Live Sermon | Faith, Freedom, and Our Future

A single Bible verse has been used for everything from sermons to national celebrations, but Psalm 33:12 is not a slogan. We walk slowly through its claim: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” and we ask what that blessing actually requires and what it produces. If you’ve ever wondered whether America’s story is mainly politics, philosophy, and war, or whether God’s hand belongs in the conversation at all, we make the case that Scripture itself insists God sovereignly establishes nations, sets boundaries, and steers the course of history. 

We also dig into the historical record and why it matters for a Christian worldview today. From family Bibles and letters of faith to the language of the Declaration of Independence, we talk about repeated references to a Creator, a Supreme Judge, and divine providence, and why ideas like human dignity and inalienable rights didn’t appear out of nowhere. Then we define “blessing” in biblical terms: God’s protection, provision, and peace, given in a way that turns hearts toward praise, not pride. 

From there, the focus gets personal and practical. We highlight George Washington’s stated purpose for blessing across “the whole race of mankind” and the call for knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, then pivot to the church’s responsibility through 2 Chronicles 7:14. The turning point is simple: renewal doesn’t start in the White House, it starts in God’s house, when God’s people humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from sin. We close with the Second Great Awakening as a reminder that God can still move in a nation. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Why This Verse Matters

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Welcome to the Kid is on First Podcast, where we're building transformed lives one message at a time. Each week you'll hear Christ-centered sermons from Dr. J. Perry Fowler, rooted in the truth of God's Word. This is where real faith meets real life, because a life built on truth is a life that lasts.

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It's been used for sermons by preachers, but it's also been used as a verse that's used for political statements for national celebrations. And it's one of those verses that has become a foundational verse for our entire country for years past, and I'm sure will be for years to come.

Psalm 33:12 And A Blessed Nation

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I want you to read it with me. It says this. It says, blessed. Say that word with me. Blessed. Blessed is the nation. Blessed is the nation. You know, the rest of it whose God is the Lord. Let's say it together. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. We're used to hearing that. But the rest of it says something even more meaningful. It says, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. One of the great things that's happened during this 250th year birthday of the United States of America is if you go and you go to the Museum of the Bible, what you will see is you'll see that the 250th birthday of America has been marked by a display there. The display is has a number of family Bibles. They're Bibles that were owned by our forefathers and their families. And also there's lots of letters of faith that you can read there that those forefathers wrote about their relationship with God. And the result of that is the curator of that particular museum, his name is Anthony Schmidt. Anthony said this, he said, from this display, there's one thing that's obvious. That is that the Bible has become an integral part of our nation's founding and history. And he said, listen, this is not a theological statement. It's not a theological claim. He said the documents, they show the truth that the founding fathers reference scripture, they argued from it, they build a political framework on its language, and it's all about human dignity and liberty. This morning we're going to look at this verse, and it's one of those verses that they consistently went to. It was almost like they were magnetized to Psalm 33, verse 12, that says, Blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord and the people he has chosen for his inheritance. They focused in on that. And this morning, when we read that verse, it's somewhat of a springboard for us today, so that in turn, that when we celebrate this weekend, as we did last night, and as we continue to celebrate our nation forthgoing, it reminds us of really how our nation has become what it

