Prayer... Personally Powerful...

I had occasion today to run across an illustration I picked up years ago and what a powerful statement it made.  Let me share it with you, for I am confident that the Lord will work in your heart as he did in mine.

 
    A minister passing through his church in the middle of the day, decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray. Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle. The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn't shaved in awhile. His shirt was kinda' shabby and his coat was worn and frayed. The man knelt, he bowed his head, then rose and walked away. In the days that followed, each noon time came this chap.  Each time he knelt just for a moment, a lunch pail in his lap.

    Well, the minister's suspicions grew, with robbery a main fear! He decided to stop the man and ask him, "Watcha' doin' here?"  The old man, who worked down the road, unknown to the minister had only  half an hour for lunch. Lunchtime was his prayer time, for finding strength and power.  The old man looked up at the minister and replied,  "I come to pray, I can only stay a moment, see, 'cause the factory is so far away;  As I kneel here talking' to the Lord, this is kinda' what I say: "I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN. I DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.  SO, JESUS, THIS IS JIM CHECKIN' IN, I LOVE YOU, THANKS AND I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW ‘BOUT THIS SAME TIME."

The minister was stunned and humbled, feeling even a little foolish.  He hardly knew what to say, but managed to say, “Jim, that’s just fine.  You’re welcome to come and pray here anytime.” With a big smile Jim said, “Time to go reverend, ‘Thanks.’" He hurried to the door.

The minister turned... and humbly knelt at the alter. His cold heart melted, warmed with love, having met again in Jesus again in Jim. As the tears flowed down his cheeks, in his heart, he repeated old Jim's prayer: "Jesus, this is me checkin' in.  I just came to tell you, Lord, how happy I've been, since we found each other's friendship and you took away my sin. I don't know much of how to pray, but I think about you everyday.  Thanks!  I’ll see you hear again about this time tomorrow."

            After several weeks of not seeing Jim, the minister became worried. At the factory, he asked about Jim and learned that he was ill and in the hospital. The hospital staff was worried, but he'd given them a thrill.  The week that Jim was with them, brought changes in the ward. His smiles, a joy contagious.  Changed people, his reward. The head nurse couldn't understand why Jim was so glad. When no flowers, calls or cards came, not even one visitor!

            The minister came to Jim’s bed and expressed the nurses concern.  Opening his weak eyes, Jim looked surprised.  Old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile; "The nurse is wrong, though she couldn't know, that all the while He sits right down with me each day at noon, he takes my hand, leans over and says to me: "I Just came again to tell you, Jim, how happy I have been, since we found this friendship, and I took away your sin. I always love to hear you pray, I think about you each and every day, and so Jim, this is Jesus checking in, just letting you know I’ll always be here too."

{17} 

pray without ceasing; {18} in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”  1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

Do you pray my friend?...  If not... well...   I encourage you to so!

God bless you!

May you see God in each and every day

May you come to know God in every way

May you grow to love God

May you choose to serve God

Pastor Ken

 

Another Tragic Fruit from Seeds of Rejection of God

Years ago our family was traumatized by the death of a teacher who was murdered in her car outside of Dozier Middle School where my children attended. Since that time, these type of heinous events have multiplied and the magnitude of their scope also.  Some  years later, our family was impacted once again by the Virginia Tech shooting as one of our sons high school friends was in the building when the tragic shootings there occurred.  All of this grieves me to the very depth of my soul.  But no one is looking at the real problem.  no one is focusing on the real cause!    

Before we have even had time to grasp the scope of this terrible tragedy, the Democrats and the liberal media have begun politicizing this event in order to strip us of another Constitutional right.  You see friends, the problem we face that has led once again to such a hienous event, is not the guns... the solution is not banning guns.  The problem is in the hands that hold and use the guns.  There is no way to predict or to protect from such a random act of violence.  No amount of police patrol, security guards or procedures can stop these acts.  The Principle at Sandy Hook Elementary School had just installed a new security system and the school doors were locked each day after students arrived.  The gunman shot through the locks.  So much for security.  The media and many foolish leaders are saying that we must remove guns from law abiding citizens so that only law enforcement have them.  I can tell you as a former police officer that I never took a legal gun off of any criminal, they were always stolen or unregistered weapons that I recovered.  Besides, it took law enforcement 20 minutes to respond to this event.  One trained administrator or teacher could have dramatically changed the events of December the 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Removing guns from the hands of law abiding citizens will guarantee the supremacy of criminals and assure that deranged persons like the man that did this have the upper hand.  Rather than removing guns from the hands of law abiding citizens, we should equip and train them with guns, especially those to whom we entrust the care of our most vulnerable citizens, our children and the elderly.  We have forgotten what our greatest President George Washington very wisely said, "The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil Interference - they deserve  a place of honor with all that's good.... Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth.  G. Washington"  Many would not want to consider this truth, but had the principle, assistant principle or school psychologist or someone in the administration, or even the teacher in the first room the gunmen entered been licensed to carry a concealed weapon and trained to use it effectively, though a few may have lost their life that day, the massacre that occurred would have been thwarted!

