AMERICA:  Leader or Follower?

America has enjoyed an abundance never before known among nations.  And make no mistake; the things we have had were blessings … blessings from our Heavenly Father.  They did not come by man’s hands, nor did they “just happen that way.”

Since this coming Friday is Independence Day, I think it only appropriate to talk about America; her she was founded, where she gets her blessings; and what we must do in return for what we have been given. 

Let me begin by asking you …. 

1.   What do you expect FROM America? 

If someone were to ask you what you wanted in life, among the first things you would think of is happiness, the freedom to do things you want, and the rights to be secure and safe.  These are the things you want from America. 

Everyone wants to be happy, don’t they?  You want to be happy and you want your children to be happy, too.  We even want our neighbors to be happy, because nobody likes being around unhappy people. 

We also want the freedom to come and go as we please; the freedom to choose the things we want in life.  And the freedom to pursue those things through higher education, hard work, or mental ingenuity. 

And, we want to feel safe and secure.  We do not want to live our lives knowing somebody is out to get us, or we have to hide and stay in the shadows.  And we want the same for our children and our children’s children. 

These are the things you expect from America, the land of the free, and the home of the brave.  But we must remember that there is an old saying that is true:  “Nothing is free.” 

If we want our nation to give us these things, what are we willing to give our nation?  Are we willing to give anything of ourselves to make sure the blessings keep flowing, or are we just willing to take them all and give nothing back?  For the last two generations, we have failed in teaching our children that with every freedom, with every liberty, with every blessing, comes an accountability to be responsible for them. 

So we must realize what we want from America, and then decide what we are willing to give back to America. 

So as we ask what it is that we should expect from America, we need to ask … 

2.   WHAT CAN AMERICA EXPECT FROM YOU? 

I think it was best said by President George Washington: 

"I now make it my prayer that God would keep you, the leaders of this new nation, in His holy protection.  That He would incline the hearts of the citizens to subordinate and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly love for one another, and finally that He would most graciously be pleased to have us to love mercy, charity, humility.  And that He would make us be temperate of mind, and have the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, without which, we shall never hope to be a happy nation.” 

And so it is my contention that it is okay to want our nation to afford us every possible freedom, liberty, and abundance.  But it is also my contention that in exchange for these things, it is my duty to help keep my country safe, and that includes going to war when necessary and getting involved in government as a Christian so I can influence and effect policies that would allow our government to continue depending on God’s leadership.  

My question to you is this:  As a Christian, do you think you should do any less? 

For instance, let’s go back and revisit the first Constitutional Convention, where delegates were fighting against time to develop this new nation’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 – and we are still united under God.

To answer the question, “What can America expect from you?”  I think we need to realize that men who feared God started this country with Him as its head, and your responsibility to this country is to do all you can to make sure he stays the head.  And that includes getting involved in government as much as you can, and to the very least …. vote.

Am I going to tell you which man to vote for?  No I am not; for two reasons.  One is that in recent years it has become against the federal law for me to do so.  If I were to do that, I would jeopardize the status of this church to be a church.  But the second reason, and more importantly, is that you have been blessed with the freedom of having choices.

One of those choices is whom you want as your next president.  As far as guiding you in your vote, I will say one thing.  And I urge you to listen to me with every fiber in your body.

Draw a line from one side of the paper to the other.  In the very middle of that line, draw a circle.  That circle represents God.  You want to determine which candidate’s position is closest to that of God’s position.

• You want to consider such things as:

• Their opinion on war

• Their opinion on government programs to help people

• Their opinion on making people responsible for helping themselves

• Their opinion on whether God should be in or out of government

• And whatever else you can think of.

Now, somewhere on each side of that circle, draw a smaller circle.  That smaller circle will be the candidate.  Place those smaller circles next to the larger circle in relation to how close their beliefs are to God’s written Word. 

See, it isn’t so much Democrat versus Republican anymore.  We are in a very perilous time in America, so it now becomes a “who resembles God the most” election.  Now, keep it mind that neither one will resemble God very much in this election cycle, but whose agenda more closely reflects God’s agenda. 

For instance, God says, “Do not kill.”  If you had a candidate up there that was a proponent of murder, you would say he does not reflect the will of God, so you could not vote for him. 

And let me please say one more thing in regards to elections.  There are a growing number of Christians who think that Christians should not be involved in government or politics.  There are several reasons for this attitude:

In past generations, preachers got very involved in politics.  Going back as far as the American Revolution, preachers would take their guns and go out on the battlefields to slay the enemy.  And then on Sunday, they would bring those same guns in and lay them on their pulpits as they preached the word of God. 

You say that is not Godly.  Let me please remind you of what the Bible tells us. 

In NUMBERS 21, we see where Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert and they needed to go through the Amorite country.  They sent a messengers to King Sihon, king of the Amorites and asked if they could cut across his lands on their journey.  

The king not only said, “No”, he gathered up his army and went to attack the Israelites. They caught up with the Israelites at Jahaz and began to fight them.  The Israelites fought back and defeated them, taking over their territory.  In that same chapter, we see where they went up toward Bashan, and their king took his army out to meet them and destroy them, too.  But we also see that God gave Moses an anointing of victory and the Israelites defeated that army, too, and then they took over their lands as well.  

