GOD BLESS AMERICA

TEXT Psalm 33:12

INTRODUCTION: In a world that is torn to pieces, where it seems that everything good is going down, people are feeling that they want to reach out and touch God's hand to know that He is standing there in the shadows, that He is watching over us, and blessing us, and keeping us to the end of the way. The history of America has been wrapped around with the blessing of God.

I. AMERICA WAS FOUNDED AS A CHRISTIAN NATION

A. Our forefathers founded our nation upon the Christian religion

1. Pericles built a civilization upon culture and it failed

2. Caesar built a civilization upon power and it failed

3. America will live so long as the Lord is our God

B. Forefathers consulted and thanked God

1. Pilgrims at Plymouth thanked God

2. Church was center of every new settlement

3. Picture of Moses on first coin that was made in America

4. Continental Congress, faced with great problems called to fall upon knees and pray by Benjamin Franklin

a) Can you imagine what would happen today if our great legislative bodies prayed more and talked less

C. Nations fall without founding on God

1. Medo‑Persians had great nation

a) Drank their way to doom in one drunken orgy after another

2. Egypt flourished under Joseph

a) 400 years Joseph and God forgotten, Egypt went down

3. Alexander conquered the world, but could not conquer himself

a) He died in a drunken orgy and Greece came tumbling down

4. Rome was proud ruler of the world

a) Luxury and lust ate the center of her life

5. America land that we love must not be built on these things

a) Our roots must be down deep in God

b) Spirit of George Washington praying at Valley Forge, men starving and freezing

II. GOD HAS ALWAYS RICHLY BLESSED AMERICA

A. God has given us wonderful natural resources

1. Practically every commodity that man uses can be found in America

B. God has given us bountiful beauty

1. Every type of scenery can be found in America

2. God reached down His hand and painted a beautiful picture and we call it America

C. God has given us good government

1. We have a free democracy

a) We talk about dictatorships in America, but this can never be

b) We have tasted freedom throughout the years and we will never surrender that freedom to any one or group of men

2. We have a free democracy where every many has a vote and a voice

a) No concentration camps, no secret police, no confiscations of the little man's business

D. God has given us freedom of speech and press

1. I can say anything I please from the pulpit

2. We can be openly critical of our president

a) Not some countries

(1) Any sissy can be a dictator, but it takes a tough man to take the things said about him

b) We are not slaves of the state but a free people

E. God has given us religious freedom

1. Whatever may be your belief, no one else can close your church

a) A few people have the same right to worship God as a large number

2. Stalin had issued a decree “On May 1, 1937 there must not remain in the territory of Soviet Russia a single house of prayer to God and the very conception of God will be banished from the boundaries of Russia.”

a) Thank God they now have religious freedom

3. America has religious freedom

a) Roger Williams fled to Providence started a church

b) Every settlement had a church in center

c) He inserted in the constitution freedom of religion

d) Thomas Jefferson borrowed this in US Congress

F. God has given us separation of church and state

1. We have no state church in the America

G. God has given us a country where everyone has a chance

1. Edison 1150 inventions

2. Sam Walton, Bill Gates

3. Henry Ford poor mechanic

4. Every man has opportunity if determination

H. God has given us an ideal location

1. Europe is all huddled together

a) Problems because of so many countries

2. One word for the communists

a) This is our country and we love it

b) God gave it to us and our forefathers and died for it

c) We are willing to do the same thing

d) “If you don't like our country, go back home”

III. AMERICA NEEDS GOD TODAY

A. We have tried everything else in America

1. We have pursued pleasure

2. We have sought knowledge

3. We have reached out after wealth

4. America needs to repent of her sins and turn back to God

5. Gold standard is not problem, God standard is the problem

6. We are pushing for a great program of defense

II. II Chronicles 7: 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

a) God says to the sin sick nations I will heal your land

b) If we do not obey His voice who knows what will happen

B. America needs God in Government

1. Early presidents, with congressional approval, made proclamations encouraging public prayer. President Washington on Oct. 3, 1789, declared: "Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me 'to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer...'"

2. All officials need to consult God

a) We can help by praying, and voting

C. America needs God in her business

1. Golden rule, Arthur Nash, JL Kraft, others, Iron cross old days

2. Saloons on every corner

a) One for every 209 people

b) Eleven billion per year on liquor

c) Homes broken, lives destroyed

D. We need God in our homes

1. Two men walking down Pennsylvania pointed to dome of Capitol, said "There is the heart of our nation,” said "No, the heart of our nation is in our homes"

2. Many homes do not have room for Christ

E. America needs God in her schools

1. Since the court outlawed prayer, the nation has been in steady moral decline. Former Secretary of Education William Bennett revealed in his cultural indexes that between 1960 and 1990 there was a steady moral decline. During this period divorce double, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all‑time high, violent crime went up 500% and abortion increased 1000%. There is a strong correlation between the expulsion of prayer from our schools and the decline in morality.

God Bless America