Returning to America's Christian Foundations Through Faith

We come to worship Jesus this morning with the privilege and honor of being able to express our love for Him. We put aside all of our worries and concerns and focus on Him. We lift our hands and our voices in unity, turning our eyes and hearts to Him. We recognize that nothing else in this world matters more than Him. We sing out our prayers, asking for Him to take us back to our first love with Him. We repent for the times we have gone through the motions or come with our own agendas. We declare that nothing else will do, nothing else will compare to Him. We recognize the freedom we have in Him and that nothing else will satisfy our hearts and mouths like being in His presence. All we want is Jesus; nothing else will do.

I'm caught up in your presence. I just wanna sit here at your feet and be caught up in this holy moment and never wanna leave. I'm not here for blessings; I don't want that to be the only thing. You don't owe me anything more than anything that you can do. I just want more than anything that you can give.

Yesterday this song would not stop rolling over in my spirit. We live in a world that is full of darkness and vile and wicked things, but we serve a God that is not surprised by the vile, wicked, evil things in this world. Sometimes we as Christians and Believers of God are guilty of walking around as though we are focused on vile, evil, wicked things. But do you know the Lord is sovereign? He is sovereign over every authority given into this government. He only allows what His sovereignty will allow, so we can rest and trust in the sovereignty of God.

Do you know the same sovereignty that was in the Garden of Eden, beautiful where He came in the eve of the day and He walked with man in that beautiful presence and sovereignty in a perfect environment, is the same God that is walking in our world today in the midst of evil, vile, wicked environments? We are to remember as Christians that He is our firm foundation. When we start focusing on where the world is and letting it knock our feet from under us and our language begins to declare how evil, wicked, vile the surroundings are, we forget talking about the sovereignty and the goodness and the trust and the faithfulness and the reliability of God. We start building our houses on sinking sand.

But we have the firm foundation of the God that walked in the Garden to the God that is walking in our world today, that we can build our house on a firm foundation. He's not gonna fail you; He cannot, He will not, He won't fail you. As we sing this today, I want us to declare it over our city, declare it over our families, declare it over our church. Let's stand up like children of God and declare the goodness and the sovereignty of God. Shake off anxiety, shake off depression, shake off fear, shake off tomorrow. Let's stay in today and where God is, and He is in the now, He is in the present, and He is in the here right now.

I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus, 'cause He's never let me down. He's faithful through generations, so I would feel now. He won't fail. We're gonna declare that Jesus is faithful and not a man that He could lie. The question is, will we fail to stand on the word? Will the enemy dupe us out of it? Will he convince us to look at two reports, one saying we are healed and the other saying cancer, and believe the wrong one? We have decided to build our house upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. We need the supernatural touch of the Holy Spirit, and we believe in the divine and miraculous. We believe in healings, signs and wonders, and the goodness of God. We believe in His blood that has the power to save, heal, and deliver. We're here today to open up the altars and anoint us with oil. We can't leave without a moment in His presence.

Even though she's one of the meanest people in the world to me, I mean just everything she can find. This shirt has like micro print and right before church she says, "Is that flowers on your shirt?" I said, "These are leaves; men wear leaves." That woman's a woman of faith; there's so much inside of her. She got a report last week; she thought the cancer was gone and they said it is in stage three and that she has to go through chemo and radiation. I know what you're believing and we're standing with you. You get yourself up here and let us anoint you with oil. Come on up, Amanda. Is there anybody else in this place? Maybe your heart is broken, maybe your body is broken, maybe your mind is broken. I know a God who can put you back together again. All the king's horses and all the king's men tried to put Humpty back together again and they could not do it because they went to all the king's horses and all the king's men. We're going straight to the source today and letting the King do it. Let the King put you back together again. So these altars are open right now; whatever your need is, you come forward, let us pray over you and believe for a miracle. Man, there's power in prayer. Don't hesitate, don't hesitate, don't hesitate.

