Now is the Time for all Good Men to Come to the Aid of Their Country

Do you want to save America? Raise your kids to follow Jesus.

So Ms. Hannah and Ms. Stephanie have made coloring sheets for all of the kiddos today like we do on family worship days.

But here’s the deal - kids, start coloring the sheets now.

Color as many as you can because at the very end of today’s message, I’m going to ask you to hold them up.

It’s going to be very special so do the best job you possibly can.

I think schools today teach a skill called keyboarding.

Back in my day, we took typing classes.

AND, back in my day, we learned how to type on Royal Manual Typewriters.

Anyone remember those?

You type until the bell rings.

You slap the carriage return bar, and type until the bell rings again.

One of the sentences we had to type over and over and over again was, “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”

“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”

That sentence really was a matter of patriotic pride.

World War II seemed like eons ago when I was young, but when I was in typing class, it had only been 25 years since it ended.

The country was flush with pride.

We were strong.

We were victorious.

We were innovative and brave.

Good men had come to the aid of our country.

They fought bravely.

They died heroically.

Mother’s cried over the caskets of sons who would never have sons.

Dad’s cried brave tears - proud of their boys.

But heartbroken at their loss of their boys.

In church you could count on a rousing 4th of July service.

Flags would be flying in the sanctuary.

We’d sing every patriotic song in the hymnal.

America the Beautiful

My Country Tis of Thee

The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Every now and then when we felt frisky, we’d attempt the national anthem.

Sermons would be preached on the greatness of American and the evils of communism.

We’d go home with our patriotic fires stoked.

I am nostalgic even as I say these things.

Good days - good times.

In the country where I lived, far away from the cities it seemed, we lived in a very wholesome America.

Our founding Fathers built this nation’s backbone on a devout belief in God and God’s providence and the evil one did not sit idly by.

Prosperity blinded us.

Comfort lulled us into a complacent feeling much like eating too much turkey does on Thanksgiving day.

We landed men on the moon.

We grew oh, so smart.

We gave up the Bible as the reading text book.

We advanced to such mighty tomes as “See Spot Run,” and “Fun with Dick and Jane.”

In 1989, we progressed to “Heather Has Two Mommies.”

We proudly played the National Anthem before every sporting event.

Then on August 14, 2016, Colin Kaepernick sat on the bench during the National Anthem.

Few noticed.

But on September 1, 2016, he took a knee on the sideline while the National Anthem played.

And to this day, you can watch reels on Facebook of youngsters - some very small - taking a knee during the national anthem.

BLM - a Marxist organization selected causes to demonstrate.

They burned parts of cities to the ground while law enforcement looked on.

Antifa - essentially a far-left terrorist organization - started showing up in masks and head coverings.

Much like the KKK of the 20th century.

Doing monstrous things - hooded in the darkness so they could mingle with and appear to be fine upstanding people in the daylight.

But wearing their hoods, they are terrorists.

I cheered for Bruce Jenner as he set a world record in the Decathlon in the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

History.com reports it this way, “On July 30, 1976, American Caitlyn Jenner - who was competing as Bruce Jenner - wins gold in the men’s decathlon at the Montreal Olympics.”

A person obviously male who calls himself Lia won the 2022 Women’s NCAA swimming 500 meter Freestyle event this year.

Megan Rapinoe, a recent world class American soccer player told parents who were upset that transgender children might compete against their kid:

“I’m sorry, your kid’s high school volleyball team just isn’t that important.”

Putin invaded Ukraine.

The United States played a large part in causing the conflict and an equally large part in continuing it.

We fought in Afghanistan for 20 years only to surrender to the Taliban - the very people who trained terrorists who attacked us in 2001.

Xi Jinping’s China is threatening to invade Taiwan.

Kim Jong-Un’s North Korea is testing ballistic missiles again.

While Saudi Arabia chastised the US embassy for flying the gay pride flag in their country.

It appears the Muslims - the religion of peace we were told - is decidedly anti-gay.

All the while, our Armed Forces are discharging people for not taking an experimental vaccine.

