Pastor Mike will be speaking on A Biblical Response to Christian Nationalism Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 17:26-28.

But what we are saying, that the church has every right and has a responsibility and a mandate from God, that we would influence this nation to seek God, to love God, and to put God first in all of its decisions. Hello. This is pastor Mike Sanders, and we’re looking forward to sharing God’s word with you today. Hope worth having is our radio program, and today when we open our Bibles, we’re gonna continue a study, a biblical response to Christian nationalism. The bottom line is there’s nothing wrong with loving your country and loving the Lord Jesus Christ supremely in your life.

So let’s get into the word of God this morning, and let’s begin to study together. Throughout the scriptures, we are told that we are not to accuse anybody without two or three witnesses. In addition, we are taught that the evidence must be there to prove or to convict someone of either a crime or some kind of violation of the law. And so that’s just one particular. It’s easy.

We live in times that as soon as someone is put up to be a judge, they all of a sudden, one political side makes accusations, and all of a sudden, that seems to be the truth. We live in times where no one ever researches to see if what the internet says or the media says or anything that is said, is it even truthful? I find it interesting as a pastor that I have many fact checkers sitting out here in the auditorium, and I appreciate every one of you. It wasn’t too long ago before COVID that I had this one man who would come to me after every service and tell me every mistake I made. He loved to do it.

Thank the Lord, the Lord moved him on. Amen? And I know you don’t like me saying that, but you know it gets weary. Now, I’m not up here winging from the hip. I do research, I have footnotes, I have all the research that I can do.

I’m not saying that pastor is perfect, or that somehow something may be misstated. You know how sometimes you think you said something, but it came out the different way. Right? That happens sometimes to me, and that’s just because I get too excited, and I get going fast, and as a result sometimes things may come out the wrong way. But in essence, I promise you that I would never enter into the sacred pulpit and declare unto you anything that is false.

But I find it interesting that so many wanna fact check the pastor, but they won’t fact check the news media. They won’t fact check false accusations. They won’t fact check other things that are going on that are falsely claimed. All I’m trying to say to you is there are principles that are integrated within our justice system that are founded in the bible. That is where they got it.

That’s where the founding fathers learned all these principles about putting together laws and judicial systems. So when we say that we’re a Christian nation, we’re just saying that we are governed by Christian values. We are not saying that everyone has to be a Christian. We are not saying that everybody has to be a believer and follower of Christ. We are simply saying that we are governed by Christian Judeo principles.

Justice Joseph Story in 1833 as a supreme court justice said this statement, Christianity is not to be confined to the closets of our homes and the altars of our churches. It must be maintained in the courts of justice and in the halls of legislation. Can you think of any system that would be fairer, any system that would be honorable, any system that would be more of a blessing upon a nation than judicial laws and constitutional laws than the laws that are rooted and founded in the bible. No. You can’t.

Because the ways of the world will not lead to true justice. It is only through God’s truth. Jesus said, the truth will set you what? Free. And that freedom can only be found truly in Christ.

And it can truly be found in those who believe in Jesus Christ. So the constitution of The United States was signed and delivered on 07/04/1776. The great document only has 1,321 words. It takes just eight minutes to read. It’d be good for all of us to read it on July 4, by the way.

But in this document that only takes eight minutes to read, God is mentioned four times, twice at the beginning and twice at the end. Our founding fathers recognized that there is a God. Was every one of them a follower of Christ? Did every one of them commit their life to the cause gospel of Jesus Christ? Did all their lives always align with the word of God?

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Anybody who teaches you different is just not sharing the truth with you. But yet, there was enough Christians who signed that declaration and who were behind the putting together of that constitution that they had a biblical influence upon everyone that was a part of the constitution. So here is the question to you, church.

Is it wrong for a Christian to be patriotic? I believe that Christians should be loyal to their country, that patriotism should be the default for those who follow Jesus. Every Christian, no matter what form of government, is responsible and accountable to live submissive lives under the government for the sake of an effective witness for Jesus Christ. In first Peter chapter two, we are commanded to submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. Whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors, as to them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well.

I know that God is always to be first in our lives, that our love for Christ should supersede even our love for our country. Jesus taught us to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. But please understand that in our love for God, we are called to be the best citizens of our country. God has instituted human government. There is no government that exists apart from the will of God.