We see example after example of how God led the Israelites into battle, giving them the divine upper hand.   But in every battle, we see one common thread.  We see where the armies were made up of the men of their nation.  And whom do you think made up the government?  It was made up of men from the nation, too. 

So as today, our armies are made up of volunteers, and sometimes, we must go out and do battle.  But what do we find prevalent today?  We find men and women who join the armed forces and take every opportunity they have to offer, but then refuse to go do battle when the time to do so has come.  They opt out, saying they object to war.  What I don’t understand is, if they object to going to war, why in the world would they want to join the military in the first place? 

In DEUTERONOMY 20:5-9, it tells us that the Israelites had the same problem.  

‘The officers shall say to the army:  “Has anyone built a new house and not dedicated it?  Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may dedicate it.  Has anyone planted vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?  Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.  Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her?  Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her. 

‘Then the officers shall add, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted?  Let him go home so that his brothers will not become disheartened too.” 

So we do see the need for Godly men to be involved in the civil affairs of our nation, including war and politics.  And they to bring their faith to work with them.  For how can a man claim to be a Christian when he does not take Christ everywhere he goes, whether it is to the battlefields or to the White House? 

To understand why we have a duty to America, we need to first understand … 

3.  WHAT MAKES AMERICA SO GREAT? 

Have you ever wondered just what it is that makes our nation so great?  What makes it so different?  Here are a few ways we are different than other nations. 

• 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 buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

Skipping past the humorous let me jump right to the chase.  America is great because of how we were formed. 

Americans are used to giving praise, aren’t we?  We give our loved ones praise when they do something good; and we even give our pets praise for something so simple as taking a treat from our hand.

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 nerve left, and you are starting to get on it!”

We even give praise our kids for not getting on our nerves, don’t we?  But sometimes, we are so busy giving praises to others, that we forget whom 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!”

I think our number one requirement in life is to give God our praise all the time.  And what better way to give Him praise than through His Son, Jesus Christ.  To rise each morning and sing a new song unto the Lord, while praising His holy Son.

 In PSALM 33:1 we are told,

“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous”

I think it is time for America to 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 very visible to our Christian hearts.’

As Americans, we have led a comfortable life, haven’t we?  They used to call it the ‘Life of Riley.’  We are so self-focused on the easy life, somebody wrote a song that says, “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

And the list goes on and on

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.  Those individuals on the 87th floor of the Twin Towers didn’t realize that 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; and 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 The
How great Thou art
How great Thou Art!

The nation that survives is not the nation with the power; it is not the nation with the military might; it is not the nation with all the intellect, nor the nation with all the wealth.  The nation that survives will be the nation whose God is the Lord.

To show you how far this country has gotten away from God, the Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal to even show the Ten Commandments on government property. And they did this while the Ten Commandments are publicly displayed in their courtroom!  Can anyone besides me see a rebellious attitude towards God in those judges?  Can anyone but me see how they have done their very best to make America fall by taking away our God?

Look at New York.  Teenagers as young as 12-years old can get a sex-change operation.  Look at California.  They recently made it legal for homosexuals to get married.

This is a true story.  Years ago, we had trouble with somebody trying to break into our home at night.  I had some friends on the local police department, and I told one of them I was going to sit in the dark all night, with my gun at the ready.  And if the person tried to get into the house, I was going to shoot him.

My friend told me that if I shot the person and he fell outside I could get prosecuted for murder, so if that happened, I should go out and push him thru the window to where he was inside.  And then I was to call 9-1-1 and say I shot him after he got inside.  My friend said that way; I would only be defending myself. 

Would I do the same thing today?  Not a chance.  That decision came from a young man in his early 20’s who wasn’t focused all that much on God.  Today, at my age and with my focus on God, I would leave it all up to the police and I would spend my time in prayer.

But to even be told that, I wondered what in the world has happened to my country?  Right has become wrong, and wrong has become right.  We have turned our collective backs on God Almighty, and wonder why things are falling apart.  Nearly 80% of minority babies are born into fatherless homes, and nearly 40% of white babies are born into fatherless homes.  Nobody cares anymore about anything or anybody but themselves!  Can the Lord far behind?

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 alike will be struck.

There is only one solution.  That solution is found in,

2 CHRONICLES 7:14.

“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.”

Hal Lindsay says his calling is to be the Watchman on the Wall.  That was  a person in ancient Israel who walked on top of the walls that surrounded the city.  It was his job to yell out any warnings of approaching harm in time for the city to get prepared to defend itself.

Each Christian is given a specific calling, and not all Christians are called to do the same thing.  I have been called to preach, but I have been called to put my main focus in one area:  The area of explaining the very urgent need of salvation.  For no matter what else I might teach you, if you do not have salvation through Jesus Christ, I haven’t taught you anything.

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 morning on a negative note, so I will close 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.”

Let us enjoy our Independence Day this coming Friday, but as we do, let us remember Whom we really are dependent upon, and let us not forget to praise His holy name – in everything we say and in everything we do!

And let us ask ourselves these two questions.  If America is a leader, who is it leading?  And if it is a follower, just whom is it following?

The answers is that American is a leader, and it should be leading people to Christ Jesus.  And it is a follower, and it should be following God Almighty.

Are you leading anyone to Christ by the way you live your life?  Are you living your life to follow God?  If you aren’t, I ask you to walk up here with me and let me have the honor and privilege of going with you as you approach God in prayer.

INVITATION