Well as we start 2024, I thought about doing something a little different for our Wednesday studies. and look at the presidents and where they stood when it came to their understanding of faith and religion and Christianity and things along that line. And so that's what we'll be doing as the weeks progress moving through the year through each president and doing as much study of each to look at those, but I thought as we start out, that it'd be kind of fun to just have some fun facts about each of the presidents as we make our way through this time. And so looking at George Washington today, there's a few facts about him. There's legends, there's mythology that has grown over the years concerning him. But some of the facts that learned in the midst of looking at their lives, at his life in particular, I found out that he's a scholar in name only. That although several universities and educational institutions have his name, Washington did not attend college. He's the only major founding father without a college education. He left school at the age of 15 because his family could not afford his college education and as a result he was self-taught in many fields and his knowledge of the countryside and map making skills as a surveyor enabled him to serve with distinction during the French and Indian War in which he had fired the first shot. You also hear a lot about his teeth. His choppers weren't chopped from wood. Believe it or not, Washington's false teeth were not made from wood. They were created using a combination of gold, ivory, carved animal bone, and human teeth purchased from his slaves. Those purchase records, they still exist. And he used his false teeth to eat hoecakes, his favorite breakfast that was simple cornmeal pancakes served with butter and honey. We also learned that he was a volunteer. He's the only president to unanimously receive all electoral votes. Washington never actually ran for president. He was drafted by popular demand and this feat was accomplished for both his terms. He refused to accept a salary as president and even spent some of his own money to pay the salaries of cabinet ministers and other members of the executive branch. And although instrumental in developing the plans for the District of Columbia and the White House, Washington never lived in the city or the presidential mansion. His inaugurations took place in New York and Philadelphia, the capital cities at that time. and his ideas became presidential traditions. Washington added the phrase, so help me God, to the end of the presidential oath of office during his inauguration and it has been delivered in that manner ever since. It was his idea to call the chief executive, Mr. President, He is also the inspiration of the two-term limit for the presidency. And it was he who issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation designating November 26th as a national holiday. And so we see this man that If I were to ask you to stop for a moment and close your eyes and think of what America's history is tied to, one of the people that obviously I think would come to your mind is that picture of George Washington. Well, as we think about the idea of faith and where he was when it came to religion, In one of my studies, looking in a biography by James McGregor Burns and Susan Dunn, entitled George Washington, talked about the fact that Washington's tolerance for the opinions of others extended naturally to his commitment to liberty of conscience in matters of religion. He cared not if men were those that followed Muhammad, Jews or Christians of any sect or even atheists. Indeed, he went beyond tolerance for he explained that tolerance implied merely the indulgence of one class of people in permitting others to exercise what were in fact their inherent rights to freedom of religion and conscience. And so there's a lot of debate over where he stood when it came to religion, where he stood when it came to Christ and Christianity. Many of the founding fathers had the roots concerning that. And in looking at the book, The Faith of the Presidents by John M. Wiley, he mentions the fact that everybody wants a prosperous nation, but just exactly how that's accomplished and what it looks like would be subjects that lend themselves for quite the debate. Yet for George Washington, the matter was simple, as he shared in his farewell address as president in 1796. Of all the disposition and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. Now some today think that we can have a moral society without a shared belief in God, but Washington didn't think so. He argued in that same address, let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. And so we understand that as you and I look at Romans chapter one. And if we see that and what it says, it says, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power in Godhead so that they are without excuse. And so we've got people today that have forsaken a belief in God in general, and when you think about it, they step completely away from Christianity. And when that happens, that can have a huge impact. Well, Washington was impactful in what would be looked at as how we viewed religious liberty. The large percentage of Americans in 1790 were affiliated with some type of Christian denomination. Washington sent a letter to this Jewish congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. And he said this, he said, may the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree. And there should be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths and make us all in our several vocations useful here and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy. So we can see that he was charitable to the Jewish people and that definitely was a religious minority at that time. But secondly, it shows that he had this huge knowledge of the Bible. He didn't invent that analogy of sitting under a vine and fig tree. That came literally from the book of Micah chapter 4 and verse 4. So it tells you that in his training, although he was self-taught, you knew that he was a man that read the Bible and studied the Bible. There's some prayers written that are tied to him. He says this, I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have the United States in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government. to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field. And finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the divine author and of our blessed religion. And without a humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation. Amen. And so that was his prayer that this is back in 1783, as he's the commander in chief of the military. And he's asking God to make us a happy nation. And that only happens when we seek justice and love mercy and walk humbly with our God, as we see in Micah chapter six, verse eight.