If you have your Bibles this morning, I want to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Deuteronomy chapter 6, good to have Brian back from Hawaii.
He showed up this morning in his swimsuit.
I said, Hoss, you got to go home and change your clothes.
I'm glad he's here.
Toronto bunch, missed a flight on the way back
and spent nine hours in Detroit and made it out alive
and got back in the middle of the night.
If you see somebody nod off, they might have been in Toronto yesterday
because they got home about 3 o'clock, I believe, this morning.
After a long day, we got a group of eight of us going to South Dakota on Friday.
I encourage you to be in prayer for us as we go
and try to help Dakota Sunshine as they minister to Native Americans there in South Dakota.
Need opportunity and look forward to it.
We live in the land of opportunity.
I mean, the home of the brave, the place of the American dream, and we are living it.
We're so in love with ourselves and our wants that we get it,
whether we need it or not, whether we can afford it or not.
We want it now.
It's a microwave society.
Everybody's right.
Nobody's at fault.
It's always somebody else's.
And there are no absolutes.
I'm not talking about us.
I'm talking about everybody else, you know.
We're not like that.
So much of what America's become.
We're ruining the greatest society, the most prosperous nation,
the greatest of opportunities,
and instead the world laughs.
Laughs as we seem to be turning to a godless, lawless, impoverished wasteland,
so filled with a hedonistic desire for more that we're losing what we have.
If sin's a slippery slope, and it is,
America's kind of like the Merle Haggard song, the great theologian Merle Haggard,
who sang,
rolling downhill like a snowball headed to hell.
I mean, really.
I really believe that so much of what's happening in America is ruining so much of what God's given us.
And I say we seem to be turning that way because, listen,
everybody's not parading in the streets.
Everybody's not embracing the culture.
Everybody's not doing those things.
Seems like it if you turn the news on.
I told you, don't spend more time in the news than you do in God's Word.
Okay?
It needs to be a discipline in our life.
Not only to read more of God's Word, but watch less of the news, honestly, you know.
Because we'll get festered up by all this stuff if you watch too much of it.
I mean, you do.
I could have got festered up yesterday, but instead I got blistered up, I think.
It was so hot.
But some are seeing that the pendulum has swung way too far to the left.
And they're rising up, and they're speaking to it, and they ought to.
However, even with that resistance, history tells us that we're a land
we'll end up a land more left than we were before.
History tells us that.
Not to say we have to live up to history.
I used to be concerned about the world that my grandkids would be raised in.
Now I'm trying to figure out how to guide my ever-growing children
through the swamp of debauchery that we're wading through as a nation.
But I got it figured out.
At least I think I got it figured out.
I didn't come up with it.
I just decided once again to trust God's Word in the matter.
Just trust Him.
I want to read a passage in just a few moments that you've heard me read
many times over the last year.
Every time I dedicate, we dedicate.
Actually, the parents dedicate their child to the Lord,
and I'm able to be a part of that.
I at least refer to this passage if I don't read this passage.
I believe it's the foundation of a Christian home
as it was the foundations of a Hebrew home when it was first penned.
And I believe it reminds us of our foundation, and I'll show you why.
May this ring in our hearts and our minds
as strong as it did in those that first heard it.
Deuteronomy chapter 6, beginning in verse 1.
And it says this.
Now, this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules
that the Lord your God commanded you to teach you,
that you may do them in the land to which you're going over to possess it,
that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your sons and your sons' sons,
by keeping all His statutes and His commands,
which I command you all the days of your life,
and that your days may be long.
Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them,
that it may go well with you,
and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers,
has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.
These words that I command you today shall be upon your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand,
and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates.
Again, I speak of this often.
I think we all need to be reminded of it.
But I want you to notice in this passage when it says
how to teach them diligently to your children.
Talk about them when you sit at the house.
Talk about them when you walk by the way.
That means when you're in the car, driving.
Talk about it.
At night when you lie down.
In the morning when you rise up.
But when it says bind them as signs on your hand,
Jews take that literally and tie pieces of the law,
put it in a leather box,
phylacteries, and tie them around their arms
so they can hold on to that.
That's not what it's talking about.
