If My People

We are on a Sabbath day, which is always a day to give thanks to God. But this particular Sabbath is a week before our National Day of Thanksgiving here in the United States, which personally, I've always had a...this is my favorite time of year, other than any of the Holy Days, but in terms of just a national holiday, I've always appreciated and enjoyed Thanksgiving.

And the way we do it in America is a unique American holiday that we have, and it has become...actually, I'm pleased to say even larger through the years, for many reasons, but people can come together without necessarily the trappings of religion, even though their God is invoked, and Thanksgiving is a very important theme to God. The way many Americans keep it today is kind of a family reunion, and it allows people to get together with different ideas and faith, and even if they're in families, everybody gets together when they may not get together throughout the rest of the year.

So it's become a major holiday for us, and certainly for us in the Church, it shouldn't have extra spiritual meaning as we think about this. But this year is a year that has been quite interesting, but fall now 2016. We, I think, can have extra cause to stop and to consider not only our blessings and the material abundance that we do have in this great land, but also at the end of a very bitter and rancorous political season that went on for more than a year, the campaigning for the presidency of the United States, and now less than two weeks ago, finally decided with the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.

But I think all of us, as we watched it and viewed it, and we realized that it was a very bitter, very bitter campaign. And for many, a surprise as to who won. For others, it was not a surprise. But be that as it may, it has been probably in my adult life and for many of yours as well, it may be one to remember.

Let's just put it that way and leave it where it is without getting too far into politics. But beyond politics, it has exposed a number of other matters. The United Church of God for the last year has been involved in a series of public appearance campaigns, personal appearance campaigns, with our Beyond Today presenters, where we have taken the message of Beyond Today to our cities, and we've had a theme called America the Time is Now. And it has been a particularly appropriate theme to talk to as many as we can through our articles and through a public appearance campaign, inviting the public to come to listen to a message that we feel is very important from God regarding the state of America today.

And to also hear God's purpose and plan for mankind, and specifically man's purpose before God, and for people to be exposed to that. So we've put together what we feel is a very compact and effective message that not only deals with the current events and a bit of the prophetic element, but also the all-important matter of why were you born, and what is God doing, and a call to repentance.

We talk about the Sabbath. We talk about people turning from their present lives, and beginning to obey God and to keep the commandments of God and the law of God. So we've pulled old punches in the time that we have as we seek to engage what has been a diverse audience of subscribers and other interested individuals who have come out and have been quite enlightening for us.

But we put this together with a very deep conviction that there is a moment, there is an opportunity for us in the Church of God to take a message to our cities and to America and to—we've even taken it to Canada and Steve Myers took it to South Africa just prior to this year's Feast of Tabernacles. But we feel convicted that there is a moment, that there is a time right now for America to have an opportunity to hear the Gospel and for those that God is calling to have an opportunity to repent and to learn about their purpose in their life.

And so we're doing what we can to take that and to highlight that particular message. And so, as we stop and think about that and the period of time we've just gone through and what we can learn from it, as we stop for a moment in a national day of thanksgiving and consider all of this together, let's look at a few scriptural matters to help understand exactly where we are and what our attitudes should be about our country, our God, and ourselves.

I'd like for you to begin by turning back to 2 Chronicles 6. 2 Chronicles 6 is the prayer that the King Solomon made at the time of the dedication of the temple that God allowed him to build in Jerusalem. And it's a very, very detailed and very poignant prayer where he blessed the whole assembly in verse 3 and he thanked God that he was able to build this temple. Remember, God had not allowed his father David to build a temple because of his wars and that he was a bloody man and some of his own sins kept him from doing it.

But God allowed Solomon to do it. And Solomon's prayer, beginning in verse 12 here of 2 Chronicles 6, goes through a lot of detail. I'm not going to read all of it. I just want to point out a few things that he says. As he opens the prayer, he stood before the altar of the Lord in verse 12, in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. Solomon had made a bronze platform and he goes on to describe the size of it. Verse 14, he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like you who keep your covenant and mercy with your servants, who walk before you with all their hearts.

He goes on to talk about the promises that he made to David in keeping that that they could build this temple. He goes on to talk about God's presence upon the people in the land. Verse 19, yet regards the prayer of your servant and of his supplication, O Lord, my God. Verse 24, he says, If your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you and returned and confessed your name and prayed and made supplication before you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land which you gave them and their fathers.