Romans thirteen one says, the powers that be are ordained of God. Now I know that some of you, you struggle with sometimes who is in office or who is not in office, But we must remember that the government is often God’s instrument for carrying out His purpose, and that there are times that God judges a nation with bad leadership, because he is confronting a nation that has steered from those biblical values that have caused God to bless a nation. When the national leaders are following a path that dishonors God, what is our responsibility? We are to understand first that God put them there whether we like them or not, whether they’re of our political stripe or not, that God has a purpose for putting them there. And I know that’s hard to swallow, but you have to believe in the sovereignty of God.

Romans thirteen four reminds us that the government and those who serve in the government are ministers of God to you for good. They minister to you for good. So God has a plan. He wants us to be the best citizens. He wants us to understand that we should pray for our national leaders.

We should pray for all those who serve in different offices of our nation, and even our state, and even our particular boroughs and townships, we should be praying for everyone for they are ministers of God. Think about that. So the question that I want to ask you now is what is God’s purpose for America? What is God’s purpose for America? And I know what some of you are saying.

Well, America is not in the Bible. It is not directly in the Bible. But I want you to go back to our text in Acts chapter 17 and verse 26. What is God’s purpose for America? I want you to get this, church.

Verse 26. And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. So that they and here it is. Here’s the purpose. For it’s not only the purpose of America, it is the purpose of every nation.

That they should seek the lord. In the hope that they may feel for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him, we live and move and have our very being. As also some of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. God himself has determined how long a nation survives.

God himself determines the border of a nation. You see that in verse 26. God has determined their preappointed times. Most nations, most empires last for about two hundred years. They might go a little bit farther.

America is certainly well over two hundred years. But I want you to understand, however long America lasts is all in the hands of an almighty sovereign God. Did you know that, church? And the purpose for this nation, as well as every nation on this planet, is to seek the Lord. The bible teaches us that under God, we are one blood.

We are one nation. God does not look upon the color of our skin. He does not look upon our nationality. He does not look upon our ethnicity, but rather, we are all one in Christ, and we all come from Adam and Eve. And every nation of men who dwell on the face of this earth have not only been determined and preappointed by God, but they are called to seek God.

God is very near for those who seek Him. If the purpose of America is to seek God as it is with every nation, Anything that you and I can do as light and salt in this nation to help America achieve her purpose in seeking God, we should not be ashamed that we are doing it. We should not be discouraged from our task, for our God is a sovereign Lord over all humankind. He knows and loves each and every person. That any racial distinction are all superficial in the eyes of God, for we are all created by God, and God has put within us a soul and a spirit that connects with God.

And no matter who you are, Jesus Christ has given his life that you might believe on him and trust him as your lord and savior. Our responsibility as the church is not to build a theocracy, but we are to fulfill God’s purpose in America. We are called to lead as many people in our country to search and seek God. We are to be in spiritual conversations to lead people to turn their eyes upon Christ. We are to do whatever we can to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so when people say, we don’t want a Christian nation, well, it’s too late. They should have been there in 1776. Amen? But they weren’t there. We’re a nation that is Christian because of our values that we started out with that are interwoven within our system that we have been given.

It is not that we’re saying everybody has to be a Christian, but what we are saying that the church has every right and has a responsibility and a mandate from God, that we would influence this nation to seek God, to love God, and to put God first in all of its decisions. Now, it is only the kingdom of God that will be permanent. It is only the kingdom of God. Daniel chapter two, go read it this afternoon, verse forty four and forty five teaches us that at the end of all the human kingdoms and empires of this world, they’re all gonna come crashing down. They’re all gonna come to an end.

That final kingdom will be the kingdom of the antichrist, the old Roman empire revived again that will be crushed by the very breath and voice of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, when he comes again. All the kingdoms of this world will come to an end, and the only kingdom that will last is the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It is God’s power. It is his sovereignty that controls the course of history and nature. So my last question to you, what should I do?

What should I do? I’ve tried to make the case to you, there’s nothing wrong with being patriotic. There’s nothing wrong with loving your country. There’s nothing wrong with believing in the core values of this nation. There’s nothing wrong with believing in freedom.

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating that in no way are you going against the word of God in celebrating. And I would encourage all people of all nations to rejoice in their nation, and to be patriotic, and to be the best citizens that they can. But what should we do? And what we know now based upon our response to Christian nationalism, what do we do now? First of all, and I want you to write these down if you can’t remember everything.

It is on the app if you need it. First of all, pray for your country. Is there anything more powerful than prayer? Absolutely not. It is prayer that moves the heart of God.

