Shane Idleman emphasizes the critical role of the church in guiding society during turbulent times, asserting that if the foundations of truth are destroyed, the righteous must act to restore them. He reflects on the historical significance of Election Day sermons and the church's responsibility to speak truth into political matters, warning against the dangers of fear and discouragement that can undermine faith. Idleman calls for a revival of spiritual fervor and intercession, urging believers to engage in the spiritual battles facing the nation and to uphold the foundations of marriage, government, and the church as essential to societal health. He passionately argues that the church must reclaim its voice as the moral compass of the nation, standing firm against false narratives and societal decay.

The church is essential, and the church needs to be pointing people in the right direction during these times. Amen? Did you know that they used to, in our nation, brace yourself, they used to give election day sermons. Yeah? They would name the candidates, they would talk about policies. Why? Because the information was supposed to come from God's Word. If I don't steer you to the correct narrative, we can be led astray by the false narratives. And we have to have that church be that voice of truth again. So, the title this morning is, If the Foundations are Destroyed. If the Foundations are Destroyed. Many of you know the famous verse out of Psalms. It is this, If the Foundations are Destroyed, what can the righteous do? What can the righteous do if the Foundations are Destroyed? And it's interesting, because this verse is kind of like David's going along and then he just says this. It's interesting, I looked at the Latin Vulgate, what Jerome wrote. I looked at Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Henry's commentary, Eliot's commentary on the Bible. There's not a lot of different views. It's pretty standard on what this means, actually, in the Hebrew language. But it's almost like this verse is kind of just, you know, not quite in place, even though it is. And a lot of people just, you know, come across it like, Okay, if the Foundations are Destroyed, what does that mean exactly? And I'm going to talk to you about that. But the reason this has been a difficult message in praying, I've been praying and prayed on this altar this morning on, Lord, I don't want my opinion. I don't want, you know, news or headlines. But I do believe that, I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but the pulpit in America used to give Election Day sermons. All across the United States, the church would give Election Day sermons. For 150 some years, until this thing snuck in there, the Johnson Amendment. From Lyndon B. Johnson, who didn't want the churches talking about issues. And many churches are scared of that because they could lose their 501c3 status if they talk about political issues. But what I did, and 2,000 other pastors, is about, I don't know, five years ago now, we sent the IRS our sermon on politics saying, Let's go to court. This is a First Amendment issue. We would love to take you up on that challenge. We've never heard from the IRS. No church has ever heard from them. Because they can't go in front of the Supreme Court, especially now. Right? Be careful who you elect. See, that's why I get frustrated. Guys, leadership matters. You might not care about politics, but it cares about you. Who we have in office, who we have in the Supreme Court is huge. Either they honor God or they mock Him. That's a big deal. We're not talking about, Well, this group paves the streets. This group wants to put money into planting more trees. You are talking about killing children at nine months. We have drifted that far. If that upsets you, I do not apologize. We need to hear the truth. And so, I just really want to put this message together because if the pulpit doesn't give you a correct narrative, we are led astray by false narratives. And that's what we're seeing a lot. So I don't just come up here and say, Here's what I think. Here's my opinion. I watch some conspiracy theory videos on YouTube. Researching, talking to government officials. And there are government officials in Sacramento that we get a lot of the information from. And Shane, a lot of this they'll say is true. Here's what's going on. So I don't want to take up a lot of time with that, but I want to kind of set the stage. Because it's important. If the foundations are destroyed, that's what we're talking about. So you've heard me say it. You've heard it all over the news now recently. This word, deep state. You know what that means. This is absolute fact. This is not conspiracy theory. When, let's say for example, President Obama left, there are still people beholden to those views in the Department of Justice. In the FBI. In all these different areas, they are deep state, working against our Christian values. You know, they're so upset at the President today, right? Guess what? They're coming for me and you. He's just in the way. That's what this is really about. And so this deep state, there are people, do you hear the names Comey, Flynn, what happened with Flynn recently in the news? These are setups from people in the deep state. Because for example, General Michael Flynn knew too much information. He knew a lot about the shenanigans that were going down. He knows exactly what happened with Osama Bin Laden, SEAL Team 6. He knew all this stuff. So they have to get these people out. This is not conspiracy theory, trust me. There's paper trails. There's people in the Senate saying the deep state people are against us. So you have these people inside. You see this in