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How God Heals Broken Nations with Pastor Rick Warren · Voice of Rick warren

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  Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Last week, I started a new series on
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  Speaker 1: the power of vision, but because of events that happened
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  Speaker 1: this week here in America, I wanna take a one
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  Speaker 1: week pause from that series, and I wanna share a
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  Speaker 1: very special message. Today, I'd like to speak to you,
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  Speaker 1: not just Saddleback Church members, but to Christians everywhere here
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  Speaker 1: in the US and even in other nations too. And
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to speak to you about how God heals
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  Speaker 1: broken nations. How God Heals Broken Nations. You know, this
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  Speaker 1: past week, we saw how deeply America is divided and
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  Speaker 1: what some people are willing to do to get their way.
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  Speaker 1: And we saw how allegiance to a person instead of
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  Speaker 1: allegiance to the rule of law can lead to anarchy.
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  Speaker 1: It was a dark and shameful day when for the
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  Speaker 1: first time in American history, armed Americans laid siege on
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  Speaker 1: their own capital, trying to replace the rule of law
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  Speaker 1: with a rule of a mob. Now, friends, these are
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  Speaker 1: difficult times and many norms have been broken, things that
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  Speaker 1: we would have never thought in our lifetime would be possible.
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  Speaker 1: And the next dozen days could be tense in what
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  Speaker 1: has always been a respectful transfer of power. But these
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  Speaker 1: are different times. And in many ways, they're desperate times. Politically,
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  Speaker 1: our government has been paralyzed by partisanship. Economically, millions of
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  Speaker 1: people are out of work. Internationally, our reputation is shredded.
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  Speaker 1: As I said, enemies were laughing at us this week.
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  Speaker 1: And spiritually, the culture is descending into chaos. This week,
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  Speaker 1: after the events that we saw happen before our eyes
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  Speaker 1: at the National Capitol, I kept being stopped in grocery
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  Speaker 1: stores being asked, Pastor Rick, what's going on? How can
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  Speaker 1: this be happening in our nation? What does God think
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  Speaker 1: about all of this? And a phrase that I kept
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  Speaker 1: hearing was this, we need a national healing. We need
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  Speaker 1: a national healing. And you know what? I agree 100%.
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  Speaker 1: And I've actually thought this for years, that our nation,
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  Speaker 1: many nations need healing. I immediately thought of Psalm 60,
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  Speaker 1: where David cries out to God in a national time
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  Speaker 1: of conflict in those days. And in Psalm 60, verse two,
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  Speaker 1: listen to this. It's in the New Living and in
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  Speaker 1: the Living Bible. David says this, you have shaken this
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  Speaker 1: nation and split it open. Now, Lord, heal the cracks
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  Speaker 1: before it completely collapses. That is a verse for our time. Lord,
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  Speaker 1: heal the cracks before it completely collapses. The message translation,
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  Speaker 1: that verse says, heal the breaks because everything is coming
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  Speaker 1: apart at the seams. And in the next verse, Psalm 60,
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  Speaker 1: verse three, it says, you have shown your people desperate times.
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  Speaker 1: We're staggering like we're drunk on wine. What a picture.
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  Speaker 1: But then verse four and verse five gives us some hope.
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  Speaker 1: And it says this, but you, talking about God, but
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  Speaker 1: you have given us a banner to rally to. All
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  Speaker 1: those who love truth will rally to it. And then
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  Speaker 1: you can deliver your beloved people. Use your strong right
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  Speaker 1: arm to rescue us. Now, anytime you see the phrase,
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  Speaker 1: but you in the Bible, and it's talking about God,
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  Speaker 1: you can get ready for a good dose of hope.
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  Speaker 1: But God, or but you, because God's word is filled
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  Speaker 1: with examples of how God heals hurts, heals brokenness, heals conflict,
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  Speaker 1: and actually heals a broken nation. He did it many,
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  Speaker 1: many times with the nation of Israel. And there is
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  Speaker 1: a clear pattern. When you look at this book and
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  Speaker 1: you study this book, there is a clear pattern. And
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  Speaker 1: there is even a specific promise that God gives us
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  Speaker 1: in the nation that we live in and when it's
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  Speaker 1: in trouble. Now, it's not a promise to any specific nation.
