Mark Estes | 07.05.26

Good morning, North Palm.

>> All right. So good to see you this

morning. What an incredible honor it is

to celebrate 250 years of freedom. Amen.

>> We are a blessed people. Now, I really

want to talk to you about that for a few

minutes. And I'd like to ask if you

would to turn to Psalm 33.

Psalm 33:12. We're going to focus on

Psalms 33:12

that. and look at a few others along

with that. But we want to talk about

this morning America,

a blessed nation.

Psalm 33, let's begin with verse number

10.

The Lord brings the council of the

nations to nothing.

He makes the plans of the peoples of no

effect.

The council of the Lord stands forever.

the plans of his heart to all

generations.

Now look at verse 12.

Blessed is the nation

whose God is the Lord.

>> Amen.

>> The people he has chosen as an o as his

own inheritance.

Take a moment. Lift your hands with me.

Come on everyone, lift your hands. Pray

with pray this prayer with me out loud.

Holy Spirit,

>> Holy Spirit,

>> open my ears.

>> Open my ears.

>> That I can hear.

>> I can hear

>> what you have to say.

>> Open my heart.

>> Give me understanding.

>> Make my heart receptive.

>> I give you permission

to move deep in my life.

>> To form my heart.

>> To form my character.

Jesus,

>> have your way

>> in me

>> today.

>> Amen.

>> Praise the Lord. You know, as we

celebrate the blessings of our nation,

we've got to remember that America's

greatness

has never ultimately rested upon her

military, upon our economy, upon our

natural resources, or even upon our

political institution.

Scripture reminds us that the true

source of national blessing

is not human achievement,

but it is the hand of almighty God. It

is the divine favor of God upon this

nation that makes us blessed. And so

throughout history, we we've seen it.

Nations rise and and nations fall. The

mighty Egyptian Empire collapsed.

The Babylonian Empire disappeared.

Greece declined. Rome

crumbled.

But yet for nearly two for actually 250

years, the United States has experienced

extraordinary prosperity, liberty, and

influence.

Now I can hear the critics now as they

as they read this with me pointing to

the fact that this passage

Psalm 33:12 is about ancient Israel

Psalms 33:12

and they're the fact that they are God's

covenant people and and that's true but

you've got to also understand that we

have been engrafted

into the vine

and you have to understand that the

principle

the principle that's stated at the

beginning of that verse applies to all

nations and that is blessed is the

nation whose God is the Lord. And here's

here's the truth. Whenever a people

acknowledge God,

seek righteousness,

and recognize God's sovereign rule, they

position themselves

under his blessing.

>> That's the truth.

>> And it applies to every nation on the

face of the earth.

So history, the history of America is

filled with moments of

survival when everything just looked

absolutely impossible.

But yet providence

intervened.

And today I want to look at three of

those moments in our history. Before we

do that, look at the I want to look at

the background of Psalm 33.

This is a national hymn of praise and

most scholars will attribute this psalm

to David but we really don't know. It's

anonymous but I believe David wrote it.

So this psalm celebrates the sovereignty

of God over creation, God's rule over

the nations as well as God's

providential care for his covenant

people. And so the surrounding nations,

all of those around Israel trusted in

kings. They trusted in their armies.

They trusted in their horses and their

chariots. And they trusted in their

military alliances. But Israel's

confidence

didn't rest in that. It rested solely on

their relationship

with Yahweh.

Their

relationship with God was the source

of their confidence.

In verse 10,

the Lord brings the council of the

nations to nothing. He makes the plans

of the peoples of no effect. Look at

that. The council of the nations. The

Lord brings the council of the nations

to nothing. God overrules

human government.

Empires can strategize. Generals can

plan. Kings may decree. But ultimately,

God's purpose

is what prevails.

>> Albert Barnes said, "Human governments

cannot ultimately frustrate the

sovereign purposes

of God."

In verse 11, the council of the Lord

stands forever. The plans of his heart

to all generations. Nations rise,

empires fall. God's plan

remains unchanged. It is the plan of

God. And then he said in verse 12,

blessed. That word blessed in Hebrew

means happy. But it also has a deeper

meaning than just happy. So you can't

translate blessed as happy and get the

full extent of what the Lord is saying

because it also means flourishing.

It it means favored and it's literally

speaking of enjoying God's gracious

favor. And so this word describes

literally the condition that is produ

produced by God's blessing. He's not

just talking about happiness, but he's

talking about someone who enjoys the

divine favor of almighty God. So

blessed,

what is it that preserves that that

birthed America, preserved America, and

keeps America continuing? It is the

divine favor of almighty God.