And are having training sessions on how to be sensitive to each other’s chosen pronouns.

Our country is weak and getting weaker by the day.

Our leadership is corrupt and satanic and perverse.

And as the Lord promised, Romans 1:24 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,”

I didn’t say this as forcefully when we were studying Revelation as I will now.

People keep saying “America isn’t in the Bible.”

I believe it is.

Revelation 17:5 ESV

And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”

60 percent of the world’s pornography is produced by the United States of America.

The United Methodist Church split over the same-sex issue because Africa would not support it.

The United States UMC church spearheaded the split.

In less than two years, gas prices have more than doubled.

Food prices are up at least 25% - depending on whose stats you are listening to.

And who’d ever though you’d have trouble getting baby formula.

All of these things happened because our national government chose for them to happen.

There are 10 million open jobs and only 5 million people to fill them.

But we aborted over 60 million people in the last 50 years.

If they were all alive, at least 30 million would be working age now.

We look forward to a red wave in November.

Unless President Biden’s government pushes another pandemic as the President hinted at last Wednesday.

Even if the current government structure is toppled, and Republicans take over - it’s a band aid at best and more of the same at worst.

As President Trump’s presidency proved, evil will not give up ground easily especially when our choices for office holders are the best of two evils, like it has been for years.

We are living in the end times.

I believe Revelation 18:4-8 is happening right now.

Revelation 18:4–8 ESV

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

When have you ever seen evil move this quickly in your life?

But there is good news, I don’t believe we are at the very end.

There is still time to change.

Just, how do we do it?

We’re not going to 2 Chronicles 7:14.

We’re going to James.

Open your Bibles to James 3:13-18.

Hear the word of the Lord.

James 3:13–18 ESV

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

How do we save our country?

Raise up good men

This is the mission of Christian families and this is the mission of the Church.

Using the term “men” generically, we are to be raising up boys and girls to be good men and women.

There is plenty of scripture telling us to do that - the most famous is this one

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Nobody here will argue against that.

We are to teach our children.

Where we’ve lost our way is in a completely different place.

What are we raising up?

Some of you might remember the name Don Henley.

He was a musician and a founding member of the Eagles.

Henley released a song on his Actual Miles album with the title “The Garden of Allah.”

In this song, the narrator/singer assumes the role of Satan.

And after a liturgy of a lot of evil things we do now without a second thought, Satan nets out our fatal flaw.

“Just an opportunity to participate in this pathetic little circus and winning, winning, winning.”

We are obsessed with winning.

What will it take to win this game?

What will it take to advance my career?

What will it take to make more money?

What will it take to make me happy?

What will it take for me to win?

James 3:14 “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.”

Do not boast and be false to the truth.

Have you ever thought about boasting? What are we saying when we boast?

“I’m the best!”

What what do we mean?

“I’m the best and you aren’t.”

I have always personally despised end-zone dances.

They are part and parcel of today’s sports though.

Fans cheer and rave and copy the dances.

Maybe I’m making something out of nothing but I am pretty confident that boasting isn’t in the definition of being a good man or woman.

James 3:16 “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

Jealousy is a “sharp, antagonist spirit of self-concern.”

I want what you’ve got and I’m willing to fight you for it.

Selfish-ambition - this could be rendered “what someone does to make themselves look bigger.”

Any one doing or just completed your mid-year review?

I hated performance reviews with a screaming, fevered passion.

I had a file while I kept every project, every accomplishment, every attaboy I received from anyone, anywhere.

And when review time came, I wrote a book.

Line after line, page after page regaling my incredible success.

Required by every major corporation - it’s kind of industry standard, right?

But that’s a pretty good illustration of selfish-ambition - it’s what I’d do to make myself look bigger.

And why was that important?

It’s “winning, winning, winning.”

But do you see the outcome of all of that selfish ambition?

“…there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

I don’t need to catalog the vile practices we see in the halls of our government, do we?

If you still believe that any government, Democrat controlled or Republican controlled is righteous and wants to help us be free.

If you believe that, you are naive at best and deluded at worst.

