II Chronicles 7:14 MOVEMENT

“If my people…humble themselves and pray; seek my face, and repent from evil

Then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and Heal their Land.”

A CALL TO PRAYER TO HEAL OUR LAND!

Restoring Prayer Life, One person at a timeRestoring Family Altars, From House to House

 by the JOSHUA men of covenant

DENNIS TAN Dr. GREPOR BUTCH BELGICA

Chairman Founding Member

Providence of God and Patriotism

(Inspired by the article of William Einwechter, vice president of the National Reform Association U.S.A. and editor of The Christian Statesman.)

Patriotism has proved to be a difficult subject for many Christians. This is due, in part, to the extremes and abuses of patriotism to which they have been exposed.

This SERMON is an introduction to the 7:14 movement. Prayer Patriots, partners in prayer focused onthe healing of the land

by restoring prayer lives one person at a time 2 Chronicles 7:14, and restoring family altars from house to house Acts 20:20.

2 Chronicles

7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Acts

20:20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,

Text: Jeremiah 29:7 And seek the peace the city where I have cause you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it : for in the peace thereof shall you have peace.

abstract: the country in which a Christian lives and has his citizenship was determined by the providence of God. God has a purpose for him in the particular nation where He has placed him.

Jeremiah

29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace

3Views:

1)      those who proclaim that patriotism means "My country, right or wrong," believe that it is the highest of virtues.

2)      those who believe that patriotism "is the last refuge of a scoundrel," and "under its guise every sort of sinister human purpose thrives."

      3) the Christian who declares that all patriotism is a form of idolatry, or that since the Christian's true citizenship is in heaven, he is not to concern himself with the affairs of the nations of this world.

A biblical approach to the subject of patriotism does not correlate with any of the above views.

3Views:

The Providence of God

To help us see clearly through the issue of patriotism we need an understanding of the providence of God.

The Providence of God

Providence is God’s forethought, a prudent looking ahead, His foreknowledge as guide and guard of human beings, as in providing divine care and guidance. God's providence indicates His wisdom and power in governing all aspects of His creation for the purpose of accomplishing His sovereign will.

The Providence of God

Thus, there is a purpose to all the particulars of a Christian's life--the time and place of his birth, his gender, family, physical features and abilities, intellect, etc. Hence, the country in which a Christian lives and has his citizenship was determined by the providence of God. God has a purpose for him in the particular nation where He has placed him.

The people of God should seek the good and pray for the nation that in the providence of God they were born and or now have their citizenship

Patriotism

Patriotism is defined as the love of one's own country which leads an individual to seek the well-being and the highest good of his country. This jives well with God's purpose for a Christian in the nation in which he lives, if the well-being and the highest good of the country are determined by the standard of the Word of God.

Christian Patriotism is thus defined as --“Love of country, a citizen’s noblest sentiment, a deep and patriotic affection for the land of one's youth and forefathers based on God's holy and unchanging law.”

Patriotism

This natural expression of mankind reaches its most elevated character when his most ardent desire is for God’s law to be ackowleged and expressed in the laws of the land, and obeyed by the people in submission to Christ ... (Ps. 119:97-104)....

Patriotism

Psalms 119

119:97 O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

119:98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

119:99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

119:100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

119:101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

Psalms 119

119:102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

Psalms 119

Tom Rose and Robert Metcalf wrote in their book, The Coming Victory:

The pathway to a Godly affection for one's country can never be based on a lie or lead into the mire of social collectivism. Rather, the true pathway to a Godly love of country must be based on preserving and enhancing man's individual responsibility and desire to seek God's righteousness. (This must be especially true of those who are in leadership.)

Patriotism

Tom Rose and Robert Metcalf wrote in their book, The Coming Victory:

Whenever a country is governed under God and under laws based on His precepts, the country will be beloved of the people. The citizens will then readily and voluntarily respond to a call to defend the principles upon which their homeland stands.

Patriotism

Christians should be most conscientious with their responsibilities as citizens. They should honorably and diligently perform their duties: study the political issues; evaluating both candidates and office-holders; speaking up; writing letters of both praise and well-founded criticism; working hard for sound causes and candidates, for action and votes. All is to be biblically principled.

Patriotism

.The Christian Patriot

A Christian patriot works to see the kingdom of God and His righteousness established in the land of his earthly citizenship. He sees that in the providence of God the nation where he lives is the primary sphere of his labors, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit he seeks to promote salvation, prosperity, liberty, and justice in his own country.

An Analogy Perhaps an analogy will help here. It is evident that God would have us seek the well-being of the particular family that He has placed us in. God gives to us a "natural affection" (Rom. 1:31; 2 Tim. 3:3) for those of our own flesh and blood--husbands and wives for each other, parents and children for one another, brothers and sisters for one another, etc. This natural affection serves the good of the family unit and enables even the unregenerate (in most cases) to be committed to their family and help it to prosper.

Romans

1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

2 Timothy

3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

God has also given us His moral law that commands family members to love, honor, and respect one another in a unique way. A man is to love his wife in a way that he is to love no other. A wife is to honor and submit to her husband in a way that she submits to no one else. Parents have a responsibility to their own children that they do not have to other children, and children are to obey their parents as they obey no others.