It's talking about let the law of the Lord,
let the statutes of God be so prevailing in your life
that the things in which you do with your hands,
let it reflect what you believe and what you live by.
The frontlets on your eyes, let you be so focused.
Like frontlets on a horse's eyes,
trying to make sure they stay toward their destination.
Keep your eyes focused on what they need to be focused on.
And the door front post of your house is not talking about
good Christian art in a home,
although there's nothing wrong with that,
but you can have all the Christian arts you want to.
You can say, ask for me in my house
and fight like dogs underneath the picture.
You know, I mean, that's not what that means.
It means mark your home
with the statutes of the Lord,
with the love of God.
But those words that I just read
once could not be read
because they were blocked
because a man had his hand on top of it.
And it was a man named George Washington.
And upon his swearing in,
George Washington placed his hand on an open Bible
on Deuteronomy chapter six
and made an oath to the Lord
as his fingers touched this very passage.
Does that surprise you?
I'm sure the forefathers of our nation
did not intend for our laws to be interpreted
as they are today.
The men that founded our nation
then were not like many of the men and women
that lead us today.
The few good, godly leaders that we have
are fighting for all that they can.
So how do we respond to,
because I'm not a doomsday guy.
That's not me at all, okay?
I believe the Lord lives and praise God.
We ought to show some joy because of it, okay?
So I don't want you to misunderstand me.
But how do we respond when we see what's happening
in the circumstances of our nation?
As Christians, how are we to respond?
Well, I'm going to give you three ways.
I'm not saying that it's exhaustive.
I'm saying these are three ways that we can respond.
One is to understand the foundation of this nation.
To understand the foundation of our nation.
I've been doing some genealogy recently.
We needed a date, and we were looking for a particular date
in our family's history.
And in order to find that, I went on Ancestry.com,
and man, another leaf came up.
You know, if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't do it.
I'm just telling you, you know?
So, and I knew I had some kind of relation,
but didn't know what it was, so I found out,
so I got to announce it, you know?
I found out that my great, great, great,
how many did I say?
Great grandpa was the chief justice
of the South Carolina State Court,
a governor of South Carolina,
and was going to take John Jay's place
as the second chief justice of the Supreme Court,
but got up and said something in the speech
that I haven't investigated yet.
I got a feeling he said something stupid.
I know my family, but I'm not sure.
Maybe he was right, but he got voted down.
He did not get chief justice of the Supreme Court,
and oh well.
I also found out, and I've been hanging my hat on this.
It's been opening doors for me for all my life.
I've got a great, great, great grand uncle.
Didn't even know uncles were grand,
but a great, great, great grand uncle
that was the youngest one
to sign the Declaration of Independence,
and was also a governor in South Carolina.
I got Rutledge in my blood,
and so, you know,
here it is.
That's all I can say.
Somewhere there was a disconnect.
I don't know where it was,
but somewhere along the line,
somebody between my great, great, greats
dropped the ball.
That's all I got to say, but anyway.
Did you know that some of the men
who signed the Declaration of Independence
declaring our commitment
to break ties with Great Britain
were also men of God
that were responsible for founding
the American Bible Society?
Do you know that those men
were some of the men
that established the American Tract Society?
That they were a part
of the Philadelphia Bible Society?
There's a fallacy out there
that I want to try to clarify today.
Many times our founding fathers
are made out to be deist,
and some of them I'm sure were,
but all of them wasn't.
Let me explain what a deist is.
It's those who believe
that God created the earth,
set it in order,
and then left it.
That he does not value
a relationship with us.
They believe in a creator God,
but they don't believe
that he interacts with us.
They don't think that's possible.
They believe that after creation,
God took his hand off the earth.
A deist believes
that we can't commune with God,
that we need to have
no relationship with God,
and that he's simply
a cosmic creator
with no relation
or concern for our world.
And so I want to ask you this morning,
do these men sound like deists?
Patrick Henry said this,
it cannot be emphasized
too strongly or too often
that this great nation
was founded
not by religionists,
which would be deists,
but by Christians.
