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What Can We Do for Our Country?
Exodus 17:8-15
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Nov. 4, 2012
*Forty years ago I was a very skeptical young man, as well as an extremely liberal atheist.
I was actually a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and I was cynical.
Mostly I was cynical about God.
I literally thought that God was a man-made crutch for weak people.
So I was very cynical about God.
*But I was also cynical about our country.
For several years, I wouldn’t even say the pledge to the American flag, because I couldn’t see anything good or special about America.
*Then, in 1975, by the grace of God Georgia Savoie invited me to church and I got saved!
God had been at work in my heart for several years, and I gladly trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
*By the way: Thank you so much to everyone who prayed, helped with food and invited people last week.
Remember that there are people out there just waiting for you to invite them to church.
And even if you have to invite 40 to get one to come, it would be worth it!
-- Because you could see their life change for all eternity.
*After I got saved, God began to change my heart in many ways.
For the first time in my adult life, I began to love and respect this great country of ours.
I found out that President Lincoln was right when he said that our nation was “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
And the Declaration of Independence was right when it said, we have been “endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
*I found out that with all our problems and imperfections, this nation is the best in the world, because it was founded on the Word of God.
When the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower, they would have thrown away all their food before they threw away this Book.
*Today I love this country more than ever before.
And I am sure that most of you feel the same way.
But today, America is at a great crossroads in history.
I believe that this is the most important election since the Civil War.
Which direction will we choose?
The answer will affect our children, our grandchildren and the whole world.
*Now let me tell you this: From a Pastor’s point of view, it doesn’t matter to me if you have a “D” or an “R” by your name, or any other letter for that matter.
I don’t want to know who you vote for.
And I will love you and do my best to minister to you no matter who you vote for.
But there are great Biblical issues at stake today, and we truly love our country.
So, what can we do for America?
-- Let’s look at this old battle in the Word of God and see.
1. First: We must become aware of the battles we face.
*God’s Word gives us an example in vs. 8&9:
8. Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
9.
And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.''
*Many of you know about the bitter rivalry between the twin brothers, Jacob and Esau: How Jacob tricked Esau and stole the family blessing, then how Esau swore to kill his brother, Jacob.
Now, over 400 years later, the descendents of Esau were the pagan Amalekites.
And they were on the warpath to destroy Jacob’s off-spring, the Children of Israel.
This Scripture reminds us that as Christians, as God’s people, we are most certainly going to face battles in life.
[1] Speaking on these verses, the great preacher, Charles Spurgeon stressed that some of our greatest battles are internal.
*Spurgeon said: “Young Christian, do not dream that as soon as you are converted your struggle is over, but conclude that your conflict has but just begun. . .
(Salvation and being born-again) “do not change the old nature.
That remains still the same, but we have at our new birth infused into us a new nature, a new principle, and this new principle at once begins a contest with the old principle.”
(1)
*That’s why the Apostle Paul speaks of the “old man” and the “new man.”
In Galatians 5:17, Paul also tells us about the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit striving against the flesh. 1 Peter 2:11 begs us to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”
*And Spurgeon said, “Young Christian, you have begun a life of warfare, rest assured of that.
You would never be told to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ if it were not so (2 Timothy 2:4).”
(2)
-Some of our battles are internal.
[2] But there are also external battles to fight and win.
*Over in Deuteronomy 25:17-18, Moses helps us see how cruel and cold-blooded Amalek was.
There Moses said this to the leaders of Israel:
17. “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt,
18. how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God.
*With no fear of God to restrain them, the Amalekites were happy to attack weak and weary people.
This fact reminds us that evil, murdering men have plagued the world ever since Cain killed his brother, Abel.
Just wars have often been fought.
And as in the days of Moses, we must be alert to the enemy’s attacks.
*Three times in the last century brave American soldiers helped save the world from tyrants: From the Kaiser in WWI, from the Nazis in WWII, and from the Communists in the Cold War.
*Now our brave soldiers are on the front lines around the world.
We still have 66,000 troops in Afghanistan alone.
They are engaged in part of a global war against warped Islamic fascists who love to kill us more than they love life itself.
*Does it matter?
-- Last Sunday in Nigeria, an Islamic suicide bomber attacked a Catholic church.
The blast killed at least 15 people and severely injured about150.
Ninety percent of the victims were children.
(3)
*Church: That happens almost every Sunday in North Africa.
And it would be happening here, if the Islamic terrorists had their way.
But our brave soldiers are fighting for the freedom and protection of our children.
And they are paying a high price.
Anyone who has ever seen a Wounded Warriors TV spot should know this is true.
Those men and women made that heroic sacrifice for us.
*We must be aware of the battles we face.
That includes the global war on terror.
It also includes what many people call the culture war.
*When did this culture war start?
-- Probably in the 1950’s, certainly in the 1960's.
And why are we having a culture war in the United States?
-- It’s because there are millions of people in this country who think the same way I thought back in 1972.
*They don’t think America is the answer.
They think we’re the problem.
They are ultra-liberal and anti-Christ.
They reject Biblical values, and they want all references to God taken out of the public arena.
The problem is that they are in control of most of what we see on TV and in the movies.
-They control network TV.
-The largest newspapers.
-Many of our universities.
-And many of our courts.
*That’s why:
-In 1963, prayer was taken out of the public schools.
-In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that we couldn’t pray before football games.
-The ACLU is trying to get the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.
-And two Federal Appeals Courts have overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, paving the way for nationwide same sex marriage.
*Last May on ABC News, President Obama announced his support of legalizing same-sex marriage.
And it’s an official part of the Democratic Party platform.
Governor Romney supports traditional marriage.
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