How badly do we want a revival in America? Enough to go out into the street and meet Jesus? Enough to get out of our comfort zone?
Jesus said: “For as much as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”
Tag Archives: covenant
When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He said: “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” John the Baptist who paved to way for Jesus said: “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” “Produce works that befit repentance.”
The woman who was caught in adultery was told by Jesus that her sins were forgiven. She was to go and sin no more. What is so difficult to understand here? In America, the world has been brought into the church rather than the church being brought out into the world. In many liberal churches the pastor is afraid to call anything sin. That which is an abomination to God is acceptable in the church. We do not want to be judgmental. We want to be “inclusive.” The Apostle Paul said that we should not judge the world but that we should judge the church.
Why is Holy Communion used so sparingly in many church? This sacrament requires self-examination. The Apostle Paul said that we should examine ourselves lest we take the body and blood of Jesus unworthily. Such examination would require repentance.
Every true revival has begun with repentance. Jonathan Edwards preached about sinners falling into the hands of an angry God and many experienced the sensation of falling. And they repented. Even several blocks away from the Asuza Street mission people fell on their faces and repented because they felt the strong presence of God. If we had more presence of God in the churches there would be more repentance.
But there is no room for repentance. Prosperity is here. We have God’s favor. We must be doing something right because we are financially blessed. Right? Some of us may have good financial resources but our money will not save us. Prosperity may more often be a sign of unbelief than belief. Are all the poor in the world unsaved simply because they are poor? Did not Jesus come for the poor?
Repent America for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repentance is required. Repentance is expected. Repentance is part of our spiritual worship. It is our response in thanksgiving to God. If we neglect such a great salvation the Book of Hebrews tells us that there is no salvation left.
Jesus said that whoever would come unto Him He would not cast out. But we must come to Him. And we must come with a broken and contrite heart. Humble yourself America. You did not build this great land by your own effort and strength. Remember King Nebuchadnezzar? You have been blessed by God to be a missionary nation. That was your charter. That was the covenant the early English settlers made with God at Cape Henry in 1607. Return to your roots. Return to your heritage.
If my people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
God is calling our nation to renew the covenant He made with the first settlers at Cape Henry. He is also calling each Christian believer in this nation to renew his or her personal covenant with Him. We are not called to merely discern the truth, or preach the truth, but to live the truth. Yet, if we do not know Jesus then we haven’t a prayer of living an authentic Christian witness. Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. Truth is a person. That person is Jesus – the agent of creation. Do we know Him?
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ Matthew 7:21-23
In the American Church “Triumphant” our witness is excess. We have Bigger churches. We have lengthy services. We have louder praise. We crave supernatural signs and wonders and call them “revivals.” We preach personal prosperity as a sign of God’s blessing.
We are going to tear down our barns and build bigger barns. Do we not understand, America, that soon our souls will be required of us? It is time to repent and get back to our first love.
We have been thinking about sacred places. Certainly the Emanci- pation Oak is one of them. It was under this tree in 1863 that Union soldiers first read the Emancipation Proclamation to the freed African American community of Hampton, Virginia. The shade of the oak served as the first classroom for newly freed men and women.
The irony of this sacred place is that African slaves were brought ashore here. The nearby waters of the Hampton Roads harbor served as a deep natural channel for slave ships of all sizes. It was if God said: “You started something terrible but I am going to put a stop to it here.”
On August 19, 2006, God directed us to pray under the Emancipation Oak. There He asked us to repent for the sins of our nation. We were aware of some of the sins He wished us to address. He gave us a greater awareness of other significant sins which we needed to acknowledge while we interceding for the nation. For more on the specifics of what we prayed press here.
The Emancipation oak is designated as one of the 10 Great Trees of the World by the National Geographic Society.
Apostle, prophet, and intercessors are called to a place by God to pray and believe. Yet, it is not about the servants of God. What makes a place sacred is the presence of God. We need God. All we can say is that we are attempting to do our duty with faithfulness and discernment.
Sacred places. Cape Henry is such a place. God heard the prayers of those early English settlers. The new land would be a land of missionaries for the Gospel. A marker has been set up to commemorate the covenant these settlers made with God in this case a large cross. The settlers had implanted their own cross at the Cape. But even if there were no markers today Cape Henry would still be a sacred place for our nation. Why? Because God’s presence is still there. One can feel it.
Regrettably, our political leaders have done their best to remove as many religious markers as they can. The Ten Commandments have been removed from court houses. Prayer has been removed from public schools. But God is still with us. It is about God.
Nonetheless, if God were to remove His protective presence from America, what would be the outcome? We have had small glimpses of this happening already. Nothing can happen to America without God’s permission. Do we wish to test His faithfulness all the more? Brothers and sisters, it is time to pray fervently for revival. Without God we have little hope for the future. Let us return to Him. Let the churches lead the way. Let us forget about the church programs and humble ourselves before God, pray, and repent.
Daniel’s Prayer for His People:
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.”
“Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.”
“And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (Daniel 9:1-19)
Are you the Daniel of today? Am I?