Rain King. I'm gonna make it through, come on declare. We're gonna continue to worship, continue to worship presence. No, my house was built on you; I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it through, I'm gonna make it through 'cause I'm standing strong on you. I'm gonna make it through 'cause my house was built on you. Oh, I'm gonna make it through. All the way, I'm gonna make it through. Cave wind blew, my house was built on you; I'm safe with you. I'm gonna make it through. Foundation, the rock on which I stand with me down. He wants yes. He won't say, He will face. Christ is my first foundation, come on sing it and declare it. The rock on which I stand when everything around me shaken. Jesus, 'cause He's never let me die; He's faithful for generations. My God is faithful through generations, so I would He feel now. Jesus is faithful through generations, so I would He feel now. He wants you never fail; you've never lost a battle, never lost. Take that song this week, play it over and over and over and stand upon it. Become glad in Jesus, become glad in Jesus. If you walked in sick, you're gonna walk out here. If you walked in bound, you're gonna walk out free. A mention of mistake, just a mention of His name, just the mention of His name everything could change. If you walked in heavy, you're gonna walk down light. If you walked in weary, just the mention of His name, it's just a mention of His name everything could change. Gonna walk Ed in and did you mentioned foreign. Pictures, He wants yes. He won't say, He will face. Christ is my first foundation, come on sing it and declare it. The rock on which I stand when everything around me shaken. Jesus, 'cause He's never let me die; He's faithful for generations. My God is faithful through generations, so I would He feel now. Jesus is faithful through generations, so I would He feel now. He wants you never fail; you've never lost a battle, never lost. Take that song this week, play it over and over and over and stand upon it. Become glad in Jesus, become glad in Jesus. If you walked in sick, you're gonna walk out here. If you walked in bound, you're gonna walk out free. A mention of mistake, just a mention of His name, just the mention of His name everything could change. If you walked in heavy, you're gonna walk down light. If you walked in weary, just the mention of His name, it's just a mention of His name everything could change. Gonna walk Ed in and did you mentioned foreign. Pictures, He wants yes. He won't say, He will face. Christ is my first foundation, come on sing it and declare it. The rock on which I stand when everything around me shaken. Jesus, 'cause He's never let me die; He's faithful for generations. My God is faithful through generations, so I would He feel now. Jesus is faithful through generations, so I would He feel now. He wants you never fail; you've never lost a battle, never lost. Take that song this week, play it over and over and over and stand upon it. Become glad in Jesus, become glad in Jesus. If you walked in sick, you're gonna walk out here. If you walked in bound, you're gonna walk out free. A mention of mistake, just a mention of His name, just the mention of His name everything could change.

If you walked in sick, you're gonna walk out free. If you walked in bound, you're gonna walk out free. If you walked in weary, you're gonna walk out dead. Tonight, declare the name of Jesus above every name. Every stronghold must run free in the name of Jesus. The God of Jacob, the Great I Am, King of Angels, Son of Man, Voice of many waters, the song of Heaven's Throne, louder than the thunder, make your glory known. The Lion of Judah, let the lion roar. Off its spoke, I'm Messiah; you alone are worthy to open up the scrolls. The Lion Roared, and we're gonna sing, prepare the way, prepare the way of the Lord. Come on with our worship, prepare the way, come on let's give Him a wave offering. Prepare the way of the Lord, be raised up oh mountains, be raised up oh foreign, true love life, hello glory, be raised up all my time. Praise Jesus, yes Jesus, yes Jesus, here lying up.