Not on religions,
but on the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
John Adams,
our second president,
when speaking of the
general principles
on which the fathers
achieved independence,
said,
I will avow
that I then believed
and now believe
that those general principles
of Christianity
are as eternal
and immutable
as the existence
and attributes of God,
and that those principles
of liberty
are as unalterable
as human nature.
They believed
our leaders
ought to be men
that love the Lord Jesus.
Benjamin Franklin said,
he who shall introduce
into public affairs
the principles
of Christianity
will change
the face of the world.
John Quincy Adams,
the sixth president,
said the highest glory
of the American Revolution
was this,
it connected
in one indissolvable bond
the principles
of civil government
and the principles
of Christianity.
Now sadly,
if you listen today,
that bond
is dissolving.
People don't want us
to have that kind
of bond,
but that was not
what our nation
was founded on.
Noah Webster,
who was responsible
for,
have you ever heard
of the Webster's Dictionary?
Old boy had a vocabulary
probably.
He said this,
the religion
which has introduced
civil liberty,
you ever heard that word?
Those words?
Listen to this.
The religion
which has introduced
civil liberty
is the religion
of Christ
and his apostles,
which enjoins humility,
piety,
and benevolence,
which acknowledges
in every person
a brother,
a sister,
a citizen
with equal rights.
This is the genuine
Christianity
and to this Christianity
we owe our free
constitution
of government.
Eat that up,
ACLU.
That's not at all
what we ought
to be founded on.
These wise men
understood that liberty
is about Christ.
In 1796
the Supreme Court
of Maryland
said this,
the Supreme Court
of Maryland,
by our form of government
the Christian religion
is the established
religion
and all sects
and denominations
of Christians
are placed
upon the same
equal footing
and are equally
entitled
to protection
in their liberty.
I'm going to read
that again
because I want you
to see the connection
here, okay?
By our form of government
the Christian religion
is the established
religion
and all sects
and denominations
of Christians
are placed
upon the same
equal footing
and are equally
entitled
to protection
in their liberty.
It is upon
that thought
that the first
amendment was added
but did you get
why it was added?
The first amendment
was added
to make sure
one Christian denomination
did not rise
above another
Christian denomination.
the assumption
was
that Christianity
was a given
and in the beginning
of this nation
there was no conflict
with the first amendment
and having Washington
lay his hand
on the Bible
open to
Deuteronomy chapter 6.
There were no conflicts
with having
chaplains of Congress
lead the worship service
that concluded
Washington's inauguration.
Listen to this
there was no conflict
with supporting
ministers and missionaries
with federal money
for the first
100 years
of our nation.
I think times
have changed.
In 1781
a publisher
petitioned Congress
for permission
to print Bibles.
Congress approved
that petition
and stated
the Congress
of the United States
approves
and recommends
to the people
the Holy Bible
for use
in schools.
When it was challenged
in the Supreme Court
the Supreme Court
responded
don't you thank God
for the Supreme Court?
Don't you thank God
for the Supreme Court?
If you ain't watching
the news
my soul
you ought to be thankful
because it makes
a difference.
Why not the Bible
and especially
the New
this is the Supreme Court
why not the Bible
and especially
the New Testament
be read and taught
as a divine revelation
in the schools?
Where can the purest
principles of morality
be learned so clearly
and so perfectly
as from
the New Testament?
That's the Supreme Court
of the United States.
State of Delaware's
Constitution
of 1776
said this
everyone appointed
to public office
must say
I do profess
faith in God
the Father
and in the Lord
Jesus Christ
his Holy Son
and in the Holy Ghost
one God
blessed forevermore
and I do acknowledge
the Holy Scriptures
of the Old
and New Testament
to be given
by divine inspiration.
John Jay
that first
Chief Justice
of the U.S.
Supreme Court
one of the
main contributors
to the Constitution
stated this way
he said Providence
speaking of God
Providence has given
to our people
the choice
of their rulers
and it is the duty
as well as the privilege
and interest
of our Christian nation
to select
and prefer
Christians
for their rulers.