God Sovereignly Establishes Nations

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is. We as Americans need to understand the blessings that God has given to us, but most of all, we need to understand that this fact is that God sovereignly established nations. God has done this. This is something that God has done. This is not something that man has done. This is not something that while we have sacrificed, we have followed the leadership of our God, the same God that created the world, has created the United States of America. And I'm going to prove that to you in just a moment because it is biblically proven that God sovereignly establishes nations. When you think about nations, you think of this, nations don't just happen. They would just kind of just spring up and like, okay, I think we'll have a nation today. It's not how it happens. And neither did our nation rise up like that. It didn't just happen. It didn't just happen because a group of guys decide to sit down and write a declaration of independence. It happened because God sovereignly establishes nations. It's God. We are one nation under God. And our forefathers knew that. What we know is they don't just naturally happen. Nations just don't naturally happen. Ownership and power over people does not just simply and quickly, it's not simply given away. What we know is nations require God. God is the one that establishes nations by his sovereign hand. So on March 23rd of 1775, Patrick Henry stood. And what he did is he voiced the desperation of the people of the United States of America, who we are now, rather. And what what he did was he voiced this saying. He said, Give me liberty or give me death. And what he said is he says, We've done everything to avert the storm which is coming upon us. And in desperation, what we know is our forefathers set down, 56 of them, and they wrote out what we know to be this thing called the Declaration of Independence. They needed freedom. They said, give us liberty or give us death. And all the while they recognized, and you'll find this in American history, if you look in the annals of history and you look upon the documents that I'm speaking of, you will see quickly that this nation was established by people who knew that nations don't just happen, they needed the hand of God. So four times in the Declaration of Independence, what we know is that they referenced God and they referenced his sovereign hand and they acknowledged the fact that the only way this nation would become a nation was through the sovereign hand of God, through the power of God. And they sought to align their thinking and their principles with the very principles of the Bible. The early statements that we find in American history, 34% of them, 34% of them, the University of Houston just looked at this and they were able to bring this up and bring this on this 250th birthday of America. And what they said is this 34% of the early documents, they contain nothing more, nothing less, than simply the Bible, the Word of God. And so our forefathers, they saw several things. And in this, they saw that God is the one who sovereignly establishes nation. The reason why we have the United States of America today is because it was in God's will, his sovereign will, that this nation be established, and our forefathers knew it. And they recognize that by certain statements in the Declaration of Independence. One of them is they said, and they made this statement. These are some of the sentences that are in the Declaration of Independence. They said, the laws and the nature of God. They made that one simple statement. And as they were writing this Declaration of Independence, they acknowledge God, they acknowledge God's laws, and they acknowledge the nature of God. The second thing is, they said this, and you're familiar with this phrase. All men are created equal. Where do you think they got that from? All men are created equal, and they are endowed by their, here it is, creator with certain unalienable rights. Where do you think they got that idea? They got it from the Bible. Appealing to the Supreme Judge is the third thing. They said, appealing to the same gr the uh supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of his and our intentions. They made mention of that. That was one of the phrases, that was one of the sentences in the Declaration of Independence, acknowledging God. And then a fourth, they said, with a firm reliance, here it is, on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Where do you think they got this idea of a God who rules the universe? Where do you think they got the idea of human beings having inalienable rights? Where do you think you got that? Where do you think they got the idea of a supreme judge of the world and that there is a God who intervenes on the behalf of people for his glory? Where do you think they got that idea? Those things are in our Declaration of Independence, and I'll tell you where they came from. Straight from the Bible. What a glorious thing. Do you think that came from European enlightenment? Do you think that came from French philosophers like Voltier and Rousseau? Do you think it came? No, it came from the Word of God. Because they acknowledge the God who establishes nations, leads it through the courses of history, stands faithfully to raise up nations and to as well bring down other nations so that in turn these nations can rise to power and to privilege. And that's who we are today. We are a nation under God that has been established by Almighty God. And the University of Houston, as I mentioned, mentioned that. Dr. Donald S. Lutz said it. And Dr. Charles S. Heineman said the oldest writings of our country's history are known to have up to four times more from the Bible than any other reference that they referenced to. And said 34% of the writings come from the Bible. As a matter of fact, during the founding of our country, there it was discovered that there were 15 nationwide calls to prayer. How do you think our nation was established? These people said, we're going to have to pray. In 15 different times, there were nationwide calls to prayer, and they even established military chaplains. They paid them like they pay preachers $20 a month. And what we know is, is they also in Philadelphia, they got a writer who sat down. His name was Robert Aiken. And Robert Aiken sat down and he translated and he put together, established and published this book for American schools. It was going to be the textbook for American schools. And do you know what it was called? The Aiken Bible. They today began our educational pursuit in America when we look back at our forefathers with one main textbook, and that textbook is the Word of God. Praise be to the Lord. And while American founders, not all of them were Christians, some of them were deists. One among them was Thomas Jefferson. A deist is a man who believes maybe not even the miracles of God, not the whole Bible, but yet Thomas Jefferson said this. While he believed in God, he did say this: no nation has ever existed or has been governed without religion. He further on said this, nor can it be. The Christian religion, he said, and I quote, listen to what he said. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man, and I, the chief magistrate of this nation, am bound to give the sanction of my by my example. That's what he said. And you know what the Bible says about this? It's not just what our forefathers said, they found it in the Bible. Acts chapter 27, verse 26. It says, From one man the nations came all the nations. They that shall inhabit the whole earth and are marked by their appointment of times and history and boundaries of their hands. So in the book of Acts, what we hear is God is one of the established nations. He established his boundaries. The map of the United States of America gives glory to God. Because God set the boundaries, God set the history. Today we celebrate the workings of God because God sovereignly establishes nations according to his word. Job said it in Job chapter 12, 23. He says, He makes nations great. He furthermore went on and he says, and he destroys them. He enlarges nations and he disperses them. In the book of Psalm, chapter 22, verse 28, he says, For all dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse 15, what Isaiah does is he describes nations as a drop in the bucket and the king's heart being like sand in the hand of God. God sovereignly establishes nations. And Daniel knew it. Daniel was called to be a governmental leader, and he was placed by God in Persia and was an influencer and a governmental leader in a pagan government, and there is a type of statesman. He stood and he wrote in the book of Daniel, chapter 2, verse 21: God changes times and seasons. He deposes kings and raises up others. If we as Americans cannot read what Daniel said in chapter 2 and not look at American history and say, yes, God changed time 250 years ago. He deposed the king and he raised up us. Praise be to God. God has established America by his sovereign power. Now, with that said, also, Daniel said this, the Holy One, speaking of the Trinity, by the way, declare the verdict. In other words, they're in charge. They're the ones that drop the gavel. Esa went on to say, so that all living may be the most high of the sovereign over the kingdom over the earth. He gives them to anyone he wishes and sets them over the lowliest of people. God is large and in charge, he more or less says. And then he also said this in Daniel 2, 44. He said, Every earthly kingdom is temporary. You know why we pray, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven? It was because ultimately there will be King Jesus. He will come and he will rule and reign over heaven and earth. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Every earthly kingdom, according to Daniel, wills is temporary, but God's kingdom is eternal until he comes. May God bless America. May we be the people that God would use as his own possession. May we stand with him, and may we be people who stand alongside the will and the ways of God so that in turn we would be

