The Danger of Ritual: Why Humility Must Precede the Table

• Application of [2 Chronicles 7:14](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+7%3A14&version=KJV) to the Church 00:12:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the objection that the promise is only for Israel, arguing that Christians are the temple of God and thus the promise applies to them.
• The Condition of Humility 00:13:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies humility as the primary barrier to revival, noting that people are generally unwilling to take the first step of humbling themselves.
• Identity of the Church 00:12:54 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that Christians are 'Christ's people' and the 'temple of God,' validating the application of Old Testament promises to the New Testament church.
• Humility and Prayer 00:13:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies humility as the necessary first step for God to hear and heal, contrasting it with modern pride.
• Definition of Providence 00:15:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor provides a theological definition of providence from Charles Buck, distinguishing between immediate/ordinary and common/special types.
• Historical Providence in America 00:17:54 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites historical events, specifically the 1746 French fleet disaster, as evidence of God's miraculous intervention in American history.
• Divine Providence in History 00:25:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites historical accounts of storms and battles where God's intervention saved the nation, such as the storm that sank French frigates and protected Boston.
• Battle of Long Island 00:26:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes how George Washington's army was saved from surrender by providential weather conditions (lack of wind) and fog during their retreat across the East River.
• George Washington's Survival 00:30:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts how Washington survived the Battle of Braddock's Defeat with four bullet holes in his coat but no injuries, attributing it to divine protection.
• Battle of Trenton 00:32:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains how a driving snowstorm with wind at the Americans' backs helped them capture Hessians, citing Henry Knox's view that Providence smiled on the enterprise.
• Battle of Saratoga 00:33:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor notes how rainstorms turned roads to bog and contrary winds prevented British reinforcements, leading to Burgoyne's surrender, viewed as God's doing.
• Benedict Arnold's Treason 00:35:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes how the discovery of Arnold's plot was viewed as a providential miracle, preventing the American army from being handed to the enemy.
• Battle of Cowpens and Retreat 00:36:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor details how sudden storms and floods made rivers impassable for the British, allowing American forces to escape and cross into friendly territory.
• Battle of Yorktown 00:38:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains how a severe rain squall blew British troops off course during an attempted breakout, contributing to Cornwallis's surrender.
• Founding Fathers' Faith 00:39:56 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor quotes John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Carroll, Noah Webster, and Benjamin Rush to show that the founders recognized the nation's foundation on Christianity and Providence.
• Divine Providence in the American Revolution 00:39:30 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites historical events like weather changes and British surrender as evidence of God's hand in securing American independence.
• Christian Foundations of Government 00:40:03 ▶️ 📄
  > Quotes from John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Carroll, Noah Webster, Benjamin Rush, and others asserting that the Constitution and Declaration were based on Christian principles.
• Necessity of Religion for Civil Society 00:45:24 ▶️ 📄
  > Arguments from Joseph Story, Daniel Webster, and others that Christianity is essential for maintaining civil liberty, morality, and social order.
• Warnings Against Rejecting Religion 00:46:53 ▶️ 📄
  > Quotes from Governor Morris, Jedediah Morse, and John Winthrop warning that rejecting Christianity leads to the loss of freedom and societal ruin.
• Call to Revival 00:50:43 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies 'revival' as the necessary response to the nation's spiritual decline and calls for turning back to Christ.
• Spiritual Warfare and Liberty 00:52:38 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor frames the current political climate as a spiritual war where the body of Christ must stand firm against forces seeking to overturn biblical foundations.
• National Decline and Authoritarianism 00:54:21 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor warns that as the nation turns away from God, it risks falling under authoritarian tyranny, contrasting this with the biblical foundation of the nation.
• Founding Fathers and Biblical Principles 00:55:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that while not all founding fathers were born-again Christians, the majority were strong believers in Christ, and the nation was founded on biblical principles.
• Divine Providence and Historical Miracles 00:55:28 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites historical events, such as the protection of the colonial army and changes in weather, as evidence of God's active providence and miraculous intervention.
• The Connection Between God and Country 00:57:50 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that freedom is derived from the Word of God and that a close connection between God and country is necessary for national health, contingent on the church's repentance.
• National Restoration through Repentance 01:01:51 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that America can only be great again by returning to the faith of the founding fathers and humbling itself before God.
• Communion and Spiritual Nourishment 01:02:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads the congregation in prayer for repentance and spiritual cleansing before partaking in the Lord's Supper, emphasizing the body and blood of Christ.

• Sermon Illustration 00:09:19 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the historical event of fire coming down from heaven to consume Solomon's sacrifice, noting that such a visible sign would undoubtedly cause immediate revival and people falling to their knees.
• Sermon Illustration 00:13:51 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical analogy of a 'humility parade' with 'sackcloth and ashes' to illustrate the difficulty of humility in a proud culture.
• Sermon Illustration 00:18:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the historical account of the 1746 French naval expedition against New England, detailing how contrary winds, storms, and disease destroyed the fleet after New Englanders prayed for deliverance.
• Sermon Illustration 00:25:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the story of a French fleet sinking in a storm off the Isle of Sable, which was interpreted as God answering New England's prayers for deliverance.
• Sermon Illustration 00:26:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the Battle of Long Island, where George Washington's army escaped across the East River due to a lack of wind preventing British pursuit and a fog that concealed their final crossing.
• Sermon Illustration 00:30:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares the anecdote of George Washington surviving the Battle of Braddock's Defeat with four bullet holes in his coat but no injuries, quoting his letter to his brother about being protected by providence.
• Sermon Illustration 00:33:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor tells a story about a doctor (possibly James Monroe) who was woken up by marching soldiers and later saved another soldier's life, illustrating God's provision in unexpected ways.
• Sermon Illustration 00:36:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes how sudden storms and floods at the Catawba, Yadkin, and Dan Rivers blocked British pursuit during the American retreat after Cowpens, allowing them to escape.
• Sermon Illustration 00:39:30 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the weather changes that prevented British ships from returning and their subsequent surrender as evidence of God's providence.
• Sermon Illustration 00:40:51 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor mentions visiting Noah Webster's house in Greenfield Village, Michigan, to contextualize Webster's views on the Bible as the source of Republican principles.
• Sermon Illustration 00:53:20 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Ronald Reagan's 1974 sermon quoting John Winthrop's 'City upon a Hill' metaphor to illustrate the warning that false dealing with God leads to becoming a 'story and a byword.'
• Sermon Illustration 00:55:48 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the historical protection of the colonial army from the British, noting how God changed the weather and brought storms to protect them, describing these as providential gifts verging on the miraculous.
• Sermon Illustration 00:56:11 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recalls the American Revolution, highlighting how unarmed, untrained soldiers defeated the strongest army in the world (Britain) through what he describes as a miracle, linking this to the covenants of the founding fathers.

