I always question when I have a sermon near a
holiday as to whether I should address the holiday
or not address the holiday because people expect
certain things at certain lessons. But with 250
years for a celebration of our nation, I think
it appropriate that we reflect on some of the
things that have brought us to this point. That
is. quite an amazing accomplishment. Why is it,
you have to excuse me, I'm fighting off a little
bit of something. Why is it that America has
prospered the way that it has? There have been
a lot of nations that have gone out and conquered
and amassed wealth at the expense of others and
that's not to say that it hasn't been done at
any point in our history, but There's There's
no other nation that has built this level of
prosperity for Pretty much everybody this system
that we operate under is unlike any that history
has ever seen We've borrowed different things
from different places. We have learned from a
lot of sources We have learned from a lot of
mistakes that other nations and peoples have
made Brought about the United States of America
So I want to look at a few things this morning
as far as our responsibility is free people It's
no one thing that has brought us to this point
and it is Paramount that we understand what it
is that has made the United States of America
in Deuteronomy chapter 1 if you would Turn there
in your Bible's Deuteronomy chapter 1 12 through
18. I don't like putting the long passages up
on the PowerPoint It's always profitable for
us to turn together Fifth book in the Bible Moses
second sermon these are the words that he is
given Before the children of Israel go from they're
wandering around in the wilderness and fighting
with various things there, crossing the Jordan
River and beginning to conquer the land of Canaan.
Moses gets one more opportunity to speak to them.
And he starts at the beginning and he runs through
much of their wandering and through some of their
history to remind them of where God brought them
from and what he has promised to give them. In
Deuteronomy chapter 1 beginning in verse 12,
how can I make myself alone bear your cumberance
and your burden and your strife? Take you wise
men and understanding and known among your tribes,
and I will make them rulers over you. And ye
answered me and said, The thing which thou hast
spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief
of your tribes wise men and known and made them
heads over you captains over thousands captains
over hundreds and captains over fifties and captains
over tens and Officers among your tribes and
I charged your judges at that time saying here
you the causes between your brethren and judge
Righteously between every man and his brother
and the stranger that is within him that is with
him I'm sorry you shall not respect persons in
judgment, but you shall hear the small Well as
the great you shall not be afraid with the face
of man for the judgment is God's and the cause
That is too hard for you Bring it unto me and
I will hear it and I commanded you at that time
and all things which ye should do Moses basically
sets up a government The nation of Israel heretofore
has not been a nation They were a family group.
They were a tribe Abraham left the place where
he lived wandered around they became a small
tribe even though they were great in number Abraham
had 300 men that carried a sword They were his
servants and when he went to rescue lot he took
his own small army He hands it to Isaac Isaac
hands it to Jacob and Esau Esau and Jacob multiplying
their own rot They wind up in Egypt, but until
Moses goes down there and brings them out. They're
not a nation They've lived under God They've
served him. They know about him to some extent,
but God has to bring them out and remind them
of a lot of things One of the things that he
has to do in order for this nation to prosper
is to set up a government And he says you need
wise people you need smart people you need people
that you know and trust you pick them out and
We'll put them over these matters and we'll let
them judge and we'll put the fear of God in them
So that hopefully they put the fear of God in
you and you can live and prosper in this nation
Before I go much further in this though In preparation
for the sermon I was looking back at a lot of
the original writings and we're gonna I'm going
to cite several things. We're trying to not spend
too much time on that. But I found this quote
interesting. This was from a collection of things
called the pulpit of the American Revolution.
This particular sermon is from 1749. So it's
been around for a minute. Jonathan Matthew. This,
by the way, is so old that Matthew is spelled
with a Y, M -A -Y -H -E -W. It is hoped that
but few will think the subject of it, that is,
this sermon that he is about to present, an improper
one to be discoursed on in the pulpit under a
notion that it is preaching politics instead
of Christ. However, to remove all prejudices
of this sort, I beg it may be remembered that
all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Obedience to the civil magistrate is a Christian
duty, and if so, why should not the nature and
extent of it be considered in a Christian assembly?