You cannot read the founding documents

and come out thinking that that these

men had no idea of God, that they were

atheists, that they were separated, that

they had some other idea. It is written

throughout our founding history, the

need of almighty God in the affairs of

man.

And so a nation is blessed not because

it's wealthy.

A nation is blessed because God smiles

on that nation.

So the psalmist said, "Blessed is the

nation." The word nation is referring to

an organized people, a political nation.

And so Psalm 33:12 is a covenant promise

Psalms 33:12

that is given to the people of God. A

covenant promise. Scripture repeatedly

establishes this universal principle.

God honors nations that honor him.

>> God honors nations that honor him.

Proverbs

Proverbs 14:34

14 verse 34.

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin

is a reproach to any people. In Psalm 9

verse1 17, I want you to see this. The

wicked shall be turned into hell and all

the nations

that forget God.

So why is this struggle, the separation,

the diabolical demonic separation

between church and state?

Why is that? It is because Satan knows

if he can get America to forget God, to

separate itself from God, if he can get

America to take prayer out of public

schools, if he can get America, or

rather states in America that comprise

the Union to start murdering unborn

children. If he can get its youth

addicted to drugs and alcohol, if he can

cause the spirit of Asher to arise with

gender confusion and and identity

confusion and homosexuality and

lesbianism and all the different isms

that are a part of the spirit of

perversion, if he can get America into

that, then he can destroy the nation

that God is determined to bless

There is no other nation on the face of

this earth that began like America.

>> Blessed is the nation favored,

nourishing, flourishing rather uh divine

favor upon. Blessed is that nation whose

God is the Lord. Literally whose God is

Yahweh.

He didn't say whose God is a Lord.

>> Who is Yahweh?

>> Yahweh the creator. Yahweh the

sustainer. Yahweh the healer. Yahweh the

deliverer. Yahweh the redeemer, the

reconciler. Yahweh. Blessed is the

nation whose God is the Lord.

So blessing isn't nationalism. Blessing

is submission to the divine counsel of

God.

God blesses nations that acknowledge his

authority.

>> You know, um, social media and the

internet has been filled with reminders

from our past that honestly been

obscured,

have been not published. Like the first

order that the commander-in-chief George

Washington gave over the Continental

Army was that on every Sunday at 11:00

they were to be in church service.

Did you know that

the first executive order of the

commander-in-chief and if there's no

chaplain on where you are, then you're

to go to the local church, the nearest

church in your area.

And the acknowledgment was we cannot

SUCCEED WITH ALL OF THIS AGAINST US. WE

CANNOT succeed without the divine favor

of God.

>> And we can't do anything to take that

favor off of us.

Oh, if we had that kind of fear of the

Lord today.

>> So, you understand that God blessed

America's birth. America has experienced

extraordinary blessings because

throughout history, God has repeatedly

shown mercy beyond what human strength

could accomplish. And when America was

birthed, it was a miracle.

the miracle

of the Revolutionary War in 1776.

Not long after the Declaration of

Independence was signed, it appeared

that everything was lost. The British

possessed the world's greatest navy.

They had the finest army in all of the

world and overwhelming resources.

While Washington's Continental Army was

poorly clothed,

poorly supplied, and poorly trained.

In August of 1776, just a month after

the signing of the Declaration of

Independence, Washington and the

Continental Army were trapped.

Nearly 9,000 Continental soldiers faced

complete destruction.

And for some reason,

the British General William How delayed

the final assault. If he had pursued

them, if he had gone after them

immediately, it would have been they

would have been doomed. Had the British

advanced, the Continental Army would

have been destroyed.

But that night,

there was an unexpected dense fog that

rolled across the East River, and the

Americans quietly evacuated

every single soldier.

By morning, the British got up and they

looked across empty fortifications.

The army had vanished.

Washington

referred repeatedly

to providence.

Providence preserved

the army. He said, "Had the army been

destroyed, the revolution would

certainly have ended and America would

never have existed."

Psalm 33

Psalms 33:16

verse 16 and 17. No king is saved by the

multitude of an army. A mighty man is

not delivered by great strength. A horse

is a vain hope for safety, neither shall

it deliver any by its great strength.

Benjamin Franklin later told the con the

constitutional convention. He said, "God

governs over the affairs of men." He

continued, "If a sparrow cannot fall to

the ground without his notice, it is

improbable

that an empire can rise without his

aid."

So sometimes God preserves us before we

even recognize the danger.

>> So the the birth of America was

miraculous. But then you you see the

hand of preservation that came over this

nation in 1861.

The Civil War broke out. We know that it

started right here.

The nation literally tore itself apart.

