to the verse up on the screens behind me, Psalm 33. This morning, I want to talk to you about how to be a good Christian and a good American. How to be a good Christian and a good American. By the way, so I believe you can be both. You can be a good Christian, and you can be a good American. Now, I know some people that are good Christians, but not very good Americans. And I know some people that are really good Americans, but not very good Christians. But you can be both. Now, the funny part of that to me is, when I think about that, all the way back to when I was a teenager, one of the mantras that our youth group, and I realize I was only in youth group two years, really not even quite, like a year and nine months, But our youth group tagged me with the phrase, Joe always believes you can have your cake and eat it too. And what's funny about that mantra that they gave me was I always believed you could do it all, in other words. Originally, I was going to go to a Bible college in Philadelphia that was just starting up. And because it was their first year to start up, they weren't going to start until October because they couldn't get everything ready in time. And the church had a big going away party for me on a Sunday night. Gifts, cake, all this stuff. And then I didn't go. And Wednesday night I was back at church. And they laughed, and they said, classic Grimaldi. He had his cake, going away party, and ate it too. I didn't go away. And then in January, I went off to Howes Anderson College. And by the way, that was almost a gigantic mistake in my life. I knew I was going there for the wrong reasons. And when Push came to show, and it was time to go on Monday, packing the car and grousing around, and my mother said, what's wrong? I said, I just don't feel very well. She said, well, wait, go tomorrow. The next day, I'm doing the same thing. And I'm a guy that I pack my car the night before. When it's time to leave, I'm leaving 30 minutes, an hour early. And she said, what is wrong? And I said, this just doesn't feel right. And she said, don't go. two of the greatest words I ever heard in my life, don't go. It's like, okay, that's simple enough, I'm just not gonna go. So, all that being said, I've been a person that always felt like you could have your cake and eat it too. And I think you can be a good American, and you can be a good Christian. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. The verse on the board behind you says, blessed is the nation, Psalm 33, verse 12, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own good. Inheritance, a verse you know quite well probably in the book of Proverbs chapter 14 verse 34 says, righteousness exalted the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. So how do we balance this concept of being good Christians and being good Americans? I'm going to give you 10 things that I wrote down. You say, well, I have other ideas. That's wonderful. When you preach, you give those ideas. Ten things that I wrote down that I think would help us to be good Christians and good Americans. Number one, remember that you are a dual citizen. A dual citizen. Now, you understand what dual citizens are. There are some people that are U.S. citizens, and you can get a dual citizenship in Israel and several other countries. Some countries, and a lot of countries, for instance, if you are a citizen of, you know, Iran, let's say, and you come here and take nationalization classes and you want to become a US citizen, you have to renounce or give up your citizenship in that other country. And that's true of most countries. There are some countries that the United States has what's called a reciprocal agreement with, and that means that if you're a citizen of that country, you can keep that citizenship and also become a citizen of the United States. Only countries, of course, that are approved and that we're friends with. So I want you to understand, as a Christian, you are a dual citizen. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20 says, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our conversation, that means our lifestyle, the way we live, we are citizens of heaven as well as citizens of the United States. Ephesians chapter two, verse 19. Now therefore, ye are no more strangers or foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. We sing the song, this world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. That's to remind you that your citizenship as a Christian is in heaven. But 1 Peter 2, verse 17 says, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God. What are the last three words? Do you know that verse? Honor the king. You know what that means? That means I'm a citizen of heaven, but I have not renounced my citizenship in the United States of America. I am also an American. And so, I have, there are rights and privileges that come with citizenship. So, as a citizen of heaven, I have rights and privileges, as well as responsibilities. And as a citizen of the United States, I have rights and privileges, as well as responsibilities. And I have to figure out how to balance those. How do I balance those things? Matthew chapter 22, verse 21 says this, They sent him Caesars. This is when Jesus told them to go and cast a hook into the water, they pull out a fish, they pull the coin out of the mouth. He asks, whose image is on the coin? And they say unto him, the verse says, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God. So how, in short, can I be a good Christian, citizen of heaven, and a good American, a citizen of the United States of America? How do I do that? In short, that verse tells me to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. In other words, there are things about my life that are completely controlled by God, and I need to submit myself in those areas to God, in all of those areas. Then there's some areas that really don't have that much to do with my spiritual life. Those things are more carnal, And in those areas, I should submit myself to Caesar. I always use this example. There's nothing in the Bible that talks to me about speed limits. Nothing. Nothing at all. I could give you a few funny ideas, funny verses, but I won't. Nothing that talks about that. So when they put a speed limit on the road out here, and we debate this every time, what is the speed limit on East Avenue, 25? 