There were a lot of things that were discussed
before this country was founded. so 250 years
What does that mean? We're celebrating our 250th
anniversary there were a lot of things that happened
before and even after Independence Day on July
4th the 1492 All the kids remember adults remember
1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue And when
they got to this island anew they found they
weren't even number two I made that last part
up in the shower this morning. I hope you enjoyed
that. We weren't the first ones here. We weren't
the fifth ones here. There are lots of people
groups from other parts of the world, various
parts of the world that have come into the Americas
at various points. So what are we talking about?
Well, in 1775, in April of that year, the group
that was here in the First Continental Congress
actually declared war on Great Britain. It was
considered a high act of treason punishable by
death by seizure by Any means necessary to quell
this rebellion that was going on across the pond
Well, we fought that war and we did fairly well,
which was amazing Because America wasn't a nation
We were colonists We didn't have a military to
speak of We didn't have ships hardly at all other
than for merchandise We certainly did not have
a Navy that didn't come until several years later
How is it that these fledgling colonies were
able to throw off? The most powerful nation in
the world at that time It is by the hand of God
And it is accounted that way time after time
after time in the writings of the men that founded
this country But on July 2nd in 1776 the Lee
resolution also known as the resolution resolution
for independence Was the formal assertion of
the second Continental Congress, so they got
together again, and they said hey, we're winning
this thing We are free That was as far as it
went for a while now previous to this There were
five men that were selected Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin were two of them and they
were commissioned with writing something that
would state why it was that they were doing what
they would do and this was presented and debated
for several days and on July 4th the Declaration
of Independence or the unanimous declaration
of the 13 United States of America Was adopted
and signed by all of the people that were there
at that first Continental Congress and thus we
have our independence we said We're not serving
you and in this declaration There are many references
to God and 27 reasons why it was that this group
of colonies decided to organize themselves as
United States and throw off whatever it was that
the crown wanted to. Among them was that King
George III would come in and arrest whoever he
wanted. He wouldn't try them here in the States.
He would haul them back across the water to be
tried in front of whoever it was that he chose.
And so for that reason we have the right to be
tried by a jury of our peers. That's what that
means That means that you can't carry me off
to somebody that doesn't like me in the first
place to pass judgment on me It was property
rights Because the king of England and anybody
that he picked to come over here could go up
to your place and take anything that they wanted
They could take quarter in your residence. They
could take your sons. They could take your stuff
They could burn your house down and there was
nothing that you could do about it because he
was the king and he owned everything And these
men having studied having read having copies
of the Bible themselves, which was a new thing
at the time. The printing press was invented
in the early 1500s. The Bible was translated
into a language that they could understand, English
for them, German for others, those were the first
two, so that they could then read the scriptures.
And they're looking at the Bible for themselves.
