Bringing Along the Younger!

In a matter of a very short time, my Father; my Father in Law; and my Mentor all passed away.  I remember saying to one of the many Younger Ministers I had mentored...…"I have no more Role Models who are living!  Now what am I to do?"  Without hesitation this "Son-in-the-Faith" said to me...…"You are now the Role Model; you are now in that place!"  Wow!  What an eye opener and a staggering realization of just exactly how God created things to "reproduce" themselves!  And after 36 years of Credentialed ministry in the Church of God, with 30 of those years being a Lead Pastor, there are times I still feel like the "kid" in the room!  But of course, I am not!  My new descriptive title is...……"Seasoned-Pastor!"  Sigh!!!

Yet it is an interesting anomaly that everything in life reproduces itself except in some cases, Ministerial Leadership.  While everything else in the created world looks with eagerness to reproduce itself, and generate a younger version of itself, many Seasoned Pastors look with suspicion upon the Younger Ministers who are following in the pathways that they have cleared.  Not all, but far too many, have suspicions of these Younger Pastors weakening and watering-down the faith because of their different ideas and methodologies.  They don't use the "proven" methodologies that we "Seasoned-Pastors" have utilized and proven in our ministry.  When farmers plowed with horses, they were sufficient for the job.  But now, one would have to look far to find a farm today that doesn't use a modern tractor of some brand to do their plowing!  The plowing is still getting done!  The seed is still being planted!  The seed is still growing!  The harvest is still happening!  And people are still being fed by what is grown!  The results are the same, yet better!  The times spent in labor has been reduced by the modern equipment as well as the amount of land that can be prepared, planted, and harvested.  The process is done much faster and efficiently than with a good ol' horse and plow!
What's so funny is, we never find ourselves as a people looking back on those horses and plows with contempt, but rather with nostalgia and fond memories!  Nor do we look upon a tractor and proclaim....."There's that beast that ruined the worlds farming process!  We look upon both with honor and respect, and in some cases a bit of nostalgia!

But too often, not always, but far too often; in Ministry Leadership, we look with distain and distrust either on the Younger ministers with their new innovative ways, or upon the Seasoned ministers with frustration on their commitment to older outdated methodologies.  Brothers and Sisters, either stance is an affront to God and His created order of "reproduction."  In that order, both the "parent" and the "off-spring" are needed and highly regarded as they fulfill their created task!

Seasoned Pastors, not every Younger Pastor with their new and innovative ways is on a mission from hell to destroy the Church and its Biblical truths!  Younger Pastors, not every Seasoned Pastor has an unreasonable commitment to outdated methods of ministry!  You see, as a "Seasoned Pastor," I understand how we can become creatures of habit to the methodology that worked for us for many years!  But as a Mentoring Pastor, I also know that I do not want to keep on plowing with a horse and plow, if a tractor with the keys in it is waiting for me to get the job done!  THE BODY OF CHRIST NEEDS BOTH OF US!...….The Older as Mentors and Father/Mothers!  The Younger as energetic innovators who have a fresh strategy from the Lord!  I have heard modern Praise choruses blended wonderfully with older Hymns in a beautiful symphony of sound!  God intends for both the Seasoned and the Younger Pastors to "BLEND" together in that same beautiful symphony of ministry, for His Kingdom advance and the glory of Christ!

Thank you Seasoned-Pastors for your years of faithful dedicated and proven service to the King!......And Come On' Younger Pastors with a brand new TRACTOR to get the job done more efficiently!  Younger Pastors learn from us Seasoned Pastors and allow us to Mentor you!  Seasoned Pastors....jump on the new Tractor the Younger Pastors provide and experience the RIDE OF YOUR LIFE!

Fertile Soil...

Some of the most fertile soil God can use to instruct us and teach us valuable truths about Himself and His Kingdom, is trials.  Current Christian thinking conditions us to run from these times as if we are in some new dispensation devoid of conflict.  While God is desiring to reveal Himself to us, we often are busy “confessing” away the very vehicle with which He can use to teach us such deep truths about His nature and our relationship to Him!  The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9…..”We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”  The Word of Faith teaching of “confessing away all trials, struggles, and difficult periods that has invaded Western Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity, has hindered and for many nullified the effectiveness of Romans 8:28 where God gives instruction on how He will use the very trials, and attacks of the enemy to our benefit, utilizing them as periods of instruction concerning His Nature and our relationship to Him in this…..”And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

In the midst of those periods of trial, there is a “hiding-place” God has created just for you, where there is provision, protection, love, and instruction!  This is the “cleft” of the rock where the Shepherd will protect His sheep!