35, okay, 35. When they put the speed limit up at 35 miles an hour, I'm supposed to honor that. If I get stopped going 60, and I say, well, I'm a Christian, I don't have to obey that. I obey God rather than man, okay? That's not scriptural. Okay, that's not scriptural. By the way, if you are going to hand policemen tracks when you get stopped for speeding, pick up some tracks from Community Baptist Church. Keep them in your car and hand them out. What's funny is, in Pennsylvania I used to do that. And I said this to this other preacher, and he gave me some tracks. And when I would be stopped for speeding, I would hand the officer a track, but not from my church. I didn't tell him that. I'm handing him a track from some other church. Said all that to say this. I understand. Look, we've got some people. And it doesn't seem to be, you know, Brother Phil, everything becomes very cyclical in our circles. And doing this for 45 years or whatever I've been doing it, you know, I watch stuff go around. And right now we're on a down cycle to the real strong anti-government people. But I've been around long enough that it will take another upswing. But there was a day when, I mean, You know, there were people in the Baptist movement, you know, having babies at home, no birth certificates, no social security cards, you know, I mean, all this stuff because they were so anti-government. They wanted nothing, no footprint, nothing that had anything to do, because the government was behind every bush. Not President Bush, you know what I mean. Every shrub waiting to jump out and ruin your life. And you wanted to do everything anti-government, anti-establishment, anti-society you could. And they gathered quite a crowd. They wouldn't get building permits for anything. I mean, you name it. They wouldn't get driver's license, some of those folks. you know, we're sovereign citizens, we don't have to have a license, all of this stuff, okay? So anti-government, and they made a big issue of it, and they were hauled into court, and their churches at different times were padlocked, and all kinds of trouble and harassment and problems, because they were fighting the government. Now, can I tell you something? They expended so much energy and effort on not being part of the United States of America, that the devil got them to dominate their time with that kind of stupidity. Can I tell you something? It's not worth it. It's not worth it. And it's not biblical. I can be a good Christian and be a good American. So understand, number one, remember that we are dual citizens. Number two, and if you keep staring at me like you don't understand, I'll never get all ten of these done. So just go, oh. And then I'll move on. Number two, understand citizenship in heaven is more important than citizenship in the United States. Now, take your Bible, turn to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. We're gonna read this text. I want to look at another verse, so I'm gonna turn there while you're turning to Romans. I want to look at one more verse here that I did not print out in my notes, that is written on my notes but not printed. I want to take a look at Acts chapter 5 and verse 29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than man. Understand that I am a citizen of heaven and a citizen United States But first of all, my primary obligation is to God as a citizen of heaven the text here in Acts chapter 5 verse 29 Peter then Peter and Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than man. And by the way, this is when they are going to be brought in front of governments for doing things that God had led them to do. And they tell them, Look, we're going to have to obey God rather than man. Now, Romans chapter 13. And verse 1, this is the text, and I'm going to read all the way through verse 13, the text that's quite often used and should be appropriately used when talking about our responsibilities to government as Christians. Verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Let me stop and say this. It's important for you to understand that God allows kings to take the throne. You know what that means? Even when there's a wicked king on the throne, God has allowed it. That means if God allowed it, it is for my good. because we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. And if I believe Romans 8, 28, then I gotta know that even when the president is somebody I don't like, God will let him be there. In the divided kingdom, after David dies, and after Solomon dies, after Solomon, so you have Saul, David, Solomon, three kings that had a united kingdom. After Solomon, you had a divided kingdom. Okay? Judea, Judah and Samaria, a divided kingdom. Northern kingdom, southern kingdom. Okay? They had 22 kings of the divided kingdom. You want to take a wild guess how many of them were bad? No, but that would be a good guess. That'd be the smart guess. 20. 