Quick Answer
Pastor George Kistler teaches that America’s history is marked by divine providence, from George Washington’s survival in battle to a fog that hid an army’s escape and a storm that crippled British forces. He argues God loves America, has a purpose for it, and is uncovering hidden corruption to renew the nation, not condemn it.
Key Takeaways
- American history is marked by moments the founding fathers called divine providence, meaning God’s involvement and provision in the nation’s story.
- George Washington survived the Battle of Monongahela with four bullets through his coat and two horses shot from under him, which a Native American chief attributed to the protection of the Great Spirit.
- An unseasonal thick fog and a sudden shift in wind allowed Washington’s army to escape across the East River from Brooklyn without the British noticing.
- A sudden hurricane-turned-tornado doused the fires the British set in Washington D.C. in 1814 and crippled British forces, forcing their retreat.
- The book of Nehemiah shows a pattern of opposition through ridicule, fear, and internal discouragement while rebuilding, which mirrors efforts to discourage and deconstruct America today.
- The uncovering of corruption happening now is presented as an answer to prayers of national repentance, meant to clean the nation out rather than condemn it.
What patriotic events led up to America’s 250th birthday?
Well, my name is Pastor George and I’m one of the pastors here at the home church. We want to welcome our guests here this morning, and if you don’t have a church home, we’d like to invite you to consider becoming a part of our home church family. This week we’re celebrating the 250th birthday of America, and a fun fact is that both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, exactly 50 years to the day after the nation’s founding, on July 4th.
We’ve had a lot of patriotic events taking place in our nation recently. On May 17th we had the Rededicate 250 event where our president called for a rededication of our nation to God, and we participated with our own rededication here as well. On June 14th we had the Freedom 250, the UFC mixed martial arts fights on the White House grounds, and right now on the National Mall in Washington DC there’s the Great American State Fair with booths from most of the states.
This Saturday, July 4th, there will be great events in Washington DC including the National Independence Day parade, the Capitol 4th concert, and a massive fireworks display. Another thing that’s been taking place is World Cup soccer, happening in 11 US cities including right here in Santa Clara, plus cities in Mexico and Canada. There was concern the World Cup would flop here since we’re into baseball and basketball, but there’s been a tremendous response, and something unexpected but delightful has come out of it.
Why are international visitors falling in love with America?
Many Europeans and others are visiting the US right now for the World Cup, tasting American foods, visiting Walmart and truck stops, strolling through our rural towns, and seeing parts of America they believed too good to be true. With more and more posts popping up every day, hundreds of international travelers are stunned by the America they only ever saw in movies and TV, discovering an America that is safe, clean, and friendly.
Again and again you hear these visitors say, ‘I feel like I’ve been lied to about the United States. This isn’t the country that I’ve been told about. This country is marvelous.’ They’re shocked by the abundance of resources and the kindness of the people, and it’s just part of the social fabric, not something done because someone is watching. Something about our country and culture has resonated with them, they’ve fallen in love with us, and some have even said they’d like to move here because of their experience.
I feel like I’ve been lied to about the United States. This isn’t the country that I’ve been told about. This country is marvelous.
What do immigrant testimonies reveal about life in America?
I asked Cameron and Victor to come up and share because they were not born in our country, but made the right choice and came over to be part of our United States family. Cameron shared that he was born and raised in Iran and has been attending home church for almost four years, where he was married and where his church family helped him with the ceremony. He said Jesus saved his life and changed his life, and he’s grateful to be in the greatest country in the world because of God’s blessing and Jesus’s love.
Cameron said Americans have freedom that many people don’t have, especially the freedom to follow and worship Jesus without fear. His message was that if you were born in America and you have Jesus in your life, you already have everything, so just be grateful every day for it.
Victor shared that he’s from France and moved to the US about three years ago with his wife, and at that time he was an atheist who didn’t want to hear about God. He said coming to the US was a blessing, meeting lovely people and finding that outside the US there’s a false representation of Americans in the media. Another blessing he didn’t expect was that Jesus was calling him here at the home church, and that’s where he met Jesus and knew he belonged to his kingdom.
Victor also noted that in his home country, freedom of speech is becoming smaller and smaller, and he encouraged Americans to stay strongly attached to that right, the ability to speak about Jesus in the street without fearing arrest or attack, because as Christians our belief can be seen as harmful in other places. He closed by saying to keep enjoying the blessings of this country because it’s full of riches and loving people.
If you guys was born in America and you have Jesus in your life, you already have everything in your life. Just be grateful every day for it.
Cameron
What does ‘America the Miracle’ mean?
The United States of America is an incredible place, and what makes it so incredible is what I want to talk about today. I didn’t give a title for my message ahead of time, but I think it’s going to be America the Miracle. We’re used to saying America the beautiful, and it is, but I want to start off talking about America the miracle, because there have been miracles in our country ever since its founding, actually way before its founding, all the way back to Jamestown, Plymouth, and the Puritan settlements around Boston.
Our founding fathers called these miracles divine providence. They didn’t usually use the word miracle, they used the words divine providence, divine meaning God and providence meaning God’s provision and involvement, God interspersing himself into our lives and into history.
What were America’s Great Awakenings?
In the history of our country there have been great awakenings, at least two definite ones. The first great awakening involved George Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley in both Britain and the United States, and Jonathan Edwards, who preached the sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, in the 1730s to 1740s. Back then people were so steeped in bland, lifeless religion that they needed to be woken up to the reality that we are sinners in the hands of a gracious God, but also an angry God if we’re not believers.
The second great awakening was just prior to the Civil War, from the 1790s to 1850s, with characters like Charles Finney and Francis Asbury, the Methodist circuit rider preacher. A lot of that awakening involved camp meetings with emotional meetings, people rolling on the floor, making noises, screaming, but don’t be so quick to judge, it truly was a great awakening.
Some would say there’s been a third great awakening from the 1850s to the early 1900s with Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and William Booth of the Salvation Army, with an emphasis on the social gospel. And some would say there’s been a fourth great awakening in the 1960s and 1970s with the Jesus movement, Billy Graham, Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, and David Wilkerson, along with the growth of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. You might even insert a great awakening and a half around 1906 with the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, the beginning of modern day Pentecostalism.
In each of these, God divinely provided and inserted himself into history to wake people up, both Christians out of their dead religion and people who don’t know Jesus, coming upon them as they’re walking down the street until the Spirit comes and they get down on their knees and weep and repent, never having heard the gospel message. These are the types of things that happen in great awakenings, and may we experience it today.
What miracle happened to George Washington at the Battle of Monongahela?
There’s a new movie coming out this week called Young George Washington, premiering July 3rd, and I’m confident it will highlight a miracle at the Battle of Monongahela. A young 23 year old George Washington was sent by the governor of Virginia into what’s now the Ohio Valley to tell the French to get off British land, which they refused, leading eventually to the French and Indian War, which Washington actually started by firing the first shot.
