WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR GOD TO CONTINUE TO BLESS AMERICA?

Taken from notes in a sermon by Wilson Adams

Introduction:

1. A parallel can be drawn between Israel and America:

a. Deut. 8:7-10 richness of blessings

1) With a few changes this could be a report sent to Europe by early explorers; Boone to Va.

2) US blessed beyond imagination (natural beauty, natural resources, richness of the land, prosperity of the people; in every conceivable way America has been abundantly blessed)

3) Yet we are a frustrated people [# of suicides (5,500,000 teens attempt suicide every year); # of people seeking psychiatric help]

4) We are an ungrateful nation; a people quick to complain, slow to praise; have no patience or ability to endure even the slightest inconvenience.

5) We throw away more than many people in the world possess.

b. Deut. 8:11-20

1) Israel warned that riches would bring dangers.

2) God has given us a rich America. Founding fathers recognized the importance of God; saw their prosperity and success as having come through His divine providence. But, that has changed. Doesn't Vv. 12-13 picture America?

3) V.17 conceit; pride; haughty self reliance

4) Destruction awaits the proud; the nation that forgets God. Have we like Israel forgotten God? Have we as a nation turned away from God?

2. Proud, haughty nations have fell. Those who were filled with a sense of self- importance have been destroyed by the Lord (Egypt; :Babylon; Assyria; Greece; Rome). Is America next?

3. Daniel 2:21 4. What will it take for God to continue to bless America?

I. HUMILITY

A. Know that no nation is indestructible.

1. James 4:6-10 as true of nations as it is of individuals

2. Psa. 94:1-8 the proud/haughty will not long prosper

3. Prov. 16:18-19; 15:25

4. America cannot stand proud, haughty, and without regard for God forever. Destruction, not continued blessing await the proud.

B. God's dealings with the proud nations of the OT:

1. Obadiah 3-4 (Edom) "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in the loftiness of your dwelling place, who say in your heart, `Who will bring me down to earth.' Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord."

2. Isa. 13:11 (Said of Babylon) "Thus I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless."

3. Dan. 4:30,33,37 Nebuchadnezzar

4. Where are these great empires?

C. No nation is self-sufficient.

1. No nation is indestructible.

2. God raises and lowers whom He chooses, when He chooses.

3. Greatness is not measured in GNP or military preparedness. Greatness is found in the favor of the Lord; service to the Lord; glory of the Lord.

D. If America is to continue to be strong and greatly blessed by the Lord, then she must humble herself before the Lord. Who will lead this?

II. A RETURN TO THE MORAL PRINCIPLES OF THE LORD

A. Moral decay will destroy a nation.

1. Prov. 14:34

2. Rome fell when at the summit of pride and the valley or morality.

3. Is the handwriting on the wall for America? Have we, like Babylon, been weighted in the moral balances and found wanting?

B. America is quickly becoming a moral cesspool.

1. Over 1 million abortions a year.

2. Over 13,923,000 serious crimes each year. 30% of all families have been the victims of a serious crime.

3. Bills before Congress to legalize homosexual marriage and guarantee a woman's right to an abortion.

4. Romans 1:21-32 new morality is just old sin in new clothes

5. Jer. 6:15 have we like Israel gone too far to blush?

C. America needs a moral revival. Who will lead it?

III.THE RESTORATION OF THE HOME AS GOD INTENDED IT TO BE

A. From the beginning God had plans for the family.

1. Eph. 6:1-4

2. The family is the backbone of any nation. With the deterioration of the family comes the deterioration of the nation.

3. Deut. 6 Family the basic unit through which God's word was to be distributed.

B. The American family is under attack.

1. The nuclear family is in trouble.

a. Every year fewer and fewer American school age children live in a "Cleaver" type household.

b. Fathers, with few exceptions, are portrayed on TV as weak, egotistical, dim-brained reactionaries.

c. Mothers are told that their career is the single most important thing in their life.

2. The American family is in trouble. Who is going to fix it? Who is going to lead the revival?

IV. WE NEED A RETURN TO THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST

A. Need to reject the authority and religious systems of men and return to Jesus as the source of authority.

1. Mat. 15:8-9

2. Col. 2:20-23

3. Test practices and beliefs with what is recorded in Bible.

B. Return to inward qualities:

1. Mat. 23 Pharisees sought the outward show of religious expression (Vv.25-28).

2. Mat. 5:27-ff SOM gets to the heart of the law.

C. Return to the commission of Jesus:

1. Mat. 28:19-20

2. Mark 16:15-16

D. Return to the hope of Jesus:

1. Mat. 25:21

2. 2 Tim. 4:6-8

Conclusion:

1. If we do not return to Jesus, then we are a nation without hope.

2. Satan is hard at work in our schools, families, factories, businesses, and government trying to keep us away from God.

3. Only by humbling ourselves before God in obedience to Him does America have a chance to continue to be blessed.

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