America. It's no different. Good and evil, right and wrong are fighting each other. So they are creating right now chaos and confusion. They're trying to create this chaos and confusion, hoping that we get bogged down in this. Why that's so important is because there has been backdoor talks with China often. And China would love to see our demise as would a lot of people. So as we're getting bogged down here at the economy, it's not unlikely that someone like China could come in. And even they're looking at Taiwan right now. So you see all these things happening behind the scenes that are all fact. And that's why you're hearing terms like global reset. Have you heard that term recently? Or they're trying to shut down and shut down and shut down to reset everything so that people in positions of authority, darkness really, can begin to mandate certain things. And it's not beyond the scope of reality now where we used to think, oh, there was no way this would happen. Well, where they want to do debt forgiveness. Everyone in the United States, you're forgiven of your debt. As long as you sign up for this and get this vaccine to do this. That's the direction we're going. None of this is just watch a YouTube video and now I believe it. I mean, this is months and months and months of talking to people on the president's advisory team in the capital saying, Shane, we're going in a very... This is not between two men in November 2nd. This is between two different Americas. Be crystal clear. We are at that state where this is huge. The ramifications are enormous. And what they would like to do is remove religious freedom. I want to give you an illustration, but I didn't really want to mess with it, but I want to put on some handcuffs this morning and try to preach. That's what they're trying to do. You don't know this, and I'm hoping it's okay to tell you this, but you know when we opened March 31st? If it's not edited out before it goes out. March 31st, we opened. Myself, I was talking to Jack Hibbs, other people. We said, we're going to just open. Well, then the governor kind of changed his mind, right? Well, because the Department of Justice, William Barr, wrote him a letter. I saw it saying, you will allow the churches to open or the Department of Justice will come after you. So, see, it wasn't like him just loosening. That reign would have got tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter to suppress the truth, because they know the truth is the moral voice of the nation. Church is the moral voice of the nation. The church is getting the information out there. Church people vote. Church people make a difference. Church people are the ones stirring the pot in Sacramento. So they want to silence that truth. I don't know if they know the depth of it, but it's a satanic force, I believe, working to silence the voice of the church. And so that's why when we do something like this, we don't say, well, I don't care what the government says. Email me Romans 13. Okay, well, Romans 13, we fall under the jurisdiction of the Constitution. We, the people, the Constitution. So the governor's breaking the Constitution. Who do we look to? Not only that, the Trump administration has said churches are essential. So there's a division there. So we have to say, God, what do you want us to do? That's why we're spending time praying and fasting and seeking the heart of God. This isn't some rebellious movement. This is a spirit-led movement, I believe, of boldness and separating the wheat from the chaff of what you're seeing today. And so you're also seeing the terror groups now withinside. This would have never been allowed 30 years ago. Antifa would have tried this 30 years ago. No, it's not happening. But because of the deep state, because of all these things that they're allowing, and the president can't yet drop the hammer, but I believe if he is reelected, he will drop the hammer hard on these groups inside. Well, I know he will, but I can't say too much. They're working behind the scenes. You're like, what's going on? Why aren't they stopping it? Oh, trust me. Trust me. These people don't know that their cell phones are being pinged by the Department of Justice. Why are they arrested two months later? Because their cell phones are at these different looting locations. And because this election is so important, many things are on hold right now. So I don't know what's going to happen Tuesday. I'm going to be here Wednesday morning thanking God or thanking God. Either way. That has to be our stance. So, that's the stage. That's the backdrop. That's the life we live. That's the life I live. I'm well aware that this kind of voice, what I'm saying, you know, cannot stand much longer if the wrong person is in office. We're not, you know, naive in this area. What about, did you see Twitter, or Ted Cruz arguing with Twitter? It looked like the priest of a satanic temple, that guy. I mean, it's like, they want to shut us down. I just went and looked at Facebook. I have reached 100,000 less people in October. I can no longer share and boost things. It's called shadow banning. But you can put all kinds of perversion on there. But when you begin to preach the gospel, they want to shut you down. See, this is real. This is a reality that we live in. And I think people need to wake up. You might not like his tweets or his bravado, but you better like the policies, because that's the direction we're going. That's where we're heading. And they will persecute Christians like you've never seen before. Real Christians. Oh, the carnal ones will sneak right under the radar. That's because there's no difference. There's no difference in their lives. So that's setting the stage. Now