Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / July 3, 2016 | Independence Day - 1-2-3 On The 4th

Transcript

July 3, 2016 | Independence Day - 1-2-3 On The 4th · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: That was robust.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: That was great.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't very loud across the street.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Let's hear that again over there, uh College Avenue building.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
• 0:12
  unknown: Good morning.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: I could hear it.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: I could hear it that time.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Kelly Crandall, are you here?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Kelly Crandall, are you here?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Kelly Crandall.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Calling Kelly Crandall.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Kelly.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: You probably saw during the announcement she's talking tonight at 6 o'clock across the street.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is Kelly Crandall.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody recognize the last name?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: You do?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Explain that to us.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: How did you get huh?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you recognize one of the Crandall?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: My last name, you might know my parents, Randy and Linda.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: My dad teaches the Life in Progress Sunday school class, and I have a number of siblings that you might also be familiar with.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like six?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Six.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm one of seven.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Six of seven?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth of seven.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: How cool is that?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'd much rather be like at the top of the heap, which is what I am in my big family.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um but no, they I'm sure they loved you all the time and took care of you, and Andrew's so sweet to you all the time.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um okay.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: So how did you that was all extra.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you've been around the church since Yeah, my family's been around TBC for quite a long time since I was in first grade.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um 17 years ago.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, and you uh first grade, and now you're over like in the Philippines or somewhere, you're missionary?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: How did that?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I have wanted to be a teacher since I was five.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would go to school and I would come home and play school.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I was eleven, I felt like the Lord was already calling me to be a missionary.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started traveling a little bit when I was 13, 14, 15, uh different places around the world just to get a taste for what missions could look like.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like short-term.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, three to eight weeks, uh depending on I was mostly spent time with other missionaries who were already established in the field and got to see what they did.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then you came home and then you went to Topeka High, which is a great preparation place to be a missionary, right?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then sorry.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then what and then after Topeka High?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I graduated from high school and then went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and studied Christian school education.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So knowing that I wanted to go overseas and teach internationally, I thought Moody was a great place to go and study.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: How do you go from Chicago to Philippines?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, besides a plane.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um this is this is how you know she grew up in a family surrounded by boys who always lipped off.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: So she's she can give as well as she takes.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm used to it.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I chose, I didn't know exactly where I was going to end up.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was open to a lot of different places, thought I might end up in the Middle East or Central Asia, decided on the Philippines at least to start out with because Faith Academy has such a great reputation as a strong missionary uh school, and thought it would be good to learn how to be a teacher at a school that was well established, like Faith Academy list.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have a little sister who taught over there for a few years.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you're over there teaching what like what age kids do you have?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I primarily teach middle school math, which is most people's worst nightmare.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I love it.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I got to work with middle schoolers while I was here and a couple of the other places that I had traveled and visited, and now I get to work with middle schoolers full time.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I can hear underneath people's breath, they're going, just shoot me now.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Shoot me now.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's sort of the response.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: So tonight, six o'clock, what are you gonna talk about?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if it were up to me, if it were just what I wanted to tell you about, I would tell you story after story about all the amazing kids that I get to work with.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll definitely get some of that and see lots of pictures.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um in addition, I think it's really important to hear about the families, the missionaries that we get to support at Faith Academy.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: These are children's and children of missionaries, and you'll get to hear about what the missionaries are doing in the Philippines and also how God is using the Philippines and Faith Academy as part of his bigger work in Asia, actually.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really exciting.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: We really appreciate having you over there.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Kelly.