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  Speaker 1: The United States is never mentioned in this book, neither
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  Speaker 1: is Germany or Argentina, Philippines or China, where other Saddleback
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  Speaker 1: members live. We're an international church, but it is a
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  Speaker 1: specific promise to the people of God. It's a promise
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  Speaker 1: to Christian believers who live in any country. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what we're gonna look at today. How God heals a
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  Speaker 1: broken nation. 3000 years ago, God made a promise to
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  Speaker 1: Solomon at the dedication of the new temple in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: And as I said, it's not a promise to America
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  Speaker 1: or to any other specific nation, but it is a
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  Speaker 1: promise to God's people anywhere. And it gives us a
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  Speaker 1: specific path to the healing of of any nation. 2
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  Speaker 1: Chronicles 7, 14 is the verse I'm talking about. And
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  Speaker 1: it goes this, you've heard this verse many times, but
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna tear it apart word by word today. If
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  Speaker 1: my people, if my people, he's not talking to politicians.
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  Speaker 1: If my people who are called by my name will
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  Speaker 1: humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
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  Speaker 1: from their wicked ways, then, that's the path, and here's
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  Speaker 1: the promise, then I will hear from heaven and I
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  Speaker 1: will forgive their sins and I will heal their land.
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  Speaker 1: Now with every promise of God, there's always a premise.
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  Speaker 1: There are conditions, there are requirements. And that's what we're
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  Speaker 1: gonna look at today. You know, this nation, along with many,
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  Speaker 1: many other nations, needs a miraculous healing. Right now we
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  Speaker 1: need healing in our culture. We need healing in our government.
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  Speaker 1: We need healing in our economy. We need healing in
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  Speaker 1: our businesses. We need healing in our schools, in our cities,
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  Speaker 1: in our families. We need healing in our marriages, in
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  Speaker 1: our hearts. We need healing everywhere. And the good news
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  Speaker 1: is that the wounds that we can see around us
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  Speaker 1: today are not fatal and healing is available. So what's
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  Speaker 1: it gonna take? What's it gonna take to turn things around?
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  Speaker 1: How does God heal a broken nation? Well, in 2
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  Speaker 1: Chronicles 7, 14, the verse we just read, God gives us,
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  Speaker 1: as I said, the pathway and the promise. He gives
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  Speaker 1: us four prerequisites or conditions for national healing. And then,
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  Speaker 1: and by the way, it's not just for national healing.
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  Speaker 1: This can heal relationships. You got a broken relationship? Do
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  Speaker 1: these four things. It can heal a relationship. It can
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  Speaker 1: have personal healing in your own life. So let's look
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  Speaker 1: at them. Number one, first condition for healing. We must
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  Speaker 1: humbly confess our sins. If my people who are called
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  Speaker 1: by my name will humble themselves. Now, again, this is
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  Speaker 1: not a promise for everybody. It's a promise for followers
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  Speaker 1: of God, followers of Christ. If my people called by
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  Speaker 1: my name, you call yourself a Christian, you're called by
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  Speaker 1: Christ's name. If my people who are called by my
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  Speaker 1: name will humble themselves, the number one cause of all
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  Speaker 1: our problems is pride, arrogance, self-sufficiency, thinking we don't need God.
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  Speaker 1: We think we're God. We don't even think about consulting
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  Speaker 1: God in much of the time in what we're doing.
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  Speaker 1: James 4, 6 says, God opposes the proud, but he
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  Speaker 1: gives grace to the humble. And so we start with
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  Speaker 1: the humble humility of confessing our sins to God. First
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  Speaker 1: John 1.8 says, if we claim we're not sinning, we
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  Speaker 1: deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. It's
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  Speaker 1: self-deception for me to look at the sins of everybody else,
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  Speaker 1: worry about the sins of all my enemies, worry about
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  Speaker 1: the sins of all the people I disagree with and
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  Speaker 1: not think about me. You've heard the phrase, hate the sin,
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  Speaker 1: love the sinner, love the sinner, hate the sin. I
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  Speaker 1: got a better one for you. Love the sinner and
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  Speaker 1: hate your sin. Love the sinner and hate my sin.
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  Speaker 1: I should hate my sin. I shouldn't worry about hating
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  Speaker 1: everybody else's sin. Let me worry about just hating the
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  Speaker 1: sin in my own life. See, the problem is instead
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  Speaker 1: of practicing humility, we spend more time, you might write
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  Speaker 1: this down. The problem, the first of these four problems
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  Speaker 1: that we're looking at is that we spend more time
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  Speaker 1: accusing others and excusing ourselves. then we spend practicing humility.
