Chapter 26: What Should We Do?
WITH
ALL THE information we have about our responsibility at this time
in history,
what would be some reasonable goals or next steps?
1)
We should continue to proclaim the truth, but we must remember that no
matter how
compelling we make our message, some people simply won’t
want to hear
it. It’s their choice. God gave them free will and wants them to
use it. He
allows everyone to choose, and so should we.
2)
We need to become more biblically literate concerning our past and future so
we can
understand where we are today and what we should be doing. This
is one of
the most important roles of the local church and its pastors and
teachers.
If we don’t communicate past revelation and future prophecy, we
will stay
busy doing a variety of worthless and unproductive things.
3)
Staying alert was a theme in Jesus’ teachings. Scripture warns us how easy it
is to
become distracted from the spiritual dimension of life.
4)
We will be rewarded for our service. Faithfully serving God for unseen
future rewards
is an act of faith. Teaching about rewards will provide a
source of
encouragement among believers.
5)
False teachings and philosophies will continue to mislead people. We can’t
stop this
from happening, but we can identify false teachings and speak out
against
them. We can always turn on a light in a dark room.
6)
Do not forget that we are in the midst of a spiritual awakening. The darkness
in our
country became so dark that many people decided they liked the light
better.
Americans have had enough crime, immorality, and corruption. They
are finally
seeking some kind of standard that will produce better things in
their lives.
7)
Our nation is faced with problems that we can’t solve by ourselves. God
designed
it that way. This is why the fourth generation must turn to him and
let him lead
us out of the disaster we face. Then we will see:
a. good
leadership in churches, government, business, and education
b. favorable
weather patterns
c. production of
natural resources
d. good
international relationships
e. reversal of
self-destructive cultural behaviors including alcoholism,
drug abuse,
pornography, etc
f. compassion for
people in our society
8)
Church leadership needs to love people again. They can best do this by
empowering
them with the truth of God’s word. Our culture will only
change when
individual people change.
9)
We are in the fourth generation and are experiencing the beginning of the
fourth cycle of
judgment. These judgments are designed by God to bring
people to a
point of decision. Do you love God and his ways, or do you hate
God
and reject his standards? This is a decision we must all make.
10)
The standards God has set for our nation here on earth are not the same
standards
he has set for the
one can see
the
born again is
a requirement for enterance into God’s kingdom not
our
earthly
kingdom. Salvation is not a prerequisite to the success of a nation
today. For a
nation to prosper on earth requires only these few things
identified
in Amos 6:8 and Isaiah 56:1:
“He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord
require
of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with
your
God.”
“Maintain justice and do what is right, for
my salvation is close at hand
and
my righteousness will soon be revealed.”
11)
We must remember the lesson of the “sin of Jeroboam.” By the second,
third, and
fourth generations, people find it hard to identify the sin of the
first
generation. The sin of our great-grandfathers was secular humanism.
They
ushered in an idolatrous philosophy based on the assumption that
there is no
God and that man is the ultimate end of everything. This sin
has not only
infested our culture in the areas of government and education,
but it has
polluted the thinking of our churches as well. We must correct
our own “sin
of Jeroboam” which begins with identifying the fallacy of
secular
humanism.
12)
Families must be restored. The hearts of the fathers must turn to their
children
and children to their fathers. This is the foundation of not just the
Christian culture, but all culture.
A society can’t endure without fathers and
families.
Malachi 4:6 says, “He (Elijah) will turn the hearts of the fathers to
their
children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I (the
Lord)
will come and strike the land with a curse.” The institutions that God
set in place
must be strengthened and maintained. Those institutions are:
individual
volition, marriage, family, government, and nationalism. Together
they provide
structure for the natural world. On the other hand, the two
institutions
God has used and is using to provide for man’s spiritual wellbeing
are: the
nation of
13)
The fourth generation always receives warnings through prophets and
natural
signs. If a society doesn’t respond to these warnings, God pours out
his wrath
and judgment. There is no escaping his discipline.
14)
The church’s mission is to represent the spiritual
mankind
at this point in history. This mission advances only when the seed
of
scripture is sown. The word of God in the heart of man combined with
the Spirit
of God in a believer is the most powerful force on earth today.
15)
The true church is not a “holier than thou” separatist organization. From
the very
beginning, Jesus told his disciples that the church is made of
common people
who’ve come from pagan societies to build a spiritual body
where the
gates of Hades had previously stood. In the Old Covenant, if the
holy was
touched by the unholy, the holy thing became unclean. In this age
of the New
Covenant, the holy has been sent into the world of the unholy.
16)
The church was derailed 1600 years ago when “clergy” were deemed
“specially anointed people,” holier than the average person.
For centuries,
believers
have brought money to churches, providing a payroll for clergy
and
missionaries. Our churches will only see revival when lay people realize
they have the
same anointing as clergy and missionaries.
17)
The end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 1800s was a time in
American
history that closely resembles today—drunkenness, crime,
profanity,
extreme skepticism, and universities that openly mock
Christianity.
The Chief Justice
gone ever to
be redeemed.”
be
forgotten in thirty years.”
his
statement saw the greatest
ever
experienced. The results of
our culture
today. Revival can
18)
Revival must take place at two
a.
The natural level: our culture
and moral.
Institutions must
b.
The spiritual level: the church must learn the word of God and let the
Holy
Spirit empower them.
Believers should encourage the natural
virtues God requires of both Christians
and
non-Christians alike. The
generation.
We have the hope of a coming kingdom as we pray, “Come Lord Jesus!”
But
we also have the responsibility to serve our earthly kingdom now so that we
might hear the
Lord say to us: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
May
God find reason to bless the