New Season,.....New Challenges,......For the Pastor!

The Christian Church has been talking a lot lately about the increase of pastoral struggles and frustrations which in many instances, have led to depression.  There have been some who have criticized these pastors for the very feelings of anxiety and depression that they are battling through.  In some instances, calling into question their very Faith or their inability to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit's comfort and power.  Unfortunately, these types of responses from "peers" have been the catalyst for many of these struggling pastors to suffer in silence and not talk about their spiritual and emotional battles.  Older more 'seasoned" pastors who have completely their Pastoral assignment, will often not be able to understand the validity of these newer or "in-their-prime" pastors who are battling these emotions.  These struggling pastors will sometimes hear statements like:  "I never had these kinds of emotions and battles when I pastored!"  Or, "You need to be more dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit!"  Or, "Have you never heard of the power of Jesus?"  While this kind of thinking may have worked for many who have completed their pastorates, it should not surprise us that in these Last-Days there is an increase of attack against the Shepherds of the Lord's Flocks!  Jesus shared this tactical warfare understanding when speaking to His own Disciples prior to His betrayal and Passion when He said....."Strike the Shepherd, and the Sheep will scatter!"  

Jesus also prepared us that in these Last-Days, there would be an increase of evil before His Return.

And the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1, warned his Son in the Faith, and all of us who would carry the mantle of Pastor, that in the Last-Days there would be very difficult times!  So, why would it surprise us that these Last-Days pastors are facing an increase of evil and spiritual attack?  Why would we NOT think that the attacks; the battles; and the struggles are not the same as they were in the 1960's; 70's; and 80's?  So, what must we do?  We more "seasoned" pastors must be MENTORS and COUNSELORS through these demonic attacks against our shepherds!  We must come along side of them; befriend them; listen to them; pray for them; encourage them; and engage in spiritual warfare FOR them!  Brothers and Sisters, this is NOT a time for criticism and complaint against the very ones who are leading our Movement!  This IS the time to support them and validate their ministry and recognize them time we are living in!

The Efficacy of the Atonement of Christ

"But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.......When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear."---Hebrews 8:6 & 13 NLT.

In the Garden of Eden, both man and woman fell.  They disobeyed the command of God and sinned. In Genesis 3:16-19, the punishment for their sin is pronounced by God. Their punishment is pronounced on an individual basis, and with individual elements involved within that pronouncement to both the man and the woman. Let's take a look at those individual pronouncements of judgment from God to both of them:

Genesis 3:16-19 NLT.
Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”
And to the man he said,
”Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

This is the pronouncement of their individual punishment for their sin, however included with that is the previous pronouncement that they would surely die! This was a complete death; body, soul and spirit. This is not only the point at which death entered humanities life, but the elements of death as well, such as sickness and disease.

Fast forward to now! Addressing Christian Believers, the members of the Lord's Body. Here we are now faced with a very interesting theological issue before us. That issue is the elements of the New Covenant. A covenant that the writer of Hebrews refers to as a "better covenant.........based on better promises!" It is an interesting theological conundrum for many within the Body of Christ, even the Pentecostal element of the Body of Christ, in which some will say that they believe in that “BETTER” covenant based on “BETTER” promises, but in their practice, they demonstrate this covenant in a limited fashion.

For example: Many Christian Believers will make the following statements of theological assertions pertaining to the pronouncement of judgment against humanities sin in Genesis. First, they will say that they believe what the Apostle Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:17---"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" They are a completely new person with a new life in Christ, with new and better promises than the old covenant!

Second, they will say that in relation to man having to work by the sweat of his brow, toiling against the earth and all of creation which is suffering from humanities fall, that now our provision is in and through Christ! They will agree with the better covenants better promise of God's provision through Christ, shared by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:19---"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."

Now, those same Christian Believers who so readily agree with these assertions of "BETTER" promises from a "BETTER" covenant which is all in Christ, these same believers will then look at our Sisters who are called by God to Leadership positions in the Church and say.........."You MUST be in SUBMISSION to your husband so, therefore, you CANNOT be in a position of leadership over men!" When asked to explain their stance, many will say that it is because of the pronouncement of judgment against the sin of Eve that we just read in Genesis 3:16.