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  Speaker 1: We spend more time accusing others and excusing ourselves than
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  Speaker 1: we do practicing humility. Now, let me show you some
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  Speaker 1: verses where God talks about this tendency. James 4.12, God
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  Speaker 1: gave us his laws so he alone can rightly judge us.
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  Speaker 1: God is the only one who has the right to
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  Speaker 1: judge us. And he alone has the right to save
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  Speaker 1: or destroy. So who do you think you are to
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  Speaker 1: judge and condemn your neighbor? Hmm. I don't have a
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  Speaker 1: right to judge you. You don't have a right to
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  Speaker 1: judge me. The Bible says God is the only judge
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  Speaker 1: and lawgiver. Romans 2, 3 says this. So when you,
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  Speaker 1: a mere human, pass judgment on others, and yet you
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  Speaker 1: do the same similar sins, how do you think you're
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  Speaker 1: going to escape God's judgment? We often try to take
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  Speaker 1: the focus off of our failures and our sins and
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  Speaker 1: our mistakes by pointing at everybody else. But As the
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  Speaker 1: old saying goes, when you're pointing a finger at somebody else,
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  Speaker 1: I got three of them pointing right back at me.
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  Speaker 1: first peter 4 17 for it is time for judgment
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  Speaker 1: to begin everybody's going yeah yeah judge those people god
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  Speaker 1: judge those people well let's read the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: verse for it is time for judgment to begin and
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  Speaker 1: it must begin with us judgment must start with the
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  Speaker 1: family of god did you know that If God's gonna
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  Speaker 1: judge America or any other nation, he's gonna start with
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  Speaker 1: the Christians in it. He's gonna start with those who
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  Speaker 1: claim his name. I call myself a Christian, a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: a little Christ. The family of God, a judgment has
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  Speaker 1: to start. If it's gonna start anywhere, change is gonna start,
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  Speaker 1: it's gonna start in the church. Not in politics, not
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  Speaker 1: in anything else. Proverbs 28, 13, people who try to
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  Speaker 1: cover up their sins will not succeed. Why can't we
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  Speaker 1: learn that verse? The coverup's always worse than the sin.
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  Speaker 1: People who try to cover up their sins will not succeed,
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  Speaker 1: but if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy.
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  Speaker 1: So the first step to any kind of healing, the
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  Speaker 1: first step to any kind of recovery, national or anything else,
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  Speaker 1: in your home, in your marriage, is humble confession. That's
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  Speaker 1: the first step. So let me just be frank. Let
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  Speaker 1: me ask you a question. Do you wanna be healed?
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  Speaker 1: Do you want your family to be healed? Do you
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  Speaker 1: want your marriage to be healed? Do you want your
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  Speaker 1: nation to be healed? Then you must take the hard
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  Speaker 1: first step of humble confession. If my people will humble themselves.
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  Speaker 1: James 5, 16, confess your sins to each other and
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  Speaker 1: pray for each other so that you may be healed.
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  Speaker 1: If you're taking notes, circle the phrase each other. Confess
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  Speaker 1: to each other. Pray for each other. Write this down.
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  Speaker 1: I need others to help me change. I need others
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  Speaker 1: to help me change. You can't change simply by yourself.
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  Speaker 1: If you could, you would, but you can't, so you won't.
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  Speaker 1: There are a lot of things in your life you
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  Speaker 1: don't like about you and you've tried to change them,
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  Speaker 1: but they don't change. Why? Because God has wired the
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  Speaker 1: world and wired the universe in a way that we
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  Speaker 1: only change with the help of others. That's why we
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  Speaker 1: have recovery groups, Saddleback and support groups at Saddleback and
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  Speaker 1: small groups at Saddleback and online groups. And if you
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  Speaker 1: want to be a part of an online group, we
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  Speaker 1: literally have, I don't know, seven, 8,000 small groups spread
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  Speaker 1: out all over America. We'll help you get in one.
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  Speaker 1: But he says, confess your faults to each other and
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  Speaker 1: you will be healed. Revealing your feeling is the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of healing. So here's your homework. Make a sin list.
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  Speaker 1: This week, sit down, make a sin list. Say, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: show me anything in my life that's unpleasing to you.
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  Speaker 1: And be specific. Don't just say, forgive me for all
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  Speaker 1: my sins. No, make a list. Be specific. Jealousy, if
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  Speaker 1: it's gossip, write it down. If it's slander, write it down.
