Sermon for Sunday July 5th, 2009

A CITIZENS RESPONSIBILITY by Bruce Ball

Psalms 33:12-33:12


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 yesterday was Independence Day, I think it only appropriate to talk about America; how 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.

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, then we must be willing to give something back to our nation. But what could we possible give to America in return for what she has given us?

For the last two generations, we have failed to teach our children that with every freedom, with every liberty, with every blessing, comes an accountability to be responsible for them. That when we ignore personal responsibility, we encourage disorder and chaos. 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 be obedient to government, to entertain a brotherly love for one another, and finally that He would most graciously be pleased to have us show love mercy, charity, and humility. And that He would make us be temperate of mind, having the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, without which, we shall never hope to be a happy nation.’

I believe it is okay to want our nation to give us what we want in the form of freedom, liberty, and abundance. But I also believe that in exchange for these things, it is our explicit duty to help keep our country safe. That includes going to war when necessary, and getting involved in government as Christians so we 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 a flower falls to the ground without escaping God’s attention, will the distress of this nation go unnoticed by Him? 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,

’As believers, 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 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 – united in all we do, and whether we realize it or not, we are still 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 dedicating a portion of your time each day to honest and focused prayer for our nation, our leaders, and our fellow citizens. It also might mean getting involved in government as much as you can, and at the very least; study on who believes what, and then get out and vote - not for the party, but for the one who you think will help America keep her focus on God the most.

And before you vote, you want to consider what their opinions are on such things as:

· · The necessity of waging war
· · How much should government care for people? Should we be a place of subsidy for those who don’t want to work, or just for those who temporarily cannot work?
· · Should the government expect people to be personally responsible for the decisions they make?
· · Should God should be in or out of our government?

America has changed in the last couple of decades. It has changed, because the people have changed. 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 fight 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 once again, 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 defeated armies all had the same priority – conquer and defeat the Israelites because they hated them. But in the Israelite victories, we see one common mindset, too. We see where their priority was to protect its people.

I personally believe that today, we also have times when we must engage in battle to protect our citizens and our nation. And that means to go where the battle is being waged rather than waiting until it comes knocking at our doors at home.

One problem we encounter today is that many of our citizens would rather sit home and take whatever comes, rather than stand up and go out and fight for what the freedoms they enjoy. We have people who are more interested in when their next welfare check is coming from than they are in how they can help our nation preserve its Godly heritage.

We should fully see that there is a need for Godly men and women to become involved in all facets of government. And they should not be afraid to bring their faith to work with them, either. How can a person claim to be a Christian when they go to work, yet leave Christ at home? To be a Christian means you take Christ everywhere you go; whether it be to the battlefield or to the White House, or anywhere in between.

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 us 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 humor let me jump right to the chase. America is great because of how we were formed. We were purposely and intentionally formed to be under God’s supervision and leadership.

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 believing in 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 ‘living the life of Riley.’ It seems that today’s Americans are only 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 to enjoy His bounty, there are so very few who live to give Him glory.’

We worship the God of old. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He never changes. 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 Thou art
How great Thou Art!’

The nation that survives will not be the nation with the power; or with the strongest military might. It will not be the nation with all the intellect, or the nation with all the wealth. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, 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 the rebellious states around this nation who have 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 7:14-15.

‘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. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.’

God does not say that everyone has to pray, just His people who are called by His name. That would be Christians. But He does say that if Christians would offer up honest prayer, He will hear and He will heal our land.

Do you want America to get back to God? Do you want it to run away from the liberal and satanic direction it is now headed? If you do, then pray. Pray like you have never prayed before. For if you don’t think it is important enough to devote a little time to praying for America, God won’t think America is important enough to heal her.

Hal Lindsay is a former pastor who has been called by God to teach prophecy. He 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 tomorrow. And what we encounter tomorrow will be directly 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.’

We enjoyed our 4th of July celebrations yesterday, as well we should. But, more importantly, let us remember who allowed us to have the freedoms we celebrated, and let us not forget to praise His holy name – every single day of our lives! Let us be truly appreciative for what we have been given.

And let us ask ourselves these two questions. If America is a leader, whom 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.