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: So uh here it is.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Escape all the explosions in your neighborhood.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Have you noticed, you know, Melody called, she's on her way up to Canada to babysit granddaughters.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: My our daughter's moving to Nova Scotia.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, and she calls yesterday and says, What's it like?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: I said it's pouring rain.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: She says, I'm sorry.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, I said this is the first time in like five days.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: It hasn't been exploding all around.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: So escape the explosions, come to the cab building, cross the street, come to College Avenue building, and uh at 6 o'clock and and uh have a good time.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: So uh today um I'm taking a break, one-week break from Route 66, and actually with Tim next week, it'll sort of be we're sort of tag teaming the God and country thing, and and um because he says, well, if you can do it, you know, I can do one better.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't actually say it that way, but I said if I banks basically, I said, if I can fall on my own sword, so can you.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because if there's anything you want to do to cause friction or arguments, talk about either religion or politics or talk about them at the same time.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what we're doing this morning, and I'm entitling it one, two, three on the fourth of July.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um here we go.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the one, two, three is uh there's one question that I want us that I'm gonna try to answer this morning, or at least address.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is sort of in embryonic form, okay?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh this is not a final form message, and that'll probably be my cop-out when you criticize this message.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'll go, oh, it's not done yet.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure I would have made you really happy when you saw the final form.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so there's one question, and then there are two texts, and then the three is there are three takeaways.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I'm gonna dive into this, and I need to acknowledge, I've forgotten the other two services, that wow, I'm really I'm I'm dependent uh on so many other people, including uh like for this message, uh uh uh Swindah and uh uh Wayne Grutom and Andy Stanley and so forth, people who've been bold enough to address some of these issues, and there are a number of these people, and so I never have an original thought anyway.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, and but anyway, so anyway, this is a mismash or stuff, and this is sort of a question that I'm hearing and that I'm asking myself.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Two texts that bounce around in my own mind, and then three takeaways.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so let's start off.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now the question's really more of a dilemma, it's more of a headache.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is the most bizarre political.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Am I right?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Is this the most bizarre political season you've ever lived in?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is crazy.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: And one reason I know is that is that wherever I am, and I've been a lot of places this year outside of Topeka, everybody is like talking about it.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, normally cabbies don't, uh taxi cab drivers don't turn around.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, normally they say, where are you from, or how you doing, or will you give me a big tip, or something.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a taxi cab driver uh a week or so ago in San Francisco turns out and goes, so what do you think about Donald and Hillary?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Going, and you have an Iranian accent.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what are you doing asking me?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, so but but but you know, people are stressed now, and the intensity is like an all-time high, and it's partly, I think, because of the confusion.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think in the past, you know, people go, well, I like that candidate, and I don't like that one, so why even talk about it?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: But now everybody's I mean, a guy I was with this uh Christian leader from South Africa a couple of weeks ago, and he says, I sure I can hardly wait for the election, your election to be over.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Why?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Because it's on the front pages of the Cape Town Gazette every single day.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, really?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Donald Hillary, it's just crazy.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: But it's not just that I want to talk about because our stress, our stress partly comes from everything else that's happening as well, right?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Just three weeks ago we have a shooting, a terrorist shooting, in America, down at an Orlando nightclub, and it unfortunately happened to be a gay nightclub, too.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, then you have all of these things revolving, and then you got the whole bathroom situation where somebody in the parking lot is just saying to me, I was driving across the country, and my wife and daughter are in a bathroom, and there's big men's shoes underneath the stall, and they went out, and yeah, sure enough.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and I mean, it's so you got that happening, and you and you it's the last year of Obama, and then you got the election, and then if you look around the world, I mean, it's just a week ago.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, England stuns everybody by deciding to get out of the European Union, and the stock market goes down, and of course it's recovering now, but what does all that mean?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have China is just you know, just ascending, China ascending, here it comes.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've got ISIS seemingly attacking the entire Western world, and Syria's become a black hole.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, and so everybody's blood pressure seems to be up, you know, and so this is a headache.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: This question that's revolving is really a headache, and the headache is how can I be a good Christian and a good citizen this year at the same time?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or to put it another way, as a patriotic American and a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, how should I act?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how should I think?