America-7.3.26(Ep. 1)

As we celebrate the 250th Birthday of America, let us study one of Israel’s patriotic songs, and how it applies to us today.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Old Pastor New Fire Podcast. My name is Randy Hounds and this is episode one of this weekly podcast. Well as you know, we are celebrating the two hundred and fiftiet birthday of the United States of America this weekend. Music has always been a part of our national celebrations. I mean just think about it, at Thanksgiving we have come, ye thankful people come and count your many blessings. Christmas is always a time of beautiful music which celebrates the holiday in the season of the year. We have jingle bells and away in a manger. We have White Christmas and my favorite Christmas song O Holy Night. What would Christmas be without beautiful music? Well the same is true for our fourth of July celebrations. I love patriotic music. It reminds us of the goodness of God upon our land. Well you know that was also true among the nation of Israel. When they had their times of national celebrations they would move up, ascend toward the city of Jerusalem, and they would sing patriotic songs, and these are called songs of degrees or songs of ascent, and they would ascend in degrees toward Jerusalem. Can you imagine what a glorious thing that must have been as thousands of people from all over the country would converge on Jerusalem? Well Psalm one twenty six is one of those patriotic songs. And I'm going to wait just a second and let you get your Bibles and turn to the one hundred twenty sixth edition of the Psalms. It is a song for the children of Israel. But you know, the more you read it, the more you become aware of the fact that God has a musical message of celebration for America on this her two hundred and fiftiet birthday. Well there are three great stanzas to this hymn. The first stanza is in verses one, two and three. And that stanza, those three verses reminds us that we need to pause and just remember how good that God has been to our nation. I'm going to read those three verses. Verse one When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad. Folks, we have been so blessed as a nation with freedom. Robert McCracken said, We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic, not to find soil for their ploughs, but to find liberty for their souls. Roger Babson said, South America was settled by men looking for gold. North America was settled by men looking for God. So let us never forget those who have been willing to die that we might have the freedoms that we enjoy. I am so grateful that we have the liberty to worship Almighty God as we see fit. I'm so thankful for the privilege that I've had for forty six years to stand and preach the scriptures, the inerrant word of God. I'm glad I live in a land where I can get on this podcast and open up the Bible and read it and explain it as the Holy Spirit gives me enlightenment and understanding. And you have the freedom to subscribe and listen to me or tune me out, whichever one you want to do. There was a preacher I heard about that was preaching a long, long time. An old boy was sitting right there in the second row and a piece of plaster from the ceiling fell and hit that boy on the head and he fell out into the aisle unconscious. The pastor ran down there to him and said, Are you all right? Are you all right? The old boy said, Hit him again, Lord, I can still hear him. Well you've got the freedom today to hear me if you want to. You can believe what I have to say or not believe it. That is your liberty, that is your right. We're living in a land of freedom and we need to be eternally grateful for it. We also need to remember and be thankful for the blessing that we have of prosperity. Do you realize that most of the people in this world look at us and they consider us Americans to be extremely wealthy people? How many of you have an automobile? How many of you slept last night under a roof in a house or an apartment? How many of you men and ladies have at least more than one dress or more than one change of clothing? Just those things right there, the great majority of people in this world would look at America and say you are indeed a rich, prosperous people. Why God has given us enough beauty to fill our eyes. You look at this wonderful nation, the smoky mountains, our Atlantic Ocean, the Grand Canyon. God has given us in this country enough food to fill our stomachs and to meet the needs of our families. God has given us enough resources to fuel our cars, to run our machinery, to operate all of our conveniences. On and on I could go remembering the blessings of God on America. Well in this patriotic hymn, the second stanza is in verse four, and then you see the mood beginning to change. We go from the major key to the minor key, from celebration to lamentation. Verse four says Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. You see, the Psalmist is aware of the fact that they have been set free from a literal physical captivity, but there's also a spiritual captivity. How many of you know that you can be free of chains on your hands and feet and still be very much chained and enslaved in your heart and soul? Not only do we need to pause and remember the blessings of God on our nation, but I think we also need to grieve over some things that are holding our nation captive. I'm afraid America is being held captive by the chains of materialism, the idea that the greatest things in life are material possessions. We are bombarded by hundreds of advertisements every day that tell us if you want to be complete, if you want to be satisfied, you have to wear their brand of shoes or drive a certain make of car or truck or buy a particular gadget. They say if you want to be happy, call today and order this diamond studded potato peeler, but wait, if you call within the next thirty minutes, we're gonna double your order. Wow. And people begin to believe that these material things will bring them joy and happiness. Folks, that is a lie. There is more to life than stuff you accumulate. America is bound by the chains of materialism. We're also bound in America by the chain of immorality. We've lost our sense of values. Many people today can't tell the difference between right and wrong. Think about the rate of crime. Think about the lack of respect for law enforcement today. Sometime back firefighters were responding to a forest fire, but there was no fire. This was last year, I think. It was a ploy to get them out there so they could be shot, executed, leaving wives and young children. I think about the profanity in America. We are swimming around in a cesspool of obscenity and filth. It's in the music people listen to, on the TV programs people watch, in the magazines people read, it's in the restaurants where people eat, in the offices where people work. Sometimes young people and boys and girls even come home and parents are screaming obscenities at one another. I want to tell you today any idiot can use profanity, but it takes somebody with some sense to string good words together and form a sentence. I think about all the sexual immorality in our nation. I think about the alcohol. People are literally drinking themselves right into the