Happy 4th of July weekend! I trust that you are having a blessed holiday. We celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, 238 years ago. The Declaration of Independence begins with these famous words …
“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,”
So, the founders of our nation, acknowledged their creator God and the rights that He had blessed them with. Today, 238 years later, we must be careful to not forget the godly principles our country was founded upon. As Christians, we have been blessed to live in a country that was founded on biblical principles and gives us the freedom to worship God. Yet, we must remember that our allegiance as believers is first and foremost to the Kingdom of God.
Psalm 144:15 (NIV) Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
The United States of America, as well as any nation, will only be blessed by God when it’s people acknowledge and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. To the degree that our nation forgets God and does not follow Him, to that degree their blessing from God will depart.
Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.
In other words, when people do not accept divine guidance for their lives, they cast off restraint or “run wild” or “perish” or be uncontrolled in other translations. We are seeing an increasing amount of running wild in our culture. The solution is that blessing comes from those who obey God’s Word. Only those who are believers in Jesus Christ have the wisdom and strength to walk in the ways of God’s Word.
Today, we are continuing in our message series “Four Priorities in Life” with the message “Loving the Guidance of God’s Word.” We’ve looked at the first priority, Loving God, in our last two messages. Today, we begin to look at the second of the four priorities which is loving God’s Word. God’s Word can give us personal guidance for our lives and families. When we follow that guidance, we will be blessed. God’s Word also gives guidance for how our society and government should run as well. When our nation follows the principles of God’s Word, it will be blessed. Don’t fall for a minute to the lie that biblical principles should be excluded from our government and legal system. Our country was founded on biblical principles and to the degree that we stray from them, the blessing of God on the United States will be lost.
Psalm 119:105 (NIV) Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
It is God’s Word that must direct our personal lives and the course of our nation. Today, we’re going to be looking at a section in Scripture from Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and is all about the blessing of following the Word of God. God’s Word, the Bible, is not just another book to gather dust on our shelves.