The REAL problem is that for 25 to 30 years now we have systematically removed God and the Bible, the 10 Commandments and every symbol of true Biblical Christianity and with this, the moral and ethical framework that this provides for every aspect of our culture.  Our founders understood that the structures of our government depended strongly on men and women whose lives were shaped by the truths and commands of true Biblical Christianity.  But in our day we do not teach this anymore and in fact, do everything we can to hinder these eternal truths and now even proclaim that some of these truths are wrong.  We then have the audacity to ask where God was when this kind of tragedy occurs.  Even worse, in the height of hypocrisy, the media and many legislators and even our president dare to call on the very God they have disdained by their words, rhetoric and votes, to provide the comfort and relief so desperately needed in times of crisis. 

The media is buzzing with their feigned concern and care, pretending to nobly seek answers to this calamity, interviewing clergy (the one I heard is a charlatan) who offer no real help, only some humanistic concoction of pseudo religion and pop psychology.  But there is a solution to this problem.  There is an answer the will reduce the violence, and every other malady that has gotten so out of proportion but the media and government don't want to hear it. The solution to the problem that we have created by our mass retreat from the Biblical values upon which our founders based our nation, is to reinstate those values!  Yes, that is correct!!  A return to the Biblical ethic upon which our nation was founded and our laws framed.  A return to "One Nation Under God."  The fix is not going to be quick because we have spawned an awful crop of wickedness and amoral thinking and a lie that everything is situational and that there is no absolute truth!

Tragically, the liberal media and the democratic party, (whom you may recall didn't even want God in their party platform) are already manipulating public opinion, screaming to remove another constitutional right and this President that America has reelected has promised on National Television to move that agenda forward.  What a tragedy, we once again will treat the symptom and not the cause.

I find that it is very difficult for me to ask God to Bless America any more, or to intervene in our affairs.  It seems very hypocritical to ask God to bless our nation that has so totally rejected Him, that has so rubbed our willful and despicable sin in His face.  I am becoming more convinced that God has honored our request and removed His presence and His power from us as a nation and a people.  I believe that Christians in America need to consider the possibility that times of great struggle may well be before us and that we need to learn the lesson of Daniel (Dan 6), of his three friends (Daniel 3), of Lazarus (Luke 7) in the gospels or Stephen in Acts 7 and others of God's great servants who brought great glory to God, not through times of ease and comfort, but through the Lion's Den, the Fiery Furnace, death by stoning, death from a difficult illness that provided God the opportunity to glorify His Son Jesus Christ before a mocking world. 

As a pastor, I have often been asked, why it is that God allows bad things to happen to "good" people.  My first thought when asked this is Christ's statement that "there is none good," but then I take a moment and explain the truth that Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary suffered and died, even though the sisters had called for Jesus to come and heal him.  Jesus could have easily done that healing from right where he was!  Did He not heal the Centurions servant with a word, due to the great faith of this Roman soldier?  But in the case of Lazarus (Luke 7) the only reason he had to suffer so and that, to the point of death, was so that the Lord Christ could stand outside of the tomb and call Him back to life, so that there would be no question that Christ had the power to do so!  The only reason Lazarus had to suffer and die was in order for Jesus Christ to receive the Glory that He is due!   It is only God's servants who can reveal the truth of the presence and power of the one true living God. What we must remember is that whether we live or die, whether we prosper or suffer, God is able to deliver us even if that deliverance is through death as in the case of Stephen. 

Perhaps we need to get back to the full council of God and realize the truth that Daniels three friends understood, that service to God is required no matter the condition.  Dan 3:16-18 NASB  Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.  (17)  "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  (18)  "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."   There may well come a time here in these United States of America, that we, like Peter and John, like our founders, must stand up and say as we read in Acts 5, "We must obey God rather than men."  

