25 Days of Prayer and Praise - July 4, 2026

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome back to the Everyday Faith Podcast from Eastside with today's Faith-Rooted Principle.

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Hello, it's Pastor Finley Cutshaw. Happy 4th of July. Today is Saturday, July the 4th, the 250th anniversary of our nation. What an amazing thing. I was just reading uh recently about the history of different nations, and 200 years has been the uh average of great civilizations of the past. And God has blessed America to go 50 years past that. And I pray that America will be able to continue until Jesus comes again. We're still reading uh some portions of the Patriots Bible, and this is an article written that's contained within the Patriots Bible. And when I read this to you, it's titled Christianity in Colonial America. When I read this to you, you're gonna feel like our nation has been stolen. And uh I don't know how else to describe it, but I knew these things were true. But when you start to read them and you read several of them over several days, it begins to become very apparent that Satan has been steadily eroding our foundation. And uh he does not want us to be considered a Christian nation or a nation founded on Christian principles. But to be honest with you, that's exactly what we are, at least in our foundation. We are a Christian nation. We're founded on Christian laws, Christian ethics, biblical truth, and really a great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and uh his word that has been given to us. And we as believers cannot allow that to slip away any further. In fact, we need to see it come back. And that is our our prayer. Uh, it is the same as that song, bring back the glory. And the only way that's going to happen is if believers stand for Christ. And I want to encourage believers to not only vote, but run for public office. If you're a child of God living in America, you ought to be voting for uh the party that exhibits Christ-like godly principles the most, that is most Bible-oriented. Now, there's no perfect party, there's no perfect candidates, but there's certainly platforms that resemble the founding principles of our nation and the word of God more than others and candidates that do that. And so I think that you ought to be a voting Christian, and I think that you ought to be a Christian willing to run for office if you can, and you ought to be letting your voice be heard. One of the best ways to keep America or to cause America to turn back to God is to simply live your Christian faith out every day in the world in which you live. And so let me encourage you to do that. Now, I'm rambling, but let me just read this to you. And like I said, you're gonna feel like our nation has been stolen when I read this. And then at the end, I'd like to make a couple more comments and then have a time of prayer. But I do hope you're having a great 4th of July so far. So here it is, the article in the Patriots Bible, Christianity in Colonial America. Beginning early in the 17th century, settlers from Spain, France, Sweden, Holland, and England claimed land and formed colonies along the eastern coast of North America, and the struggle for control of this land continued for well over a hundred years. By the time of the Declaration of Independence, which was signed in 1776, there were 13 fully operational American colonies with independent governments and constitutions. The first permanent settlement was the English colony at Jamestown in 1607, in what is now Virginia, similar to the other colony charters. The first charter of Virginia emphasized the Christian character of their purpose. You can read in that charter these words, we greatly commending and graciously accepting of their desires for the furtherance of so noble a work, which may by the providence of Almighty God hereafter tend to the glory of his divine majesty in propagating of Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God. That sounds a little bit Christian to me in nature. It certainly sounds like there is a Bible basis behind it. And so then we move on to 1620. In 1620, the pilgrims followed and set up a colony at Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts. The purpose of the pilgrims was to establish a political commonwealth governed by biblical standards. The Mayflower Compact, their initial governing document, clearly stated that what they had undertaken was for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. William Bradford, the second governor of Plymouth, said the colonists cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations for the propagations and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world. And can I say that I believe that their prayers have been heard and answered? America has sent the gospel around the world. This nation became a great beacon of life and hope, light, and hope for the rest of the world. And so that was the heartbeat of these early settlers. Then we moved to 1630. In June 1630, Governor John Winthrop landed in Massachusetts Bay with 700 people and 11 ships, thus beginning the Great Migration, which lasted 16 years and saw more than 20,000 Puritans sail for New England. The Puritans so believed that this new world would be a place to escape the corruptions in their own church state homeland, they called their Massachusetts Bay colony a Zion in Wilderness and a city upon a hill. Winthrop also organized the first American experiment in federation in 1643, the New England Confederation stating that the aim of the colonists of New Plymouth, New Haven, Massachusetts, and Connecticut was to listen to this, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel thereof in purities and peace. Folks, I got to tell you, that's amazing, and I'm sure that I've probably heard this referred to in the past, but it's shocking in the day in which we live, in the day in which people in America, leaders in America, want God out of this country, out of our social environment, out of everything we have going on in a society. And I promise you, that doesn't make things better, it makes them worse. We need God. Let me keep going. In 1638, a colony was established in New Haven, in what is now Connecticut, by the Reverend John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton. By the way, Theophilus, good Bible name. You'll read that in the Gospel of Luke in the first chapter. It means lover of God or friend of God. Anyway, uh John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, they a year later, after their arrival, the fundamental orders of Connecticut, often called the world's first written constitution, was adopted. It reads in part, for as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine providence, so to order and dispose of things that we, the inhabitors and residents, and well knowing where a people are gathered together, the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require. In other words, they were saying we want God in our government. Other English colonies sprang up all along the Atlantic coast, from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. Swedish and Dutch colonies took shape in and around what is now New York. As more and more people arrived in the New World, more and more disputes arose over territory. Many wars were fought in the 1600s and 1700s. Eventually the two countries with the largest presence were England and France. The two nations fought for control of North America in the French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763. England won the war and took control of Canada as well as keeping control of all English colonies. By this time, the 13 English colonies were Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. And we've already referred to some of them and how they were