Let me give you three words to describe our culture without Christ. They are darkened, they are depraved, and they are doomed without Christ. There are fifteen blocks in Hollywood that feature 2,600 stars listing the names of people our culture calls stars. But in God’s accounting, the real stars are His children who allow the light of the word of God to shine through their lives.
The hope for America is the same as the hope for your life—it is Christ alone.
I don’t know if you have felt the burden, but this country is in severe trouble. Maybe it can last another 200 years, but the dangers lurk out there. Any one of them could bring us down and I never thought that was possible until after 9/11. We saw what just a few planes did to stop this country for several days. We’ve had God’s protective hand over this country and we’re about to do enough that we lose the hand protecting. We have turned from God’s way.
Some people look at the Korean War and wonder: What was the use? It seems we wasted our time in Korea. That’s looking at it from man’s perspective. Let’s look the Korean War from heaven’s perspective for a moment. There was a terrible war going on, but we sent almost 2,000 chaplains to Korea. They preached the gospel to the people of Korea, especially the children. When the war started, only 2% of South Koreans were Christians, today 32% of South Koreans are followers of Jesus. The work of our military chaplains had an amazing impact on the children who would grow up and become the leaders a generation later.
When your world is falling apart and a foreign country is threatening to conquer your country, it would be easy to live by fear. But Habakkuk shows us that there is another way; we can live by faith. His prophecy begins with an “Oh, no! Things are awful!” And he ends with “Oh, yeah! God is in control!”
God has blessed America, because, like Israel, we were established with a deep sense of honor and reverence for God. But also like Israel, we have turned away from God. The prophet Zephaniah tells us what happens to nations that forsake God. In this short but powerful prophecy, he first describes the judgment of God; then he describes the hope that people find when they seek God.
Have you ever been to an auction? When the bidding reaches a climax the auctioneer says, “Going … going …. gone!” and he raps his gavel. That item is no longer up for sale. I fear God may be looking at our nation and saying, “Going … going …” and that we are only one word away from losing the blessings of God. The answer for America’s problems isn’t going to come from the White House; it’s got to come from the Church House. But the problem is most American Christians are asleep and unaware of the dangers we face.
The security of our liberty is only guaranteed for every generation. Is this generation going to step up, like that greatest generation did and say we must have a revolution—not a revolution against a foreign tyranny—but a revolution of righteousness against those forces in America that would try to divert us from the road of righteousness that has brought us to this place?
The Bible teaches that not only does the Creator want to have a personal relationship with you through Jesus Christ, but that God also chooses to have relationships with nations; and nations are accountable before God. I believe we as Americans are blessed more than any nation on the face of the planet and the reason we are so blessed is because God has blessed us. I just want to talk to you today as a friend; not really as a pastor—and of course not as a politician. I want to have a little “fireside chat” as a fellow patriot, somebody who loves America like you do, as someone who still gets a tear in my eye whenever I sing the National Anthem. I just want to share my heart with you.
In your lifetime, there are lots of important questions you are going to need to answer, but none are probably more important than these questions: Does God really exist? And if he does exist, what is he like? And if God exists and you find out what he is like, what does he require of me? And in the Ten Commandments we have answers to all of those questions, where God reveals himself to us. He says, “This is what I am like and this is what I require of you.”
You may wonder, “How can I face the future without fear? I don’t know what’s going to happen!” Take a moment and write the word “LIFE.” Circle the two middle letters. Life is full of “ifs.” There is so much uncertainty. Pastor, what are we going to do IF there are more attacks on American citizens? What are we going to do IF our economy takes a nosedive? IF, IF, IF. My response is we need to do the same thing we would do IF none of those things happen. We need to completely place our lives in God’s hands. We must keep on trusting God and work on developing an intimate relationship with Him.
There is no shortcut to revival. There is no secret to revival. It’s part of God’s economy. When you lower the temperature of water to 32 degrees, ice WILL form. It’s just as certain when we humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and repent, God WILL hear from heaven, forgive our sin and heal our land. WE can’t heal America but GOD can. When we are faithful to do our part, He is always faithful to do His part.