And they're not letting the Church of England
or the Roman Catholic Church tell them what it
is that the Bible says and what they need to
do. They're reading it for themselves and they
say, I have independence. I have rights from
God. I am made in His image. I have the right
to a relationship with Him. I have a right to
the things that are mine. I have rights of my
family to raise and conduct matters. Have the
right to conduct business with other people We
have rights My stuff is not your stuff And with
all of the things that they went through over
this period of some 300 years They took notes
and they made rights But where did they come
from we'll get to that On March 1st 1781, the
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
were adopted again by the Second Continental
Congress. The Constitution that we live by is
not 250 years old. It came a little bit later,
March 4th 1789, the Constitution of the United
States was made because there were problems with
the Articles of the Confederation. It was great,
but it had some issues. That was their first
attempt and so they come back and they made a
document that is one of the most consequential
in history the Declaration of Independence if
you have not read it at all or even this year
I highly recommend that you go and you read the
Declaration of Independence it is extremely well
stated potent words that talk about God and our
relationship with him and with each other What
that should look like the relationship of government
with the people that are under it Patrick Henry
is an example of one that quoted and again Pick
your founding father Pick a writing pick a letter
pick a sermon pick basically anything that you
want from the 1700s and It's gonna have this
feel of independence in it already There was
something that the Bible did for this nation
There was something that scriptures did for the
people that lived here out from under Almost
the rule of the king. It was close enough that
they could taste it They had an understanding
of what independence should be because again,
they're reading the scriptures They're looking
into the Bible and they're saying this is how
I need to treat my neighbor. This is how the
government should treat me This is how God thinks
of me. This is what I have the right to do together
with the people that are around me. And these
things are ruminating and building. And an appreciation
for the Bible is baked into every single household
and society. That's why there was a church in
every little town. That's why even if you didn't
go to church, you knew. Somebody that did you
you had respect maybe you went yourself from
time to time just out of curiosity if nothing
else But in appreciation for the scriptures and
for worship not just for the scriptures themselves
It's all over the place and appeal the arms into
the God of hosts is all that has left us This
is just before they go to war There's a just
God who presides over the destinies of nations
He's quoting scripture in the various things
that he's talking about Benjamin Franklin the
Constitutional Convention June 28 1787 again,
they're coming up with they are debating over
the language that should go into the Constitution
which is Not as poetic as the Declaration of
Independence. It's the way that government should
look It's what they wanted to do because of their
understanding of the scriptures. He says there
this quote in this Situation of this assembly
groping as it were in the dark a reference to
scripture going on the father of lights Talking
about prayer the kind Providence the God that
governs in the affairs of men Time after time
as they would debate about what to do They recognized
and reverence the authority that God had over
them That he was the one That was moving the
pieces George Washington Intend during this homage
to the great author of every public and private
good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments
not less than my own nor those of my fellow citizens
at large less than either No people can be Bound
to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which
conducts the affairs of men more than the people
of the United States Every step by which they
have advanced to the character of an independent
nation seems to have been distinguished by some
token of providential agency Everywhere they
went everything that they did They said that
the providence of God the hand of God the actions
of God was guiding them and helping them along
They had overcome such tremendous odds not just
in the sheer survival But in throwing off Great
Britain in organizing themselves, you know how
hard it is To get the Eastern seaboard to agree
That's what they did those first 13 colonies
That was over there everybody that's on the Atlantic
except for Florida was involved in this thing.
Well, there's a couple others, but details. They
all came together and they said, we're going
to operate together under this thing. This is
what we want. This is a government that we can
operate under. The Declaration of Independence
talks about the laws of nature and of nature's
God. We hold these truths to be self -evident
that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their creator. They appeal to the
supreme judge of the world as they make their
cases of why they are declaring this independence
With a firm reliance on the protection of divine
providence Don't tell me that our founding fathers
were deists By definition a deist is somebody
that believes that there is something bigger
than they are there are atheists that believe
that They believe that this earth was seeded
by aliens or by some other higher and more intelligent
race of things. They were not deists by any stretch
of the imagination. They believed firmly in the
hand and the providence and the love of the God
of this universe. They put it in the Constitution
of the United States. Again, it's not this poem
to the world. It is what they want the government
to look like and all throughout. There are provisions
for religion, for worship, acknowledgments to
God. No bill shall be returned by the president
within 10 days, Sundays accepted. Why? Why Sundays
accepted? Because they all knew what was going
on on Sundays. And it wasn't the business of
making a country as important as that was. They
did not convene on Sundays because they had something
else that they were doing They were going to
go and worship and study together. They were
going to Do whatever it was that they did they
did that on Sunday? And they made provisions
for it in the way that they set up the government
of this nation that they dreamed about The Bill
of Rights the most important Some would say part
of the Constitution after they make this Constitution
This is what they want the government to do.