20 out of 22. were bad, 20 out of 22. I think our batting average in the United States is a little better than that. You could argue it, but I think out of 22 presidents, we get more than two that are good. But I want you to understand, even when they had a bad king that ruled over them, God allowed that king. Most of the time, it was because of their own sin that God sent an evil king to punish them. So understand that, look at verse two. Moreover, therefore resisteth the power, I'm sorry, whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is a minister of God, to avenge or execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Now let me stop and say, so the explanation that God is giving to us through Paul to the Roman church is we're supposed to be in subject to the government and that God set up government. As a matter of fact, you'll notice it says there in verse four, he is a minister of God. Wow. That means that those positions are ordained by God. Understand something, we've made a lot of big mistakes, in front of our young people especially, when there's a president we don't like and we're slamming him all the time. And I don't mean slamming a policy, I don't mean, look, argue about policies and principles all you want, but when you slam the position of president, you tear it down in front of all of us. You tear down the position of policeman because of a bad policeman. You tear down the position of president because of a bad president. You can't tear down the position. The position is important. And I know, when you read the text, that they're supposed to be a rewarder of those who do good and a terror to those who do evil, and sometimes it frustrates us because we feel like they're a terror to those who do good and a rewarder to those who do evil. Sometimes that's true. Sometimes it does get turned around backwards. But understand that God has ordained the government, okay? Understand God ordained the family as an institution. He's ordained the church as an institution. He's ordained government as an institution. And they all have a proper place. Sometimes those places overlap each other, but we have to understand how we can be in subjection to God and to government. Look at verse five. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For for this cause pay you tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Notice once again in verse six, they're called ministers. That same group of folks, the big anti-government, I'm talking about people inside the Baptist movement. They also were refusing to pay taxes of any kind. Okay? And fighting all of that. Therefore love is fulfilled is the fulfillment of the law and that knowing the time that now it is high time to wake out of sleep For now is our salvation nearer than when we believe the night is far spent the day is at hand Let's therefore cast off the works of darkness. Let's put on the armor of light Let's walk honestly as in the day not in writing and drunkenness not in chambering and warrantedness not in strife and envying understand that as a citizen of heaven and a citizen of the United States, I have an obligation to God, I have an obligation to country. Here's where the line is drawn. If my obligation to country is going to cause me to fail in my obligation to God, then I must honor God first, and country second. But that does not mean I throw the baby out with the bathwater. That does not mean that I throw out all of my obligation to the government. As a citizen of the United States, I have an obligation to the government. I do. And God has put that government there. You say, I don't like it. Tough. Tough. There's a lot of things we don't like. A lot of things. I don't like wearing a suit and tie. Tough. Okay? It's not about what I like. Okay? Obligation is not about what I like. There's some guys out here that don't have jobs and don't work just because they're just too lazy and they don't want to work. They're not going to fulfill their obligation to their family, to their society as well. All of us are paying for all these things to protect them and help them and all these things and they're not contributing to it. You know, it's really hard to pull a wagon when nobody helps you. And it's even harder when the people not helping are sitting in the wagon. Okay? So I get it. So let's not flip that coin on the other side and become people that are sitting in the wagon and not fulfilling any of our obligation to government. You say, well, I work and I pay taxes. So that's good. That doesn't give me a right to rebel in all these other areas. I should only rebel as a Christian against government when the government is demanding that I violate my Christian principles. If they make me violate my obligation to God, that citizenship is number one. It's number one. My obligation to God is higher than my obligation to the government. But that doesn't mean I have no obligation to government. Clear as mud? Number three. Preach salvation more than politics. Preach salvation more than politics. Jerry Falwell did a great injustice to the independent Baptist movement, and he was an independent Baptist, and by the way, at one time, he was as fundamental as we are. When he started the Moral Majority, how many of you are old enough to remember the Moral Majority? How many of you have never heard of it before? That's what I was afraid of. It's a young crowd. So Jerry Falwell started this big moral majority and he was going to get all Christians to unite. They claim that they were one of the biggest reasons behind electing Ronald Reagan twice and so forth and so on. The moral majority. And they're going to change government because the concept is that the majority of Americans are moral. And that was true, may still be true. Okay, but what they did is they got all these preachers to get so involved in politics that they quit doing what they were supposed to do. They were spending so much time marching off to rallies and speaking about politics that they quit soul winning. or barely did any of it. Their services turned into political rallies more than preaching the Word of God. Preach