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How to Pray for Our Government
The Book of Acts - Part 80
Acts 22:22-23:10
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - March 29, 2015
*Church: We need to pray for our government.
We need to pray for our leaders.
That's what the Apostle Paul urges us to do 1 Timothy 2:1-6.
There, Paul said:
1. Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2. for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4. who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
6. who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
*When we think about our great history, we can be sure that God's people were praying.
When we think about the Biblical principles upon which our nation was founded, and the godly men who led us so well, we can be sure God's people were praying.
And when we think about the soldiers who served and sacrificed for our freedom, we can be sure God's people were praying.
*Now we should be praying for our country, and tonight's Scripture shows us how to pray.
1. First: Pray for a government that protects the innocent.
*In these verses Paul was an innocent man very much in need of protection.
And he got that protection from the soldiers of Rome.
*Earlier in this chapter, a bloodthirsty mob of Jews quieted down long enough to listen to part of Paul's Christian testimony.
But when Paul told the crowd that God had sent him to the hated, heathen Gentiles, vs. 22-24 say:
22. . .
they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!''
23.
Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air,
24. the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.
*Acts 23:10 tells us that the next day, a great disagreement arose between the Jewish religious parties.
And the Roman commander "fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks."
*Good government should protect the innocent, and that's the kind of government to pray for.
*Most of us know that during the Vietnam War, John McCain was held prisoner by an ungodly, Communist government.
Here is a small part of his testimony from that time:
-"In the final years of our imprisonment, the North Vietnamese moved us from small cells with one or two prisoners to large rooms with as many as 30-40 men to a room.
We preferred this situation for the companionship and strength we could draw from our fellow prisoners.
*In addition to moving us to new quarters, our captors also let us receive packages and letters from home.
Many men received word from their families for the first time in several years.
The improved conditions were a result of public pressure put on the North Vietnamese by the American public.
*In our cell was one Navy officer, Lt. Commander Mike Christian.
Over a period of time Mike had gathered bits and pieces of red and white cloth from various packages.
Using a piece of bamboo, he had fashioned into a needle, Mike sewed a United States flag on the inside of his shirt, one of the blue pajama tops we all wore.
*Every night in our cell, Mike would put his shirt on the wall, and we would say the pledge of allegiance.
I know that the pledge of allegiance may not be the most important aspect of our day now.
But I can tell you that at the time it was the most important aspect of our lives.
This had been going on for some time until one of the guards came in as we were reciting our pledge.
They ripped the flag off the wall and dragged Mike out.
He was beaten for several hours and then thrown back into the cell.
*Later that night, as we were settling down to sleep on the concrete slabs that were our beds, I looked over to the spot where the guards had thrown Mike.
There, under the solitary light bulb hanging from the ceiling, I saw Mike.
Still bloody and his face swollen beyond recognition, Mike was gathering bits and pieces of cloth together.
He was sewing a new American flag."
(1)
*Two things about that story: Thank God we live in a country where soldiers don't beat you up because you hang a flag on the wall!
We are free to say the pledge or not say the pledge.
We are free to worship God or not worship, without the fear of being beaten.
Thank God for that!
And remember that we have our freedom today because men like Mike Christian took beatings and worse for us.
2. But pray for a government that protects the innocent.
And pray for a government that is patient in securing justice.
*We don't want a government that rushes to judgment.
But that's exactly what the Roman soldiers were doing in Acts 22:24-29:
24. the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.
25.
And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?''
26.
When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, "Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.''
27.
Then the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?''
He said, "Yes.''
28.
And the commander answered, "With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.''
And Paul said, "But I was born a citizen.''
29.
Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
*Those soldiers were rushing to judgment.
They were going to scourge Paul to get to the bottom of the riot.
But God used Paul's Roman citizenship to protect him.
*William Barclay explained: "The scourge was a leather whip studded at intervals with sharp pieces of bone and lead.
Few men survived it in their right senses, and many died under it.
But then Paul spoke, and the fact that he was a Roman citizen changed everything.
The famous Roman lawyer and philosopher Cicero had said: 'It is a misdeed for a Roman citizen to be bound.
It is a crime for him to be beaten.
It is almost as bad as to murder a father to kill him.'
*So, Paul stated that he was a citizen.
The commander was terrified.
Not only was Paul a citizen, he was born free, whereas the commander had had to purchase his freedom.
The commander knew that he had been on the verge of doing something which would have certainly caused his dismissal, and possibly his execution."
(2)
*John Phillips added this: "There are times for a believer to claim his civil rights.
A believer should be willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, but there is no virtue in suffering merely for suffering's sake.
Where protection of the law exists and can be invoked without compromise or complication, it can be invoked."
(3)
*Thank God for the protections our founding fathers spelled out in our Bill of Rights!
They were put there to clearly establish our God-given rights and help our people secure justice.
*The 5th Amendment to our Constitution says in part: "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime . . .
Nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.
Nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.
Nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."
*The 6th Amendment guarantees us the "right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed."
It also gives us the right to call witnesses and have a lawyer.
*How did we get these protections?
This testimony from David Brown explains: "During the summer of 2001, my family and I took a trip to Virginia and North Carolina to do family-tree research and visit some historic locations.
As we were traveling "the Constitution Route" on Highway 20 in Virginia, I came across an interesting monument about seven miles east of Orange.
*On it was an embossed likeness of John Leland, the influential Baptist preacher and champion of religious liberty.
It is believed that the monument marks the location where James Madison and John Leland met to discuss Madison's candidacy for Virginia delegate to the Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution.
*At that meeting, Leland pressed Madison concerning his stand on religious freedom and individual rights.
Madison promised Leland if he was elected, he would do all in his power to see that religious freedom and individual freedom would be incorporated into the Constitution by amendment.
*Elder John Leland and the Baptists of Orange, Virginia did throw their support behind James Madison.
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