This is what we want the government to not do
this is what it can't do and Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion
or Prohibiting the free exercise thereof that
means that they can't come in and tell us to
not do it now there are Certain situations and
periods of time where that's happened to one
degree or another But it's not supposed to We
have a document That we all supposedly agree
to that says you can't tell me to not come here
You can't tell me to not assemble with people
out in the community and also I have a right
if you're a government official to go and Peacefully
make some grievance with you and let that be
known Thomas Jefferson Said to be the one that
came up with separation of church and state It
did not mean that religion Cannot be understood
by the government. He meant that the government
can't tell you what to do as the King of England
had done The Church of England broke off from
the Roman Catholic Church Because King George
didn't want to do what the Roman Catholic Church
told him to do He said I'll go do my own thing
and he made his own religion and he made that
a law You had to be part of the Church of England
And if you weren't it was punishable by death
Now ironically States Would put in a particular
religion. There was nothing that prohibited that
in fact in some ways it was encouraged And again,
ironically, there was a certain amount of religious
persecution that went on. And so it wasn't perfect
in its beginning. And again, we'll talk about
that a little bit later. But Thomas Jefferson
never said that you couldn't put church in the
state. He said that the state can't tell you
what to do in the church. Those two things are
different institutions. And this is what Moses
said. He said there's going to be laws. There
needs to be a governing body, but they need to
do it righteously. And they can't come in and
tell you and your family what to do. There are
limits. There are guidelines. The state constitution,
45 of them have preambles. We have 50 states,
45 of the state constitutions, which is required
to be a state in the United States of America,
make references to God. All 45 preambles of those
that chose to have a preamble before their constitution
made references to God. in some fashion or another.
Donald Lutz in 1982 wrote an article. He did
some fantastic research. He went back and looked
at a lot of these documents. He looked at the
writings. He looked at the letters. He looked
at the notes. He looked at many, many different
documents and his conclusion was that Historians
are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even
more than the Constitution, is our founding document.
And that's because it's in everything that they
wrote. They went back to Scripture for the God.
George Washington said, of all the dispositions
and habits which lead to political prosperity,
and that's not being elected, that the polity
would be the group of people that are under this
particular thing. So, for the good of the people,
Religion and morality are indispensable supports.
Let it simply be asked. Where is the security
for property for? reputation for life if the
sense of religious obligation desert the oaths
which are the instruments of Investigation in
courts of justice you can lie to somebody you
can lie about somebody you can take their property
You can pay off a judge you can pay off a government
official unless You have a God. Religion and
morality are necessary supports for the operation
of a free people. Slander or, oh wow, what's
the legal word? If only I had a lawyer in the
audience. There we go, that's one of them. Defamation
of character. You don't get to just go and say
whatever you want. You don't get to lie about
a company You're not supposed to be able to do
those things. Why? Because the Bible says that
you should love your neighbor and you should
respect his stuff. You shouldn't covet your neighbor's
things You shouldn't covet your neighbor's wife.
You shouldn't lie about him lying about your
neighbor was a punishable offense under the law
of Moses And guess what the men that founded
this country they looked it up and they said
hey This is how I should treat my neighbor and
and we shouldn't be able to just lie about it
because That was part of what the king did Bring
me the man. I'll show you the problem. All right.