Just a couple of days ago I was talking with one of my sons and we were talking about this song. I was like what's that mean, every valley be raised up, every mountain be made low? Let me tell you what that means. How many of you have a mountain that seems just impossible, unfathomable? How many of you have a valley that you're in that you think I just can't go that deep, my heart can't take another day of this? And what that scripture is saying is that everything that seems like it was so high that you cannot cross it, and everything that is so low you don't know how you're going to make it to the other end, that valley will be raised up and that mountain will be made low on level ground and you will walk through, you will walk over and you will get through something you never thought you could, you will get over something you never thought you would and it is all because of the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ. And there will be days when you feel like it's Blood Sweat and Tears and there'll be days when you feel like your heart can't take it and then all of a sudden you'll be on the other side of that thing. I don't know how, I don't know why, but you'll be able to dance and worship and lift your arms and say I know who it was, Jesus, it was the Holy Ghost that got me through and that got me over. So I want to say to you today, if you appreciate and you value that kind of Victory, why don't you give a roar of praise to Jesus. We are the Church of Jesus Christ, The Lion of the tribe of Judah is raising its voice, somebody lift us out, lift us out, Victory is on! Victor just turned a corner and victory was a page away. Whoa, whoa, hail hail Lion of Judah! Come on, oh my God, we praise you, we praise you, we praise you, Lord Jesus! Every one of us that has breath will praise the Lord, we praise your Holy Name, you are worthy, you are worthy, you are worthy, you are worthy, you are worthy, you are worthy, God is Holy, is Holy, is Holy, Lord you are whole, You Are Holy, You Are Holy.

Prepare the way, prepare the way of the Lord, prepare the way, bear the way of the Lord, prepare the way, prepare the way of the Lord, prepare the way, we prepare for you Jesus, we prepare for you Jesus. You prepare the way of the Lord by repenting of sin, by being cleansed and purged, by being washed in the blood, by going and sinning no more, by worship through prayer, through the rehearsing and meditation and memorization of His word. You prepare the way by assembling yourselves together with expectancy and hope and faith and belief. We're preparing the way of the Lord and when you prepare the way He comes in, He shows up. Are you ready for more of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? He's coming back, He's coming back, is anyone ready for Jesus to return? You ready? It may sound like it's an old thing to talk about, but keep your eyes towards the Eastern Sky because someday one day those clouds are going to split wide open and Jesus the Conquering King is coming back for His people. Give Him a hand clap of praise.

Prepare your tithe and your offering today. Adventure Kids, you are dismissed. Father, we come before you right now with this worship with the expression of this worship through our offering and our tithe that we surrender it to you. We bless your name with it, Lord. We love to give. God, I pray that if there are people in this household right now in this family, Father, who only take and they have not understood the revelation of generosity and of giving and making it happen for others, then Lord I pray that you would bring them into that graciously because that's the heart of Christ. We love you, we bless you in Jesus' name. Be blessed as you give today. Thank you.

We had to cancel the event happening at my house today because of all the rain. Join us next week one hour later at three o'clock instead of two o'clock because there's a Newcomer's luncheon; it's our launch Point luncheon happening next Sunday and so we don't want to reschedule that and so we're going to be a part of that and then I'll make my way over to my house and get ready for you all. See you at three o'clock next week. How many of you plan to be there? Let me see, raise your hand if that's you. I know 300 people registered for today and so I'm going to encourage you to come out and join us next week.

Holy Ghost filled people in this nation today and I believe that God is going to use us to bring about a revival and a restoration to this nation. I love Jesus and I'm so proud of how far many of you have come. I don't care what your past is; this is the family of God and you're a part of it. I'm ministering a message today which these songs just kind of coordinated with all of this and the message is titled "Truth Be Told." We don't live in a world that values truth that much anymore; they value feelings over truth and feelings change from day to day. God blessed America and she is not perfect but man is she beautiful. There's a generation of people being taught to really loathe and despise America, but there is a remnant of people in this nation to this day. God works well with remnants and if He finds even just a few, He will do something mighty and He will preserve and He will not destroy. In this nation today, there is a remnant of Bible-believing, Spirit-filled, Blood Bought, Born Again, Sanctified, Holy Ghost filled people and I believe that God is going to use us to bring about a revival and a restoration to this nation.

Children of God, take hope! I'm going to tell you some truth today. Let us have the heart of Christ that would love, that would be tender and have mercy and compassion towards the Lost. Not this new spirit I've seen in the church that is not of God and it's kind of a "go get 'em God" attitude, "strike him down God" attitude. You better be careful about that because I have this strange feeling that if anyone deserves to be "got" by God, it could be us because we've seen the light and yet we have failed to shine it in Dark Places. Because we say we know the hope of the world and yet we've been silent about it. Maybe you should pause and reflect. When was the last time you were the light of the world at work? When was the last time you shut your mouth and didn't complain and gripe, but just offered encouragement and hope? When was the last time you led someone to the person of Jesus Christ? We need to self-reflect on those things every once in a while, don't we?

