So rejoice today that God made you.  And that he made everything else as well.

            The first law of thermodynamics states that matter and energy can be neither created nor destroyed.  Except by God, we add.

            So glance at the matter and energy God has made.  The Wall Street Journal recently carried an article describing the complexity of this universe.  Picture a wall with hundreds of dials, it said.  Each must be at exactly the right setting for carbon-based life to emerge in a suburb of the Milky Way.  If the cosmic expansion of the universe had first been a fraction less, for instance, it would have imploded billions of years ago; a fraction more intense, and galaxies would not have formed.  The odds of our universe's existence and design occurring by random chance would not be accepted by any gambler, anywhere on earth.

And what an amazing world God has made.  Picture a comet for a moment.  Its vapor trail can be more than 10,000 miles long.  But capture and bottle that "tail," and you discover that the amount of vapor actually present in your bottle is less than one cubic inch of space.

Yet many see such phenomenal design without looking for its Designer.

            Robert Ingersoll was a famous atheist.  He once visited the great preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, who took him into his study.  There Mr. Ingersoll noticed a magnificent contour globe of the world, with mountains and valleys painted with remarkable detail and beauty.  He said, "Pastor Beecher, that is a beautiful work of art.  Who made it for you?"

            Knowing Ingersoll's denial of God's creation, Dr. Beecher replied, "Oh, nobody, it just happened."

No, it didn't.  Your world didn't just happen.  You didn't just happen.  And your nation didn't just happen.

            Our nation's birth is the result of the greatest sacrifices, the highest courage, the most passionate commitment to freedom and liberty.  Thomas Paine captured the spirit best.  This soldier in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>'s army wrote a pamphlet to tell Americans what they needed to know about their army and their times.

            Here are some of his words: "These are the times that try men's souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his Country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.  Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."

            On  December 25, 1776, as General Washington was preparing for one of the most decisive attacks of the entire war, he had Mr. Paine's article read to all his troops.  Most of his troops were half clothed and barefooted, charging in the worst possible weather, but they won.  Over the next few months more than 100,000 copies of Mr. Paine's words were printed and distributed across the infant nation.  God used them to inspire our forefathers to greatness.

            And miraculous events accompanied their courage.  The unexpected and dense fog in August of 1776 which covered Washington's retreat from annihilation on Long Island; the sudden freeze on January 3, 1777 which allowed Washington's troops to travel to safety across otherwise muddy and impassable roads; the British riflemen who had Washington in their sights on September 10, 1777, but didn't know who he was and didn't fire; the storm of October 16, 1781 which prevented Cornwallis from retreating at Yorktown and effectively ended the War.

So we thank God this week for the courage he gave to men and women willing to fight vastly superior forces and sacrifice their lives for our nation.  We thank him for the victory he gave to their armies.  We thank him for the wisdom and insight he gave to their leaders.

And we pray for our country to worship its creator.

Only 36% of Americans say they have accepted Christ as their personal Savior.  Some 173 million Americans are spiritually lost, 100,000 of whom live within three miles of this Sanctuary.

            And so we pray for our country to come to Christ.  The greatest way we can serve <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> is to pray for Americans.