Have you ever thought about why America is so great? Could it be because America is so different? Let’s take a look at just some of the ways in which we are so different.
. . . Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
. . . Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
. . . Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage.
. . . Only in America do we use answering machines to screen calls and have call waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place.
. . . Only in America do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
At a prayer breakfast for Congress one time, Billy Graham said he believed that there were many times in the history of America when certain men stood for God and actually changed the course of our history.
With that in mind, let’s go back to the first Constitutional Convention, where the delegates were burdened with the pressures of their time, and they exhausted from trying to hammer out a new government’s precepts.
These men were so frustrated at not being able to agree on a Constitution that they were all but ready to throw the whole idea out and forget it. But, it was during this upheaval of spirit, that one older man with white hair stood up, calm and deliberate. That man was Benjamin Franklin, and this is what he said:
“Gentlemen, if it is true that not one single petal from any flower falls to the ground
without escaping God’s attention, will the distress of this nation go unheeded? Let us therefore determine to seek His face.”
These men did something that would cause many legal challenges today. They immediately put down their pens and all got on their knees in prayer. When they got back on their feet, the slogan ‘E Pluribus Unum’ was born. “One Out Of Many.”
In the Living Bible, EPHESIANS 4:4-6 says,
“We are all parts of one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. For us, there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and we all have the same God and Father who is over us all and in us all, and living through every part of us.”
I believe that is why Christians should celebrate the 4th of July. We are One Nation – Under God.
As Americans, we are used to giving praise, aren’t we? We give our loved ones praise when they do something good; we give coworkers praise in the form of incentives and encouragement.
There is a cartoon I once saw of a man who was obviously having the worst bad-hair day of his life, and the caption said, “When I woke up this morning, I had one never left, and you are starting to get on it!”
Sometimes, we praise our kids for not getting on our last nerve, don’t we?
Sometimes, we are so busy giving our praises to others, that we all but forget who we are supposed to give all praise to. In PSALM 150, we read,
“Praise the Lord, praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre, praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”
We tend to praise everything in our lives, from our toasters to our pets, but in reality, the practice of praise belongs to none other than our Lord in Heaven. I think that we have an invitation to give God praise this morning, and I also think He is due our praise.
MATTHEW HENRY once said,
“Holy joy is the heart and soul of praise..”
In PSALM 33:1, we are told,
“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous”
In VERSE 3, it says,
“Sing to Him a new song, play skillfully and shout for joy!”
I think it is time that America should sing one song, in harmony, and that song should be a song of praise to God. God may be invisible to our human eyes, but he is so visible to our Christian hearts.
As Americans, we have led a comfortable life, haven’t we? They used to call this the Life of Riley. They even wrote a song about it. That song said, “Everything’s going my way!”
And, because we have led this life for so long, we have started taking it for granted. But, life is not a guarantee of all things good, is it? Sometimes, we find that life offers us some very hard realities that we just cannot seem to cope with.
· Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941
· Assassination of President Kennedy, November 22, 1963
· Twin Towers, September 11, 2001.
Those who were enjoying a routine day in Hawaii did not plan on the Japanese bombing them. President Kennedy didn’t know that he would be killed that day, did he? Those individuals on the 87th floor didn’t realize that this would be their last day on earth, did they?
What am I getting at? God does not let us know how long we have, but He will always give us enough time to make a decision that will impact our eternity. A writer once penned,
“What a sad pity that this earth, so full of the proofs of God’s goodness, should be so empty and void of His praises; an with all the multitudes who live upon His bounty, there are so very few who live for His glory.”
We worship the God of old. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He never changes. So why are we so intent on having God change for us instead of us being willing to change for Him?
God is the power; we are not. Listen to the words of this hymn that was written as a praise.
O, Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars; I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power through out the universe displayed.
When through the woods and forest glades I wander - and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Though art, How great Thou Art!
Greece built a society on culture and it failed. Rome built her society on military power and it crumbled.
The nation that survives is not the nation with the power; not the nation with the military might; not the nation with all the intellect, nor the nation with all the wealth, but the nation whose God is the Lord.
Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the Ten Commandments. To show you how this country has gotten away from God, in one split decision, they ruled that it was illegal to display the Ten Commandments on government property. In the other, they ruled that it was okay because of its historical significance. And they did this while the Ten Commandments are publicly displayed in their courtroom! Can anyone besides me see rebellion in them?
I have news for those justices on that bench. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot rule against God, either. Either God is the driving force in your life, or He isn’t any kind of a force in your life.
We are a nation who is quickly forcing God out of our lives. To see what is in store for us, all we have to do is go to 2 CHRONICLES and read what happened to Israel during King Asa’s reign.
To summarize, a man by the name of Azariah went to meet King Asa and he was returning from battle, and told him that the Lord would stay with him as long as Asa would stay with him, but if Asa turned his back on the Lord, the Lord would forsake Asa.
The Lord gives us the same promise today. If we forsake Him, He will forsake us. I think America has done a pretty good job in the last 30 years of turning our backs on our God, don’t you?
Every time Israel turned their backs on God, God punished them harshly. Every time they came back to God, He rewarded them. WAKE UP, AMERICA! READ THE HISTORY! We are on the verge of receiving God’s wrath, and when we do, Christians and non-Christians will both be struck.
A nation without God is a nation of moral decay.
A nation without God is a nation of internal fighting.
A nation without God is a nation without any hope.
A nation with God is a nation kept safe.
A nation with God is a nation tht walks in promise.
A nation with God is a nation who gives praise to our God.
In most presidential inaugurations, they have the Bible open to a particular verse. That verse is 2 CHRONICLES 7:14. It states,
“If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
In closing, let me say that we need to hear the truth, and the truth today is a warning of what is going to happen because of our rebellious attitudes and hearts. But, I do not want to end a glorious Sunday evening on a negative note, so I will close for now, but I do want to leave you with one last piece of information.
In PSALM 33:12, it clearly states,
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance.”
So, let us enjoy our Independence Day tomorrow, but as we do, let us remember who we are really dependent upon, and let us not forget to praise His holy name!
INVITATION
