Sermon Central
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Bringing America Back To God
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Oct 17, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: The parallels of America and Israel are staggering - both denied the Lord, defied the law, and defiled the land. Is God about to judge us like He did them? Link inc. to formatted text, audio/video, PowerPoint.
Bringing America Back to God
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/BringingAmericaBack.html
This book records the history of the nation of Israel for 305 years after the death of Joshua. Israel declined, backslid, and got away from God. And in this new study we will see many frightening parallels between Israel and America.
Israel was established by God Himself, and God gave Himself to them. He also gave them the law--the 10 commandments and the covenant. And He gave them Canaan, the best land of the earth at that time. And so God gave them the Lord, the law, and the land.
God only asked them for one thing in return--that they would love Him, obey Him, and serve Him. What did Israel do? They denied the Lord, they defied the law, and they defiled the land. So, God had to judge them.
The parallel with America is obvious and alarming. No nation has ever had a Christian beginning like the USA. We too have been given the Lord, the law, and a land, and we’ve denied Him, defied Him, and our land is being defiled.
1. America has denied the Lord.
The Lord is slowly but steadily being expelled from every public venue. It started in the public schools, and has spread to public places, court houses, our coins, our pledge of allegiance, and on and on to the point where today we are fighting battles about what we can even say in the church! It is no longer just about the separation of church and state but rather the separation of America from the God Who founded her and has so blessed her!
ill.--This last week a high school football team and its cheerleaders came under fire. The players and cheerleaders were all in agreement. They all wanted the team to enter the field, bursting thru a large paper banner with an inspirational Bible verse on it. It wasn’t school sanctioned, and no one involved had any problem with it ... but guess who did have a problem? The ACLU! "The American Communist...ummm...Civil Liberties Union". You could call them the Anti Christian Liberals Union. Actually, I don’t know why they aren’t called the UUUU, for they are Unamerican, uncivil, and unlibertarian!
The ACLU has been used by Satan as a tool for many years, tearing apart the God woven fabric of our society.
America has denied the Lord...
2. America has defied the law.
The Supreme Court says that it is against the law to display the 10 Commandments in a public place, [though their building displays them!] reasoning that if you display them people might ponder them and if so, they might obey them, and that would be a violation of the separation of church and state. We are doing just what Israel did. It is now the official position of our government that the 10 commandments are dangerous! Wouldn’t want kids in school to see ’thou shalt not kill’ because what if they obeyed it!
ill.--ladies, what if you broke down in the worst part of town and had to walk, after dark, to find help. While you walk a group of 4 men leave a house you are passing and begin walking just behind you. How do you feel? As you listen to what they are saying you notice they are talking about God, and have just left a Bible study session. You turn around and see they are all carrying Bibles. How do you feel now?
The new direction our once Christian nation is now going in is just foolish, and contrary to basic common sense. We don’t force our beliefs on anyone, but we have allowed the world to chip away at our core of morality.
Like Israel, we have denied the Lord, defied the law...
3. America has defiled the land.
We’ve done this in many ways, but perhaps the #1 way is found in the spilled blood of aborted babies.
God took away His glory from His people Israel when they did such things. And I believe He is in the process of removing Himself from the good old US of A. We need a national revival. We need a moral and spiritual awakening. I don’t know what it’s gonna take. If 9/11 wasn’t enough, what will be enough?
The book of Judges is the record of God raising up 13 men to deliver Israel from backsliding in order to bring about national revival.
Our outline is best understood by an illustration of ’the family fortune.’ When a family becomes rich there are 3 stages which seem to always occur:
• The first generation generates the fortune.
• The second generation speculates their fortune, thru a series of compromises and foolish decisions.
• The third generation dissipates the fortune and it is gone.
That is exactly how it works with a nation. There is a generation that generates the freedom, then a generation that speculates it away, and finally, a generation that dissipates it until completely gone, and freedom is no more. If you don’t believe this, you need to study those nations that have forgotten God in history.
