The Only Hope For America, Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=148019

2. It’s pretty obvious that America is in trouble
what with the 19.8 Trillion dollar debt and
climbing every day.
Take a visit to http://www.usdebtclock.org/ &
see how fast that debt is increasing.
It is mind boggling!
The moral situation of America is not good and
getting worse.

3. In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
completed in 1787, Edward Gibbon (English
historian and Member of Parliament) lists the
following reasons for that fall:
1. The rapid increase of divorce; the
undermining of dignity and sanctity of the
home, which is the basis of human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of
public money for free bread and circuses for
the populace.

4. 3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports
becoming every year more exciting and
more brutal.
4. The building of gigantic armaments when
the real enemy was within: the decadence
of the people.
5. The decay of religion—faith fading into mere
form—losing touch with life and becoming
impotent to guide the people.
Do these five reasons for the fall of Rome tell
us anything about our present national
situation? Do we dare elaborate on these?

5. Do you ever wonder what all happens on an
average day in the U.S.? According to
American Way, two statisticians who have
spent much time studying the matter have
concluded that on a typical day in this country:
- 5,962 couples marry and 2,986 divorce
- drunk drivers do $18 million worth of damage
- 90 million cans of beer are consumed
- 2,740 teenagers get pregnant
- 63,288 cars crash killing 129 people
- 3,231 women have abortions

6. Things don’t sound very good in America and I
seriously doubt, they will get better without
divine intervention.
The government can’t seem to fix anything.
Listen to what Will Rogers said about the
government of his day.
He died on August 15, 1935.
- A fool and his money are soon elected.

7. - About all I can say for the United States
Senate is that it opens with a prayer and
closes with an investigation.
- Anything important is never left to the vote of
the people. We only get to vote on some
man; we never get to vote on what he is to
do.
- Be thankful we’re not getting all the
government we’re paying for.
- I don’t make jokes. I just watch the
government and report the facts.

8. - If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half
the number of funny things passed in one
session of congress.
- It’s easy being a humorist when you’ve got
the whole government working for you.
- Last year we said, ’Things can’t go on like
this’, and they didn’t, they got worse.

9. - On account of being a democracy and run by
the people, we are the only nation in the
world that has to keep a government four
years, no matter what it does.
- Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and
U.S. Senators.
- The only difference between death and taxes
is that death doesn’t get worse every time
Congress meets.

10. What’s our hope?
Not in government.
Not in the military.
Not even in the genius of Americans,
if there is any!
Here is our only hope:
ESV A Song of Ascents.

11. What do we need to do help turn America
around?
There is no magic solution to save America.
To save America we must save ourselves and
others.
1- We must repent
2- We must pray
3- We must trust
4- We must evangelize

12. ESV
Will Rogers said: “What the country needs is
dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.”
In other words, we must repent of our
uncleanness and go to work!

13. Many Americans thinks America is a Christian
nation.
I think Christianity is the dominant religion in
America and I want to believe that America
was founded on Christian principles, and all
Christian people are the key to turning America
around.
If we don’t turn us around then the rest of
America won’t turn around!
If the people who claim Christ as their Savior
don’t do what is right then no one else in
America will do what is right.

14. It’s like the role of moms and dads. If mom and
dad don’t do right then how can you expect the
children to do right.
If mom and dad do drugs then they can’t
expect their children to do any better.
Likewise, if Christians don’t do right then we
can’t expect non-Christians to do right. We
must set the right example for others to follow.
ESV
Or follow my example, as I follow the example
of Christ.

15. I wouldn’t say we are extremely wicked but we
are not what we should be.
I think probably our worst sin in America is
idolatry. We are idol worshipers. We all have
our own idols that we worship and some even
worship self.
Some are so stuck on themselves that they are
almost totally blind to their sin.

16. What’s your idol?
What do you put before God and Christ?
We don’t like to admit that we could ever be
wrong, but we could be wrong about some
things or in some areas of our lives.
Even the best of us sometimes have the
“worst” in us.
There are times when “self” rules instead of
allowing the Lord to rule in our lives.
Here is proof.

17. ESV
We love to call Jesus the Lord but we don’t
always do what He says.
No one is perfect in their obedience to Jesus
but we should try harder.
We should be constantly working at this.
To do this, we say “no” to self and “yes” to
Jesus.

18. ESV
Paul urged Timothy to pray for all those in
authority, kings, etc.
We believe in the value and power of prayer.
Jesus believes in the power of prayer.