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: How should I act?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: How should I speak?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the the one thing, that's the question.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: The two things are two pieces of tyle, two bits of Tylenol, or two biblical texts that have bounced around on my head and that do comfort me, and I want them to comfort you, and I want you to learn them right now.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, one's very famous, Psalm 33, 12.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh say it over with me three times.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's on the screen behind me.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: One, two, three.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Second time.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: One more time, but don't look this time.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there's apparently a link implied in this verse to being blessed and having a God who is the Lord, right?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think any of you would disagree with me that America is a really blessed nation, right?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're blessed, we've been blessed, you know, with a beautiful country from sea to sign to shining sea.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up close to waterfalls, Mount Hood in Portland, Oregon, and now I'm living amidst just gorgeous flowing waves of grain.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Topekans have a very low self-image, I've noticed.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, but there's, you know, it's a beautiful country we live in, and then we're blessed financially.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: America, we may be$20 trillion in debt and so forth, but but I mean we've been blessed financially, tremendously, right?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we're blessed educationally.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: We're the smartest people from all over the world want to come to our universities here in America, and we're blessed technologically, you know, other than Israel.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're the and even with Israel, we still produce most of the new technological uh discoveries.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and we are blessed, but that's linked apparently to the fact that at least in our past, we've been a nation whose God is the Lord.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the first verse.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first text.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's the first.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: When you feel stressed and your blood pressure rises, whisper those words, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And the other text, the other tie and all to pop at that time, you know, is this verse from Psalm 20, verse 7.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Say that with me.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great verse, great verse.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we could paraphrase that.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Some trust in armies and some trust in navies, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: We could say some trust in jet fighters and some trust in missiles, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: You can say some trust in presidents and some trust in kings, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: You could say, um, you could say almost anything that you would want to trust in.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can trust in elections.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: But we don't trust in elections, do we?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: We trust in the name of the Lord our God.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So so I want to give you now, uh, that's that's we've had a headache, and we're taking those two Tylenol.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: What are the three takeaways?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the first takeaway, I know probably the only one of the three that all of you will agree with.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: But based on that last verse I gave you, number one takeaway, when you start to feel anxious, take a deep breath of trust in God.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Take a deep breath right now.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I felt it.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So so here's the deal.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Stress reveals your character, right?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Intense stress reveals your security, reveals what you rely on, reveals your trust, reveals what you trust in.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the greater the intensity, the greater the reveal.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it is interesting, isn't it?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: When you get talking with people, and nowadays, if you go out to eat, I can guarantee you.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: It used to always be, you know, how the royals, but now, I mean, one of the first questions is, what in the world are we coming to?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or where in the world is this country heading?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so easy to stay on that level.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would just say to you, listen, listen, it's not, it's not wrong to say, I don't know where the country's going either, I don't know where the world's going either.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: But but right after that, if your heart really does trust in God, then take a deep breath of trust in God, and then say, But you know, isn't it great to know that God's got everything in control, that we know where things are going, that we have high hope, that things are actually going to end up, that joy comes in the morning, that the light is going to shine at the end of the tunnel.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: We know that.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: We know we don't have to be utterly depressed.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: You say, do we know that?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we know that because some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord of God.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: We know that because we know the kingdom is the Lord's and He rules over the nations, right?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Psalm 22, 28.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe God's sovereign?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe he rules over the nations?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that, Psalm 103, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you believe that.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Here's a pagan king said this, a pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar, who, due to his pride, was reduced by God to a beast, and when he climbed up off the wet grass, he made a decree that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world, gives them to anyone he chooses, even to the lowliest of people.