the Word. Be in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. We're not supposed to be preaching politics. Now, when politics gets into the realm of Bible or into the realm of my spiritual life, then politics becomes a part of it because it gets attacked a little bit. But that's not the essence of what we're doing. And what they did is they shifted their focus so much. We're supposed to be preachers of the gospel and preachers of salvation, not of politics. Someone wrote, while the cultural Marxist continues to goad us into joining the next half-baked revolution, Christians must plod along faithfully and locally, sharing the gospel with anyone and everyone who listens. I don't know if you understand that statement. Understand that one of the best things the devil can do is goad you into some other great cause. And that's what Jerry Falwell did with the moral majority. The great cause became political instead of publishing the gospel. Okay? And that's where we made our big mistake. Our big mistake. I know preachers that resigned their pastorates to go into politics. Okay, listen, if God's called you to be a politician, and I've met a few people that that's what they felt called to do, I don't doubt their calling, but if you were called to preach, how in the world could you resign that to be a politician? What a stupid move. Stupid move. But they thought they could do more to change the world by enacting laws and ordinances and all these things, as opposed to preaching the gospel that could save souls, change lives, and show people a better way to live. They made a bad choice. They made a bad choice. So understand that we are supposed to preach salvation more than politics. Number four, we're moving right along. Vote. but vote your Christian conscience, not your bank account or your party line. Number four, vote, semicolon, but vote your conscience, your Christian conscience, not your bank account and not your party line. Look, those of you that are old enough to remember, when I was a kid, one of the big lines politicians always had was what? Two chickens in every pot. And then it morphed into two cars in every garage, right? What's that? That's the prosperity politics. Now listen to me. Prosperity preaching, you understand what that is, right? These preachers, these televangelists, prosperity preaching. You, you know, we need some seed faith. We need somebody who'll give $1,000 in seed faith and God's going to bless you with $10,000 and, you know, while they have three or four jets and all this stuff, okay? The prosperity gospel preachers, that is heresy. But so is prosperity politics. Vote for me and I'll put two chickens in your pot. Vote for me, I'll put two cars in your garage. Vote for me, I'll put a cell phone in your hand. Well, he did that. Vote for, you know, people will vote. their bank accounts, they'll vote for financial reasons. Sometimes people vote on their party line. Well, I'm a Republican, or I'm a Democrat, or I'm an Independent, and I'm going to vote for everybody that's in my party. Okay? I'm saying that you should vote your Christian conscience. What spiritually are these people, where are they at on spiritual issues? There's enough voter information out there that you can gather it, look at it. Quite often, we provide it as well, that you can look at how these people have voted, what their records are. Vote, but vote your Christian conscience. Vote, that's a responsibility as an American. But vote your Christian conscience. That's your responsibility as a Christian. Not to just vote for your bank account. Matthew 6.33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things. shall be added unto you. We vote for things instead of voting for the things of God, seeking Him first. Number five, live what you say you believe. Live what you say you believe. Ephesians chapter six, verse six says, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. If I want to make an impact in my country for the cause of Christ, then I need to quit just doing lip service. I need to live what I say I believe. And if I want to be a good American, I'm going to have to live what I believe instead of just doing it lip service. There's a lot of people that talked real strong and real big when I was a kid about their government and everything. And then when the Vietnam draft came in, Brother Chris Stein, they were draft dodgers. Because now that meant they were going to have to go to war. And by the way, still into my lifetime, I had to, though the draft was, what do you call it? wasn't annulled or done away with. You still had to register for selective service. At 18, I had to register. I thought that was interesting. Why am I registering for something that's not supposed to exist? Because at any moment, if they wanted to reinstitute it, you were there, right? You were there. Said all that to say this. And they came to school. And you had papers you had to fill out. And you registered. So you registered. I knew none of the Jehovah's Witnesses would take him. There was a lot of people that religiously, and by the way, it was kind of interesting how all these 17-year-old guys all of a sudden got religion. Because they didn't want to register for the draft. They all got religion. They became conscientious objectors. I said all that to say this. It's time, but oh, but they were real patriotic until then. Until then. See? It's easy to talk patriotism until it's going to cost you. You realize the signers of the Declaration of Independence there were wealthy men. And they were doing okay under Great Britain ruling here. They were doing quite well. But they believed in a concept that was bigger than them, and most of them lost everything they had. You read the life of the founding fathers and what happened with their lives, and