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  Speaker 1: If it's impatience, write it down. If it's anger, outburst,
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  Speaker 1: write it down. And then confess it. Cross them all
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  Speaker 1: out and burn the paper. That's the first step. We
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  Speaker 1: must pray, we must humbly confess our sins. Number two,
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  Speaker 1: we must not only confess humbly, we must pray sincerely.
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  Speaker 1: Pray sincerely. This isn't mouthing prayers that we've prayed all
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  Speaker 1: our lives. This is praying from the heart. If my
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  Speaker 1: people who are called by my name shall humble themselves
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  Speaker 1: and pray and pray. This is not half-hearted praying. This
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  Speaker 1: is not thoughtless praying. This is not meaningless praying. This
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  Speaker 1: is not, now I lay my down to sleep, bless
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  Speaker 1: the gift and the giver. Thanks for this food and
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  Speaker 1: bless it to our bodies. Not ritual praying. It's praying
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  Speaker 1: from the heart. Sincere praying is authentic praying. It's passionate praying.
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  Speaker 1: It's sincere. It's even desperate praying. God, you gotta help
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  Speaker 1: us now. We're in Deep trouble. We need this healing now.
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  Speaker 1: Example in the Bible is Jacob who says to God,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let go of you till you bless me.
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  Speaker 1: Now what's the problem? How did we get ourselves in
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  Speaker 1: such a mess? I'll tell you how we got ourselves
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  Speaker 1: in such a mess. We spend more time complaining than
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  Speaker 1: we do praying. We spend more time complaining than we
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  Speaker 1: do praying. Praying changes things. Complaining, worrying, Being anxious, griping
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  Speaker 1: never changes anything. Now, this is not a new problem.
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  Speaker 1: This was a problem back in Hosea's days, years and
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  Speaker 1: years ago. Hosea chapter seven, verse 14 says this. They
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  Speaker 1: do not cry out to me with sincere hearts. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: they sit on their couches and they wail. That word
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  Speaker 1: in Hebrew whale literally means complain loudly. It means I'm griping.
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  Speaker 1: How many times have you sat on your couch, looking
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  Speaker 1: at the television, griping about what's going on in your society?
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  Speaker 1: Griping about what you see on the news, complaining about
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  Speaker 1: what's happening in the world. How much has that changed anything?
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  Speaker 1: How many times have you complained on social media about
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  Speaker 1: what you see going on in our nation or our
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  Speaker 1: world or wherever? He says, they don't cry out to
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  Speaker 1: me sincerely. Instead, they sit on their couches and complain.
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  Speaker 1: Let me ask you, do you spend more time watching
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  Speaker 1: the news or on social media commenting about the news
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  Speaker 1: or in prayer talking to God about what's going on?
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  Speaker 1: One of them can change things. The other two are worthless.
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  Speaker 1: Colossians 4.2, be earnest, that's sincere, and unwearied and steadfast
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  Speaker 1: in your prayers. This is the amplified translation. Be earnest
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  Speaker 1: and unwearied and steadfast in your prayers, being alert and
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  Speaker 1: intent in your prayers. In other words, I don't put
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  Speaker 1: my mind in neutral and just start mouthing off spiritual words.
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  Speaker 1: Be intent in your prayers with thanksgiving. She says, okay,
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  Speaker 1: how do I be more sincere in my prayer? By
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  Speaker 1: being more specific. How do you be more specific in
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  Speaker 1: your prayer? Write down a prayer list. Nothing becomes specific
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  Speaker 1: until you write it down. Then all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: it becomes very, very specific. You know, when I was
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  Speaker 1: in college, I remember in my dorm room, I took
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  Speaker 1: a big piece of butcher paper and I covered my
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  Speaker 1: wall and on it I wrote the date and then
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  Speaker 1: I would write my prayer request and then I would
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  Speaker 1: wait and then I would, when it was answered, I'd
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  Speaker 1: write the answer down and I would write the date
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  Speaker 1: it was answered. And at the end of that year
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  Speaker 1: in college, I had on that wall 56 specific answers
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  Speaker 1: to prayer. You think that built my faith? Of course
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  Speaker 1: it did. Why? Because I could see, I prayed specifically,
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  Speaker 1: I got specific answers and that built my faith. Ephesians 5.18
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  Speaker 1: says this, pray in the spirit at all times with
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of prayers, asking for all you need, To
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  Speaker 1: do this, you must always be ready and never give up.
