God cares about U.S.

God’s Power for Reforming AmericaOctober 14, 2012

I Kings 16:29-33 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab

son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. Ahab son of

Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to

commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the

Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole

and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?

Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or

what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the

temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said “I will live with themand walk among them, and I will be their God, and they

will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean

thing, and I will receive you.”

The Principle of Godly Cooperation

Ephesians 3:7-11I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s

grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the

Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this

mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now,

through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose

that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

”To call people into a growing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through living out our devotions to

God, God’s people and our world.”

The Principle of Individuality

Galatians 5:13-15

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the

entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and

devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will

not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 13:4-6

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not

bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the

wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.6 This is also why

you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.

The Principle of Power and Form

2 Timothy 3:1-5

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of

money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of

the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do

with such people

2 Corinthians 3:17-18

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with

unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory,

which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Acts 4:8-13Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them:

“Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the

name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands

before you healed. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is

found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had

been with Jesus.

Thomas Jefferson

“The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and the best…[for] when all government…shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it

will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as…oppressive as the government from which we

separated”

We who follow Christ in this world are to:

1. Fear God2. Know His Values3. Seek to work with those who are doing his work4. Pray for those in authority over us5. Support the work of the Church as it does the work of God in our world.6. Recognize that we stand before God as individuals blessed by Him, rather than Americans blessed by our Govt.. 7. Live in step with the Spirit and experience the new transforming life he offers by focusing on Jesus more than anything else.