RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE - STIMULUS SERMON
I
would love to give the Pastor of this predominantly black church in
Virginia three cheers. This guy is obviously a leader. Perhaps we should
each decide who our real leader is... It is amazing to see that very
little has changed in 4,000 years.
Good morning, brothers and
sisters; it's always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday
morning, and so eager to get into God's Word. Turn with me in your
Bibles, if you will, to the 47th chapter of Genesis. We'll begin our
reading at verse 13, and go through verse 27.
Brother Ray, would
you stand and read that great passage for us? ... (reading) ... Thank
you for that fine reading, Brother Ray. So we see that economic hard
times fell upon Egypt , and the people turned to the government of
Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain
harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built. So
the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax increase,
and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And this went on
until their money ran out, and they were hungry again.
So when
they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock - their
cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey - to barter for
grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through the end of that
year. But the famine wasn't over, was it? So the next year, the people
came before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except their
land and their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight of my lord
but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both
we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will
be servants to Pharaoh." So they surrendered their homes, their land,
and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves
into slavery to him, in return for grain.
What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters?
That
turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in hard
times only leads to slavery? Yes... That the only reason government
wants to be our provider is to also become our master?
Yes. But
look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters! Thus Israel settled in
the land of Egypt , in the land of Goshen . And they gained possessions
in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly." God provided for His
people, just as He always has! They didn't end up giving all their
possessions to government, no, it says they gained possessions! But I
also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous one.
We see
the same thing happening today - the government today wants to "share
the wealth" once again, to take it from us and redistribute it back to
us. It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken control
of education, and ration it back to us, and when government rations it,
then government decides who gets it, and how much, and what kind. And
if we go along with it, and do it willingly, then we will wind up no
differently than the people of Egypt did four thousand years ago - as
slaves to the government, and as slaves to our leaders.
What Mr.
Obama's government is doing now is no different from what Pharaoh's
government did then, and it will end the same. And a lot of people like
to call Mr. Obama a "Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah? A savior?
Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves, "You have
saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh"?
Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of
mine; and Mr. OBAMA IS NO MESSIAH! No, brothers and sisters, if Mr.
Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh. Bow with me in
prayer, if you will...
Lord, You alone are worthy to be served,
and we rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the government is not
our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the eighth chapter
of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would do,
where it says "And in that day you will cry out because of your king,
whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in
that day..."
And Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry
out to you because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves as a
nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray for revival, and we pray
for deliverance from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts to
seek You and hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the
atrocities of Pharaoh's government. In God We Trust...