• Pastoral Charge 00:43:05 ▶️ 📄
  > To recognize and acknowledge the relevance of founding father principles to current political issues.
• Pastoral Charge 00:52:44 ▶️ 📄
  > To actively engage in spiritual defense and uphold biblical morality.
• Pastoral Charge 00:58:18 ▶️ 📄
  > Humble themselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from wicked ways.
• Pastoral Charge 01:03:52 ▶️ 📄
  > Refrain from partaking in the communion elements if they have not examined themselves and confessed their sins.
• Pastoral Charge 01:05:32 ▶️ 📄
  > Come forward, form lines, take the bread and juice, return to seats, and hold the elements for communal partaking.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:00:00] We are going to read from 2 Chronicles chapter 6 and up through 7, but we're going to be reading a lot, so I hope that you'll be alert and awake of the providence of God in our nation's history, how God was working and continues to work, and our prayer is that he will visit us afresh.
[00:00:27] As you know, on the front of our sanctuary on both sides is 2 Chronicles 7.14.
[00:00:33] This is God's answer to a lengthy prayer that King Solomon prayed at the dedication of the temple that had just been built and the installation of the Ark of the Covenant.
[00:00:51] And so we're going to see the prayer that this 2 Chronicles 7.14 answers.
[00:01:00] We're going to begin in 2 Chronicles chapter 6.
[00:01:05] We'll actually begin in verse 12.
[00:01:09] And after the passage, we're going to go into reading about things that God did to make this nation a nation.
[00:01:18] and that the people of that era, our founding fathers, universally recognized that it was God's hand that did it.
[00:01:28] And how today it's hard to find, even in the church, that recognition of God's hand working in society.
[00:01:37] And I think that's something that we can learn from and be challenged by to revisit the fact that God is on the throne.
[00:01:47] He is in charge.
[00:01:48] And as we read this prayer, recognize that Solomon is praying, Lord, when you send the pestilence, Lord, when you send the drought, he recognizes that all of these things, even the judgments, are from the hand of the Lord.
[00:02:03] So let's look now at 2 Chronicles 6, beginning in verse 12.
[00:02:09] And he, that is Solomon, stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands.
[00:02:16] For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high and had set it in the midst of the court.
[00:02:25] And upon it he stood and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands towards heaven and said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven nor in the earth,
[00:02:38] which keep his covenant and show us mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts.
[00:02:44] thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him and spakest with thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with thine hand as it is this day now therefore O Lord God of Israel
[00:02:56] keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying there shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel yet so that thy children take heed
[00:03:08] to their way to walk in my law as thou hast walked before me now then O Lord God of Israel Let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.
[00:03:19] But will God in very deed dwell with men on earth?
[00:03:22] Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built.
[00:03:30] Have respect, therefore, to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee, that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night,
[00:03:43] upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldst put thy name there to hearken or to hear unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.
[00:03:56] So see, this 2 Chronicles 7.14 on the banners is an answer to this prayer.
[00:04:02] So then what is the specific prayer of Solomon, beginning in verse 21?
[00:04:06] Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, of thy people Israel, which they shall make towards this place, hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven, and when thou hitest, forgive. If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear,
[00:04:22] and the oath come before thine altar in this house, then hear thou from heaven, and do and judge thy servants by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head, and by justifying the
[00:04:33] righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness. And if thy people Israel be put to the worst before the enemy because they have sinned against thee and shall return and confess thy name and pray and make supplication before thee in this house then hear thou from the heavens
[00:04:49] and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers when the heaven is shut up and there is no rain we can relate right because
[00:05:01] they have sinned against thee yet if they pray towards this place and confess thy name and turn from their sin when thou dost afflict them, then hear thou from heaven, forgive the sin of thy servants and of thy people Israel when thou hast taught them the good way wherein
[00:05:17] they should walk, and send rain upon thy land which thou hast given unto thy people for inheritance.
[00:05:23] If there be dearth in the land that is lack, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land, whatsoever sore, whatsoever sickness there be, then what prayer or what supplication
[00:05:38] shall be made of any man or of all thy people Israel, when everyone shall know his own sore and his own grief and shall spread forth his hands in this house, then hear thou from heaven
[00:05:50] thy dwelling place, and forgive and render unto every man according unto all his ways whose heart thou knowest, for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men, that they may fear thee to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest
[00:06:07] unto our Father.
[00:06:10] Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country, for thy great namesake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm, if they come and pray in this house, then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy
[00:06:22] dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that
[00:06:32] this house which I have built is called by thy name. If thy people go out to war against their enemies, by the way, that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee towards this city which
[00:06:46] thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name, then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and the supplication, and maintain their cause, if they sin against thee. For there is no man which sinneth not and thou be angry with them and deliver them over before their
[00:07:00] enemies and they carry them away captive unto a land afar off or near yet if they bethink themselves in the land whether they are carried captive and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity saying we have sinned we have done amiss we have done wickedly if
[00:07:15] they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity whether they have carried them captives and pray toward their land which thou givest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward this house, the house
[00:07:28] which I have built for thy name, then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their calls, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee. Now, my God, let I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be
[00:07:45] atent unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, unto thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priest, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation.
[00:07:57] Let thy saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed.
[00:08:05] Remember the mercies of David, thy servant. King Solomon is on his knees. When his prayer is concluded, the Lord answers immediately. How do we know? Look at chapter 7, verse 1.
[00:08:24] Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priest could not
[00:08:39] enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. Do you think the Lord heard the prayer? Did the Lord answer the prayer? As a matter of fact, it's said that
[00:08:51] on that burnt offering and that altar, who lit the fire so that there would be a fire there continually? God lit the fire with accepting this first offering and sending fire from heaven.
[00:09:07] verse 3 and when all the children of israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the lord upon the house they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshiped
[00:09:19] and praised the lord saying for he is good for his mercy endures forever boy we can have revival if you see if the ceiling opens up and fire comes down and burns up the table here i bet you will
[00:09:31] have some kind of revival i bet there'll be some people on their knees there'll be some people screaming. Well, this is what happened. Praise God. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. And King Solomon offered a sacrifice. How big of a sacrifice?
[00:09:48] 22,000 oxen. That's a lot of beef. And 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. And the priests waited on their offices. The Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord which David the king had made to praise the Lord, because his mercy
[00:10:08] endureth forever.
[00:10:09] When David praised by their ministry, and the priests sounded trumpets before them, all Israel stood.
[00:10:15] Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, before the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings and the meat
[00:10:28] offerings and the fat.
[00:10:30] Also, at the same time, Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering of Hamath unto the river of Egypt.
[00:10:40] And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.
[00:10:47] And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month, he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart, for the goodness that the Lord had shown unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel, and his people.
[00:10:59] Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house, and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord, and in his own house he prosperously effected.
[00:11:11] And now here's the context of this answer to prayer comes in a dream, a vision or dream that God gives to Solomon, verse 12.
