Last weekend was incredible. Yes, it was the 250^th Birthday for our country but it was what my hometown of Hamburg, Arkansas chose to do that made me even more proud. I knew when I read on Facebook last week about Hamburg taking the Nehemiah challenge, that Mary & I had to go home.

The story of Nehemiah is fascinating. God called a cupbearer (Nehemiah) for the Persian king Artaxerxes to rebuild the destroyed wall in Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem is some 900 miles from where Nehemiah & the other Jews were taken by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Only God can orchestrate the series of events that followed. Only God can put ideas & thoughts into pagan kings to fulfil God’s plan. Only God calls the unequipped to reveal His Awesome Power.

God sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. It was not easy. There was great resistance…but God was in control. And the key, Nehemiah & the leaders obeyed God. They rebuilt the wall without heavy equipment in 52 days. Think about that for a minute. Impossible? “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

But get this. It was what happened after the wall was built that spoke volumes about the hearts of the people. From Nehemiah 8:1-3, “1 all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.” The Power of God’s Word.

Hamburg stepped up on this 4^th of July. Pastor Jessie Charpentier of Hamburg’s First Baptist Church told me, “We had 18 readers a day (3 per hour in 20-minute reading slots) for a total 54 readers from 6am to 12noon Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We finished the entire New Testament Friday at 12:30pm for a total of 18 1/2 hours. To God be the Glory. Great things He has done!” I have not heard of any city or town that had the courage to take the Nehemiah Challenge. To stand and proclaim we are One Nation, Under God and proclaim His Word.

This is exactly what God called for thousands of years ago in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” It’s not a political party or a President that will turn this country around…Only God has that power. But “We the people” have a responsibility…and Hamburg stepped up.

But what about you…now that the fireworks are just a memory…the Bar-B-Q is gone and life has returned to “normal,” has anything changed? Did you wake up and spend time with Him this morning? Did you…

“Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He pronounced” Psalm 105:5

or “remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.” Psalm 77:11

or “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Declaration of Independence

Understand the significance of never forgetting God and what He has done for you! Psalm 106:21-22 speaks to when God redeemed His people from slavery in Egypt. “They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.” And then in Deuteronomy 32:18 it says, “You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.” That generation never set foot into the Promise Land. Priorities have consequences.

Much like the prodigal son, we as a Nation have been wandering & drifting away from God. It’s time to come home… to Come Home to Jesus.

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15