America at 250: A Nation Worth Praying For

And I started doing the math and I said, I don't know.

I don't know if I make it to the 300 or not.

But I know that God's placed me here at 250.

And it's interesting to look back over 250 years of history in

our country and look back at God's hand of provision all along

the way.

In the last few years, there's been kind of a resurgence of scholarly

study back into Christianity in early America.

And we've had Brother Kraus and some other people like that come

and explain it to us last couple years.

And I think it's an important reminder as we look back that America

is fundamentally a Christian nation.

This is the nation that God has primarily used for the last 200

years as a missionary light throughout the entire world.

But if we're careful, we'll lose that, you know, per capita.

Now the Philippines sends more missionaries out than the United

States does.

It's an interesting factor, but we have far, far more churches

per capita.

It's an interesting thought.

When we think about it, our country is not without its flaws.

We're not without our historical marks that we wish we

could go back and erase or change.

However, those flaws brought us to where we are today.

The nation that we live in is still, in my opinion, the best one

on earth.

I believe that God has a great plan for America, just as I believe

God has a great plan for this church.

I believe that America once again will see revival that we saw

in the 50s and the 60s and in the 70s.

And that brings me to my subject matter this morning.

That America is a nation worth praying for.

A nation worth praying for.

Look at two Timothy, chapter number two.

Look at verse number one, first Timothy, chapter two, verse

number one.

Here's what the Bible says.

I exhort, therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers,

intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings

and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet

and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our

Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the

knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and man.

The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified

in due time.

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle.

I speak the truth in Christ and lie not a teacher of the Gentiles

in faith and variety.

I will therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy

hands without wrath and doubting.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for the opportunity to gather together in

your house, Lord, as a free people.

Lord, I pray that you help us as we do our best to worship you

earnestly this morning.

God, I pray that you would help me.

Lord, I pray that you would hide me behind the cross.

Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would meet with us in a very

real and unique way.

God, I pray that you would help us as we seek to live godly,

peaceable lives as we seek out.

Lord, in Jesus name I pray.

Amen.

As I opened, I told you guys about America and how I believe it

is still a really great nation.

It's one that we have that is worth praying for.

But I would like to submit to you this morning that that is not

the backdrop of first Timothy.

In fact, if you go back and you read the last few chapter of

the books of Acts, it's the end of Paul's missionary journeys

and you start to realize that the Roman nation that these people

lived under was not a very pleasant place to live if you were

a Christian.

The Apostle Paul on his third missionary journey suffered many

things.

In fact, you can kind of go out.

His mantra on the third missionary journey was really kind

of go to a city, get arrested or beaten or beaten, then arrested

or arrested, beaten and then arrested again, right?

And then either thrown out of the city or rescued out of the city

for fear of being killed.

That was kind of his mantra as he worked his way through what is

now modern day Turkey and then crossed over into Greece and revisited

some of the churches.

They started over there in Ephesus and Colossae and some places

like that.

He went back and he visited and he just kept getting arrested

and beaten in these places over and over and over again.

And then as you come to the bottom, he makes headway towards

Rome and that's where he wants to go.

And he gets on a boat and he runs into a storm that was so bad

they had to give it a name and his boat is wrecked and fortunately

God spares everyone on there.

But the whole third missionary journey is just kind of a wreck,

to be honest with you.

You ever have a time in life where things are just kind of a wreck?

It's like, yeah, I'm gonna go do.

Oh well, no, nevermind, I'm gonna go.

Oh, no, never mind, not gonna do that either.

How about door number three?

Is that one gonna be any better?

Right.

That was kind of the Apostle Paul on this missionary journey as

he comes Back he gets to going into Jerusalem, and all of Paul's

friends tell him, don't go.

Don't go into Jerusalem.

You're gonna get arrested.

You're gonna get killed.

And Paul gives this statement here in Acts 28.

He says, I have peace.

I know that the Lord wants me to go to Jerusalem, and if it's because

I'm going to be sent off to Rome and be killed, I'm at peace,

I'm okay with it.

Well, sure enough, as the story goes, as the book of Acts,

Paul gets arrested in Jerusalem, and they sent him all

the way to Rome to be killed.

However, before he's killed in Rome, he's put in house arrest, and

he's there for two years.

It's during those two years that we see these last few letters

from the Apostle Paul written out to the churches and to personal

friends.

