Fight for Freedom (Pastor Ron Termale) July 4, 2021 (Independence Day)
On our nation’s Independence Day today, we declare over America: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Ps 33:12). May we see the covenantal promises that the first colonists prayed to God hundreds of years ago in Virginia and Plymouth be renewed and stirred again that this land shall bring honor to the Lord Jesus Christ.
John Adams, who served on the committee that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence and later served as the first vice president and second president of the United States, wrote the following about America’s independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776:
“It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by Solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more” (Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776).
Adams’ words show the sovereignty of God in the founding of our great nation. We became a nation of freedom because of the devotion of Christian men and women to God Almighty and their desire to live and worship Jesus Christ freely, without tyrannical interference.
Before you come to Christ, you are under the tyranny of Satan who thinks he is your king. You are like a person groping in the darkness trying to find freedom, purpose, and meaning. There is only one light switch, and His name is Jesus Christ.
The prophet Isaiah says that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, for one has come who will have the government on His shoulders, and that the greatness of His government and peace will have no end (Isa 9:2-7). The passage is about Jesus and His reign as our savior and king.
Our founders knew that the government needs to be on the shoulders of Jesus Christ. There is a movement to try and erase Scriptures and the words of Christ from our institutions, but it is our nation’s Christian identity that the Pilgrims risked their lives for and Revolutionaries fought and died to preserve. Are you also willing to fight to preserve the Lord’s place at the center of our nation?
We fight by praying together, having strong churches, and receiving power from the Holy Spirit so that we can be witnesses for Christ in our communities (Acts 1:8).
The Holy Spirit filled the American people during the Civil War when Abraham Lincoln upheld the words of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” and 2.1 million people enlisted to fight for the Union Army to end slavery (over 1.9 million were white, and 179,000 were black). The Holy Spirit also revived the nation’s spirit during the Great Awakenings.
We are to stand firm in the freedom that Christ has given us and not backslide into our past life or ways of sin (Gal 5:1). We are also to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit like the disciples were (Acts 13:52), so that we can change the world by forcefully advancing God’s kingdom like they did.
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