In 1755, Washington joined General Braddock and hundreds of British soldiers marching through the forest in European tradition, in red coats, beating drums, with no secrecy, while the French and Indians hid behind trees waiting for them. Washington had tried to warn Braddock this wouldn’t work, but Braddock dismissed him. There was an ambush, and hundreds were killed that day, including 86 officers and Braddock himself.
George Washington rose up and took charge, ordering the troops to get their red coats off and get behind trees, which saved the day. After the battle, Washington wrote a letter to his brother describing what happened, and I don’t think they’re teaching that in public schools anymore, though my grandma told me they used to teach it in schools when she was young.
Fifteen years later, Washington and his friend Dr. Craig ran across a band of Indians whose chief wanted to meet him. The chief said he had been a leader in that battle and had instructed his braves to single out the officers and shoot them down, and that he personally had shot at Washington seventeen times without effect. Believing Washington was under the care of the Great Spirit, he told his braves to stop firing at him, and said he had traveled a long path to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of heaven.
Death was loving my companions on every side of me. But by the miraculous care of providence that protected me beyond all human expectations, I had four bullets pass through my coat and two horses shot out from under me and yet escaped unhurt.
George Washington
What miracle allowed Washington’s army to escape at Brooklyn?
There’s another miracle from August of 1776. After the British had to flee Boston, both sides moved down to New York, knowing its great harbor was going to be critical for winning the war. On Long Island there were skirmishes, and Washington’s troops ended up caught on the bluffs of Brooklyn Heights with the East River at their backs, totally surrounded by British troops, with 45 British ships in the harbor waiting to sail up the East River and cut off any escape.
But when the British were about to do that, the wind inexplicably shifted to blow strongly from upriver, and this severe headwind prevented the British warships from entering the East River, stalling their advance. Washington saw the narrow window of opportunity and made a plan to escape across the river at night with no moon, trying to get 9,000 men, horses, cannons, and supplies across a half mile wide river without making a sound or being noticed.
It worked, and somehow God kept the horses quiet while Pennsylvania riflemen kept feeding the fires to give the impression the troops were still there. But by sunrise the operation still wasn’t done and a few regiments hadn’t crossed yet. Suddenly a thick, unseasonal summer fog rolled off the river, settling over Brooklyn and the East River while leaving the American escape route concealed, so thick a man couldn’t see more than five feet in front of him and it deadened sound too.
It’s said George Washington was in the last boat across. Just as that last boat got across the river, the fog lifted and the British saw an empty camp with their enemy already gone.
What miracle stopped the British from destroying Washington D.C.?
One last miracle happened during the War of 1812, which we actually kind of started with our own bad behavior, and the British were responding to it. In 1814 the British forces marched on Washington DC, and as they approached, President James Madison and the government fled the city. Dolley Madison hung around to the last moment, grabbed the picture of George Washington, and ran it out of the city, and that picture still hangs in the White House today.
The British entered the capital, ate the dinner that had been laid out for the president, and then burned the White House, the Capitol building, the treasury building, and the Library of Congress. It would have all burned to the ground except suddenly the sky darkened and a massive storm, described as a hurricane that then spawned a tornado, descended upon the city. The downpour doused the flames on the buildings the British had set on fire, saving them from complete destruction.
The storm also produced a tornado causing major structural damage, knocking down chimneys and fences, with roofs whisked into the air like sheets of paper, and some houses completely collapsed, burying both British officers and American civilians under debris. The storm was powerful enough to lift at least two heavy cannons off the ground and toss them away, and hundreds of Royal Navy vessels were damaged. More British soldiers died from the storm than from the fighting, and the British said the storm’s violence was obviously aimed directly at them. The storm forced the British to abandon their plans and retreat to their ships, ending their 26 hour occupation.
Why did God perform these miracles for America?
There are scads of miracles that have taken place where God has expressed his divine providence, and I can think of two really good reasons why. One, because he loves this country. When I was praying about this message and asking God what he wanted me to say, the thing that immediately came into my mind was, tell my people how much I love my country. That’s what he wants to express to you today, even though we’ve been full of sin and corruption, when he looks upon us he sees us as special.
The other reason is that we’re special because he has a special purpose and plan for us, and he still wants to fulfill that plan through us. Isn’t that exciting? George Washington himself said in his Thanksgiving proclamation of 1789 that 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 favors. He also wrote to Brigadier General Thomas Nelson that the hand of providence had been so conspicuous throughout the Revolutionary War that a person must be worse than an infidel to lack faith and more than wicked to lack gratitude enough to acknowledge those obligations. God created our nation for a special purpose within his big story, and he isn’t finished with us yet.
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 favors.
George Washington
What are America’s core values and cultural distinctives?
What is America? I think there are certain values that are distinctive for our country: liberty and freedom, free will and choice, and the value of life. We may think our country no longer values life because of abortion rights, but at our root we do have a value for life, we’ve just been lied to about what life is in the womb. We also believe in equality under the law, individual rights and responsibility, independence, limited government, social mobility so that we’re not stuck in a caste system, personal property and ownership, and ingenuity and creativity.
I believe there are also cultural distinctives, and in general as a culture Americans are friendly, helpful, and want to help people in need. We are a giving and forgiving people, courteous, courageous, but direct in our communication, which can be a little offensive to some cultures. If you’re looking at your neighborhood or job and thinking this isn’t what I see, I understand, but I’d like to put an idea in your mind that Silicon Valley is not an accurate description of America. You go almost anywhere else in the country and it’s totally different, people are friendly, helpful, giving, courteous, and courageous, you just have to get outside this valley to find it.
These distinctives, the values and cultural distinctives, are to a great extent rooted in an expression of the biblical worldview that’s in our cultural DNA from our founding fathers. It’s also a testimony of the Holy Spirit actively working through his nation and his people, even if they don’t all cooperate with him or recognize his working. I’m positive on America and hopeful for its future. I see many people turning away from immoral paradigms and embracing biblical values, and statistics show many young people, especially young men, are returning to the church and the Bible right now. There’s been a shift. I think we’re in the beginning stages of a great awakening.
What does the book of Nehemiah teach about rebuilding a nation?
Since this is a worship service, I want to give a little Bible teaching from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which were originally one book. In these books, Zerubbabel returned from Babylon by the command of King Cyrus to rebuild the temple, Ezra returned about sixty years later to restore the Torah and community, and Nehemiah later returned to rebuild the city wall after hearing that the walls were broken down, the gates burned, and the people in great distress and reproach, vulnerable to their enemies.
Nehemiah prayed and repented for the sins of his people before God, sought and found favor with the king, traveled to Jerusalem, assessed the damage, and gathered the people. He told them the distress they were in and how the hand of his God had been good upon him, and also of the king’s words to him. So they said, ‘Let us rise up and build,’ and set their hands to this good work. A recounting of God’s work and God’s goodness is essential for the health of a nation, and it inspired the people to rise up out of the ashes and have hope and motivation to build again.