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you believe that, then your heart will trust in God.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: You believe, as Paul said, that all authority comes from God and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Someone said to me this morning, it's hard to believe.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, it's hard to believe.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: But it's in the Bible.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And Romans 8.28 also says that we know that all things, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we know this thing is, God has a plan and he's working all things according to the counsel of his will.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, when I start to feel anxious, when you start to feel anxious, take a deep breath of trust in God.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: For that I think is the command of Psalm 46, 10.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: It says, be still or cease striving or shut up, basically, and know that I am God.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or take a deep breath and know that I am God.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: You need that before you go to your doctor, and he says, Your blood pressure's too high.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's takeaway number one.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: It has to do with your heart.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Takeaway number two has to do with your mouth.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Takeaway number one is inside you.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Takeaway number two, I think, is verbal.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's out loud.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: While celebrating our independence, make a declaration of dependence.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know what that means.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's saying, you know, I Lord, I can't do this myself.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, I need your help.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, I, you know, I'm in trouble.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now I believe that almost everyone within the sound of my voice has done this at some time.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: There was a time in your life when things looked so bleak that maybe for the first time ever, maybe for the first time in years, or maybe for the first time in weeks, you looked up to heaven and you cried out, God, this marriage is just a mess.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: I have absolutely no idea how to say it.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I desperately need your help.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it was before marriage, something maybe you said it was a relationship.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe in your family, maybe this conflict situation, maybe this feeling of betrayal or something, you go, Lord, I know I should resolve this thing.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I know I need, you know, and so forth, because I'm going to see this person, and I uh what do I do?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you cried out for help.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: That was a prayer of dependence.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's a cry of dependence on God.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it was an addiction.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it was, Lord, I'm trying to struggle, I'm struggling with this alcohol thing.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you went to the 12-step thing and you saw it all recovery starts with a declaration of dependence on a higher power.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so you did.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: You recognized that recovery and that recovery starts that way.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's not only that way with you as a person, as an individual, it's that way with a corporation, a company, it's that way with a nation as well.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: That we need to make a public declaration of dependence on God, which leads me to ask this question: why is it that our nation, i.e., our nation's leaders, have become so reluctant, so resistant to the idea of making a public declaration of dependence on God?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sure, you'll you'll hear God bless America, you hear the throwaway little lines sometimes, but there seems to be such a resistance in Congress or in the White House or in other places of leadership to hold out our hands and say, you know, I'm doing all I can to solve the Gaza crisis, the Palestinians in Israel, I'm doing all I can to solve the ISIS thing, I'm doing all I can to solve these problems, but I've got to tell all you people out there that I can't do it myself.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's someone up there who's wiser than us, someone up there who's greater than us, someone up there who's more powerful than us, and I'm just declaring we're dependent, we're helpless unless He gives us new ideas, unless He gives us wisdom, unless He gives us help.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're declaring our dependence on God.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: But we have this weird, we have this weird reluctance, this resistance to doing the I saw it so clearly a few years ago during the 10-year anniversary of the 9-11 thing.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was gonna be the memorial service, you know, at ground zero.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then during that hot summer a few years ago, as they were deciding what they were gonna do during that memorial service, the 10-year memorial service, wasn't it weird to hear all the conflict and so forth, and then finally hear the planners say, Well, we've decided we're not gonna have any prayers.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: No prayers.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: At the memorial service, no clergy, which is okay, don't mind that, but but I mean, no prayers on the spot of ground where 10 years ago no piece of real estate in the world heard more prayers and cries of dependence on God than that one piece of ground.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: No city in the entire world sent more prayers and more cries to God on 9-11, 2001, than the city of New York.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: No nation on this earth sent up during that week more prayers, more cries of dependence on God than the nation of the United States.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're going to disallow any prayers at the 10-year memorial?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you backtrack, if you rewound and said, okay, in September 2001, October, November, December, if you and if you said back then, you know what, we're gonna have a 10-year thing and 10 years of memorial, but we're not gonna allow any prayers.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to be kidding.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: I have to tell you, I was profoundly grateful to our president for at least beginning his talk by reading through the entire Psalm 46.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: God is our refuge and strength, the very present help in time of trouble.