Honestly, these are the same Believers who will readily say and believe that the affects and consequences of sin have been paid for through the vicarious atonement of Christ! AND that those effects of sin were taken upon Jesus, AND that person who is "IN" Christ is a brand new person, AND the judgement of our sin was placed upon Christ for ALL who believe! ........Well, at least if you’re a male, but if you’re a female, you must STILL, even after being in Christ and supposedly being a new creation, pay for and be subject to the penalties of the sins of your mother Eve! Respectfully, that application doesn’t sound like a better covenant to me!

It sounds like, by some believer’s theology, that the "BETTER" promises from a "BETTER" covenant, which is in Christ, ONLY works if you happen to be a male! Now listen, I really, REALLY like being a male!!! However, I like being theologically correct and Biblically sound in my exegesis even better, which is what this article is appealing to! For those who through their subjective beliefs have tried to superimpose upon the Word of God a presupposition which predominately favors males, I ask you to reconcile the following passages of Scripture, making reference to the "BETTER" promises within a "BETTER" covenant and your current beliefs:

First, in the writings of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians, in chapter 5, we see the verses most often used to show that women must remain under the judgment of the original sin, even though they are NOW in Christ. Verses 22-33 are the verses that have most often been used to show the wife's submission to the husband. However, if we take the admonition of Paul in regards to submission correctly, we have to back up our passage selection by one verse! Paul says in Galatians 5:21---
"And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Then Paul goes on to show how that works within the "HOME!" Paying vital attention to HOW God had uniquely made both male and female. The Husband with the personal need of respect. The Wife with the personal need of love. However, there is mutuality within the submission, with demonstration given by Paul within the family!

Second, Paul writes to the church at Ephesus and shares the nature of that "BETTER" covenant and some of the "BETTER" promises within that covenant, which is in Christ!
Ephesians 1:3-8 NLT---"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding."

I pretty much believe what Paul shares here, speaks for itself. We are IN Christ and we are NOW experiencing "BETTER" promises from a "BETTER" covenant! These "BETTER" promises from a "BETTER" covenant are for ALL who believe, BOTH men and women! Thank God for those better covenant promises that unite us under the blood stained banner of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! It is theologically incongruent to say that we believe in the VICARIOUS atonement of Jesus, for the FULL pardon of our sins, and yet believe that we are still under the curse of sin's judgment! The meaning of vicarious simply means: 1. performed, exercised, received, or suffered in place of another: vicarious punishment. 2. Taking the place of another person or thing. Theologically that means that Christ "positioned" Himself in the place of judgment from God the Father that was meant for us! And NOW, through Christ, any and ALL who place their faith in Him are free from that judgment of sin!......... This is basic biblical Soteriology! My Brothers and Sisters, we MUST be careful that our personal presuppositions do NOT get in the way of our hermeneutics!
Let's take a look at the broader context of 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we mentioned above and look at what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21............

"Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."

WOW!!!........ That's pretty straight forward! Look again at those two phrases in verses 16 and 21---"So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view!" ........ "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin!" Jesus took upon Himself the judgment, curse and penalty of the sins of humanity! NOT just for the MALE'S but for the FEMALE'S as well,........ for EVERYONE who places their faith in Jesus! I repeat the Apostle Paul's statement of this "BETTER" covenant’s "BETTER" promise............. "This means that ANYONE who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is GONE; a new life has BEGUN!!!"..................... And oh, by the way,.......... that means for women too!

What I humbly challenge each of us to understand is, ……… What we ALL are doing is about the Kingdom of God, and its advancement. This “Better Covenant” from “Better Promises” means that ALL who are “IN-CHRIST,” are part of His Kingdom, and the Holy Spirit and His Gifting’s are available to all of us! These Spirit-Empowered gifting’s are HOW the Church is to be administered! All of the Foundational Leadership gifts given to the Church of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher; are ascribed to CHRIST! In Hebrews 3:1, Jesus is referred to as our APOSTLE. In Matthew 21:11, He is referred to as a Prophet. In 1 Peter 2:25 Jesus is referred to as our “Shepherd” (a word used for Pastor). In John 3:2 Jesus is referred to as “Teacher.” And of course we know that no one can dispute the fact that Jesus, in His ministry here on earth, was the consummate Evangelist, winning MANY souls to the Kingdom of God!