No, I'll show you the So many things come into
mind Bring me the man. I'll show you the crime
It's kind of how it operated we're not gonna
do that here we're gonna put that in the Constitution
We don't operate that way. Continuing on, let
us with caution indulge the supposition that
morality can be maintained without religion.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of
refined education on minds of peculiar structure,
reason and experience both forbid us to expect
that national morality can prevail in exclusion
of religious principle. If you don't have the
Bible, you don't have a standard. That's what
he's saying. You can't make a country that's
going to exist. You can't make a free people
if they do not self govern That is where our
Liberty comes from That's what this nation was
founded on Was the belief that you are gonna
go and serve God and I'm gonna go and serve God
and we are gonna operate together freely Because
we know how to operate Know how to treat you
I know how to treat your business. I know how
to treat my neighbor I know what the government
should and shouldn't do And we're gonna do all
this thing together. That's called a society
For a society to properly function it has to
have three things Three institutions that God
made he made the home first He made government
second and he made the church third You have
to have those three institutions and they have
to know what it is that they need to do in order
for this to operate and that's what set up in
This these two documents that we hold so highly
and various other things They wrote about those
institutions and how they should operate together
Morality without scripture is a house with no
foundation because man changes The thing that
I think is right is different than the thing
that you think is right and that's why I speak
your truth is such an absurd thing It's either
true or it's not true. It can't be true for you
and not true for somebody else Now maybe you
like it and this other person doesn't like it
Maybe it's good for you and it's not so good
for this other person. That's completely different
You're not talking about the same thing, but
it's either true or it isn't true If it isn't
true and it is true at the same time Then there
is no absolute truth Which is a self -defeating
statement because the only thing that's true
is that there is no truth But this is the insanity
that you get When you try to say that man can
be moral without God It is a self -defeating
argument there must be a standard and that standard
must be the Bible Where your society is gonna
fall on its face every society that's never tried
it Without God has fallen on its face and we've
done it with God and we've been around for a
while The further that we get from God the closer
we get to face planning in this society Deuteronomy
30 Verses 11 through 20 Had Colton read that
this morning, and I appreciate that reading motives
is presented to them Life and good and death
and evil We read the beginning of it when he
told him you came together you came out of this
nation and I set up people for you and We went
and we wandered and we did this thing together
and we conquered And you're getting ready to
go into this land And I've given you laws I've
given you correction. I've given you blessing
and protection I've presented you with life and
good and with death and you and you get to pick
He's standing before this nation. He says you
get to pick Moses couldn't force them to do it.
You can't force somebody to be moral. You can't
force somebody to be good. You can't write enough
laws to make a moral people. The reason that
we have such a bloated government and so many
laws is because through the years somebody did
something they shouldn't have done and you've
got to write a law about it. Some business did
something that they shouldn't have done and you've
got to write a law about it. Some group of people
came in and did something that they shouldn't
have done and you've got to write a law about
it But if you self -govern and you treat your
neighbor like you're supposed to you don't have
all of these laws You don't have all of these
regulations and difficulties and problems Moses
said there I've given you good And if you want
to choose the good it'll be good for you. It'll
be good for your families. It'll be good for
your crops It'll be good for the whole nation.
It will be good for the entire world because
of the blessings that I will pour out on you
Those things will flow out and bless other nations
because they will see the good and They will
be influenced by it and they will receive blessings
because of it Jeremiah 10 verse 23 the other
thing that our founding fathers realized is that
the way of man is not within him Whenever we
choose our own way we fall flat Jeremiah 10 23
Oh Lord I know that the way of man is not in
himself It is not a man that walketh to direct
his steps And so time after time even when they
had discussions with each other they would quote
scripture in their arguments against each other
Educated people They didn't have as many distractions
as we have which I find to be amazing because
they had to survive I mean, I don't know about
y 'all. I'm gonna go off topic here just a little
bit for a second. I don't know how many times
y 'all think about how much you don't have to
fight to survive. My garden is like this wide
and this long. I say mine, Sarah Beth has put
blood, sweat, and tears in that thing and it's
doing fairly well. And then we got another row
of stuff. We got some volunteer things. You know
what happens if all that dies? I go to the grocery
store I We think about the things that they had
to go through And still they had enough education
to write the things like we've read about this
morning To think deeply about a particular thing
To realize that there is a God that governs To
realize that they were within reach of Having
something that possibly nobody else had ever
had in the history of the world That they could
do it and make it if they relied on God Again
the three institutions that God made the homes
in Genesis to that old chapter there talks about
God making Everything days one through six. He
makes man. He looks at man He says it's not good
for you to be alone after man looked around at
everything else and said hey, this is cool But
you know, I'm still out here by myself. God said
I'll fix that I'll make a help meet for you.
