Your Country Needs You

Someone wrote these interesting words entitled, “Only in America:”

1- Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

2- Only in America are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

3- Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

4- Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.

5- Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage.

6- Only in America do we use answering machines to screen calls and have call waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place.

7- Only in America do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

Only in America!

One Sunday morning, a pastor noticed little Alex was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. It was covered with names and small American flags were mounted on either side of them.

The seven year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the Pastor walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, "Good morning, Alex."

"Good morning, Pastor," replied the boy, still focused on the plaque. "Pastor, what is this? "Well, son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service." Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque.

Little Alex's voice was barely audible, trembling with fear, when he asked, "Pastor, which service, the 8:30 or the 11:00?"

We have just come through a mid-term election that shows our country is still just as divided as it’s ever been. Are you concerned for America?

President John F. Kennedy once said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, rather ask what can you do for your country.”

Friend, what can you do for your country? Well there’s a lot you can do – but the greatest things you can do are spiritual. 1 Timothy 2:1-6 tell us very pointedly. Read…

1 Timothy 2:1–6 NASB95

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. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

This morning I see 3 things this passage teaches that you need to do for your country. 1st…

1. YOU NEED TO PRAY UNCEASINGLY. (VS 1-2a)

- According to this passage the greatest thing you can do for you country is to PRAY.

- Why? Because prayer is what changes people and changes things!

- Samuel Chadwick once said, "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.”

- Can prayer change a person – a situation – a nation?This is why God tells you that one of the greatest things you can do for your country is to pray for her!

- Paul here uses 4 different words for prayer here– they build on each other for emphasis:

1) Entreaties – or requests - carries the idea of desire or need. All true prayer begins in a sense of need and involves a deep desire. God wants us to bring our “requests” to him, and he always has a listening ear.

2) Prayers - is the most general word for prayer - regularly translated as “prayer,” it always signifies praying to God. It is used for both private and public prayers.

3) Petitions or “intercession,” - it too is used more in a general way for prayer - The Greek word was used in the sense of “conversation” and then of “petition.” – perhaps it suggests the idea that prayer should be a conversation with God – one commentator (Trench, p. 190) says that it implies “free familiar prayer, such as boldly draws near to God.” Origen, the greatest Bible scholar of the early church, taught that the fundamental idea of enteuxis was boldness of access to God’s presence.

4) Thanksgiving – giving thanks should be a fundamental part of all prayer.

- Note who he says to pray for: 1) All men – all people then especially 2) Kings 3) All who are in authority

- If we’re going to see America change, it’s going to come through prayer – the prayers of God’s people!

- What does James 5:16 say?

James 5:16 NASB95

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

- Oh how we need 10’s of thousands of righteous people praying for our nation!

TS – The 2nd thing you need to do for your country…

2. YOU NEED TO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY. (VS 2a)

- As Christians pray for all men and their leaders, one of the great results is that we will be able to lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

- God puts great weight upon Godly living!

- One of the great things you need to do for your country is to live a righteous life – a Godly life!

- What does it mean to live a Godly life? It means to live to honor and please the Lord in all you do – to flee from sin and immorality – to live by the Bible and what it teaches you about how to live in this world.

- The problem is that too many who profess to be Christians today ARE NOT living Godly lives! They are living too much like the world! You can’t see much difference between them and the world! But you should be able to see the difference!

- The point: the more people who live holy lives, the more holy our nation will become!

TS – The 3rd thing you can do for your country…

3. YOU NEED TO EVANGELIZE FERVENTLY. (VS 3-6)

- God’s great desire is for ALL men (people) to be saved – to come to the knowledge of the truth!

- What is the “the knowledge of the truth”? A saving knowledge in Jesus Christ!

- As Vine writes, “Salvation is universal in its scope but conditional in its effect.”

- The sad reality is that all men (people) will not be saved.

- So one of the greatest things you can do for your country is to fervently tell others about Jesus Christ!

- The more people who come to Christ, then the more our nation will be a Christian nation.

- Which by the way – we should to be – but we’re living in a post-Christian nation now!

- Can you really make a difference?

- I ask you this morning: what are you doing to evangelize the lost? to tell others about Jesus and the difference He can make in their lives?

- Illust: One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, there’s something about the preacher’s message this morning that I don’t understand." The mother said, "Oh? What is it?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. He said God is so big that He could hold the world in His hand. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that’s true, honey." "But Mommy, he also said that God comes to live inside of uswhen we believe in Jesus as our Savior. Is that true, too?" Again, the mother assured the little girl that what the pastor had said was true. And so, with a puzzled look on her face the little girl then asked, "Mommy, if God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?"

- ­This little girl was right wasn’t she?

- God should show through you if you profess to be a Christian!

- Is God showing through you?

Conclusion

So what you can do for your country? Pray unceasingly, live righteously, evangelize fervently.