What God’s Blessing Really Means

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blessed. Which brings us to the second point. And that is God's blessings supernaturally enriched nations. Now I want you to think about this. We talk about God's blessings all the time. Matter of fact, sometimes we'll come up and say, Well, bless you. Or maybe we might sing, as we did heard last night, almost at midnight, God bless America. And the singing about blessing of America, the psalmist points to this word blessing, and he wants us to know something about that word. That word is more than a spiritual feeling. It is actually, it reveals a verb which speaks of God's protection, speaks of God's provision, speaks of God's peace that he brings. And it always is meant to promote praise on our behalf toward God. Let's say, God, you blessed America. God, you've blessed the nations. God, you are the blesser. Jesus used this word for his most famous sermon of all, the longest sermon that Jesus preached in the Bible. And we see it recorded, and it begins with these words, blessed. The word there is the Greek word mikyrios, which means to prosper, to give someone fortune, to be fortunate, to be flourishing. And in some cases, to just speaks of downright happiness. So where do you think we got our prospering? Where do you think we got our fortunate place? Where do you think we got this flourishing from? And where did we, in some cases, just have downright happiness as we did last night? I will tell you where we got it. From the God who is the blesser. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures. Here below. God has blessed America. And now God says, Will you bless me? God has blessed America. The commodity, a blessing, comes from God's kingdom. And the psalmist gives the picture that it is He is the blesser who personally comes and He provides it and delivers the blessing to us. That's the picture that the psalmist gives. And so when God is in charge, what kind of blessings flow? One thing happens, this is the Bible says that righteousness is valued. What's that mean? That means what we read in Proverbs 14, 34 comes to be. It says, righteousness exalts a nation. So what's God looking for? What kind of nation is blessed by God? It is one where righteousness is exalted. Furthermore, it is a place where justice is practiced, where true justice is practiced, a place where God's word is held high, a place where humility replaces pride, and a place where blessings follow obedience. And when we look at a nation of America today, let me ask you: is this nation a place where righteousness is valued, where justice is practiced, where God's word is held high, where humility replaces pride, and where God's blessings follow our obedience? Listen, that is possible because all things are possible with God, and God calls us to be the people chosen for his own inheritance. Now follow this. Now follow this. When Jesus is the Lord of the nation, righteousness becomes its foundation. When Jesus is Lord of the nation, justice becomes its practice. Biblical truth becomes its guide. Humility becomes its strength, and as well, God becomes its provider. That's what it means to be blessed. So God bless America, and God, may you always bless America with righteousness, with justice, with God's word being held high, with humility replacing pride, and where blessings follow our obedience. That's the call of the blessed nation. And listen, we were founded by a group of people who were very much seeking the blessing of God. They knew that God sovereignly establishes nations, and they knew that God was the blesser of

