The Birth of America

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The Birth of America

• July 4, 1776
• In Philadelphia, our Founding Fathers signed a
  document declaring our independence from the
  tyranny of Great Britain.
• The Declaration of Independence established our
  freedoms.

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A Day of Devotion to God

• I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated
  by succeeding generations as the great
  anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated
  as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of
  devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be
  solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows,
  games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and
  illuminations, from one end of this continent to
  the other, from this time forward for evermore.
  John Adams

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The 4th of July

• We celebrate our liberty and honor those who have
  given their lives over the centuries to maintain
  the freedoms we enjoy.
• Today is a day that we set aside to honor our
  nation, our military, our policemen and
  firefighters, our politicians and civil servants.

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The Cost of Freedom

• John Adams You will never know how much it has
  cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I
  hope you will make good use of it.
• Based upon our Founding Fathers faith in God and
  dependence upon God, they were willing to pledge
  their lives, their fortunes, and their honor.

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God is Central

• Today is also a time to remember how important it
  is to keep God central in our nation, since
  America was indisputably built on the Bible.

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Liberty Comes from God

• Thomas Jefferson said
• The God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can
  the liberties of a nation be secure when we have
  removed a conviction that these liberties are the
  gift of God?

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The Influence of the Bible

• Historians who have analyzed 10s of thousands of
  pages of the founding fathers writings, have
  estimated that over 60 of their writings quote
  or allude to the Bible.

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The Influence of the Bible

• The Declaration of Independence refers to God
  four times
• laws of nature and nature's God
• endowed by their Creator
• the Supreme Judge of the world
• firm reliance upon Divine Providence

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Biblical Principles

• John Quincy Adams, on July 4, 1821 said
• The highest glory of the American Revolution
  was this it connected in one indissoluble bond
  the principles of civil government with the
  principles of Christianity.

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God and Government

• We have no government armed with the power
  capable of contending with human passions
  unbridled by morality and religion. Greed,
  ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the
  strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale
  goes through a net. Our Constitution was made
  only for a moral and religious people. It is
  wholly inadequate to govern any other. John
  Quincy Adams

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Declaration of Independence

• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
  men are created equal, that they are endowed by
  their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
  that among these are Life, Liberty and the
  pursuit of Happiness.

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Not a Secular Nation

• We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom
  all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven
  from the rising to the setting of the sun, let
  His kingdom come. Samuel Adams
• With the same document, we not only declared our
  independence from Great Britain, but we just as
  strongly declared our dependence upon Almighty
  God.

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The Declaration Ends

• And for the support of this Declaration with a
  firm reliance on the protection of Divine
  Providence we mutually pledge to each other our
  lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

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God as the Foundation

• Our Founding Fathers did not believe in the
  separation of God from government.
• They believed that this nation was founded by
  God, protected by God, preserved by God, and
  blessed by God.

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God as the Foundation

• There is nothing in any official American
  document about the so-called wall of separation
  between church and state or between God and
  government.
• The First Amendment was established to keep the
  government out of the church, not the church out
  of government.

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The First Amendment

• 1st Amendment doesnt stifle religion
• Prohibited a state-sponsored church
• The founders knew how religion became corrupted
  when the state tried to run it.
• One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty
  and justice for all

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The First Amendment

• Liberty doesnt mean free to steal, or murder or
  free to redefine marriage.
• Liberty always has boundaries or else theres
  anarchy.
• Our Capitol is filled with Scripture and Biblical
  figures.

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Jefferson's Personal Letter

• Wall of separation between church and state was
  to assure the Danbury Baptists of a one-way wall,
  to keep the government out of the church, not
  vice versa.

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Jefferson's Actions

• As President, Jefferson extend three times, a
  1787 Act of Congress in which special lands were
  designated For the sole use of Christian Indians
  and the Moravian Brethren missionaries for
  civilizing the Indians and promoting
  Christianity.

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Religious Liberties

• We have religious liberties, and there are those
  who are trying to take them away.
• We must be aware of our constitutional rights so
  that the Gospel of Jesus Christ may go forth
  freely, and without hindrance, to the glory of
  God.

