One month before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, he sent a long message to Congress. He was passionate about his plan to free the slaves. These were his closing comments: “Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We—even we here—hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free– honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just–a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.”

So, fast forward to 2011. Life is a lot different than it was in the 1860’s. The freedom to choose has brought great changes in our morality. Changes brought about by our freedom of speech would not have been anticipated by our forefathers. We have seen liberal politics in action, we are fighting several wars simultaneously, and the United States is tremendously in debt. Does our country remain “the last best hope of earth?” Most of us would conclude that indeed it is. If we accept this fact, what can I do to help perpetuate the freedom that God has given us and citizens have fought so hard to preserve? Can an individual citizen make a difference? Do we feel so insignificant that we sit back and do nothing!

There are definitely ways in which we can serve our country. Consider elected officials. There are many opportunities at the federal level, including the president, senators, and congressmen, along with many other elected and appointed offices. I doubt that I will ever serve in this capacity. At the state level, there are many more opportunities. I, however, will probably never be elected as governor! Even on the local level, there are many potential areas of service. I could be mayor, but I probably never will be. There are lots of opportunities to serve on councils and boards. Many elected and appointed officials dedicate hours of their time. Are they contributing towards making our country the “last best hope of earth?” If so, why am I not doing so? Must I serve in this capacity?

What about the military? It seems as if the young men and women in the armed forces are really demonstrating the challenge of keeping our country great. They give of their time, they are separated from their families, and many give up their lives to protect our freedom. They are sent to foreign countries, where sometimes things may seem hopeless. Have I, or will I ever serve in this capacity? The answer is clearly a no!

So, this question remains. How do I help to perpetuate the greatness of our country, helping it to continue as the “last best hope of earth?” The United States was established as “one nation, under God.” When we give thought to this statement, what does it mean? Do our elected and appointed officials make us great? Does the military make us great? The very foundation of our country’s greatness begins with our Creator. I believe it is God who makes us a great nation. If this is so and it is God who makes us the “last best hope on earth,” there are ways we can all contribute. As a child of God, scripture provides clear direction.

In Galatians, we are told to serve one another in love. If everyone followed this simple rule, our nation would certainly continue to be great. The New Living Translation gives us simple, very understandable, instructions: “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” Romans 12:8

It is evident that I do not need to be an elected official, serve on councils or boards, or serve in the military to contribute to the greatness of my country as envisioned by Abraham Lincoln. My responsibility is to put God first in my life, study His word, and listen to and follow His direction. I believe that God wants our nation to prosper under His guidance. If everyone in our country put God first, loved their neighbor, and used their God-given gifts to serve Him and others, our nation would be an example of hope to the world.

If Abraham Lincoln lived in 2011, I wonder if he would believe that we are “nobly saving or meanly losing this nation as the last best hope of earth.” I often wonder the same thing. But, we remain a nation created under God, and God gives us hope. As His children, we all have something to contribute—each one of us. We simply need to discover what God wants us to do—and do it!

At the time, I was a junior in a small rural high school. I felt an incredibly deep burden to start a prayer group at school. I did not go to church with any other students at my school and was not sure who were believers, but I knew that this could be an opportunity for me to serve other Christians and even share the gospel with non-believers. I had never felt this compelled to do something and I knew that it was the Holy Spirit’s prompting. He had amazing things in store if I would humble myself and follow his lead. To my shame, I disobeyed God. My family moved to a different state after that school year and I never had an opportunity to right my wrong.

When I consider my disobedience, I wonder how my life may have been different if I had followed God’s will. How would I have grown from the leadership role? Would God have humbled me or encouraged me through the experience? Even more, I wonder how other people would have changed because of my obedience.

This experience in high school was the first time that I can remember experiencing the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It was the first time that I knew that He had a plan for me and wanted to use me for His glory. It was the first time that I had a very clear knowledge of what He wanted me to do…. It was also the first time that I remember disobeying His leading.

How many Christians in America are like me? I go to church on Sunday, pray every day, serve in the church, and work hard to bring my children up to love the Lord. I worship God and try to live a holy life. But, like my experience in high school, I find that I am often unwilling to follow God when He calls me to serve people outside of my church or talk to them about my faith. I am willing to make sacrifices to serve believers who I am comfortable around, but I often can’t even bring myself to tell others that I am a Christian. I have a difficult time making myself invite people to church and evangelism is nearly a foreign word to me.

How can it be that I am so unwilling to share the most important part of my life with others? If I love God so much and am so grateful for His salvation, why do I find it difficult to speak about Him in public? If I really believe that unbelievers will be eternally punished for their unbelief, how is it that I do not leap at every opportunity to convince them of God’s love for them? How is it that I read about Jesus’ example as a servant to the most undesirable and I can’t muster the courage to serve and love the people who I see outside my church every day?

Again, I wonder how many other Christians in America are like me?

