These illustrations are for Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 and Independence Day
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Sermon Opener – The Burden Bearing Christ - Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

There is a wonderful legend concerning the quiet years of Jesus, the years prior to his visible ministry. The legend claims that Jesus the carpenter was one of the master yoke-makers in the Nazareth area. People came from miles around for a yoke, hand carved and crafted by Jesus son of Joseph.

When customers arrived with their team of oxen Jesus would spend considerable time measuring the team, their height, the width, the space between them, and the size of their shoulders. Within a week, the team would be brought back and he would carefully place the newly made yoke over the shoulders, watching for rough places, smoothing out the edges and fitting them perfectly to this particular team of oxen.

That’s the yoke Jesus invites us to take. Do not be misled by the word “easy,” for its root word in Greek speaks directly of the tailor-made yokes: they were “well-fitting.” The yoke Jesus invites us to take, the yoke that brings rest to weary souls, is one that is made exactly to our lives and hearts. The yoke he invites us to wear fits us well, does not rub us nor cause us to develop sore spirits and is designed for two. His yokes were always designed for two. And our yoke-partner is none other than Christ himself.

Running throughout all scripture from the beginning to the end is the theme that ours is a burden bearing Christ. He is not just a Lord whom we burden, and we do, but a Lord who actually solicits our burdens....

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Try This on for Size! - Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

One church has an organ that many sweated, sacrificed, and slaved to buy. Its cost was astounding! But when one hears its tone, sits under the influence of its quality, one begins to believe it was worth it all. It is a special musical instrument. It will serve God and man for many decades.

But what will happen when something goes wrong with this musical instrument? Who will be called in to repair it? Perhaps there is one of you who tinkers with old organs and antique pianos. Would we allow him to fix the organ? No! You would want the best organ repairman you could find. You would probably call the organ manufacturing firm itself and say, "Send us your master repairman. Our organ needs fixing."

Many of you have gold watches that have great sentimental value for you and your family. Your great-grandfather brought it from Ireland perhaps. It is a priceless heirloom. When it stops ticking for some reason, you wouldn't even touch it, even though you yourself have tinkered with old clocks and watches. In fact, you wouldn't even take the back off. You want an expert craftsman to examine this watch and fix it professionally.

Similarly, when your wife is ill and needs surgery, you take her to the best specialist locatable. Oh, you may have biology or anatomy as a sideline hobby. Maybe you successfully dissected a frog in high school biology, made an A in college anatomy. Still you would not even think of performing surgery in the kitchen on your wife. You will trust her only to a specialist.

But how about us! How about ourselves! When something goes wrong with our lives, whom do we turn to for repairs? When our lives are damaged or broken and we are left lonely, depressed, bitter, or divorced and afraid, whom do we take our lives to for the fixing? Do we go to the master, to a specialist, a professional? No! We go to Bob or Jim or Sue or Carol across the street. We trust some amateur's advice or the stars or a television psychic or Dear Abby.

Jesus said, and still says, "Come to me! Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

If your life is broken, if you are hurting and in need of repair, bring your life to Jesus. He is the divine physician who can heal. He is the master repairman representing your manufacturer….

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A Beautiful Doxology

Early one morning some years ago, Robert Raines got into his car and started driving through the mountains. There was no one on the road (at that time) as the mountains were quietly beginning a new day. The beautiful colors of autumn were splashed all over the trees. It was a magnificent and glorious sight as the early morning sun glistened upon the wonders of the mountains and the valleys below.

And then it happened… Robert Raines saw one of the most beautiful things he had ever witnessed in his life.

Right there at the very edge of that great mountain peak and facing the gorgeous valley below… was a young man in his early twenties with a trumpet pressed to his lips. And, do you know what he was playing? With his lungs expanded fully and releasing all of the energy in his soul, he was playing the Doxology on his trumpet!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise, Father, Son and Holy Ghost!

The point is clear: With all the stresses and problems in this life, still the truth is:
- We have so many doxologies to sing,
- So much to be grateful for,
- So many blessings to count.

The point is: Life is more than a grueling endurance test. Life is more than a survival game. Life is more than a coping competition.

So, you see… it’s not enough to just escape the stress. It’s not enough to just endure the stress. Thank God… there is another option…

James W. Moore, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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Counter-cultural Surrender

There is something quite important for us to understand as we celebrate Independence Day. There is a "flip flop" quality to understanding today's scripture. It goes counter to our usual way of thinking. America is the home of Davey Crocket who conquered the "wild frontier" and Wyatt Earp who tamed the "wild west." We honor and value independence, self-sufficiency, strength and the glory of a "self-made" man or woman. Surrender is what we did not do. With brains and brawn we became a super power in the world. "Yankee Ingenuity" is the brilliance that made us great. Resisting the yoke others would put on us is the strength that made us free.

Now Jesus comes along to say that wisdom and intelligence did not cut the mustard when it comes to knowing God. Not only is the yoke not to be resisted, we are to voluntarily take this yoke upon ourselves and surrender to one who is greater than us!

How counter-cultural can you get? We can not fight, or think or power ourselves into the kingdom of God and the peace of Christ.

John Jewell, Knowing God

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The Discipline of Simplicity

In Richard Foster's book of discipline he divides discipline into three parts: Inward, Outward, and Corporate discipline. He places simplicity under the category of the Outward Disciplines. Here are his ten ways to order our world so that we can create simplicity in our life.

First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status
Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
Third, develop a habit of giving things away.
Fourth, refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry.
Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation.
Seventh, look at a healthy skepticism at all "buy now, pay later" schemes.
Eighth, obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest speech.
Ninth, reject anything that will breed the oppression of others.
Tenth, shun whatever would distract you from you main goal: "Seek first the kingdom of God."

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline.

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The Sweetest Sound

There is a story that Hebrew families tell their children to help them understand the fourth commandment. The fourth commandment reads, "Six days you shall labor but on the seventh you shall rest." The story is called, "The Sweetest Sound." The main character in the story is King Ruben. It goes something like this.

The king asked his royal subjects, "What is the sweetest melody of all?" Early the next morning they gathered all sorts of musicians. The sound awoke the king and all morning he listened to their tunes. But, after listening to all of them he could not tell which was the sweetest sound. Finally, one subject suggested they all play together. It was so noisy the king couldn’t think.

About that moment a woman, dressed in her Sunday best, pushed to the front of the crowd and stepped forward. "O, king," she said, "I have the answer to your question." The king was surprised since she had no instrument. "Why didn’t you come earlier?" he asked. She replied, "I had to wait until the setting of the sun." The musicians were still playing and the king told them all to stop.