[00:11:20] And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice if I shut up heaven that there be
[00:11:33] no rain or if I command the locusts to devour the land or if I send pestilence among my people so who's doing all this if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and
[00:11:46] pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you. We praise you for your
[00:12:04] wondrous words to Solomon. And Lord, we ask now, and we know your word is eternal, and it does not go out in return void, and that we too are your people. So apply these words to our hearts and
[00:12:15] minds, our spirits this day, as we seek to understand your providence, even for us as Americans and especially as Christian Americans here in this place that you've placed us in this very day for your glory, honor, and praise in Christ's name. Amen. This is sometimes said,
[00:12:36] well, Pastor Joseph, you don't need to put that in front of the church. I've heard people say because that's just for the Jews. That's just for Israel. That's not for us. I think it's for us.
[00:12:46] Well, certainly it was for the Jews, but I think it's for us. Because first of all, if my people, What are we called?
[00:12:54] Christians.
[00:12:55] If Christians aren't Christ's people, I don't know who is.
[00:12:58] Not only that, the prayer was, if a prayer is made in this house, in this temple, well, where do we find it to you?
[00:13:09] Where do we find the temple of God now?
[00:13:12] 1 Corinthians 6.19, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:15] And then also in 1 Corinthians 3, ye, the local church, is the temple of God.
[00:13:21] And also in Ephesians chapter 2, the church universal is the temple of God.
[00:13:26] So we are the temple of God.
[00:13:28] We are God's people.
[00:13:30] But, so I do believe that it's absolutely valid for us to take this as a principle that is biblical and spoken to us.
[00:13:37] The question really is not, is it for us?
[00:13:40] The question is, are we willing to do it?
[00:13:43] And the answer is generally, no.
[00:13:45] Why?
[00:13:46] Because the very first step is humble.
[00:13:48] And who wants to humble themselves?
[00:13:51] You ever heard of a pride parade?
[00:13:55] I've been kicking around the idea of us having a humility parade.
[00:14:00] Sackcloth and ashes go through Mooresville.
[00:14:03] Maybe we get on the news.
[00:14:04] But that would be good because we say, you know, pride is sin.
[00:14:08] Not just about homosexuality, but pride by itself is sin.
[00:14:13] Pride in the sense that it's me and what I've done as opposed to what God has done.
[00:14:19] So we have to be careful.
[00:14:20] If my people, which are called by my name, in America, let's say, Christians, shall do what?
[00:14:26] Number one, humble themselves.
[00:14:27] That's the hardest step.
[00:14:29] The rest of the steps can come, but only in order.
[00:14:33] Humble themselves and pray and seek my face.
[00:14:36] Turn from their wicked ways.
[00:14:37] Then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
[00:14:40] Now, if you don't come to the prayer meeting on Sunday night, I'm not talking specifically about you, okay?
[00:14:45] So don't get upset at me.
[00:14:47] But it may be about you.
[00:14:48] You seek the Lord about this.
[00:14:50] But my point is, prayer in general, not just our prayer meeting on Sunday night, but prayer meetings in other churches that I've been to, and from what I hear from other pastors, and it's not just you or me, it's all around.
[00:15:03] The prayer meeting is the least attended meeting.
[00:15:06] Why?
[00:15:08] You've got to be humble to pray.
[00:15:11] And you also have to have faith that it's going to make a difference.
[00:15:16] And I think that's what this is all about.
[00:15:17] The founding fathers believed strongly in God's providence.
[00:15:24] Providence.
[00:15:25] What is providence?
[00:15:27] Here is a good definition of providence from Charles Buck, who wrote a theological dictionary some couple hundred years ago.
[00:15:36] What is God's providence?
[00:15:38] It is in the Bible mentioned, but our founding fathers were always talking about God's providence.
[00:15:44] And wrongly, secular historians who try to strip away from us, our Christian founding fathers and those who believed in Christ, say, oh, well, providence just, they don't want to talk about Jesus.
[00:15:56] No, no.
[00:15:57] When they talk about providence, they're talking about Jesus.
[00:16:00] Why?
[00:16:00] Let's take a look.
[00:16:01] What is providence?
[00:16:03] The superintendence and care which God exercises over creation.
[00:16:08] The arguments for the providence of God are generally drawn from the light of nature, the being of God, the creation of the world, the wonderfully disposing and controlling the affairs and actions of men, from the absolute necessity of it, from the various blessings enjoyed by his creatures,
[00:16:25] the awful judgments that have been inflicted, and from the astonishing preservation of the Bible and the church through every age, notwithstanding the attempts of earth and hell against them, providence has been divided into immediate and immediate, ordinary and extraordinary,
[00:16:39] Ordinary, common and special, universal and particular.
[00:16:42] Immediate providence is what is exercised by God himself without the use of any instrument or second cause.
[00:16:49] Immediate providence is what is exercised in the use of means.
[00:16:52] Ordinary providence is what is exercised in the common course of means and by the chain of second causes.
[00:16:58] The extraordinary is what is out of the common way as miraculous operations.
[00:17:03] Common providence is what belongs to the whole world.
[00:17:06] Special providence is what relates to the church.
[00:17:10] Universal relates to the general upholding and preserving of all things.
[00:17:14] Particular providence relates to individuals in every action and circumstance.
[00:17:19] Is God involved in every action and circumstance on the face of the earth?
[00:17:23] The providence of God.
[00:17:26] Is the providence of God for us or against us?
[00:17:30] If you're his children, the Bible says it's for you.
[00:17:32] So I'm going to be reading now, so try to stay with me.
[00:17:36] I'm going to read to you about some events that happened just before the Revolutionary War and during the Revolutionary War that the Founding Fathers, George Washington in particular, was often mentioning how all of these things he said
[00:17:54] were nothing short of a standing miracle.
[00:17:58] In other words, all of the things that took place time and time again to help the American cause of liberty, you could see God's hand powerfully throughout.
[00:18:08] One that probably most of you are not aware of, and quite frankly, until I prepared for this study, I wasn't either, this sermon.
[00:18:16] How many of you remember the miraculous defeat of the French naval forces in 1746?
[00:18:25] Me neither.
[00:18:26] But it is miraculous, and it is amazing.
[00:18:31] In 1746, before the revolution, the French were actually our enemy.
[00:18:36] Now, in the Revolution, the French helped us against the British.
[00:18:39] But before, the French were against the colonists.
[00:18:42] And who were they aiding to attack the colonists?
[00:18:45] The Indians, yes, right.
[00:18:47] And so, this is just really, really amazing.
[00:18:52] I want you to hear this.
[00:18:53] Stick with me.
[00:18:54] It's a little bit of reading, but there was this time when France said, let's send 10,000 troops and let's just terrorize the entire east coast of America.
[00:19:04] Let's burn Boston to the ground.
[00:19:06] and let's get rid of these people.
