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How much would you give up to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Well, Another victory for Jesus!

God's Purpose for America

To grind the American Indian into the ground,

How much would you give up to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?

That is a

hard question for many of us to answer because few of us have experienced
hardship or persecution because of our walk with Christ.

Greywolf

Through necessity and innovation, a new method of

evangelism made its rounds-the circuit-riding preacher.

Just what was it like to ride a circuit? Francis Asbury, the great
Methodist preacher, gave up everything for Christ. He never married and
never bought a home. He rode his faithful horse carrying two saddlebags
that held everything he owned. When he was older and no longer able to
handle the jostle of horseback, he still made his rounds bumping over
trails in a carriage. Traveling more than 270,000 miles, he preached over
16,000 sermons during his years and saw many thousands come to Christ.

Many circuit-riding preachers were not highly educated or well-respected
intellectuals. Often converted at a camp-meeting, they became so filled
with the fire of God's Spirit that they opted to live their lives on
horseback, just to help fulfill the Great Commission and teach scriptural
values to families isolated from other religious influences.

Imagine the scene. The preacher gallops into town, dusty and tired, his
horse sweating. He tacks up a notice to announce his meeting. It might be
held in a home, schoolhouse, barn, or even a tavern. This was more
excitement than that little town had seen for weeks! Everyone read the
sign and ran to get dressed in their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and wash
the dirt from their faces.

If this town was his last stop for the day, the preacher stayed with a
Christian family or even spread his blanket under the summer sky. How
exciting if the preacher came to your house, helped you read the Bible,
prayed with you, and gave you news of the surrounding communities! Through
rain, sleet, snow, and searing sunshine, the circuit rider kept going.
Many traveled a circuit of 200 to 500 miles every two to six weeks.

Circuit-riding preachers helped change the frontier. Their methods of
spreading the gospel were innovative and uniquely served the needs of the
people. Thus the powerful spirit of the gospel adapted to conditions not
found in Europe or even on the East Coast of America where towns and
villages were more accessible. These pioneering evangelists and teachers
inspired the formation of churches and helped frontier families build a
tradition of serving God.

Created to Be an Influence

This innovation was just one way God worked in our midst. From the days of
Columbus on, He used great care in forming the United States of America,
creating us to be a worldwide influence. Although we had won our
independence, God was still shaping us to become a sovereign nation.

Shortly after we miraculously survived the Revolutionary War, which could
have crippled our infant nation, we were once again embroiled in war with
Great Britain. Sometimes referred to as the "Second War of Independence,"
the War of 1812 was the first major test of our national spirit.
Responding to British blockades of American ports, the United States
government tried several diplomatic channels to avoid conflict. But on
June 18, 1812, President James Madison signed a Declaration of War against
Great Britain.

A series of major victories on the high seas led to triumph in 1815.
American confidence soared as we successfully defended our honor once
again. With this important victory, it became clear that we were no longer
just an experiment in democracy. America was here to stay!

Other victories for American sovereignty came with the Monroe Doctrine of
1823 and the Mexican War of 1846-48. With these successes, God was
equipping us to one day be a world leader. America was becoming powerful
and greatly revered among nations. The American government grew more
stable through effective leadership and a growing economy. We had solid
diplomatic relationships abroad, and we were universally recognized as a
free and independent state.

America was, indeed, a new experiment in history. Never before had a
nation been created under such circumstances, and then succeeded so
conspicuously. The nations of the world were beginning to listen to what
we had to say. With our enhanced visibility, God was positioning us to
impact the world with the gospel.

Fulfilling His Purpose

Throughout every stage of our growth, the Creator was careful to mold and
guide our nation to accomplish His purposes for us: to propagate the
Christian faith and help fulfill the Great Commission.

In a speech on July 4, 1837, the 61st anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence, John Quincy Adams proclaimed:

Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most
joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day?

Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation
is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a
leading event in the progress of the gospel dispensation?

Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social
compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth?1

Former Librarian of Congress and renowned historian Daniel Boorstin writes
that early Americans believed the victories and miraculous growth of our
nation were for a greater purpose:

From the beginning, Americans had been unwilling to believe that their
emigration, their expansion, their diplomacy, and their wars had no high
purpose, and they commonly defined that purpose as a "mission."2

Even Herman Melville, the American novelist who was no great friend of
Christians, compared the American experience with that of the Israelites
in Scripture. In 1850, Melville wrote: "We Americans are the peculiar,
chosen people-the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of
the world."3

This is our high purpose-to bring liberty, hope, and renewal to those lost
in sin. In her infancy, America entered into a covenant with God to extend
the light of Christ's love to the world, to become, as John Winthrop said,
"a shining city on a hill."

As the New England Confederation proclaimed in 1643:

We all came to these parts of America with the same end and aim, namely,
to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.4

This great covenant was not restricted to those early settlers, but
extended to an entire nation for all posterity. The Scriptures make it
clear that God is never concerned with a single generation; His
perspective spans many generations at once. We see this in the
instructions Moses gave to his people:

Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow
them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land
that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what
I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the
Lord your God that I give you . Only be careful, and watch yourselves
closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let
them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children
and to their children after them (Deuteronomy 4:1, 2, 9).

Having experienced God's guidance and protection, our forefathers were
entrusted with the responsibility to tell what God had done and share His
great blessings with others.