Our nation has turned from God and rejected our heritage.  I close with words, again from our first and greatest president, George Washington who said, "It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.  G. Washington"

My deep Christian concern and my heart-felt prayers (not some foolish "moment of silence" which has no efficacy at all that is designed to appeases atheist and once again smacks the God of the Universe in the face) go out to those families whose lives have been so violently torn by the evil that we collectively have spawned through the inaction of Christians and the actions of the liberal and ungodly who have wrested this nation from us.  I deeply hope that we will wake up and turn back to God and set this nation back on a course that reintroduces the Biblical moral and ethical values. That reinstitutes Christian prayer, the 10 Commandments and the Christian moral and ethical standards that once made our nation great! 

Powerful Movie, Powerful Message

Got a call from Bennie Mullins yesterday, a dear friend, from FBC Savage, who was just checking up with me to see how Penny and I were doing.  I do so appreciate he and Beverly.  I appreciate a brother in the Lord who cares enough to make a difference.

During the course of the conversation he challenged me to go and see the new movie Courageous. 

As we closed our conversation and my day progressed, I kept thinking about that and remembered that I had missed the opportunity to preview the movie while serving as Pastor of FBC Savage due to my move to Fort Wayne. I have seen and purchased most of the movies that Sherwood Baptist Church has produced, Flywheel, Fireproof, Facing the Giants... I guess the last time we went to the movies was to see Fireproof. Those of you who know me and my past can imagine what a powerful movie that was and the impact it made on me. It took a long time to process that movie...

All of that aside, I knew that we should go and see Courageous, not only because I was confident the movie would have a good message, but even more because I wanted to support a church that was impacting the nation for Christ with movies that provided clear, conservative Biblical values.

Well, when Penny called I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies. "No Brainer"... "DA.." I don't know a woman that isn't delighted when her husband wants to take her out on a date! We showed up at the theater at about 7:00, the movie start time was 7:10 and to our surprise, there wasn't a single person at the theater! Of course, who goes to a movie on a Tuesday night? :o) Besides, the movie has been out since September. We're a little slow when it comes to TV and movies. We don't even have regular cable, just one of those cheap digital antenna's to get the local channels for the news.

Within a few minutes another young couple came in and as you might imagine, they looked surprised like us and so I struck up a conversation and said, "take your pick of seats" or something like that. We chatted back and forth across the theater and had a good conversation. Several others filed in before the movie started and just as I expected, it was a powerful, powerful movie. It even moved Penny to tears. (many of you know I'm the one that is always crying in movies, it takes a bit more to move her to tears)  Take a moment and watch the trailer.

The movie resonated with me in a very real and tangible way because I had served as a Police Officer for several years in Forth Worth, Texas while at seminary.  Sadly, I have also buried too many children as a minister and the pain and struggle this kind of crisis of faith brings is very hard, almost impossible for families and marriages to endure.  So much of what was depicted was what I have lived and some of the scenes brought back thoughts, images and feelings from different points in my life and the struggles and failures I've lived.

It is compelling how Sherwood continues to be able to weave the truth of how God can and does work in our lives into the fabric of the every day events we face through their movies.  I'll not ruin the movie for you if you haven't seen it by giving the story line.  Do yourself a favor and spend 20 bucks and go see it with your wife or even better take your whole family. 

Yes... this is one we will buy and give as a Christmas present to our kids!  It is worth watching a second and even a third time!

For those who are impacted by the movie I would also invite you to read a book entitled, "Dear Dad - If I Could Tell You Anything" by Doug Webster.  This is a powerful book that I ran across years ago when Daniel was in college.  I so wish I had found this book when the kids were still home.  You better get it now, I had a hard time finding a link to available copies on the web now!

Dear Dad

My hats off to Sherwood Baptist Church and the ministries that they are pursuing.  I have often wondered why the SBC hasn't moved in directions to impact the culture like this church has.  I am praying that God will grant the grace and resources to plant a church here in Fort Wayne that can model the passion and ministry of Sherwood Baptist!

After the movie, we talked again with the young couple we chatted with in the beginning.  They were a couple of college students from Huntington University a Christian College, little bit south of Fort Wayne.  It was a great conversation and we invited them to consider joining us with the new church start.  We will see what the Lord does.

Well.. I sure do hope that you will take a moment and click the links above and go watch the trailers to these movies, check out Sherwood Baptist and Huntington University and consider obtaining a copy of these great movies for your own personal use.  Encourage your church to get a copy for the Church library and a license to show it publicly and have a family movie night for your community as a means of outreach!!  Be sure to include a decision time and fellowship after the showing to touch the lives of those who come!! 