Now, God doesn’t have to work through prayer, but he has chosen to. God is not limited by prayer, but he has chosen to work through the prayers of his people. Today at the end of our service, which is very near, and I know some of you are getting concerned, but it is very near. But pray for your country. We’re gonna pray for our country today as we come to the concluding of our service.

But let’s also pray for the lost. There are many that we meet in this community that need Jesus Christ. Amen? And remember that America’s purpose is to seek God. And I wanna do everything I can to help every person in this country seek God.

And so I want you to do that by beginning to pray for them. It’s easy for you to curse the darkness. It’s easy for you to say, well, back in my day, when you say those good old days remember those good old days, there was no air conditioning? You remember those good old days? Your car didn’t work as good as it used to?

You remember those good old days? Those good old days where you had different problems, you didn’t have all the nice conveniences of today, those good old days? Well, there were some things that were good. There were some things that were inconvenient. But don’t fall into that trap of trying to compare today to yesterday.

And focus on the culture, the generation that you live in, and pray for every person that does not know Jesus Christ. Which leads me to the second thing that we should do, and that is to share the gospel of Jesus. The apostle Paul was faithful to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible. That’s what he’s doing right here in Acts chapter 17. Those of you that remember when we walked through this chapter, that this was the chapter where he stood up before the educated elite, and he said, I wanna tell you about this unknown god statue that you have.

That this unknown god, he is the god of the fathers. He is the god who has raised the dead. He is the god who sent his only begotten son. He is the god who has sent us Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. He is the god who brings salvation and forgiveness to all who repent and believe in him.

Now, he could have spent all his time criticizing every false god there. He could have walked him through some apologetic classes and said, look, I wanna tell you why that god’s no good, and that god’s no good. And he could have gotten on to them about their lifestyle, and he could have found every problem that’s wrong with the culture and the society, but what he did do is he stood up and he said, let me tell you about Jesus Christ. You see, church, Jesus gave us a promise. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.

What’s that mean? He will draw every person. Not that every person would respond, but people from all walks of life. Jesus Christ, when he is lifted up. Our job is not just to say, hey, this is evil, that is evil, I can’t stand this or whatever, but our job is to share the gospel in spiritual conversations, to give out tracts, to use our social media, to use all technology that we can, not to promote self, but to promote Jesus Christ.

If one more person promotes what they had for dinner on social media, I think I’m going to fall apart. Nobody cares what you had for dinner last night. Do you understand that? Nobody cares. Would you please tell people how to get saved?

Would you please point people to Christ and not what you had for dinner? You gotta have a bigger purpose than what I had for dinner last night. Amen? Yes. Go ahead.

Thank you. Now, we gotta pray, we gotta share, and we gotta serve. We gotta serve, church. We gotta get active. We gotta be fully engaged.

Here’s what’s happened in Christianity. We’ve decided, you know what? We’re just gonna take a back seat. We’re just gonna let things happen. We’re just gonna sit on the sidelines.

No. We can’t do that. We can’t do that. Certainly because of the purpose of this country and this nation is to seek God. But think about your children, and think about your grandchildren, and what kind of a nation are they gonna grow up in.

If you want them to hang on to those core values that built this nation, those core values that were part of the beginning of this nation, then you’ve got to be serving others. How do I do that? By getting involved and get active. Here’s what I mean, church. I’m not trying to build a theocracy, but some of you need to run for school board, and some of you need to run for the borough council, and some of you need to run for township positions, and some of you need to get involved and get active so we don’t have crooks trying to steal elections, amen?

Now, people get exasperated. They say, I can’t change the nation, but let me tell you what you can do. You can get involved in Franklin County, and you can make this county one of the best counties ever, and you can have a Christian influence upon the county, and you can have a light and a salt impact upon this area right here. You say, well, I did my time. Listen, It’s time not to retire.

It’s time to refire. It’s time to get back involved and get involved in this this nation and this community. You know that many of you know I started a group called Moving Freedom Forward. And this rose out of the problem that was going on during COVID where our local borough wanted to pass an ordinance that if I misgender or you misgender somebody, we were gonna be sent to a group of people who were gonna reeducate us, and then they would determine whether we would be fined or not. You say, Mike, these are far fetched ideas.

They are not. Do you understand? We live in crazy times. Now how does that happen? It is that the people of God are sitting on the sidelines and letting the crazy happen.

Somebody needs to speak up. Somebody needs to stand up. Somebody needs to step in the way and say, we’re not gonna have that kind of mess. Yes, somebody does. And I’m gonna tell you, the early Christians, they got involved in every area they could so that they could have a Christian influence upon their community.