Every practice we see in government now leads to disorder and vile practices.

From abhorrently immoral parades to an app that tells you where to watch your step so you don’t get something on your shoes.

The wisdom we are living by, the wisdom of “winning, winning, winning...”

James 3:15 “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”

It’s demonic.

Satan has been untethered in Babylon.

He’s roaming freely.

He’s bold and on full display.

And he’s tearing our country apart.

What does it mean to be a good man?

James 3:13 “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.”

A good man is wise and understanding in the ways of God.

Parents and grandparents - it’s time to man up.

Are you a Jesus follower or are you not?

You know that following Jesus requires that you surrender your life.

That you “die to yourself”

That you take up your cross.

And your cross isn’t a bad boss or a missed promotion.

Your cross is your life.

You take it up, and you die, and follow Jesus wherever He leads.

Our children have to see us doing that.

They have to see that Jesus is worth it.

They can’t see you come to church and sing, “Where ever He Leads I’ll Go” and then you go home and cheat on your taxes.

Or you have an affair.

Or you drown yourself in debt - or alcohol - or worse.

Mom’s and dad’s - for the sake of our children, for the sake of our country, I implore you as Joshua did the Israelites:

Joshua 24:15 ESV

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Raise your children to be wise and understanding.

People will be able to see it in their good conduct - and in yours.

Conduct that is rooted in humility.

“I don’t have to tell you I am right.”

“I know I’m right - because I am following Jesus.”

To be able to quietly say, “2 Timothy 1:12

2 Timothy 1:12 ESV

which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

I am convinced that following Jesus is the right thing to do and that’s what I’m going to do.

If we follow Jesus to the best of our ability, we’ll live in His wisdom.

If we raise our children to follow Jesus to the best of their ability, they will live in His wisdom.

And people be able to see it, and people will want it.

James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure - that means Biblically morally upright, sexually pure, living with the Godly goal of one man and one woman for life and raising kids with the same values.

“...then peaceable - that means free from anxiety and inner turmoil.

Listen, we’ll never have this one down perfectly, but I will testify to this, the more I learn about Jesus, the lower my anxiety levels as I face trials.

Some of you might say, “Well, you can get pretty wigged out now,” to which I’ll say, “what would I look like without Jesus?”

“...gentle”

That means gracious.

Maybe instead of an end-zone dance it’s a congratulation to the quarterback who threaded the needled or you congratulate to the guy with the key block, or a congratulate the coach for calling a great play.”

“...open to reason”

That means you listen and learn.

A good person isn’t a know it all, they aren’t the smartest man in the room.

They are gracious enough to know that they can’t see what’s going to happen next, so maybe, just maybe they need wise council.

“...full of mercy” - they are genuinely concerned for someone in need.

And “[full of] good fruits - simply, people can see the good that they do.

Finally, “impartial and sincere.”

Red and yellow, black and white, fat, skinny and everything in between, brilliant and slow, rich or poor - it makes no difference to a good man.

To a good man, EVERY person is an image bearer filled with the dignity and worth of a creation of God and should be treated with that dignity.

Be that way.

Live that way.

Raise your children to live that way.

And then encourage them to go into public service.

It will take us 40 years or more, but God’s working the long game.

I’ll be dead, but I can rest in peace knowing that the prayer given to me by Jesus is closer to coming true.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

I have always been amazed at people who carp against Christians in politics.

Now, I understand, their have been people called Christians who have done some pretty heinous things.

But a true Christian, a Christian who is a good man, who better to have in office?

Their goal is the good of all people.

The end result of their work - James 3:18 “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Parents and grandparents, raise up statesmen.

Parents and grandparents, be statesmen.

Rise above Satan’s motto of “Winning, winning, winning.”

Follow Jesus and watch peace and prosperity return to our land.

And our children - guys, can you hold your pictures up?

It is for the salvation of these guys that we take up our cross and follow Jesus.

May this be our prayer:

O beautiful for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountains majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern impassioned stress

A thoroughfare of freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw.

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness

And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dreams

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown they good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.