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be moved and the mountains crash in the middle of the sea, and so forth.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Something, thank God for something like that.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: But yet there's this reluctance, there's this resistance.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Why would that be?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Why would there be such a resistance to publicly acknowledging God, publicly declaring our gratitude to God, publicly declaring our dependence, our need for His help?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: The answer I've got to tell you is in my opinion that, well, there's this internal distance from God, this sort of a pride that says, Well, I can solve the Gaza crisis.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Myself, or we Americans are strong enough, we can solve our financial issues, we can handle ISIS.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: But over that is this camouflage, this sort of warm cream camouflage of compassion that says, and well, we wouldn't want to take the risk of offending anyone.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: We wouldn't want to pray and take the risk of offending someone who doesn't believe in prayer.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: We wouldn't want to mention the word God because we might run the risk of offending or upsetting someone who doesn't believe in God.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the discussion, what ends up happening is we realize we would rather at this point in our nation's history run the risk of offending God than run the risk of offending the 9% of Americans who say they don't believe in God.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Which is really kind of crazy when you think about it, because if you like I know people who don't believe in God, and you say, what do you think about, you know, a prayer at the football game or prayer at school, prayer at graduation, or prayer at NASCAR?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, you can pray at NASCAR, but it's just not football games right now.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh just kidding.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: But if you say, uh, you know, they go, I don't care whether there's a prayer at a football game, I don't believe in the guy anyway.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not as though you're going to be offending all 9% anyway.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: But why would you run the risk of offending God, whom you know, you and I know, has blessed our country and upon whom we really do depend for life and breath and everything that we have, why run the risk of offending him?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Rather than run the risk of offending a few Americans who say they don't believe in God.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the whole idea is crazy anyway, in that it so radically departs from our history, right, and our tradition and even our money.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, as you know, in 1956, the motto of our country became in God We Trust.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I mean, is it really that weird to think that Congress might one day just all pull out a dollar bill or a quarter and read together in God We Trust?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that would be acknowledging, acknowledging our dependence on God.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: You sort of, I don't know about you, but I get the feeling, I get, I get the gratitude, I feel gratitude that we are not entrusting to our nation's leaders the tweaking or editing of our Constitution Declaration of Dep uh Declaration of Independence and Pledge of Allegiance.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: I just feel like if they started tweaking it, you would find at the end that all mention of God was deleted from those documents.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, why is that?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Why this strange reluctance?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'd like it to direct you to two things.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: One, uh, civil war, but before that, uh a story out of the Bible, out of the Old Testament, that really strongly influenced past generations of our nation's leaders.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a story that took place in the 10th century BC, during the golden age of Israel, and the king's name was Solomon, and Solomon was profoundly successful, and Israel was the wealthiest nation anywhere around.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: All the enemies had been conquered, no enemies on the borders anymore, people coming from all over the known world to ask Solomon's wisdom and to borrow money from Israel.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And anyway, everything is just terrific.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he's just finished building the temple, and it's the day he's pronounced for dedicating the temple.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: Story's carried in a couple places.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: 2 Chronicles 6 is the chapter that I'm using.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so he calls everybody in Israel and anywhere else who wants to come to come to the dedication of what is going to be called later one of the seven great wonders of the world, the Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah, there in Jerusalem.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's wall-to-wall people.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's downtown Kansas City celebrating the royal's victory.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's everybody hanging off of rooftops and out of windows.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's everybody's just tightly packed.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's so exciting, and there's pomp and circumstance.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: And Solomon comes out in all of his finery.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: King Solomon, one of the most powerful, wealthy, wisest men in all the world, he comes out and he stands on the stage and even tells you how tall the stage is that they had built five feet and so forth and so forth.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he comes out on stage, and if this happened today, what you would expect is hey, hey, aren't things going well?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: We give credit to God.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: God bless America.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: God bless Israel for all of this.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: But instead, you know what Solomon does when he comes out?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: The first thing Solomon does is absolutely astounding.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Solomon comes out in the presence of all these people and does the most awkward thing.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: He bends his knees, he kneels down, and he puts out his hands and he prays a prayer that goes on and on and on and basically says, God, we thank you for all of the blessings you've given us.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: We credit you for everything we have.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: We beg you to continue to lead us.