August 11, 2020

Brothers and Sisters,

(Psalms 33:12)  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

In my opinion we were born and raised in the greatest nation on the face of the earth.  A study of our history reveals that America was established under the blessings of Almighty God and He has protected and preserved us.  Has America been perfect?  No.  There are scars in our past just as there are in the lives of many of the great men and women we read about in the Bible.  Abraham lied about the fact that Sarah was his sister instead of telling the Pharoah that she was his wife.  Jacob was a trickster and a deceiver when he stole his brother’s birthright.  Moses murdered a man.  David committed adultery and murder.  The list could go on and on.  However, in spite of their mistakes and sins, God chose these men and He made a great nation (Israel).

God said that He did not choose them because they were more in number, but because He loved them and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto their fathers.  (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.  The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

I believe that America’s original founders were called by God and we have been the recipients of the blessings of God down through the history of our nation.  This year (2020) makes 400 years since those original settlers (pilgrims) sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and landed at Plymouth Rock.  They set anchor just offshore in November of 1620. The Mayflower was originally bound for the Colony of Virginia.  Storms forced them to anchor at Cape Cod in Massachusetts, as it was unwise to continue with provisions running short.  This inspired some of the non-Puritan passengers (whom the Puritans referred to as ‘Strangers’) to proclaim that they “would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them” since they would not be settling in the agreed-upon Virginia territory.

Before they left the ship, 41 men out of the 101 passengers on board signed a document known as the Mayflower Compact.  In essence this was a covenant or agreement between those early settlers in which they consented to follow the community’s rules and regulations for the sake of law and order and survival.  Our nation needs to return to the principles of law and order where we can have some civility or our nation may not survive much longer.

These pilgrims (Puritans) left the old country (England) and came on a mission to establish a colony where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own heart.  The Puritans were fleeing from religious persecution by King James I of England.

So, as you can see “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance”.  I’m just thankful first of all for God saving my soul and secondly I’m forever grateful to be an American citizen.  Even with all our past mistakes and failures, we have still been blessed by God.

Bro. Rick

P.S.  Dr. Ralph Sexton is in New England this week making some videos and posting them on his Facebook page (Ralph Sexton Ministries).  It will be well worth your time to watch some of these videos.  I watched one last night which inspired me to write this morning’s devotion.  Bro. Ralph is a great student of history and the Bible and he has a great passion for our nation and the nation of Israel.  Here is the link to the video I watched last night.  It will take about 30 minutes of your time, but I’m telling you it is well worth it and you won’t regret watching.  I hope I can get this copied over here for you, but if not go to his Facebook page and look for the video he made last night entitled “My favorite monument in America”.