[00:19:09] And look what God did in the answer to prayer.
[00:19:12] God has providentially moved throughout history to accomplish his purposes for men and nations.
[00:19:19] While he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, Daniel 4.35, he responds to the prayers of his people, the founders of America, believe strongly in the providence of God
[00:19:31] and in the need to cry out to him in prayer to seek his will and aid.
[00:19:36] During the first 200 years of our history, government bodies, local, state, and national proclaimed over 1,300 fast and thanksgiving days.
[00:19:48] They witnessed God's answer to these official days of prayer myriads of times, often in dramatic fashion, where God used all kinds of events, including the weather, to move on their behalf.
[00:20:00] One such miraculous answer to prayer occurred in 1746.
[00:20:05] In response to French attacks on Britain and her American colonies, New England and British forces captured Lewisburg in Nova Scotia, June 17, 1745.
[00:20:16] As a result of this, France resolved to raise a fleet and armament to recover that place to make a conquest of Nova Scotia and lay waste the whole seacoast from Nova Scotia to Georgia.
[00:20:29] That's a lot of territory.
[00:20:31] The fleet and forces they raised were very significant, comprised of about 70 ships, large and small, gunners, fire ships, bombers, transports, and all carrying about 8,000 troops.
[00:20:45] The force under the commander of Duc d'Anville was to have sailed the beginning of May 1746, but the hand of that providence, which commands the winds and the seas, sent contrary winds to delay the departure until June 22nd.
[00:20:59] Now, listen to all of the ways God stops these people, the French, from destroying America before it even began.
[00:21:09] When the Americans, let's see, heard, yeah, when the Americans heard of the sailing of the French fleet under Danville, they were greatly, oh, I'm sorry, I'm reading ahead.
[00:21:20] So they were delayed by contrary winds.
[00:21:23] Then they were supposed to meet four ships in the West Indies who, after waiting so long without finding the fleet, and being severely combated by storms and fogs, they grew discouraged and returned to France. When the Americans heard of the sailing of the French fleet under Danville,
[00:21:39] they were greatly alarmed. Their fears were assuaged somewhat when they got word of a British fleet that was being sent for their relief, but this proved abortive as the fleet attempted to sail from England seven times, but was driven back each time by contrary winds. After finally
[00:21:55] departing, the French fleet sailed too far southward, which slowed their travel and caused them to encounter the extreme heat of summer. This brought on a great sickness, which killed 1,300 troops at sea. The rest were weakened and dispirited, but they continued on to attempt
[00:22:13] to accomplish their mission. When news arrived in America that the French fleet was approaching the coast, it brought great distress upon the people, for in the natural there looked to be no hope to avoid defeat, but the people cried out to God.
[00:22:28] Their Christian faith provided extraordinary support to them.
[00:22:32] In a Thanksgiving sermon from November 29, 1798, Reverend Jonathan French declared, A God-hearing prayer stretched forth the arm of his power and destroyed that mighty armament in a manner almost as extraordinary as the drowning of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea.
[00:22:50] New Englanders began to prepare for a potential invasion by the French.
[00:22:55] They prepared in the natural by assembling troops for their defense, but they also prepared spiritually by declaring a fast day for October 16th.
[00:23:05] Such days have been part of the heritage of the New England Christians.
[00:23:08] They knew God answered prayer.
[00:23:10] They looked for his providential care in times of imminent danger.
[00:23:14] Historian Catherine Drinker Bowen relates events of the day.
[00:23:18] So this day, October 16th, when they had a fast, because they're getting ready to be destroyed by the French.
[00:23:24] What do they do?
[00:23:26] The governor of Massachusetts, Shirley, had proclaimed a fast day to pray for deliverance from the present peril.
[00:23:32] Everywhere men observed it, thronged into the churches.
[00:23:34] In Boston, the Reverend Thomas Prince, from the high pulpit of the Old South Meeting House, prayed before hundreds.
[00:23:41] The morning was clear and calm.
[00:23:44] People had walked to church through sunshine.
[00:23:46] Deliver us from our enemy, the minister employed.
[00:23:51] Send thy tempest, Lord, upon the waters to the eastward.
[00:23:55] Raise thy right hand.
[00:23:57] Scatter the ships of our tormentors and drive them hence.
[00:24:01] Sink their proud frigates beneath the power of thy winds.
[00:24:06] He had scarcely pronounced the words.
[00:24:07] When the sun was gone, the morning darkened, the church was in a shadow, a wind shrieked around the walls, sudden violent hammering at the windows with a giant hand.
[00:24:19] No man was in the steeple afterwards, the sectans swore it, but the great bell struck twice, a wild, uneven sound. Thomas Prince paused in his prayer, both arms raised. We hear thy voice, O Lord, he thundered triumphantly. We hear it. Thy breath is upon the waters to the eastward,
[00:24:38] even upon the deep thy bell tolls for the death of our enemies he bowed his head when he looked up tears streamed down his face thine be the glory lord amen and amen massachusetts hope was renewed
[00:24:52] all the province heard of this prayer and the answering tempest governor shirley sent a sloop the rising sun northward for news the rising sun found the french fleet south of chabacto and got chased for her pains, but she brought news so good it was miraculous, if one could believe it.
[00:25:12] Two of the largest French frigates had sunk in a storm, they said, on the Isle of Sable. The whole fleet was nearly lost, the men very sick with scurvy or some pestilential fever, and the great
[00:25:26] Admiral Duke d'Anville was dead. A week later, the news was confirmed by other vessels entering Boston. And this continues on. There was still a few boats left, just a few boats left. And they tried to continue on to Boston. On this great emergency, a day of darkness and doubtful
[00:25:51] expectation, the 16th of October was observed as a day of fasting. And it talks about this storm, talks about the answer of God's prayer. It says, pestilent storm and sudden death. How directly with what extraordinary vigor the Lord answered New England's
[00:26:09] prayers. The country fell on its knees. Pharaoh's host overwhelmed in the Red Sea were no greater miracle. And a paper with Danville's orders had been found instructing him to take Cape Breton Island and proceed to Boston, lay that town in ashes
[00:26:24] and destroy all he could upon the coast of North America, then proceed to the West Indies and distress the island.
[00:26:33] And it goes on of all of the founders of the day who were giving God praise and thanks for his mighty deliverance for the nation in answer to prayer.
[00:26:44] But this goes on time and time again.
[00:26:46] During the Revolutionary War, America almost got suffocated in the infancy of the war in the Battle of Long Island.
[00:26:56] I see Joni over there.
[00:26:58] Angelo, we've got to pray for him.
[00:26:59] He's not feeling well.
[00:27:00] But in the Battle of Long Island, America was being defeated, and George Washington and his troops were surrounded, some 9,000 American troops surrounded by 32,000.
[00:27:13] Actually, I believe it was 19,000 to 32,000.