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: We beg you to continue to guide us.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then he says something very interesting.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: He says, and if we ever stop acknowledging you, if we ever stop crediting you, if we ever stop depending on you, then go ahead, please.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Please discipline us.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Send us into the foreign nations.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, put us in captivity or whatever, so that we'll be reminded to come back and repent and bow down before you and acknowledge you as our God.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then come and heal our land.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: That night, as he's sleeping, God comes to him and says, and answer your prayer.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect prayer.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, there was one part of that prayer that actually is about you and me.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Solomon said, Oh Lord, he says, the foreigners, foreigners, not even Israelites, foreigners, would you do me a favor?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Foreigners who pray to this temple, would you please answer their prayers whatever they pray so that they may know that you are God and they may fear your name as we do?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, he's talking about America.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: He's talking about you, he's talking about me.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: And our forefathers, looking at this passage, said, Yes, we we need to do the same thing.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Benjamin Franklin, when they were stuck writing the Constitution, he says, Men, we need to get Benjamin Franklin, not what you'd call an evangelical.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Men, we need to, in Congress, we need to fall on our knees.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: And they did, and they prayed for help, acknowledging their dependence on God.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: But the best story I know happened in the middle of the Civil War when no one knew who was going to win.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: The South, the North.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was that even Stephen, the North had more munition, it had more equipment, had better uniforms, but the South had by far the better generals.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it had some really good men, so nobody knew it was going to win.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right in the middle, and a senator from Iowa, James Ingram, I think was his name, he came up with a resolution that he presented to the Senate a resolution for a national day of prayer and fasting.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: And the Senate passed his resolution unanimously and sent it on to our president whose name was Abraham Lincoln.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Abraham Lincoln rejoiced and he signed it and he presented it.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I want you to hear the words of this proclamation because they pick up the words of our two titles and our two texts, our two chapters, and what I've been trying to tell you.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: The resolution went like this: whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God, did you hear that?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, there it is.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: God's in charge.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now that's good enough for Abe Lincoln.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's good enough for me.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not really asking too much, I don't think, to ask that you and I, as we celebrate the Declaration of Independence and shoot off the fireworks, that if we have a chance to pray, we pray as well in a declaration of dependence upon Almighty God.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: We know it personally.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Our recovery started with depending on Him.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's also true nationally, and I don't think it's wrong to expect that our nation's leaders will declare their dependence upon Almighty God as well.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's the second takeaway.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: The first takeaway, the heart.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Blood pressure starts going up.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Breathe your trust in God.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Takeaway, number two, your mouth.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Declare your dependence on God.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: Take away number three, really, your whole body.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: While protecting this gets very practical, it gets into messing with your schedule.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: While protecting freedom of religion for all citizens, God wants, it is a value in Scripture that other religions should have their freedom protected as well.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: So while protecting freedom of religion for all citizens, seek to influence, key word there, influence government for God and for good.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: And you say, well, what does that mean?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe the best way I can share with you what that means is sharing with you what it doesn't mean by sharing with you four wrong views, four pitfalls, one on each side of you.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think you'll understand.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: The four wrong views that we need to avoid, all of which you can see in our country and in the world today, the first two are that government should compel religion, or oppositely that government should exclude religion.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: That government should compel religion.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually the Christian view four or five hundred years ago, 16th, 17th century, which is why Europe saw what we call the wars of religion.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: You had Protestant armies and you had Catholic armies, and whichever one in a certain territory became either Catholic or Protestant.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that was so crazy and so stupid and didn't work that finally after that, Christian leaders universally today agree that you can't compel religion.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: For one thing, it goes against the nature of genuine faith, which isn't a compulsion, it's an invitation by God.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And those of you that are parents know this well that you can't compel your children to be true Christians, genuine Christians.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: You can bring them to church, you can take them to Sunday school, you can even have them memorize verses, but eventually it comes down to a decision that they have to make in their heart to trust Jesus as their Savior.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: Am I right?
