The Making Of A Great Nation

The Making of a Great Nation

Proverbs 14:34-35

* I ran across this editorial written a few years ago by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. The following text was printed in our nation’s Congressional Record: “This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I’d like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don’t they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon not once, but several times and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don’t think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I’m one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those." Stand proud, America

* America is a great nation! We are great for many reasons. From God’s word, last week we consider the topic, “One Nation Under ________?” Looking at the culture how would God fill in that blank. Today, on this the 234th Birthday of our nation, let look into our Bibles and discover a little of the meaning found in the “Making of a Great nation.” Turn to our text.

* From these verses we can discern 4 needed truths for us to embrace.

The making of a great nation – Pg 2

1. The Desire from a Nation – Let us not speak about other nations as they have their own thoughts, but let’s consider the fundamental desire of the USA. Based on the facts of American history, our founding fathers desired;

a. To be Strong – Those 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence possessed a strong desire for the United States of America to become a strong nation (just like every other nation). Yet, these men possessed an understanding that it would be God’s 3 institutions which made the nation strong and safe. The family was and is God’s first institution. In the home we are to teach our children the truths of God. It is no problem to teach them about sport, entertainment, and success; but it develops into a huge problem when we teach our ONLY the things of this world. The home is where mom and dad teach the children how to love God, learn His word, and live like Jesus. Very few things have the potential to make any nation strong like a strong family unit. The Church and the Government round out God’s three basics institutions. The church exposes evil while the government restrains evil. The church focuses on the heart while the government focuses on behavior. The church & government are not to work counter to each other and not in unison, but in harmony. In music, harmony is everything. Whether tradition, contemporary, southern gospel, bluegrass, or classical, the right HARMONY brings about the desired response. For a nation to be strong, these have to their work.