And if anything disappoints God, it's probably not when children of Darkness behave like children of Darkness. It's probably more so when children of light behave like Darkness, right? What makes you more mad is that when other people's kids are bad or when your kids are bad. I get pretty upset. You know I don't know how you raised your kids and sometimes I can look at you and understand why your kids are bad, but when I look at my kids I have an expectation of them. They're my kids; they know better. And when my children don't behave like my children, that's when I get upset.

Before you get defensive about this and try and tell me that's not the character of our Father, you know Dad never gets mad and he's just always sweet and always rainbows and Roses. How many of you know good Dads get mad at the right time? Right. A good father knows when it's time to raise his voice. A good father disciplines, but what do we know about a good father? Every time he disciplines it is always out of our benefit; it is for He loves us and it benefits us. And Psalms 33 tells us it says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; blessed is the home whose God is the Lord Jesus; blessed is the person; blessed is the United States of America if God is our Lord."

Now what is the opposite of that scripture? We can assume the opposite would be true, "Cursed is the nation whose God is someone or something else." Today I want to address the foundations of our nation that points us to the fact that America was indeed a nation that was birthed in the principles of Jesus Christ the Lord. People are trying to rewrite and erase the God-honoring foundation that America was built on. They call them revisionists and if they succeed in convincing our young people that we weren't truly never built on the foundations of Jesus Christ, then we are in trouble. We are in trouble as a nation, and we are in trouble as a people. America is not perfect, but without a doubt it has a foundation not of religion, but of blatant and obvious Christian roots. The enemy knows the scripture and that's why he assaults the foundation. President Lincoln quoted, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," and he was quoting the word of God. Matthew, Mark, and Luke were the words of Jesus Christ that Abraham Lincoln quoted. One of the greatest presidents in the history of our nation knew that the words of Christ were of foundational significance to Salvation both personally and to a nation corporately. We need salvation corporately as a nation. Lincoln knew that on Christ the solid rock we stand and then all other ground is in fact sinking sand.

In the recent past, in the last couple of decades, one of our presidents literally declared that America is no longer a Christian Nation and sadly the evidence is in his favor. But to walk away from God is to walk away from the covering and the blessings that have marked this nation since its birth. Being that the scripture declares that a nation is blessed whose God is the Lord.

The question is, are we going to allow there to be this political agenda to rob us of the truth about our history and will we allow America just to continue to backslide down that slippery slope of sin into a pit so dark that America doesn't even resemble the America that she was born to be? Just as God saved my soul and God has saved your soul, He can save the soul of a Nation. Have hope today, praise Him right now. Historical revisionists are those who extract facts or revise history for the purpose of their agenda. Satan tried to rewrite history in his original temptation in the garden when he went up to Eve and Adam and he said, "Did God really say?" He was already working with the foundation that God had established in His word. He duped them; they fell for it. Knowing our past is critical so that we would not repeat our mistakes.

"O'er and above all other things it shall be the duty of all persons in this jurisdiction diligently to train up their children in learning and knowledge of the Christian religion and the government of the commonwealth and to that end to send them to school to learn to read and write and to understand the capital laws of the country and the fear of God."

It was recently stabilized in the last couple of decades in hopes that maybe we get another 200 years out of this ancient site, but the primary reason that this 179-foot tall structure is inching toward destruction is because it was only built on a 10-foot foundation. The place where it's built, Pisa, is literally called marshy ground. We must never underestimate the need for a solid foundation.

Maybe you ought to reconsider bringing your children to Xenox on Wednesday nights and Adventure Kids on Wednesday nights and maybe you ought to ensure your children are receiving some Christian education beyond just a Sunday morning. Maybe you ought to consider getting a foundation in your kids. Our nation needs a foundation; I need a foundation; you need a foundation, and many people, even some people in this room, actually believe you've been convinced that politicians should keep their religious views to themselves and political leadership should not have anything to do with scripture.