Then I said to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God, which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, Let us rise up and build. Then they set their hands to this good work.
Nehemiah
How did Nehemiah respond to opposition and discouragement?
When Nehemiah began the work, there were gentlemen, mainly Sanballat and Tobiah, who attempted to discourage the work of God being carried out through Nehemiah and the people. They laughed at them and despised them, saying, ‘What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?’ This is a trick of the enemy, marginalizing what God’s people are doing, suggesting they don’t really have power or authority to change their world.
Nehemiah’s response was, ‘The God of heaven himself will prosper us. Therefore we his servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.’ When Sanballat heard they were rebuilding, he was furious and mocked the Jews, and Tobiah added that even a fox going up on the wall would break it down. That’s the ridicule and mockery the enemy brings, and Nehemiah’s response was to ask God to turn their reproach on their own heads. So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
When the enemies conspired to attack Jerusalem and create confusion, Nehemiah didn’t respond with excessive caution. He said, ‘Nevertheless, we made our prayer to God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.’ Then people inside the community, not just outside enemies, started to have doubts, saying the strength of the laborers was failing and there was too much rubbish to build the wall, and the adversary planned to come and kill them before they knew it.
Nehemiah positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall with their swords, spears, and bows, and told the nobles, leaders, and people, ‘Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.’ From then on, half the workers built while the other half held weapons, and every builder had his sword girded at his side as he worked. Despite continued extortion, compromise, slander, and treachery, the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul in 52 days, which is a miracle, and all the surrounding nations were disheartened because they perceived the work was done by God.
What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?
Nehemiah
The God of heaven himself will prosper us. Therefore we his servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah
Nevertheless, we made our prayer to God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.
Nehemiah
Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
Nehemiah
So the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul, in fifty-two days.
Nehemiah 6
How does the story of Nehemiah apply to America today?
In our day we have modern Sanballats and Tobiahs attempting to thwart the work of God in our nation. There’s a highly organized and heavily funded effort to destroy our nation by destroying the will, the hope, and the vision of its people, done through deconstructionism, focusing on the negatives of our country and disregarding all the abundance of positives. It’s been done through the educational system educating children to hate our country, through the media with every news story about how bad our nation is, through government leaders, and through public policy.
This is not by accident or coincidence, or merely a difference in political parties or opinions. It is a concerted, well-organized effort by those who hate our nation because of what it stands for and who we stand for. But ultimately these people are not our real adversaries, it’s Satan and demonic influences working through these cultural influencers using deconstruction.
Will we continue to listen to the lies of the Sanballats and Tobiahs of our age who seek to deconstruct our nation in the minds and hearts of its people? Or will we be people inspired by our nation’s Nehemiahs, our George Whitfields if you will, to have a mind to work, working shoulder to shoulder with our families at our side to build God’s kingdom within our nation? Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. Fight.
How should Christians respond to the uncovering of national corruption?
I know this is a difficult time because we see all kinds of things being revealed right now, reports of indictments, fraud, and corruption reported daily, and California is perhaps the worst that awaits to be seen, with likely treason and even crimes against humanity to be revealed soon. When you hear these things it can feel like our country is so bad, but don’t buy into that. Understand that these things have been going on for years and years, and what’s happening right now is not that things are getting worse, it’s that all these things that were already there are now being uncovered.
We’ve been praying the prayer, God forgive us of our national sins, repenting for our national sins and asking him to revive and renew us, and that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s pulling the lid off of this garbage pail and showing us what’s there, not to condemn us or make us feel bad, but in order to empty the garbage and get that pail cleaned out. I am so stoked and grateful for the uncovering and revealing of things that have been hidden.
Please rejoice in what you see and hear, and feel good about your country again. Celebrate our nation’s birthday, appreciate this great land God has given us, and don’t feel guilty or condemned because of Christian nationalism type talk. Just be glad for who we are, for what God has made us to be, and for the calling upon our lives as a nation and as individuals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What miracles does the speaker say happened during America’s founding?
He points to George Washington’s survival at the Battle of Monongahela, the fog that hid Washington’s army’s escape from Brooklyn, and the storm that doused the fires the British set in Washington D.C. in 1814.
What did George Washington write about being protected in battle?
After the Battle of Monongahela, Washington wrote to his brother that by the miraculous care of providence he had four bullets pass through his coat and two horses shot out from under him, yet escaped unharmed.
What did the Native American chief say about George Washington?
The chief said he had personally shot at Washington seventeen times without effect and, believing Washington was under the care of the Great Spirit, told his braves to stop firing at him, calling Washington ‘the particular favorite of heaven.’
How did fog help Washington’s army escape at Brooklyn?
An unseasonal, thick summer fog rolled in and settled over the East River, hiding and deadening the sound of the remaining troops as they escaped, while the fog lifted just after the last boat crossed.
What happened when the British tried to burn Washington D.C. in 1814?
A sudden storm described as a hurricane that spawned a tornado doused the flames the British had set on major buildings, damaged Royal Navy ships, and killed more British soldiers than the fighting had, forcing their retreat.
How does the speaker use the book of Nehemiah in this message?
He uses Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall, and the ridicule and threats from Sanballat and Tobiah, as a picture of how opposition tries to discourage God’s people from building, and how they should stay armed and keep working.
Why does the speaker say corruption is being uncovered in the nation right now?
He says it is because of years of prayers repenting for national sins, and that God is emptying the garbage out of the nation to clean it, not to condemn or shame the people.
Watch the full message to hear all the stories of God’s providence in America’s history and the call to hope for today.
Read the full transcript
Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here.
Opening prayer
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we are thankful that we are free and we are thankful for this uh very special day that we’re coming to not only worship you for who you are, but also to worship you in what you’ve done and provide in giving us this great gift called the United States of America. Lord, we are so grateful that you’ve called us to live at this place in this time in history and to be a part of your kingdom work here in this place called the United States. Lord, today we want to honor you in the teaching and honor you in everything that’s said and done. And so we present it all to you now and pray that your kingdom would come and your perfect will would be done in all things in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. All right. Well, my name is Pastor George and I’m uh one of the pastors here at the at the home church. We want to welcome our guests here this morning. I see a few new faces and we’re so glad to have you uh be with us today. If you don’t have a church home, we’d like to invite you to consider coming and joining uh becoming a part of our home church family.
Nation’s 250th birthday 3 min mark
Happy 50th birthday to the greatest nation on earth. What did I say? Can only get better from here. It can only get better from here. Well, you know, I probably needed that to kind of break the ice a little bit. So, ah, our humanity. Happy 250th birthday.
Uh kind of a fun fact actually on on the 50th birthday to the day uh of our nation, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day. Exactly. July 4th, 50 years to the day. Interesting fun fact.
