#RxF4Now

If 'Righteousness Exalts a Nation,' What's Going 2 Happen 2 the USA

Speaker

Dwight K. Nelson

Dwight Nelson served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University from 1983 to 2023. During his time at Pioneer he spoke on the “New Perceptions” telecast, taught at the theological seminary and has written books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.

Offering

Saturday, October 29, 2016
Program: 
As We Begin
In This Holy Hour • R. Vader and J. Rouse
Praise
Jesus Saves • My God is So Great • Awesome • Awesome God
Prayer
Sabine Vatel
Tithes & Offerings
On a Proverb: Trust • Kenneth Logan
Children's Story
Bible Reading
Proverbs 14:34; 16:12; 20:28; 24:1 1-12 NIV
Worship in Music
Cantate Domino (Sing to the Lord) • Mark Hayes
Sermon
#RxF4Now—If 'Righteousness Exalts a Nation,' What's Going 2 Happen 2 the USA? • Dwight K. Nelson
Connect Card
Once to Every Man and Nation • 606
As We Depart
O God, Our Help in Ages Past • Jan Bender

#RxF4Now—If 'Righteousness Exalts a Nation,' What’s Going 2 Happen 2 the USA?

www.newperceptions.tv

 

  • Preamble
    • Elijah Mvundura: “Primal passions: fear, egoism, anger, and hatred, the kind that Mussolini and Hitler exploited and mobilized, are once again potent factors in the politics of Western democracies. Driving these passions is the same disillusionment with liberal democracy, the same gnawing sense of overwhelming crisis that things are falling apart and the center cannot hold. The parallels with Europe in the 1920s are ominously striking.” “. . . not only do we have a thoroughly interconnected and interdependent global economy—social media connects people globally, which allows them to speak with one voice. Now imagine a catastrophic global economic collapse against a background of social unrest, radical jihadist and anarchist violence, hordes of extremists inflaming passions and speeches, blogs or tweets of demagogues going viral; and new totalitarianisms become conceivable. As a matter of fact, democracy has been in retreat worldwide. This drift toward authoritarianism brings to mind Christ’s words, ‘If people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?’” (Liberty May/June 2016 p 6)
  • Premise #1—God is in —He .
    • Daniel 2:19-22
    • Portrayal of God #1—He is the ultimate .
      • Desire of Ages: “But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God’s purposes know no haste and no delay.” (32)
    • Portrayal of God #2—He is the ultimate .
    • Portrayal of God #3—He is the ultimate .
    • Portrayal of God #4—He is the ultimate .
      • Review and Herald 8-5-1902: “Those who place themselves under God’s control, to be led and guided by Him, will catch the steady trend of events ordained by Him to take place.”
  • Premise #2—God’s purpose in Earth politics is always to display His as revealed in His   who carry out His .
    • Daniel 2:46, 47 
    • Daniel 3:28, 29
    • Daniel 4:37
    • Daniel 5:22
    • Daniel 6:26, 27
  • Premise #3—God expects political leaders—no matter their religious persuasion (or the lack thereof)—to abide by the principles of .
    • Proverbs 14:34—“[right-doing] exalts a nation, but   [wrong-doing] condemns any people.”
    • Proverbs 16:12—“Kings detest wrongdoing, for a throne is established through   [right-doing].”
    • Proverbs 20:28—“and faithfulness keep a king safe; through   his throne is made secure.”
    • Proverbs 24:11-12 The Message: “Rescue the perishing; don’t hesitate to step in and help. If you say, ‘Hey, that’s none of my business,’ will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know—someone not impressed with weak excuses.”
    • “The Lord has done more for the United States than for any other country upon which the sun shines. Here He provided an asylum for His people, where they could worship Him according to the dictates of conscience. Here Christianity has progressed in its purity.” (Maranatha 193)
    • “The Bible was held as the foundation of faith, the source of wisdom, and the charter of liberty. Its principles were diligently taught in the home, in the school, and in the church, and its fruits were manifest in thrift, intelligence, purity, and temperance. . . . It was demonstrated that the principles of the Bible are the surest safeguards of national greatness.” (Great Controversy 296)
    • “As nations forget God, in like proportion they become weak morally. . . . It is sin that is ruining nations today. . . . A disregard for God’s law has brought the sure result.” (Character Sketches from the Life of Daniel 45)
    • 5T 713

 

“Once to every man and nation
comes the moment to decide,
in the strife of truth with falsehood,
for the good or evil side.”
—James Russell Lowell

 

 

Fellowship Dinner
Pioneer Commons

 There will be a fellowship dinner following the second worship service in the commons.

Offering for January 10, 2026

Religious Liberty
 

Seventh-day Adventists have stood firmly for religious liberty—for everyone—for more than 150 years. But do you know the reason why? Part of the reason is that, when our church was founded, almost every American state had Sunday-keeping laws on the books. Adventist pastors, farmers, laborers, and others were arrested, jailed, or fined for doing “secular work” on Sunday. Even Wille White, son of James and Ellen, was arrested in Oakland, California, in 1882 for keeping the Pacific Press Publishing presses operating on a Sunday! But that’s not the full story. The deeper reason why we continue to stand for religious liberty—in the courts, before legislatures, and through the pages of Liberty magazine—is because we want to reflect the character of the God we serve. He’s a God who created us in His image and who has given each one of us the freedom to choose whom we will worship. He’s a God who, in the words of Ellen White, “desires only the service of love,” which “cannot be won by force or authority” (The Desire of Ages, 22).

Today, please help support this vital ministry of religious liberty. It’s a ministry that defends not only the rights of individual conscience, but also the ability of our church to continue to do its mission. And as we face uncertain days ahead, your prayers and support are needed now, more than ever.
 

North American Division Stewardship Ministries