George Washington On Faith And Purpose

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nations. So we have people like George Washington, who was the father of our country. You may not know this, but he sat down and he wrote down a purpose statement for our nation. It's very intriguing to read. And it came specifically from the Bible. And it's if you'll listen to it, I'm going to help you understand where he was coming from. But this is what his purpose statement was. He wrote it with his own hand, and this is what he wrote. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind. That's how he began. I want you to say it with me. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind. Let's say it again. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind. So in our nation, our purpose statement written by George Washington, he says, Listen, I want you, Lord, to bless all the whole earth, every nation, every race of mankind. No matter what color you are, no what matter background, what matter part of the world you are from, George Washington said, We as a nation, we say, bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind. And then this is how he responded. He said, and let the world be filled, get this, let the world be filled with the knowledge of thee, and get this, and thy Son Jesus Christ. Did you hear what he just said? This is George Washington. He says, Listen, I want all the universe, I want every race to be blessed. I want there to be no division among races. I want them to come together and I want everybody to be blessed, that no matter what color or creed they come from, may God bless the nations and may He bless America. But beyond that, what he said is this is where that blessing comes from. He said, This in our purpose statement of our nation, let the whole world be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. So he knew that the blessing comes from knowing who the blesser is, who is the one who we need knowledge of. But then he went on and showed us where we get to know that blesser, and he said, And may it be filled with thee, the knowledge of thee and thy son. Get this Jesus Christ. Now listen, a lot of people try to say that George Washington was a deist. If he was a deist, he was a terrible deist. I want to tell you what he was. He was a Christian who looked to Abraham, and he knew that through Abraham as the father of our faith, was the one that God said, Listen, through you, through your family, may the nations of the world be blessed. And George Washington added to that when he was the father of our country. He looked to the father of faith and as the father of our country. He looked and he said, Listen, I want this nation, this is the purpose statement of that nation, that the whole earth would be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, which reminds us of what Abraham was called to. And then George Washington went on the next step and said, and filled with the knowledge of thy son, Jesus Christ. You know what this tells me? The purpose statement of our nation is so that in turn the world would know about the Lord and know who he is and have knowledge of him and know that for God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's what established the foundation of our truth in America. That's what our purpose statement is. That's our Father of our nations that said it. He wasn't looking at multiples of religions in the world. He was looking at the beauty and the truth of Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man comes to the Father, but through me, he said, May the whole world through us come to know the knowledge and come to knowledge of Jesus Christ. And Washington knew this. Again, if he was a deist, he was a terrible one because what we know he did was, and a lot of people are talking about this, this just came out on the internet, people saying, well, this has been hidden in the annals of American history. It hasn't. American history and uh uh has has been written, but yet what happens a lot is a lot of the stories of our American history and our story is not told in public schools. And so because it's not told, people think this has been hidden for years. But listen, American history is American history. And if you'll go and you'll actually spend time instead of listening to what somebody else says, and you'll go on a little journey yourself, you'll find out things like this. You'll find out that the first presidential order of Washington is Continental Army was that they go to church. Did you know that? Let me read it to you. The commander-in-chief directs the divine service to church services be performed every Sunday at 11 o'clock. So the commander-in-chief said, Listen, you were gonna have church and it's gonna be 11 o'clock in the morning. I wonder if he was a Baptist. But nonetheless, I kind of laugh at it because we we as Christians, you say, Well, where do we get this 11 o'clock thing? It's been that way in America ever since George Washington. But beyond that, he said, in the brigades, may this happen aware there are chaplains to those, in other words, we're gonna have chaplains. They paid him $20 a month, and he wanted to make sure that those chaplains were there. But he says, but if there's not a chaplain there, that they will attend a place nearest to worship. And he says, it is expected of the officers, that's the generals and so forth. It says that it is expected that