Recent patriotic events 4 min mark
All right. Well, we’ve had a lot of patriotic events taking place in our nation recently. We’ve had uh on May 17th, we had the rededicate uh 250 event where uh our president called for a rededication of our nation to God. And we participated in that here as well with a with our own rededication. And then on uh June 14th uh we had the Freedom 250. It was the UFC uh the the U mixed martial arts uh fights on the White House grounds. You may or may not be interested in that. I I’m not a big fan of that myself, but I’ll tell you, there was a lot of neat fanfare and hoopla and the jets flying over and the eagle flying in and it was fun to watch those types of things.
And then right now on the National Mall in Washington DC, there’s the Great American State Fair where there are uh representative booths from most of the states. Not all of them chose to participate and a lot of other activities and you know organizations and such that have are having their displays and there’s a ferris wheel. So that’s kind of neat. And then of course this Saturday, July 4th, there will be some great events in Washington DC. We’ll have the National Independence Day parade. uh the concert a uh it’s called a Capitol 4th concert which they have every year and then they’re going to have a massive fireworks display as our president would say a fireworks display like the world has never seen before. Right. So it’s going to be a it’s going to be a fun week.
World Cup soccer in North America 6 min mark
But another thing that’s been taking place is World Cup soccer. Oh my goodness. You know, um, so World Cup soccer, uh, I think it happens every four years. Is that right for you soccer fans? And this year it happens to be in North America. And it’s happening in 11 cities in the US, including right here in Santa Clara. Uh, and then three city three cities in Mexico and two cities in Canada.
And you know, there were a lot of people that were concerned that having the World Cup in the United States would be a flop because, you know, we’re into baseball and basketball and the the real football. The rest the rest of the world calls soccer football. We’re the only ones that call it soccer. And uh you know we we haven’t historically been a big soccer type uh country but uh in fact there’s been a tremendous response amongst our American citizens and of course those who have come from other countries uh have come here and enjoyed uh the games but uh they’ve also enjoyed something else. There have been some unexpected but delightful consequences.
International visitors discovering America 7 min mark
really need to take a minute to appreciate the beauty of the United States of America. Americans, your country is so beautiful.
Happening right now is one of the most heartwarming and endearing trends Americans may ever watch on social media. And I promise once you start seeing this, you will not be able to wipe the smile from your face. Ice cream cake. It’s an ice cream cake for the trend I’m talking about is traveling to the United States for the very first time. Look at how many drinks they have.
Many Europeans and others are visiting the US right now for the World Cup, tasting American foods, visiting Walmart and truck stops, strolling through our rural towns, and seeing parts of America that many believed too good to be true. This is probably normal for you guys in America, but coming from the UK, this is enormous.
With more and more posts popping up every day, hundreds of international travelers are stunned by the America they only ever saw in movies and TV. I’ve just gone to the Walmart here in the United States, and you wouldn’t believe the size of those milk jugs.
Discovering an America that is safe and clean and friendly. You can’t make this stuff up. This place is it is home for me now and I feel so safe. I mean I can go down an alleyway. When last did you walk down in South Africa in an alleyway? You’ve been dead in a second.
For many visiting for the first time, America is every bit a fairy tale. I can refer this a thousand times and it’s free. You paid free. You paid it once. Bro, slow down. Cheers. Another one. Beautiful food, stunning vistas and views filled with the kindest, most outgoing people. Oh my lordy lord. We just don’t make food like this in England. If you have not yet seen this, you absolutely have to give it a try. That’s fun.
Visitors’ impressions of America 9 min mark
Yeah. You know, these people again and again I you’ve seen and you’ve probably seen them too. they’ve popped up on your, you know, Facebook feeds and, you know, Instagram feeds and things like that. Again, again, you hear them say, “I feel like I’ve been lied to about the United States. This isn’t the country that I’ve been told about. This country is marvelous. This is unbelievable. the abundance of uh uh you know the abundance of of resources and and the kindness of the people and you know going out of their ways and not because I’m a a person from another country but it’s just part of the the social fabric. They’re shocked. They’re absolutely shocked. Something about our country and culture has resonated with them. They’ve fallen in love with us. And there’s some who have even said that they would like to to move here because of their experience here.
Guest speakers from abroad 10 min mark
At this time, I’m going to have uh we’re going to have a kind of a a special uh sharing time. I’m going to ask Victor uh Atiq to come up and Comr uh Jafar Jazani. Did I say that right? Wow. Woohoo. I practiced. I’ve asked these guys to come up because uh these guys were not born in our country. They made the right choice and came over to be part of our uh United States family. But I uh I I c I gave them a few questions to, you know, to think about what they might share today. uh but uh this is unscripted at least on my part and uh I just want them to share openly from their heart their impressions of you know their their life in the United States. Okay.
Cameron’s testimony 11 min mark
Hello home church. Hi. My name is Cameron and I was born and raised in Iran and I’m attending home church for almost four years. And home church is not just a church for me is like a family and I married here exactly I think over the exactly year and my family home church they helped me to you know do the all the ceremony everything and I’m grateful for it and Jesus saved my life and changed my life and I’m here in the greatest country in the world and it’s because he’s blessing and because Jesus loves me and you guys have the freedom here which many people they don’t have this freedom freedom especially freedom to follow Jesus worship freely without any fear and I have one message and this I I was thinking about it and this is from my heart. If you guys was born in America and you have Jesus in your life, you already have everything in your life. Just be grateful every day for it.
Amen. All praise and glory to Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless USA. Thank you, Kra. Victor.