An Analogy

This does not mean that family members are not to show love to those outside their family or to serve them, it only means that they have a higher responsibility to their own family members (cf. Gal. 6:10).

An Analogy

Galatians

6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith

So it is in the civil sphere. We have a unique responsibility to the civil society that God has placed us in.

First, the proper functioning of the civil community is dependent on the natural affection that God gives to us for those of our own community and nation. This is the source of the sense of patriotism in us.

An Analogy

Second, the law of God commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus established that our neighbor is anyone, who in the providence of God, we have contact with, or anyone in need who happens to cross our path. Those of our own community, state, and nation are our first and most present neighbors to whom we owe our love.

An Analogy

Third, the law of God commands citizens to honor and obey their rulers (1 Pet. 2:13-14), not rulers of other nations, and for rulers to serve the people under them through godly wisdom and justice (Rom. 13:3-4; Deut. 16:18-20), not the people of other nations. In other words, we have unique moral duties to those of our own civil community that we do not have to others.

An Analogy

1 Peter

2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

Romans13:3

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:

13:4 For he is the 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 the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Deuteronomy16:18

Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy

16:20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

It is no more idolatrous to love and seek the well-being of one's own country, than it is to love and seek the well-being of one's own family, provided that in each the glory of God is the highest end in view. And, it is no more a denial of the Christian's heavenly citizenship when he works for the good of the country of his earthly citizenship, than it is a denial of the Christian's spiritual, heavenly family (i.e., the church) when he labors for the good of his human, earthly family.

An Analogy

The text of Jeremiah 29:7 provides instruction on the duty of the Christian to seek the good of the country where the providence of God places him. It reads: "And seek the peace of the city wither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." It is true that the context of this verse is Jeremiah's advice to the captives of Judah who had been carried away to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29:7

Jeremiah

29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace

However, it can still be applied to the subject of patriotism by an argument from the lesser to the greater, and/or through logical proposition and conclusion. If it is true that the people of Judah were to seek the good and pray for the nation where they had been taken captive by the judgment of God, then how much more is it true that the people of God should seek the good and pray for the nation that in the providence of God they were born and or now have their citizenship.

Jeremiah 29:7

The same will be applicable to the text of

2 Chronicles 7:14. If God’s covenant with his people is true in the healing of their land, their means of survival, then how much more will it be true to a Christian nation, called in Christ’s name, in the healing of every aspect of their survival as a nation.

Jeremiah 29:7

1) Hence, Christians are to "seek the peace" of the land where God has caused their residence to be. The word "seek" is in the imperative mode, and it means "to seek with care." It carries the idea of applying oneself to a task with persistence and care.

Jeremiah 29:7

The term "peace" is the well-known Hebrew word shalom. The word shalom signifies that which is whole, healthy, safe, or sound. In the context of Jeremiah 29:7, it has the sense of "welfare". Thus, the exhortation is to apply yourself to promoting the welfare of the nation in which you live. Do that which will contribute to the welfare--the health, well-being, peace, prosperity--of the land in which you live.

Jeremiah 29:7

The Christian Patriot knows that the best way to promote the welfare of his country is to live a life of humble obedience to God and seek to apply the Scriptures to all spheres of life. In the civil sphere, he will apply himself with persistence and care to the task of bringing his nation to a recognition of the crown rights of Jesus Christ and the authority of biblical law; he will labor for justice in the laws and courts of the land; he will seek the election of godly men to office (or serve as a civil officer himself); and he will strive to reduce the government's role in society to its biblical parameters.

Jeremiah 29:7

2) Furthermore, a Christian ought to pray for the land where he lives. He is to "pray unto the Lord for it." Our prayers are to ascend to the Lord on behalf of our country, asking God to work His perfect will among us. In regard to the nation, the Christian prays for the forgiveness of national sins, and for revival in the land; he prays that the citizens might lead a quiet life in godliness and honesty; he prays for wise and just rulers who will recognize the authority of Christ; and he prays for God's judgment on wicked leaders.

Jeremiah 29:7

The benefit of seeking the welfare of our nation, state, or city is that "in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." The welfare of our civil community contributes to our own welfare. As the foolish woman tears down her own house, while the wise woman builds it up (Prov. 14:1), so the foolish citizen gives no thought to his country or his civic duties, while the wise citizen heeds the admonition of Jeremiah 29:7

Jeremiah 29:7

Proverbs

14:1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

ConclusionIn the providence of God we have been placed in the particular nation in which we live. God would have us recognize that He has put us there for a purpose, and that we have unique moral duties to perform in that context. Christian patriotism grows out of a natural affection and the commands of God's Word. It is based on a desire to serve our country with the goal of promoting righteousness, liberty, and peace. Patriotism, rightly practiced, glorifies God, fulfills the command to love our neighbor as ourself, and benefits us personally.

The 7:14 Prayer Patriot, is a Christian, as we borrow the words of John Wesley, “who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” (meaning everything He does is in answer to prayer.)

Conclusion

There is only one qualification: a Christian. One requirement: Commited to pray as a Prayer Partner of this movement. One focus of his labor: works to see the kingdom of God and His righteousness established in the land of his earthly citizenship, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit he seeks to promote salvation, prosperity, liberty, and justice in his own country

SO HELP US LORD OUR GOD.

Conclusion