the officers of all ranks that they should be in attendance and set an example. In other words, we want you to set the example. If you're in leadership, you set the example in America. And they were saying this to, of course, our officers of the Continental Army. And he went on and says, while we are performing the duties as good citizens, so he talks about what we do as good citizens and our duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion to distinguish the character of the patriot. Anyway, he says, you can't even be a patriot unless you understand the higher duties that distinguish us as patriots. And he went on to say that it should be the highest glory. Did you hear what I said? The highest glory. This is what our first presidential order said, that it should be of the highest glory to add the more distinguished character of, get this, Christian. Do you hear what he just said? He just said, Listen, I want the whole army to be Christians. I want the whole, I want the whole world. I mean, in his purpose statement, he wanted the whole world to be filled with the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. And ultimately he said, Listen, these people that are under my authority, I want to point them to Jesus. I'm going to point them to the gospel. I'm going to point them. And listen, is of the highest character, even beyond being a patriot and being called a patriot, should be the blessing and the glory of being called a Christian. That's what George Washington wrote. Know your American history. Know it. Because that's who we are. We were not established as a Muslim nation. We were not established as a nation of Hindu. We were not established as a nation of Buddhists. We were established as a Christian nation. Somebody has got to say it. So I went ahead and said it. And no wonder God has blessed America. Because that same God who loves us so much sent his son because he cared for the whole world. He sought out the best of the world. Jesus came so that the knowledge of God Himself could be known through the incarnation. And Jesus went to the cross so that the great gift of God be given. And so we would be filled with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the gospel and the way and the truth to a greater kingdom, the kingdom of God. And so here we are, George Washington in American history was a Christian. But it doesn't stop there. You'd say, well, what made him a Christian? I don't know his personal testimony, but I do know some of the testimony. And what I know on five different occasions, we're reminded that he was unscathed in battle. I recommend to you to be able to go this afternoon or maybe sometime this week and see and watch on the movies Young Washington. I'm looking forward to seeing it myself. But he was unscathed in battle. Did you know that one of the times he was shot at, they shot the hat off of his head? Did you know he had bullets inside his clothing, but they did not penetrate his skin? He had horses shot out from underneath him, and he was never scratched by a bullet. And people would say, Well, how in the world, Washington, how in the world did you yourself survive such? And he had one answer, the providence of God. That was it. The providence of God. And by the way, our nation knows a lot about providence, and well, you know, part of our history as believers is, and is for me personally as a Baptist, one of the blessings is that Roger Williams went and established the first Baptist church in America, and guess where? Providence. They named it Providence. So the providence of God. But the whole focus is not what denomination would be established. It was the whole focus of the gospel of Jesus Christ would be established by the providence of God. And so George Washington knew the providence of God. He was very aware of it. It was part of his personal testimony. God has been among me. God has saved me. God has left me unscathed. Matter of fact, following the French and Indian War, I've enjoyed reading this lately. I've been reading Bill O'Reilly's book. I don't know if it's called Killing England. It's a great book. And while I was reading and I found out this, 15 years following the French and Indian War, Washington returned to the Ohio Valley. There he saw one of the Indian chiefs. The Indian chief actually sought him out because he wanted to speak to him. And the Indian chief came up and he says, I want to meet the man who is the particular favorite of heaven. I'm not kidding, that's what he said. And he says, Why do you call me the favorite of heaven? And he said, Well, the reason why I do is because I want to admit to you that I ordered my marksmen to kill you, and they fired death shots onto you 17 times, and none of them hit you. That's American history, folks. Matter of fact, do you know how we know this American history? George Washington's grandson named George Washington Park Curtis wrote it down as he listened to stories from his grandfather. Matter of fact, this Indian chief said, I ordered them to stop their attempts, and I quote, because a power mightier far than us shielded you, George Washington. He knew about God. Listen, God's not the great I was, he's the great I am. God's still at work in America today, just like he was in the days of George Washington. And listen, he is still at work in the church today and in his people, when my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then we'll hear