Victor’s introduction 12 min mark
Hi everyone. Um I’m Victor. I’m from France. You can tell by my accent. Um and um yeah, we moved into the US uh about like almost three years ago with my wife. And um at that time
I I was an atheist. Um didn’t want to hear anything about God or any god whether it’s Jesus or any other false god. And um coming to the US was really a blessing both getting to know and to meet lovely people. Um as it was presented in the video outside of the US there is really a false representation of Americans. Um and it’s um being able to live here is nothing compared to what is presented in the media. And that’s already a blessing to be part of this really beautiful country. There are really a lot of things to to see here. The national parks, a lot of different culture in different uh cities of the of the country and people are really welcoming uh really loving, really open. That’s that’s really a blessing. And another blessing that I didn’t know at that time when I moved here was that Jesus was calling me and calling me here at the home church. And that’s where I met him. That’s where I knew that I belonged to his kingdom and he saved me. And that’s like the the greatest gift I could have. So praise him for that. And um yeah there there are things that I think um I come from a country where we we have freedom of speech but it’s becoming smaller and smaller and that’s something that you Americans are really cherishing and you should stay really strongly attached to that because it’s one of the biggest right that you that you have and that you need to protect is the ability to say whatever you and to to be able to to talk about Jesus in the street, to have your to have the ability to to really speak without fe fearing to be arrested, without um being attacked for your tweets, for your for what you think. And as Christians, our belief can be seen as harmful. So keep protecting that these rights, the right to to speak about the truth about Jesus and uh yeah, keep enjoying all the blessings of that that country because it’s really full full of riches, full of loving people and you guys are blessing and you are blessed. So yeah, God bless America. >> Thanks you guys. That was awesome. Well done. Wasn’t that great? >> Okay. Am I back on? There we go. Yeah. Pardon me. The United States of America is an incredible place. Well, what makes it so? What makes it so incredible? I didn’t give uh Mike a title for my message today. I think uh my title is going to be America the miracle. You know, we’re used to saying America the beautiful and it is and we’re going to be talking about that today. But I’m we’re going to start off talking about America the miracle. There have been miracles in our country ever since its founding. actually before its founding way before its founding all the way back to the to the times of Jamestown and Plymouth and the Puritan settlements in around Boston there have been there have been many many miracles and these miracles our founding fathers called divine providence they didn’t usually use the term miracle they use the the words divine providence divine meaning God and providence meaning uh God’s provision and God’s involvement God uh interspersing himself uh into our lives and into history. So divine providence and uh in our in the history of our country there have been great awakenings. There have been two uh definite great awakenings. the first and second great awakening and of course uh a lot of us on Friday night uh saw uh some scenes from the first great awakening and the first great awakening, you know, with George Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley and in both uh Britain and in the United States, uh Jonathan Edwards, the the gentleman who preached the the sermon sinners in the hands of an angry god. And you know that doesn’t sound appealing to us today, but back then the people were so steeped in just you know bland lifeless religion that they needed to be woken up with this reality that we are sinners in the hands of a a gracious God but also if we’re not believers an angry god. So uh that was the first great awakening and that was the 1730s to 1740s. Then there was the second great awakening which was just uh prior to the civil war and that was in the 1790s to 1850s. And some of the characters in you know in that great awakening were Charles Finny and Francis Asbury the the Methodist circuit writer preacher. And a lot of uh a lot of that great awakening involved uh camp meetings with a lot of emotional meetings. people were, you know, rolling on the floor and making noises and screaming and, you know, just a lot of crazy stuff. And we might look at that and say, “Well, gee, that must not be from God.” But don’t be so quick to judge. It truly was a great awakening. Some people would say that we’ve actually had a third and fourth great awakening. The third great awakening being from the 1850s to the early 1900s. And some of the people involved in that would be Dwight El Moody, Billy Sundy, uh William Booth of the Salvation Army. And the emphasis there was a lot on the social gospel. And then some would say that we have we’ve had a fourth great awakening in the 1960s and 1970s with the the Jesus movement, you know, and Billy Graham and uh the um you know, people like Katherryn Kman and Oral Roberts and David Wilkerson. Um certainly the Pentecostal and charismatic moment uh movements have grown and uh you you might even insert a uh a great awakening and a half right around the early 1900s 1906 with the ISUsa street revival uh down in the Los Angeles area which was the the beginning of modern day Pentecostalism. So we’ve had these great awakenings taking place where there’s been divine providence. God divinely provided and inserted himself into history to wake people up. A great awakening to wake people up. both Christians to awaken them out of their their sleep, out of their deadness, out of their dead religion, but also to wake up people that that don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and coming upon them as they’re walking down the street and all of a sudden the spirit comes upon a person and they get down on their knees and weep and repent of of sins, never hearing the gospel message. These are the types of things that happen in great awakenings. May we experience it today. There have been other miracles in our in our history. One of them I’d like to share with you is going to be highlighted in a new movie that’s coming out just this week. There’s a movie coming out called Young uh Young George Washington. The young George Washington and uh it premieres in the theaters on July 3rd and it’ll probably run for a couple weeks. Uh, if you’re interested, I actually have what I think are a few free tickets that I might be able to give out to some lucky people. [laughter] But in that movie, I am quite confident because I’ve seen the trailer. I’m quite confident that they will highlight one of these miracles that’s taken place. And it’s at it’s at a place called the Battle of Manan Ga. We have a young George Washington. He’s only 23 years old. and he’s sent out by the the governor of the colony of Virginia to to go out into the to the western lands, what today we would know it as the Ohio Valley, uh the Ohio area, and to um to basically come to the the French who have uh set up settlements there. you know there was this this competition in the in the early years between the the French and the English who actually laid claim to this to this new land and of course both of them you know claimed the right so there was conflict going on and it ended up uh in what’s called the French and Indian War and uh but prior to the French and Indian War uh Washington was sent out into this area with with um a regiment of of soldiers he uh was in charge of them and they were sent out to speak to the French and basically tell them get off our land and the French said no no no no you get off our land and uh again the the French had uh cooperated with the the Native Americans uh in order to fight against the British and what’s an interesting note is that uh this at this uh in the um the be the French and Indian War actually began with um George Washington firing the first shot. So he actually started the war. But but that’s a side note. So anyway, we have this French and Indian war going on. Now bring it up a few years. 1755 George Washington is no longer a commissioned uh officer, but he is in the Virginia militia. And he had he has been chosen to go along because of his experience in this area. is being called to join uh General Bradock and and uh hundreds and hundreds of British soldiers dressed in their their red coats uh to go into this area and drive out the French and Indians. And of course, they’re marching through the forest in European tradition in lines in these red coats, beating drums, absolutely no secrecy whatsoever. and the French and the Indians. Forgive me if uh the term Indians offends you, but that’s the term that that’s been used at this uh you know time period. The French and the Indians were hiding behind trees. Bad form [laughter] from the British point of view. You don’t hide behind trees. You come
out, you face your enemy in lines and you know shoot at each other. And um so they were hiding behind trees and the wait the enemy was waiting for them. So prior to the the battle, Washington had tried to convince Bradock that you know that this marching in lines and red coats and everything wasn’t going to work. And Bradock basically you know oh you’re just a pipsqueak you know you’re just a Virginia militia you’re not part of the British military. Well, there was an ambush and hundreds and hundreds were killed that day, including 86 uh officers and including Bradock himself, by the way.
And so now all these officers were dead. All these people, all these men were scattered. They were, you know, just getting decimated. Well, George Washington rose up and took charge. and he began to order the troops and to told them to get those red coats off and get behind trees and they did and in fact that saved the day and uh what’s interesting is after this battle was over Washington wrote a letter to his brother and this is what he said in the letter. Death was loving my companions on every side of me. But by the miraculous care of providence that protected me beyond all human expectations, I had four bullets pass through my coat and two horses shot out from under me and yet escaped unheard.
I don’t think they’re teaching that in the public schools. Lots of times they don’t don’t even teach it in the in the private Christian schools. They used to teach it. My grandma told me this story. They taught it in in schools when she was going to school. What happened? Well, we’ll get to that.