Sharing God's Message

When we consider the type of nation we have become over the last 500
years, the plan and purpose of God for America becomes apparent.
Nineteenth-century historian Charles Bancroft recognized that America was
destined to exert great influence:

America, then, will colonize ideas extensively when her institutions are
thoroughly matured. The process indeed commenced with her birth, and her
spirit sails with her ships in every sea and visits all lands.5

Bancroft was not saying that America would one day hold colonies as
Britain did, but that our ideas would be carried by our people to every
nation on earth. Political leaders in America may desire to influence
other nations to change from dictatorial to democratic forms of
government. While this is a worthy goal, it is not our main objective. Our
most important influence has been in exporting, not just material wealth
and political wisdom, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of all the good we
have done, this is the greatest. In this way, our blessings do not just
benefit us, but also those who receive the gospel message.

A goal of world evangelization, however, does not mean that we attempt to
force our beliefs on others through colonization or empire building.
Instead, out of deep gratitude to God, we share His love and compassion,
which helped us build our own country. Every culture and people group in
the world is valuable, and our responsibility is to share God's Word with
them and encourage them to serve God according to the guidelines of His
holy Word-within their own culture. Because of our love for Christ and our
concern for others, we share the message of God's free gift of salvation
with all people, regardless of who they are or where they live.

But I want to make this point clear. No one has the power to convert
another person, nor should anyone try to do so. Only God can change the
heart of a person. In the past, many well-meaning Christians believed that
the American way of life was somehow the "godly life." They wrongly tried
to make people accept scriptural beliefs by forcing them to give up their
ways of life.

America today is a pluralistic society, a melting pot of people from many
nations representing many religions and cultures. As Christians, we need
to be sensitive to the beliefs of recent immigrants, international
students, and foreign visitors who hold religious views different from
ours. We should be quick to inform them of our Christian heritage and
emphasize why God has made America the greatest nation in history.
However, we should not pressure them or their families to follow our Lord.
Only the Holy Spirit can reveal truth to someone and transform him or her
into a new person.

Our role is to tell everyone who will listen about Jesus and that,
according to the Bible, there is no other person who can reconcile us to
God. We do this from hearts filled with joy and excitement about our Lord
Jesus Christ, and with compassion for the lost. Christ commanded us to
love our neighbors-and even our enemies-as ourselves. We simply share the
good news that God loves them and offers a wonderful plan for their life,
and ask the Holy Spirit to do His work in their heart. (To learn more
about God's plan for your life, read Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual
Laws? in Appendix B.)

Spreading the Gospel Near and Far

As the United States became a beacon of liberty to other nations,
attracting a continuing influx of immigrants, new generations of Americans
were growing up who needed to hear the gospel message. The Second and
Third Great Awakenings at this time were probably the most influential
events of the post-Revolutionary years. This was the era of the circuit
riders and camp meetings. Great prayer revivals helped bring the focus of
our people back to God. These spiritual renewals spawned the abolition
movement, the growth of Sunday schools and Bible societies, and many
social reforms. New Christians flooded the existing churches and the newly
formed Methodist and Baptist denominations, expanding their memberships.

Through a seemingly minor event, another American spiritual tradition
began that has gained momentum to this day. Samuel Mills, Jr., had been
converted in a revival meeting in 1801. While studying at Williams College
in western Massachusetts, he became impassioned with foreign missions.

One hot August day in 1806, he and four friends decided to meet for prayer
in a field near the college campus. While they were praying, a huge
thunderstorm rolled in and began to pelt them with rain. They ran to take
shelter in a nearby haystack. As they continued praying, despite the
roaring thunder, God laid on their hearts a passion to reach people around
the world for Christ.

This "Haystack Prayer Meeting" was the beginning of the foreign mission
movement in America. From this initial gathering began a missionary group
called the Society of the Brethren, which was joined by pioneer missionary
Adoniram Judson and others. After their appeal to the Congregational
Ministers in Massachusetts for assistance, the first American foreign
missions society was formed in 1810. By 1821, the society had already sent
out 81 missionaries. That tiny effort, multiplied over the years, has
helped America become the primary missionary-sending country in the world
today.

By now, the pattern was unmistakable. God was raising up a nation to
impact the world-a special nation with a special destiny. As we would soon
learn, however, that destiny would not be accomplished easily. To complete
our mission, we would need to be purified; but purity comes at a price. By
mid-century, the Refiner's fire was burning brightly throughout America as
we braced ourselves for America's toughest hour.

[1]

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1 John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1837. An Oration Delivered Before the
Inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport at their Request on the Sixty-First
Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, (Newburyport: Charles
Whipple, 1837), pp. 5,6.

2 Daniel J. Boorstin, The Americans: The Democratic Experience, (New York:
Vintage Books, 1983), p. 559.

3 Victory in Spite of All Terror (video), (Traverse City, MI: Freedom
Ministries of America, Inc. and Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc.,
1997).

4 Constitution of the New England Confederation, May 19, 1643. Benjamin
Franklin Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil
Institutions of the United States, (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864),
p. 56.

5 Charles Bancroft, "The Footprints of Time," 1879. Quoted in Rosalie J.
Slater and Verna Hall, The Christian History of the United States of
America, (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education,
1966), p. 9.

[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (67).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.

God's Purpose for America

Boot to the head! <BAM!>

Oh, and PLONK
--
Robyn "the bird"
Resident Witchypoo
BAAWA Knight!
#1557