grave. Some people look like that they're trying to drink so much they're going to wind up in booze hoo instead of who's who. Some people say, well, I don't have a problem with drinking. I just do it on special occasions. I've heard people say that. What is the special occasion for them? When the sun comes up in the morning. That pretty much makes it a special occasion. Now, understand, I'm not making fun of people who have a problem with alcohol. And let me say if you have a problem with alcohol, seek the Lord. Seek a fellowship of supportive Christians that will help you. What I am trying to do is to get some of you young people hopefully will listen to this podcast and decide not to buy into the mentality that alcohol will make you happy or will solve your problems. What about all the marital problems in America? Where do you get your advice about marriage? From the girl who's been married and divorced five times who works next to you there on the job? She says you got a problem, just come to me. I've had five of those old boys. I'll tell you how to solve the problem. No, that's not how it happens. Too many times people get their views of right and wrong from the wrong sources. A poll was taken some time ago that found seventy five percent of teenagers say that their friends' advice is more important to them than their parents' advice. Some people get their values from doctor Phil or God help the View or some television show. We're letting the wrong people tell us what is right and what is wrong. And then there are spiritual chains that have our nation bound. Atheism, for example. Let me tell you it doesn't really take any brains to be an atheist. You don't have to be real smart to say I don't believe. You know, think about this. People who say they don't believe actually do believe. You ask them, do you believe anything? They'll say no, I do not. And then say yes, you do believe something. No, I don't. Do you believe that you don't believe? Yes, I believe that I don't believe, then all right. You believe something. Folks, I feel sorry for the atheist. When they feel thankful they don't have anybody to be thankful to. So many people in America are not intellectual atheists, they are practical atheists. They live as if God does not exist. There are thousands of people in America who wake up every morning, go to their jobs, go to the beach, do something else, and it never even occurs to them to look to God and acknowledge God or seek the leadership and the direction of the Lord in their lives. People say there is no absolute truth. That's a lie. There is absolute truth, and it's recorded in the pages of God's Word. I heard about an island out in the Pacific where the people had formerly been cannibals until they came to the Christian faith and were converted. An American soldier was on that island. He saw one of the natives there who now spoke English and this native had a copy of the Bible. The soldier looked at that native and pointed to the Bible and kind of grinned. He said we educated people don't put much stock in that book no more. The converted cannibal looked at the soldier and said, Well, it's a good thing we put stock in it. And he patted his stomach. He said, If we didn't, you'd be in this pot right now. Well when I think about the chains of spirituality, there's so much confusion in our churches today. Sadly, we're living in a time when men who call themselves ministers of the gospel are denying that the Bible is the word of God and their churches are more amusement centers and entertainment centers than they are houses of worship. Now it's become popular for churches to have bars. You think I'm making this stuff up? I'm not. In Garland, Texas, a stripper performed her full show on a Sunday morning to a congregation of worshipers. Can you imagine that? The silliness of all this is illustrated by a man who got a job in a department store and the owner told him, Sir, if you if you do one thing, I want you to sell this green suit. It's the ugliest green suit. It's been here since time immemorial. If you can sell this ugly green suit, I'll make you the manager of this store. Well the manager came back or the owner came back a little while later, about an hour later, and the man had already sold the ugly green suit, but he had scratches and cuts and bruises and he was bleeding. And he said, Sir, how did you get so beaten up? Did the man that by that bought that ugly green suit do this to you? He said no he didn't, but his C and I dog just about killed me. I want to tell you even a dog wouldn't buy some of the things going on in America today. So in this patriotic hymn, Stanza number one, we need to pause and remember the blessings of God on our nation. Stanza two, we need to grieve over the immorality in our land. Finally Stanza three tells us that we need to be busy telling other people about the Lord. Let's read verses five and six. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. That's always kind of been my life verse. Back when I was in full time evangelism and would go preach Bible conferences, people would come up to me or after a revival and ask me to sign their Bible or they would buy one of the books that I had written, wanting me to sign their book, I would do it, and I would always put that verse under my name. It reminds me of our number one assignment. Folks, the ultimate solution to the problems of America is for us as believers to be about the business of telling other people about Jesus. Make this our motto each one reach one. Say that with me wherever you are, each one reach one. That's our priority. That's what the Church of the Living God is built upon. However, so many churches have it altogether wrong. They think all you got to do is just tack up a sign on the front door that says, Come on in, you lucky sinners and get saved. Sinners aren't knocking down the doors of churches trying to get in them. Sinners aren't looking for the church. The Bible says the church is to go looking for the sinners. Well, I need to wrap up this first podcast. We're gonna have a time of prayer. And I want to ask you, if possible, to bow your head. You may be driving, don't do that, of course. But if possible, just close your eyes and pray. Father, I thank you for the liberty and the blessings of the United States of America. Lord, we pray for those in our neighborhood, in our community, in our city, our state, our nation, our world that are lost. And I pray if there's anyone today who does not know the Lord that may be listening to this, they would understand Satan has them bound. They can have freedom today. Lord, they can have those spiritual chains coming off of them today. Because the power of your blood that was shed on the cross has the power to knock those chains off. I pray right now people would come to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, that concludes the first episode on this anniversary of our nation's birth. Episode one, Old Pastor Newfire. Tune in each week on Friday, and there will be a special message from the Word of God. I will probably be uh preaching through some chapters, some books of the Bible. Uh I'll have some themes, and I just hope that you'll join us and that you can support our ministry. God bless you. Thank you for tuning in.