The woman then took two candles and placed them on the king’s balcony rail. She lit them just as the sun continued to set. The flames glowed in the evening darkness. She then lifted her voice and said, "Blessed art thou, O Lord, Our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us with the commandments and commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights." She then said, "He who has an ear, let him hear."

Everyone was completely still. "What is that?" asked the king." He could not hear a sound. The woman then replied, "What you hear is the sound of rest, the sweetest melody of all."

Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is also the sweetest sound any of us can hear.

Keith Wagner, True Freedom

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A Contented Man

A story is told of a king who was suffering from a malady and was advised by his astrologer that he would be cured if the shirt of a contented man were brought to him to wear. People went out to all parts of the kingdom after such a person, and after a long search they found a man who was really happy...but he did not possess a shirt.

David Leininger, Ask the Average Person,www.eSermons.com

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Did You Use All Your Strength?

I remember an old story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Yes, sir. I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt.

One of the great Biblical truths seems impossible. Liberty comes through being yoked with Christ.

Billy D. Strayhorn, Freedom through the Yoke

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Rest

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did."

"But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest."

www.Sermons.com

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Don’t Miss Life

Frank Lloyd Wright, the world-famous architect, told how a lecture he received at the age of nine helped set his philosophy of life. An uncle, a stolid, no-nonsense type, had taken him for a long walk across a snow-covered field. At the far side, his uncle told him to look back at their two sets of tracks. "See, my boy," he said, "how your footprints go aimlessly back and forth from those trees, to the cattle, back to the fence then over there where you were throwing sticks? But notice how my path comes straight across, directly to my goal. You should never forget this lesson!" "And I never did," Wright said. "I determined right then not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had."

David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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Our Value in God's Eyes

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of two hundred, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 bill to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the $20 bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God's eyes. To God, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are always priceless."

Traditional

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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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A Community of Practice, Not a Community of Perfectionby Leonard Sweet - Romans 7:15-25a

When your child is playing a musical instrument that is “rented” from the school, instead “owned” by you, there is a big decision to make at the end of the school year. Do you pay rental fees for the summer break? Or do you turn the instrument in? Paying rental fees for the summer means that the instrument will be practiced on hot summer days and during beautiful sunsets. Turning the instrument in means that summer is for swimming, sleep-away camps, family vacations, flexible schedules and peace and quiet.

Your decision is based both on the passion of your budding musician for their instrument and on your personal preferences. For parents, on the one hand, there is the knowledge that structure and practice and commitment are all good things for a young musician. On the other hand, there is the prospect of a few weeks without squeaks and squawks, without hearing the same fractured tune repeated over and over again in your head, an earworm that can be as ragging and nagging as “It’s a Small World After All.”

Professional musicians, as well as the garage band guys, the Christmas party piano player, the community band enthusiasts--- all seem to make their music effortlessly. But it took a lot of squeaky-squawky, off-key, eardrum bruising moments to get to the degree of proficiency where, suddenly, they were making music.

Music that brings ecstasy and enchantment.
Music that channels creativity and sparks the imagination.
Music that fills a lonely evening.
Music that brings a party to life.

Okay, okay: the hope of that mystic connection to music is why you DO pay for that instrument over the summer vacation.

When it sounds good, it looks easy. But it took a lot of practice to get to that point of sounding good. Why is it we will put up with the imperfections and disruptions of “practice” when it comes to learning to play a musical instrument . . . but we find it so much harder to put up with the discord and dissonance that comes when we are all engaged in “practicing” the greatest instrument we have each been given?

That instrument is the living Spirit of Christ within each of us.

The Church is best defined as a “community of practice.” A place where those who have chosen to live the life of Christ can hit flats and sharps, miss entrances, go off-beat, and even get completely lost for a while— yet still be a part of the church community’s “practice session” that is Christ’s church. Isn’t growing a soul, like learning any musical instrument, a life-long project? Yes, it brings great joy. Yes, it brings focus and direction. Yes, it brings a love of artistic perfection. But it does take continual, gradual, life-long practice.

In today’s epistle text it is not surprising that it took Martin Luther and other reformation theologians to shift the focus of Paul’s words away from the “pre-Christian” Saul to the “post-Christian” Paul…

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A Style in Mistakes

The only way we ever really know any of the masters, the real geniuses, is by knowing their style. Suppose you hear a strain of music that you have never heard before, but in just a minute you say, "that’s Brahms," or "that’s Beethoven." How do you know? That’s their style, the way they do it. No one else does it quite that way. We had quite a controversy some time ago when somebody gave two wonderful Rembrandts to the art museum in Detroit. So we all went and ooohed and ah-h-d and thought they were wonderful. Then a couple of Philistines came in and said, "Fakes." What do you mean fakes? "They are not originals." How do you know. So the press had a great time and we all took sides. Then they sent for a couple of experts. Now, an expert is just somebody from way off, you know. They got two fellows from New York, and they came and studied it and they pondered and they finally came and said, "Yes, they are fakes. This copyist just didn’t make the mistakes that Rembrandt always made." A style in mistakes.
We know the great masters by their style.

Kent Moorehead, Achieving An All-In Victory, CSS Publishing Company

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Worship: Time to Cool Down

In the early days of automobiles, it was common for eating and drinking places to be built on the tops of long hills. I know that near where I grew up on the old Island Highway, there is a restaurant called the Malahat Chalet - still located at the top of the longest grade between Nanaimo and Victoria. It was not located there for the view, nor were most of the others you can still find around North America at the tops of hills and mountains. These locations were for the convenience of people who needed to stop and let their overheated radiators cool down.

That is one of the functions of Worship for many of us - a time for rest and refreshment - when we let our overheated radiators cool down.

Richard J Fairchild, Come Unto Me - For My Burden Is Easy

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Taking the Lead

When I was a single man, my definition of a bad date was someone who would never tell you what they wanted to do—but always tell you what they didn’t want to do. The conversation often went like this:

“What would you like to do?”
“Anything you want to do.”
“Well, how about let’s eat Chinese food tonight.”
“No, I hate Chinese food, let’s do something else.”
“Okay, how about we eat a Mexican meal?”
“Yuck, that sounds awful tonight”.”
“Okay, then what do you want to do?”
“It doesn’t matter to me, really. Just make a decision.”