And one of the personal friends he wrote, was Timothy a young

man.

A young man in the faith.

How old?

I don't know.

He's young.

By biblical standards, that could be like 100 or like 15.

Right?

Just depends on when you're talking about in the Bible.

But the Bible classifies him as a young man.

And Paul loves him very much.

He calls him my own son in the faith many times.

This is someone that is dear to Paul.

And Paul is recognizing at this point that his time in ministry

is done.

He's done.

There will be no more missionary journeys.

There will be no more visits to the churches.

And you see this sentiment a little bit throughout the books.

Think of Philippians, chapter three.

He says, if I'm able to come to you, then it'll be great.

And if not, then I know the Lord will take care of it.

Or Philippians one, I mean, Right.

So you see this kind of sentiment in Paul's letters as he

starts to seep in and realize that his earthly ministry is coming

to an end.

But yet he's not done.

And he encourages Timothy to not be done either.

The timeline of this book being written is somewhere in the

AD 60s.

And right now, the Roman Empire is ruled by a man named Nero.

Nero is not a good man.

Nero may be one of the most ruthless tyrants to have ever lived

on this earth.

He killed every Christian that he could openly.

You know, I feel a little better if there was, like, trials

and like, yeah, it's illegal to be a Christian, so we're going

to kill you and we're putting you.

No, they would just kill him in the streets.

It was that level of violence in Rome at this Point.

There's the cruise, the Coliseum, the Coliseum and all the

games and everything that's going on there right now.

That's all happening right here at this time.

And that is the backdrop upon which Paul is writing to Timothy.

Now, if you can, for a minute, I want you to put yourself in Timothy's

shoes.

Imagine yourself as a young man just starting out in ministry,

just starting out on this gospel journey, and you're ministering

in a very difficult area.

You're well aware that more than likely the odds are that you

will die preaching and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the backdrop of this.

Now imagine, if you will, what Timothy's thoughts about the nation

of Rome might have been.

If he was a voting citizen.

I think he probably would have voted opposite of the majority.

Don't you think when the anti Christian campaign came up, he probably

would have said, I'm going to vote no.

Right, let's vote that thing down.

He was probably in staunch disagreement with the nation of Rome.

And yet the encouragement that Paul gave to Timothy was not to panic.

It was not to live in fear, not to hide under the rocks, not

to organize a revolt, but was to, under inspiration of the Holy

Spirit, pray for the nation that they are in.

So my question to you this morning is really simple.

If Rome is worth praying for under this backdrop and under this

situation, how much more is America worth praying for today?

It's quite a simple thought, but I want you to notice just a few

things here.

I want you to notice first off this morning, the practice of prayer.

Look at verse number one.

The practice of prayer.

Paul says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all supplications,

prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all

men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may

lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and, and honesty.

I want you to notice that prayer is primary.

Prayer is the primary focus of a Christian that wants to get involved

in their nation.

Paul doesn't say, well, now it's time to go out and vote.

By the way, I think you ought to vote.

Paul doesn't say it's time to go out and serve in the army, which

I think you ought to do that too, right?

Not crazy, but Paul says the primary.

First of all, the primary work of a Christian is to pray for the

nation that they are in.

Prayer is primary and we know that prayer has effect.

Praying is not just wishful thinking.

It is talking to the God of heaven who has ordained all powers

and authorities here on this earth.

Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 says, Be careful for nothing but

Philippians 4:6

in everything.

By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request

be made known unto God.

Do you think the nation you live in falls under everything?

I sure do.

Right.

James chapter 5, verse 16 says, the effectual fervent prayer

James 5:16

of a righteous man availeth much.

Availeth much, not prevaileth, availeth.

Right.

That means God's will is done through the effectual fervent prayer.

Right.

Paul encourages in other places in first Thessalonians to

pray without ceasing, not to stop, to always live in an attitude

of prayer.

And I would certainly suggest to you this morning that.

That our nation is the subject that we ought to be praying for.

Not only do we see that prayer is primary, but prayer is purposeful.

Prayer is purposeful.

Maybe I'm the only person here this morning.

If I am, don't tell me.

Cause I'll be embarrassed.

Maybe I'm the only person here this morning that gets really distracted

when I pray.

Is that just me?

Cause I'll be praying.