When the heavens are shut up and when there's no rain because they've sinned against you when they pray toward this place, meaning this temple, and confess your name and turn from their sin because you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, that you may teach them the good way to which they should walk and send rain on their land which you have given to your people as an inheritance. He repeats this as he goes through in this prayer that when the people would sin, God please hear when they repent and return your blessing and to watch over them.

And he concludes the prayer in verse 41, O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed. Remember the mercies of your servant David. And in chapter 7 in verse 1, it continues, God's presence was in that temple, what is called in history the first temple, and God's presence was there. There was a second temple later rebuilt, the one which Christ came, but the one thing that was missing in that second temple, you never read in the Bible where God filled it with his presence like it says he did here in verse 1 of chapter 7.

And so God honored that prayer as Solomon gave it. Now down to verse 12 in chapter 7. It says, God comes to Solomon by night, And I've chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. God honored that. His name was there. His name was upon the people. It is my place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

So he kind of repeats all that Solomon had said that when that would happen and if it would happen, then verse 14 is the key. God said, This statement here in verse 14 has been made into a very lovely hymn. Some of you may have heard that song through the Bible. Some through the years. It's kind of a traditional hymn. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, it's a very beautiful hymn that is here. But I appreciate Isaac's sermonette. He hit the key of humility and we hadn't talked about this prior. And so I can say, I think that God was guiding both of us to come to kind of focus on this theme here and the messages today here. But the statement that God makes is that if my people... Now there's no time limit on this. It did not... certainly we will find... you can find through the history of Israel instances where, obviously, Israel and the nation of Judah, they send. There were times when they had revivals under certain righteous kings and they repented. They returned to God and their borders were secure. But when they send, they did have famine. They did have pestilence. They were attacked by foreign nations. And then there would be times under righteous kings such as Hezekiah, where there would be a return, a revival. And even the nation of Israel to the north under Jeroboel II even had an experience in a time of revival. At least in terms of power, not even... not really repentance, but even... but of national greatness. But we can find instances where God honored this. But my point is that it's not just limited to the ancient nation of Israel.

This is a statement that has application today. If my people who are called by my name humble and pray, I will hear. This is a statement and a promise that can apply today. And we should think about that as we think about where our country is today, where the world is, where we are in the long plan of God's purpose and plan that prophecy shows us, and certainly the critical events that we as a people are living through in a very pivotal period of American and world history. That God says that those who are called by my name, if they call upon me, He will hear.

Now, we believe and we understand that America is a nation blessed by God. And we even have that so deeply embedded within our national history in so many different ways. But those upon whom God's name rests have also a time of judgment upon them. Judgment is not just always something bad in terms of a punishment. Judgment also involves a time period of examination. Peter writes about the Church of God today. He says judgment is now upon the house of God.

Those who are the called of God today are having their time of judgment. And that's not always a bad thing. What it means is, this is our time of our calling and of our relationship with God and His grace upon us even. The rest of the peoples of the world will have a time of judgment in what the Bible calls a great white throne judgment period. And the books will be open to understand.

But we in the Church have had an understanding that the promises that God made to Abraham have been fulfilled upon the people of Israel, even descendants of Abraham in a modern setting. That explains why America has become the single greatest power that has ever existed in the world today. And why, despite all of our mistakes and problems, despite all of our successes and accomplishments, we are the, still, the single most powerful nation, militarily, politically, and economically in the world today.

Why you and I have the standard of living and the blessings that we have. There's a reason for that. We understand what that is. And it also brings a very serious responsibility because of what God says. In Genesis 48 is the key event from the life of Jacob where he put his name upon the sons of Joseph. Genesis 48, where Joseph brings his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who his father Jacob and Jacob puts his hand upon them and he blesses them. He crosses his hand and he puts his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, the younger, and Manasseh gets the left hand, but he's the older.

But he says that Ephraim will be a company of nations and Manasseh will become a single great nation. In verse 16, as he blessed Joseph and he said in verse 15, God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, a God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lands, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. I'm not going to go through all the rest of this particular episode, but just to focus upon verse 16 where Jacob blesses, and remember Jacob's name has been changed to Israel, one who prevails with God at this point, and he says, Let my name be upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. So he puts the name of Israel upon them, those who prevailed with God.

So they have not just Israel or Jacob's name upon them, but they have really the name of God upon them. And this is the key, as a part of this great blessing that is passed on to Joseph's sons and ultimately their descendants. A great amount of material wealth. More details of this are given in chapter 49, and the entire story is beyond the sketching forest here today. But the belief that America is the recipient of a large portion of these blessings to grow into a single great nation.