Finally, you find a place to eat and when you finished she would say; “What an awful dinner—you have horrible taste.”

Sadly enough, our churches are full of “bad dates.” Quite willing to say what “not to do" and “what is wrong” with the leaders; yet, unwilling to be involved in leadership itself.

Those are the ones that Jesus was confronting in this reading. They were religious observers—the least involved, yet the most critical. The pious—that have a singular vision of “don't rock the boat”—also had a singular solution to Jesus as he continually presented himself to a new people. “We’ve done it this way for 2,000 years; we don’t need to be rushing into change now.”

Jerry Goebel, The Well-Fit Yoke

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I believe now that on that day when I stand before the judgment bar of God He will ask me not whether I completed my job of condemning sin and failure. I believe He will, however, ask me whether I celebrated His gift of life and His gift of Grace.

Dennis Harris

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Lighten Up!

Lori Beth Jones wrote a book called "Jesus CEO". In this book she wrote:

"Perhaps Jesus loved to dance because he was born at a party. I believe any event that has a heavenly light show, people bearing gifts from distant places and a host of angels singing and giving directions is a dance of major proportion. It must have made an impact on him. One of his favorite miracles was to turn water into wine, not vinegar. As his fame and popularity grew, he was constantly invited to dinners at Nicodemus’s or Peter’s or rich young people’s houses. The night before he was arrested, he gathered his staff (Lori Beth Jones calls Jesus’ disciples his staff) together to sing songs and to dine. When crowds came, Jesus was adamant that no one leave with an empty stomach. He always managed to locate food for them. He turned one boy’s lunch into food for thousands. He told stories of a king who arranged a banquet and then got angry and disappointed when nobody came. He spoke of a father throwing a lavish party to celebrate a wayward son’s return.

When Jesus returned from the dead, he prepared a fish barbecue on the shore, sort of a team picnic. He came from a very happy place, and he knew he was returning to a very happy place. When he said, ‘Whenever two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them,’ perhaps he saw a dance coming on. Indeed, his invitations read ‘I go to prepare a place [setting] for you’. I think he is telling us to lighten up. ‘Why do you worry so?’ he would ask. ‘Don’t you see the flowers, how beautiful they are? Do you think God is going to let you wear less then these?’"

M.T. Kutz, Dare to Dream

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Over Burdened

Today's man is in constant danger of becoming enslaved by the very things that were supposed to make his life more convenient. Notebook computers, fax machines. pagers, and cellular phones threaten to take him hostage. No matter where he goes, his work goes with him. In truth, his time (his life) is not his own.

Even if he could break free of the ever-encroaching demands of his career, his own responsibilities are enough to occupy his every waking moment, things like volunteer work at the church and civic duties, not to mention his family responsibilities. He needs to spend quality time with his children. He needs to be both physically and emotionally present for his wife. He needs to take care of the yard and service the cars. He needs to balance the checkbook. He needs...the list seems endless.

Somewhere in his hectic schedule he must find time to build lasting friendships, time to maintain a quality devotional life, time to read for personal and spiritual development, and time to exercise. No wonder he's tempted to throw up his hands in despair!

Is there a solution, a way out? I think so, but it won't be easy. Busyness is addictive and it is hard to regain command of our life once we've yielded it to the expectations of others. The key is control. Are we going to be governed by external pressures--the desires of others--or will we allow the internal witness of the Holy Spirit to set our agendas?

Richard Exley, The Making of a Man, Honor Books, 1993, p. 12.

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She Could Dance All Night

Dr. Diane Komp of Harvard Medical School tells the story of one of her Down’s Syndrome patients with whom she was eating, at a restaurant. The restaurant had music and a little dance floor. Her friend loved to dance, but Komp had had a hard day and didn’t feel up to it. But then the young man found a partner, another Downs person named Grace. And they danced, and danced, and the young man was so pleased and excited afterwards. He said to Dr. Komp, she’s amazing Grace, she could dance all night. And that is grace my friends, it dances all day, all night, forever.

Scott H. Bowerman, Dancing With God

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Humility

Humble people don't think less of themselves . . . they just think about themselves less.

Norman Vincent Peale

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Kind People in a Bad Mood

The theologian Leonard Sweet underwent what he describes as a "deconversion" when he was nineteen. He writes,

"What ignited my deconversion was the church’s funereal spirit, its fussy, buttoned-upness. Christians’ stay-at-home-and-pickle-in-their-own-juices personalities, their vinegary countenances, drained me emotionally, incapacitated me intellectually, and shut me down spiritually. The best I could say was this: by and large, Christians were kind people in a bad mood."

Scott H. Bowerman, Dancing With God

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Action Steps

Sit down with your wife and /or a trusted friend and ask for help in dividing your daily activities into four categories:

1. Absolutely essential
2. Important but not essential
3. Helpful but not necessary
4. Trivial

Now eliminate everything in categories three and four.

Richard Exley, The Making of a Man, Honor Books, 1993, p. 13.

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Rest

God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced our machine age. The man who would know God must give time to Him.

A. W. Tozer

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Let my body be a servant of my spirit and both my body and spirit be servants of Jesus, doing all things for your [God's] glory here.

Jeremy Taylor

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Simple

It's a gift to be simple,
It's a gift to be free,
It's a gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we see ourselves in a way that's right,

We will live in a valley of love and delight!
When true simplicity is gained,
To live and to love we will not be ashamed,
To turn and to turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning
We turn 'round right

Traditional Shaker Hymn

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Rest

A Bird’s Nest: A construction crew was building a new road through a rural area, knocking down trees as it progressed. A superintendent noticed that one tree had a nest of birds who couldn’t yet fly and he marked the tree so that it would not be cut down.

Several weeks later the superintendent came back to the tree. He got into a bucket truck and was lifted up so that he could peer into the nest. The fledglings were gone. They had obviously learned to fly. The superintendent ordered the tree cut down. As the tree crashed to the ground, the nest fell clear and some of the material that the birds had gathered to make the nest was scattered about. Part of it was a scrap torn from a Sunday school pamphlet. On the scrap of paper were these words: "He careth for you."

Bits and Pieces, November, 1989, p. 23.

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Aesop's Unstrung Bow

According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity.

Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. Then he said to the critical Athenian, "Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bow implies."

The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. Aesop explained, "If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it."

People are also like that. That's why we all need to take time to rest. Start by setting aside a special time to relax physically and renew yourself emotionally and spiritually. You will be at your best for the Lord if you have taken time to loosen the bow.