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's the nature of genuine faith that you can't compel religion.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's true, we'll admit, there are some folks in our country and especially some nations overseas, Muslim nations, that do believe that you can compel and act in that way that you should compel religion.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: We had a couple in the first service from Egypt, good friends of mine, who had to leave Egypt for that reason.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: They wanted to raise their children, their daughters as Christians, could not do it in that country.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: We could not hold this meeting in Saudi Arabia this morning, hang out a shingle saying church, and say, we're going to talk about Jesus and how to influence government.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: I would be arrested and you would be scattered.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's what would happen because some countries today do not, as the Bible, as Jesus did, separate Caesar and God.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: They combine those two things.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now the opposite view is that government should exclude religion.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: And this view is strong in our country among the ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, and other groups who say who want to have no more, no prayers at all, no recognition of God in public at all, do not like the fact that Congress begins with a word of prayer in the morning and so forth and so on.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: They want freedom not of religion, but freedom from religion.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: Those are two very different things that the Constitution does not allow in the First Amendment, some sort of a squeezing of religion down so that it gets stuck in a closet.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now I can give you three or four reasons for each one of these, but I don't have time.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: But those are both wrong views, and much must be avoided.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: The third and fourth views that I believe need to be avoided are that we should do evangelism, not politics, or oppositely politics, but not evangelism.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: This last week I was eating lunch with a friend, and we were both agreeing that if you want to change a person's view of marriage to make it more biblical, that it ought to be a man and a woman, or if you want to change somebody from being pro-choice to being pro-life, that the most effective way of doing that is not handing them reading material or browbeating them or arguing with them, but to lead them to Jesus Christ as their savior if they're not a Christian.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because I told him some examples of people who are absolutely died in the world, you know, uh social, social liberals, pro-choice, and so forth, who the moment after they trusted Christ as their savior completely flipped.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, it's a short jump from there into the hole of saying, well, therefore we shouldn't do politics.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: We should just do evangelism.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: But the Bible, for several reasons, doesn't allow that either, because we're supposed to do good to all men.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: And Daniel strongly influenced his secular government for good.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: And Christians over the years are the ones who stopped the burning of widows in India and ceased and stopped slavery in England and stopped infanticide and built hospitals and so forth.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Christians need to love all men and to do good.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, the view we should do politics, not evangelism, is, I don't think, held by any evangelical Christians today, but it was a popular view about a hundred years ago.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: In the circles populated by even Topeka's famous Charles Sheldon, the Methodist minister, that you should avoid evangelism and you should just do social politics.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Try to imagine what Jesus would do.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Charles Sheldon believed Jesus would be a communist.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: This was in the early days of communism.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so what happens is you end up focusing on politics and never witnessing, and that too is wrong.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: So inside these four walls, these four errors, what is the right view?
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm submitting to you this morning something that I think you can put into practice.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: That while we should protect freedom of religion for all citizens, we should seek to influence government for good and, or for God and for good.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: Seek to influence government for God and for good.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know what that means for you, but I've I just feel funny every time I feel like all we're doing is is telling people that they're completing God's duty by voting.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that just seems so minor to me.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for me, for me, seeking to influence government for God and for good means saying yes anytime someone down at the state house asks me to come down, so I go down regularly and I try to encourage them in God.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: I don't get politically partisan, I help people on both sides of the aisle.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Pray with them, encourage them in God, and try to help them.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: For you, it may mean something different.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: It may mean volunteering, but I just say there's a great influence you and I can have on government for God and for good.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's the kind of influence we see from Daniel in the Bible.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's the kind of influence we see from John the Baptist in the Bible.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: So there it is.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: There's my message.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna run for cover.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: One, two, three on the 4th of July, the headache, the dilemma that we have, right, is how can I be a good Christian and a good citizen?
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: The two verses, the two Tylenol, and then the three takeaways, take a deep breath of trust in God, make a declaration of dependence on God, and try to influence government for God and for good.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, thanks for giving us this wonderful country to live in.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're so grateful for it, especially this weekend, especially today and tomorrow.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you that we get to live in a free country.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: And we pray for this country.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: We ask that you'd give us a love for it and an ability to influence it in positive ways.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Help us not to be, you know, uh ugly, red-faced, angry Americans who are upset over everything, but sweet, gentle, influential, kind people who are constantly helping our country in positive and good ways.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: And help us privately, Heavenly Father, when our blood pressure gets high, to trust you and depend on you and to state that dependence openly and publicly.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.