established in a very biblical oriented sense. Their hearts were directed toward God. Their desire was to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, the article goes on to say when these colony colonial settlers arrived in America, the influence of the Bible on their lives came with them. For many, their Christian faith was as much a part of who they were as their brave spirit, and it touched all they touched. This stands out boldly as one sees the goal of government based on Scripture being affirmed over and over by individual colonies, such as in the Rhode Island Charter of 1683, which begins, We submit our person, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of his given of the laws he has given us in his holy word. Folks, there's a lot of churches that don't have a charter that reads that well. I'm telling you, this was their heartbeat, their desire. All of this, of course, preceded 1776 and the founding of our great nation. But these are the roots. This is the seed that was planted that this great tree has grown from. And so, folks, we are a Christian nation in our foundation, and we need to get back to that. Let me finish the article and I'll make a few more comments. From the first colony at Jamestown to the Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges granted to William Penn in 1701, where all persons, I'm quoting from that charter, where all persons who profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, shall be capable to serve this government in any capacity, both legislatively and executively. In other words, they were saying we want people that believe in Christ and His Word to be leaders in our land. It goes on to say the Bible was used as the rule of life in the colonies. Every evidence indicates the profound effect God's word had on the early Americans. We need the Bible, we need God, we need Christ, we need believers in this country. That Rhode Island Charter in 1683 also says this. And let me just refinish that quote, and this is partially already read, but I'll read the whole thing. We submit our person, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His given us in His holy word. Rhode Island Charter of 1683. Folks, listen. The truth is you've been lied to for many years. Our children are being deceived in public schools and in the schools of higher learning and education, and I'm not against anybody that's involved in those. If you're a teacher, you have children in those places, I'm not against you. I'm 100% for you. But we need to recognize that there's been a de-education of America. There's been a rewriting of our history, it's been sanitized of all Christian influence, and it's just not right. It has led us to the position that we're in today. Now, if we want to enjoy another 250 years as a free nation, we need to get back to the original founding principles of our country. We need to go all the way back to the seeds of faith that were planted on this soil when those first colonial people arrived and had a heart for God and knew his word and desired to have God's hand in leadership in our country. I don't think we ought to have a state church, and they didn't think so either, but we ought to recognize that it is God Almighty that we need to be thanking for this nation, that we need to be looking to for the preservation of this nation. And if we want to see this nation flourish, then we need to see the Christian church, the gospel church, the Bible churches of this land flourishing. And can I just say this? Let me preach to you just for a minute. If we're going to see our churches flourishing, then we got to see Christians doing right, and we got to see Christians faithful to church. There is nothing wrong with church three times a week. In fact, there's everything right about it. There's nothing wrong with getting to church every Sunday morning. In fact, there's everything right about it. And so let's do our part. And that means being faithful as a Bible-believing Christian, faithful to the Lord, faithful to church, faithful in your walk with God, faithful to your family, and faithful to representing Christ by sharing the gospel in and around your own environment, your own workplace, your own community. And let's ask God to help us turn this nation back to God. In fact, let's ask God to turn this thing back in such a way that the whole world looks at us and says, Hey, we need what they have. I want America to be a city on a hill shining brightly for Jesus Christ, where the leaders of this land give glory to God and the people in this land thank God for godly leaders. Happy Fourth of July. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you, Lord, for this history. So often we don't know about it or haven't heard about it or forgotten it, Lord. But this is the history of our great nation. And Lord, we want to thank you. Thank you, dear God, for allowing us to have this country. Thank you that I was able to be born in this land. And I was born at a time where much of the Christian influence was still here. And uh, Lord, we praise you and thank you for that. And Lord, we love immigrants. We would love to have more immigrants, but God, we pray that they would come in and find a Christian nation and be exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and have their hearts impacted by Christ and embrace the laws of this land and the blessed book that built this great nation, the Bible, Lord, that they would embrace those things and that they would give their hearts to Jesus Christ. And Lord, please let America stand again for Christ around this world. Help America to be a nation that is governed and guided by the Word of God, most of all, by it within its own citizens, but then that we would have godly leaders, people that recognize you and honor you and are grateful to you for what we have here in this nation. Lord, help us to be a nation of laws, not lawlessness. Help us to be a nation that is a light, not darkness. Lord, help us to be a nation that exhibits strength and character in Christ around the world. And Lord, God, please let us keep sending the gospel light around the world. I pray for the Bible preaching and Bible-believing churches in this country to flourish like never before. I pray, God, that you would put your hand on every pastor in this nation that is preaching the word of God and living under its authority. I pray that you would use them greatly. Lord, I pray that souls would be drawn all across this nation to Bible preaching churches this Sunday and every Sunday afterwards. And Lord, may there just be a national revival. Lord, we know that you are able and we pray that you would do it. Lord, we need another great awakening in this country. And God, we thank you for the past 250 years, even though many times we have turned away from you. In fact, we've even had leadership that has shaken their fist in the face of God. They've elevated wickedness above the word of God. And yet, Lord, you in your mercy, because of a believing remnant in this nation, have allowed us to continue on and even kept us safe, Lord. I pray that we would recognize the hand of God on the founding of this nation, and the hand of God in allowing us to flourish, and the hand of God allowing us to be a people of faith. And Lord, may we see great revival. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you've done for us. And we thank you for America, and we ask you, please, help us to be a nation that you can bless. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Thanks for joining us for today's Rooted Principle, right here on the Everyday Faith Podcast. If today's conversation has encouraged you, be sure to share it with someone who might need it. And don't forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. We'll see you next time, right here on the Everyday Faith Podcast.