Have a great day!

SCBI Annual Meeting

This was my first meeting with the State Convention of Baptist in Indiana (SCBI).  I took the time to come early to attend the Pastor's Conference, which I wish would be renamed to the "Preaching" or "Bible" conference (Bible Conference is my Favorite possible name) so that church members would realize that they could dramatically benefit from this time of preaching!  The sermons were powerful and convicting.  I would encourage everyone to drop by the convention web site in the days to come to download the sermons that were preached.

With all of the changes that are going on within the Southern Baptist Convention, I was very surprised at the level of attendance.  I would have expected virtually every pastor in our state to attend the meetings and at least one or two messengers from each church.  I would invite every church to seriously consider the importance of active involvement in our annual meetings. The time and commitment is well worth the effort. I realize that many or our churches are led by pastors who work outside the church to make a living or to suppliment their pastoral salary.  For some of these it is difficult to get time off to attend.  If your pastor can not attend, surely there are a few in the church who are retired who could come and represent their church and pastor at this meeting. I would also challenge churches, especially those of bivocational pastors noted above, to make some provision for the travel costs for their pastor and his wife.

Overall the meeting was excellent! The reports were well made, some were very unique and engaging, but all provided the important information that we needed as pastors and church members to understand the dynamics of where we are as Southern Baptists in our work and ministry here in Indiana.  The worship time was wonderful, the music uplifiting and a real sense of God's presence was with us in the meetings.

If you missed the annual meeting this year, make plans now to attend next year!  I don't  think you will be disappointed!!

God bless!

First Posting

Sermon Title One Nation Under God /Part 2


Sermon Text Psalm 33:8-22


Invocation Scripture Deuteronomy 4:7-9


Main Idea : A Nation who lay s its foundations in God and the roots of His Word will have His power, His Wisdom, His Protection and His Peace


Objective : To help members see that our nation was founded on the God of the Bible and not on a secular idea and to challenge members to make a strong stand and strive in their sphere of influence to reestablish this truth.

One Nation Under God
Psalm 33:8-22

Point I: The Power of being one Nation Under God, Psalm 33:8-11

Point II: The Wisdom of being one Nation Under God! Psalm 33:12-15

Point III: The protection of being one Nation Under, God. Psalm 33:16-19

Point IV: The Peace of being One Nation Under God, Psalm 33:20-22

One Nation Under God
Psalm 33:8-22

Well beloved... We come back today to our final message in this series entitled, "One Nation Under God." We have carefully considered the truth of these verses here in Psalm 33:8-32 and how they relate to the that which we have given up here in our nation. We have seen the Power, the Wisdom and the Protection of being, "One Nation Under God".


Today we will look at the last point,


The Hope of being One Nation Under God


What is Hope beloved?...


Hope
1. the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope.
4. a person or thing in which expectations are centered:
6. to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.
Take your Bibles then and turn with me back to Psalm 33 and lets look at those vss 20-22
< < <> > >


Point IV: The Peace of being One Nation Under God, Psalm 33:20-22


Beloved... The world is crying out for Hope, crying out for Help, Crying out for Peace!!!
There are so many places in th world today where peoples lives are shattered, where they have been totally uprooted and had to flee from war, oppression and genocide.
The issues these people face are not so important as the way in which they face them! Look at what our text says today..
{20} Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.


May I ask you today beloved.... Is that true in your life?


Come on... be honest? Is that really true in our lives?


Do we attend upon the Lord? I don’t mean attend, like going to a concert, I mean as a servant used to attend to the needs of their master.


Attend:
3. to take care of; minister to; devote one's services to:
4. to wait upon; accompany as a companion or servant:


Listen beloved, our founding fathers focused so much on God!! // So much of their daily lives and thoughts seem to have been focused on God... upon His will, His way and His purposes. How do we know this? Because of their writings. As noted earlier many of these founding fathers were prolific writers and it is amazing how they considered deep philosophical truths, amazing how the saw and considered the hand of God as being paramount in the affairs of men. How they recognized the truth that without God’s concurring aid, that they could not succeed in their efforts.


So many of our founders express the fact that worship was an important part of their lives. So important was their sense of the importance of the worship and praise of God that Thomas Jefferson almost wasn’t allowed to run for president because his lack of church attendance caused them to question if he was truly a Christian.