[00:27:16] And it seemed General Howe of England was trying to get them to surrender then and there at the very beginning of the war, and it would have ended.
[00:27:26] On August 27, 1776, the British attacked Brooklyn on three fronts.
[00:27:31] They attacked Americans' forces directly on two fronts and sent a third force of about 10,000 men to a little-used pass to successfully outflank the Americans.
[00:27:41] With Washington's army caught off guard and outnumbered, only a series of fortunate events or providential events saved the revolution.
[00:27:51] And so there was a group of 400 fighting men of Maryland that fought mightily, but nevertheless the Americans were being defeated, and so their backs were up against the river, and the only way to escape was to cross the river.
[00:28:08] And so the British were hoping for a surrender, and they didn't think that they would be able to cross the river, but George Washington gave the order that night to secretly get 9,000 men to safety and keep his
[00:28:23] army intact. He ordered every available boat to be taken and used to get the army across the East River. Working through rain and darkness, the oarsmen and the boats crossed the river multiple times to deliver soldiers across to the other side. Now, it's interesting. The British had
[00:28:39] decided, we've got to cut that off, so let's send boats up there, up the river, to cut off their retreat. But guess what happened? There was no wind for the boats to go. It says that they were
[00:28:56] working through the night. And then there was also a story of a loyalist woman who was for the British, who saw this and tried to break through to tell the British. But the British stopped her
[00:29:09] because they said, well, we're not sure about you until after the Americans escaped. How did they escaped. All night long they're escaping. The British could not come because there was no wind.
[00:29:19] And then in the morning, they had not evacuated everyone. And so they would have been killed, or several thousand American troops killed, or would have surrendered and become prisoners.
[00:29:31] What happens? A fog descends to where you can't see but a few yards in front of you.
[00:29:37] And they were able to finish crossing the river during the fog. And it's said that the fog just lifted in time for the British on the shore to see the last American boats going over. Who controls
[00:29:51] the weather like this, brothers and sisters? And so even though America lost the battle, they saved their army and continued on, as we know, to win the Revolutionary War. George Washington has many instances where the providence of God saved him. How many of you have heard of the bulletproof
[00:30:14] George Washington. Yeah. Before the Revolutionary War, George Washington was fighting at that time, of course, for the British during the French-Indian War. In 1755, 23-year-old Colonel Washington was one of the 1,400 British troops under command of General Braddock, marching to capture Fort
[00:30:36] Descain near Pittsburgh. When they were attacked by French and Indian force, during the battle, Braddock was killed, every officer on horseback was shot, except Washington. The young colonel later wrote to his brother, but by the all-powerful dispensation of providence, I have been protected
[00:30:56] beyond all human probability or expectation. Listen to this, for I had four bullets through my coat, Four bullet holes in his coat.
[00:31:07] Two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me.
[00:31:16] A Native American who fought in that battle later stated, Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet.
[00:31:23] I had 17 fair fires at him with my rifle, and after all, could not bring him to the ground.
[00:31:29] and of course if he was killed then he was the great and grand leader of our nation in its very beginning he would not have been alive 20 years later to do that and it seems miraculous how do
[00:31:46] you have four bullet holes in your coat but you didn't get shot i don't understand it either but that's that's what it said praise god and he gave god the glory and those who knew about it
[00:32:01] Also, we find many times where the weather changes.
[00:32:06] God uses that to deliver the Americans from very unfavorable situations where they were outnumbered.
[00:32:15] Remember in Valley Forge, morale was low.
[00:32:18] It was in the snow and they were freezing.
[00:32:20] There was only 2,000 in the army.
[00:32:22] Well, Washington decides to cross the Delaware River and launch a surprise attack on the British in Trenton, New Jersey.
[00:32:29] The Americans attacked at sunrise on December 26th during a driving snowstorm with the wind at their backs and blowing into the faces of the mercenary Hessian troops who had been celebrating Christmas the day before.
[00:32:42] In less than one hour, the Americans captured nearly a thousand Hessians and lost only a few men.
[00:32:48] Artillery officer Henry Knox wrote of the victory at Trenton, Providence seemed to have smiled on every part of the enterprise.
[00:32:56] There's all sorts of stories about how God, even I believe it was James Monroe who became one of our presidents.
[00:33:05] Real quick story.
[00:33:07] They were marching in the night to go attack in Trenton.
[00:33:12] And this colonist, the dogs are barking.
[00:33:15] Hey, and he comes out yelling, why are you waking up the dogs and waking up everybody?
[00:33:19] Then they realize who it is.
[00:33:21] And he says, oh, wait a minute, I'm a doctor.
[00:33:22] You guys might need me.
[00:33:25] He goes in, he gets his bag, he comes out, he goes.
[00:33:29] In the battle, I believe it was Monroe, Monroe was shot and would have bled to death if it wasn't for that doctor who came along.
[00:33:38] All of these stories, it's just amazing.
[00:33:41] There's so many, so many more.
[00:33:45] We find that there is this battle in Saratoga.
[00:33:53] It says, another critical turning point occurred in the summer of 1777.
[00:34:00] British General John Burgon was marching down the Hudson River Valley from Canada with a force of 7,000 men to join General Howe, the British general, who was supposed to be marching north to Albany, New York.
[00:34:13] However, Burgonia was stopped at Saratoga by a force of 15,000 Americans who were angered by the brutality inflicted by Burgon's Native American allies.
[00:34:23] Failing to defeat the Americans, Burgon and his troops began a retreat, only to be caught in a rainstorm that turned the roads into a slimy bog.
[00:34:33] When the Americans crossed the Hudson River ahead of him and blocked his escape, Burgon and 6,000 of his troops surrendered.
[00:34:41] General Howe never made the trip up the Hudson, as his reinforcements and supplies coming from England were prevented from ever reaching America and because of contrary winds.
[00:34:55] And this was a turning point battle in the revolution.
[00:34:57] Once again, you know, who is in control of the weather?
[00:35:01] Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, This is the Lord's doing and is marvelous in our eyes.
[00:35:10] How many of you have heard of Benedict Arnold?
[00:35:14] In 1780, the treasonous action of Benedict Arnold, the hero of the Battle of Saratoga, was discovered by a surprising turn of events.
[00:35:22] Arnold was plotting to turn the American garrison at West Point, a key position for the control of the Hudson, over to the British in return for a payment of 20,000 pounds, about a million dollars in today's money.
[00:35:35] Several American sentries happened to stop Major John Andre, dressed as a civilian, as he attempted to return to British lines.
[00:35:43] In hollow space in his boot, they found a map of West Point and details of an impending attack.
[00:35:48] The unexpected apprehension of Major Andre and the discovery of Benedict Arnold's treachery was widely viewed as an act of divine protection.
[00:35:57] Yale President Ezra Stiles wrote in 1873, I think that's the wrong date, a providential miracle detected this conspiracy of Arnold.
[00:36:09] The body of the American army then at West Point with His Excellency George Washington himself would have been rendered into the hands of the enemy.
