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Turning the Tide - Part 3
Charles Stanley

Charles Frazier Stanley (1932–2023). Born on September 25, 1932, in Dry Fork, Virginia, Charles Stanley was an American Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and author who led First Baptist Church of Atlanta for over 50 years. Raised by his widowed mother, Rebecca, after his father’s death at nine months, he felt called to preach at 14 and joined a Baptist church at 16. Stanley earned a BA from the University of Richmond (1956), a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1958), and a ThM and ThD from Luther Rice Seminary. Ordained in 1956, he pastored churches in Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina before joining First Baptist Atlanta in 1969, becoming senior pastor in 1971. In 1977, he founded In Touch Ministries, broadcasting his sermons globally via radio, TV, and online, reaching millions. A pioneer in Christian media, he authored over 60 books, including The Source of My Strength (1994), How to Listen to God (1985), and Success God’s Way (2000), emphasizing practical faith. President of the Southern Baptist Convention (1984–1986), he faced personal challenges, including a 2000 divorce from Anna Johnson after 44 years; they had two children, Andy and Becky. Stanley died on April 18, 2023, in Atlanta, saying, “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”
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Sermon Summary
This sermon emphasizes the importance of upholding the biblical view of marriage as between a husband and a wife, highlighting the consequences of straying from God's design. It also addresses the correlation between societal wickedness and disasters, urging believers to humble themselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from wickedness to bring about healing and restoration. The call to prayer for the nation is extended, emphasizing the need for righteousness and obedience to accompany fervent intercession for lasting change.
Sermon Transcription
And then, of course, one other thing at this point, as far as this time is concerned, is we've decided to remove God's word concerning marriage. The very foundation of a nation is its homes. And a home is not two men married together or two women married together. It is a husband and a wife. The Bible is crystal clear. So you see, if you want to have a society that is rampant with wickedness, you have to get rid of the word of God. And so we've decided, or trying to decide, some people are, that we do not want the biblical view of marriage. And then, of course, if you think about all the disasters we've had, and according to the statistics, 400% increase in disasters in the last 20 years in our country, 5% each year since 1960. And these big disasters cost us 5% of our economy. Think about what Katrina cost. And think about what the oil disaster is costing us. Remember this, that socialistic nations allow catastrophes, or sometimes create them, in order to gain control and then tax you to fix it. It's very clear. Am I saying that's what's happening? No, but I'm just saying that's the way socialism operates. And so somebody says, well, now, God doesn't have anything to do with these disasters. Well, let's see if that's true. Listen to this verse. If I shut up the heavens, that's God speaking, so that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, it's very clear God does send punishment upon the nations for some reason. Then He says, if I do that, this is the way you turn the tide. And what is that? He says, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wickedness, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. You say, well, then what do you say? I'm saying the tide that is in, that is thickening and moving fast, the only thing that's going to turn it around is for the people of God to do what? Humble ourselves before Him, which means what? It simply means that you and I are willing to acknowledge our total dependence upon Him, that we are unworthy of His forgiveness, but we cry out for it. When He says that we are to seek His face, it means that we are to intently come to Him, asking for Him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and acknowledging the fact that He and He alone can do it. When the Bible speaks about turning from our wicked ways, it means repenting of our sin. And the Bible says judgment begins at the house of God. We're not expecting lost people to do all of this, because this is the work of the people of God. It is our responsibility. A lot of where we are is because of our apathy. We haven't prayed for these men who are making decisions as we are. We've taken what we have for granted. He says we are to humble ourselves, seek His face, turn from our wicked ways, and pray, cry out to God. To do what? To change us and to change our nation. Do you believe God answers prayer? Yes. Let me ask you a question. Do you want this nation to keep going where it's going, or do you want us to get back on track? Well, then here's the question, and I'm issuing this charge to this congregation, but I want all of you who are watching and listening to listen carefully. I want to challenge you to join me in praying for this nation, specifically, however God leads you to do it, for a brief period of time, every single day for 140 days, 20 weeks, praying for God to change the direction of His tide, open the eyes of the people in this nation, open the eyes of the church to recognize our responsibility, and open our own eyes to realize how God has answered your prayers many times in the past, how God has answered prayers corporately and for a whole nation at its very beginning, and still is answering prayer today to people who genuinely believe that Almighty God still hears and answers prayer. I'm asking you to join me. Now, listen carefully. If you are willing to say today, I will join you, Pastor, in praying for this nation every single day for 140 days, 20 weeks, and let's see what God will do for America. Please do not stand if you don't mean it, but if you do, I would ask you to stand. Now, for all of you who are watching and listening, if you will join us in this prayer for 20 weeks, 140 days, would you let us know that? That will encourage all of us. And just in touch at .org, O-R-G, and all you have to put is yes. Just say yes. I believe there are enough people who are willing to pray and pray diligently that God can turn the tide in this nation. But listen now, those prayers have to be backed up with righteousness. That is a godly life, walking in obedience to God. And you've said you're willing to pray if you want those prayers to be effective, life-changing, nation-altering. He will do it if we will trust Him and pray and remember that it is not only for us, but it is for our children, our grandchildren, and the generations to come. There has never been a nation like these United States, the very foundation of this republic. Never been a nation like this. It was a new experiment when it started. We do not want it to fail or to fall or to be destroyed. And Father, You have seen all of us standing. You see in the homes all across this nation where people are standing or making a decision or will send a message, yes, I will pray with you. I pray that thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people will take this message to heart and commit themselves to pray for this nation. We thank You, Father, for Your grace and love and mercy toward us. And we pray the Holy Spirit will remind each of us every single day that we stood in the house of God or we stood in their homes and we said yes to You, Father. We love our nation and we are praying that You will change the tide. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
Turning the Tide - Part 3
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Charles Frazier Stanley (1932–2023). Born on September 25, 1932, in Dry Fork, Virginia, Charles Stanley was an American Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and author who led First Baptist Church of Atlanta for over 50 years. Raised by his widowed mother, Rebecca, after his father’s death at nine months, he felt called to preach at 14 and joined a Baptist church at 16. Stanley earned a BA from the University of Richmond (1956), a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1958), and a ThM and ThD from Luther Rice Seminary. Ordained in 1956, he pastored churches in Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina before joining First Baptist Atlanta in 1969, becoming senior pastor in 1971. In 1977, he founded In Touch Ministries, broadcasting his sermons globally via radio, TV, and online, reaching millions. A pioneer in Christian media, he authored over 60 books, including The Source of My Strength (1994), How to Listen to God (1985), and Success God’s Way (2000), emphasizing practical faith. President of the Southern Baptist Convention (1984–1986), he faced personal challenges, including a 2000 divorce from Anna Johnson after 44 years; they had two children, Andy and Becky. Stanley died on April 18, 2023, in Atlanta, saying, “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”