Jul 06 2009
Our Patriotic Songs Have Some Serious Messages (sermon)
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ISSUES in “Our Patriotic Songs Have Some Serious Messages”:
• God is looking for fruit (goodness, love) from every individual, every group, every nation, even the entire human race.
• ”My Country” – It’s good in principle to love your country. It’s very normal. But it is sometimes done in very destructive, evil ways.
• Some of these stirring songs have serious prayers in them, or frightening teachings about God’s action in America.
Bible Readings for the Following Week
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Sermon Title: “Our Patriotic Songs Have Some Serious Messages”
July 5, 2009, by Larry Harvey
Luke 13:6-9 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"
Outline
I. Patriotism and Allegiance -
the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
II. My Country 'Tis of Thee
III. America the Beautiful:
Longing for the Promise of America
IV. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
the Terrible Glory of God's Judgment on America
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NEXT AND PRIOR POSTS:
« Let’s Pray for Obama – For Our Own Sakes
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I was once a church going, God fearing Christian who sang in the choir every Sunday. I found myself believing in the words of the golden rule. The golden rule has been twisted and forgotten; so have all of the religious organizations that I know about. What happened to the Golden Rule. Do you even know what the golden rule says or what it means?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
That doesn’t mean to do things to others before they can do things to you. The religious organizations of this world have brought themselves into a pivotal moment. They can keep going the way they are going and fracture into oblivion or they can change. I left the church because I no longer support any group that doesn’t care about all humanity. Think about that.
Thank you so much, John, for noticing!
I was just this morning re-reading Isaiah 1. If Isaiah was right, you are probably right, sad to say.
Haven’t been on for a while. Need to remember to keep tuned to your site. Appreciated the time you took to challange people to think and understand a bit more about their citizenship. Can’t help but feel that the new cultural tag line to political speech is the clearest example of taking the Lord’s name in vain, and blasphemy.
“God bless the United States of America” especially in the context of our greed, our lust for power, and our agression against the people living in poverty on the resources we want cheap. For this our nation will pay a treamendous price, and for the prostitution of our churches with narrow political interests, we should expect to be given up to the sinful desires of our own hearts.
Thank you for bringing fresh insights into a vitally important issue within both our culture as citizens of the United States, and our position as members of the family of God. It gets so tempting to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Keep up the good work.