There are two things that I am very happy about, but had very little or
nothing to do with. The first is being a Christian, and the second is being an
American. It is only through the grace of God that I am a Christian. I feel that
it is only through His grace that I was also born in this great country. And it
had to be a divine intervention that caused me to be born and raised in the
south. And He has been gracious enough to bring me to Alabama after allowing me
to see many other parts of His earth.
Yes, I am blessed. I
thank God each and every day for the things that He has done for me. Now He has
brought me to Alabama, to the town of Ider. And I hope that the people of the
great state of North Carolina will forgive me, but the people in Alabama are
wonderful, the barbecue is good, and football, well UNC could teach those
Alabama teams something, but I better leave that alone. God has taken me around
the world, to some places that I would just as soon forget, and brought me to
one of the most beautiful spots with the friendliest people on earth. Yes, I am
blessed.
Now about now you are all probably wondering why I am
standing up here in the pulpit ranting about these things. Well, we have just
celebrated the birth of our great nation. And I for one am grateful to God for
letting me be here. But, I am also worried. I have been working at the Parish,
helping people who are facing difficult times. Most of the people that I have
been helping are not dumb, or lazy, they have just run across hard times. I
understand that. I myself went from a 100 thousand dollar a year job to minimum
wage, and then to nothing. God used those events to strengthen parts of me that
were in need of help. He used that to help me understand the difficulties of
people who run up on hard times. He used that to teach me that we are all not
but a few steps away from sleeping in a cardboard box.
I am
worried because we, as Americans, and more importantly, we as Christians have
become complacent and lackluster. We have come to the point that the leader of
this country has stated to the world that we are not a Christian nation, and it
may be one of the most truthful things that he has said. This nation was founded
on a few simple, yet very complex beliefs. Primarily that there is one God who
created us all, and that He has given us the right to rule over ourselves and
determine our own destiny. We are creating a destiny for ourselves that scares
me to death. The Romans created a governmental system similar to ours where the
people had a voice in government. We strengthened that voice in our system.
However, we got lazy and let others speak for us, so that now the government of
the people is that of a very few people who really do not have our interests at
heart. The Romans suffered from the same ills that we do, and like them our
culture is on a serious downturn.
We do have the ability to
change the way that we are heading. We have the ability, and I believe, the
obligation to get ourselves and our country back on course. Chris and I were
talking the other evening and I told him then that I believe that one of the
primary reasons that this country is in trouble is because we have forgotten
God. Fewer and fewer Americans are going to church. Even fewer join together at
the dinner table, as a family and say grace before the meal. Even fewer talk to
their children about God and show them that they believe. We have to stop this,
we have to reverse this slide.
The other day I had the
privilege of joining the Kiwanis club for breakfast. They did something that I
bet at least half of our children do not know how to do. They said the pledge of
allegiance. I remember as a child that there were two things we did every
morning before class started. First we said a prayer, and then we faced the flag
and said the pledge of allegiance. And we were taught what every word of that
pledge stood for. So it wasn't just repetition of a poem, it had a purpose. Now
I have mixed feelings about prayer in school. It is my belief that we should
allow a time for it, but we should not have it mandatory. Now some of you may be
shocked at that, but I don't think it is the government's job to teach our
children about God. I also know that if we let the school teach and promote God
then they will be forced to teach and promote every silly little pseudo-religion
that comes along not just the religion about the one and only God. So I am fine
with the schools not teaching religion, as long as they don't stand in the way
of us practicing it. I do not believe in the integration of government and
church. That is one of the founding principles of our government. I see it as a
very good thing. It is good because it ensures that we don't get leaders into
the government, say someone with a muslim background, who is power hungry, and
then decides that the nation should follow his religion. As a nation of freedom,
we are at risk. Freedom is a wonderful thing, but can also be a very dangerous
thing if not managed properly. We are the ones who must manage it. We cannot
leave it to others.
So again, I stand here before you today
speaking of the two most dangerous subjects in conversation, politics and
religion. But I feel comfortable with these two subjects in a conversation with
you. Because I know that you all believe in God. I know that you are all
Christians, though some of your preferences and beliefs may be a bit different
from mine, that is fine. Christianity and God's grace allows for us to believe
however the Holy Spirit guides us to do so. And as for politics, well I know
that all of you are devout Americans. You believe in the things that made this
country great. Yes, we probably have some differences in how to strengthen our
nation. We may have differing views on things like unions, taxes, welfare, etc.
but I believe that we share the same belief that our government is there to
serve us all. And should do so without paying attention to its own interests.
I am here before you today asking for your help. I am asking
that you pay attention to what is going on around you. I ask you to pay
particular attention to religious and political activities around you. Become
involved in those things that you feel you have a strong opinion about, have
some special skills in dealing with, or are just plain passionate about. My
point is, become involved. Find a way to employ the talents that God gave you.
And develop those talents. For the young people here today I especially advise
you regarding this. (and by young people I mean anyone under 90) I have spent
almost 50 years on this earth, learning, teaching, sharing, and enjoying. God
gave me a number of talents but it was not until recently that I began to use
them to bring glory to Him. And now that I am, I wonder why it took me so long
to do this. We have some people in the congregation today who are talented
musicians. They bring joy to themselves and others by opening their mouths, or
playing their instruments and filling the air with great music. Others of you
are talented at assisting others, others are talented at working on things,
others are talented at accomplishing a task without instruction or guidance.
Whatever your gift, whatever talent God has blessed you with, get out and use
it. Share it with the world, and in doing so you will bring glory to Him and
pleasure to yourself.
Yesterday, I joined with a fairly large
group of people at the park in Ft. Payne for a tea party. I was glad to see a
group of people who openly professed the power of God in this world, His
influence on the forming of this great nation, and their dedication to keeping
it great. We face some very serious issues now. Issues that are not to be
addressed from this pulpit. However from this pulpit and in my position as a
Christian and minister for the Lord, Jesus Christ it is imperative that I push
for our government to follow the guidance of Jesus. Yes, I strongly believe in
the separation of church and state, but I believe that it is an absolute
necessity that our government be led by Christians who understand and follow
Jesus. Without Jesus at the center of our nation we will be washed away like the
Egyptians in the Red Sea. Our power comes from God himself. We have to remember
that, and reinforce that.
I pray that each of you will spend
some time this week thinking about what you can do to help build God's church.
My goal as a pastor is to incite you to think. I would much rather hear at the
end of a service that I have caused you to think, than to hear that you enjoyed
my sermon. You are all intelligent people. I want to hear your ideas and
thoughts. And then I want to hear how you have put your thoughts into action.