19. ESV
ESV
ESV
These disciples wanted to know how to pray!

20. Don DeWelt, professor Ozark Christian College
& founder of a publishing company called
College Press, was considered one of the best
preachers.
He moved people with his powerful preaching.
I vaguely remember hearing him preach at the
Kiamichi Men’s Clinic years ago.
What was the secret of his powerful
preaching?
I tend to believe it was because of his time
spent in prayer.

21. Don was known as man of prayer.
He was quick to pray and I believe that he got
his power in living the Christian life from talking
to God all the time.
Don wanted very much to live in the presence
of God continually and he did that through
prayer and praise.
Surely, we need to do the same thing.
If we want more power in living the Christian
life maybe we should pray more!
In fact, I’m convinced this is true.
The secret of power is the power of secret
prayer!

22. Sweet Hour of Prayer
by Don DeWelt
The Hour of Prayer
includes twelve areas of prayer.
You will soon find that five minutes is not
enough time to be in prayer for each area.

24. 1. Praise for God
2. Praise to God
3. Confession of My Sin
4. Sing a Prayer to God
5. Read (Pray) the Word to Him
6. Read the Word for Myself
7. Thanksgiving
8. Petitions or Requests
9. Intercession
10. Meditation
11. Listening
12. Praise God in Song

25. ESV

26. When we pray and ask of the Lord
He will do things that we cannot do!
We need to ask Him to do something in
America!
We need to pray for our leaders, if nothing else
we must pray for them to come to their senses
and seek the Lord!

27. ESV
Our trust must be in Him, not ourselves. We
are not self-sufficient.
Our sufficiency always runs out after a period
of time. Man is not smart enough to take care
of himself or save himself.
He is certainly not good enough to do this!

28. Our ultimate trust must be in the Lord!
He alone can save us, protect us, and provide
for us!
It was said of Martin Luther that before he
learned the secret of living by faith, there were
periods of great depression and
discouragement in his life.
On one occasion, his wife came down to greet
him at breakfast, dressed in black.
He exclaimed, “Why in the world are you
dressed in black?”
She replied, “Have you not heard? God is
dead.” Luther got the point.

29. NO, GOD IS FAR FROM DEAD!
We need to let God be God in our lives.
Instead of trying to fix things, we need to let
Him be the fix-it person!
HE CAN DO MORE THAN WE CAN!
He’s management, we’re in sales!

30. Oliver Cromwell’s secretary was dispatched to
the continent on some important business.
He stayed one night at a seaport town, and
tossed on his bed, unable to sleep.
According to an old custom, a servant slept in
his room, and on this occasion slept soundly
enough.
The secretary at length awakened the man
who asked how it was that his master could not
rest.

31. “I am so afraid something will go wrong with
the embassy,” was the reply.
“Master,” said the valet, “may I ask a question
or two?”
“To be sure.”
“Did God rule the world before we were born?”
“Most assuredly He did.”

32. “And will He rule it after we are dead?”
“Certainly He will.”
“Then, master, why not let Him rule the
present, too?”
ESV

33. ESV

34. The city of Glasgow in Scotland was settled by
Christian people who adopted a motto:
“Let Glasgow flourish by the Preaching of the
word and the Praising of His name.”
As one generation succeeded another, the city
grew into an important commercial and
industrial center.
Business loomed larger than religion in the
minds of its civic leaders.
Finally, its Chamber of Commerce shortened
the motto to make it read:
“Let Glasgow Flourish.”

35. This sounds so much like America, however,
America will only truly flourish by God when we
spread His gospel!
What was once the Great Commission has
now become the Great Omission, because we
have failed to fulfill God’s commission of
making disciples.

36. I know that many people have the attitude of
“live and let live.”
But Jesus commanded us to make disciples.
Because He
!
This doesn’t mean we need to be overbearing
in trying to lead people to Christ but we’ve not
been aggressive at all!
We’re quick to let it be known if we’re a St.
Louis Cardinal baseball fan but what about
Jesus?

37. The Institute for American Church Growth
asked over 10,000 people this question: “What
was responsible for your coming to Christ and
this church?”
This is how they replied:
(1) I had a special need 2%
(2) I just walked in 3%
(3) I like the Minister 6%
(4) I visited there 1%
(5) I like the Sunday school 5%
(6) I attended a Revival service 1/2 of 1%
(7) I liked the programs 3%
(8) A friend or relative invited me 79%

38. We may not realize this, but we’re in sales!
We’re supposed to be sales people for Jesus!
ESV
Can we do less than they did?
Did they believe more than we do?
Was their faith stronger?
What’s the difference?

39. I don’t believe there is any hopeless situation
and certainly not when the Lord is involved.
I believe there is only one person who can
make things right when things go wrong.
Things do go wrong in life.
We’ve seen things go terribly wrong in America
and the Lord is only hope of changing things
and making life better.