The First Amendment says that is the case, that there's this separation between church and state. I believe the founding fathers would absolutely disagree with that. History shows that the king of England was imposing governmental restrictions on the way the English people worshiped. Our forefathers left their homeland to come to America and fight for freedom to protect their rights to worship God and to establish a government that would ensure that right of worshiping God. They weren't trying to protect the government from the church; they were working to protect the church from the government.

The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." This isn't about freedom from religion; it was about freedom of religion. Laws were based on the primary desires of our Christian forefathers to establish this nation as one that would stand for Jesus Christ and that would know His word. In 1647, the state of Massachusetts passed what was called the Old Deluder Law. It said, "O'er and above all other things, it shall be the duty of all persons in this jurisdiction diligently to train up their children in learning and knowledge of the Christian religion and the government of the commonwealth and to that end to send them to school to learn to read and write and to understand the capital laws of the country and the fear of God." One of the chief objects of that old deluder, Satan, is to keep men from the knowledge of scripture. In order to combat the ignorance of God's word, the Delaware Constitution in 1776 mandated that a teacher would be provided for a community of 50 or more and that a public school would be provided for a community of over 100 families. In 1782, the United States Congress voted a resolution recommending and approving the Holy Bible for use in all schools. Founding Father Fisher Ames said, "Why shouldn't the Bible regain the place it held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble, and the reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed lasts long and probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind."

In the court case, People vs. Ruggles of 1811, a man went into a premeditated fit of profanity which he'd written out specifically attacking Jesus Christ and the word of God. The court ruled that, "Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government." The court explained that his attack on Jesus Christ was an attack on Christianity and an attack on Christianity was an attack on the foundation of the country; therefore, the attack on Jesus Christ was equivalent to an attack on the foundation of the country. The man was sent into three months in jail and a 500 fine. The ruling was nearly two decades after the first amendment of separation of church and state was put in place.

In Vidal vs. Gerard 1844, a school in Philadelphia decided it was going to teach morality without Christianity. It went to the court and the case came before the Supreme Court. The ruling is quoted as follows, "Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament, be read and taught as a divine revelation in the school? Its general precepts expounded and its glorious principles of morality inculcated? Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?" The Supreme Court ruled that public schools would teach morality according to the Bible. The Holy Bible has been quoted in other rulings, including the People versus Ruggles of 1811. In 1853, a group petitioned Congress to separate Christian principles from government, asking if they would finally separate the church from the state. The matter was investigated by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees for almost a year to determine if it was even possible to separate Christian principles from civil government. On March 27, 1854, the House Judiciary Committee report was disclosed. It stated that, "Had the people, the founding fathers, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle." At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and its amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, but not any one sect or denomination. The report continued, "There is no substitute for Christianity; that was the religion of the founding fathers of the Republic, and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants."

Dr. William James, the father of modern psychology, gave his response to the idea of separating Church from State. He said, "There is nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it." In the case of Bear versus Co-Morgan in 1958, the judge was quoted as he warned against the continued use of the phrase "separation of church and state." He said it would make people think that it was actually a part of the Constitution, and he promised that 95% of the people out there think it is written in our Constitution. It is wrong.

America is still governed by its very first Constitution. We are now the longest running constitutional republic in the history of the world. To give some perspective, France has had eight constitutions in the same 240 years, and Italy has had 54 constitutions in 246 years. Our founding fathers built our Constitution according to a set of ideas that are unparalleled in world history. Why has our Constitution lasted? Because it has its foundation upon the written word of God. How can you last if you have your foundation upon the written word of God? Psalm 62:6 states, "Truly he is my rock and my salvation; my fortress, I shall not be shaken." First Corinthians 3:11 states, "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ."

