From the southern most tip of Florida to the northern most point of Maine, from the shores of Virginia, across the great Mid-west plains unto the star studded coast of California, this nation has built many prisons in hopes of solving it’s ever increasing problem of crime, violence and social decay. Nevertheless, it seems like the faster we build; the quicker they fill. For every criminal that is lock up, two has to be let go. Our streets are constantly filled with violence. From the schoolhouse to the crack house to the White House, our people are being gunned down. Our men and women are hooked and obsessed with themselves. Our children watch and listen to violence on television and on the radio, then turn on who ever they can find to act out what they have learned. The question that rings in our ears is who is to blame.
Parents are killing their children and children are killing their parents. We put pressure on our elected officials in hopes of solving our problems. But the crisis continues. We spend endless amounts of time, energy, and money conducting one survey after another in hope of finding the answer to our ever-increasing problems. Yet, we still do not know whom to blame. Some try to blame God for our problems. After all, He is to one who made man. Nevertheless, He is not the cause of our problems. We place some of the blame on Lucifer, the fallen archangel of God. After all, he did talk man into sin. Nevertheless, he is not the reason for our problems. In our quest to find someone to pin the blame on, we must realize that the problem and the blame lie only with us. We are to blame for the way our society has become, because we have turned away from the ways of God. We have been doing things anyway, we see fit. Because of this, man is to blame.
My brothers and sisters, I stand here today to tell you that I charge humankind. I charge us of being the greatest murderers on the face of the earth. I charge us of the greatest destroyers, the greatest liars, and the greatest thief on the face of the earth. There is not much good that can be said about the human race, because everywhere we go we create destruction and havoc. So, I charge us. We are guilty as charged, because the evidence is before us. The evidence is in our prisons. The evidence is in our homes. The evidence is in our schools and in our churches. Because of the path we have chosen to take, we have brought disease, crime, and destruction into our communities. Murder, rape, and homosexuality have become common in our lives. In spite of what the Word of God says, we do not have a problem with it. We seek to make a profit off the diseases that has infested our people, by selling them high priced cures that does more harm than good. We seek to justify murder, by making abortions legal. And we have tried to change what God has called sin by calling it an alternative lifestyle. However, there is a price to pay. That price is the many problems we now face. This is why we are to blame.
However, there is hope. Amid the boiling stew pot of international strife, confusion, and rebellion; beyond the smog-covered turmoil of urban violence, corruption, and social decay, there is a fresh breeze blowing. It is a breeze capable of cooling the stew and blowing away the smog. Something exciting is happening to the churches around the country. Like the rushing mighty wind, whose sound filled the house at Pentecost, this something is a breeze that reverberates as surely as it refreshes. This breeze is the Holy Spirit of God. He is filling people with insight as well as inspiration, blessings and power. He is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that not only inspired the writings of the Holy Scriptures but also breathes insight into the wisdom of the Word of God. The church, upon receiving this power, must get the gospel of Jesus out into the streets to the hurt and lost. For too long, we have sat still and watched as the unholy angels of Lucifer brought drugs, violence and moral decay to our front door. Now, it is time for us to stand up and say loudly, we will not take it anymore.
Each day, drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, and spiritual captivity have destroying our loved ones. They have been destroyed because we have allowed the very moral fiber of this great country to be torn to pieces by our enemy. Our government spends our tax dollars to build more prisons and institute more programs to get our fellow citizens off drugs and to get our children to act right. However, when we accurately look at the figures, we discover that the more we spend the worse the problem gets. This is because the solution to our problems is not in the money that we spend or the programs that we institute. The solution lies in the gift that God has given to the world. This gift is His church and the spiritual authority that we possess. As saved children of God, we have already experienced Jesus’ love in our lives and know the ability of God to change us. Now it is time for us to take this knowledge and use it to save our country. We can take this country and turn it back to God, if we just get up out of our seats and get to work.
Paul writes in Colossians 1: 12-14, ‘ Giving thanks to unto the father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin.’ Paul did not say will rescue us, as in the future, rather he said God has rescued us from the power of the darkness. God has rescued or freed us from the power and authority of Lucifer. He has given us the power to defeat the already defeated enemy. If we use this authority, we can take back our children. If we use this authority, we can take back our spouses. If we use this authority, we can take back our homes. If we use this authority, we can take back our communities. If we use this authority, we can take our cities and our country from the grip of Lucifer.
We can do it. We can fight the good fight of faith and take our loved ones from Lucifer. But we cannot do it sitting behind the four walls of our churches. We must go into the streets. We must go into the jailhouse. We must seek and save those that are lost. This is why God gave us the Holy Spirit. It empowers us to do the work that Jesus commissioned us to do. That is to go into the whole world and make disciples. We can do it because Jesus has given us the authority over our enemies that keep us bound in sin. We can do it because Jesus has given us the promise that anything that we ask in His name that too will the Father do. We can do it because it must be done.
Paul says in Romans 10: 8-13, “The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach. Because if thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord, and shall believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him: for, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” If we want to free our loved ones, if we want to save our country, we must introduce them to Jesus. We must get them to understand that Jesus is the only answer to the problems we face. Jesus is the only solution to the overcrowded prisons. Jesus is the only solution for the violence in our streets. We must introduce Jesus in order to solve our problems.
The only hope for this country sits in the church. We are the solution God sent to the world. We must come out of hiding and get to work. Paul continues in Romans 10: 14-15, ‘How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?’ We have been sent to deliver the answer to the problems of our country. We are their only hope. We must deliver the good news. This news is, ‘Come to Jesus. He can save you.’ ‘Come to Jesus. He can heal you.’ ‘Come to Jesus. He will forgive you.’ ‘Come to Jesus, just now.’ If we tell them, they will come. But we must get out our seats; we must come out of the four walls of the church and we must tell them.