More Americans died in the Civil War

than in every previous war combined.

620,000

deaths. And modern estimates put it

somewhere over 700,000

deaths.

Had the union dissolved,

America would have become permanently

divided.

And listen, the world was watching.

Foreign powers were watching. And many

expected an an imminent permanent

collapse. And then in 1863 in

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,

there were three days that changed

history. General Robert E. Lee had

invaded the north. If Lee's army of

Northern Virginia had had been been able

to be victorious, it would have altered

the war dramatically.

There would it would have forced Europe

to recognize the Confederacy.

Instead,

the Confederate events stopped and as a

result, the Union survived.

And many historians identified

Gettysburg as the decisive point of

turning in the Civil War. President

Lincoln had an interpretation of this.

After Gettysburg, Lincoln never

celebrated military genius alone.

Instead, throughout the war, he

repeatedly called America to repentance

and prayer. As a matter of fact, his

1863 proclamation stated, "It is the

duty of nations as well as men to own

their dependence upon the overruling

power of God."

Lincoln declared a national day of

humiliation,

fasting, and prayer. He confessed that

the national prosperity had led

Americans to forget God.

He said, "We have been the recipients

of the choicest bounties of heaven, but

we have forgotten God."

What remarkable honesty from a president

in the midst of a civil war. In the

Gettysburg address, Lincoln declared

that this nation

under God shall have a new birth of

freedom

under God.

Even America's arguably greatest

president understood the nation existed

under God.

What does it mean?

It means that sometimes blessing comes

through painful correction.

God preserved America but only after

humbling America.

Hebrews

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12

verse number six. For whom the Lord

loves, he chastens and scourges every

son whom he receives.

So God preserved America. But then you

go forward in history and not only do

you see the birth of America as a

miracle and the preservation of the

Union as a miracle, but you also see

that God miraculously protected

America. In World War II, December the

7th, 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.

America enters the greatest conflict in

human history. and the Axis powers

looked unstoppable.

Much of Europe had already fallen and

the Pacific seemed a lost cause. But

then in June of 1942,

the Battle of Midway occurred. And many

historians call Midway the most

important naval battle in history. The

Japanese planned to destroy America's

remaining carriers. It was a secret

mission, but instead American codereers

identified the attack. And so it wasn't

a surprise. The carriers were in

position and within minutes, three

Japanese carriers burned and a fourth

soon followed. Japan permanently lost

offensive naval superiority and the tide

of the Pacific War turned in a single

day.

Had Midway been lost, the Pacific War

may have taken an entirely different

course, placing Hawaii, Australia, and

the American West Coast under an

incredible

threat from the Japanese.

And then on June the 6th, 1944 D-Day, it

was supposed to take place on June the

5th. General Eisenhower requested prayer

from the American people. Did you know

that

that Eisenhower requested for the people

to pray?

These things get so overlooked in

history. It's like they they the media

and historians, modern historians, don't

even see the significance of what

redeemed this nation. But it was the

call to prayer. And millions of

Americans from the west coast to the

east coast, from the north to the south

joined General Eisenhower in praying for

the war. And and I believe God sent

storms to delay the invasion, to throw

the enemy off guard just long enough to

provide a workable weather window for

the military to advance.

But had D-Day failed,

Europe's liberation could have been

delayed indefinitely

or may have never taken place. Psalm

Psalms 33:8

33:8,

I want you to hear what the psalmist

said. Psalm 33:18, he said, "Behold, the

Psalms 33:18

eye of the Lord is on those who fear him

and on those who hope in his mercy."

America survived

not because her army was always the

strongest,

but because God's eye

remained on her.

But see, there's a danger in forgetting.

Psalm 33 doesn't promise perpetual

blessing. Blessing depends upon

acknowledging God.

Though Israel was God's chosen people,

when Israel sinned and forsook God and

went after false gods, the the bales and

the Asheras and and the Molech and and

they turned away, they turned their

heart from God, God brought them into

captivity. So there's no perpetual

blessing until there is perpetual

dependence. Our blessing depends on

acknowledging God. History teaches that

every nation eventually declines when it

forgets its source.

>> In Psalm 9 verse 17, I want to remind

Psalms 9:17

you again, the wicked shall be turned

into hell and all the nations that

forget God.

I was trudging through the book of

Ezekiel.

I love the book of Ezekiel. It's got

some incredible, unforgettable passages.

But there's a there's a portion of

Ezekiel that deals with the judgment of

God upon the nations.

And and it it hit me. God not only

judges individuals.