So you say, I don’t got time. You’re the perfect person. I mean, I don’t want somebody who has a lot of time. Amen? People who got a lot of time, they’re not getting anything done.

People who have no time, those are the kind of people I like. They’re busy. They’re making things happen. I want those people on my team. I don’t want the person who says, I’m just gonna sit around and do nothing.

I want people to get involved. How do we serve others? Not only by being active, but being kind to one another. Just because you and I are different, and just because our lifestyle is different and just because our faith is different and just because we see things different doesn’t mean I have any right to be obnoxious, hateful, and rude to you. In this fight for moving freedom forward, which we were able to accomplish in flipping the borough council along with many who worked with us back to a conservative borough that got rid of that silly ordinance, that if you misgender because I’d be the first one they’d be slapping the cuffs on.

And I’d be the first one they’d send to education camp, And when they sent me to education camp, they’d find out that I’m not gonna put up with the mess, and I’d push back, and then they’d be throwing me in jail. And you’d say, what happened to our pastor? Well, he misgendered somebody. That’s what happened to him. He should’ve been better at that.

Well, I was at the borough one time, and I was given my 2¢. Amen? I actually have more than 2¢, but they would only give me a few minutes, but that’s okay. But there was a young man there whose lifestyle was different from me. And there was a young man that he wore this shirt that he pretty much said that he hated God and that he hated the Bible.

I got up there and used that as my platform. I don’t wanna live in a country where he can’t express what he believes. I wanna live in a country where I can express what I believe and he can express what he believes, and I just always believe that the truth will win. Amen? And I didn’t like what his shirt said.

I was offended, but I tell you what, I was kind. I was nice. I was understanding. I’m not out to attack. I just made the case.

We wanna live in a country where there’s freedom. Don’t we, church? How do we serve others? Be a blessing. Be a blessing, church, everywhere you go.

Be a blessing. When you get up in the day, you need to be praying, Lord, how can I be a blessing to someone? I wanna be a blessing to someone. Sometimes a blessing can be a smile. Sometimes a blessing can be a listening ear.

Sometimes a blessing can be a thought. Sometimes a blessing can be a prayer. Sometimes a blessing can be a cup of water. It doesn’t have to be extravagant. It doesn’t have to be amazing.

It doesn’t have to be that everybody sees it, but would you imagine with me what it would be like if the army of Christ filtrated this community and was just showing gentleness and kindness, and they were being a blessing to everybody that it would have a powerful impact on those who do not believe, and they would say, what’s so different about you, and why do you have so much much hope in all of this crazy times we live in? And you could tell them, I have hope because my faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are times that it seems overwhelming out there, but don’t you give up, church. It’s too soon to quit. Our stamina is not rooted in our circumstances, but our stamina is rooted in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Church, today I’m calling you to come to this altar and pray for our country. I’m gonna ask you to come right now and join me, those of you that are able, I know some of you physically can’t, but those of you that physically able come down to this altar. You do not have to kneel. You can kneel. You can stand.

If you say, pastor, I can’t, you can sit on the front row, the second row, the third row, whatever works for you. But let’s pray for our country today, church. And let’s thank God for the blessings He has given us in our country. Thank you so much for so many of you that are able to respond this morning. Christian nationalism is a hot topic in Christianity.

And if you wanna divide people and what they think about their faith, just bring up this topic Christian nationalism and you’re gonna get all kinds of opinions. But what I’ve been trying to share with you is God’s word and examples out of God’s word, illustrations out of God’s word, and I wanna continue to reaffirm to you it’s okay to love Jesus Christ, but it’s also okay to love your country. And you don’t have to be put into this box that it’s gotta be one or the other. No, my friends. We can love God, and we can also love our country.

And I hope the things that you have learned are gonna help you, reinforce you, and continue to root you in your faith. I’d like to hear from you. I want you to give me some feedback. Maybe you’re struggling. Maybe you have more questions about Christian nationalism.

And, maybe you have a comment. Maybe you disagree with me. All that’s good. So don’t be afraid to share those. You can go to our website and contact us at hopeworth having dot com.

You can go to our social media and just put it out there that, you have questions about Christian nationalism, and we’ll be glad to respond to those things. So let us hear from you, and let’s be encouraged as we continue to want to advance the kingdom of Christ and to move forward in bringing others to Jesus Christ. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.

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