INTRODUCTION:
In Lee Greenwood’s signature ultra-patriotic song “God Bless the USA” he says these words: If tomorrow all my things were gone,I'd worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,With just my children and my wife.
I'd thank my lucky stars,To be livin' here today.
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom,And they can't take that away.
The idea that comes across is that even if we don’t have much, we have something because we have freedom… freedom that other countries do not have. America is the land of the free.
And we are blessed because we are free.
From the Declaration of Independence we read these words… written 243 years ago:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The first ten amendments to the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights, were added to guarantee the priceless rights and freedoms that all Americans may enjoy. Freedom of Religion. Freedom of Speech. Freedom of the Press. The Right to Bear Arms or to protect yourself and your family. The right to have equal justice, to own private property, to freely assemble and hold meetings, and the list goes on.
In the United States of America we enjoy many freedoms. For instance… We can freely read, study, and distribute the Bible, God’s Holy Word, without fear of being persecuted, thrown in jail, or possibly even killed like in other parts of the world. There are churches on almost every corner. We are free to worship in the way our conscience dictates. We are also free to not believe, to reject God and His Word completely.
But should we ever forget where we got those freedoms in the first place, Our Forefathers wrote it down in Black and White. They were given to us by God, Our Creator.
Ronald Reagan once said this… “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Freedom is nothing to be taken for granted.
Just three days ago we celebrated our Nation’s Holiday – Independence Day! We watched the fireworks displays lighting up dark skies with brilliant colors. Maybe you celebrated by having a cookout with your family or going to a parade. And maybe you remembered to say a quiet prayer for our nation and for our President.
This month I invite you to think about those words - “God Bless The USA.”
That is a prayer, isn’t it? What does that prayer mean to you? What do those words that are so often said mean to us really? Do we really want God’s Blessing? Do we really want God to bless our nation?
Then what must we do to seek that blessing? What must we do to receive God’s Blessing?
I was thinking about how I should preach this message or this series of messages, and it got me to thinking, I could go on about how our nation is and has turned away from God, forsaken the Gospel, and forgotten what our Forefathers fought and bled to give us. And all of that would be true, but how does that help us? Maybe … perhaps we … I spend way too much time looking at what the world is doing and not nearly enough time on what we need to do to change the world. I could spend all my time wagging my finger at the corruption around us and still not encourage the Church to be the light of the world. We should be just like those fireworks lighting up the darkness. So this month we going to focus on God’s Blessing and how we can lead the way in seeking God’s Blessing for our nation.
BODY:
Please Turn in your Bibles to... Psalms chapter 33
Psalm 33:12 (NIV) says…
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.
If we back up a few verses, verse 8 says this…
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.
13 From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; 14 from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth— 15 he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.
“Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him.”
The popular of opinion is that we should basically keep our religion to ourselves so that we don’t encroach on someone else’s freedom of religion. We don’t want to offend and we don’t want to judge. Down the street from us in Bethany there are several other churches or congregations worshiping today. Some are growing, some are shrinking and dying. What makes the difference?
Some churches have forgotten the reason they exist, the mission that Christ set before us to make disciples of all nations, to call sinners to repentance, and to proclaim the Word of the Lord.
The Bible says Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people He chose for His inheritance. His inheritance is Eternal Life. Those who will inherit it will be those who fear the Lord and follow Jesus. So how can we expect God to bless our nation if the church is not actively evangelizing and reaching out to the lost?
Because the Lord is watching… watching to see who will be His faithful servant, who will serve the least of these. 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV) says- “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” The hearts of those who are fully committed to Him.
If we want God to Bless our Nation, then the Church has got to start being the Church.
I mentioned before how we can take those freedoms that we have for granted. We live in the freest country in the world. We have all the resources and opportunities to do so. Why do we not take advantage of what God has given us and what men and women have fought to protect? We do we huddle inside our four walls practicing our religion when the world is lost?
Shame on us for using our time so wastefully, so selfishly, and with so much apathy.
Don’t you know what we have been given in this life? We have been given the chance to be a blessing to the nations. We can be the first Bible that someone reads, the first experience that they have with God, the family that loves them to Jesus, the place where they come to know the Lord.
1 Peter 2:9 New International Version (NIV) says…
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
We have been given an incredible opportunity, a great responsibility, and a chance to make this world a better place. We can sit around complaining about how bad this world is getting, or we can get on our knees (like the believers used to do) and pray for our nation and then get up off those knees and do something about it.
You see the church wasn’t made for pews, a pulpit, and some classrooms. The Church was made for souls… lost souls like you and me who came to know Christ and everyone else that doesn’t know Him but could … if only … if only we would decide to do something with that freedom that God has given us.
There’s that saying, “Freedom’s never free.” It cost something for you to have that freedom. Soldiers who fought on the front-lines to protect our God given freedoms. And Christ died so that you and I could be free from sin and death. What will cost us so that others may be free?
You are a chosen people. What are we chosen for? You are a royal priesthood. Chosen to be priests of the kingdom to share the Gospel, representing God to this world. You are a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.
Those phrases “chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, God’s special possession” are taken from the OT. That’s what Israel was to God. He told Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing… and all people on earth will be blessed through you.”
- Genesis 12:2-3 NIV
Peter applies these words to us, to Christians, to the Church. You see it is God’s desire to bless the world through us… To Bless America. If we want God to bless the USA, then we need to ask God to make us a blessing. To use us. But will we be a blessing or a curse?
CONCLUSION:
Ronald Reagan may have said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,” but so is the Church. And if we don’t reach this generation for Christ, there will be no Church for the next generation. It’s time to ask God to light the fire in each of us so we can light up the darkness and that through us God will Bless the USA.