we'll talk about the foundations. If they are destroyed, Psalm 11.3. Psalm 11.3 is where it comes from. And now it's David. David is probably fleeing Saul. Many people would agree with. It doesn't really give us a setting, but you remember when Saul came after David? I mean, threw spears at him, tried to get him killed. Jealousy, envy. So David said, In the Lord I put my trust. Oh, I hear Bibles turning. That's a good sound. Psalm 11.3. Chapter 11, verse 3. In the Lord I put my trust. So he's kind of reminding himself. Do you know you have to do that often? Don't wait for someone to encourage you. That's why David would say, I encourage myself in the Lord. I encourage myself. Because if I look to people, I will be let down. I was so discouraged at the number of churches sending out emails. The people I know saying, When the weather gets bad, we're going back to live stream. That's your final nail in the coffin, sir. You think you're opening anytime soon? Oh, no, no. Here comes the second wave, and the third wave, and the fourth wave. When do we wake up and realize, yes, it's real, but the reaction is way overkill. Because there's an ulterior motive there that is going on behind the scenes. And so I've just been heartbroken over this. We've got pastors now coming from other churches. There's such a disdain for what is happening. I know we have to be careful. Don't get me wrong. We just want to do what God has called us to do. So he says, In the Lord I put my trust. How can you say to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bow. They make ready their arrows on the string. So David is saying, I trust in the Lord. But people are saying, People are telling him, You better get out of here. You better flee like a bird. The enemy's already pulling back the bow. The arrow is centered, and they're coming for you. David, you better get out of here. Sound familiar? But he says, I will put my trust in the Lord. They said, David, they're going to shoot at you secretly. They're going to shoot at all the upright in heart, secretly. So we can find here first, that fear and discouragement chip away at the foundation. Fear and discouragement. Do you ever say to yourself, What is happening in our nation? Why are people doing something? Fear and discouragement. They chip away at that foundation. But what I enjoy doing a lot in construction was renting a huge John Deere backhoe or an excavator with a breaking bar on the end of it. And I just go to a foundation of an abandoned house and just start on those edges. Breaking those edges. And before you know it, the whole thing's gone. That's what fear and discouragement. Same thing happened with David. Same thing happened with Christians. I struggle with it. Don't you? And if we allow that to come in and cloud our vision and stop us from doing what God has called us to do, the devil wins. And that's why a lot of places, churches aren't being the church right now. Fear and discouragement. Fear and discouragement. And that's what David was dealing with. That's what many are dealing with. And they'll tell Christians, How can you tell yourself, God, you trust in God. Look what's going on. Flee. Get out of here. Get out of here. You better get out of California. You better get out of this area. Get out. Flee. I'm all for protecting our families if God leads us. I know we need to make wise decisions. But we have to make sure that fear and discouragement aren't moving us. Because then you get where you're not supposed to be and now you're just as miserable. They shoot secretly at the upright. They aim at the target. And that's why I mentioned Michael Flynn earlier. You heard about the dossier and all that. They made up this whole thing. The dossier. They made up this whole thing. And said like, The president's doing these bad things. It's just, it's totally fabricated. And this guy just runs with it. Who's the senator that ran with it? It was always in the news. Fish. Shift. Yes, that guy. Thank you. See, I didn't take notes. I didn't take notes. He said, Oh, I know top secret information. I've seen it firsthand. We come to find out it's a phony. See, they shoot the upright at heart. They go after those who are good and godly. There's so much wickedness behind the scenes. And they are scared. If this deep state is ever exposed. Why would Trump get rid of Mueller and Comey? And why? Because they are against the direction that many want to go. This is all just facts. Why shouldn't the church speak about it? Well, you don't go there. You just stay over here. And this little lamb I know. The Lord of the Bible tells me. Don't go into that stuff. Just a little stuff. Just because you want to keep the church asleep. No, not this church. That's true. Well, if you're getting upset, this one will throw you over the edge. Who paid for the dossier? Who paid for that fake information? The Democratic National Committee through Hillary Clinton. They paid. They paid for fake paperwork to try to take someone down. It's all exaggerated. It's not even any truth to it. The Russian thing with the president impeachment. It's all a sham. It's unbelievable. But God says, nope, I will not be defeated. I put some man in the throne. I will not. He will not be able to take it. What person can go through this kind of hell and still survive? Unless God elevates. God will not be silenced. And so that's what's happening. Kingdoms are colliding. And we can get into COVID. Most people know now it was a biological weapon. It was clearly designed by man. Well, who wants to release that? There's shenanigans going on. Man, I could just stay there for a minute. I need to get back to this. Now, here we go. David said, I put my trust in the Lord. The wicked say, oh, we're going to come and get you. And then David says, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? That's what's happening right now. This is a very relevant message. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Eliot's Commentary, I like what they said. They said, they translated this. And what they do is they look at the Hebrew language. And they look at the sentence structure and different things. They said, if the foundations be destroyed, what will become of the tower or the superstructure? So in other words, what you have built, what happens if the foundation underneath is destroyed? It all comes down. Ask any builder, what is the most important part of a house? The foundation. The concrete, the reinforced steel. Actually, before that, compacting the land. Make sure the soil is compacted. And you're not building it on shifting soil or on rock and things. You have to actually go underneath the foundation. Because before you go up, you've got to go down. And you build that foundation. Have you ever seen somebody just start building a house on dirt? My son does. He tries that. But I mean a real house. You're not going to just put down wood floor. No, you have to have that strong foundation. So without that, if the foundation is destroyed, the whole structure will come down. So if the foundation of our nation is destroyed, the whole system will come down. That's why there's a big push right now towards globalism versus sovereignty. Socialism versus capitalism. Free enterprise versus government control. Why is there a big push for globalism? You take away America's sovereignty, you've taken away everything. Everything goes bye-bye when that sovereignty is gone. Why we fight so hard is because we believe that God honored the prayers of pilgrims and the Puritans in the 1600s who wanted to flee religious persecution, went to Holland, ended up in America. They came here on bended knee. They gave the lives of their own children to get here. They built God's Word into all areas of society. And from that, you would see the court system. Do you know some of the early states, you couldn't run for office unless you professed of faith in God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. You couldn't even run for office. All that separation of church and state, you can't do it. They laughed at you 300 years ago. Because none of that matters. Separation of church and state, get God out of government, that is laughable because God is the head of government. You honor God, you honor His Word, and that's the foundation. There's no separation of God from government. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof. They can't establish a national religion, but we can openly and unapologetically acknowledge the sovereign hand of God who has directed us. Acknowledgement is not establishment. For example, I don't agree where you could say, okay, we have to all be non-denominational in America. Or you have to all be Anglican, you have to all be Baptist. The government cannot establish a national religion, but it can openly and without apology acknowledge God. And so if the foundations are destroyed, when atheists cry and have to have the Ten Commandments monuments moved out of the Alabama courthouse 20 years ago, remove it, it makes me feel convicted. Exactly, exactly, it's called conviction. God, the forefathers put it there, God put it there, and it can stand there. You don't have to apologize. Well, let us remove you. Well, Shane, that offends me. Okay, does that offend you? What about offending me? Removing God's Word offends me, it offends you, it offends millions of Americans. So let's go, if we're going off what offends us, if we're going off what offends us, we'll never find that balance. But Shane, what about all the evils in our country? Yeah, whenever God's moving, so is the enemy. For example, you'll hear that a lot, slavery, right? Did you know how many founding fathers were against slavery? And they said it was as hellish practice that Great Britain brought over to the colonies. Many, I've listed, you can have my book, One Nation Above God, for free. There's three pages of all these people who fought for it. Handling the American Indians, the Native Americans, many things we did was atrocious, but many Christians said that's not right, and they fought for it. See, what's happening now is decide that America is good, America is bad. Why now is patriotism bad? Do you know what patriotism really means? I love and I honor what God has done in this nation. There's nothing wrong with that. Why now is that a bad thing? It doesn't mean white supremacy. It doesn't mean certain groups of people are better. It means we love what God has done in our nation. We love the blessings that he's given our children and grandchildren. For now, that's all that is. A proud American, proud of what God has done, but not prideful in heart. And see how they're trying to erase all this? America is bad. Patriotism is bad. The flag is bad. So let's bring in critical race theory that says all you white people are bad because you're oppressors. That's why you hear pastors apologizing for being white, which is blasphemy. Maybe you have to apologize, but I know I'm not racist. The racist needs to apologize. The racist needs to repent. But skin color is pigmentation, how God created. You don't apologize for that. It's unbelievable. Shane, you seem a little upset. No, just a little bit. I'm passionate. That's how I get out of it. I'm passionate. But things upset Jesus. I can imagine making that whip. What are you doing? Just leave me alone right now. Okay. What are you doing? He's whipping those money changers. My father's house is a house