Now having said this, we need to fully understand that EACH and EVERYONE of us who have surrendered our lives to Christ, are now……..IN CHRIST! 1 Corinthians 12:27---“All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” and 1 Peter 2:9---“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” And since Christ is referred to, in one way or another, by the very titles that He gives to the Church for leadership; and since we ALL as Believers are in Christ, then these Foundational Gifts of Leadership given to those who are IN Christ are available to ALL who are CALLED by Him!

AWAKENING...Challenge for the Church in 2018!

“The AWAKENING Challenge for the Church in 2018!”

TEXT:  Revelation 3:1-6 NLT.

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:

“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. ³ Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

⁴ “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

⁶ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

I honestly never thought I would have to be dealing with the situations that I have had to deal with in the last week and a half! I thought my Children’s generation would……..But NOT mine!

Manifestations of the evil of the Last-Days has come upon our Country SO fast, that it reminds one of the speed at which a tsunami comes upon a Coast Line! And as the “waves-of-water” from a tsunami ENGULFS a Coast and the people who live there, so has a tsunami of sin ENGULFED America! And the American Church finds itself in a scenario, that Dispensational Eschatology had convinced many would be ………..WAY OFF IN THE FUTURE!.......But …….NOW…… HERE IT IS UPON US! And if the Church is going to be relevant to our world today, we MUST ·         WAKE-UP! ·         POWER-UP! ·         SPEAK-UP! To our Country, as it looks to the Church and asks the question:  “What do YOU have to offer us in the midst of all this CHAOS and EVIL that is sweeping or Country?”

II.                     CHALLENGE #1:  “We need to STOP acting like the Sardis Church!”

a.      The Church of Jesus Christ in America, has often times behaved like…..THE SARDIS CHURCH!

                                                              i.      And when we have, THEY’RE sin has become OUR sin!

b.      The sin in the Church at Sardis that the Lord rebukes them for is that they were spiritually DEAD!

                                                              i.      They had begun well in the beginning, but had gone from being FULLY AWAKE and SPIRTUALLY ALIVE, to being “asleep” and “spiritually dead!”

c.       The correction for this condition from the Lord is that they are to………”WAKE-UP!”

                                                              i.      And then once awakened, they were to return to the PASSION for the Lord they had at the BEGINNING of their FAITH!

d.      Notice that the Lord doesn’t say that HE was waking the Church at Sardis up!

                                                              i.      He had already given them the POWER to awaken themselves!

e.      The “ALARM-CLOCK” if you will, for the Church to know it’s time to AWAKEN, is when the Church sees the culture around them spiraling-downward into the acceptance and practice of ever deepening sin, and the Church NOT having the effect upon our Culture we were intended to have!

                                                              i.      This my Brothers and Sisters IS……………….”THE RINGING OF THE ALARM CLOCK!”

f.        The sinful condition of Sardis,……………is the SAME condition that the American Church has found itself in TODAY!

                                                              i.      The “CALL” from the Lord to His Church in America is the same as Sardis,……………………..”WAKE UP”…………………….Return to the PASSION you had for the Lord in the beginning of our FAITH!

II.                  CHALLENGE #2:  “We Are Presented With a Choice!”

a.      While we need to be aware of what’s going on around us in our culture, and while we need to take a stand for God’s Holy Standard of righteousness and for His Word, and while we SHOULD be alarmed at the magnified manifestation of evil that has been manifested in our Country, we are presented with…………………A CHOICE!

b.      The “CHOICE” the Church in America is presented with, is this…………..

                                                              i.      We can either continue to “FOCUS” our attention upon what the DEVIL is doing!

                                                            ii.      Or, we can “FOCUS” our attention on what JESUS is doing, in MANY and desiring to do in ALL OF US as His FOLLOWERS!

1.      EVERY CHURCH!

2.      EVERY BELIEVER!

c.       If we focus our attention, in an unnatural way, upon what the devil is doing, it “PUFFS-HIM-UP!”

                                                              i.      It builds his EGO!

