This was written for and given at the Lynnville UMC on July 4, 2004.

The Scripture is from Galatians 6: 1-16

NOTE: The included songs are very Much a part of the ‘lesson’! The ‘ads’ are Not!! If a ‘space/link’ seems empty, try just clicking in it…

Let me give you just a little insight, this morning, into part of the process of my ‘building a sermon’… First, before I leave for the week either [my wife] or I print up all of the lectionary verses for the next Sunday… in print big enough for me to read without my glasses… and I pack it into the truck along with all of my other stuff for the week. Then, whenever I have the opportunity, I pull them out and read them out loud a number of times and see if anything ‘jumps out’ at me as a message that I can build around. I then spend most of the rest of the week coming up with a story that I think helps demonstrate the point that I want to make, or at least gives me a jumping off place to get into the message. I try to think of what general points I would like to make and some basic ideas on how to get there. But it isn’t until I sit down in front of my computer, usually on Saturday morning, that everything seems to come together on the ‘page’ in front of me! And I can honestly say that there are many times that the finished product surprises me as much as anyone… I never know for sure where God is going to lead me until I sit back and read through it myself!

          This week started out no different… I had the verses for the week, and I came up with a really clever story to get things started, and an idea of where I was going to go with it… but… when I sat down on Saturday to write it, it just didn’t seem to ‘talk to me’!

Over the years, I’ve been told any number of times about how someone had watched as a preacher ‘threw away’ his prepared sermon, saying how he felt ‘moved by the spirit’ to preach about something else… and how that was the ‘best sermon they’d ever heard’! Now, as a preacher myself, I usually had some cause to doubt some of these stories… I know that a really good message requires some forethought and planning… and I felt like this ‘throwing away the sermon’ was probably more a case of ‘showboating’ for effect! I considered doing that this morning… but since mine is always on my computer, I would have to throw IT across the room, and I decided that that would not be a good thing!

I have, however, decided to ‘throw out’ my original sermon idea and do something a little different this morning… so, just bear with me a bit as I present a couple of thoughts pertaining to Independence Day… and our Scripture lessen this morning…

There was no date that I could find to indicate just when John Denver cut this track, but I would assume it was during the anti-war era of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. And I use it as a reminder this morning that war is hell! And I would love to live in the world of peace that God had intended it to be when He created it! But because of Satan’s actions in the world, war has sometimes become a necessary evil… as was the case 228 years ago when our Declaration of Independence was signed into law and this country went to war for its freedom! I feel like it was a necessary evil when we and our Allies are forced to defend that freedom from those who would dominate and try to control all people… and I feel like it is a necessary evil whenever we try to extend our freedoms to others, such as we are doing in the Middle East today. Yes, there are issues we are not dealing with very well, but our intent has always been to bring freedom to those who don’t even know what it really is!

Are there any other times when it might be proper to ‘do battle’? Listen to this song before you answer, and then see what you think!

The first verse of today’s lesson starts out by saying, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.” But the very next words of Paul say to “…watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” We are in a daily battle with Satan… a battle for our very soul! I know that we seldom like to think about it in that sense, but it is very true! And what is our most effective weapon to use in that battle? Prayer! What would happen if all of His people prayed like we should?

Another thing that Paul tells us in today’s verses is that, “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.”

In the first part of Luke chapter 10 we find the story of Jesus sending out seventy-two others two-by-two ahead of Him to every town and village. As they returned, they all rejoiced, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

Jesus’ reply was… “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

He was telling them to not take false pride in their accomplishments here on earth… but to be proud of their place in heaven!

Today is a day we Americans take great pride in ourselves and our country… and on many levels, that may seem justified. We are one of the richest countries in the world… even the poor among us are generally far better off than many considered ‘middle class’ in other counties. Our policies and politics are listened to… though not always agreed with… all over the world. Our leaders are considered to be among the world’s leaders. We are a great country!!! But… something is happening… something is changing us… and it’s happening so slowly and insidiously that most don’t even see it!

Consider this… the phrase “In God We Trust!” is found on every piece of currency that we use in our daily lives… but I ask you… how true is it? In the novel ‘1984’, a society and government was presented that was so evil and so undesirable… “Big Brother is Watching!”… that we were on constant guard against it! During the sixties and seventies, we went out of our way to insure the rights and freedoms of the individual and of all groups, races, sexes, and religions. We may have gone overboard, a bit, but that’s a sermon for another day. My point is that the calendar year 1984 came and went, and since we had all been on the lookout for and defense of all freedoms, it came and went without notice. It is now twenty years later. Has anyone noticed how many of our freedoms we have been asked to give up in the name of ‘National Security’? Oh sure, I know all of the arguments for it… they are good, solid, sensible arguments… and that scares me!

The social order presented in the book ‘1984’ did not occur overnight… and slowly but surely we are going down the same road printed in those pages… and we are not only allowing it, we are encouraging it in the name of our own safety!

Our country… our Constitution… and the government created by that Constitution… was established on Christian principles, using the Word of God as a guide. But we have been proud of ourselves for far too long, and we have let slip what those principles stood for… we have let slip the education of generation after generation in the ways of God and His Son, Jesus, and what the Bible tells us… and we have become less and less a country that trusts in God and more and more one that trusts in ourselves! Beware!