of prayer. And you have made it a den of thieves. And he would scold them and whip them and get them out of there because zeal for your house has burned me up. And at some point, in some part of the day, you have to say zeal for your truth has burned me up. And I love what your word is doing in my heart. Oh God, your word is in my heart like a burning fire. I'm sick and tired of seeing innocent children killed in sex traffic. And we have to wake up from our slumber. If, if, if the foundations are destroyed. And my prayer all week was, Lord, what does that mean? Are you talking about preventing that so they aren't destroyed? Or are you talking about restoring them after they are destroyed? And I believe it's both. We're at a critical time. The foundations have been chipped away. And we have to restore them. But we also have to keep preventing. Preventing what is happening. There's a quote I heard this week, I've got to find it. We didn't come this far to only come this far. Think about that. We didn't come this far to only come this far. We want to storm the gates of hell and make a difference in our nation. And I realize church pep rallies can't do it. And I realize clapping and preaching to the choir can't do it. But I do know that a national revival or awakening of God's Spirit can do it. That is our only hope. I'm not trusting in anything other than God. Move. Move your people. And here's why this is so important. If, if, if the foundations, spiritual battles must be engaged. We have to engage spiritual battles. Shane, I can't do much. I can't do much. You could have been here at 6 a.m. This is how I fight my battles. That's how a Christian battles. Prayer and worship. So when we say, I can't do anything. A church just decided, we should have a, we should have, this prayer room should be, this area for prayer should be packed. Oh man, it's inconvenience early. No kidding. Anything worth fighting for is difficult. Silence is not an option. I love what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said. You know who that is? Adolf Hitler killed him. He said the church was silent when she should have cried out. The church was silent when she should have cried out. Why, Shane? Why is the church so important? Because that's the voice of truth that God has given a nation. That's the voice of truth. You know, if you don't like the word politics, just put the word government in there instead. Government. Because God ordained the government, he ordained the family, and he ordained the church. Those three institutions. So if you don't like that, take it up with him. We are to defend the gospel. I think we can all agree on that, right? So wouldn't it follow that we are to defend those things that are the outworking of the gospel? Let me explain that. We defend the gospel. We all agree on that. But now that I've been changed by the gospel, I defend the gospel. I have a passion for God's word. A passion for godliness. Now I'm going to talk about political hot buttons because it's the outworking of how the gospel has changed me. No, no, you can't go there. What do you mean? No, go back here. Just stay here. Just stay nice, comfortable, clean. Don't get too controversial. But we defend the outworking of the gospel. Saving children. Sex trafficking. When a presidential candidate, let's just say Biden, when he says, if I'm not in trouble by now, I'm already in trouble on this one. I didn't know to cry or laugh. He goes, well, I would tell an eight-year-old, sure, you can get a sex change. We'll pay for it. That's child abuse. That's disgusting. Thank you. That's perversion. That is someone who has lost their mind. And our nation applauds. Right now on the DMV, on their website, you can click to change your gender. And that's okay with many people. That's like the epitome of stupidity. You can't do that. I'll just click here and change my gender. No, you can't. And so we've pushed away God, and perversion has been given a platform. And as Romans 1 says, when you begin to reject God and suppress the truth, God gives them up. You would hate to see what man would look like given over to his own carnal nature. When God's grace is restrained or pulled away, when God's power of the spirit, if he just let man become man, he had to destroy the whole world because of it. Before Noah, it was getting like it as in the days of Noah. So here's what happens on those three institutions on this, if the foundations are destroyed. The church is either silent or powerless. I mean, can you imagine if just 10% of the churches in California would take a stand? Silent or powerless. Then the family deteriorates, and the government legalizes it. See, they're all three interwoven. And we even look at California. I mean, we lose hope in California, but the foundation. Did you know the early foundation of California? Have you ever heard of a town called San Diego, named after a saint? San Francisco, Saint Francis of Assisi. Yeah, but Shane, you know Roman Catholics. Well, I'd rather have them named after a saint than a demonic goddess. And there were a lot of friars or monks sometimes that were like Martin Luther that had a relationship with God and wanted to change that system from the inside out. Oh, ever heard of a place called Sacramento? Let's break down that word. Sacraments. Are you absorbing this? These cities. Sacramento, the sacraments of the church. You name an entire city after it. San Jose, San Francisco. You just keep going, going. Any of you remember Keith Green? I believe it was right here on this field in the 70s that they had a worship revival service here. My friend of mine was involved in that. The foundations are everything. God says, My word is the foundation. That begins to crumble and crack and deteriorate. God will raise up a people. He'll raise up a remnant to begin to repair that breach. That crack. And so that's why I have personally not given up on California. Do you realize if God says, Governor Newsom, meet the Holy Spirit. That's it. It's that easy. You think God's in heaven going like this? Oh, man. Oh, that guy. I don't know what to do with that state. I believe our spiritual condition is directly related to the spiritual condition of God's people. And we've drifted. We've allowed things if the foundations have been cracked and broken. And this is the byproduct of a broken church. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. So I'm going to just go briefly through these. These are vital foundations. Here's what we're contending for. Number one, marriage. Marriage. In short, sexuality. God created them male and female. And the more we depart from truth, the more confused we become. Everybody's so confused because they depart. You might not like it, but if you have it as your anchor, as your guide, as your standard, as your plumb line, your flesh might fight it, but without that, then you have confusion. How many genders are there now? I mean, out there? And there's Hollywood actresses saying, well, I'll let them choose their own gender. That's stupid. That's not even possible. Boy, girl. It's what it is. Now, I don't minimize the pain people feel. I don't minimize the struggle. I mean, the transgender movement is huge right now. There's something going on, but that's because the foundations have been cracked. And we're seeing the fruit of that. Apple and oranges, right? An apple can't demand to be an orange. But it could, right? I mean, paint me orange and remove the stem. Okay, well, you're still an apple. See, but I look like an orange. See, you can't do that. Because why? Because now you're messing with creation, how God created them. And if somebody's listening and you are not comfortable in what he has given you, or your sexuality, or what you're thinking, take it to him. Let God rebuild you. Let God restore you. You might struggle with something, because we all struggle with something. But take it to God. Don't take it to the enemy. Take it to the God of truth. And let that light come on, and not keep adding to that confusion. Hebrews 13, verse 4, Marriage is to be held in honor among all. Another translation says, Marriage is honorable, and the bed is undefiled. But it doesn't stop there. But fornicators and adulterers God will judge. So this whole issue about sexual identity, well, God's word doesn't really say this. Anything outside of he created them male and female, you shall leave your father and mother and be joined together with your spouse. And the two shall become one flesh. That's how I ordained it. You can push all you want. You can change all you want. The Supreme Court, when they said same-sex marriage is okay, it doesn't matter how many laws are passed. It will not, it cannot change God's mind. So this is the standard. And anything outside of that, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, transgender, anything that's outside of his design, it's under our sin nature. That's why it says there's a judgment for that. But Shane, what do I do? You repent of that and let Christ save you and cleanse you of that sin. And you have to call it sin. Not preference. We have to call it what the Bible calls it. And that's what's going to be the big push right now. I mean, you see it right now, and I mentioned earlier, but that is the BLM movement is transgender, lesbian-based. They've come out and said we are trained Marxists. We hate America. We hate what God has done. And that's what the movement is. So they hide behind the idea, which is Black Lives Matter, because obviously they do. But they hide behind that with this false narrative, this false agenda. All you have to do is look at the website, uncover what is believed, and you'll see that the foundations are being destroyed. The next foundation, we have marriage, and the next one I talked about earlier is government. Government, which basically is security. That's what the government is for. You can look in the Old Testament. God would have the church represent God, the people, the conviction, the conscience of the nation. Actually, Martin Luther King Jr. said it. He said the church must be reminded that it is not the master of the state nor the servant of the state. It's the conscience of the state. And if we forget our responsibility, we will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. And that's exactly what is happening today. So let me just read to you what God wrote. Romans 13, 3. For the rulers are not a tear to good works. Now we can look around and say, well, North Korea needs to read this. Russia needs to read this. China needs to read this. Our own government needs to read this. Here's what you have to remember about God's Word. It's the standard. So this is God's plan for government. It doesn't mean countries embrace it. And if you look at, for example, North Korea, you look at China, the history, the foundations are anti-God, from Buddhism to Hinduism. So they're building on a foundation that is not of God. So God says, here's my plan for government, and this is why the church stands up and fights for God in this area as far as being that voice. Rulers are not to be a tear to those who do good works, but they are to be a tear to those who do evil. Now, not just in action, but in morality. The government is supposed to be a tear to those who want to push ungodly legislation. So see, God in government is important, because it's that moral compass. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and right. Then verse 4, For he is God's minister, the government is God's minister to you for good. Okay, that's the whole role of government. And his tweets need to be nice, and he has to be perfect like Jesus Christ. Right, see, a person's character, although important, this is about principles and policies, although character is important. I don't downplay that. But God should judge the person on the character, he'll judge the nation on the policies. And so the role of the government, the role of the government, he said, he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, all the shenanigans going on out there, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword, the government does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister to avenge and execute wrath on those who practice evil. That's the role of government, is to be a terror to the terrorism. It's not the church's job. That's the function of government. Now they've gotten involved in all kinds of stuff, but at its conception, especially when you look at America, at the beginning the states had their own sovereign power. Right? The states, it's whatever the states, the Supreme Court, you look at Supreme Court rulings, in the 1700s, 1800s actually, they would say, well, we'll let the courts, the states decide, we'll let the states decide, and then the federal government was over them primarily for the protection of the United States of America. They knew the God-ordained role of government. So it just strikes me odd when people say, we need to stay out of politics. Oh, you mean stay out of government? One of God's institutions? Well, if you word it that way, well, that's what it is. That's what it is. You think God's word has anything to say about killing a nine-month-old child? Anything to say about socialism? Do you know what socialism is? My daughter, remember this? She did something for $20, and I gave her $5. I said, I gave your brother and sister $5 too. Isn't that nice? No, that's not nice. That's not fair. I worked for it. I don't care. That's socialism. Come on, we're all just in the same role here. But see, God's word honors. God wants to honor hard work. You don't work, you don't eat. Now, what about those people who can't work? Then you have systems in place to help those the right way. But to just say, let's just throw everything into kitty and see how it works, that's government control. That's when government becomes God. That's why socialism is terrible, because it's not grounded on a biblical framework. It's grounded on, and are you all going to work hard? Come on, think about it. You work hard, you're going to make your 100 grand, and now you get to give away 50,000 of it, or 60. Nobody's going to work that hard. Did you know that this system, you can read about it in William Bradford's book of Plymouth Plantation. This system almost killed off the pilgrims, because all the farmers would work, and they would throw all the corn into one area, and all the lazy people just kept drinking, making light lightning. I don't know if it was called. But they just taking the corn, getting fat, gluttony, and then all these heartless, like, what are you doing? This isn't fair. And then you start to create a society of people who are unmotivated, and it falls. There's nothing wrong. Now, there's problems with our type of capitalism, and it's called greed. It's called sin. So, the idea of man working and being rewarded is God's idea. Man working and being rewarded, and then hoarding that, and becoming envious, and climbing the corporate ladder of success, and doing all these little things in the back end, and now capitalism has a bad name. It's really, at its roots, is you work hard, and you will be rewarded. I believe that if a person works hard, and is diligent, God can reward that person. And then the person who's not working hard, who is lazy, and doesn't want to work, it's not equal playing field. God allows that person to feel some poverty of heart. Hopefully, so he'll turn to God. The whole idea of socialism is government is God. They will tell you what to do. Socialized medicine. Mandatory vaccines. All of it. The government is in control. And that's why they're going after America's government right now. That's the whole thing, that America is bad. America is bad. Everything I just explained. Why is it bad? Because they want to break it down in order to build it up the way they want to build it up. So we have to focus on marriage. Sexuality in particular. The right definition of marriage. Then we have to be involved in government. We have to care about government. And then finally, of course, all of us know the church is the conscience of the nation. The Bible says the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And I just went over a Barna survey. You know what a Barna is? A Barna survey in 2016. They interviewed pastors and different things. And it's actually worse than 2013. Did you know 9 out of 10 pastors said they won't touch controversial issues? 