Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday evening, July 13, 2003, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia.
WE HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD IN OUR CREATION AS A NATION
By Michael D. O’Neal Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church Albany, Georgia
Scripture Reading: Psalms 75:1-10
Text: Psalms 75:7
Psalms 75:7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
Introduction: Last week I preached to you on the subject, “Symptoms of Memory Loss in a Nation.” Those symptoms were: 1. A loss of praise; 2. A loss of purity; 3. A loss of prayer; 4. A loss of peace; and 5. A loss of perception.
One of the duties of a preacher is to stir God’s people to remember what they should remember and to forget what they should forget.
I want to remind our church people to be loyal to the commandments of God, to Christ and the church of God, and to the country in which we live. We pledge allegiance to the flags in that order in our Christian school, and I invite you tonight to join us in saying the pledges to the King James Bible, the Christian flag, and the U.S. flag:
King James Bible
I pledge allegiance to the King James Bible, God’s holy word. I will make it a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I will hide its words in my heart, that I might not sin against God.
Christian Flag
I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to our Savior for which it stands. I will live for Him, and look for His soon return, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
The U.S. Flag
I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Let’s not forget God!
Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
I believe many of us have forgotten God! One of the areas in which we have forgotten Him is in our creation as a nation.
I. WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT WE WERE CREATED BY THE MERCY OF GOD
Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
Deuteronomy 4:31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Deuteronomy 9:5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The founders of our country were noble men. They were great men. However, it is also true that to some degree,
A. Our fathers were sinners
B. Our fathers were selfish
C. Our fathers, many of them, were slaveholders
They ALL needed the mercy of God!
II. WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT WE WERE CREATED BY MANIFESTATIONS OF GRACE
Exodus 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
A. The finding of the land by Europeans in 1492
B. The founding of the first colony at Jamestown (in what is now Virginia) by the English in 1607
C. The fighting with France that ended in an English victory in 1773
D. The fight for independence from England that ended in American victory
III. WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT WE WERE CREATED BY MEN OF GRIT, GUTS, AND GODLINESS
Genesis 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
Some of the earliest founders of America were the Pilgrims.