Washington and the Indian chief 25 min mark
But the story continues because 15 years after the battle, Washington went with his friend Dr. Craig into this area and they ran across a band of Indians. And the band of Indians had a chief. And this chief wanted to meet with George Washington. And um he told George Washington that he had been a leader in that battle and had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. He personally he personally had shot at Washington 17 times but without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the great spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him.
Then he said, “I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. I have come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of heaven.” Yeah. Miracles. Miracles.
The miracle at Brooklyn Heights 26 min mark
There’s another miracle I’d like to tell you about and that happened uh in the actually I think it may have been in 1775. It was before that uh I may have had my dates off uh no it was it was August of 1776. So declaration had been made the uh there was a miracle in in Boston the uh the miracle of Dor Dorchester Heights. You might want to read that someday. I’m not going to cover that today.
Um, but uh after after the the British had to skiadle out of Boston uh because they were going to get shot out of the water. Their ships were going to get shot out of the the water. So they traveled down to to New York to what we know today as you know Staten Island, Long Island, and Manhattan. And uh Washington’s troops went down as way as well. And uh both both sides knew that New York because of its great harbor uh was was going to be critical for winning the war. And so this altercation took place down in in the New York area and on on Long Island there there was all kinds of skirmishes.
And what happened was Washington unfortunately made some bad decisions and uh they ended up getting caught in the on the bluffs of Brooklyn Heights with their with their east with the East River at their backs. So they were totally surrounded by British troops and their backs were to the river. And not only to that, but there were 45 British ships in the harbor waiting for them in case they tried to capture. As a matter of tried to escape, as a matter of fact, the British intended to sail their ships up the East River in order to cut off any potential escape. But when they were about to do that, the wind inexplicably shifted to blow strongly from upriver. And this severe headwind prevented the British warships from entering the East River, stalling their advance.
So Washington saw this, realizing this narrow window of opportunity, he made a plan that they would do the most dangerous thing possible, and that would be to try and escape across the river at night. But there was no moon, so it was totally dark. So, you have these ships in the harbor and just, you know, like a couple hundred yards away, Washington was going to be going to try and get 9,000 men, horses, cannons, supplies across a river that was probably about a half mile wide without making a sound, without being noticed. It’s craziness. But desperate times require desperate measures. And so he did it.
And in fact, it worked. Somehow God kept those horses quiet and and uh they they also had you know some of the uh Pennsylvania riflemen hung around and kept feeding the fires and such and you know walking around in order to give the impression that uh you know the that our our troops were still there when in fact they were they were departing. But by sunrise the next day the operation was still not done. There were a few regiments that uh had not been able to get across the river.
Then something happened. Suddenly a thick unseasonal summer fog. The fog only comes in in winter. It doesn’t come in during the summer. So it was an unseasonal fog thick rolled off the river settling over both Brooklyn and the East River while strangely leaving the American escape route route concealed. The fog was so thick that a man could not see more than 5t in front of him. And it was so thick that you may know if you’ve been in that kind of fog, it deadened the sound.
So, here it was daylight, but it was so foggy that the British couldn’t see or hear the remaining troops escaping. It said that George Washington was in the last boat, that he was the last one across. Whether that’s true or not, don’t know, but that’s the legend. And just as that last boat got across the river and they got out, the fog lifted and the British saw an empty camp and saw the their enemy on the other side go like this. It’s a miracle.
Divine providence in American history 31 min mark
God’s involved in m has has had all kinds of miracles, divine providence in our history. I’m going to share one last one and this was during the war of 1812. So the war of 1812, but this is in 1814. And we actually kind of started the the War of 1812 against Britain. We we were kind of h got a little got a little sassy and got, you know, kind of out over our skis. And so we actually the the British just responded to to our bad behavior. And we uh so we got into this war with with Britain.
The burning of Washington, D.C. 32 min mark
And the British forces eventually marched on Washington DC. And as the British approached, the President James Madison and and the uh government the government fled the city, leaving the city vulnerable. Dolly Madison uh James Madison’s wife, she hung around to the very last moment, and she uh famously uh ran into the into the White House, grabbed the picture of of George Washington, and you know, ran it out of the city. She, you know, took some treasures with her. That that picture still hangs in the White House today. And um so she got out of town.
The British troops entered the capital. They went into the White House. There was already a dinner that had was laid out for the president. That’s how quickly the the government had to escape. I mean, there was food on the table. The the British officers ate the food, ate the feast, and then they burned the White House. They burned the Capitol building, burned the treasury building, burned the Library of Congress, [clears throat] and it would have totally burned to the ground, and they would have burned other things except something suddenly happened.
The sky darkened and there was a massive storm. was described as a hurricane that then spawned into a tornado and had descended upon the city. The downpour was so heavy that it doused the flames of the buildings that the British had set on these important buildings. The the rain extinguished most of the fires and saving them from complete destruction. But the storm also produced a tornado and the tornado caused major structural damage knocking down chimneys and fences and uh roofs were being blown off described as uh whisked into the air like sheets of paper. And some houses were completely leveled or collapsed, burying both British officers and uh AmericanI civilians under the debris.
And the high winds tore the roofs off the the post, the general post office and the patent office buildings. And the storm was actually powerful enough to lift at least two heavy cannons off the ground and toss them away. Hundreds of nav uh of Royal Navy vessels were damaged in the storm and it was said that the hurricane crippled Britain’s naval forces. A number of sailors were killed during the storm and uh it said that there were more British soldiers the past that that died from
The storm than died from the you know the fighting that the limited fighting that took place and the British said that it was obvious that the storm’s violence was aimed directly at them. It was said that the the immense force of the wind dispersed the British column as if it had been carried away. The powerful winds and flying debris reportedly killed more British soldiers than the American resistance had during the battle. The storm combined with the damage and confusion forced the British forces to abandon their plans to continue destroying the city and they retreated to their ships ending their 26-hour occupation.
God’s love for America 35 min mark
So the this is just like you know three miracles. There are scads [snorts] of miracles that have taken place where God has expressed his divine providence. [snorts] Why would he do that? Why would he do that? Well, I can think of two really good reasons. One, because he loves this country. You know, when I was praying about this message, you know, God, why do you want me to say, uh, the thing that immediately came into my mind was, tell my people how much I love my country. That’s what he wants to tell you today. Wants to express to you how much he loves this country. Yes, we’ve been full of sin and corruption and all kinds of things, but when he looks upon us, he does see us as special. And then the other thing is is that we’re special because he has a special purpose for us, a special plan. And he want he still wants to fulfill that plan. And he wants to fulfill it through us. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that exciting?
I can see that I’ve gotten way behind on my slides. Those soccer players had to listen to a lot. I’m so sorry. They were good slides, too.
>> Yeah, that’s a good slide, is it? That’s pretty cool. The White House didn’t burn all the way to the ground because it’s made out of stone, but all the all the inside burn.