I've got one more thing I want to do and it's
gonna be awesome. You're gonna love it Adam And
he did and the home was made institution number
one it's critical you cannot have a society without
a home it takes a village is only true to a point
now no man is an island and it's really really
hard to do everything by yourself not that it
can't be done some people have but if you want
a society that does take a village And that's
profitable for people. It's good for people.
It's good to live in a society It's good to have
other people that you can depend on other people
that can help you out But to have that You have
to have a home It needs to be led by the father
He's the one that has the responsibility of teaching
his children of protecting his wife of following
God of doing what he's supposed to be doing The
wife is to help me the children are to Come up
to obey to prepare themselves to be the men and
women that are going to carry on society and
have homes The reason that there is such a tremendous
attack on the home today is because it is one
of the three necessary pillars for a society
that follows God and If you can knock any one
of the three legs of this stool out from under
it it's gonna fall down And people that want
to build something in their own image are gonna
attack the home Because it's necessary the government
in Romans 13 a lot of that chapter talks about
What we are to do how are we are to? Reverence
the government says the powers that be are ordained
of God not that he puts every leader in power
But that government is of God. He did it with
the children of Israel It is necessary that someone
bears the sword. That's not the place of the
church to bear the sword That's how we got the
dark ages It's not the place of the family or
the home to bear the sword because that's how
you get the Hatfields and McCoys It is the role
of government to bear the sword You select a
group that makes righteous judgments that come
before God in their own personal lives and then
come before God in their judgments and make righteous
judgments and Say this was wrong And this is
why and this is what's going to happen That's
the role of government. It's necessary for a
society the church Pretty much everywhere Acts
2 is the founding of the New Testament Church
First Corinthians 10 talks about the church that
was in the wilderness talking about the children
of Israel Moses leading the church through the
wilderness It's the group of God's people that
follow him that operate together that I'd hear
and maintain and make a devotion to the will
and Word of God Those are the three things that
you have to have you take any one of those Out
of a society and it's gonna be an ugly place
not that it won't function not that you won't
have children and and Pets and crops and you
know businesses and whatever else. It's not that
it it just decays into sand It's that it will
not prosper in the way that God intended for
us to prosper These things are necessary there
must be a guidebook There must be a rule and
if the Bible is not that rule it's some man's
rule and It's gonna look like whatever he wants
it to look like It is not going to be the benefit
that God wants God defines all of these roles
I've given lessons on each one of these and That
it still doesn't do them justice To talk about
the roles and guidelines for government for the
home for church and the people that founded this
country devoted decades to this idea Pull pits
discussions assemblies as we read about We're
dedicated to this idea of bringing ourselves
in line with what God wanted for a society Now
a lot of people put hope and trust in various
things and if we're not careful then we we uphold
the Constitution and we say that our Liberty
comes from the Constitution or maybe it comes
from our system of Enterprise from capitalism
now Capitalism is the most productive system
that you can have if government controls everything
they are notorious for doing it terribly Because
typically you're not involved in the processes
that go on from day to day if it crashes You
don't care you go get another business and you
hope that it does better. It's not yours But
if it's your business if it's your thing that
you're doing you're highly involved and highly
dedicated to its success Capitalism It promotes
wealth and we have tremendous unimaginable wealth
in this nation Especially compared to others
in recent history in distant history The closest
that you might be able to come is the Babylonian
Empire when Nebuchadnezzar made a 90 -foot statue
out of gold Anybody ever heard of Fort Knox We
had so much gold we had a big holes in the ground
And put it in gigantic Caverns That doesn't happen
so much anymore and my point is Just the amount
of stuff of creature comforts You know how interesting
it is to go into your house and push a button
like this because you're hot or you're cold You
know that ain't been around forever Mark tells
the story of him asking his mother to tell him
about when she was a kid and One of the best
lines is Well, then the lights came on and nothing
else was ever the same You know how interesting
it is to go like this And lights come on how
many times do you go like this when the power's
off to try to get the light to come on in the
closet? There's a lot of things that we get used
to There's a lot of creature comforts that we
have a lot of things we have access to Music
entertainment Anytime anywhere as much as you
want for 30 to 60 bucks a month It's astounding
at the things we've been able to do but capitalism
isn't the answer That's not where liberty comes
from that's not where freedom comes from it's
not where prosperity comes from What about from
the political system when we have our Constitution
and it's an amazing document? And we have all
these different ways that we go about operating
under this Constitution the way that we do things
now is not the way that we've done things in
the past It's close similar. We've changed it
a little bit as we've gone down. You know what
that's not where liberty comes from It's not
where prosperity comes from It's not where freedom
comes from. What about from the righteous war
that we fought? We threw off the Britons. We
freed other nations. Other oppressors have come
in. The Germans tried to take over the world
with the Japanese. We went out and we fought
it. It's called World War II. One of the ugliest
things that's ever happened on this planet. Terrible.