I like to pray in the car.

Like if I'm driving alone or something, that's a really good time

to pray for me.

And so I'll be praying in the car and I'm just chatting away, praying

to God.

And then 10 miles down the road I wake up and I realize I'm

driving.

You guys ever do that too?

That's a scary moment.

Oh, I'm driving.

And then you realize what you're thinking about and you're

like, have I even been praying anything?

And then I always, like.

You always restart the prayer, like, sorry, Lord, I got distracted.

Right.

Prayer ought to be purposeful, though.

When we sit down to pray, there ought to be a reason behind

it.

Right.

There ought to be something that we have that we are making request

of God for.

In verse two, Paul gives us a few things that we ought to be praying

for.

We ought to pray for kings and for all that are in authority, that

we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and

honesty.

Again, if we consider the backdrop of this letter to Timothy,

I think that makes a lot of sense right now.

What's really interesting here is Nero's out there slaughtering

Christians and Paul's writing to Timothy and goes, yeah, we better

pray for him.

Yeah.

At the least, right?

Like pray for the guy.

But also if we could get rid of him, that'd be pretty cool too.

Right.

But that's not what Paul is suggesting here.

He's Saying, pray for him, pray for the kings and for all that

are in authority.

When we think about the authorities in our life, those are

God ordained authorities.

You may say, well, as Americans, we voted.

Yeah.

And I believe that God works through the voting to work his will

and his way.

That means whoever is currently in authority, it is God's

will for him to be leading the country.

Why?

Because the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand.

He's the one that guides and directs the nations and the kings.

As J.C. house always says, it's not falling apart, it's falling

together.

It's all part of God's plan that he's orchestrated from before

time began.

So when I look at the people that are in authority on the local

level and on the state level and on the national level, I'm like,

you know what?

Those are the people that God has placed in authority in my life,

therefore I ought to pray for them, especially on the local level.

Those guys are crazy sometimes.

It's okay, I want.

I won't say anything else there.

So not only do we see that, we see the practice of prayer in verses

one and two, but I want you to notice, secondly, the pursuit of

godliness.

The pursuit of godliness.

Look at verse number three.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our

Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the

knowledge of the truth.

Can I inform you today that our conduct ought to be peaceful?

We ought to be peaceful people.

What does that mean?

Full of peace.

Pretty good at defining things, right?

Full of peace.

I wonder if someone were to take a step back and look at your

life, if they would define you as a peaceful person.

Would they describe me as a peaceful person?

Maybe they would look at me and say, yeah, he's a peaceful person.

Except for when his dog does something, then he comes unhinged,

right?

Or except for whenever, you know, the computers in the back don't

work, then it's done.

Now, whatever it is, right?

We ought to be peaceful in all things in our life.

The part of verse two, he says that we may lead a quiet and peaceable

life.

I find that part really interesting because when I think

of Christians and I think of a zealous spreading of the gospel,

I don't typically imagine a quiet person, do you?

Because I don't.

When I think of someone who's really over the top about sharing

the gospel, I'm imagining a guy that's like knocking doors every

day.

He's spending his off time in Starbucks like, you ever have the

guys in Starbucks or Walmart walk up to you and they're like,

can I pray for you?

Those guys are zealous about it, right?

But yet the Bible says that we ought to live a quiet life and peaceable

life.

It's really interesting as we think about that dynamic, right?

Being all in sharing the gospel, but being quiet and peaceable.

I don't think this means that we are not having a voice.

I don't think this means that we don't share the gospel, that we

don't approach people randomly.

I don't think that's what it's saying here.

I think what this means is that whenever they walk into your

neighborhood, when people drive into your neighborhood, they.

When they look at your house, they shouldn't think, oh, those are

the crazies.

Those people we watch out for, right?

We can go hang out with anyone on the block except for that house.

We ought to live quiet lives, peaceable lives.

I think that's something where people ought to look at us and not

have a strong negative opinion simply off of the way we live our

life.

Live a peaceable life.

Our conduct ought to be peaceful.

By the way, this is a theme that is repeated multiple times throughout

scripture.

Romans, chapter 12, verse 18.

Romans 12:18

Paul says again, he says, if it be possible, as much as lieth

in you, live peaceably among all men, as much as is within you,

live peaceably.

I like the wording there because there have been times in

my life that we have passed all that is within me, and I felt

okay after that.