9 out of 10. Why is that? Well, he answered the why. Would you like to hear the whys? Because they are concerned about 5 things. Big attendance, big programs, big staff, big church, and big money. And if you talk about controversial things, you will hurt all those areas. And as a church, we have to always remember this. Always remember this. We protect what we measure. So if we're measuring success by big numbers, big church, big staff, big money, we'll protect that. And then I'll tailor my messages to not offend and protect that. But if we, as a church, protect God's Word, that's how we measure success. Are you growing in God's Word? Are we honoring God's Word? And you protect. You're protecting what you measure. But be encouraged. There's spiritual power in intercession. That's what we do on Wednesdays and Sundays. That's what you can do from your home. That's what we can do this morning. Spiritual power comes from intercession. Jesus said, my house shall what? Be called the house of prayer. I'm going to tell you a quick story, and then I'll be done. 1820 to 1830, there's something called the Revival of the Scottish Island of Lewes. I've told you about the island, if you've ever seen that YouTube clip, the Donald's Bible. That was actually an island 100 years later. These islands in Scotland, man, they're right for God's revival. But this is 100 years earlier, 1820. It said a revival on these islands broke out, especially in Lewes. And it began in this village in 1822 when a young girl who had been attending school, by the way, they started the schools back then, to teach kids to read the Bible. Even in Lewes here. And one of her lessons she read to her sick mother. The lesson was from the story of Jesus' crucifixion. Upon hearing this story, the mother began to weep, and the girl thought her mother's weeping was due to her sickness. So she ran in and got the neighbor. And after hearing this story, the neighbor was also overcome with conviction of sin and followed by weeping. When the girl's father came home from work and learned what had transpired, he asked for the story to be read to him, with the story having the same effect on him. That's revival, guys. When you start to hear tears and weeping and people being broken before God, that's revival. The young lady went throughout the whole village reading the story until a great number had turned to Jesus Christ. This is why we don't dumb down the Gospel. You preach it with the fire of the Spirit, like His word is in my heart like a burning fire. Have you heard of the woke council culture? Okay, well, the woke council culture needs to be woke to God and counsel sin. We need to get back to that again. Guys, this is my call to you. We need people of extraordinary prayer and brokenness and humility right now. This is how we rebuild the foundations. You intercede on behalf of the nation. God said, Ezekiel, I look for a man from among them who would stand in the gap. Who is going to come early? Who is going to stay up late and stand in the gap? God, I don't care if there's no one here but a few of us. You hear me, God Almighty. We call down heaven against the atrocities of this nation. And here's my concern. Elisha, you remember Elisha, that the man fell on him on the bones of Elisha? And this man came back to life? My concern is that Elisha had more of the Holy Spirit dead than many people in the church have of the Holy Spirit alive. The Holy Spirit of God needs to be revived again in the lives of many people. We sit here bored and cantankerous and bitter and we go home and just complain and do nothing for God. God is looking for those people to intercede again and call people back to Him. If you have no prayer life, you will wither and die. If the church has no power, they will become cold and mechanical. We are called to intercede, not hesitate, not ignore, not abandon. The dry, dead, lethargic condition of the church simply reflects an impotent prayer life. If my people, not Hollywood, if Hollywood would seek God. Boy, if we could just get our governor and our president, if we could just get a famous athlete, if I could just get the rock saved. Man, can you imagine if Dwayne Johnson would say, if we could just, if we, God says, if you, if my people who are called by my name means the true, genuine Christians bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, filled with the Spirit of God. If you turn to me with all of your heart and if you pray, if you seek my face, if you turn from your wicked ways and you pull down heaven, then I will hear and I will rebuild the foundations. I will heal your land. I will rebuild what was driven away. I don't know about you, but I'm not going down without a fight until they bury me six feet under. The enemy is going to be under constant spiritual attack. Closing statement from a pastor. On the islands of Scotland in the 1800s. Once this revival broke out, you know, he's recorded as saying, instead of me going to them, they now come to me from every corner crying, what shall we do to be saved? Can you imagine people calling the church, what must I do to be saved? Posting on Facebook, what must I do to be saved? That's revival. That's God saying enough is enough. Satan, would you step back and let the spirit of God, you have no more work in this place. This state is my state. This nation is my state. Satan, you've been dethroned. Your minions are coming to nothing and I'm going to let the spirit of God in so heavy that you'll hear prayer meetings down the street. You'll hear prayer meetings meeting and people saying, what must I do to be saved? What's wrong? Because the conviction of the Holy Spirit is being poured out upon a dry and thirsty land. When men and women are crying out to God like Nehemiah, why should I not be sad when the place of my father's tombs lies in waste like Daniel interceding on behalf of his people like Ezekiel going and laying before the Lord and Isaiah calling on the name of the God and Jeremiah saying, Lord just send me, I will go. And he says, even if I don't want to go, I have to go. Why? Because your word is in my heart like a burning fire. It's shut up in my bones and I'm weary of holding it back. Is not my word like a fire? Is not my word like a hammer that breaks to rock and pieces? Says almighty God, just proclaim my word and let the Holy Spirit be left to the results. Amen. Amen. Thank you Lord.