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  Speaker 1: Always pray for all God's people. If you're taking notes,
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  Speaker 1: go back and circle all the alls and always in
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  Speaker 1: that verse. That's sincerity. Jesus said it like this. Luke 18,
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  Speaker 1: verse one. Jesus said to his disciples, told them a
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  Speaker 1: story about how they should keep on praying and never
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  Speaker 1: give up. You're always doing one of those two things.
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  Speaker 1: One or the other. You're either praying or you're giving up.
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  Speaker 1: You're praying, are you giving up? You look at the
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  Speaker 1: world right now, you feel like giving up on it.
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  Speaker 1: You look at our society, you look at our government,
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  Speaker 1: you look at the paralysis of our government. Well, you
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  Speaker 1: can pray or you can give up. If you prayed
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  Speaker 1: as much as you worried, you'd have a lot less
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  Speaker 1: to worry about. So if you're serious, about seeing our
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  Speaker 1: nation healed. It isn't gonna happen through the voting booth,
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  Speaker 1: the ballot box. It isn't gonna happen through politics. If
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  Speaker 1: you're serious about seeing our nation healed, here's your homework.
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  Speaker 1: Make a prayer list. Make a prayer list of some
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  Speaker 1: specific things you're going to ask God to do this
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  Speaker 1: year in your life and in your family, in our church,
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  Speaker 1: in your church, in the whole world, in our nation.
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  Speaker 1: Make a prayer list. This is your homework. Make a
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  Speaker 1: prayer list for this new year. Now we come to
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  Speaker 1: the third condition for national healing, or for that matter,
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  Speaker 1: any other kind of healing. It says, if my people,
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  Speaker 1: which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, that's one,
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  Speaker 1: humbly confess, and pray, pray with sincerity, sincerely, then third,
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  Speaker 1: and seek my face. Here it is. We must seek
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  Speaker 1: God intensely. We confess our sins humbly and we pray
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  Speaker 1: sincerely and we seek God intensely. If people will humble
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  Speaker 1: themselves and pray and seek my face. Now this kind
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  Speaker 1: of seeking God is not some casual pastime. It's not
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  Speaker 1: a pursuit in your spare time. Seeking God intensely means
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  Speaker 1: you're not doing it in your spare moments. It's not
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  Speaker 1: some low priority. Well, if I get the time, I'll
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  Speaker 1: seek God intensely. No, it must be a serious pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: It has to become your primary focus. Now, why should
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  Speaker 1: I make seeking God my primary focus in my life?
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  Speaker 1: Because in Hebrews 11, six, it says this, God rewards
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  Speaker 1: those who earnestly seek him. not in their spare time,
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  Speaker 1: but earnestly, sincerely seek him, intensely seek him, earnestly. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you don't become an Olympic athlete in your spare time. No,
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  Speaker 1: you gotta make it your primary motivation in life. Somebody
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  Speaker 1: asked me one time, do you play golf? I said, no.
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  Speaker 1: I said, I play at it, but I'm just not
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  Speaker 1: willing to invest the time to be good. To be
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  Speaker 1: a pro at anything requires intensity. So let me ask you,
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  Speaker 1: what does God want from you this year, in this
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  Speaker 1: brand new year? What does God want from me more
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  Speaker 1: than anything else in this new year? I'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: what he wants from you. He wants that you intensely
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  Speaker 1: seek him, that you seek him intensely. Not that you
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  Speaker 1: seek his blessing, not that you seek his gifts, not
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  Speaker 1: that you seek his favor, but that you seek him.
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  Speaker 1: You wanna know him. Now, what I'm talking about right
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  Speaker 1: now is so rare among people. Most people seek God's blessing.
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  Speaker 1: They seek God's favor. They seek God's goodness. They don't
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  Speaker 1: seek God. Psalm 14 verse two says this, the Lord
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  Speaker 1: looks down from heaven on the entire human race and
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  Speaker 1: he looks to see if there's even one person with
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  Speaker 1: real understanding who seeks for God. So I can't find
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  Speaker 1: people like that. Everybody wants my blessing. They don't want me.
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  Speaker 1: Very few people, the truth is very few people really
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  Speaker 1: seriously make knowing God the goal of their life. And
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  Speaker 1: that's why we get stuck in cycles year after year
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  Speaker 1: after year. What's the problem? Okay, well, just like I
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  Speaker 1: told you, there's a problem with, you know, we do
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  Speaker 1: more complaining than we do praying. The problem is, write
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  Speaker 1: this down, we spend more time seeking everything else. We
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  Speaker 1: spend more time seeking literally everything else. But God gives
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  Speaker 1: us a wonderful promise in Deuteronomy 4. Deuteronomy 4.29 says this,
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  Speaker 1: if you seek the Lord your God, you'll find him,
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  Speaker 1: you'll find him. If you look for him with all
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  Speaker 1: your heart, that's intensity, and with all your soul, that's intensity.