Washington’s views on divine providence 37 min mark
All right. George Washington said in his Thanksgiving proclamation of 1789, it 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 favors. And in a letter to Brigadier General Thomas Nelson regarding the Revolutionary War, he said, “The hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, this being the Revolutionary War, that a person must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.” And the obligations are obligations to show humble reverence, loyalty, obedience, and deep gratitude to God. God created our nation for a special purpose within his big story. And he isn’t finished with us yet.
American cultural values and distinctives 38 min mark
Then there’s the miracles that have taken place, but there’s also the miracle of American culture itself. [snorts] What is America? What is America? Now, if I asked you that question, you you might have different answers than me. So, I’m just putting up here a few ideas. The this isn’t an exhaustive list, and you may not agree with every single one of them, but it’s something to to think about and talk about. When I think what is America, I think that there are certain values that are distinctives for our country. liberty and freedom, free will, choice, the value of life. Now, I understand with the things that have taken place over the last 40, 50 years with the with abortion rights and all those types of things, we may think, well, no, you know, that our country no longer has a value for life. Yes, we do. At our root, we have a value for life. We’ve just been lied to about what life is in the womb. But we have a value of life. We believe in equality under the law. Even though it’s not it doesn’t always work out that way, the value is still there. It’s it it’s a core value. We believe in individual rights and responsibility. We believe in independence. We believe in limited government. We believe in social mobility that we’re not stuck in a cast system. that we have the ability, if we put in hard work, we have the ability to rise up and become all that God’s called us to be. We have the value of personal property and ownership. And we have the value of ingenuity and creativity.
I think that there are also some cultural distinctives. And again, you may not agree with these. That’s entirely fine. But I believe in general as a culture, we are the Americans are friendly. We’re helpful. We want to help other people. We want to help people in need. We are a giving people and a forgiving people. We are courteous. We are courageous. But we are direct in our communication and how we act. And that can be a little offensive to some cultures.
American character outside Silicon Valley 41 min mark
Now, I understand you may be looking at these lists and go, “Well, this isn’t the neighborhood that I live in. This isn’t the job that I work at. These aren’t the values.” You know, I understand that. Um, I would like to just put an idea in your mind that Silicon Valley is not a accurate description of America. This is a different country that we live in.
>> It really is. You go to almost anywhere else in the country, it’s totally different. People are friendly, helpful, giving, courteous, courageous. They are all those things. You just have to get outside this valley to find it.
These distinctives, the values and cultural distinctives are to a great extent rooted in an expression of the biblical world worldview that’s in our cultural DNA from our founding fathers. It’s also a testimony of the Holy Spirit who’s actively working through his nation and his people even if they don’t all cooperate with him or recognize his working. I’m positive on America and I’m hopeful for its future. Are you?
Signs of spiritual awakening 42 min mark
>> I see many people that are turning away from immoral paradigms and embracing biblical values. Statistics are out that many, many young people, especially young men, are returning to the church right now and to the Bible. Can you see it happening? Can you sense it in your spirit? There’s been a shift. We are in a great awakening. I think I don’t want to over over step, you know, I I don’t want to oversp speak it or over promise, but I think we’re in a in the beginning stages of a great awakening.
Nehemiah rebuilds Jerusalem’s walls 43 min mark
Awesome. Today, uh, I suppose since this is a a worship service on a Sunday morning, I should probably give you a little bit of, uh, Bible teaching, huh? [laughter] But, uh, uh, I can see the clock is is running quickly here, so I’m just going to move through some things pretty quickly. Um the books the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah actually was they were originally one book and at some point they got separated into two. And u in Ezra and Nehemiah we find Zerubbable at the permission and actually command of King Cyrus returned from Babylon uh to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. And then Ezra returned about 60 years later to restore the Torah and to restore community. And then it was later that Nehemiah returned to rebuild the city wall. He got reports from those who came from Jerusalem that the walls were broken down, the gates were burned, and the people were in great distress and reproach. They were vulnerable to their enemies.
So what did Nehemiah do? Well, he prayed and he repented for the sins of his people before God. But then he went to the king. He sought and found favor with the earthly king Artiseres. And then he traveled to Jerusalem and assessed the damage. Then he gathered the people together. And this is what he said to the people. Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. Come, come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God, which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.
So Nehemiah recounted the hand of his God which had been good upon him. And I think this is essential. A recounting of God’s work and God’s goodness is essential for the health of a nation. And he inspired the people to rise up out of the ashes and out of despair and to have hope and motivation to build once again.
Opposition to God’s work 45 min mark
But when he did that there were three gentlemen but two that are mentioned most often and that is Sand Ballot and Tobaya. San Ballot and Tobaya attempted discouraged the work of God being carried out through Nehemiah and the people. We read, “But when Sam Balot the Horonite, Tobaya the Ammonite official, and Gisham the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” [laughter] They were marginalizing what Nehemiah and the people were going to be doing. This is a trick of the enemy. This is what the enemy does in our lives. He tries to, oh yeah, go ahead and play church, but you don’t really have power. You don’t really have authority. You really can’t change your world. You can’t really get people saved. But just, you know, you know,
have fun. Come to church. Wor, you know, worship God. You’ll do fine. [laughter] This marginalization that the enemy brings. And how did Nehemiah respond? Oh, yeah. You’re right. Yeah, I guess that’s we shouldn’t do this. No. So I answered them and said to them, “The God of heaven himself will prosper us. Therefore, we his servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.” Well, that’d be a good one to say to the devil.
The ridicule and mockery 47 min mark
Then we read, “But it so happened when Sim Valad heard that we were rebuilding the wall that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of of Samaria and said, ‘What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish? Stones that are burned? Now, Tobaya the Ammonite was beside him and said, ‘Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down the stone wall.’ It’s this ridicule and mockery that took place. And that’s what the enemy does to us. He brings ridicule and mockery to us. And what is our response? What was Nehemiah’s response?
Nehemiah said, “Hear, O God, for we are despised. Turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity. Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they had provoked you to anger before the builders.” So we built the wall. We built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height. for the people had a mind to work.
The threat of attack 49 min mark
So that this ridicule and mockery then it we go it it goes on now it happened when Sbalot Tobaya the Arabs the Ammonites and the Ashadites that’s not easy to say heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were being beginning to be closed that they became very angry and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. the threat of attack. And what was Nehemiah’s response? Oh, gee, you this is getting too dangerous. This is too hard. Uh, we better be careful. I really got to care for, you know, for God’s people. Uh, you know, we’ve got to we got to, you know, we got to watch out for liabilities and we got to, you know, make, you know, all the stuff that we go through today. You know, we got to cover all our bases to make sure that we’re not vulnerable and, you know, did he respond that way? No. He said, “Nevertheless, we made our prayer to God, and because of them, we set a watch against them day and night.”