Our Daily Bread, June 6, 1994

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Rest

It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.

Rollo May

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Possible Sermon Closer

Growing weary is the consequence of many experiences: We can be weary of waiting; We can be weary of studying and learning; We can be weary of fighting the enemy; We can be weary of criticism and persecution.

There are lots of things in life that are fine in themselves, but our strength has its limits and before long fatigue cuts our feet out from beneath us. The longer the weariness lingers, the more we face the danger of that weary condition clutching our inner man by the throat and strangling our hope, our motivation, our spark, our optimism, our encouragement.

But Let's understand that God does not dispense strength and encouragement like a druggist fills your prescription. The Lord doesn't promise to give us something to TAKE so we can handle our weary moments. He promises us HIMSELF. That is all. And that is enough.

The Savior says:

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30 NIV).

Charles Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Zondervan, 1983, pp. 150-151

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Two Tragedies

Oscar Wilde once wrote, "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." He was trying to warn us no matter how hard we work at being successful, success will not satisfy us. By the time we get there, having sacrificed so much on the altar of being successful, we will realize that success was not what we wanted.

David Leininger, Ask The Average Person…,

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A Work-Weary World

Michael Boyer wrote an article for the National Geographic titled, "A Work-Weary World?" that may give us a little comfort. He notes that Americans are famous for their work ethic. However, according to a study by the International Labor Organization we are no longer the world leaders in hours worked per year. South Korea's booming economy necessitates a six-day work week. In the past few years, South Koreans have averaged 2,390 hours of work per year, as compared to the 1,792 hours of work per year in the U.S. Workers in Japan, Poland, Australia, and New Zealand also worked more hours than U.S. workers. Swedish workers clocked the fewest work hours in an average year, only about 1,337.

King Duncan, Free At Last!

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Trust in the Lord

While I was in the seminary, the sad thing that happened was that my mother became very sick. I prayed that she would live to see my ordination. I prayed with fervor, with a strong faith and a believing faith, hoping and wanting her to enjoy this day of days. To my utter shock and amazement, she died when I was in second theology. I had two, maybe two-and-a-half years to go.

Well, it really undermined my confidence and faith, and it wasn’t only grief that I had to deal with. What if I had constructed this whole thing out of my imagination? What if God isn’t there? What if he won’t be there? What if I’d made a tremendous mistake? And as a result of all that thought and agonizing, it all just simply cleared up one day as I was praying. It was so simple that I’m amazed that I was perplexed. It was as though I heard a voice saying, "Listen, your mother was very sick, she was in pain. You wanted me to keep her alive for two more years in that condition? No, no, no. It was time. I wanted to bring her home. She’ll watch your ordination. Don’t worry about that." So it became clear to me—I realized God’s wisdom is better than the best wisdom that I’ve ever had—that God knows and that I can trust God even if I don’t understand Him. I think that’s the message I want to convey today, that in order to have faith you trust the Lord God.

John Catoir, The Power of Faith

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Times Were Hard

The times were hard. The government, a huge bureaucracy that provided so many important things like roads and military support and the justice system, was hopelessly out of touch with the people. And the religious establishment wasn't much better. It seemed so focused on preserving the status quo that it had little or no vision for what might yet come to pass. When a prophet spoke out, they were vilified, punished, especially if they called into question the decisions of the government. Voices of hope arose, but just as quickly they fell as questions arose about the character of the speaker, about their ability to deliver, or about the transgressions of their past. Apathy was the prevailing ethos in the community. It was not hard to imagine the people asking, "Why even bother when nothing seems to change?"

Kind of hard to figure out the time referenced, isn't it? While this description is meant to refer to Matthew's community, they could be referring to today in any town or city in America. The pervasive apathy of our age, the sense that nothing can improve and to bother trying to make things better is a fool's errand, the despair that makes us resign our hearts to a belief that poverty, hunger and homelessness have no real answers. Such matters are left to Sisyphus, sadly rolling that stone up the hill only to have it roll back down, generation after generation after generation.

Trace Haythorn, Jesus' Invitation to Paradox

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God Is Like a Tiger

A priest friend of mine went to the missions in Africa. It took him three years to learn Swahili. He was working in a small village when he could finally communicate to his community. They understood him, but one of the men came up to him afterwards and said, "Father, we thank you for all the sacrifices you’ve made to preach to us in Swahili, but you don’t understand God the way we do. You speak of God as out there in the universe, but for us God is like a tiger and we are the prey. Not only does He hunt us down, but we are already captured by him and baptism puts the seal on this capture. We are held by Him and He owns us, so there isn’t any great difficulty in reaching him. He is the one who seizes us."

The priest learned more from that man, the native, than he probably learned in the seminary. It’s just a way of looking at God which is more meaningful in some ways than some kind of a vague, distant God in whom you have faith. We are owned by God. Once you have the faith to know that the Lord will sustain you and keep you and hold you and protect you, you don’t have to worry. Faith then becomes the support of your life.

John Catoir, The Power of Faith

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There Are No Magic Capes

There is an old Peanuts cartoon - Snoopy sitting on top of his dog house when Charlie Brown comes with a note. Charlie says, "It's a letter from your brother Spike. Dear Snoopy, something wonderful happened...a man came by here and offered to sell me a magic cape. He told me that if I wore this magic cape I would be transported to a land of paradise. He said the cape was on sale...not wanting to miss such a bargain I gave him my only dollar. The next panel shows Spike spending his time in the desert contemplating the meaning of life. Then we switch back to Charlie reading to Snoopy: "So by the time you get this letter I'll be living in paradise." Then Spike is pictured again on the desert floor among the cactus, cape draped over his shoulders, saying, "Then again, maybe I've been had."

Too many people have been had. There are no magic capes. There is no one key that will guarantee happiness. In fact, that old aphorism about death and taxes being the only things we can count on would seem to insure UNhappiness.

David E. Leininger, Ask the Average Person...

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One Beggar Telling Another Where to Find Food

Paul Tillich was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century, the “father of existential theology” was he. And yet, when he was asked to define what a Christian is, he said “Oh, that’s easy; a Christian is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.”

The Christian Church in the 21st century does not see itself as beggars telling other beggars where to find food. Rather, I fear that we see ourselves as being right. We have the right theology, so that makes the others wrong. We have the right liturgy, or the right political opinions, or our members act in the right way. We’re not beggars! We’re not even sinners! We used to be, but not anymore. And that sort of attitude is not only a myth, but it repels the people whom Jesus wants us to reach out to…the ones who know the secret; that Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to the world was not to tell us to straighten up and fly right. It was to tell us that we were beggars, and he was the food.

