Faithful Stewardship: Praying for Our Nation's Revival

**The Establishment of a New Nation and a New Way of Life**

On the 4th of July, the United States of America celebrates Independence Day, a day that holds immense significance in the hearts and minds of Americans across the country. This day marks the birth of a nation and carries profound importance in our history and collective identity. On the 4th of July 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, a document that proclaimed the 13 American colonies as a new nation free from the oppressive rule of the British Empire. This declaration was a bold statement, a declaration of our inherent rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was a radical and courageous act that set the stage for the establishment of a new nation and a new way of life.

We welcome Brigadier General Murray Hansen to talk briefly about this special day. We invite all guests to fill out the guest card in the pew in front of them and drop it in the offering bag on the way out. We also invite all guests to check out the bulletin and see if there is a way to connect with us in the future.

We wish everyone a happy Independence Day weekend! The Fourth of July serves as a powerful reminder of the sacrifices made by our founding fathers and countless others who fought for the ideals of freedom and justice. It reminds us of the men and women who risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and future generations. It is a day to honor the courage and determination that birthed a nation.

But the Fourth of July is not merely a commemoration of the past; it's a call to action, an invitation to reflect on the meaning of liberty and the responsibilities it entails. As citizens of this great nation, we have the duty to uphold the values that our forefathers fought for, to ensure that every individual enjoys the same rights and opportunities now and in the future, regardless of their background or circumstances.

Today we celebrate not just our independence, but also the unity and diversity that defines us as a nation. The Fourth of July is a testament to the strength of our collective identity, transcending differences of race, religion, or ideology. It is a reminder that despite our challenges and disagreements, we are bound together by a common purpose and shared belief in principles of freedom, equality, and justice.

Moreover, the Fourth of July reminds us of the power of democracy. It's an opportunity to reflect on the importance of active civic engagement and to appreciate the privilege of participating and shaping the future of our nation. We must exercise our rights to vote, to hold our leaders accountable, and actively contribute to the betterment of our communities.

The Fourth of July encourages us to cherish and protect our democratic institutions, for they are the safeguards of our liberties. Today we are in the absolute fight of our generation to maintain our basic freedoms and human rights. The challenge, really the question, is whether you are an active patriot and participant or a passive one.

In conclusion, the Fourth of July is not just a date on the calendar; it's a symbol of our nation's journey, a celebration of our hard-fought freedom, and a reminder of the responsibilities we bear as citizens. It's upon us to remember our past, appreciate our present, and work towards a better future for all Americans. Let us honor the sacrifices of our ancestors, cherish the values they fought for, and strive to continue building and maintaining a society that truly embodies the principles of liberty, sovereignty, and justice. Happy Independence Day!

We stand here today to honor our fallen heroes. Our kingdom stands on one savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe. Now we will play Taps to honor our fallen heroes. The Color Guard is dismissed. Thank you, thank you. You may be seated. The band will now play the tribute to the Armed Forces. If you are here in uniform or have served in the Armed Forces, we invite you to stand as you hear your theme played. Thank you. God bless America.

We will pause and give thanks in Your name. Every blessing, everybody. Glorious day. This is Jesus. Listen to me. Give it take away. God will choose to say, "Blessed be Your Name." Jesus, whatever, I don't know what You'll do, but I know what You've done. The sea is raging, Your spirit is tonight. But I know it's You who died. Baby, I will come. Inside me, it's just going to sing. Take my place. Whatever, I'm sorry. Jesus Christ. Christmas Amenities.

I'm Nick Ayers, my wife Jamie, and our three kids. We've been here for almost 20 years, the kids for 10 years. On behalf of our family, we want to again say thank you to all military who are serving in the Middle East and around the world, and we pray for their safety and their protection and their courage and their strength, and we pray for their families back home. Father, we thank You for the men and women who serve in our military and in our police forces and in our fire departments and in our hospitals and in our schools and in our churches and in our businesses and in our government and in our communities.

Thank you to all who have served to defend and protect this nation. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank You for a nation that over 200 years ago our first commander-in-chief commissioned the first flag that simply said an appeal to heaven. Lord, my heart breaks to think what flags we would commission today and yet, Father, like the song we just sang, we can have joy because we know the battle's already been won. We're fighting a battle that You've already won. So, Lord, instead of watching the darkness around this nation, the corruption that is so deep and so embedded in so many of the institutions that used to be a beacon of hope for this world, instead of being downtrodden or depressed or full of despair, Lord, we can be full of hope and joy because we know that in Your sovereignty what is meant for evil will be used for good.