2 Chronicles 7:14 And Our Assignment

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from heaven. And that brings us to the third point, and it's God's people should always seek God for their nation. What do you do as an American citizen? Last night you said, well, as an American citizen, I went and bought about $100 worth of fireworks and set them off and went on, went to bed and thought that was really a waste of money. No, it wasn't. It was a celebration. It was something that we say, you know what? We as Americans are grateful for what God has done. He sovereignly establishes nations and he sovereignly establishes us. God bless America. The Bible tells us that every Christian is called to do something for their nation. You would say, well, how do I, how can I, as a Christian, be a blessing to my nation? Yes, the Bible encourages us to love our nation, to be leaders in our nation, and consistently intercede for our nation. But we have a scripture, spirit, we have a scriptural assignment. It's been flamed in the pulpits of America for two and a half centuries, and people have been stirred to the point where they go to their knees and they sit in the dust beneath the church altars of America and they pray and they do, as 2 Chronicles 7.14 says, it's fanned the flames of preaching, it's fanned the flames of revival in America, and it's shifted America many, many times. And I'll share one of those stories with you in a minute. But did you know God's word is true and it will never ever turn void? And when we follow it and we listen to it, God will use it. 2 Chronicles 7.14 says, if my people who are called by my name, do you know who he's focusing here on? He's not saying, hey, all those people out there. He's saying, I want to talk to the church. And Ezra writes this as they're dedicating the temple. And as they're dedicating the temple and they're seeking the blessing of the nation, the temple was the house of God. And it was the place on Mount Moriah where, of course, Abraham took his son Isaac, and God gave a sacrifice instead of Isaac, gave a sacrifice of a ram goat for Isaac, and he came back down Mount Moriah. But it wasn't far from that. They're just literally the hill over is Mount Calvary. And on Mount Calvary, God sent his own son up that hill, but his son did not have a sacrifice for himself. He became the sacrifice for you and me. And in that same vicinity, in that same area, what we know is Ezra stood, foreshadowing ultimately the call of America and the call of each of us just to come to that place, to come to the place of worship, come to the temple of dedication, and come and get on our knees in the altars of our churches and stand and say, if my people, what if my people will humble themselves and pray? What will happen? What will happen if we humble ourselves and we pray and we seek his face? It says, then. Have you ever stopped and think about the word then? The word then is a powerful word. He's saying, listen, I want you to know that there is a place where heaven meets earth. I want you to know that there's an activity that triggers miracles. I want you to know that there is a calling that transcends the powers of presidents, pontiffs, and other people. There is a calling upon the church. And if we want to be great American statesmen, if we want to be great members of this society, if we want to be great people of God, and if we want to be great for America, we must be great when it comes to our time alone with God. And when we come to the altar, that calling is a calling to pray. It's a divine place with a divine call. And there we acknowledge our dependence on God and we humble ourselves. Do you know that God sovereignly established America when we humble ourselves and say, God, the only reason why we just had a 250th birthday is because of you. And when we come to that altar and we say, God, thank you for the great years of privilege that we have had as Americans, thank you for the favor. Thank you for the blessing. Thank you for how you have raised up such a powerful military, but some trust in chariots and horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. That's scripture, y'all. When we humble ourselves, listen, there's nothing more powerful than the church to become militant, for us to march against the gates of hell, and for us to stand as God calls us to, and to stand before Him, and when we see Him, to go to our knees and to humble ourselves and to say, God, we acknowledge our dependence on you rather than self-reliance. We fervently pray, actively communicating and petitioning to God for our nation. We seek your face, desiring a deeper relationship with you, God, not just you, not just your blessings. And we turn from our wicked ways. We, as Christians, so often, we point our finger outside the church door and we say, if when they humble themselves, when they pray, when they seek your face, when they turn from their wicked ways, that's when we'll hear from heaven. But that is a total unbiblical concept. It's not that. It's when God's people, when my people will humble themselves, when my people will pray, when my people will seek their face God's face, when my people turn from their wicked ways, then we'll hear from heaven. See, the spiritual renewal of America doesn't start at the White House, it starts in God's house. And so God Himself says, Listen, meet these four conditions, and there'll be three responsibles. First off, I'm gonna forgive you. And I'm gonna move in power among you, and I'm gonna hear you. That's what God promises. Now you say, Well, give me evidence