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Christian Citizens

• Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 teaches that Christians
  should be the very best citizens, law-abiding
  citizens, respectful citizens, and appreciative
  citizens.
• Matthew 22

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Christian Citizens

• Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how
  they might trap Him in what He said. And they
  sent their disciples to Him, along with the
  Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that You are
  truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and
  defer to no one for You are not partial to any.
  Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to
  give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?

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Christian Citizens

• But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, Why
  are you testing Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the
  coin used for the poll-tax. And they brought Him
  a denarius. And He said to them, Whose likeness
  and inscription is this? They replied,
  Caesars. Then He said to them, Then render to
  Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God
  the things that are God's. (Matt. 2215-21)

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Christian Citizens

• Jesus taught that His followers are obligated to
  engage and support their government.
• Abraham Lincoln a government of the people, by
  the people, and for the people.

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Christian Citizens

• Constitution We the people...

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Christian Citizens

• Render (Matt. 2221) Pay back, repay
• We pay taxes because we owe our nation much in
  terms of the military, law enforcement, schools,
  politicians who serve the nation, and for the
  infra-structure of the country such as water and
  power.

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Separate Compartments?

• Leon Morris states, We should be clear, too,
  that Jesus is not saying that we can divide life
  into separate compartments, so that God has
  nothing to do with that section which belongs to
  Caesar. The obligation to honor God covers all of
  life we must serve Caesar in a way that is
  honoring to God.

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Separate Compartments?

• Our form of government requires our active
  involvement.
• How can we render to Caesar what is Caesar's in
  America today?
• How can we apply this passage?

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1. Seek God for Your government

• First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and
  prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on
  behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in
  authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and
  quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is
  good and acceptable in the sight of God our
  Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to
  come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy
  21-4)

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1. Seek God for Your government

• The biggest burden for the health of our nation
  does not rest on the White House, or on the State
  House, but on the Church House.
• If My people who are called by My name humble
  themselves and pray and seek My face and turn
  from their wicked ways, then I will hear from
  heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal
  their land. (2 Chronicles 714)

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2. Support Your Government

• Pay your taxes
• Matt. 2221
• Matt. 1724-27 - Jesus paid taxes

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2. Support Your Government

• Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection,
  not only because of the wrath of authorities, but
  also for conscience sake. For because of this
  you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of
  God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
  (Rom. 135-6)

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2. Support Your Government

• There may be questionable spending, but
• We do benefit from the goods and services
  provided by the government such as military
  defense, our intelligence community, law
  enforcement, safe roads and bridges, schools,
  hospitals, libraries, parks, etc.

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2. Support Your Government

• We can also support our nation by praying for our
  military.

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3. Submit to Your Government

• Submit yourselves for the Lords sake to every
  human institution, whether to a king as the one
  in authority, or to governors as sent by him for
  the punishment of evildoers and the praise of
  those who do rightHonor all people, love the
  brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. 1 Pet.
  213-14, 17

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3. Submit to Your Government

• We may not have much respect for the man of the
  office, but we must respect the office of the
  man.
• Sometimes you must stand up to your government as
  the Hebrew midwives disobeyed Pharaohs edict to
  kill the Hebrew babies in Exod. 115-21

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3. Submit to Your Government

• Or how Peter and the apostles disobeyed the
  Sanhedrin We must obey God rather than men.
  Acts 529
• If the government commands what God condemns, or
  if the government prohibits what God promotes
  then you are obligated to disobey.

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3. Submit to Your Government

• Theres a time and place for civil disobedience,
  but it should come only as a last resort.
• In general, we submit to our government (Rom. 13)

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4. Select Your Government

• Participate in government.
• We desperately need more Christians in the
  political process.
• Voting is a simple act with a significant impact.

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4. Select Your Government

• Samuel Adams said Let each citizen remember at
  the moment he is offering his vote that he is
  executing one of the most solemn trusts in human
  society for which he is accountable to God and
  his country.
• www. iVoteValues.org

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4. Select Your Government

• Bad politicians are elected by good people who
  dont vote.
• In 2000, only half of all eligible Americans
  voted.
• Evangelical Christians Only 25 voted in 2000
  (15 million out of 60 million!)