most of them lost all of their wealth, lost their houses, their lands. Many of their sons died, and even some of them all died in the Revolutionary War. Understand that if we're going to be good Americans, we need to put up or shut up. And if we're going to be good Christians, we need to put up or shut up. Number six. Soul winning and social involvement. If we are going to be good Americans and good Christians, we need to understand that we have a responsibility in these two areas, soul winning and social involvement. Acts 1, verse 8, Be ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be, what's the next word? Witnesses. Witnesses in me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and the other most parts of the earth. You know what we need a revival of? We need a revival of everybody believing they're a missionary. Your family needs a missionary. You need to be a missionary in your family. Your neighborhood needs a missionary. You need to be the missionary in your neighborhood. Your workplace needs a missionary. You need to be the missionary in your workplace. Children, your schools and the playgrounds need missionaries on the playgrounds and missionaries in the schools, and you need to be the missionaries. Do you understand that there are groups of people that I will never see? that you see, there's groups of people that I could never reach that you can reach. Right now, I will say this to the children, for instance, right now, we're in a climate where an adult can't, you know, when I started this thing 45 years ago, you could go out with vacation Bible school flyers and go to a park with a pile of kids, start handing them out and get the kids gathered around and invite them all to Bible school. You do that now, you're going to go to jail. But if I take Timothy there and I stand over here, Timothy can go out there and hand him out and talk to all those kids and hand out flyers and he'll be okay. He can hand out tracts and be okay. Ladies, there's a lot of situations where you can talk to women and it's not a problem. Where a guy can't talk to them. You can get away with a whole lot more than a man can. There's people at your workplace that are never gonna come to this church. and the only Christian they're ever gonna be touched by is you. There's people in your neighborhood that the only person they're ever gonna be reached by is you. There's people in your family that the only person that they're ever gonna be reached by is you. You. I want you to understand that we need to understand our obligation as a Christian To change our world and our country is that we all recognize ourselves as missionaries. Secondly on this, understand that we have a responsibility socially in our country. James 1, verse 27 says, pure religion and undefiled before God and the fatherless is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Now that word visit there doesn't mean go by their house and talk to them. Okay? It means to help them with their needs. Now, it's a slippery slope. We were even talking about this this morning. It gets very hard to determine who to help and who not to help and what to do. But we have to be careful we don't completely shut ourselves down from it. You know, we were laughing about our regulars that come by here. And the one lady who was here a couple of weeks ago, she also hit up the shop across the street there. with her story, you know, her house burned down, and her husband, first her house burned down, first her husband died some years ago, her house burned down, and she lost everything, and she couldn't get any money on it, and there was no insurance on it, and she was in the hospital because her arm got septic and all this stuff. Then that story evolved to where her husband died in the fire. Yeah, so first her husband died, but then he died in the fire. And across the street here, she told the guy in there, if you give me money, my social worker will give it back to you. Here's the phone number of the social worker. So he called it. She walked around behind the building, and it was her cell phone. And he came around the building, and he's talking to her, looking at her while she's on the cell phone, pretending to be the social worker. And he's looking right at her, and she still goes. And it's like, you know, I can see you. Okay? So, yeah, can you hear me now? All right, we've got those stories. I told you on Wednesday. This last Wednesday or the Wednesday before, I pulled up to open the gate, and one of our regulars, I forgot his name now, Alec would know, he'd been coming here for 12 years, pulled up beside me and said, hey preacher, can you spare some money for a cold drink? It's such a hot day. I said, no, get away from me. Say, preacher, you're becoming kind of cold. Yeah. For 12 years, hey listen, I have sat with that guy in my office on numerous occasions. I have witnessed to him and he knows the Bible and he's saved. I've talked to him about if you don't change your life and your behavior, you're always gonna be in the same situation. Here we are 12 years later, he still doesn't have a place to live. He still has his stories, he's still bumming money. I'm not helping him by giving him money. So you're probably not helping him by being nasty. I don't know, but it feels good. I'm just honest, I'm sorry, I'm honest. Okay? But we don't want to become so jaded by that that we don't help anybody. You hear what I'm saying? You gotta figure out who to help and how to help them. I'll tell you another story, because she's not here anymore. Many of you remember, and I forgot her name. You know how great I am with names. There was a lady here, she never actually joined our church, but she was a waitress down here at Fay Wray's. And she would come here now and again. She said she'd come here