It has been a long-held belief of the Church, one that I personally feel is very defensible from the Bible, as well as from history, and explains so much about God's purpose and plan, as well as so much about history and even our nation today, and brings us to a point to consider exactly what all of this means, if we just focus upon the blessings and the name of God being put upon us. We all carry our wallets, coinage, and dollar bills, where we know carries the slogan, In God we trust.

In God we trust. It's always been there, at least in our memory and our knowledge. And, to be honest, when you look at the story and the history of the United States of America, there's only one God that America has ever called upon, and it is the God of Jacob, the God of Isaac, and the God of Abraham. It is not any God from any other world religion or world faith.

It has been the God of the Bible, despite revisionist history to the contrary today. There's only been one God that we have attempted to call upon when we say, In God we trust, or One Nation under God, and all the slogans that are so much a part of our American history and American culture, which also carry heavy responsibility far beyond the coinage or the slogan, because of the promises God made to Abraham. God knows the material prosperity that would bring about a certain level of pride.

He even knew that for the nation of Israel, which is why in Solomon's Prayer that it is there that if they would forget the source of their wealth and their power, and yet humble and pray, God would forgive and restore them, which again, the Bible shows has happened.

Modern history has shown that God has been faithful, manifesting and showing an enduring faithfulness to His promises to Abraham, which carry not only physical promises, but the greater spiritual promises for all of mankind. From time to time, I've had people challenge me, and I've had to answer the challenges that our belief about America and the English-speaking peoples as a whole, being the recipients of these promises to Abraham, is a racist, xenophobic, erroneous teaching.

And I've had people stand in the middle of church services and tell me that. And as I teach this to our students and teach it and write about it, I have this to say, that the fact that God has been faithful to the physical side of the promises that He made to Abraham, even down into the modern world and the fullness of those promises, is proof of certainly God's enduring promises throughout all time to Abraham and to his descendants.

But they are also proof that God will bring to all nations, all ethnicities, all races, ultimately the fullness of the promises that are made through the spiritual descendant of Abraham, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And the spiritual promises of salvation will ultimately be provided for all of mankind.

And the fact that we can trace and show the physical aspect of those promises having been fulfilled is a token of God's faithfulness that He will do all that He says He will do for all peoples, all nations, at all times. And it is the only rational, sane, graceful explanation to explain history, suffering, the inequities, even of the division of wealth in our modern world and throughout history why some have had more than others, why there have been haves and why there have been have-nots.

History cannot adequately explain that. And history has no ultimate eternal hope to offer to all the peoples who have been displaced, who have been on the, as we say, the short end of the stick throughout human experience. The Bible explains how God will rectify that. And that then provides a great measure of hope and understanding about God.

But beyond that, this concept and this statement from God that if my people, who are called by my name, will humble and pray, let's consider that for a moment to our modern setting.

Is it reasonable to expect that the United States of America will humble itself and call out to God? Is it reasonable to expect that?

Well, likely not. But let's look at America's current condition. We have a very large cultural divide. That is, as large as ever, even after eight years of America's first black president. And we have seen the evidence of that in the streets of America in recent months with shootings, rioting, and racial division. And in some areas, I haven't seen anything like it since the 1960s. Those of us that are old enough to remember the 1960s, remember what happened, especially in 1968, on the streets of America's cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the racial divisions, that of that period, I haven't seen anything that's great since then until we've come to the current situation in America. We also have class division. We have economic division. And this recent election highlighted that and even played to it. And beyond the racial or there is a class division. My wife was reading an article to me yesterday that was talking about the writer was reading the author of the article was writing about the forgotten white people of America in the areas of Pennsylvania. And they could just as easily have come down here into Kentucky and written about the forgotten white people of Eastern Kentucky, who are victims of economic blight and other problems. And I can speak first hand from it because Debbie and I used to live for two years down in Eastern Kentucky in the pipeville area. So I made that area quite well. And I know the history of the area. And so we're not unfamiliar with that. But the forgotten white class is a group of people that have been highlighted and talked about out of this recent election. And it is a real problem as well as the others as well. But that's where we are right now in America. There's a political divide, certainly. And I think one blessing out of the recent election, at least there was a decision that was very clear. And we didn't have to wind up with a split decision and go to the Supreme Court again or to the House of Representatives, which would have further aggravated the political divisions and the class division in our country. And also, thirdly, religious and moral problems. Isaiah chapter 1 hasn't gone away, in its application to our present world. And Isaiah chapter 1, beginning in verse 4, Isaiah says of Israel, a sinful nation of people laden with iniquity. Isaiah 1 and verse 4.

A brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors, and they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart thinks. From the sole of the foot even to the head. There is no sound to sin, but wounds and bruises and putrefying swords that have not been closed or bound up or sued with ointment. This is a very poetic description of the moral and religious problems that are still a part of our nation. A nation under God, but in many ways far away from any semblance of the teaching of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, despite the religiosity of America as it is. Even that is a mixture of false teaching that the prophet Amos would have a field day, or Jeremiah, or any of the other major or minor prophets, in denouncing as a deviation from the righteousness and the eternal law of God. So those things are still there in our world today. But here's where I think we are at this moment. My personal feeling is that America has been given a gift of time, a reprieve.

We've been given a gift of time. And regardless of what happens on the stock market and whether or not America will become, quote, great again, or whatever will happen out of this new presidency and what are the promises, the hopes, and what will happen, there are still, as I've said, some very deep endemic, systemic problems in American life, culture, political, religious, moral, and everywhere else. There is still a very bad world out there that is aligned against America and American interests. And there is a coming rendezvous with destiny in the sense of God's judgment unless there is a turnaround. But I still feel that we look at this from the perspective of the Bible and what God has given to His Church, that we have a period, a gift, a reprieve. And so, I ask again, could it be a chance to return to God? Could America heed a message? America, the time is now? Could it be a time for any one individual or groupings of people to call upon the name of God and receive grace? As I said, what we read back in Chronicles is timeless. It's not only just for Israel. If my people who are called by my name will humble and pray, I will hear. You know, when we look at our nation, there have been moments when a small group or a particularly gifted leader, maybe even a president, have called on the name of God to bless their work, to bless the nation, to bless this particular enterprise. And those moments are very instructive to us as part of our history. And I think at a moment of our national Thanksgiving, we need to call to mind much of that. We all know that as we have all the images of Thanksgiving, we know the turkeys and the pilgrims. Think about the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts where the pilgrims landed in 1620 and the first Thanksgiving after surviving a brutal winter. We know all these stories, and there are some things, though, that we don't know behind the scenes of that initial story that I think speak to what I'm talking about here today. I want to just relate briefly a part of that story out of a book called A History of the American People by Paul Johnson. Paul Johnson is an English historian who wrote this history about America because of his respect and love for America. But when he writes about the Mayflower and the ship that carried these pilgrims to America when they landed in December of 1620 in Massachusetts, he tells something very interesting about them. And you know the reason they landed in Massachusetts is because their real goal was Virginia, but they stopped in Massachusetts because they'd been on that boat too long and wanted to get off the boat. And it was time to do that, and they were kind of antsy to get off that boat. But he describes that moment when they dropped sail in Plymouth on December 11th, 1620. These first settlers from this boat, the Mayflower, which had been used to bring them over, actually came from the Netherlands or Holland, where they had been there for some time. They were a group of people seeking freedom of religion. They were very arch-conservative in their belief. They wanted to get away from the Church of England, Anglicanism, and anything dealing with the type of religion from Europe and get a new start. What Johnson writes about them, he says that the men and women on this boat were different. They came to America not primarily for gain or even livelihood, though they accepted both from God with gratitude. But they came to America, he says, his words, they came to America to create his kingdom on earth.

And that essentially sums it up. They were zealots, idealists. They were the utopians of the time. They wanted to create a new religious order in this new world. They didn't come for trade or material gain. They came to create God's kingdom on earth. They were very zealous with their religion. Now, they were energetic and they were very courageous. Got on a boat that day and crossed the Atlantic, was not for the faint of heart. And yet they did this and they came over. Now, they did something very important when they dropped anchor off the coast of Massachusetts, what would become Massachusetts. On November 21st, they were about to actually have an insurrection on the ship. As I said, you can be on a boat only so long, cooped up with people, and you go stir crazy. They were on a crowded boat and there was dissension. And so, on November 21st of 1620, they all assembled in the main cabin of the Mayflower and they drew up a social compact designed to secure unity and provide for the future government that they hoped to build once they all got assured. This is a little-known part of the story of the pilgrims and the Mayflower. They signed an agreement. It is called the Mayflower Compact. It's a forgotten document of American history. And as he goes on to show here, it was a remarkable contract because it was not made between servants and a king or servants and their master. It was made between a group of like-minded individuals and each other with God as witness and as God as a symbolic cosigner. This is exactly what they did. And they wanted to create, as he said, the kingdom of God on the earth. And when you read the Mayflower Compact, I'll need to do this to you, Jim.