I was like, well, you know, I did everything I could.

Then I lost my cool, right?

We ought to live peaceable lives as much that lies within us.

Titus, chapter 2, verse 7 and 8.

Titus 2:7

He says, in all things we ought to show thyself a pattern of

good works.

This kind of goes back to that pattern, that living lifestyle that

we have, right?

And then Matthew 5:16, from the words of Christ, he says, let

Matthew 5:16

your light so shine among men that they may see your good works

and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.

Living a good and peaceable life.

Comes back to the works that we do in everyday life.

Living a good life, living a quiet life, living a peaceable life.

That is the command of a Christian person.

So not only do we see that our conduct ought to be peaceful, but

our character ought to be pure.

Look at verse number, verse number four here.

Who will that all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge

of the truth?

Can I tell you that the goal of a Christian is godliness and honesty.

That's the goal of a Christian.

If you live godly and you live honest, you will do everything else.

In that you say, well, the goal of a Christian is to share the

gospel.

Well, if you're honest, you're going to tell people where they're

going when they die.

Well, I don't think so.

I think that maybe we ought to try to live this.

You ought to live godly.

That is a really broad term and it's there for a reason, right?

Anything that could be summed up as godliness is something we ought

to strive to have in our lives and hold to.

We ought to live to be godliness and peaceable.

First Peter, chapter two.

When Peter was talking about the Christians testimony among the

Gentiles, he says, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles,

do people go out of their way to do business with Christianity?

Business people.

I read it one time and I thought it was such a cool little

saying that I jotted it down and it said, the way to be a Christian

shoemaker is not to put a cross on the sole of every shoe.

The way to be a Christian shoemaker is to make the very best

quality shoe for the very best price.

And I thought, you know what?

That is so good.

I think sometimes we get caught up with like, well, this place

is Christian, so we have to support them because they put, you

know, the little verse on the bottom of the cup or whatever.

But I think that being a Christian business person, being

a Christian in the workforce means doing our very, very best.

They ought to get more from us than we take from them, right?

That's living Godliness and living honesty.

Our character ought to be pure.

As we look at our nation and we think about the prayers that we

give to it, it ought to give some self reflection back in us,

right?

Because it's so easy to be like, man, our nation is really going

downhill, man, the people that voted in this guy, they're all trash

or whatever it is, right?

Whatever you're thinking with it, it's really easy to think that

way.

But then it starts getting real personal real fast.

When you think, oh man, I voted in November 2, right?

I'm part of that voting majority, right?

So then it becomes a reflection of me.

We don't like that one.

It's much easier to point the finger at whoever we think is the

bad side and say, well, look at you.

You guys don't vote this way or you guys don't believe.

But it really comes back to me, right?

How is My character.

How is my conduct as a citizen?

Because I'm part of the nation, I make up part of it.

So therefore I have to place my part, I have to do my part as

I seek to be a godly Christian in America.

Not only do we see that our character should be pure, but thirdly,

we see the proclamation of the Gospel.

Look at verse number five, the proclamation of the Gospel.

For there is one God, one mediator between God and man.

The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified

in due time.

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle.

I think we would be amiss if we didn't stop for a second and recognize

that Christ is the mediator of everything between God and man.

I like the word mediator, right.

Because my goal as a Christian is to live peaceably.

Right?

Verse number two, in case you forgot, it's up there just a little

bit.

Our goal is to live a peaceable life.

Yet the concept of a mediator gives the implication that we are

not at peace.

Right?

No need for a negotiator if you're not at war.

No need to have someone to come between two sides if there's

no disagreement.

Yet Christ is the mediator for us.

Jesus himself has placed himself between God and.

And man as the man Christ Jesus.

The wording here is very precise and it's very particular

for a reason.

It says the man Christ Jesus because there needed to be a man

to come between man and God.

You see, when we sinned, and all of us have sinned, by the way

the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory

of God.

When we sin and each and every one of us choose to sin when we're

born with our sinful nature and then we confirm it by being sinful,

we are finding ourselves squarely at odds against a holy and

just and pure God every single time we find ourselves as enemies

of God.

The Bible says when we are unsaved.

But we needed a man to step in the gap and place himself between

God and man.

And that man was the man Christ Jesus, who's not just a man.

He was the perfect man.

He was not just a man.