And so, Father, those of us who have the privilege, the truly life-saving miracle of Your salvation, let us be the light in the darkness. Lord, please teach us in these times to not be focused on what we read and see on social media and what's going on on the other side of the world, but Lord, simply be the hands and feet of Christ of what You've called us to today, not to borrow from the worries and the possibilities of tomorrow, but to do exactly what You've called us to do today.

Father, I pray that You will wake Christians up in this country to what is going on at scale in our public schools and in our public companies. That we will be wise in terms of who we let influence and train up this next generation of Americans. Father, and that we as parents and as grandparents and the citizens of this country will be equally as wise to who we're giving our money and resources to. Father, we know throughout the Old Testament what happens in the future of a nation to defy You, who turned their back onto You. And all of us this morning plead that You will create an awakening in this country that we will return to You not for the sake of economic prosperity, but Father for the sake of advancing Your kingdom and using the resources that You've blessed us with to protect freedom around the world and to share the miracle of Christ around the world. Father, that's what we pray for. We know that our salvation is not in the future of the United States of America, but we pray for its blessing, Lord, because we want it to be used as a powerful tool for Your kingdom.

And so, we pray for this nation. We thank You for this nation. Father, I thank You for a pastor, a faithful pastor of this church who once a year, because he immigrated here, Lord, it's often those who come here who are more thankful for what many of us were born with. And I thank You for Dr. Youssef and his family and how they seek not only to honor and serve You, but how much they love this country. We thank You for the men and women, the children, the families of the Ar'yab military who are serving in the Middle East and around the world, and we pray for their safety and their protection and their courage and their strength, and we pray for their families back home.

We pray blessings and peace and safety for those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice, and for their families both here and abroad. Father, we thank You for the men and women who are still willing to put on a law enforcement uniform. Without them defending the rule of law at home, it's impossible to have a republic. We plead for their safety. Lord, I pray that not one person would walk out of this Sanctuary without accepting Jesus Christ unless they already have. We all ask the same question, which is we're rotten sinners but You have saved us anyway. We pray for Dr. Youssef's sermon and that not a word will be said would actually come from him, but it would be from You. We pray that we would leave here today motivated, excited, full of joy and hope to serve You. We thank You again that the battle has already been won.

Today, we have the privilege of focusing on worshiping the Lord through our giving through our tithes and offerings. We celebrate the freedoms that we have because of the sacrifice of so many. As we listen to this song, called "Love is the Reason," I want you to think about in your life whether as a parent, a sibling, a neighbor, a close loved one, a friend that has served and poured into your life over the years. I want you to think about how you can serve others and how you can give of yourself to others. Maybe you think about someone that you know that has served in the military and served this country. Most of all, as we say when we think about this song, I want us to remember the ultimate gift and the ultimate sacrifice that was given and poured out for every single one of us by Jesus two thousand years ago. This is called "Love is the Reason."

Mama dragged us to church every Sunday, heaven knows I didn't want to go. Preach it talk too long and I didn't like those songs. Deep down in her soul love is the reason. Love is the reason. Our brothers, God's people said thank you Lord, thank you Mac and team. We're about to celebrate the 247th birthday of America and so many people, amen. So many people are saying this is not the same America I knew. Others say I hardly recognize my country anymore. Whatever happened to us? Certainly, this is not the America as envisaged by the founding fathers. The founding fathers who pledged their honor and their fortune and even their lives to found the freest and the most generous nation known to man. They would not recognize the America of the 2020s. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion curtailed and they're constantly going back to the Supreme Court again and again and again to restore it but they won't take it away from us. Political leadership is self-serving, not people-serving. Utter confusion ruling supreme in all aspects of life. We are now among the greatest and the largest detonation in the world. Many of the founding fathers' foundational stones are being demolished. Enterprise and personal responsibility are giving way to extortion, intimidation, and bullying. To make things worse, the right is now called wrong and the wrong is glorified. Morality and ethics have become as rare as snow falling on Peachtree in July.

Our great faithful military is now subjected to social experiments and social engineering. Good men and women who faithfully served are now stopped from joining the military, replaced by weak and ideologues. Even churches holding drag queens Story Time for Kids one happened last week just half an hour, half a mile from us here. Men who claim to be women are praised for it. Our parades are not honoring the heroes but glorifying sin and immorality. The Founder's dream for a church not to be under the tyranny of a rogue government has now become a nightmare of silencing faithful Christians. The open encouragement for the mockery of the Christian faith, the Christian values, and the Christian morality has now become the norm. Oh, we have come a long way in 247 years but not the right way. 247 years ago those 56 courageous men who fixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence did so in total dependence on God alone. Unashamedly they declared that with firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other.