[00:36:18] That should be 1773.
[00:36:21] So the Lord continued in many ways to show his mercy to our nation.
[00:36:27] And I won't read all of this, but this even happened in our area.
[00:36:33] Listen to this.
[00:36:34] In January 1781, American General Daniel Morgan defeated an advancing British force under General Cornwallis at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.
[00:36:43] and what has been called a tactical masterpiece and turning point of the war.
[00:36:50] After the battle, Morgan retreated north.
[00:36:53] Chased by the British, Cornwallis reached the Catawba River.
[00:36:57] Ever heard of that?
[00:37:01] Only hours after the Americans had crossed, because there was no Lake Norman back then, but a sudden storm made the river impassable.
[00:37:13] The British nearly overtook the Americans again at the Yadkin River.
[00:37:19] Ever heard of that?
[00:37:20] It's a little bit up.
[00:37:22] But again, rains flooded the river, slowing the British.
[00:37:26] The Americans go over, here comes a flood, the British can't.
[00:37:31] And then another flash flood blocked the British at the Dan River, allowing the Americans to cross into friendly territory in Virginia.
[00:37:41] British General Henry Clinton described these events as follows.
[00:37:44] Here the royal army was again stopped by a sudden rise of the waters, which had only just fallen, almost miraculously, to let the enemy over.
[00:37:54] The enemy being the Americans.
[00:37:56] George Washington wrote in 1781, We have abundant reasons to thank Providence for its many favorable interpositions in our behalf.
[00:38:06] It has at times been my only dependence, for all other resources seem to have failed us.
[00:38:12] And then, finally, one more, Yorktown, the Battle of Yorktown, where the Revolution was essentially won.
[00:38:22] The Revolutionary War, 1781, in Yorktown, Cornwallis was there at Chesapeake Bay.
[00:38:30] He's waiting for British supplies, but a French fleet arrives just in time before the British to keep the British from supplying Cornwallis.
[00:38:42] and so he was surrounded by 17,000 French and American troops in Yorktown.
[00:38:49] Facing overwhelming odds, Cornwallis attempted a nighttime breakout by starting to ferry his regular troops across the York River.
[00:38:57] The first group made it safely across the river.
[00:39:00] However, a sudden and severe rain squall blew the second contingent across the river, it says, and downriver this other group, leaving Cornwallis with a much reduced...
[00:39:12] So half of them got across, half of them didn't.
[00:39:16] Now the forces are divided.
[00:39:19] And before he had a terrible time, odds-wise.
[00:39:22] Now he's only got half of his troops.
[00:39:24] And he sent a message over, hey, come back, we need you.
[00:39:27] They couldn't come back because of the weather.
[00:39:30] And of course, they ultimately surrendered to the Americans.
[00:39:39] There are many, many more.
[00:39:40] But what I want you to understand is God's hand of providence was working and the American founding fathers recognized it as such.
[00:39:52] Is it still working today?
[00:39:56] The founding fathers recognized that our nation was founded on the Bible and Christianity.
[00:40:03] John Adams says the general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.
[00:40:10] John Quincy Adams, we already heard in Sunday school, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation, July 4th, is indissolubly linked with the birthday of our Savior, December 25th.
[00:40:23] The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.
[00:40:31] Charles Carroll, grateful to Almighty God.
[00:40:34] We read this earlier.
[00:40:36] Charles Carroll was the last of the signers to die.
[00:40:39] He talks about how God has been instrumental in founding the nation.
[00:40:44] Noah Webster says, our citizens should understand.
[00:40:47] Noah Webster, the one who did the dictionary, founding father.
[00:40:49] Hey, we've been in his house.
[00:40:51] It's in the Greenfield Village in Michigan now, but it's actually his house.
[00:40:55] Our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct Republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion.
[00:41:08] Also, he says, the religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his apostles.
[00:41:14] This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.
[00:41:19] Benjamin Rush, as we saw earlier in our Sunday school, he had many comments about Christ and his faith in the Word of God, but he says this, I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration,
[00:41:33] but I am as satisfied that it is as much a work of divine providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament.
[00:41:43] The Christian founding fathers believed that our Constitution and our nation was founded on documents and principles that are only workable for a Christian people.
[00:41:58] And these are the things that they said.
[00:42:00] John Hancock, sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement.
[00:42:12] Patrick Henry said, Righteousness alone can exalt a nation.
[00:42:17] Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others.
[00:42:24] And he says, The great pillars of all government and of social life, virtue, morality, religion, this is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible.
[00:42:34] John Jay, early Supreme Court Justice, says, The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next.
[00:42:46] Continue, therefore, to read it and regulate your life by its precepts.
[00:42:51] He says, Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers.
[00:42:56] It is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.
[00:43:05] We need to hear that today, amen, in New York City and other places.
[00:43:12] Thomas Jefferson, one of the less orthodox of our founding fathers, says this, The practice of morality being necessary for the well-being of society, God has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts
[00:43:27] that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain.
[00:43:31] We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus, and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in his discourses.
[00:43:42] That's Thomas Jefferson, who said, I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.
[00:43:52] James McHenry, signer of the Constitution, public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures.
[00:43:59] Without the Bible, this is really good, without the Bible, in vain do we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions.
[00:44:11] Bibles are strong protections.
[00:44:13] Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.
[00:44:20] Benjamin Rush has a lot here.
[00:44:23] I'm not going to read it all so much, but he says one of the key founding fathers that we have in america there's the gospel of jesus christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life he says uh also the great enemy of the salvation of man
[00:44:41] in my opinion never invented a more effective means of limiting christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it is improper to read the bible at schools he goes on he says if the bible is not read in schools it's seldom read in any other subsequent
[00:45:02] period of life the bible should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness joseph story u.s congressman father of american jurisprudence
[00:45:24] U.S. Supreme Court Justice says, I verily believe that Christianity is necessary to support a civil society and shall ever attend to its institutions and acknowledge its precepts as the pure and natural sources of private and social happiness.
[00:45:42] We already heard about George Washington commending us to live a life like Christ.
[00:45:48] Daniel Webster says, the Christian religion in general principles must ever be regarded amongst us as the foundation of civil society. Listen to this, whatever makes men good Christians makes them good citizens.
[00:46:06] To the free and universal reading of the Bible, men are indebted for the right views of civil liberty. Noah Webster says the religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his apostles.
[00:46:19] This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.
[00:46:26] He says the Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society. The best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men.
[00:46:39] Now before we end there was some warnings about the future that our founding fathers spoke and I think you'll be rather surprised at how appropriate they are for our day.
[00:46:53] Governor Morris, he was a revolutionary officer, a penman of the Constitution, and of course a signer of the Constitution says, there must be religion.
[00:47:06] When that ligament is torn, society is disjointed and its members perish.
