AMERICA'S EARLY BEGINNINGS

AMERICA’S EARLY BEGINNINGS I. MOST OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT OUR AMERICAN HISTORY WE HAVE EITHER FORGOTTEN OR HAS BEEN ALTERED BY SECULAR HISTORIANS. A. HOW MUCH OF AMERICA’S STORY INVOLVED THE HAND OF GOD IN DEFEATING THE BRITISH FORCES? B. THE SUCCESS THAT GEORGE WASHINGTON HAD, HOW MUCH WAS THE RESULT OF GOD’S BLESSINGS? II. GOD CERTAINLY WAS INVOLVED! A. WASHINGTON INFORMED HIS TROOPS: “GOD HAD ONCE AGAIN INTERVENED TO HELP THE AMERICAN ARMY TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM.” B. WASHINGTON’S RECOGNITION OF GOD’S DIRECT INTERVENTION WAS ONE OF MORE THAN 250 IN WHICH HE OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGED THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. III. THE 13 COLONIES, ALTHOUGH PROFESSING TO BE CHRISTIAN, WERE BECOMING ISOLATED AND DIVIDED MAINLY BECAUSE OF DENOMINATIONAL DIFFERENCES. A. PENNSYLVANIA HAD GOTTEN ITS NAME FROM “WILLIAM PENN” A QUAKER MINISTER. B. VIRGINIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA WERE PRACTICING ANGLICANS. C. MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT WERE CONGREGATIONALISTS AND NEW YORK, DUTCH REFORM. IV. A MINISTER, REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD BEGINS PREACHING A MESSAGE OF UNITY. A. HIS FAMOUS SERMON BECAME KNOWN AS: “FATHER ABRAHAM.” B. ACTS 10:34-35 V. THOMAS CUSHING MOTIONED THE MEETING BE OPENED IN PRAYER. JOHN JAY OPPOSED BECAUSE HE THOUGHT JOINING TOGETHER FOR AN ACT OF WORSHIP WITH DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS PERSUASIONS WAS UNACCEPTABLE. A. SAMUEL ADAMS PRESENTED WHITEFIELD’S FAMOUS SERMON, WHICH PENETRATED THE HEARTS OF THE DELEGATES AND THE MOTION WAS SECONDED AND PRAYER WAS OFFERED. B. LUKE 11:17 VI. DIVISIONS APPEAR IN A VARIETY OF FORMS. A. WHEN THE FINAL LINE OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS WRITTEN AND SIGNED, THEY PLEDGED: “OUR LIVES, OUR FORTUNES AND SACRED HONOR” TO THE CAUSE OF THIS NEW GOVERNMENT. B. WE ARE CALLED TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY AND FREEDOM. WE MUST DEFEND OUR UNALIENABLE RIGHTS.