You may recall last week we looked at several state constitutions that required those who would serve as public officials to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and the Bible as the word of God.
We should not soon forget beloved, the tenacious devotion of so many of our founders to the fundamental principles of the Christian religion and the proliferation of reference to the God of the Bible, His providence and His provision, in our founding documents.


May I then ask once again belvoednce beloved....??..


Does the "Soul" of our nation, "wait for the Lord"


Dare I ask the more personal question once again...


"Does Our (individual) soul wait for the Lord... Do we see Him as our help and shield?...


Listen Beloved, don’t be beaten down by this question if the answer is not in the affirmative.


The questions intent is not to demean or demoralize, but rather to challenge, to inspire, and to invoke fervent resolve to make it so!!


For change to occur in our lives, for improvement to be made, we must face the realities of our current predicament and then, with impassioned resolve, and providential intervention seek to aspire to greater things than that to which we have currently attained!!


{20} Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.


If this is not true for us, IT CAN BE!! And only an act of our will and a choice of our heart and mind can make it so!!


We read further in our text


{21} For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.


O beloved.... if the previous question was penetrating and convicting, how much more the question implicit in this verse!!


But even more, I see in the end of this verse, the truth that our founding father’s also surely believed this verse, and literally put their whole lives, futures, and fortunes in His hands.


Do you recall the last phrase of the Declaration of Independence.


We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.


Listen beloved, you would not make that statement unless you "trust in His holy name."
I don’t think that we fathom the gravity and the magnitude of the decision that these men were making. They were taking on the most formidable power in the world!! England held much reign in the world at large! She was master of the seas and a group of somewhat connected colonies were going to sever their allegiance.


Listen beloved, the nation that Trust’s in the Holy Name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is the nation that can rest in confidence! No matter what the attack, no matter what the circumstances, the providential and protecting hand of God brings to us an internal peace that is beyond what the world can understand.


I commented last Sunday on the fact that the United States of America is the longest lasting form of government in the modern world today. That we are the only country that doesn’t have a major political upheaval very 20 to 25 years! WHY???


Because the reliance of this nation in the last 175 years upon the God of the Bible has provided us with peace in our land.


You say, but Pastor Ken, we have been through the Civil War, two world wars, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam and now Iraq...


Indeed we have, but you are missing the point beloved. As long as there are nations that do not pursue the true and living God of the Bible, there will be turmoil, struggle and war in the world.


The Civil War, in my estimation was Satan’s attempt to destroy what had begun right. And ever since that war, we have fought together, with a united front and a common purpose. We have weathered incredible internal struggle as a nation and come out on the other side stronger and better for it.


The Peace that the Hindu man was praying to who knows what for, is a peace that will not come. World peace is not possible!!


WHY?? Because until the world bends the knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, there can be and will be no peace!!


The Bible is clear, very clear beloved, over and over! It is so clearly summed up by Isaiah the prophet and Jeremiah the prophet who both record numerous times, almost identically,


Isa 48:22 "There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.


Think of the struggles that our nation has weathered without falling apart... When you consider it, it is staggering. And yet, when you think of it in light of the truth of the God, you can easily see that it has been His providential hand.


The same is true in our lives beloved. Where there is unity in the spirit, there is peace in the body, whether that be in the home, the church, or even a Christian business. But where the unity of the Spirit of God is broken, where one or more individuals do not believe in God, subscribe to His purposes, you can know that there MUST necessarily be turmoil, conflict and problem!


Do you understand then more clearly why Paul call’s upon us in 2 Cor 6:14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?


A Christian should not go into business with a non-Christian! A Christian should not marry a non-Christian. These things should not happen, and if we choose to break God’s law concerning them, we will indeed pay the price.


I am leery beloved of the day when the world is saying peace and safety, peace and safety.... For I read in 1 Th 5:2-3
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. {3} While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.


Listen dear friends.... do you want peace in your life? Peace in your family. Understand this then. If one of them is not saved, then there WILL NOT be peace because God has said that there is no peace for the wicked and that means there is no peace for the believer in relationship to the wicked.


Do you understand then again, just why, and how important it is for us to be involved daily in seeking to evangelize the lost!!!
Whether that be family members, friends, or coworkers!! We need to reach people with the gospel for it is only through accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior that they will experience and achieve true peace.


But there is one last verse here today... Look back at your text.


{22} Let Thy lovingkind-ness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee.