                                                            ii.      It pleases him, when the BRIDE OF CHRIST takes her eyes off of her “HUSBAND” and puts it upon another MAN!

d.      We can be AWARE, ALARMED, and CONCERNED about the increase of EVIL in our Country, and the expression of sinfulness in our Country, but our “FOCUS” ….MUST………remain on the Lord Jesus Christ, and what HE is wanting to do THROUGH His Church in these Last-Days!

                                                              i.      Stand against sin,……….But WAKE-UP,………….Get your FOCUS back upon Jesus and His will, ……..Get CLOTHED with His SPIRIT and His POWER,…………..and ………….”BOLDLY PROCLAIM HIS WORD TO A CONFUSED, LOST, AND DYING WORLD!”

	Prophetically Speaking:

 

 “As news began to spread regarding the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to legalize homosexual marriage in America this past week, my heart was filled with an unusual mixture of hope and crisis as I got on my knees before the Lord.

I immediately began to seek the Father regarding His perspective on the ruling and I believe He said to me, "In the natural, the Supreme Court justices have just legalized homosexual marriage in America, but little do they know that they also just authorized an awakening of the Spirit in My bride.

Johnson goes on to say concerning Intercessors he saw in a vision from the Lord…….

I immediately received a powerful vision of intercessors gathering from all over America in response to the ruling. They gathered and began to pray, but what they were interceding about was very displeasing to the Father………They are all focused on the call for America to repent when I have called My bride to repent! You must tell the intercessors to shift their focus from America to My bride.

Their self-righteous hearts and blindness to their own sin is a stench in my nostrils. The issues coming forth in the United States is not an American problem, it's an American Church problem."

America is in a crisis, but the American church is in a greater crisis. We are and will continue to reap what we have sown!   

SCRIPTURE:

 “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind!”

~~~Hosea 8:7a NIV

III.                CHALLENGE #3:  “This Will Have a Purifying Effect upon the Church in America!”

a.      The Lord prophesied that in the Last Days, there would come a PURIFYING effect upon the Church that He would send!

                                                              i.      This “PURIFYING” effect would cause a SEPERATION to occur within the Church!

b.      It would bring a separation of the TRUE Followers of Jesus FROM the mere RELIGIOUS NON-TRUE Followers of Jesus!

                                                              i.      Listen to the Word of God on this……..

Matthew 13:24-30 NLT.

²⁴ Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. ²⁵ But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. ²⁶ When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. ²⁷ “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’  ²⁸ “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.  “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.  ²⁹ “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

                                                            ii.      The Lord also informed us that during the Last-Days, the “HEAT” and the “pressure” of living for Him in the Last-Days would have a “SEPERATION” effect, and hence, as “PURIFICATION” effect!

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 NKJV.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin^[b] is revealed, the son of perdition!

ILLUSTRATION:

This is happening RIGHT NOW, even as we are sharing this Message!  Listen to this recent report from Ed Stetzer, the President of LifeWay Research, and reported by CNN…….

“It's helpful to statistically clarify Christianity in the United States into three categories—cultural, congregational, and convictional. The first two categories are nominal Christians—they identify, but do not shape their lives around the Christian faith.

Cultural Christians are the least connected -- they call themselves Christian because of heritage or culture. Congregational Christians have some connection to a local church, but rarely attend. On the other hand, convictional Christians call themselves Christians like the other two categories, but they attend church services regularly and order their lives around their faith convictions.

If you read the headlines this week, you'd think the latter category is collapsing. But, that would be a sign of bad math, not an accurate reading of the situation.

About 70-75% of the U.S. population calls itself Christian, but about 25% of the U.S. population practices that faith in a robust manner. This includes, in order of size, evangelicals, Catholics, mainline Protestants, and others.”

c.       You see, it’s not a matter of the Church of Jesus Christ in America is declining and shrinking away, BUT rather, because of the “HEAT” of living for Christ in these Last-Days, the “NOMINAL” Christian’s are LEAVING!........................THEY ARE “FALLING-AWAY!” just as Jesus prophesied!

                                                              i.      THIS fact,……..is also one of the “MAIN” indicators that the appearance of the ANTI-CHRIST is VERY near!

CONCLUSION:

·         Here is the MAIN-CHALLENGE issued by the Lord, when we as His People find ourselves in a situation like we are seeing here in America in 2018, And it is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14………………

“Then 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 will forgive their sins and restore their land!”

THE CHALLENGE HAS BEEN ISSUED,……HOW WILL WE RESPOND?