Doubt from within 50 min mark
Then it goes on, then Judas said, “The strength of the laborers. Now we’ve got people inside. Now it’s no longer uh Sam, Balon, and Tobaya. Now it’s people inside the congregation, if you will, that are now starting to have doubts. They’ve heard the lies and they bought into them. They’ve come into agreement with them and now they’re starting to worry. Then Judas said, “The strength of the laborers is failing and there is so much rubbish that we’re not able to build the wall.” And our adversary said, “They will neither know nor see anything till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”
[snorts] So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came that they told us 10 times, from whatever place you turn, they will be upon us. And this is Nehemiah’s response. Therefore, I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall at the openings, and I set the people according to their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid of the spiritual warfare that we are in. Do not be afraid of the attacks. Do not be afraid of our culture that says we’re weird and that we’re [clears throat] uh, you know, all the adjectives. Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord great and awesome and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. Fight.”
And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had brought their plot to nothing that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at construction while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor. And the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall, and those who carry burdens loaded themselves, so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built, and the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. Do we have our swords at our side? The sword of the spirit.
The wall completed in 52 days 52 min mark
Well, it continued from there. And I’m not going to go into uh any more of this. The sand ballot and Tobaya and their cohorts continued with extortion, with compromise, with slander, and with treachery. And we find in Nehemiah 6 where Nehemiah says, “So the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul in 52 days.” 52 days. That’s a miracle. And it happened when all of our enemies heard of it and all the nations around us saw these things that they were very disheartened in their own eyes. For they perceived that this work was done by our God.
Modern deconstructionism and the nation 53 min mark
So in our day we have San Bots and Tobias attempting to thwart forth the work of God in our nation. There’s a highly organized and heavily funded effort to destroy our nation by destroying the will, the hope, and the vision of its people. Have you been awakened to that yet? They do it using what’s called deconstructionism, focusing on the negatives of our country and disregarding all the abundance of positives in order to tear us down, the nation down or the people down in the opinion of others.
They’ve done it through the educational system over the years. They’ve educated our children to hate our country. They’ve done it through the media. Every news story is something about how bad our nation is. They’ve done it through government leaders. They’ve done it through public policy. This is not by accident or coincidence. or merely a difference in political parties or opinions or the news media’s attempt to as as we learned from Benjamin Franklin at the movie the other night soothe or stroke the masses in order to make money. It is a concerted and wellorganized effort by those who hate our nation because of what it stands for and who we stand for.
But ultimately these people that are doing these things are not our adversaries. Not the people, but Satan and the demonic influences working through these cultural influencers using the deconstruction. Will we continue to listen to the lies of the Sambalots and the Tobias of our age who seek to deconstruct our nation in the minds and hearts of its people? Or will we be people who listen are and are inspired by our nation’s nemas, our George Whitfields, if you will, to have a mind at work, working shouldertosh shoulder with our families at our side to build God’s kingdom within our nation.
Fighting for our nation 55 min mark
Sorry, got behind again. Remember the Lord. Remember the Lord great and awesome. And fight. Fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. Fight.
Understanding the revelations of corruption 56 min mark
I know this is a difficult time because we see all kinds of things being revealed right now. There are reports of indictments and of fraud and corruption reported daily. And California is perhaps the the worst that awaits to be seen. And likely treason and even crimes against humanity will be revealed soon. Are you aware of that? Have you been awakened to that?
You know, I I I know that when you hear these things, it can be, “Oh, our country is so bad. Oh, things are so bad. Oh, no. No. Get your head out of that. Don’t buy into that. Understand that these things have been going on for years and years and years. What’s happening right now is not the things are getting worse. What’s happening right now is that all these things that have been there are now being uncovered. We’ve been praying the prayer, you know, God forgive us of our national sins. We’ve been re repenting for our national sins, asking for for him to revive us and to renew us. And that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s pulling the lid off of this garbage pale and showing us what’s there in order to to condemn us, make us feel bad. No. In order to empty the garbage and to get that pale cleaned out.
Oh, I’m I am I am so stoked. I’m grateful for the uncovering and the revealing of the things that have been hidden. Are you? Oh, please, please rejoice in what you see and what you hear and feel good about your country again. celebrate our nation’s birthday. Appreciate this great land that God has given to us and don’t feel guilty about it or feel condemned because of because of this Christian nationalism, you know, type thing. Oh, I could go on a long time about that, but I won’t. Just get rid of all that. be glad for who we are and for what God has made
us to be and the calling upon our lives as a nation and as individuals. At this time, I’d like to call up uh Eric Thorson and Tracy Falcosa, and they’re going to actually lead us as we’re closing up the service. They’re going to lead us all in singing America the Beautiful. And Mike, you’re running that from the back. Yeah. Okay. All stand. Oh, beautiful for spacious [music] skies, for [singing] amber waves of grain, for purple [music] mountain [singing] majesty above the fruited plain. [singing] America, America. [singing] God shed his grace [music] on thee and crown [singing] thy [music] good with brotherhood from [singing] sea to shining sea. [music] Oh [singing] beautiful for pilgrim [music] feet who [singing] stern impassion [music] stress a thorough [singing] fair for freom beat across the wildness. [singing] America, [singing] America. God [singing] man thine every flaw. Confirm [singing] thy soul in selfont control. [music] Thy liberty [singing] in law. Oh beautiful [singing] for heroes proved [music] in liberating strife. [singing] Who [music] more than self their country loved and mercy more than [singing] lies. [music] America, [singing] America. May God thy [music] gold refined, till all [singing] success [music] be noessless and [singing] every [music] gain divine. So [singing] beautiful for patriot dream [singing] that sees [music] beyond the years. Thine [singing] now cities lean [music] und by human tears. >> [singing] >> America, America. God [singing] shed his grace on thee and crown [singing] thy good with brotherhood from [singing and music] sea to shining sea. >> [singing] [music] [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Thank you, Tracy. You can uh Well, that’s fine. Let me just close out in prayer and then uh at this time, the worship team, if you could come on up and prepare for our our last worship set, and the rest of us can pray. Lord, thank you for our nation. Thank you for hearing our prayers of repentance over the many years. Thank you for uncovering the the veil, the evil, and the corruption. Thank you that you’re taking what is wrong and making it right. Thank you, Lord God, that you are extending your divine providence into our nation. We thank you for the great awakening, the hunger for God that’s taking place that we’re beginning to see in our land. And we say, “Bring it on, Lord. More, Lord, more, Lord. And if you would please give us the privilege and honor of joining you in that that we might see multitudes come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior through our acts individually and through the various ministries of this church. Lord may people come to know you as Lord and Savior. May people who are dead in their religion may have been estranged from the church for many years. May they be reawakened and be drawn Lord God back to you. especially our prodals. Lord, move upon this land, Lord, in a mighty powerful way. Thank you, Lord. We rejoice in you. Thank you for this country in Jesus name. >> Amen.