[00:47:11] The most important of all lessons is the denunciation of ruin to every state that rejects the precepts of religion.
[00:47:18] Have you heard of the Moor's Code?
[00:47:21] Well, the father of the man who made that, or discovered that, actually, the Jedediah Moors, who was a geographer, a historian of the American Revolution, says, To the kindly influence of Christianity, we owe the degree of civil freedom and political
[00:47:40] and social happiness which mankind now enjoys.
[00:47:43] All efforts made to destroy the foundations of our holy religion ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedoms and happiness.
[00:47:54] Listen to this.
[00:47:55] In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom.
[00:48:09] Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government with all the blessings which flow from them must fall with them.
[00:48:21] Noel Webster, the Christian religion is the basis or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government.
[00:48:27] I am persuaded that no civil government of republican form can exist and be durable in which the principle of Christianity do not have a controlling influence.
[00:48:38] And then finally, a few more last words.
[00:48:41] John Adams, he says, posterity. Who's posterity? Us, okay? Posterity. You'll never know how much it costs the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you'll make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent
[00:49:00] in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it. Reverend Matthias Burnett of Heartful, Connecticut, in 1803 election sermon said, to God and posterity, you are accountable for your rights and rulers. Let not your children have reason to curse you for giving up those rights and
[00:49:20] prostrating those institutions which your fathers delivered to you. Also, we find Daniel Webster, if we in our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, recklessly destroy the political constitution
[00:49:38] which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.
[00:49:51] Charles Carroll of Carrollton, sign of the Declaration, Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time.
[00:50:00] Without morals.
[00:50:01] They therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure, and which denounces against the wicked eternal misery and which insured to the great eternal happiness are undermining the solid foundation of morals,
[00:50:16] the best security for the duration of free governments.
[00:50:21] John Adams says we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
[00:50:31] Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
[00:50:34] it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
[00:50:39] The answer, brothers and sisters, is revival.
[00:50:43] Do these warnings ring true with us as problems we're facing now?
[00:50:48] The only way to save America, if you will, is revival, turning back to Christ.
[00:50:56] We've run out of time.
[00:50:57] I just want to share a couple final words, but I'll mention to you John Hancock.
[00:51:01] Remember the John Hancock signature is the biggest on the Declaration, right?
[00:51:07] And he was the governor of Massachusetts.
[00:51:13] And he has these long prayer requests.
[00:51:16] I'm just going to read one or two of the many.
[00:51:18] For the state of Massachusetts, we need to fast, we need to humble ourselves, and we need to pray what?
[00:51:25] He says, pray that all nations may bow to the scepter of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that the whole earth may be filled with His glory.
[00:51:34] And pray that with true contrition of heart, that's humbleness, we may confess our sins, resolve to forsake them, implore divine forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, our Savior, and finally to overrule all the commotions in the world
[00:51:53] to the spreading of the true religion of Jesus Christ and its purity and power among all the people of the earth.
[00:51:57] The founders understood the only way we have America, The only way we have the blessings that we're enjoying right now, this freedom to be able to speak what we believe is true, is because of Christianity.
[00:52:07] The liberty that we have in this nation came from the Son of God.
[00:52:11] That's what John Quincy Adams says.
[00:52:13] There's a connection between July 4th and December 25th.
[00:52:16] The Bible tells us that whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
[00:52:19] He is the one alone who can give us liberty.
[00:52:22] The Word of God.
[00:52:23] And whenever this nation departs from the Word of God, our liberties will be taken away and we see that before us.
[00:52:29] Those who are wanting socialism, those who want to overturn our constitution, our declaration, the founding era, which was based on the word of God.
[00:52:38] Ultimately, there's a spiritual war, and the only one who is fit to fight it is the body of Christ.
[00:52:44] And so we must rise up, we must speak the truth, we must stand, close in the armor of God, we must stand ready to fight the good fight of faith.
[00:52:52] Here is the final words from two Winthrops, from John Winthrop in 1630, a Puritan, as he saw Massachusetts for the first time, Ronald Reagan quoted in his sermon, The Shining City Upon a Hill in 1974, John Winthrop said to those on the boat, the Arabella, we will be
[00:53:20] a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work that we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help
[00:53:32] from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.
[00:53:38] Interestingly enough, one of his descendants, John Winthrop, about 150 years later, speaker of the U.S. House said this, men in a word must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without
[00:54:01] of them. Either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man.
[00:54:09] Either by the Bible or the bayonet.
[00:54:15] And so as our nation more and more turns away from the word of God, what will be the controlling force?
[00:54:21] authoritarianism tyranny all sorts of things that people who do not know our God and his son Jesus want for you and me you'll own nothing and you'll be happy sounds like North Korea except the happy part
[00:54:43] Lord have mercy before I end in prayer thank God he sustained my voice to get to this point we're going to come to the table in just a moment And every founding father was not necessarily a born-again Christian.
[00:55:04] But the more you study the lives of the founding fathers, you find that a great majority of them were strong believers in Christ.
[00:55:11] And our nation was founded on biblical principles.
[00:55:15] And I believe our nation has been blessed because of the word of God.
[00:55:19] And just as Solomon prayed, when all of these calamities come, and have they come?
[00:55:26] They come.
[00:55:27] Why?
[00:55:28] God is, do you think God's just up there absent?
[00:55:31] He doesn't know what's going on in America?
[00:55:33] That the providence that he used to save America from destruction from the French in 1746 or that time and time and time again he used to protect the colonial army from the British, how he changed the weather, how he brought up storms,
[00:55:48] how all sorts of providential gifts of God, some even verging on what's been called the miraculous.
[00:55:54] this. Has God grown old? Has God departed? Is he not able to do the same thing? He's the same God yesterday, yeah, of the colonial times and even before that some 2,500, 3,000 years ago on the
[00:56:11] day of Solomon. He's the same God right now and we need to have faith. We need to believe. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. The fact that unarmed American soldiers who were untrained could defeat what was considered the strongest army in the world, Britain, was nothing short
[00:56:31] of a miracle in most people's minds. What is too hard for God? Is there anything too difficult for God? Those men covenanted together their life, their fortune, and their sacred honor. They were willing to give and some of them gave it all for this nation and for the liberty that we enjoy
[00:56:55] right now as we come to this table let us remember the one who gave his life on the cross offers his fortune to anyone who would believe we become co-heirs with christ and his sacred honor
[00:57:15] somehow miraculously is shared with every child of God in eternity as we are made kings and priests through His grace, through His mercy, and through His blood that He shed for us 2,000 years ago.
[00:57:31] And now we partake in a symbol.
[00:57:33] It is this body and this blood, it is this testimony, it is this word that gives us the freedom to do what we're doing right now that we couldn't do in many other nations.
[00:57:47] When I was young, I didn't understand. God and country.
[00:57:50] God and country. What's the connection between God and country? Well, if you look at our country today, you might think there's nothing.