Steven Molin, The Secret That Sinners Know

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Answering Criticism

Think of the things that were said about Lincoln by his contemporaries - the calumnies, the caricatures, the unjust criticisms. But consider the accurate estimate of his style today. With what insight he wrote, when he said, "If I were to try to read, must less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, then angels swearing I was right would make no difference."

So with reference to Jesus, I myself am enormously grateful that I have some 2,000 years’ vantage from which to view him. Had I lived back in his day, I hate to think how I might have misjudged him, considered him merely a disturber, a revolutionary, at very least a subversive influence. Who knows, I might have been just such a smug, ecclesiastically conditioned defender of the status quo as old Caiaphas himself. Seeing the upstart peasant stirring up the people, and hearing of his traitorous threats to destroy the Temple, I might have taken the same attitude he did. Believing that something had to be done to thwart his growing power, I might have concurred, too, in that famous, callous contention that, "it was expedient that one man should die for the people." I might even have been shouting with the mob, "Crucify him!"

Kent Moorehead, Achieving An All-In Victory, CSS Publishing Company

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No Seagulls Came

During World War II there was an event which occurred in the Pacific which still is vivid in my memory. Eddie Rickenbacker and some colleagues on an aircraft were shot down and managed to inflate a raft. The food and water were soon expended, and all hope for their rescue seemed to fade. As they related the story later, they described how together they had formed a prayer band and had prayed earnestly for deliverance. It was just at that time that a seemingly miraculous circumstance occurred. A seagull, clearly far off course, began to circle the raft, came lower and lower until at last they were able to capture it. They drank its blood and ate its flesh and were strengthened and sustained. The next day they were found and brought safely to shore. They told the story, and there was spread across the pages of the newspapers of the United States this answer to prayer.

Then it was that the story began to take a rather distorted turn. Without anyone really meaning to be judgmental or to cast aspersion on anyone else, there arose the notion that if only one had ample faith, a seagull would come. And I thought of the hundreds of young fliers with whom I had been associated who had gone off to the Pacific, had been shot down, and were never seen again. I found myself resisting with every fiber of my being the notion that somehow these were persons who had little if any faith, else a seagull would most certainly have come. I can recall preaching a sermon, the title of which was, "No Seagull Came," and the text was from the eleventh chapter of Matthew. I attempted to affirm that the presence of the seagull for the persons on the raft was certainly a token that deliverance is always possible; at the same time, there was and is no indication in the New Testament that such deliverance on its own terms is promised. John dies in the prison; there were many persons in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria in the time of Jesus who were not healed. There were many fliers for whom no seagull came. "Blessed is he that taketh no offense."

And the meaning for us? The basic assurance is that all things are working together for good, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But this is no guarantee of deliverance from all of the difficulties which beset us. Indeed, we are reminded in John 16 that "in the world we will have tribulation; but we can be of good cheer, for he has overcome the world." The true meaning of faith, then, is the capacity to believe even when no seagull comes, to know that beyond the vicissitudes and tribulations of life there is life transcendent; there is no more suffering nor sorrow nor crying.

William B. Oglesby, Jr., Ph.D., Pastoral Care Issues In The Pulpit, Anthology - edited by Gregory J. Johanson, CSS Publishing Company

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At Least They Are Talking

Former Georgia Tech football coach, Pepper Rodgers, recalls an incident from his days as a high school baseball player. In a particular game he stepped up to the plate and the catcher said, "Well, look who we have here, the great Pepper Rodgers. Know what they're saying about you?" Pepper asked, "What?" "They're saying that you think you're about the best thing in this league, that you're a real hot dog." Pepper replied, "Is that so? Know what they're saying about you?" The catcher asked, "What?" Pepper replied, "Nothing." In other words, if someone is bothering to criticize, you must have some life in you.

Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.

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If God Knows I’m Worth It

There was a nurse who served faithfully in an isolated clinic in West Virginia's mountains. A physician from the nearest city would come out one day per week. He noticed how the nurse gave far more of herself than anyone could expect. He knew how substandard her salary was. One day he said to her, "Nurse, why don't you get out of this backward, isolated community and go where you can earn a good salary? God knows you are worth it." With a smile, she answered kindly, "If God knows I'm worth it, that's what really matters to me."

God knows how much you are worth; don't ever let anybody's criticism make you forget it.

Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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An old Peanuts comic strip shows Linus holding on to his familiar blanket. The caption reads, “Only one yard of flannel stands between me and a nervous breakdown.” Some of you know what Linus is talking about.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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The Power Nap Club

National Public Radio had a story about a club that has been formed at a high school in Greenwich, Connecticut. The club is called the Power Nap Club! A group of students go to a room at the end of the school day where they turn off the lights, put their heads on their desks, plug in a tape of quiet classical music, and take what they call a “power nap” for about a half hour. “Their club tee‑shirts are decorated with a cardinal (the school mascot) wearing a little nightcap on his head. Inscribed on the tee‑shirt is a new version of an old Latin motto, ‘Veni, vidi, dormivi: I came, I saw, I slept!’

“The club was formed not because these are lazy high school students, but exactly the reverse. These kids are going to school all day, participating in sports, volunteering in the community, going to church or mosque or synagogue, and holding down part‑time jobs. They’re exhausted. And they’ve learned that just a little nap makes all the difference in the world.” Great idea!

Jesus says to us and to them, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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I Have More Remedies

Have you heard about the farmer who went to a government bureaucrat specializing in animal health? The farmer sought help from the “expert” because ten of his chickens had suddenly died. The government expert instructed the farmer to give aspirin to all the surviving chickens.

Two days later, however, the farmer returned. Twenty more chickens had died. What should he do now? The expert said quickly: Give all the rest castor oil.

Two days later, the farmer returned a third time and reported 30 more dead chickens. The government expert now strongly recommended penicillin.

Two days later a sad farmer showed up. All the rest of his chickens had now died. They were all gone.

“What a shame,” said the expert, “I have lots more remedies!”

The world offers many so-called remedies to the problem of stress, but the truth is most of them don’t work. The world offers many so-called experts on stress management, but the truth is there is only one Great Physician who can give us the comfort and strength we need. The world offers many so-called solutions for the tensions and burdens that push us down and pull us apart… but the truth is there is only one Prince of Peace, who can soothe our jangled nerves and save our troubled souls.