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  Speaker 1: And when you're in distress, and all these things have
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  Speaker 1: happened to you, you will return to the Lord your
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  Speaker 1: God and you'll obey him for he is a merciful
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  Speaker 1: God and he will not abandon or destroy you. That's
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  Speaker 1: a verse for what's going on this past week and
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  Speaker 1: in the days ahead. How do I seek God with intensity?
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  Speaker 1: By making the knowing of him my first priority and
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  Speaker 1: my daily passion. Those of you who listened to the
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  Speaker 1: James series I taught, know that I taught you a
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  Speaker 1: little habit called HWFW and HWLW. His word, first word,
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  Speaker 1: his word, last word. That the first thing you do
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  Speaker 1: in the morning is you open up this book and
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  Speaker 1: you read a little bit of it till God speaks
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  Speaker 1: to you. It doesn't matter how long it is. You
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  Speaker 1: just read till God says something to you. And then
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  Speaker 1: you leave your Bible open by your bedside. When you
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  Speaker 1: get up in the morning, the first thing you do
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  Speaker 1: is not look at your phone. It's not look at
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  Speaker 1: the TV. It's not look at social media. It's look
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  Speaker 1: to the truth. Seek first his word. His word, first word.
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  Speaker 1: And you read and you just, you know, you pick
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  Speaker 1: a book like Psalms or Proverbs or Philippians and you
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  Speaker 1: read until God speaks to you and then you stop.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's just one verse. You go, I need to
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  Speaker 1: think about that. And you read until something comforts you
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  Speaker 1: or something challenges you. Both of them will fill your soul.
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  Speaker 1: Comfort or challenge. And then you leave it open and
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  Speaker 1: at night, right before you go to bed, the last
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  Speaker 1: thing you do is you read again. His word, first word,
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  Speaker 1: his word, last word. And you just read till something
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  Speaker 1: speaks to you. And then you go to sleep with
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  Speaker 1: that on your mind. Matthew 6, 33, Jesus made this promise.
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  Speaker 1: Seek first his kingdom. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: And all these other things will be given to you
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  Speaker 1: as well. He says, I'll take care of the rest
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  Speaker 1: in your life. So, What do we do? We confess
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  Speaker 1: our sins humbly. We pray sincerely. We seek God intensely.
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  Speaker 1: Now we come to the fourth condition for a national
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  Speaker 1: healing or any other kind of healing. We must turn
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  Speaker 1: back to God completely. We turn back to God completely,
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  Speaker 1: not half-heartedly. If my people who are called by my
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  Speaker 1: name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face
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  Speaker 1: and turn from their wicked ways, he says, then I'll
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  Speaker 1: hear from heaven and I'll forgive their sins and I'll
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  Speaker 1: heal their land. Now he says, turn from their wicked ways.
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  Speaker 1: You know, that word turn, the Old Testament's written in Hebrew,
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament's written in Greek. The word in Greek
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  Speaker 1: is the word metanoia, which literally means meta, to turn,
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  Speaker 1: and noia, to change your mind. Noia is noose, your neuron,
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  Speaker 1: your neuro pathways comes from that. And it means, repentance
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  Speaker 1: simply means to change your mind. This is the way
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  Speaker 1: I used to think about that. This is the way
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  Speaker 1: I think about it now. Turn from your wicked ways,
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  Speaker 1: make a U-turn. Now, when I say that phrase wicked ways,
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  Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking. You're thinking about there are
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  Speaker 1: people out there who are wicked and there are people
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  Speaker 1: out there who are good and I wanna hang out
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  Speaker 1: with the good people and I wanna condemn and criticize
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  Speaker 1: and point my finger at the wicked people. It is
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  Speaker 1: a mistake. Listen, it's a mistake to categorize people as
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  Speaker 1: either good or wicked. Why? Because the reality is we
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  Speaker 1: all have wicked ways. I have wicked ways. You have
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  Speaker 1: wicked ways. The Bible says, not a just man upon
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  Speaker 1: the earth that doeth good always and sinneth not. The
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  Speaker 1: Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the
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  Speaker 1: glory of God. And the Bible says, if we have
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  Speaker 1: not sinned, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us.
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  Speaker 1: We all need a savior. So guess what? I'm wicked.
