Good Morning, meetpastordan.com readers. By Sunday night I usually think I have settled in on the topic for the upcoming blog. But as I have said before, it often changes before I make the first keystroke. Last night was no exception. As I turned the lights out and prepared for a “few hours” sleep, my last thought was, “God, give me clarity on the message you want me to write about tomorrow.” When I opened my eyes this morning, I had an entirely new topic ready to go. Its presence was so strong; I could barely remember my original thoughts. The good news is…under these circumstances the writing usually flows much easier, so when I’m done, I just smile and say, “Thank you, God.”
Throughout the Bible there has been a consistent Proclamation spoken by the Prophets. It is simple yet profound; but it is the pathway to freedom, peace, serenity, hope and joy. Solomon spoke of this in 2Chronicles; Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, David, John the Baptist…even Jesus proclaimed this same message. “Repent! Turn from your sin and turn to God.”
Let’s scrutinize this Proclamation carefully. “Repent” is often mistakenly interpreted as “I’m sorry”, but it is much more profound than an apology. “Repent” actually means “to change one’s mind”; to make a “conscious decision to follow a different path”; it also indicates a “change of heart”; to make “a moral U-turn”. We also are called to make a decision to deny our sin nature, which is the root of our despair, and to turn to God for our source of strength to accomplish that purpose. This simple, yet profound, message IS the truth. It IS the answer to life. But it is also the most challenging endeavor we will ever undertake. Steps 1,2 and 3 of the 12-step recovery program are analogous to the Proclamation itself, so let me share that process here with the hope that the process itself might be helpful.
Step 1 is analogous to “repent”. In other words “we admit we are powerless over _____ and our lives have become unmanageable.” I left a blank so you can insert whatever word is appropriate: ie: drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, pornography, anger, lust etc. If you are truly “powerless” over this issue, you no longer have an “addiction”, but the “addiction” has you. Now YOU are a slave to that addiction (or sin nature, as stated in the Proclamation) and the consequences of that reality can certainly make life unmanageable.
If at this point there is any allusion in your mind that you are anything other than powerless over your addiction (or your sin nature) and you can do this by any other means than complete surrender, you are already setting yourself up for failure. Both the Proclamation and the 12-step program require total commitment to change. Half-measures will avail nothing.
But steps 2 and 3 are the solution to this dilemma. Step 2 tells us “we came to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.” In other words we come face to face with our own insufficiency. We know we have tried over and over to break free from the bondage of our addiction (or sin nature), but here-to-fore have been unsuccessful. Our hope now is in a higher power, which we will call God, and we believe he is our source of strength.
Step 3 is about “making a decision to turn our will and our life over to the CARE of God, as we understand him. For a Christian, our God is the God Jehovah of the Holy Bible. No doubt there are plenty of gods to be found, and it is up to every individual to find and to come to know his own god; what he says; what he represents. But if you cannot talk about your god – why you chose him and why you can stake your life on him, you should keep looking. For Christians, our God is love, forgiveness, mercy and grace; a God who sacrificed his Son, Jesus, so we can have a relationship with him – an eternal relationship; a God who wants to care for us and bless us; a God who empowers us rise above the world around us to become the “masterpiece” he created us to be. (Ephesians 2:10)
Ever since the fall of mankind at creation, sin has been the issue that has separated man from God. Sin in this case is a noun because it refers to a way of life. We were created with a spiritual connection to God. When Adam and Even were in the Garden, God was their caregiver; they wanted for nothing. But when sin entered the world, that spiritual connection was severed and man’s focus shifted from God to himself. (ref.Genesis 3:6-13) Living with the focus on self rather than on God is the definition of “sin nature”. And as long as man is stained with sin, he cannot come into the presence of God. Leviticus 20:26 tells us, “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy. And why is that, you ask? Because sin spreads, contaminates kills and destroys. If you doubt that, just look at the world we live in today. The prevalence of lying, cheating, stealing, corruption, anger, hatred, sickness, disease, suffering, poverty, war, and death are all a result of sin entering the world.
So now let’s look at the effect of man’s sin nature on our culture today. But first we must have a brief history lesson. “Other than ancient Israel, no other nation has received God’s blessings more than America. And why was that? Because our country was founded on prayer and built on Judeo-Christian principles. Therefore America would rise to heights no other nation had ever known. Not that it was ever without fault or sin, mind you, but America did aspire to fulfill its calling to be a vessel of redemption, and instrument of God’s purpose, and a “light” to the world. It would give refuge to the world’s poor and needy and hope to its oppressed. It would stand against tyranny. It would fight, more than once, against the dark movements of the modern world that threatened to engulf the earth. No other nation in the modern world has been blessed like America has been blessed. But to whom much is given, much is required.” (The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn)
As God’s chosen nation, he put a hedge of protection around us and was with us in times of conflict. (just like he did with ancient Israel) But what if a nation so blessed turns away from God? Jeremiah 18:9-10 is quite clear on this matter: “But if I announce that I will build up and plant a certain nation or kingdom, making it strong and great, but then the nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless that nation as I had said I would.” But here is the good news. “… if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.” (2Chronicles 7:14)
When the voices of sin-natured individuals becomes louder than the voices of Godly people, it definitely affects our culture. I doubt that anyone reading this would argue with the statement, “our culture is spiraling downward into moral bankruptcy at an alarming rate.” And those in the driver’s seat of this calamity are definitely committed to an agenda that is contrary to the Judeo Christian principles of our Founding Fathers and the moral and ethical standards of Christ-followers. When we couple this with a government agenda that appears to be supportive of this “new morality”; “new interpretation of founding documents”; new allegiances throughout the world” and “questionable ethics regarding truth; freedom, and the value of life”, we – as a culture – are definitely in need of a spiritual awakening.
Has America turned away from God? I believe so. In fact, the same way ancient Israel turned away from God. “It started with a spiritual complacency, then spiritual confusion, then the merging of God with idols and then, ultimately, the rejection of his ways. America began ruling God out of its life, turning step by step against His ways, at first subtly and then more and more brazenly. As God was expunged from American life, idols came in to fill the void; idols of sensuality, idols of greed, of money, of success, comfort, materialism, pleasure, sexual immorality, self-worship, and self-obsession. The sacred increasingly disappeared and the profane took its place.” (The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn)
So as we can see on various levels, the Proclamation is still the same. God yearns for a relationship with us as individuals. He yearns for a culture to be his light to the world. And He yearns for a Government to protect his people from danger, to ensure the blessings of liberty, and protect our inalienable rights.
As Christ-followers we must have the courage to stand on the truth of God’s Word. We have a message to carry that will bring hope to anyone; a message that has the power to set people free. While I believe there is a concerted effort on the part of our culture to force a secular agenda down our throats, I believe many people are looking for something greater than that. They feel a yearning in their heart that tells them there has to be more than this! We had a guest speaker at our church yesterday that said, “As Christians, we need hearts of compassion and spines of steel.” Remember, our news is Good News. As Apostle Paul states is Romans 3:22, “We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in the same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.” What incredible hope to the lost!
I would like to close with this last quote from The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. “America was founded on prayer. Therefore, the removal of prayer from its public life was a central part of its fall from God. A nation that turns away from prayer will ultimately find itself in desperate need of it.” Let’s respond to that last statement by individually praying for God to illuminate the most effective way for us to be an instrument for change. Let’s pray for revelation and a spiritual awakening in the hearts and minds of our culture and in our leadership.
May God bless your endeavor. Please feel free to respond to this posting, and please share this message with your friends in social media
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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