I think that it is obvious that, similar to me, many believers in this country are either apathetic or afraid when it comes to evangelism and serving nonbelievers. The results are clear. Recent studies have shown that the American church has shrunk by ten percent in the past twenty years and some refer to the current religious state of our country as “post-Christian”.¹ Even President Obama said, “As Americans we no longer consider ourselves a Christian nation.”² Some believe that the United States will be predominantly non-religious by 2035.³ Shockingly, church spending has even changed. One study says that “congregations have waning influence among charitable causes because their focus now seems to be on institutional maintenance rather than spreading the gospel and healing the world.”⁴

I think there is a direct correlation between this decline in the church and believers’ passivity toward outreach. If we work hard to minister to the needs of the believers but don’t share our love with those outside the church, new Christians won’t be added to our numbers. One pastor explained this decline in the American church by saying, “…American Christians tend to be incredibly self-indulgent so they see the church as a place there for them to meet their needs and to express faith in a way that is meaningful for them…. There is almost no genuine compassion or urgency about serving and reaching people who don’t know Christ.”⁵

It’s alarming to think that so many American Christians, including myself, are so caught up in our temporal lives that we are afraid to follow His calling to share God’s love with those outside the church. Over and over, the Bible urges us to do this. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).” His very last command to his followers was to be evangelists to the lost: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19)…” And as Christians, we are expected to put aside our pride and humbly serve others. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction (James 1:27)…”

Historically, our nation has been known for its trust in God and service to Him. The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage (Psalm 33:12)!” We certainly have been blessed! Our country is one of the wealthiest in the world, our poverty level is low, our average life-expectancy is very high, and we have incredible influence over other nations. Even more, we have a religious freedom and tolerance that few have ever experienced. God has truly blessed the United States in some incredible ways because of the hearts and attitudes of its people and our willingness to reach out to the lost. Through the blessings that our nation has received, we have blessed the world. We have sent numerous missionaries to foreign countries. We have inspired other nations to reform their government so they may have similar religious and political freedoms. Our country has spent countless money to bring peace, health, and food to other countries.

But I fear that we, as a Christian nation, have lost our attitude of love and compassion for the unsaved. I fear that our blessing from God will be lost. Abraham Lincoln called our nation “the last best hope of earth”⁶. The loss of our divine blessing will be a loss for the whole world.

Our warning is clear! In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus says, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” In the Old Testament, Ezekiel was charged to speak the word of God to the unrighteous. God warned him that if he did not speak to warn the wicked, “His blood I will require at your hand (Ezekiel 3:18).”

Many say that the American church is lukewarm like the church of Laodicea in Revelation. I propose that we are more similar to the church of Sardis. To that church Christ said, “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you (Revelation 3:1-3).”

This warning is just as much for me as it is for our nation. For my sake, the sake of our nation, and for the blessing of the world, I pray that I have the courage to obey the next time I hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

to help keep America “the last best hope of earth?”

Written by Freda Stewart

“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

Alfred Lord Tennyson

I believe that our first obligation to our country is prayer. Not a hurried, quick prayer out of our head and not our heart. We try to “fix” things and when that doesn’t work we pray a quick prayer and then wonder why we don’t get an answer.

As George Macdonald once said,

“How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource!”

R. A. Torry tells us why our prayers often are not answered.

“The reason why many fail in battle is because they wait until the hour of battle. The reason why others succeed is because they have gained their victory on their knees long before the battle came. Anticipate your battles; fight them on your knees . . . and you will always have victory.”

In America, upon landing the pilgrims “Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, fell upon their knees and blessed God of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof…”

As our nation’s Founders designed their plan for a more perfect union, they understood that the success of a modern republic would require more than a political document like the Constitution. From their study of history, the Founders had learned of the pitfalls of republics before this one. They concluded that even the Constitution alone could not curb individual selfishness. They believed that virtues were necessary for sustaining the American experiment. Their fervent prayers were an integral part of the birth of our nation.

Our first President, George Washington, in his proclamation to the governors of the states asking the governors to make Thursday, November 26 a day of Thanksgiving, said

“ . . . that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions –to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people . . .

Abraham Lincoln, in his Second Inaugural address, March 4, 1865, prayed this prayer for peace:

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continues . . .until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid another drawn with the sword. . . so still it must be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and for his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

On February 6, 1986 Ronald Reagan prayed a prayer for healing of our land.

“To preserve our blessed land we must look to God . . .It is time to realize that we need God more than He needs us … We also have His promise that we could take to heart with regard to our country, that ‘if my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked way; then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’ “

The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America…Our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal.

We need to pray earnestly, steadfastly, and continually for our country. We must bombard heaven with our petitions for our President, Cabinet Members, Senators, Representatives and other respected leaders. I Timothy 2:1 & 2 says:

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Another quote from R. A. Torry:

“Oh, men and women, pray through, pray through! Do not just begin to pray and pray a little while and throw up your hands and quit; but pray and pray and pray until God bends the heavens and comes down.”

We need to pray for our countries’ leaders, regardless of the party they represent. When we pray seeking God’s best for our country, He can change circumstances and situations to His Honor and Glory.

A warm and friendly greeting.

We know that visiting a church for the first time (or second or third) can be a daunting. At Berean, you will never be singled out or embarrassed. No one will call on you. We work to create a comfortable but inspiring worship experience that honors God and our guests.

Bible Study that offers practical concepts for daily living.

There is a Sunday School (Bible Study) class for every age, from nursery to adult. Adults have a variety of “elective” classes to choose from. Our teachers strive to present the Bible in such a way as to make it come alive and become more real in your life.

Preaching that is Bible-based, practical, and uplifting.

Pastor Mike attempts to help people hear from God in every sermon. Just as with Sunday School, the preaching at Berean is meant to give you practical ways to apply God’s Word to your every day life.

Music that is uplifting, and reminds us of the God we serve.

At Berean, we strive to blend the traditional with the contemporary. Worship Teams help lead the music, and work to bring the congregation together in praise of our wonderful Lord, the Almighty God.