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  Speaker 1: You're wicked. We're all in the same boat on that
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  Speaker 1: one there. Now, here's the problem. I've given you a
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  Speaker 1: problem in each of these. Here's the problem. We don't see.
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  Speaker 1: We just don't see our own wicked ways. It's very clear.
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  Speaker 1: We can clearly see the wicked ways in other people. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: we can point them out quickly. But we don't see
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  Speaker 1: our own wicked ways. So let me just give you
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  Speaker 1: for your own personal edification and evaluation, one of the
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  Speaker 1: many lists of sins in scripture. It's 2 Timothy 3.
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  Speaker 1: In 2 Timothy 3, verses two to five, Paul gives
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  Speaker 1: us a laundry list of 19 specific wicked ways. He says,
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  Speaker 1: people are gonna be acting this way in the last days.
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  Speaker 1: I wanna recommend that you might wanna use this as
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  Speaker 1: a checklist for personal evaluation and confession. Here's what it says,
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  Speaker 1: 19 different things to check myself. It says that in
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  Speaker 1: the last days, it says people will be self-absorbed. Hmm,
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  Speaker 1: am I ever self-absorbed? Loving only themselves. They will be
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  Speaker 1: greedy for money. They will be boastful and arrogant. We've
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  Speaker 1: seen a lot of that in politics and we've seen
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  Speaker 1: that a lot in our culture. They will be insulting
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  Speaker 1: to God. rude and disrespectful, even to parents. They will
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  Speaker 1: consider nothing sacred. They will be unkind and unforgiving. They
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  Speaker 1: will enjoy slandering others. Enjoy slandering others. They will have
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  Speaker 1: no self-control. They will love violence and they'll be cruel.
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  Speaker 1: They will be cynical, despising anyone and anything that's good.
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  Speaker 1: they will betray those loyal to them. They will be
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  Speaker 1: reckless and rash. They will be inflated with self-conceit. They
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  Speaker 1: will love pleasure more than God. They'll claim to be spiritual,
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  Speaker 1: but they will reject the true power that could make
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  Speaker 1: them godly. You know, honestly, As I look over that
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  Speaker 1: list that I just read, written 2000 years ago, I
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  Speaker 1: am amazed at how accurately it describes our culture today,
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  Speaker 1: right now. How it describes our own hearts. How it
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  Speaker 1: describes the problems we're facing right now in this nation
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  Speaker 1: of America and in whatever nation you're living in. There
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  Speaker 1: is only one solution. It's not a political solution. It's
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  Speaker 1: not an economic solution. It's not an educational solution. It's
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  Speaker 1: not a psychological solution. It is a spiritual solution. Our
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  Speaker 1: hearts must be changed by God and only he can
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  Speaker 1: change hearts. Acts 3.19 says this, Repent and turn to
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  Speaker 1: God so that your sins may be wiped out. Just
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  Speaker 1: wiped out. And so that, get this sentence, and so
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  Speaker 1: that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Times
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  Speaker 1: of refreshing may come from the Lord. Friends, we desperately
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  Speaker 1: need those times of refreshing right now. After the COVID-19
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  Speaker 1: pandemic has taken us a year, and all of the
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  Speaker 1: other problems that we've seen in society, we need those
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  Speaker 1: times of refreshing right now. And God promises that if
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  Speaker 1: we do what he tells us to do, then he
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  Speaker 1: will do three things. Let's review the verse again. If
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  Speaker 1: my people, this is a promise to Christians, to believers.
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  Speaker 1: If my people who are called by my name, are
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  Speaker 1: you called a Christian? You called by his name? my
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  Speaker 1: people who are called by my name will humble themselves
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  Speaker 1: and pray and seek my face and turn from their
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  Speaker 1: wicked ways. Then I'll do three things. I will hear
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  Speaker 1: from heaven. I will forgive their sins and I will
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  Speaker 1: heal their land. Now, please listen to me closely. With
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  Speaker 1: somebody as a pastor who cares about you and who
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  Speaker 1: loves you, we can't expect anybody else to do this.