He went on
to write
the right
to hold office
was to be extended
to persons
of any Christian
denomination.
my friend
what's wrong
with America
today
is simple
we've lost
our first love
that's what it amounts
to
and I don't mean
to bad mouth America
I don't want to live
anywhere else
okay
but I want you
to know this morning
what it could be
what if presidents
still placed their hand
over a well read
Bible
in Deuteronomy
chapter 6
and made it
the practice
of their life
what if all
of Washington
did that
what a difference
that would make
so where do we
go from here
well I believe
you need to understand
the foundation
of our nation
and look
in all this
eradication
of history
when we find out
that
men made
bad decisions
and did wrong
things
didn't take away
from the good
they did
didn't take away
from the difference
that they made
to establish
this country
in the way
that it should be
we need learn
from history
not erase it
and not change it
but learn from it
we need to understand
the foundation
of our nation
second thing
and more importantly
is we need to pray
for the future
of our nation
we need to go
to our knees
we have no choice
I don't care
if you agree
with them or not
your prayer life
is not to consist
of those
that you only
dearly love
if you'll pray
for those
that you don't like
God will change
your heart
I mean
he could see
those curveballs
now
you know
I mean
every time
I say
Lord
man
I wish
you'd straighten
that old boy
out
because I'm sure
wanting to
you know
I ain't ever
said that
about anybody
in Pickens
but
people from
other places
God always
starts working
on me
to change
my attitude
about that
I want you to
listen to what
1 Timothy
chapter 2
verse 1
through 4
says
first of all
then I urge
you that
supplications
prayers
intercessions
and thanksgivings
be made for
all people
for kings
and all those
who are in
high positions
American translation
that means
president
that we may
lead a peaceful
and quiet life
godly and dignified
in every way
this is good
and it is pleasing
in the sight of God
our Savior
who desires
all people
to be saved
and to come
to the knowledge
of the truth
pray for those
who lead us
pray for our
lives
that our lives
won't get in the
way of God
doing a work
in them
pray that
we are
peaceful people
what a difference
it will make
when we pray
for God's
leadership
in our land
I mean
look
we live in a day
when it's time
to throw up
our hands
but it's not
throw up our
hands in disgust
but throw up
our hands
to God
and turn to him
and ask him
to intervene
ask him to move
our word
to pray for the
future of our
nation
and then we also
ought to share
the hope of our
nation
Jesus said
in Matthew
28
18-20
that we need
to make
disciples
in Jerusalem
Judea
Samaria
and the
uttermost
because we
have a story
to tell
trust the
power of the
gospel
and share
it
I had a
unique privilege
yesterday
I'm
appreciative
for it
I got to
leave the
opening prayer
at the
Trump rally
yesterday
little did I
know that
the news
programs that
were covering
it was also
going to keep
a camera on me
and my family
y'all know
this they keep
a camera on us
for the rest
of the program
when we were
burning up and
dying and
going please
just stop
what some of
y'all are
looking at me
like that's
what you're
thinking now
you know
I got some
time but I
ain't taking it
all so
you know
I want to
be clear
about something
I don't know
whether you're
going to like
what I say
or not
you know
if our
president's
office called
and asked me
to lead a
prayer for a
function that
he was going
to be at
I would have
done it
because I
respect the
office of
the president
of the
United States
and I
believe it's
our job as
Christians to
be hospitable
to others
and to do
whatever we
can
we were
willing to
open our
doors of
this church
and would
have been
for any
political
purposes as
far as that
is concerned
for hospitality
not for
political
purposes but
for hospitality
that when
people got
too hot
I don't
know how
much it
was used
but when
they got
too hot
and there
was a bunch
of them
including me
that people
got too hot
and needed
relief they
could come to
our fellowship
hall and find
relief
chairs were
set up
medics were
there to
provide that
opportunity
and I was
asked is it
okay for us
to use it
we didn't
know if
Donald Trump
was going to
need the room
or if people
who were too
hot was going
to need the
room it
didn't matter
I said it
really don't
matter it's a
matter of
hospitality
that's what the
Christian church
is about
it's about
being hospitable
and I enjoyed
the rally
until I nearly
passed out
but
my hope
is not in
Donald Trump
I'll vote
