out the life of the nation.
• WE hear people and politicians sometimes say, GOD BLESS AMERICA! I think we have it wrong, we need to promote, AMERICA, BLESS GOD!
• I believe the only explanation for the successful founding of our country was that God had His hand in the mix. I believe Patrick Henry had it right when he wrote in his will in 1799:
• SLIDE #2
• Whether this [the American War for Independence] will prove a blessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation [Proverbs 14:34]. Reader! – whoever thou art, remember this! – and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others.
• This leads to our opening thought concerning HOW America can bless God.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. God’s people need to be GOD’S people.
• Our founders understood the need for God to be prevalent in the lives of Americans. Our institutions are a reflection of the people within the country.
• Our nation need those who call upon the name of Jesus to think and conduct themselves like they belong to Jesus.
• Christian’s are called to be a light to the world!
• SLIDE #4
• Matthew 5:14 (HCSB) You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.
• As Christians, we have to be the light to the world, when the country around us seems to be falling apart, it is up to us to help right the ship, but as long as we reflect the world in the way we live, we will never be able to impact the world in a positive way.
• In our country we have been given freedom, the problem our country is having is that we have forgotten that with freedom comes responsibility.
• The Founding Fathers understood that how a person uses their liberty or freedom will determine how well the nation would function.
• Look at what Galatians 5:13 reminds us…
• SLIDE #5
• Galatians 5:13 (HCSB) For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.
• In Greek philosophy Plato taught that freedom was defined as “to be at ones own disposal.” THIS WAS IN CONTRAST TO A SLAVE.
• The dictionary defines Freedom as, “a state in which somebody is able to act and live as he or she chooses, without being subject to any undue restraints or restrictions”
• The gift that we have is freedom, BUT freedom is not an absence of responsibility.
• Our founders used their freedom in Christ to serve a higher cause, many ended up losing all they had for the cause of freedom!
• SLIDE #6
• “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” – Samuel Adams February 12, 1779
• God’s people need to start taking action right now! You may think that one person cannot make a difference. Well, those trying to destroy the very foundation of this nation do not believe that. Madelyn Marie O’Hair was one person who made a difference; didn’t she!
• Freedom came from people being willing to sacrifice it all! Our country was founded by individuals who were ready to make a difference, they were willing to stand on their convictions in the face of death!
• Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families.
• Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
• SLIDE #7
• Ephesians 2:10 (HCSB) For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
• Christians have to go back to being God’s people of we want to see America bless God!
• SLIDE #8
II. God’s people need to impact America’s education system again!
• If are going to stay strong, we need to keep teaching our children the truth.
• SLIDE #9
• [T]he Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Noah Webster October 25, 1836
Does God belong in the school? It does not seem so today.
The New England Primer that was the standard textbook in schools for over 200 years beginning in Boston in 1690. It is FULL of Bible facts and teachings.
Our educational institutions were founded with God as the center. Look at these statements of philosophy of our major colleges in the United States.
Yale- Seeing God is the giver of all wisdom, every scholar, besides private or secret prayer... shall be present morning and evening at public prayer
Princeton- Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.
Harvard- Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus which is eternal life. John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.
SLIDE #10
November 1, 1802 The Ohio State constitution said:
Religion, morality, and knowledge, being essentially necessary to the good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision.
106 of the first 108 colleges formed in America and 123 of the first 126 were formed on Christian principles
By 1900. It was extremely rare to find a university president who was not an ordained clergyman.
• Since the 1960’s when the systematic removal of God from the schools took place, things have gotten worse and worse.
• Weeks after his inauguration, President George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance.
• The Northwest Ordinance, drafted concurrently with the creation of the First Amendment. That act stipulated that for a territory to become a State, the "schools and the means of education" in that territory must encourage the "religion, morality, and knowledge" that was "necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind."
• SLIDE #11
• Deuteronomy 11:18–19 (HCSB) “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
• We are all responsible for the education of our children, not the state!
• For America to bless God, next we need…
• SLIDE #12
III. God’s people need to influence government again.
• Notice as with education, God’s people need to influence government again. Our government was heavily influenced by Christianity.
• In a 10 year study the Political Science Professors at the University of Houston researched over 15,000 writing of the founders, they isolated 3154 direct quotes in these writings, of these direct quotes, 34% of these come directly from the Bible, another 60% were quotes from people like John Locke and Sir William Blackstone, who directly quoted the Bible. Over 94% of the quotes found in the writings of the founders came from the Bible.
• Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [July 4th]? . . . Is it not that in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior?
• That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth?
• That it laid the corner stone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity, and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies, announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets six hundred years before? 14 (BARTON) John Quincy Adams
• SLIDE #13
• “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extent, our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian.” – Illinois Supreme Court- the 1883 Illinois Supreme Court!
• SLIDE #14
• Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government. In 1811 The Supreme Court stated in People V Ruggles:
• I can bring you hundreds of quotes to show that the founders of our nation intended Christianity to impact government.
• WE need leaders who have a respect for God and His Word. Moral leaders will not lie, cheat, and steal. They will understand that what they do in this life affects the next!
CONCLUSION
• If we want God to bless America, maybe it is time once again for America To bless God!
• We have been entrusted with a great country, and it would be a shame for our country to fall into ruin because Christians did nothing but watch it fall.
• We need to reengage in our society in our education system, and our government!