[00:57:57] But the more you study, the more you see it wasn't always like that.
[00:58:01] God and country were closely connected.
[00:58:05] And they can be again.
[00:58:07] But the only way is if my people, the church, my people, not Washington, not Hollywood, not those weird sinners that are all around us.
[00:58:18] If my people, which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will i hear from heaven forgive their sin and heal their land why because of the grace of god
[00:58:34] for his people and his son jesus christ to him be glory honor and praise now and forevermore amen let's pray to heavenly father thank you for your word thank you for how you answered solomon's
[00:58:48] prayer visibly and how you struck all of your people with awe at your presence. Now Lord may we be struck with awe afresh at this wondrous gift of the body and blood of the most precious thing
[00:59:02] imaginable. Your very son shed and broken for us who believe that we might be made one with you in spirit and the very body of Christ submitting to our head your son Lord Jesus who we proclaim along with our founding fathers.
[00:59:23] We have no king but King Jesus.
[00:59:27] To him be all glory, honor, and praise both now and forevermore.
[00:59:31] Amen and amen.
[00:59:34] We're going to forego the singing of If My People and I'd invite the choir forward to sing.
[00:59:42] And as the choir is coming forward, we are going to pray as we continue to worship the Lord by the giving of the tithe and the offering.
[00:59:54] Dear Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your love.

[01:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:00:00] He tells us in verse 23 and 24, And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
[01:00:19] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.
[01:00:23] But whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same will save it.
[01:00:30] This table was prepared by the Lord Jesus who indeed gave His life to save us, to take our sins away because there was no way that we can or that we ever could.
[01:00:48] Indeed, before God, we are nothing because we cannot save ourselves.
[01:00:56] This is why Christ came.
[01:00:58] His body was broken on the cross.
[01:01:02] His blood was shed for us.
[01:01:06] And only by confessing our sins in His name, by repenting, turning from our sins, do we have everlasting life, do we have forgiveness of sins.
[01:01:18] But what is even more, Jesus tells us, He says that we are to live in that same kind of way.
[01:01:27] That we are to take our cross daily, deny ourselves and follow Him.
[01:01:35] Therefore, if there's no way we can save ourselves, then we are not great at all.
[01:01:44] We are great only by what God does in and through us, by His grace.
[01:01:49] And the same is true of our nation.
[01:01:51] The only way that America will ever be great again will return to the faith that our founding fathers had based on the Word of God in this country.
[01:02:01] It's by us humbling ourselves before God.
[01:02:05] It's by His grace, by His mercy, by His power, not in how self-sufficient we are at all.
[01:02:15] But we praise God.
[01:02:17] There is mercy at the cross.
[01:02:20] There is mercy and life at the empty tomb.
[01:02:24] And this is the table in which Jesus has instituted to show that, to remind us of that, and so that we might feed on Christ by faith.
[01:02:40] Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
[01:02:44] O Lord God, Lord, we thank You, we praise You for the grace and the salvation that You've given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:02:54] Lord, we pray that by the Holy Spirit that You will help us in truly repenting of our sins and turning from our sins in turning from our self-promotion in forgiving our trying to make ourselves
[01:03:12] look good to other people in the sense of us trying to be something that we are not, to say that we are good people because we are only good people by what Christ has done for us,
[01:03:24] by His mercy, by His forgiveness as we confess our sins in His name.
[01:03:32] And so, Lord, we ask that You would cleanse us.
[01:03:37] And Lord, before we come and partake of these elements, that we would confess our sins in the name of Jesus to You.
[01:03:47] Lord, for all those who are willing to do this, we do this at this point.
[01:03:52] And if there is any who are not, Lord, I ask that You would move in them to refrain from the elements because they will take judgment on themselves because they have exalted themselves and their own goodness instead of Christ and His sacrifice for us.
[01:04:09] And Lord, we ask that You would take these common elements of bread and grape juice, that You would use them for our spiritual growth, our spiritual nourishment.
[01:04:18] And Lord, that we would spiritually eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, because apart from Him we have no life within us.
[01:04:33] Lord, let us spiritually come to You and pledge ourselves to You and the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us.
[01:04:43] And we ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
[01:04:51] The Lord Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, He took bread.
[01:05:00] And when He had blessed it, He gave it to His disciples and He said, Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of Me.
[01:05:12] In the same manner, after supper, He took the cup and He says, this is the cup of the New Testament in My blood.
[01:05:19] Do this as often as you drink this cup in remembrance of Me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
[01:05:32] So if we can come forward, make two lines here.
[01:05:42] We'll have bread and juice on each side.
[01:05:44] We'll have gluten-free bread on this side.
[01:05:49] So if we can come down the aisles, if we can take the elements, go to the outside, return to your seats, and then if you will hold the elements so that we can partake together,
[01:05:59] thus showing the unity of the body of Christ.
[01:06:03] If you will come and dine, The body of Christ broken for you.
[01:06:14] The blood of Christ shed for you.
[01:06:20] Isaiah says that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions.
[01:06:24] He was bruised for our iniquities.
[01:06:28] The chastisement for our peace was upon Him.
[01:06:32] And by His stripes we are healed.
[01:06:39] Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[01:06:44] No one comes to the Father but by me.
[01:06:49] It's the body of Christ broken for you and the blood of Christ shed for you.
[01:06:57] The Apostle Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ so it is no longer I who live, but Christ liveth in me.
[01:07:15] And the life which I live now in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and who gave Himself for me.
[01:07:26] The body of Christ broken for you.
[01:07:28] The blood of Christ shed for you.
[01:07:34] Romans 8.1, we read, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
[01:07:50] The body of Christ broken for you.
[01:07:53] The blood of Christ shed for you.
[01:08:02] Jesus says, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[01:08:20] The body of Christ broken for you.
[01:08:23] The blood of Christ shed for you.
[01:08:36] Jesus said, take, eat.
[01:08:38] This is My body which is broken for you.
[01:08:40] do this in remembrance of me.
[01:08:48] Jesus says, this is the blood of the New Testament.
[01:08:52] Drink ye all of it.
[01:09:00] Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
[01:09:03] Oh Lord God, Lord, we thank You for the salvation of Jesus.
[01:09:08] We thank You that He came to save us, to cleanse us, to make us whole.
[01:09:14] And Lord, we ask now that You, that by our profession of faith in Christ, by us repenting of our sins and turning from our sins, In His name, Lord, we ask that You would cleanse us,
[01:09:28] that You would empower us, that You would use us for Your glory, and that we would proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all the world so that they would know Him and be saved.
[01:09:41] We pray for our nation, for repentance, for revival, for renewal.
[01:09:46] And Lord, that You would not despair of our country.
[01:09:51] Lord, that You would not give up on us and abandon us.
[01:09:55] But Lord, as in days of old, that You would come, that You would fill Your people with the Holy Spirit, that we would speak Your truth, Your Word to people, that they might bow to Christ.