He was the sinless man.

He was not just a man.

He was the God man.

The theological term is the hypostatic union.

It's a big word that really means he was 100% God and he was

100% man.

And yet here in this place, we see that Paul is accrediting the

manhood of Jesus Christ.

For being the mediator between God and man, being the negotiator

who gave his life as a ransom for all.

The ransom was given for all that means.

All that means everyone.

That means every person who's ever lived.

Christ gave himself a ransom for their life.

I like the concept of ransom.

I like the theological concept of ransom.

I don't like the actual concept of ransom because I question

what my worth is.

You guys ever get here, you ever, like watch a TV show and you

see the.

The main character gets kidnapped and they send the letter

with the cut up magazines?

Who has time to do that?

Just print it, right?

But they cut up the magazines and they put the ransom letter together

and they send it off to the protagonist's wife or whoever it

may be.

And they say, you know, we've taken Tyler and unless you give us

$75,000, he won't come back alive.

I always wondered, I watched that show and the first thing that

comes through my mind is I wonder what someone would pay for

me.

I imagine myself in this situation.

I've been taken, they're going to duct tape me because I'll yap

so much, they'll duct tape me.

But I imagine them writing the number and me like, it's too much.

Too much.

You're not going to get it lower down a little bit, buddy.

Right?

I always wondered what the concept of or how much my ransom

would be worth now to certain people that maybe more than others,

right?

I would hope that probably my wife would ransom me for more than

you would.

Depending on the day, depending on what I've done, she

might send back and be like, no, send me $75,000.

I know how annoying he is.

Send that back, right?

Whatever it may be, we think about that concept and there's certain

worth that we have to others in our lives, right?

Maybe to your family, you're worth more than to your friends and

everything else.

But Christ looked at you and thought, man, he's worth everything.

There's no worry about what our value is to God because he gave

his life as a ransom for us.

Now what's really interesting about that is that there really isn't

anything left to give if you give your life.

Christ gave all for us.

Christ is the mediator between God and man.

Jesus said In John chapter 14, he says, I am the way, the truth

John 14 · chapter mention

and the life.

No man can come as unto the Father, but by me.

Acts chapter four says, neither is there salvation in any

other.

There's only one person that you can be saved by that's the name

of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews chapter seven tells us that he is able to save them to the

uttermost.

From the uttermost.

To the uttermost.

Right.

From whatever there has been in our life, any sin that we've committed,

any wrong deed we've ever done, we can look at that and say,

God saved me from any that and has saved me to the uttermost.

There's no like degrees of salvation here.

There's saved and there's unsaved.

So there's the proclamation of the gospel.

We see that Christ is the mediator.

But I want you to notice letter B that Christ also has a message

for mankind.

Look at verse number six here, whereunto I am ordained a preacher

and an apostle.

That means I speak the truth and in Christ and lie not.

A teacher of the Gentiles and faith and variety.

I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands

without wrath and doubting.

Paul was ordained a preacher and a teacher to the Gentiles.

By the way, that's a really good thing because if you're in here

this morning, you're probably a Gentile.

That means without Paul we're not here.

Right?

He took the gospel and really spread it throughout that early Roman

world in the Gentile world.

And Paul was ordained a preacher to the Gentiles.

I am so thankful for the impact that preachers have had in

my life.

We were thinking about camp just a few weeks ago and some of

the preachers that came and we had a spirited debate on the way

up to camp on, on what was more impactful, whether a missions

trip or camp.

Right.

And I'm so thankful the impact that preachers have had in my life

at camp and in this pulpit here and at Bible College and all

the other places I've heard preachers preach.

But Paul was ordained a preacher and a teacher of the Gentiles.

Can I tell you that God's heart is for all people to hear the

gospel?

That is the goal.

The goal is for every single person on the world to hear the gospel.

You may say, well, shouldn't the goal be for them to accept the

gospel?

Yeah, ideally.

But we all know that's not going to happen, right?

We don't determine the results.

We determine to go and share.

The results are up to Christ.

So Christ has a message for all of mankind.

It is in Matthew 28, quite simply that we go therefore and teach

all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Ghost to teaching them to observe all things

Whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you alway even

into the end of the world.

Not only is it a message that we have to proclaim the gospel and

move forward, but it's something that we have a personal

promise from Christ.