I brought a copy of it along and what they signed, here's what it says.

No pressure.

You're all thumbs when you get to a moment like this.

Is that going to work? Just set it up here. It should pick it up, okay.

I won't read all of it, but you can look it up on Wikipedia if you want to. But they open it up and they say, in the name of God, amen. In the name of God, we whose names are underwritten, subjects of King James by the grace of God, have undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith and the honor of our King to plant this colony in the northern parts of Virginia. That's where they intended to go. But they decided not to go there. God has mentioned three times, and they said, by this we solemnly and naturally, in the presence of God in one another, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body. So they called upon the name of God. That's the point that I wanted to make, as they agreed as to how they would conduct themselves. Now, they landed, they set up a community, and it, like so many other utopian enterprises, didn't necessarily come out the way it was. The colony had problems, human problems, and it dissolved a few years later. But not after a considerable amount of success. And then, of course, there was a further settlement in other matters, and they had that first Thanksgiving. But my point is, they called upon God in this Mayflower Compact to witness to their intent as to how they would live and what they were doing as they would conduct themselves. It's probably the largest of all the utopian experiments that were ever tried on American soil. We're just a few miles here in this room from Shaker Village. How many of you have been to Shaker Village? And you know that that was a utopian, ideal community that they tried to build. By utopia, they were trying to create, in a sense, my words, a millennial experience, through their sincere efforts. And there's still one Shaker Village, I think, still operating in America today. I think it's up in New York. But this one is now a tourist attraction. They all died off. That's what happens when you don't marry. And other things.

There have been a number of those. But what the Pilgrims did was probably the largest in the American experience. And my point is, they called on God. That is not without some significance. When you look at the various Thanksgiving proclamations that have been made by all the presidents, probably the most famous is the one that Abraham Lincoln made in the midst of the Civil War in 1863. And Lincoln, when he wrote what he did, made a very interesting statement. He made his Thanksgiving proclamation as he was talking about America then. He said, no human council has devised nor has any mortal hand worked out the great things, meaning the abundance of America even at that time. He says, they are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, and he was referring to the sin of slavery, has nevertheless remembered mercy. You know, Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation probably is one of the better ones. Every president evened out through the days. They still make one every year. But his is one that has particular resonance in what he said there. So I'll come back to the question. Can a leader emerge today to call the nation to repentance?

Can that happen? To call America to repent of its sins, the same-sex marriage, enacted just more than a year ago by the Supreme Court, that invaded and desecrated the sacred institution of marriage ordained by God? Will there be a call to that type of repentance? Will there be a leader that will call for an end to abortion? Turn back Roe v. Wade, the murder of unborn children? Will there be a leader that will rise and call for God to be put back into the public square, into the public arena through prayer?

Will there be a leader that will rise and call out and acknowledge that our national greatness is due to the obedience of Abraham and God's enduring faithfulness, that promise, and call for repentance to return to that God? I don't think so. But what should you do? What should I do? What should we do as we look at where we are with the revelation that God has given to us? I say this. We should pray for America. You should, and I should. We should pray that God's will be done. We should pray, number one, for the gospel of the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ to be freely preached. Look in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

2 Thessalonians, chapter 3. Paul writes, pray for the gospel to be freely preached. You can do that, and I can do that, and we should do that because of what Paul says. Who knows who God will yet add to his church? We don't know what God has in mind. I don't think we've come to the day when God has sealed up all that he will call for salvation in this age. I don't believe that for one minute. We shouldn't. We can't. We must pray that the gospel will be freely preached. And there have been, in recent years, there has been an increased hostility toward religion of all sorts that we have seen. And we should be aware of that. Certain laws that have been enacted that have been very hostile to faith and religions, whether it was the Affordable Care Act or other matters. And don't think, brethren, that a call to ban Muslims from the shores of the United States is something you should clap your hands over.