The Second Great Awakening As Proof

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of that. I'll give you the evidence through the second great awakening. Did you know that not many people realize we stop and we say, oh, way back on then, America was really what it ought to be with God, and somehow we have slipped into this impoverished position? No. Did you know that in the days in the wake of the American Revolution, just after 1781, there were five million people in America, and they said 300,000 of those people were paralyzed by alcoholism. For the first time in American history, women were afraid to go out in the dark for fear of being raped. That was America following the American Revolution. And matter of fact, churches, this is what one pastor wrote during that time, and I'm gonna quote him, churches were in decline. Churches were losing more members than they were growing. Few people were coming to Christ's spiritual life with such a decline that John Marshall wrote James Madison these words the church is too far gone. It's too far gone to be redeemed. Atheists like Voltire and Thomas Paine said Christians and Christianity will be completely forgotten in 30 years. That was early American history. But a poll was taken at Harvard, by the way, some of you I may actually know that Harvard was established as a divinity school. It was a seminary, folks. But Harvard, they took a poll during that time and they said it's that they could not find one believer there in the whole student body. I'm gonna just read to you what it what's written. At Princeton, they discovered that there were only two Christians in the student body. Education became anti-Christian, as a matter of fact. They held a mock communion in Williams College and put on anti-Christian plays at Dartmouth. And at Harvard, they burned Bibles in bonfires, and by the 1790s, Christians met in secret at Harvard like communist cells, quote unquote. But in Scotland, there was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, his name was John Esgrine, who wrote a publication. He looked across the world. He looked like George Washington did across the earth, and he said, Lay the whole world be filled with the knowledge of God and the Son Jesus Christ. And while he was looking at the impoverished position globally, spiritually, of this world, he got on his knees and he wrote a publication that was sent around the world, and other pastors responded, writing their own calls of prayer. And in response to that prayer, God's spirit began to move. Because if my people will humble themselves and pray, and if my people will seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then they'll hear from heaven. I'll forgive their sin. And I will heal their land. And what happened in response to the second great awakening was the Spirit of God began to move. It began in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in Indiana, in southern Ohio. God's spirit began to move. The whole nation was soon impacted morally, spiritually, culturally. The evangelical movement began to rise and it catapulted in America. It was amazing. There were people who during that time were trying to keep the church in this, I guess you're going to say this organized fashion, while everything's to be done in dignity and order. You know what happened? A lot of the churches began to say, listen, we're going to ordain our own people. If God's Spirit's on somebody and they know the word of God, we're going to lay our hands on them. We're going to ordain pastors from the church. And by the way, that's why there's so many Baptist churches in the South. Did you know that? And the reason why is because we didn't have to go and get a presbyter to say, okay, you're okay to go preach. The churches said, We see God's Spirit on you, go. And they ordained them. It actually did happen. I'm just giving you a little bit of Baptist history there. But nonetheless, it was cool because it didn't just happen among Baptists, it happened among all denominations. Matter of fact, denominational didn't that was that was a less of a concern than the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the result of it is we had circuit riding preachers. They would get on horses and they would go and they would preach and they would preach and they would preach. And the gospel would be shared, and churches would be formed, and God would call out pastors. And you look at the at the quote-unquote Bible belt. You know how that came? That came about a long time ago by a movement of God. And that movement was obvious to the people in America. You say, well, how was it obvious? Were people shouting, slinging? I like to call it sling and spit. You know, everybody's getting excited, and you get, you know, you say all this stuff happened. There was, you know, maybe somebody's doing a Jericho run around church buildings. I don't know what you might think revival looks like, but this is what it looked like in the second great awakening. I'm gonna read it to you and I'm gonna close. It says this the second great awakening was like this. This was written by Pastor Rupert Vermont, who was watching the Great Awakening happening. By the way, there also were these Brush Harbor revivals where people going out and just literally cutting down trees and having revivals out in the middle of the woods. That's how much God's spirit was moving. And Rupert said this He said, There was no emotion. There was no no more violent, uh nothing more violent emotionally more than the shame. No appearance of wildness or disorder occurred. Just silent, fixed focus. Another pastor said this there was no commotion, but stillness in our very street. It said to all of us, God is in this place. Go back to the passage of scripture. Blessed is the nation. And the people he has chosen for his inheritance. The people, the people of God. The God is raised up across America. I'm not looking beyond myself. I am going to look to God myself. I will humble myself. I will pray. I will speak. I will come from my own wicked way. We hear the spiritual voice. We hear the voice from heaven calling us. What you promised. The Lord. We are in Jesus' name.

Final Call To Prayer And Share

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Let's pray for their nation. There's nothing more important. This is part of our Christian duty.

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