He will continue with us everywhere.

Everywhere.

You are never alone.

You don't have no me time.

It's God and I time.

Every single time, it's God in high time.

Romans chapter 10 says, for whosoever shall call upon the name

Romans 10 · chapter mention

of the Lord shall be saved.

The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should

come to repentance.

You may say, well, I think we've gotten off track a little bit

here.

No, no, no, we're right on track because we're about to circle

right back here.

America is a nation worth praying for.

As I mentioned, America is sent to be a shining light to the

nations, I believe God sent.

You may say, well, that's a bit promiscuous.

I don't see that in scriptures anywhere.

Yeah, whatever God used America, he's used it immensely over

and over and over and over again.

And my desire would be that God would use America again.

Not for our own prideful sake, but I would pray that our nation

sends out more missionaries than anyone else.

I don't know if that's a competition in America or in heaven,

but I want to win that one.

Let's send the most missionaries, let's start the most

churches, let's reach the most people with the gospel.

Why?

Because that is the goal.

America is a nation worth praying for because it gives us the

freedom to do that.

We never have to worry or be concerned that we're going to go

to jail for starting a new church, for telling someone in Walmart

about the gospel.

We don't have to worry about that.

A nation, it's a nation worth praying for because we don't want

to lose that either.

Right?

That freedom is something that we all have to protect, we have to

stand up for.

But I think when it boils down to everything, when you take all

of that away, America is a nation worth praying for because

of the people that live there, because of the people who live across

the street, the people who live in our communities and in our

cities.

Right?

And how we live each and every day, the way we conduct ourselves,

the way we speak to each other, the way we speak to others,

the way we treat the lady in the McDonald's drive thru, whatever

it may be, however we treat those people, it sends a message

every single time.

Of who we are.

Right.

It's the funniest joke in the world.

And it's always funny whenever you get cut off in traffic and you

look at the back of the car window and there's a church sticker

there.

Has that ever happened to anyone before?

Happens to me a lot.

I find it hilarious because they're like, you know what, the

way you drive, you just shared a message.

Right.

And if it's up to me, I think you drive real poorly.

Right.

Whatever it is.

But everything we do in our lives ought to be lived with a conscience.

Understanding that we have a testimony to uphold.

We have something that we are required to do as Christians, that

is to live peaceably and quietly as much as lieth within us,

to pray for those in authority and to share the gospel while having

a pure character and trying to do our very best to live godly and

holy lives.

Because that is what makes America great.

I'm thankful again that we sang the psalms earlier because if

we were to think, what is success in my life?

What is success in your life?

Is success a really big 401k certainly wouldn't hurt, right?

Is success driving the newest car, that doesn't hurt either.

Is success.

Having an AC right now, yes, that's a success, right?

But what is true success in our life?

It's being a godly Christian citizen.

Our goal is prayer.

Pray for our nation, pray for our people.

And that is really the core of it.

So we can look at it and be like, america's so great.

America.

Woo.

Yeah, but what is America?

It's the people.

It's the person across the street, the person in the grocery

store, the person getting gas across from you.

The people we see each and every day are co workers, the regulars

at our job, the people that just hang out, those are the people

that we see.

So when the Bible says we ought to pray for our nation, I think

it's perfectly fine, good and biblical to pray for America and

pray that America would once again get back to the point where

it was shining light as it once was.

But I think ultimately that means we need to look across the

street and across the aisle at those around us and say, how can

I pray for you today?

The question is quite simple this morning.

Are you practicing prayer?

Are you pursuing godliness?

And are you proclaiming Christ?

Let's all stand as the musicians make their way.

We'll have a verse of invitation after we pray.

Lord, we thank you for the great nation that you've allowed

us to live in.

Lord, we thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy.

Lord, we thank you for all the great blessings and gifts you've

given us, Lord, and thank you for allowing us to celebrate 250

years of that freedom this week.

God, I pray that you'll help us as we take a moment and reflect

on ourselves and on our own personalities.

Lord, I pray that you would help us to show us how good of citizens

we are, Lord, how well we are holding up to that threshold of being

godly citizens that live peaceable lives.

God, I pray that you would help us to have a fervor and a fire

to reach those across the street, Lord, and across the world

with the gospel.

God, I pray that you'll help us as we seek to follow you.

In Jesus name I pray.

Amen.