There is only One who can truthfully say and mean it:

“Come to Me all of you who are exhausted and weary and worn and troubled and stressed out and I will give you rest. I will give you comfort, I will give you the strength you need for the living of these days.”

James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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Be Careful Which Ruts You Get Into

Recently, I was driving on an old dirt road way out in the country when I came to a sign which said: “Be real careful which ruts you get into. You’ll be in them for the next 20 miles!”

Some people get in the rut of seeing life as nothing more than just coping, just enduring, just surviving, just sticking it out.

In a recent Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown expressed it like this: “I have a new philosophy of life, Linus. From this moment on, I’m going to only dread one day at a time!”

James W. Moore, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com

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Matthew 11:29-30

The “yoke” Jesus refers to in Matthew 11:29–30 is well illustrated by the process of training a young bullock to plow. In some parts of the world, the farmer will have the young bullock harnessed to the same yoke as a mature ox. The bullock, dwarfed by the other animal, will not even be pulling any of the weight. It is merely learning to walk in a field under control and with a yoke around its neck; the ox pulls all the weight. It is the same when a believer takes Christ’s yoke. As the Christian learns, the yoke is easy and the burden light.

Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching

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INDEPENDENCE DAY ILLUSTRATIONS
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Sermon Opener - Liberty and Civility - Galatians 5:1-15

The United States of America will be 243 years old on July 4. That’s a long time for a nation to remain free. But, when you look at our history in the context of world history America is just a CHILD among the nations. Egypt, China, Japan, Rome, Greece all make America’s history seem so short. Consider what a brief time we’ve really been here as a nation: When Thomas Jefferson died, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17. When Lincoln was assassinated, Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8. By the time he died Ronald Reagan was a boy of 12.

There you have it. The lives of four men can take you all the way back to the beginning of our country, 243 years ago. We are so young. And yet we stand tall among these nations because of the principles on which we were established: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Thus begins the Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate every year. And do not let anyone fool you. Freedom ought and need be celebrated. So many churches and ministers today loathe patriotism in the pulpit. I am not one of those. I celebrate today with you the freedoms which God has blessed this great nations of ours. Now I cannot tell you whether God has blessed us with liberty and therefore we are free or we have wisely and simply built our liberty based on biblical principles. In any case our freedom is from God.

Now let me temper our celebrations with a caution: With freedom comes great responsibility. We are not free to live excessive lives. We are not set at liberty to pursue selfish ends. Our independence should not make us infidels. As Paul so eloquently puts it: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.”

What is true for the church is true for the nation: Liberty demands civility. Freedom requires righteous behavior. On July 4th let’s celebrate Freedom and Civility.

1. First Let’s Celebrate Freedom
2. Second Let’s Celebrate Civility.

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Free from What? For What? - Luke 9:51-62

I seldom title my sermons, but today’s sermon is titled, “Free From What? For What?” Today’s readings give us a chance to talk about freedom quietly a week before advertisers and politicians can fill the airwaves with patriotic rhetoric designed to sell us everything from washers to “wisdom” from Washington. We call the Fourth of July “Independence Day” and have good reason to celebrate. We say this is the day we gained our freedom from British rule. But are the words “freedom” and “independence” really synonyms?

I would maintain that, though we did gain our independence from England in 1776, we remained largely English for some time after. If we had truly become something new in the eighteenth century — Americans — we wouldn’t have viewed native Americans as the enemy. But we continued to think of ourselves as Europeans and held on to our hatred and fear of everything non-European for a long time. Most of us still identify ourselves more readily with European culture than with the culture of the people who occupied these lands before us. We weren’t free of the English in the 1770s; we merely became independent of them.

In today’s gospel, Jesus was approached on the road by three unnamed people of unspecified gender. Often, it is the case that when an unnamed character appears in the gospels, that character is meant to represent us. We are the ones who approach Jesus and tell him that we want to follow him but cannot walk away from the lives we are leading. We say we want to be given time to put our affairs in order, to take care of those we love, to say good-bye to friends and family. But the truth is that we really don’t want to let go of what we have, and we do not want to commit ourselves fully to God. Jesus’ demands for total commitment seem stifling and unfair. Such a radical commitment to serve someone else goes against our nature as freedom-loving Americans…

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A Call to Be Careful

Every year, the media and our local officials remind us to be careful on July Fourth.  The combination of inexperience and fireworks can be dangerous, even deadly.  Every doctor in town can attest to the burns they will treat from sparklers and fireworks, barbeque, maybe even sunburns.  Every policeman in town can attest to the spike in driving after drinking that takes place on the 4^th of July.  Now is an excellent time to remind your community to be safe while they have fun. 

The U.S. Government has collected a variety of safety tips for this holiday, as well as some more light hearted links about Independence Day at https://www.usa.gov/features/usagov-s-fireworks-safety-tips-for-the-fourth-of-july.

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Celebrating the Declaration

Americans celebrate July 4, 1776 as Independence Day. We shouldn't. We should call it our DECLARATION of Independence Day, for merely signing, quite literally, our John Hancock’s on the declaration did not establish our independence. King George did not read the Declaration and then say to Thomas Jefferson, "Nice piece of writing Tom, y'all enjoy your USA, send me a postcard from Colonial Williamsburg." No, it took seven years of struggle before the Constitution could be written.

Have we forgotten the struggle involved in this noble experiment of democracy? Do we cherish this land or do we shy from a word like "patriotism" because it's been co-opted by the fanatic fringe? To be "patriotic" is not to be blind to our nation's sins. Like every nation, we have our weak points.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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Only in America

Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.

Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage. Hello.

Only in America do we use answering machines to screen calls and have call-waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place.

Only in America do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

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The Inscription on the Statue of Liberty, written by Emma Lazarus

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me;
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

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The Cost of Freedom

On July 3, 1776, the day before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington wrote a letter to his wife, anticipating the hardships which would soon occur. Here in part are his words, "In a few days, you will see a Declaration setting forth the causes which have impelled us to this mighty revolution and the reasons which will justify it in the sight of God. I am fully aware of the toil and blood and treasure what it will cost to maintain this declaration and support and defend these states; yes, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory."

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com

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"America today is running on the momentum of a Godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America."

General Omar Bradley - Details: Bradley is the U.S. Army officer who commanded the highly effective 12th Army Group, which helped ensure the Allied victory over Germany during World War II; later he served as first chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (1949–53).

