Our message today comes from 2 Chronicles 7:14.
14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
If I were to ask you what is wrong with the youth in America today, what would you say? If you thought long and hard about it, you would most likely end up saying they fear no one, have no consequences, lack respect in themselves and for authority. And for the most part, you are right. However; it isn't just the youth in America. It is all of us. Yeah, you read it right. ALL of us have become too accepting of the sinful world around us that we fall into the same category as today's youth. Wouldn't you say that God is the ultimate authority? Do you fear Him as you should?
Have you ever been in a situation that you knew was wrong but you did it anyway? You lacked the fear you needed to talk yourself out of that situation didn't you? See, there is no NEW sin in the world today. They are the same sins as biblical times. They just come in different packages now. Yet, we have allowed Satan to talk us out of doing what we KNOW is right. Read that above scripture again. "Humble yourself, pray, seek God's face, and turn from wicked ways.....then I will hear them." This is a matter of respecting God enough to respect yourself and show it through your actions. We should have reverence and respect.
Let's look at Psalms 111:10.
10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
God expects us to fear Him. You know that little pain in your gut when you have done something wrong? You know, we call it guilt? That is a good thing to have. We should be teaching our children that we should have that guilt when we have done wrong. That is what keeps us from doing the act again. Wouldn't you say our world seems to be missing that feeling in the pits of our stomaches? We have become a little too relaxed about things that the guilt we should be feeling is fading. How can we respect God if we feel we can do no wrong? That guilt provides us the necessary knowledge that we don't want the same outcomes again, therefore, we learn our lesson and refuse to perform the act.
Let's look at Hebrews 12:28.
28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
How can we serve God when we don't fear Him? In order to respect God and do as God calls us to do, we must fear Him and the consequences that follow our sinful acts. Do you think we still set moral boundaries for ourselves? Here's some to think about.....sex before marriage, curse words on television, sex on television, fighting/killing/violence in television or video games, and the list could really go on. Were these things acceptable 50 years ago? How about this one......working/cleaning on Sunday? Was it acceptable 50 years ago. This shows where we have gone as a society. But today it seems, we all talk about how bad those things are on Sunday in church, but during the week, it's okay. We forget that we are the temple at all times. Just being a Christian on Sunday isn't what God wants. And if we are doing that then we should be even more fearful of God. Once Christ is in our hearts we are His temple and we must act that way even outside of church. We should have the fear of God everyday of the week. Not just on Sunday. If you can't respect yourself and you act in such a harmful way through the week, you aren't respecting or fearing God. Leveticus 19:30 says:
30Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
His sanctuary is not just a white sacred building with 4 walls. YOU are His sanctuary.
Let's look at 2 Samuel 9:6.
6Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant!
Why are our jails full of people who can walk out in broad daylight and kill someone without any fear of the consequences to come? Why doesn't it affect people when they are sentenced to life in prison or being placed on death row? Why do women walk around with 6 children by 6 different fathers and act like it is okay? Because there is a lack of respect and reverence for ourselves and for God.
You know, there are those who have totally given up hope. They think their lives are so far gone that it can't be fixed. Some would stay out of chuch simply because they feel they have to do this dramatic overnight change. But we must remind those lost that it is okay to build boundaries one step at a time. In fact, we all need to begin doing that. None of us are immune to sin. In order for our church to get back to the way it should be, we all have to do that. In order for this country to get back to the foundations it was built on, we have to do that. It is one step at a time. We need to turn back the clock for our values. Look at everything that is accepted in today's world. They weren't accepted 50 years ago. We have become way to comfortable with the times changing. And they aren't changing for the better.
Proverbs 10:27 says:
27The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
This can be done. We can rebuild our nation and redirect our nation's attention on the core values it was built on. It can't be done overnight by us. We must have Faith that God will help us but we ourselves must have enough respect and reverence for the Lord in order to have that Faith. We must be willing to live the way God wants each of us to live. If our neighbor sees us skipping out on church to go to a baseball game or to work in the yard, think about the message that is sending to him/her. There's that lack of fear. That wouldn't have been acceptable 50 years ago.....but today it seems okay. But to who? Not God. That is the same as having idols before God. Anything that comes between you and God is an idol. We ourselves, have become too accepting and Satan is using that to destroy our churchs, communities, and nation.
We must make changes to what is okay for us to do. We must lay down new boundaries for ourselves and begin building our community with respectable values and morals, our nation with respectable values and morals, and yes.....our churches to have respectable values and morals. We must fear the Lord. Remember this, to produce seed, you must first plant a seed. It only takes one. Let that one be YOU. Change what is acceptable for you today. Others will see the changes in you and will follow. Do you fear the Lord enough to make that change?
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