Our Founding Fathers sacrificed so much to give us this blessed land. They knew that if they succeeded, it would mean many years of hardship and struggle, but if they failed, they would have to face the hangman's noose. History can testify to the fact that very few of them survived long after the Declaration of Independence. Five of them were captured during the course of the Revolutionary War, twelve of them had their homes ransacked and burnt, one had his son killed in the war, and nine of the 56 died during the War of Independence.

Young people need to know this. They need to be taught what brought us to this blessed land we call America. Those men who founded this great country had varying degrees of faith in God, and yet they all believed that it is better to live under God's authority than man's tyranny. They believed that to be born free and live free is a great privilege, and they knew that to die free is an awesome responsibility.

Now we are mocking people who are privileged. I am very privileged to live in this land of the free and the home of the brave. I have very little time for those who bad mouth America, those who want us to live in the past, those who want us to wallow in the failure of the past, those who are ungrateful and unregenerate, those who deny all that America has given them, and those who deny the sacrifices of the men and women that have made in order that we can be free today. Certainly, they are ungrateful to those who paid the ultimate price with their lives so that we can be free.

Compare this to modern politicians today who enter into politics with literally a few dollars in their bank account and by the time they serve they have become wealthy and powerful. Yet, these politicians are protecting their own wealth and demand that hard-working men and women fork out the hard-earned money to people who can work but refuse to do so.

On this 247th anniversary of the birth of this great nation, I want us to look at the scripture and examine what it means to be a citizen of Heaven but also to be a good faithful steward and citizen of the country. To do all the shenanigans they are doing, those are the men who died to give us that very freedom. Because of the privilege I feel because of the benefits I have gained because of the blessings that their sacrifice afforded me, I feel a sense of responsibility of carrying the torch and legacy to the next generation.

Before you start accusing me of being confused or before you accuse me as some have as a right-wing nationalist, I need to hasten to say that I'm not confused. I don't confuse America with my ultimate home in heaven. I'm not confusing my earthly freedom with my ultimate freedom that's only in Christ Jesus. I'm not confusing my sense of privilege of living in America with the highest privilege of my eternal salvation that is in Christ alone. I'm not confusing this earthly life with my eternal home. I am not confusing my citizenship of heaven with my citizenship here on the earth. I know I know that I'm accused of being a right-wing zealot, just read some of the websites others have called me white supremacists. All I can say about this is they're colorblind if they confuse me with a suntan. Sweet, they need to go and see an eye doctor get their eyes examined. Because I speak truth and because they have rejected the truth they throw out at me all sorts of false accusations. I want the members to turn to the visitors and say he's not confused. I have and I'll continue as long as God gives me breath to burn the candle on both ends to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. God gives us the answer. Thank God I don't have to come up with the answer.

Turn with me please to Jeremiah chapter 29. As you're finding it in your Bibles or an iPhone or iPad, Jeremiah spoke to God's people who had been taken captive into exile in Babylon. For hundreds of years prior to the Babylonian exile, God had been patient with His people, sending prophet after prophet to plead with them, implore them, and warn them to stop being unfaithful to Yahweh and turn to the one true God. Despite this, they continued to compromise their faith and worship false gods and Yahweh, and God allowed a pagan, godless power to rule supreme.

Recently, Nick and I have been texting each other about our members going through the Bible, the Chronological Bible daily. Nick was going through this and he said this reminds him of our day. I said yes, except I believe that we will not be taken captives into a foreign land, but we will be captives inside our own land.

It breaks my heart, but this is a warning from God. If you open your eyes, you will see how companies, corporations, and institutions are willing to sacrifice billions of dollars in losses in order to please the pagan gods of sexual perversion and demonic invasion. In August, I will be talking about this new world order and the world economic forums and the Tower of Babel. Time has never changed, and people don't change. Whenever someone sets up an arrival to God deal, it will always be met with resistance.

God told His people in the land of demonic gods to be faithful citizens and good stewards even in the midst of their exile. He said, "Seek the peace and the prosperity of the city in which I have carried you into exile." Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days before the return of the Son of Man." He proved His love and hung on the cross, a sinless, perfect Son of Man, died for sinners. The day is now if you have never committed your life to Jesus Christ.

Believers on Earth are in a general sense an exile, travelers on their way home to heaven. This does not mean that we do nothing while we wait to go home to heaven. We must be occupying, as Jesus said. There are misguided people on both sides of the spectrum, on the left we have people who hate America and wish its demise, and on the right we have people who say America has turned away from God and it deserves God's judgment. Others still have misplaced their hope and placed it on politicians.

Mercy and grace and power and might and authority He reversed it and He reversed it in one day and He can do it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again 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