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Historical Background to the Declaration

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), approved the Declaration of Independence. Its purpose was to set forth the principles upon which the Congress had acted two days earlier when it voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee's motion to declare the freedom and independence of the 13 American colonies from England. The Declaration was designed to influence public opinion and gain support both among the new states and abroad -- especially in France, from which the new "United States" sought military assistance.

Although Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston comprised the committee charged with drafting the Declaration, the task fell to Jefferson, regarded as the strongest and most eloquent writer. The document is mainly his work, although the committee and Congress as a whole made a total of 86 changes to Jefferson's draft.

As a scholar well-versed in the ideas and ideals of the French and English Enlightenments, Jefferson found his greatest inspiration in the language and arguments of English philosopher John Locke, who had justified England's "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 on the basis of man's "natural rights." Locke's theory held that government was a contract between the governed and those governing, who derived their power solely from the consent of the governed and whose purpose it was to protect every man's inherent right to property, life and liberty. Jefferson's theory of "natural law" differed in that it substituted the inalienable right of "the pursuit of happiness" for "property," emphasizing that happiness is the product of civic virtue and public duty. The concept of the "pursuit of happiness" originated in the Common Sense School of Scottish philosophy, of which Lord Kames was the best-known proponent.

Jefferson emphasized the contractual justification for independence, arguing that when the tyrannical government of King George III of England repeatedly violated "natural law, " the colonists had not only the right but the duty to revolt.

The assembled Continental Congress deleted a few passages of the draft, and amended others, but outright rejected only two sections: 1) a derogatory reference to the English people; 2) a passionate denunciation of the slave trade. The latter section was left out, as Jefferson reported, to accede to the wishes of South Carolina and Georgia, who wanted to continue the importation of slaves. The rest of the draft was accepted on July 4, and 56 members of Congress began their formal signing of the document on August 2, 1776.

From the Library of Congress:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/abt_declar.html

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An Inner Struggle of Allegiance

On a holiday weekend like this one, we are reminded of the inner struggle of allegiance. We want to celebrate this land that we love, and rightly so, and yet we want to be careful that our allegiance to country never supersedes nor is ever equivalent to our allegiance to God. We sing “God Bless America,” and yet we know that our faith will not allow us to ask God’s favoritism toward us over other nations. We know there are no national boundary lines with God.

We struggle to love our country when our government acts in ways we feel are contrary to God’s ways of justice and peace. But we love our country by calling it to God’s ways of justice and peace. We must not let our fear and struggle render us silent and still. Our first allegiance is to the God whose truth still marches on.

W. Gregory Pope, The Inner Struggle

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French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests--and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning--and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution--and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!"

Alexis de Tocqueville - He was a political scientist, historian, and politician, best-known for "Democracy in America," 4 vol. (1835–40), a perceptive analysis of the political and social system of the United States in the early 19th century.

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Live Free or Die

For many years the license plates of New Hampshire bore the slogan, made famous by Revolutionary War general John Stark – "live free or die." The irony is that those great words were printed onto the license plates by inmates in the state prison. They could not leave their prison, but many of us stay in our prisons when we have the power to leave. We want to live free, but we do not want to do what the gospel says we need to do to be truly free.

By J. Michael Shannon, PREACHING, March/April 2004, p. 61.

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God Bless America

Gene Simmons of the group KISS visited the Pentagon to promote military service on May 16, 2019 where he talked about his mother, who recently died at the age of 93. She was 14 when she was put in a Nazi concentration camp. As he spoke he had to stop on numerous occasions to gain his composure. This is what he said:

"I was born in Israel. I am a proud son of a concentration camp survivor, Nazi Germany. My mother was 14 when she was in the camps. My mother just passed at 93, but if Americans could see and hear my mother talk about America they would understand. I'll just cut to the chase. When we first came to America my mother let me stay up and watch TV with her. I couldn't speak English very well and my mother could barely get by. She worked 6 days a week and at night we would watch the news and whatever and by 12 o'clock the 3 or 4 TV stations would go off the air and we would hear sssssss, just noise and people would presumably go to sleep. Before then we saw a jet flying through the sky and a man with in very deep voice was saying something, i couldn't understand it, and the jet then turned skyward and flew seemingly into the heavens through the clouds and I remember what the man said, "...and saw the face of God."

And then it melted into a black and white, because in those days we didn't have color TV. The flag was full screen, billowing, and I heard, 'da da da da da da,' you know the National Anthem. I didn't know what it was or what was going on and it was almost time to go to sleep. It was late. And, every time, my mother saw the flag, she would start crying. As an eight year old boy I didn't understand why, but from my mother's point of view we were finally safe. I may have been born in the country, that people throughout history have referred to as the promised land, but take my word for it...America is the promised land. For everybody. And don't be ashamed. Don't hesitate. We need to teach young people to be comfortable saying, 'God bless America.'"

Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com

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No King But Jesus!

The Colonists grew in their resilience and confidence in God, to the point where one Crown-appointed Governor wrote of the condition to the Board of Trade back in England: "If you ask an American who is his master? He will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ."

The Committees of Correspondence soon began sounding the cry across the Colonies: "No King but King Jesus!"

From America’s God and Country Encyclopedia

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Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of the Empire to:

1. The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.

2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace.

3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.

4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people.

5. The decay of religion--faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.

Edward Gibbon

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Sufferings for Independence

Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty.

At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forests and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion.

Such were the sacrifices of the founding fathers. There are no movements that have shaped the world where sacrifice was not called upon. And of course in the church we have all our grace predicated on a sacrifice and it didn't stop at the cross. Jesus told his disciples that they too would need to take up the cross. And that's what they did:

• Matthew suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword at a distant city of Ethiopia.
• Mark expired at Alexandria, after being cruelly dragged through the streets of that city.
• Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in the classic land of Greece.
• John was put in a cauldron of boiling oil, but escaped death in a miraculous manner, and was afterward banished to Patmos.
• Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downward.
• James, the Greater, was beheaded at Jerusalem.
• James, the Less, was thrown from a lofty pinnacle of the temple, and then beaten to death with a fuller's club.
• Bartholomew was flayed alive.
• Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to his persecutors until he died.
• Thomas was run through the body with a lance at Coromandel in the East Indies.
• Jude was shot to death with arrows.
• Matthais was first stoned and then beheaded.
• Barnabas of the Gentiles was stoned to death at Salonica.
• Paul, after various tortures and persecutions, was at length beheaded at Rome by the Emperor Nero.

Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com

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America Is Like a Child

This nation, this America, is just like a child to God. I know that we are a nation, with laws and governments and institutions, but to God we are just children. Barely 200 years old as a nation, we have not lived long enough to see everything and we have not been around long enough to understand everything. If we look at our 200 years of America in God's eyesight, aren't we just like children? We have a boys' clubhouse, where the girls are not allowed to come and play, and the results are female workers making less than male workers. Aren't we just like children? We have a team, where the fellows from one side of the street refuse to play with the fellows from another side of the street, because their hair is curly or their skin is dark. As a result, America has few Black-owned companies, and few Blacks in management. Aren't we just like children?

We as a people, African-American people, are acting just like children to God. I know that we are an ancient people, rooted in Africa, written about in the Bible, but when it comes to how we deal with each other and how we look to the world, we act just like children. We have thirteen-year-olds and fourteen-year-olds out in the street playing cops and robbers, but they are using real guns, and somebody is dying. Aren't we just like children? We have thirty-year-old women still dating like teenagers, and forty-year-old men still chasing skirts like young boys. Aren't we just like children? We don't create our own jobs; we don't develop our own goods; we don't provide for our own families; we don't even hire our own children. And since we don't provide for ourselves, we don't support ourselves, we don't develop ourselves, then we must still be just like children. We have a nation full of adults who are still acting like children, and it's time for us to grow up.

Paul said, "When I was a child I spoke as a child, I acted as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things." America, it's time to put away childish things. African-Americans, it's time to put away childish things. Families, it's time to put away childish things. We need a wake-up call.

James McLemore, Lord, Send The Wind, CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio

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The Only Country

Ours is the only country in the world where people pay $200,000 for a house and then leave it for two weeks every summer to sleep in a tent.

Lewis Grizzard, Life is Like A Dogsled Team . . . If Your Not The Lead Dog, The Scenery Never Changes, Longstreet Press, Atlanta, 1995, p. 24.

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In Mark Twain’s characteristic sarcastic wit he called for civility and charity between those who differ in their religious and political perspectives:

When I, a thoughtful and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic—for that is part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his. All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the Republicans and the Mugwumps know it. All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats and Mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me, I am often troubled to see how many people are mad...This should move us to be charitable towards one another’s lunacies.

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com

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"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

- George Washington

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Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,

for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:1-4

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"In reading over the Constitutions of all fifty of our states, I discovered something which some of you may not know: there is in all fifty, without exception, an appeal or a prayer to the Almighty God of the universe…. Through all fifty state Constitutions, without exception, there runs this same appeal and reference to God who is the Creator of our liberties and the preserver of our freedoms."

- D. James Kennedy

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"History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."

- General Douglas MacArthur

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"I speak as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others, to be read at all ages, and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice or thrice through, and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one of two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted, unless by some overruling necessity."

- John Quincy Adams

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"Under God" and the Pledge of Allegiance

The words "under God were taken from Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, "…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth…" and were added to the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14, 1954 by a joint resolution of Congress, 243 (Public Law 83-396). (The Pledge was initially adopted by the 79th Congress on December 28, 1945, as Public Law 287.) On June 14, 1954, President Eisenhower signed into law the pledge:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which is stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

President Eisenhower gave his support to the Congressional Act, which added the phrase, "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, saying:

"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war."

President Eisenhower then stood on the steps of the Capitol Building and recited the Pledge of Allegiance for the first time with the phrase, "one nation under God."

From America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, William J. Federer, Fame Publishing.

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Quotes

"In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gave you." - Amy Tan

"My County, ‘Tis of Thee" was written by a Baptist minister, Samuel Francis Smith.

"The Pledge of Allegience" was written in 1892 by a Baptist minister, Francis Bellamy.

The words "In God We Trust" are traced to the efforts of Rev. W.R. Watkinson.

Rev. John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

"The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come – it is now – when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government." - Peter Marshall

"Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." - Pope John Paul II

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." - John Adams

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of Liberty." - President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Friday, January 20, 1961

"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it." - John F. Kennedy

"Freedom is the last, best hope of earth." - Abraham Lincoln

"…I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’" - Martin Luther King, Jr. (From his "I Have a Dream speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963)

"Patriotism is not so much protecting the land of our fathers as preserving the land of our children." - Jose Ortega Y Gasset

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." - Thomas Paine

"I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death." - Patrick Henry

"The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." - Benjamin Franklin

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In June of 1863, just weeks before the battle of Gettysburg, a college president asked Abraham Lincoln if he thought the country would survive. President Lincoln replied: "I do not doubt that our country will finally come through safe and undivided. But do not misunderstand me… I do not rely on the patriotism of our people… the bravery and devotion of the boys in blue… (or) the loyalty and skill of our generals… But the God of our Fathers, Who raised up this country to be the refuge and asylum of the oppressed and the downtrodden of all nations will not let it perish now. I may not live to see it… I do not expect to see it, but God will bring us through safe."

"Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely; in full conviction that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceful spirit of Christianity."

Daniel Webster

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"The Paradox of Our Time"

The paradox of our time in history is that:

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years!

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.

We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less.

We plan more, but accomplish less.

We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

Author Unknown

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Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Delivered November 19, 1863

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"I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in the Assembly every morning…"

Benjamin Franklin, 1787 Constitutional Convention

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TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES

This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.

America: The Good Neighbor.

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television Commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.

None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10?

If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."

Stand proud, America! Wear it proudly!

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Quotes by Ronald Reagan

"I believe this blessed land was set apart in a very special way, a country created by men and women who came here not in the search of gold, but in search of God.  They would be free people, living under the law with faith in their Maker and their future."

"Our liberty springs from and depends upon an abiding faith in God."

"The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable, and as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related.  We need religion as a guide."

"If we lived by the Golden Rule, there would be no need for other laws."

"I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land.  We need God's help to guide our nation through stormy seas.  But we can't expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living."

"My fellow citizens, those of you here in this hall, and those of you at home.  I want you to know that I have always had the highest respect for you, for your common sense and intelligence and for your decency.  I have always believed in you and in what you could accomplish for yourselves and others.

And whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts.  My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way.

My fondest hope for each one of you, and especially for the young people here, is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here.

May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek Divine guidance, and never lose your natural God-given optimism.

And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill...My fellow Americans, on behalf of both of us, goodbye, and God bless each and every one of you and God bless this country we love."

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The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teaching of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.

Calvin Coolidge

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It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Patrick Henry