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4. Select Your Government

• This kind of apathy is indefensible, especially
  among the Christian community, which has been
  commanded by Christ to engage our culture as salt
  and light (Matt. 513-16) and participate in
  government (Matt. 2221).
• Christians are the conscience of this nation!
• We are the moral compass of the world.

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4. Select Your Government

• Simply voting isnt enough you must vote your
  values
• Jesus expects our faith to influence every part
  of our decision making, including the election
  process.
• When we vote, we must choose the candidate whose
  voting record or whose policies most closely
  reflect a Judeo-Christian worldview.

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4. Select Your Government

• Be informed on the issues.
• Know what the candidates stand for and look
  carefully at their voting record.
• Check out the candidates websites.
• Find out who their friends are and who their
  enemies are.
• Weigh the candidates values against biblical
  values.

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4. Select Your Government

• When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,
  but when a wicked man rules, people groan. (Prov.
  292)
• Benjamin Rush said I have been alternately
  called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am
  neither. I am a Christ-ocrat.

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4. Select Your Government

• Important issues?
• The War on Islamic terrorism and national
  security? Immigration?
• Health care? The economy? Education?
  Environmental stewardship, poverty, racism?
• LIFE, FAMILY, FREEDOM

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Human Life
Genesis 1 Ps. 139
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Human Life

• Declaration of Independence All men are
  endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
  rights. Among these are life, liberty and the
  pursuit of happiness.
• The order matters!

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Human Life

• What candidates are in favor of protecting human
  life?
• What candidates are opposed to abortion?
• What candidates, be they for President, governor,
  or senator, are helping to continue abortion?

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Human Life

• The Bible tells us to defend those whose lives
  are in danger, to protect human life.
• Deliver those who are being taken away to death,
  and those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh
  hold them back. If you say, See, we did not know
  this, Does He not consider it who weighs the
  hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your
  soul? And will He not render to man according to
  his work? (Prov. 2411-12)

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Human Life

• Every day, more babies are aborted than those who
  died on 9-11 - babies sacrificed on the altar of
  convenience.
• In America alone, there are over 1.3 million
  abortions per year
• 25 of all pregnancies end in Abortion, 1 in 4.
• Nearly 50 million babies have been aborted, in
  America in the last 30 years.

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Human Life

• One of the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 2013 says
  You shall not murder!!!
• Find out where the candidates stand on the
  valueof human life.

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Human Life

• Ask what their position is on abortion,
  embryo-destructive stem cell research, cloning,
  and euthanasia.
• True Christians value life, those created in the
  image of God, and whom Jesus Christ was willing
  to die for.

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The Family

• The family is the basic building block of
  society, and the first institution created by God
  (Gen. 1-2).
• As the family goes, so goes the nation.
• Marriage is only between one man and one woman
  for life, to reflect Christ and the church, and
  that children deserve a mother and a father.

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The Family

• Marriage is not a right its a privilege for
  those that meet Gods requirement for the
  institution He designed.
• Marriage has been defined by God and it cannot
  be redefined by man!

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The Family

• Find out where the candidates stand on the issue
  of family, same-sex relationships, pornography,
  sex trafficking, and online predators.
• Value the family through your voting.
• www.afa.net
• www.onemillionmoms.com
• www.onemilliondads.com
• www.citizenlink.org

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Religious Freedom

• Freedom is priceless.
• Freedom must be nurtured, defended, and
  protected.

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Religious Freedom

• Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and
  the rule of law under God is acknowledged. -
  Ronald Reagan

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Religious Freedom

• Find out where the candidates stand on religious
  liberty issues.
• Find out if they are aligned with groups who seek
  to remove our freedoms.
• Find out which candidates are in favor of
  protecting and even restoring our Judeo-Christian
  heritage.

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Religious Freedom

• If we dont use our freedoms to defend our
  freedoms we will lose our freedoms.
• - Dr. Kenyn Cureton
• Christians value human life, family, and freedom!

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Get Involved

• Biblical principles must guide our voting.
• Were citizens of heaven that obey Jesus Christ,
  and we obey Him by being active in our civic
  duties as citizens of America.
• Pray, vote, live your faith, be salt and light!

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