when presidential
elections come
along and I'll
vote for the
person that I
agree with the
most that I
think will do
the best for
what this
country ought
to stand for
but I'm not
placing my
hope in a
ballot box
folks
don't hear me
say that you're
not supposed to
vote
you need to
vote
you better
vote
don't let me
find out you
don't vote
but don't you
dare place your
hope in a ballot
box
because I think
we found out
that all the
leadership of our
country is somewhat
frail in some
areas of some
way or another
it seems
right
we're just
fallible people
and it's easy to
point fingers at
them but hey
let's look in the
mirror first
you know
but for the
grace of God
there go I
my hope is in
Jesus Christ
period
that's the only
place we are to
place our hope
and let us never
get mixed up
and misunderstand
that there's
choices we can
make that are
better than
others
and I'm not
going to talk
about that here
but if you ask
me I'll tell you
okay
but that's not
where I place my
hope
this is not my
home
this ain't all
there is friend
I'm going to
glory
and I'm going to
be skinny and
buff
you know
but after that
meal I probably
won't be
trust the power
of the gospel
and share it
well preacher I
can't do it
you're exactly
right you can't
do it nor can
I
the gospel
doesn't
God works
through the
gospel
he changes
lives
and if you
have no burden
to reach your
neighbor or the
world
pray about it
rock of ages
a wonderful song
I want you to
listen to the
words of the
rock of ages
cleft for me
let me hide
myself in thee
let the water
and the blood
from thy wounded
side which flow
be of sin
the double cure
save from wrath
and make me pure
not the labor
of my hands
can fulfill
thy laws
commands
could my zeal
no respite
no
could my tears
forever flow
all for sin
could not
atone
thou must save
and thou alone
nothing in my
hand I bring
simply to the
cross I cling
naked come to
thee my
for dress
helpless look
to thee for
grace
foul eye
to the fountain
fly
wash me
savior
or I die
while I draw
this fleeting
breath
when my
eyes shall
close in
death
when I
soar
to worlds
unknown
see thee
on
thy
judgment
throne
rock
of ages
clear
for me
let me
hide
myself
in thee
may the
foundation
of our
nation
rest upon
the rock
of the
Lord Jesus
Christ
because my
friend I'm
firmly convinced
that's where
we started
and we
need not
leave it
not for our
nation
and not for
our individual
lives
with every head
bowed and
every eye
closed
I believe the
answer is the
gospel of Jesus
Christ and if
you're here this
morning and
you've never
surrendered your
life to the
Lord Jesus
Christ
never ask him
to cleanse
you never ask
him to forgive
you of your
sins to come
into your life
and to change
you today's the
day of salvation
he'll change you
today we'll stand
in just a moment
and we'll sing but
more importantly
than that you need
to obey God
step out you
come to me and
say pastor I
need to be saved
I'd love to lead
man you'd make my
day that leads
you in knowing
what it means to
have a personal
relationship with
Christ maybe you're
here and you do
have a personal
relationship with
Christ but man
there's things
mixed up in your
life it ain't
right you need to
get it right come
to this altar and
make it right
stay where you are
and make it right
come to me and
ask me to pray for
you and let's make
it right you know
whatever it takes
whatever you need
you just obey God
you just do what
God tells you to do
you may have made
a private decision
and ask the Lord
Jesus into your
heart and change
to change your
life but you've
never told anybody
about that you
never made that
public today make
it public you come
for baptism we're
lining up a special
opportunity for
baptism coming up
and so I I
encourage you if God
has done that in
your life you come
for that or maybe
God's drawing you to
this congregation you
know this is where
you are to place your
life and to serve you
come alongside us
we'll stick to the
word of God we'll
try our best to serve
the Lord in our
community and in the
world as God gives
us opportunity just
obey God today this
day won't be what it
ought to be if you
don't obey the Lord
right now so let him
have his will and his
way heavenly father
I love you and thank
you for the opportunity
to be here today the
opportunity to share
your gospel without
restraint dear father I
don't have to couch my
words don't have to
wonder whether what I
say is true I can
rest in the gospel of
Jesus Christ saving
all who will come to
him God I pray today
that you'll lead us
right now to just
simply be obedient and
follow your will and
your way in Jesus name
amen
so here's an help to be
is
you