If you don't have your foundation as Jesus the Christ, every couple of years you're going to have to write a new Constitution because someone isn't going to agree. But if you've just agreed that, even if we don't agree on it all, this must be the bedrock, sure foundation, then you'll never have to change your Constitution again. This is the Constitution of the redeemed. There are some principles and foundations that really simply should not change, no matter opinions or ideas or cultural views.

Nowhere is the foundation of our nation more under attack than at our universities, in the name of free thinking. But there are some good teachers, wonderful Godly teachers out there. What has happened is that those people have been pushed to the side in favor of the secular agenda. People who were indoctrinated in college are now teaching elementary and junior high school kids. Students are not allowed to call them Mr. or Miss, which is a reality of this day and time. Abraham Lincoln once said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." Let's look back to the classroom to see what was being taught back then. Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 of them were distinctly Christian, including the very first Harvard University, chartered in 1636. Harvard's original stated purpose for its students was "to be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ." However, they got it wrong, so they had to fix it. If you wanted to attend one of these colleges back in that day and time, there were two in particular that you had to choose from. One was the school of God's word, and Harvard was where you wanted to go if you wanted to be a person of the word of God. Student requirements at Harvard were that everyone should "exercise himself in reading the scriptures twice a day that he shall be able to give an account of his proficiency therein." If you wanted to go to Yale, it was considered the school for prayer. They quoted, "God is the Giver of all wisdom," and every student, besides his private and secret prayer, was to be present morning and evening for public prayer. Princeton University during those years had an average graduating class of between 17 and 28 students per year. In one decade, Princeton graduated one president, one vice president, three Supreme Court Justices, 10 cabinet members, 12 Governors, 21 United States senators, 39 U.S congressmen, and many others who held State offices. A full one-third of the founding fathers were actually trained at Princeton University. Princeton's foundational statement was, "Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the cross of Jesus Christ." The freshman project of each of these founding universities in America was that a student would be given a Greek New Testament and from it make a handwritten translation into English. Our forefathers believed the Bible to be an instrument of Truth that would hold a nation on course as long as that Nation would hold on to that truth. All 50 states acknowledge God in their state constitutions. For example, Alabama's 1901 Preamble states, "We the people of the state of Alabama, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution." California's 1879 Preamble states, "We the people of the State of California, grateful to God Almighty for our freedom." Florida's 1885 Preamble states, "We the people of the State of Florida, grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional Liberty, established this Constitution."

Have you ever wondered how we got from where we were to where we are today? It's like the Tower of Pisa, moving just one twentieth of an inch per year. What has gotten us so off course? Let me throw a couple more facts at you. Did you know that as you walk up the steps to the building which houses the United States Supreme Court, you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers, each of them facing towards the center? When you get to the center, who do you see facing out? All of the world's law givers are facing Moses, who is holding in his hands the Ten Commandments. The same place that tried to tell you you can't have them in front of your local library has them on the very top of the main entrance. If you go a little bit further, as you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, there are these two huge oak doors that have none other than the Ten Commandments engraved on them. As you walk in, there's a picture of those. Did you know that as you sit inside that courtroom, you can see the wall right above where the Supreme Court justices sit? Above them is another display of Moses and the Ten Commandments. Did you know there are Bible verses etched in stone all over the federal buildings and monuments all over Washington DC? James Madison, the fourth president known as the father of our Constitution, made this following statement: "We have staked the whole of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." Did you know Patrick Henry, Patriot and founding father of our country, said, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not by religions but by the Gospel of Jesus Christ." End quote. Did you know that 52 out of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established Orthodox Churches of their colonies? Did you know the very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said this: "Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers." How then have we gotten to the point where everything we've done for the last 246 years is suddenly wrong and unconstitutional? Now even some Christians have heard it enough that they now believe God and government should be separate. The Bible says, "And the government shall be upon His shoulders," Jesus's shoulders. He's King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He rules and He reigns. In case you didn't know it, that day when the clouds split open and Jesus comes back, He is literally going to set on a throne and all kingdoms of this world, every King will bow, including this Constitution of the United States of America. Whoever the president is at that day is going to bow their knees and say, "You are King, You are Lord."