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  Speaker 1: This is a promise for us. This is a promise
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  Speaker 1: for God's people. Today, it's promised to the church. We
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  Speaker 1: must lead the way. We must be the model. We
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  Speaker 1: must humbly confess our sins, not everybody else's. In recent years,
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  Speaker 1: the church has behaved very badly We've made idols out
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  Speaker 1: of all kinds of things. And we have put our
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  Speaker 1: hope in the wrong thing and wrong people. But if
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  Speaker 1: anything is gonna change, it has to start with us,
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  Speaker 1: not the people you disagree with or don't like, or
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  Speaker 1: you think they're the problem. 1 Peter 4, 17, we
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  Speaker 1: read this verse earlier. For the time has come for judgment,
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  Speaker 1: and it must begin with us. Judgment must start with
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  Speaker 1: the family of God first. If God's gonna judge a nation,
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  Speaker 1: he's gonna first start with the Christians in that nation,
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  Speaker 1: not anybody else. So stop looking for change to happen
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  Speaker 1: first in other people, in the people you disagree with,
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  Speaker 1: the people you can't stand, the people who think differently
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  Speaker 1: than you, had a different background than you. You have
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  Speaker 1: to start with you. I have to start with me.
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  Speaker 1: We have to start with us. Will you join me
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  Speaker 1: in this? Will you be honest to God? Of course.
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  Speaker 1: I am interested in saving a nation. But I am
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  Speaker 1: even more interested in saving our souls. Our souls. And
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  Speaker 1: we have sold out many times our souls to second
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  Speaker 1: class causes and they have betrayed us. Here's the good news.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 11, 31. If we judged ourselves in the
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  Speaker 1: right way, God would not judge us. Did you know
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  Speaker 1: that verse is in the Bible? 1 Corinthians 11, 31.
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  Speaker 1: If we judged ourselves in the right way, God would
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  Speaker 1: not judge us. So again, I ask you, will you
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  Speaker 1: join me? I'm asking this of Christians all across America.
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  Speaker 1: I'm asking this of Christians all around the world. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not asking this from people who don't know the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: I'm asking those of us who do, who claim the
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  Speaker 1: name of Christ. The Bible says that everyone that nameth
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  Speaker 1: the name of Christ should depart from iniquity. Will you
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  Speaker 1: join me and in this new year that we would
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  Speaker 1: confess our sins humbly, that we would pray sincerely, That
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  Speaker 1: we would seek God, not as blessing, seek God intensely.
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  Speaker 1: And that we would turn to God completely. Because if
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  Speaker 1: we do that, we can expect, then I will hear
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  Speaker 1: from heaven. I will forgive their sins and I will
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  Speaker 1: heal their land. If that doesn't happen, I don't give
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  Speaker 1: this nation or the world any hope. Our hope is
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  Speaker 1: not in who we put in the White House. Our
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  Speaker 1: hope is who we put on the cross. There's only
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  Speaker 1: one savior and his name is Jesus. Let's bow our heads.
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  Speaker 1: With our heads bowed, would you follow me in a
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  Speaker 1: simple prayer and saying, God, I wanna be part of
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  Speaker 1: the solution, not part of the problem. God, I want
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  Speaker 1: to follow the pathway to healing. healing in my heart,
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  Speaker 1: healing in my family, healing in my friendships, the pathway
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  Speaker 1: to healing in my business, in our church, in our community,
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  Speaker 1: healing in our nation, healing in our world. It's easy
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  Speaker 1: to understand what you've told us. It's hard to do it.
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  Speaker 1: And we can't do it on our own. So we
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  Speaker 1: come to you, Holy Spirit, and ask you to give
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  Speaker 1: us the power to confess our sins humbly and to
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  Speaker 1: be specific, to make a sin list and cross them
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  Speaker 1: all out and to pray sincerely, to make a prayer
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  Speaker 1: list and be specific about the things we wanna ask
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  Speaker 1: you to do in our nation, in our lives, in
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  Speaker 1: our church. Help us to seek you intensely to start
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  Speaker 1: and end each day, his word, first word, his word,
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  Speaker 1: last word, to seek first the kingdom of God and
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  Speaker 1: his righteousness and all these other things will be added
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  Speaker 1: and help us to turn completely to you. Help us
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  Speaker 1: to stop looking at other people as wicked and to
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  Speaker 1: realize that I have wicked parts in me that are wrong,
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  Speaker 1: that are ungodly, that need to be changed by you.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, God, for your grace. If you've never invited
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ in your heart, say, Jesus Christ, I need
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  Speaker 1: your forgiveness. I need you to save me from myself.
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  Speaker 1: I need your salvation in my life. I need the
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  Speaker 1: power to change. I need to know your purpose for
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  Speaker 1: my life. Lord, heal our hearts, heal our families, heal
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  Speaker 1: our nations. In Jesus' name, amen.