every week, except she had children that lived in Wadsworth, and if she went there, she could take her grandchildren to church on Sunday. She came and helped at a couple Bible schools. She came in on two different years, before Bible school with a, like a one-gallon jar, those plastic jars, full of coins, and it was her tip money. She came in and gave me her tip money that she got for a week to buy stuff for vacation Bible school. I found out that she had some sort of a situation with rent or with something. And we as a church paid it. Okay? She wasn't a beggar. She wasn't a, you know what I mean? There was a legitimate situation. And by the way, I don't think I gave her more money than she gave me over the two or three years she was here. Now, she moved away, Florida or somewhere. Over that two or three year period of time, she put way more money into our church than we put into her life, okay? But she was, you know, a single lady and struggling to make ends meet and all these different things. I said all that to say, that we have an obligation to do something socially as well. Don't shut yourself off from social involvement. We gotta hurry. Number seven, mentorship and discipleship need to take place so that we can pass on Christian principles and patriotism. The reason patriotism is dying is it's not being passed down. It's not being passed down. 2 Timothy 2, verse 2, Anybody my age and older, remember how much patriotism we were taught by our parents? How much patriotism we were taught in our schools? Okay? These kids aren't getting that. They're not being taught patriotism in school, they're not being taught patriotism at home, and so they grow up not very good Americans. Now flip that coin. Sadly, we're not propagating a whole lot of Christianity to these young people either. Okay? They're not getting it from very few places. from very many places. They're not getting it. So consequently, a generation is rolling around, they're not very good patriots, they're not very good Americans, and they're not very good Christians. Whose fault is that? My fault. It's your fault. We need to mentor and disciple them in both patriotism and proper biblical values. Number eight, gotta hurry. We need to restore biblical relationships. Restore biblical relationships. Genesis 2, verse 24, Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Biblical relationships, let me list them for you. Number one, restoring marriage between a man and a woman. Enough said. By the way, I preach in more and more churches, Brother Phil, where there's independent Baptist churches filled with people who've been living together for years, never got married. Okay, we're destroying, we're griping at the gays and the lesbians for destroying marriage. We're doing pretty good without their help of destroying it. We're destroying it pretty much on our own, okay? And we need to speak up about it. Biblical relationships in marriage, biblical relationships between manhood and womanhood. Understand that they are separate and that they have different obligations. Thank God, Ashley, that men don't have the obligation of having children. Of birthing children. I don't know that I would be a father if that was a situation. Just telling you straight up. Okay? But there are leadership responsibilities that men have, and they've been sloughing it off. Men and women relationship. Parent-child relationships. Parents do not need to be their children's best friend. They can get another best friend, but they can't get a parent. They need you to be a parent. You say, well, I'm just a friend to my kids. You know, most of the friends kids have turn them in the wrong direction. Okay, be a parent first. And by the way, parents have the responsibility to rear, children have the responsibility to respect. And we need to make sure we do. And by the way, if you're not rearing them, don't expect respect from them. If you're rearing them correctly, they should be taught respect, and respect should be demanded. You say, respect is earned. Yes, it is earned, and sometimes it must be demanded. Number next, citizenry and law enforcement. I'm talking about reestablishing biblical relationships. There's a biblical relationship that you need to have in marriage between men and women, parents and children, citizenry and law enforcement. Look, I understand sometimes police make up things. I understand sometimes they can be wrong. I understand all those things. But I grew up in an era where we were all taught to respect the policeman and follow his instructions. And we'd all be a whole lot better off if we did that. Most of the crazy nonsense that happens, and by the way, I can show you video after video. You can find them on the internet, on Facebook, or YouTube, or wherever, have all these Christians that are stopped, and I don't have a driver's license. They have all this paperwork. You know, I'm a sovereign citizen, and I don't have to have a license because I'm not driving. I'm traveling, and anybody ever see any of these? A couple of you, okay? It's just so nonsense. Call your supervisor. They're going to waste all these policemen's time, all these things. They got all this paperwork. They want to argue. They want to go to court. And we wonder why some guy over here is getting mugged and there's no cop to help him because we got idiot Christians wasting policemen's time. Shut your mouth. Take your ticket. Say, yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir. Give them a track from another church and go your way. That's all you got to do. That's all you got to do. It's not that complicated. Okay? Bite the bullet. Don't turn this into a federal thing. Number last on this, building relationships. The relationship between people and church. Church, and I applaud you for being here on a holiday weekend. There was a time when we took vacations to be in church. Now we take vacations from church. I can remember the day when we had Bible school, and it was during the day, daily vacation Bible school. It was from 9 o'clock till 12. And all these people took their vacation. And back then, people usually only got one week of vacation. They'd take their one week of vacation to come work in vacation Bible school all week long. People would take their one week of vacation to come and be part of the missions conference or the revival. Now we take vacations from church instead of vacations for church. It's just our attitude about church. I got to hurry. Number nine, develop a serious prayer list for your brothers and sisters in Christ, for churches and for country. A serious prayer list for church and country. 