This is the week that we fast and I want to encourage you to join us in fasting and praying for our nation, for our families, for our churches, for our leaders, for our government, for our schools, for our businesses, for our homes, for our families, for our churches, for our leaders, for our government, for our schools, for our businesses, for our homes.

What is your way? What is your wish? We will live according to that. In 1892, the Supreme Court studied whether it was even possible to have a civil government without the Bible as our foundation and they gave what they now call the Trinity decision. In that decision, the Supreme Court literally declared that this is a Christian Nation. What can we do? How can I affect this? How can I change this? This 120th of an inch per year that's causing the whole nation to just lean away from God and towards its own demise, towards closer and closer to toppling over. Let me tell you what you can do because you can do something and you can do something big and you can do something significant. You can do something important. Start with you. Your God, your nation, your family needs you to stand up and rise up. Much of what made our country so great was the fact that each person understood that they were expected to be a contributor to the community that we call the United States of America. And now we have people trying to use America to make something great of themselves versus using themselves to make something great of this nation. We are becoming selfish. Socialism is creeping in. Others will take care of you. Who doesn't want free money? But free money costs you more than you can ever imagine. Right? And we're leaning that way. You pay my loan, you pay for my health care, you pay my cell phone bill, you pay for my food, you pay for my church. If I hit somebody, didn't it? The bad thing is that when socialism catches on, then sadly more people realize I don't have to do anything and I can continue to consume. And the end of socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.

I'm not here to preach the pros and cons of Socialism or democracy. I'm preaching that we have to continue to live lives laid down and sacrificed for the advancement of God's kingdom and for our nation. There is something that you can do, but it's going to cost sacrificial. It's going to require of us. We were founded on the word; we were founded on prayer; we were founded on Christ. We have to rebuild that foundation, return to our first works, return to our first love. It's simple to understand what it is, but it's hard to do it. Second Corinthians 7:14 says, "If my people, that's us who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land." You can have an impact on the whole of this nation if you will personally take the responsibility of this scripture of this word upon yourself.

I've got the number one way; I've got the best way to buffet your flesh: fasting. I hate it, but I love what it produces in us. This week, did you know that the first week of every month we fast here? And guess what? It is the first week of the month, so this is the week that we fast. I want to encourage you to join us in fasting and praying for our nation, for our families, for our churches, for our leaders, for our government, for our schools, for our businesses, for our homes. I am asking all of our leaders, staff, elders, and any other leader to start a fast with me beginning Wednesday night after church. We will not eat again until Friday night after our worship and prayer gathering. This Friday is our worship and prayer gathering and I encourage everyone to be there. We can either let America keep going the way it is or we can rise up as soldiers of God and understand that we have an assignment and a role. Prayer and worship is accomplishing something in the heavens and if we build up enough of us, then the agent of salt will begin to influence the world and the Earth. I am calling the whole congregation to join me in this fast and if you can get your kids and teens on board, then don't make dinner from Thursday night at 7:30 to Friday night at 7:30. After our prayer and worship time, we will have an ice cream social for fellowship. We have to do something about this and not just gripe and complain. Let's start acting like children of the light.

I want to read the prayer of our first president, George Washington, to you. Bow your head and I will speak this prayer: "I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have the United States in His holy protection, that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field, and finally that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion."

Today, Father, we ask that you would strengthen us to do what you have called us to do. God, I sense in my spirit that you are asking us to fast and pray, and to put our flesh at an altar and sacrifice it, so that we can be moved back to being a nation that is living under the canopy of your blessings. Lord, let the church arise and storm the gates of hell that have assaulted this nation in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

We must also imitate the example of the Divine author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of His example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation. We must do justice, love mercy, and demean ourselves with charity, humility, and a pacific temper of mind.

Some of you may be dismissing this, but I challenge you to fast and pray. I love you and bless you, and you have been touched by God today. The word has fed you and the spirit has ministered to you. Some of you are leaving here healed in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Praise the Lord!

If you are a first-time guest with us today, join us in the cafe and we have a gift for you. We love you and be safe, and I'll see you Wednesday night.