It's not where liberty comes from. It's not where
freedom and prosperity come from. They come from
one place. Only one. You can have vestiges of
these things. You can have little bits and pieces,
depending on how you operate your life and where
you are. But life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness come from the God above. That's it
Blessings that we have are because we're made
in his image and because he doesn't just throw
us into the pit right now God cares for us, and
he blesses us. It's raining right now. What do
we do about the rain? Now there may be some people
here like hey I flew a seed cloud over or I ionize
the atmosphere to try to make it rain I want
to tell you that's not what makes it rain You
can't make it rain You can influence the conditions
that are around you and we do that in various
ways We can't make it rain. We can't make the
Sun come up or go down The blessings that we
enjoy are because of God Because of the pattern
that he made because of this creation that we
dwell in It operates the way that it does because
God has the character that he does He is a loving
and perfect God, and we are not. And this creation
has fallen, and it continues to be defiled and
destroyed and wrecked by the choices of the people
that dwell here. But peace, prosperity, life,
family, friends, that's from God. You're not
gonna find it anywhere else You're not gonna
find the things the best things You won't find
the best things anywhere else You want good friendships
I Have some really good friendships Went out
jumped out of a plane with a couple of friends
yesterday I jumped twice They each went once.
I've got some friends that I've cried with. I've
got some friends that I try to go and help out.
I've got some friends that come to my rescue
on more than one occasion. And the friends that
I have, the best friends, those that are going
to come and do those things with me, they're
in the church. They operate by the rules and
regulations and love of God They care for me
because God loves them The family that I was
raised in They love God Made me a balanced mostly
person Made me who I am the country that I live
in It's amazing I've been to other places not
me I've been to a few I've seen a few There's
no place like here There is no place like America
You go anywhere And it ain't like it is here
The world has come with FIFA You know what they're
experiencing the awesomeness of America Because
there's no place like it and that's because a
Group of men a couple hundred years ago Decided
that they were gonna make a nation based on God
And if we decide that we no longer need God we're
not gonna have the nation that we have It'll
be something else, but it won't be the America
that was founded We got to get back to scriptures
We're supposed to live it in our lives It is
incumbent on Christians to live the Christian
life We as individuals are the church We as individuals
uphold that standard we as individuals are the
government officials. We are the people in the
home We are the people in the church. We have
our individual roles and responsibilities, but
those things play out in the decisions that we
make and the way that we conduct ourselves, our
business, our family. And if we don't do it,
it won't be done. God's children, we have a responsibility
to everything that we see because we know the
standard. It is our responsibility to familiarize
ourselves, to live within that standard. Because
when we do that, we'll go out and we'll make
Christians. And we'll make better families and
better homes and better countries. It is incumbent
on us. We have to do it. If you want to be part
of it and you're not, if you want to know more
about it, if you want to come with this group
of friends that I've been talking to and about,
Make your need known come forward sit on the
front row while we stand