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 2, I exhort, therefore, that first of all supplication, prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority. Don't complain about our government if you're not praying for them. Number 10 and last, I got to hurry. I'm already past time. Be proud of your Christian heritage and proud of your country's heritage and don't apologize for either. And I will say this, and I promised myself I wouldn't be too negative about politicians today. But when our politicians go on foreign soil and apologize for being Americans, I want to rip their tongues out. But that wouldn't be Christian. but it would be Sicilian. It just fries my gourd that they apologize. And we go around the country, and we make speeches, and we got tons of politicians in the United States that are always apologizing for America. Hey, listen, when I go to foreign countries, I've been to Japan, I've been to Israel many times, I've been to Canada many times. And they say, are you an American? And by the way, a lot of people resent the fact that we claim all of the Americas instead of United States citizens. United States of America. For us, there's no South America, there's no Canada, just us. We are America. We're the whole continent. I don't mind that. You see, people don't like the arrogance of America. Can I tell you something? Truth is, they wish that they could be that proud of their country. I'm proud to be an American. You say, well, they won't like you. I don't care. Okay? And I'm proud to be a Christian. Both of those things. Hebrews 11, verse 16 says, But now they desire a better country, that is, and heavenly, where for God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. God's not afraid to be called our God. I'm not afraid to be called His child. And I'm not afraid to be called an American. You say, I don't like everything in America. Neither do I. Neither do I, but it's still the best thing going. And I'm proud of it. I don't like everything about my favorite sports team. I won't bewail you with all the woes of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But it's still my team. And if you're a Browns fan, there's a lot of things for you to bemoan. But if it's your team, be faithful to it. I don't have any respect for people that bail on their team when it doesn't go their way. And I don't have any respect for people that bail on their country when things don't go their way. If this is your country, be proud of it. If you can't be proud of it, go to a country that you can be proud of and live there. And that is my message to all of these folks who want to talk about immigration. If we aren't great, then don't come. If you come, then be an American, be proud to be one. Okay, you've heard me tell the story. My dad says that his father, who became an American citizen, came through Ellis Island, said that he told, my dad told me, when I was talking about speaking Italian, he said, when we got here, my dad said, you know, speaking the Italiano in the home, you're speaking the English. We're not Italian, we're American. My dad said that if you'd have called his dad an Italian-American, he'd have punched you in the mouth. Because he had told you, I'm not an Italian-American, I'm an American. That was a generation of immigrants that built a country. Because they came here to be Americans. If you want to be Italian, go to Italy. If you want to be American, then live in America. And by the way, you want to be Italian, be proud of it. I'm for you, be proud of that. But don't be an American and not proud of it. Don't be an American and gripe about, don't fly some other country's flag and claim that that's what you are. Don't do that. And be proud that you're a Christian. The Muslims aren't ashamed of being Muslims. The Hindus aren't ashamed of being Hindus. The Buddhists aren't ashamed of being Buddhists. Why are Christians now cowering from it? Because across the globe it seems to be getting a little bit of bad press, being a little bit this, a little bit that. I got news for you. If you're ashamed of it, maybe you aren't really one. Maybe that's the issue. Maybe you are one only in lip service. There's a verse in the Bible that says there are Jews that are not Jews indeed. And I believe there are Christians that are not Christians indeed. If you're really a Christian, stand up and be proud of it. And if you're really American, stand up and be proud of it. Ten things I think you can do to be a good American and a good Christian, and I think you can have both. When they overlap, I will not compromise my Christian principles, to establish myself under American principles. But I'm not going to say just because I'm a Christian, I can't follow and do all of these things that I have a real responsibility to do as a citizen of the United States of America. I do believe you can have your cake and eat it, too. Let's stand. We dismiss it in a word of prayer. Preaching service starts in four minutes.