Top Five Illustrations for the Fourth of July

“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”

The kindergarten teacher was showing her class an encyclopedia page picturing several national flags. She pointed to the American flag and asked, "What flag is this?"
A little girl called out, "That’s the flag of our country."
"Very good," the teacher said. "And what is the name of our country?"
"’Tis of thee,’ the girl said confidently."

Contributed by: SermonCentral 

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A Taxing Story

My friend was trying to teach his fifth-grade son the value of
tithing. The boy listened attentively only to say, "I still
don’t understand why you have to pay taxes."

My friend replied, "Because the Bible says we must give unto
Caesar what belongs to Caesar and unto God what belongs to
God."

His son looked puzzled. "That’s what I’m trying to tell you,
Dad. Caesar died a long time ago."

SOURCE: "Life in Our House," Christian Parenting Today

Contributed by: SermonCentral 

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The Weapon of Prayer

It takes more than bullets and bombs to win a war, residents said in Chatsworth, GA.

"Prayer is the greatest weapon we’ve got," said Frank Lloyd of Chatsworth at a prayer service at First Baptist Church. "This war’s not going to be won on military might. It’s going to be won on the prayers of the people of this country."

"God is greater than a gun," agreed Clay Layfield, associate pastor of First Baptist.

"If all we depend on is duct tape and plastic, we’re in a mess," said the Rev. Donald Cantrell, pastor of Cool Springs Baptist Church. "I can’t go over there and fight that war, but I can pray right here."

SOURCE: "Iraqi Freedom: Murray residents use prayer as weapon." Matthew Lakin, The Daily Citizen March 21, 2003.

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The Duty of Nations

In 1863 President Lincoln designated April 30th as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. Let me read a portion of his proclamation on that occasion:

"It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, who owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by a history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. The awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has grown, but we have forgotten God."

SOURCE: America’s Sin of Self-Sufficiency, Richard Halverson, “The Question Facing Us.”

Contributed by: A. Todd Coget

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Profound Obscurity

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper, but if we and our posterity ignore its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity." - Robert E. Lee

Contributed by: Dr Ronald Shultz