Believe me, you do not want human government banning religion. Because if they ban one, they'll ban yours. You don't ever want to see that type of power. That is bestial power. That is dictatorial power. And that goes against what, truly what America was founded upon. And it may sound good and be a thrill to the ears of people afraid of radical Islamic terrorism. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be tighter immigration laws. I do think there should be. But you don't want to see a ban on any one particular religion, no matter how distant it might be from yours. Because when human power gets that type of position, all religion, including your faith, is in danger. But pray that the Gospel can run freely. Number two, we should pray for God's mercy and His judgment on Israel. We can do this, and we should do this, upon America and in all nations, for God's mercy upon Israel. I recently did a Bible study on the book of Amos, and as I was studying it, I was really struck by what I read in Amos chapter 7. Amos chapter 7, in the midst of Amos's denunciation of the sins of ancient Israel, the religious idolatry, the social inequity, and the lesson was quite long. God begins to reveal His judgment, and Amos prays for a reprieve. He prays for God's mercy. Amos chapter 7, beginning in verse 1. Thus the Lord showed me, Behold, he formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop. Indeed, it was the late crop after the king's mowings. And so it was when they had finished eating the grass of the land that I set. O Lord God, forgive, I pray. O that Jacob may stand, for he is small. Amos prayed that God would relent and forgive. We should be like Amos on this regard. We should pray for God's mercy. And so what happened? Verse 3, the Lord relented concerning this. It shall not be, said the Lord. God heard that prayer. God heard that prayer. God can hear the righteous fervent prayer of a righteous individual. In verse 4, second time, the Lord showed me, Behold, the Lord God called for conflict by fire, and consumed the great deep and devoured the territory. And I said, O Lord God, cease, I pray. O that Jacob may stand, for he is small. Again, a second time, Amos prayed for God to stop, hold back his judgment. So the Lord relented concerning this. This also shall not be, said the Lord. So on two occasions, God relented and he heard the prayer of Amos when he made a prayer of intercession for the people. And again, this is the same Amos that was all worked up with a righteous indignation over the sins of Israel, and was not shy about talking about it. But he had a heart. And that's something every prophet of God had. In our Beyond Today America of the Time is now, I open up with a setting of the prophet Habakkuk, and I won't turn there today to go through it, but Habakkuk, another one of the minor prophets, is unique in that he takes the condition of Judah and he lifts it up to God like a father with a sick child, and he says, God, heal this broken land. Heal us. Because, you know, unless God intervenes Judah, who is his focus of prophesying, would suffer the same fate that Israel did.

And that's what makes Habakkuk a very compelling figure of a prophet. Again, like Amos, Jeremiah was the same way. He was a patriot. Jeremiah was a true patriot. He could say when Judah was wrong, and yet he didn't leave. He stayed right there, and he prayed for the people, and he helped the people. And even after they went captive, and he could have gone to Babylon with a full pension and a penthouse, he didn't do it. He stayed with the people. Jeremiah is one of my heroes.

Pray for God's mercy upon his people. Who are called by his name. That's what we should do. We're not going to solve. We're not going to hold back. We're not going to turn this nation around. That's not ours, and I don't think a leader is going to emerge. I do think we've been given a moment, a gift from God. And as we work, and as our brethren, our credit cards still work. And gas is cheap. And we'll see where the economy goes. And while it all still works, let's be glad. Let's give God the thanks for that. Let's acknowledge that it all comes from him. And let's look upon our land, and let's ask God to say his hand. Because prophecies do show there will be a time of judgment.

Amos didn't turn around the nation of Israel. Within 40 years, less than 40 years after his time, Israel did go into captivity. They didn't hear. That's an interesting story. There's interesting parallels to the time of Amos and our country even today. But you can listen to that Bible study on Amos on the website, and go into it in more detail. Let's be thankful for what God has given. Let's recognize the burden of responsibility that comes with the blessings of a people who have called upon God. And, in a sense, covenanted with God, even in their earliest documents, like the Pilgrims did on this Mayflower Compact. And as subsequent leaders with particular insight and character, like Abraham Lincoln, could acknowledge that the abundance of the land, even as he knew it in 1863, was from God. And we've gone light years beyond 1863 in terms of wealth, prosperity, and power. And yet, he could see that. Can we see that? We should. Can a future leader see that? We'll see. But let's pray for God's mercy. Let's pray for the Gospel to be preached, and God to add whom He will to the Church, those who would be saved. And above all, let's be thankful for the blessings that God has been faithful, and His enduring faithfulness to give to the descendants of Abraham, and what we have been able to do. And let's remember that prayer. If might be, we are called by My name. And if nothing else, let's make sure that it applies to us in the Church of God, the people of God, that we remain humble. And we call upon God, and we never forget where our blessings have come from. And we give to God the thanks that is due Him for those blessings.

Amen.