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So I exhort the leaders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed…. --1 Peter 5:1 Since our nation’s founding, America has been distinguished and defined by spiritual leadership. Men like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Patrick Henry built our government upon the foundations of faith. As Patrick Henry said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Nearly 100 years later, President Abraham Lincoln confirmed our nation’s Judeo-Christian foundation when he said, “… it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God… and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” Clearly our forefathers rose to the challenges of their day, and in the process they gave us a remarkable nation. So how shall you and I respond to the challenges of our day? I believe the kind of strong spiritual leadership America needs today is not just found in our statehouses or in the White House. I believe it is found in our churches. There is no problem so big in America that it can’t be solved if America’s churches will rise to the challenge! This 4th of July, let’s not only pray for our government leaders, but let’s pray for the leadership in our churches across this great nation. And let’s pray for and expect a wave of courage and boldness for America’s pastors and church leaders to stand upon God’s Word and the godly principles this nation was built on. THERE IS NO PROBLEM SO BIG IN AMERICA THAT IT CAN’T BE SOLVED IF AMERICA’S CHURCHES WILL RISE TO THE CHALLENGE! A Heritage of Faith by Dr. Paul Chappell “The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.” Psalm 33:11–14 There is no greater human blessing than to be privileged to live in a nation which from its founding acknowledged the role of God in the affairs of men and provided freedom to worship Him. The spirit that moved the early leaders of our nation is on full display in the poem Francis Scott Key wrote following the battle at Fort McHenry—especially in the verse of the national anthem that is seldom sung anymore. Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! Our hope is not in a nation, but in the same God our nation once trusted. That same God still does work in the hearts of men and in the direction of countries. We cannot save our nation through political action. The need of our day is a revival that will see the lost converted and Christians renewed in their commitment to following the Word of God. And though our true and most important citizenship is in Heaven, we should be concerned and involved in the future of our earthly home.   Today’s Growth Principle:  Even as we give thanks for the blessings of freedom, we must also pray for a spiritual revival in our nation in which people turn back to God.