Listen friends, when we cry out to God, when we make Him and integral part of our personal, community and national life, we can expect that as we cry out to Him that He will hear us and protect us.


When we are "waiting" on Him, when the very fiber of our nation revolves around Him, we can indeed expect His provision and we can hope in Him!!


The hope of being One Nation Under God, is the hope that God will be our Help and Shield, just as vs 20 says.


O dear friends, who wouldn’t want the peace and loving kindness of God to rest upon us?
And can’t imagine that anyone would NOT want that, and yet in our world today that is exactly what we are seeing!!!


I say to you today, with the weight and witness of the History of this nation that indeed the Loving Kindness of God has been upon us!! It is so abundantly clear that no one can ignore it. That is why there is such a concerted effort to eradicate the truth of the Faith of Our Fathers from the historical record today.


There is an open hostility to God, to the Bible and to true Christianity today, and it is growing.
But beloved, we you look back at this last verse and notice something with me....
{22} Let Thy lovingkind-ness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee.
Did you catch it? According as we have hoped in Thee
Do you see the conditional that is noted here.... let me read the verse again...
{22} Let Thy lovingkind-ness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee.
: The provision for which we ask, are 100% dependent upon our actions : Let me say that again


O dear friends.... what is it that we are asking... what is it that they psalmist is saying.
It is abundantly clear, but it is also something that we could too easily read past, and totally miss!!


The extent to which the loving kindness of the Lord, the Providential hand of protection, the manifestation of the material blessing at the behest of his hand, are directly proportional to the level to which we have hoped in Him!!!


His blessing upon us, comes in direct proportion to our faith and reliance upon Him!!
I am not trying to confuse faith and works here! This is sheer Biblical truth. There is nothing that we can do to merit the blessing of God, nothing we can do to deserve His forgiveness, much less His love. But What I am saying here beloved, is that the Psalmist dare not ask God to bless them unless they were trusting in Him!!!


I told Penny, that I am increasingly uncomfortable with the phrase "God Bless America" I don’t know that I can speak that in good conscience when it is so clear that America is so Godless!! Sadly this is again so graphically represented to us in the events of July 12, 2007 when Chaplain Rajan Zed opened the senate with prayer.


I was appalled to read Senator Reid’s comments concerning this prayer, he said.
I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing the faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our heavenly Father regarding peace," said Reid, a Mormon and sharp critic of President Bush's Iraq policies.


Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Am United for Separation of Church and State, wrote of this recent prayer event with Congress
"shows the intolerance of many religious right activists. They say they want more religion in the public square, but it's clear they mean only their religion."3


He’s exactly right!! I ONLY MEAN THOSE WHO HOLD TO TRUE BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY!
That’s exactly what our founding fathers would say!! Isn’t that exactly what I read to you in numerous state constitutions last week!! That those who hold office have to be true Biblical Christians and that only Christians could serve as leaders in our nation?


It is not Christians who are the threat to this nation, in FACT.... it is we who gave this nation it’s birth, its heart, yea, I dare even say it’s very soul....


It is not the foundational truths of Christianity in which the heart and soul of TRUE freedom and True Liberty reside, that is the threat to this nation, but rather those who would usurp our freedom, and selectively exclude us from the public arena.


It is men like the heretic above, Mr. Lynn, I refuse to call him a minister, who are the threat to our nation and who, if we allow them, WILL bring our nation to destruction!!
Listen beloved...


In 1857 the British historian, Clarence E. Macartney, wrote these words to an American friend, "Your Republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman Empire was in the fifth, with this difference, that the Huns and Vandals who ravaged the Roman Empire came from without, and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country by your own institutions."


Does that make you quiver....
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Like the Children of Israel, whose freedom was purchased at a great price, but so many years ago that the nation had forgotten, likewise, I fear we may be in that same boat....


Let me close with a quote from Thomas Paine


"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands now, deserves the thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."4/5


One Nation Under God beloved.. .That is what we were

That is what I pray we can be again


There is an unlimited, undefeatable POWER in being One Nation Under God
There is no Wisdom wiser than being One Nation Under God
There is no Protection more secure than that which comes to the nation that is OnE Nation Under God
And there is no Peace hear me... NO PEACE to any nation that isn’t One Nation Under God!!


Pray for our nation.



Live your own personal life as "One person Under God." Know what you believe and stand for what you believe, and in every venue possible, take a stand to call us back to being "One Nation Under God"


Let Us Pray...