The early settlers made a covenant with God to spread the Gospel in the New World. They could have started with the native Americans. To be sure, the people of the land lacked understanding in many areas (though they had much to teach the colonists.) They were suspicious of the English and difficult to deal with. Yet there were opportunities for evangelism.
One such opportunity had to do with the Kecoughtan Indians in what is now the Hampton peninsula. These Indians were initially friendly. They had greeted the colonists at their first landing site. Captain John Smith celebrated the Christmas of 1608 with them. They were very skilled in agriculture and taught the colonist how to grow corn.
The good relations did not last, unfortunately. On July 9, 1610, after the Kecoughtan Indians killed an Englishman named Humphrey Blunt, Sir Thomas Gates attacked the settlement and drove away the natives. Gates then built two forts there, Henry and Charles, named after the sons of King James I. During that year, the settlers established what is now the oldest Anglican church in America. Regrettably, there is no record of any of the Kecoughtans joining this church.
The colonist truly needed the help of the native Americans. Pocahontas rose to the occasion and helped the colonists. For a season she persuaded her father Powhatan to lend limited support. It is unfortunate that the colonist did not rise above their circumstances and attempt to evangelize these natives. What great allies they might have become in helping to establish a cooperative way of life that would have been of mutual benefit to all. Recall the description of the early Christian Church: “They had all things in common.” This was not to be for the colonists and the Kecoughtans.
On the 400th anniversary of the first landing of the English settlers in 1607, some wounded prayer warriors returned to the scene at Cape Henry. As we stood under the commemorative cross God once more reminded us of the covenant that those early settlers made with Him. They had erected a cross on the beach and dedicated the new land for the purpose of spreading the Gospel. God heard their promise and honored it. It is for this promise that God has blessed America.
And we as a nation and as a church have wandered far from our heritage. We preach a prosperity message and not God’s message. His message is: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Where is the Kingdom in America? Where is it in the church? Do we honor God or do we honor ourselves? What is this new false religion? It is called America.
Today I begin a story of great courage, faith, promise, and hope. It is also a story of tragedy, sorrow, disappointment, and shame. It is a personal story. It is a national story. It is a story I wish to share with you because it is your story as well. Ultimately, let us pray that it is God’s story, because only He can correct the mistakes of the past and point the way to our future.
I begin with a family hero. She is an ancestor of mine as she is for many of you. She is the stuff of legends. She is known as Pocahontas. Her proper name was Matoaka. Her Christian name became Rebecca. She was the favorite daughter of Powhatan, the native American chief who ruled a large federation covering most of what is now the state of Virginia. Much has been said and written about her. This is what Captain John Smith said about her in 1616:
Pocahontas was “the instrument to preserve this colony from death, famine, and utter confusion.”
I cannot go into all the details of her life. Her short heroic life was soon cut short. The impact of her influence on her father and his relationship with the early English colonists was soon underscored after she died.
“The promise of prosperity that accompanied the first years of the 1620’s did not last. Following the death of Pocahontas in 1617 and her father, Chief Powhatan, in 1618, local native leaders, particularly the charismatic paramount chief, Opechancanough, adopted a more militant attitude toward the Jamestown colonists.” — Jamestown: An American Legacy, by Martha W. McCartney
As you may recall, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and married a colonist named John Rolfe. She sailed to England with her husband and her young son Thomas in 1616. She was received by the court of King James I and made quite an impression. Unfortunately, she became deathly ill just before her scheduled return to America. She was burried at Gravesend, England at 22 years of age. Before she died she comforted her husband: “All must die. Tis enough that the child liveth.”
John Rolfe returned to America and would leave quite a legacy behind, financial and otherwise. We will examine this legacy and how it has impacted our national heritage. For now, let us remember a young native girl who was used by God to help establish a colony in its early, vulnerable stages that may have otherwise been lost.
The sacrament of Baptism is perhaps even more controversial than Holy Communion. Jesus commands the Church to baptize as He commands it to celebrate His Supper. It is part of Jesus’ great commission. Preaching the gospel and making disciples are also part of the great commission. Why is it that denominations often single out one activity over another? Baptism is God reaching out to a fallen world, but religion tends to make baptism either a once and for all insurance policy or a control and authority issue of the denomination.
Is it that complicated? God has baptized the whole world with the blood of His Son. It is the Church’s responsibility to get the Word out. It would seem that the Church would rather discuss genealogies or the proper conditions for baptism. Perhaps it would help if we could understand that baptism is a process. It is one that God initiates but it is also one in which the individual believer must cooperate. We must repent and believe the Gospel. And then we must repent and believe the Gospel. In the early Church the disciples were filled with the Spirit and then they were refilled with the Spirit. Jesus was baptized by John but that did not immunize Him from experiencing Gethsemane. We must endure by God’s grace.
Do we baptize infants. Jesus was dedicated to God in the temple by His parents on the eighth day. Later when He was twelve He spent some serious time in the temple studying and expounding upon the scriptures. Truly we need to make a mature commitment to God, and we need to keep that commitment all our lives, and we need to grow in that commitment. Baptism doesn’t guarantee our commitment. But in baptism God guarantees His commitment.
