Turning Points,
Part 1 Sunday,
July 6, 2014
“Turning Points for Our Nation”
1 For
everything there is a season, and a time for every
matter under heaven: 2 a
time to be born, and a time to die; a time to
plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to
kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a
time to weep, and a time
to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (ESV)
a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (ESV)
“I swear it's not too late!”
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise
and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My
words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he
was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he
made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into
another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Jeremiah 18:1-4 (NKJV)
Made
Marred
Re-made
It the story of the Bible…and of you and me.
Remaking of a Nation
Turning
Points for Our Nation
Turning
Points for the Family
Turning
Points for the Church
Turning
Points for You
Questions
1.
Does
God judge nations?
2.
Has
God abandoned America?
3.
What
can be done?
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do
with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of
Israel! 7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation
against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster
that I thought to bring upon it. 9 And the instant I speak
concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 if it does
evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent
concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. Jeremiah 18:5-10 (NKJV)
Carl Sandberg Quote
I see America, not in the setting sun of a black night of
despair ahead of us, I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun fresh
from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days
possible to men and women of will and vision.
Carl Sandburg
US biographer & poet (1878 - 1967)
US biographer & poet (1878 - 1967)
America
is built on CONVICTIONS.
Convictions vs. Preferences
Conviction versus Preference
Difference between a
conviction and a preference, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. A preference is a very strong belief, held
with great strength. You can give your entire life in a full-time way to the
service of the preference, and can also give your entire material wealth in the
name of the belief. You can also energetically proselytize others to
your preference. You can also want to teach this belief to your children, and
the Supreme court may still rule that it is a preference. A preference is a strong belief, but a belief that
you will change under the right circumstances. Circumstances such
as: 1) peer pressure; if your beliefs are such that other people stand with you
before you will stand, your beliefs are preferences, not convictions, 2) family
pressure, 3) lawsuits, 4) jail, 5) threat of death; would you die for your
beliefs? A conviction is a
belief that you will not change. Why? A man believes that his God
requires it of him. Preferences aren’t protected by the constitution. Convictions are.
A conviction is not something that you discover, it is something that you
purpose in your heart (cf. Daniel
1, 2-3).
Convictions on the inside will always show up on the outside, in a person’s
lifestyle. To violate a conviction would be a sin.
1 Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 2 He
who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his
heart; 3 He who
does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he
take up a reproach against his friend;
4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord; he who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. Psalm 15:1-5 (NKJV)
4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord; he who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. Psalm 15:1-5 (NKJV)
John
McCain story from the Daily Beast
06.04.13
John McCain’s Surprising Toast at Kissinger’s 90th
Birthday Party
At Henry Kissinger’s 90th birthday party, the
assembled VIP guests learned a piece of the past shared by the imprisoned Navy
pilot and Nixon’s secretary of state.
Henry
Kissinger’s 90th birthday party on Monday night at New York’s most glamorous
dining room in Manhattan’s St. Regis Hotel drew an astonishing lineup of
luminaries, including former secretaries of state Hillary
Clinton andCondoleezza
Rice,
former French president Valéry Giscard D’Estaing, former chief of staff James
Baker, former secretary of state Colin Powell, Gen. David Petraeus, and former
defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Many of them, such as a visiting French
dignitary fresh off a plane from Paris at the age of 103, proved that 90 is the
new 30. Former president Bill Clinton, former secretary of state George Shultz,
and current Secretary of State John Kerry all came to the podium to toast what
Kerry called America’s “indispensable statesman,” as did as Kissinger’s two
children, David and Elizabeth.
But it was Sen. John
McCain’s remarks that had the room buzzing. McCain, shot down as a bomber pilot
over North Vietnam on October 26, 1967, was brutally treated by his captors. He
was tortured, beaten incessantly, his arms rebroken in the notorious Hanoi
Hilton. Part of the McCain legend has always been how he declined an offer of
early release rather than jump ahead of his fellow prisoners on account of his
father’s impending promotion to admiral in charge of the U.S. Pacific fleet. On
Monday night, for the first time, he told of a role played by Henry
Kissinger.
The full text
follows.
Sen. John McCain:
To do justice to the
life and accomplishments of Henry Kissinger would take—as Henry would be the
first to agree—a vehicle longer than my few brief remarks. A mere single-volume
biography couldn’t really manage the task competently, could it, Henry?
So I’ll limit my
remarks to recalling one anecdote that I think illuminates the character of my
friend.
For several years, a
long time ago, I struggled to preserve my honor in a situation where it was
severely tested. The longer you struggle with something, the more you come to
cherish it. And after a while, my honor, which in that situation was entirely
invested in my relations and the reputation I had with my fellow POWs, became
not just my most cherished possession, it was my only possession. I had nothing
else left.
When Henry came to
Hanoi to conclude the agreement that would end America’s war in Vietnam, the
Vietnamese told him they would send me home with him. He refused the offer.
“Commander McCain will return in the same order as the others,” he told them.
He knew my early release would be seen as favoritism to my father and a
violation of our code of conduct. By rejecting this last attempt to suborn a
dereliction of duty, Henry saved my reputation, my honor, my life, really. And
I’ve owed him a debt ever since.
So, I salute my
friend and benefactor, Henry Kissinger, the classical realist who did so much
to make the world safer for his country’s interests, and by so doing safer for
the ideals that are its pride and purpose. And who, out of his sense of duty
and honor, once saved a man he never met.
America
is built on COURAGE.
George
Washington’s words prior to the Battle of New York.
George Washington before
the Battle of Long Island
|
|
|
|
This speech was delivered
by General Washington to his troops
just before the battle of Long Island, August 26, 1776.* |
|
“The time is now near at hand, which must probably determine
whether Americans are to be free men or slaves; whether they are to have any
property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be
pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness
from which no human efforts will deliver them.
“The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the
courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us
only the choice of a brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We
have, therefore, to resolve to conquer, or to die.
“Our own, our country’s honour call upon us for a vigorous and
manly exertion; and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to
the whole world.
“Let us, then rely on the goodness of our cause, and the aid of
the Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to
great and noble actions.
“The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we shall
have their blessings and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving
them from the tyranny mediated against them.
|
|
|
America
is built on a DREAM.
Video about Testimonies of Freedom
America
is built on FAITH.
7 Even he rendered a just
decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his
chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son
of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” Luke 18:7-8 (NLT)
No comments:
Post a Comment