We know we will all give account. We

will stand before the judgment seat of

Christ. We will give an account for

everything that we do and even every

word that we say, even what we allow to

come into our mind, we will give an

account for that. But God also judges

nations.

It would be foolish to think that you

can have a secular, truly secular nation

void of God and survive.

It is impossible. We are here by the

grace of God. We are preserved by the

grace of God. We are we are a nation

that is protected by the grace of God.

As wonderful and incredible as our

military is, it is the hand of God that

protects us. As powerful as our

economics are, it is the hand of God

that provides for us. As awesome as our

government is that we are a democratic

republic,

it is the grace of God that protects our

nation.

Its institutions cannot stand. The

Supreme Court has no power without God's

hand. The executive BRANCH HAS NO POWER

WITHOUT THE HAND OF GOD. The legislative

branch has no power without the the

power of God on it. And every state has

no hope without God.

>> EVERY CITY IS HOPELESS WITHOUT THE FAVOR

OF GOD.

That's why it's so important when you

vote for leaders that you consider what

does the word of God say.

Listen, my friend, policies matter.

>> And policies that go against the word of

God, God will judge. We will not be

judged because we're affable. we're

likable or, you know, we we just have

this great personality. No, no, no. We

will be judged by the content of our

character.

>> We will be JUDGED BY WHERE WE place God

IN OUR LIVES, IN THE LIVES OF OUR CITY,

and in the lives of our nation.

>> So, America's story

includes repeated moments. Moments where

an army escapes through an unexpected

fog. Moments where a nation survives a

civil war when it should have been

destroyed. Moments where freedom was

preserved in a war through remarkable

turning points. And as believers,

you can see God's providential hand in

all of these events.

And and God

uses

history records strategic decisions,

courageous leadership, human sacrifice.

And as Christians, we understand that

God's providence

works through these means.

So we there is a necessity. We have got

to have courageous leadership today.

We've got to have men who are willing to

sacrifice. When when the signers of the

declaration signed that paper, they

understood that they were under the

threat of death.

Benjamin Franklin said, "We must all

hang together or we will most certainly

all hang separately.

Where are you?

A nation is not is only as strong as its

people. And a people is only as strong

as their relationship with God. Why has

America turned away from God?

Because its people have turned away from

God. Why are we struggling against

socialism and communism trying to invade

our nation today? godless atheist

idolatrous

policies trying to invade our nation

today. Why? Because we have a pe as a

people have forsaken and forgotten, as

Lincoln said, God.

The only way America can be turned

around is if 2 Chronicles 7:14 is

2 Chronicles 7:14

implemented. that if my people who are

called by my name will humble themselves

and turn from their wicked ways and seek

my face, he said, "Then I will hear from

heaven, I will forgive their sin and I

will heal their land."

The nation rises and falls right here.

It's the church, the governing body of

Jesus Christ that determines the course

of the nation. And if we forsake God, if

we forget God, then our nation will not

stand.

So when you understand that God rules in

the affairs of man, then you've got to

take seriously your responsibility

as a citizen of this NATION TO MAKE SURE

THAT THIS NATION is under God.

I love that

we have rights in America that hardly

any other place in the world has. No

other place in the world has the rights

that we have.

In England, you can get arrested for

preaching the gospel on the street

corner.

>> In the UK, you can get arrested for

silently praying in your heart for

someone about to murder their baby.

We're living in an upside down world.

And the only way it can be turned right

side up is for you and I to get on our

knees

>> and to humble ourselves and pray.

>> So the question that's before us is is

is not was America blessed. History

answers that. Everywhere you look, READ

HISTORY AND YOU WILL FIND AMERICA IS A

BLESSED NATION.

But the question is,

will America remain

a blessed nation?

And the answer

to that

doesn't just depend on elections.

It doesn't depend on economics. It

doesn't append depend on military

strength.

It depends

on whether we continue to acknowledge

blessed is the nation whose God is the

Lord.

And so if God governs the destiny of

nations,

he also governs the destiny of

individuals. And America's greatest need

is not merely political renewal.

America's greatest need is spiritual

revival.

And we see that there's something

happening among young men that are being

drawn back to church, that are being

drawn back to God. Revival begins one

heart at a time. And there is revival in

the air. Revival is beginning to take

place. Today we want to pray that once

again God will grant mercy to our nation

that there will be a fog that comes in

that allows the milit army the army of

God to escape doom that that there is an

intervention where God in can in just in

a couple days turn the events the the

war that you're GOING THROUGH THE BATTLE

that you're facing the civil war between

your mind and and your and your heart

and your emotions and and your will that

somehow GOD WILL BRING ABOUT A

RESTORATION OF YOUR SOUL.