Shane Idleman addresses the destabilization of America, emphasizing the urgent need for the church to speak out on pressing issues rather than relying on secular media for guidance. He highlights the importance of repentance and returning to the foundational truths of the Gospel, warning against the dangers of the social gospel that prioritizes good works over individual salvation. Idleman calls for a revival of the fear of God in the nation, urging Christians to stabilize their lives and communities through accuracy, accountability, and the authority of God's Word. He stresses that true change in America can only come through the blood of Jesus and a collective return to faith and repentance.

I've got an important message that's been burning on my heart this week. I will tell you up front, it is not politically correct. You might even see me speaking to the camera sometimes and speaking directly to America. The title is the destabilization of America. The destabilization of America. What does that word destabilize mean? Well, check this out. It's the process of upsetting the stability of something. Does it sound like what's going on now? The process of upsetting the stability of something. And I read a survey on Facebook. The question was this, do most church leaders speak up about the real issues facing us today? And it was no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And that just confirmed a lot of what was going on my heart is because it needs to be yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. If we don't get the information from the pulpit, where do we get it from? CNN? MSNBC? Drudge Report? Fox News? No, it has to come from the pulpit discerning from and looking to God's Word. I want to get just a few things off my chest in the introduction here, just to let you know on a few things before I get into the meat of the sermon. But it's important that we don't look around us right now. We have to look up. Don't look around. Look up. Don't look around what's going on in the media, in the culture, in our community. It's good to be aware, but we ultimately need to look up. And I believe the next hammer that is going to fall is going to be financial. So I think as Christians, we need to be prepared in all different areas of life. Things are not getting better in case you haven't been watching much. Things are getting more out of control. And I have great hope in that in this sense, that God often breaks us down before he builds us up. You've been hearing me say for a few months that America is fearful. She's anxious, but she's not she's repentant. She's not broken. And we're getting there. By the grace of God, we are getting there. And I also want to talk about something that's been out there. I think it's important to talk about this. We are being too quick to accept ungodly things. And the church in the past always overcorrects too much. We overcorrect and we have to come back to the middle. And one of the things out there that's being pushed a lot is something called the social gospel. Has anyone heard that? Well, it started out fine. I think it was late 1800s or so, early 1900s is there was a push, a movement to get the church into society, feed the homeless and the racial issues and different things. And the church was to be the church, the feet of Jesus, the hands of Jesus. But then now has become something different, where it's actually focused on good works. We don't talk too much about the gospel. We talk about good works. And that's always dangerous. And it's damning. Because good works do not save you. We don't go out and make a difference in our community. And that's what saves me. So that's my concern is they're looking to social salvation and not individual salvation. And it's about it's really about restoring the culture, we got to restore all the cultural things and not restoring the gospel. So you'll see that there's a there's a debate out there. And, and sometimes, you know, people have that are genuine, they're sincere. So I see what they're saying. But we just have to be careful when they start to promote the social gospel, because we got to get out and make a difference in our community. We got to, we got to bring race, racial reconciliation, we got to do this. And yes, we do. But that's not the gospel. The gospel is I was dead in my sin and trespasses, and God delivered me and set me free. And I repented of my sin, and I embrace Christ on the cross. That's the gospel. And when we begin, so I'm still preaching mode from the first service, so excuse me. But when we start to, when we start to forget that, and it becomes about doing this and doing that, and, and it can actually become dangerous, because this is where liberal theology comes from. Did you know that liberal theology, we just need to do these things and reach out to others, which is good. Don't get me wrong, the church better be doing that, or you don't have the real gospel either. But they begin to do these things. And what they begin to do on the flip side of that is dumbed down theology. They don't look to the inerrancy of God's Word. They'll say we have to reach the homosexuality, homosexual community, but they won't call it sin. You see how that works? We have to, we have to have unity, but we don't want to look at the unity of Scripture. And it's, you're really seeing this now with these big, the big movement and the protests and riots and different things is, is this term is going to become used more and more, I believe. And I do want to say this, I need to get this off my chest. A lot of what you're seeing going on, yes, I agree with many of you, it is about the next election, correct? Whatever side you're on there, it's about the next election. But do we really think, do we really think that we can flood our homes with pornography, murder millions of children, satisfy the gods of alcohol, lust, and addiction, mock God's Word, declare a war on the family, excuse racism, promote self-centered politicians, and idolize celebrity pastors who tippy-toe around sin and expect the blessings of God in America? Well, I have, I want to serve notice on you today. No, we cannot. This is a reckoning. This is a judgment, can be the judgment of God, purifying the soul of a nation. And I'm like you, I want comfort. I want to get back to no masks. I want to just walk through the city without fear. I want that, but I don't know if it's coming anytime soon. And I don't know if it's a judgment of God. I don't know what's going on exactly, like most of you don't know. And be careful, those who think they do know. It's a spiritual battle. All hell's breaking loose. But we also have to recognize that our nation needs deep repentance, deep repentance. How can the slaughter of 60 million children go unnoticed? The blood of innocent children on our hands. I don't want to speak on that a lot. I'm not going there right now, but I just want to remind you that this is not just about our safety and our comfort and our convenience. This could be about a day of reckoning where God is wanting to get our hearts right before him. And again, I want to encourage you though, I actually have great peace during this time because I believe in the God of peace. I believe that God often breaks us down in order to build us up. I believe that we are children of God. I believe we are seeking him and he will answer. But often he, because I usually say, get me out of this trouble soon. God's word doesn't say, get me out of this trouble. It says, I will be with you through the storm. When you go through the water, it will not overtake you. I'm not walking on the bank. When you go through the water, it will not overtake you. When you walk through the fire, it will not scorch you. I don't even want to go by the fire. What do you mean when I walk through the fire? You've got to be kidding me. So it's with us in that. And I know, I know like many of you, I've been, I've shed many tears, especially in the mornings during worship and be encouraged. They are not tears of fear. They are tears about the grace and wisdom and the love of almighty God, pouring his spirit upon the people. I will tell you, worship has never been more sweet than it is now. Prayer has never been meant more to me than it does now. Calling down heaven and travailing and pressing into the kingdom of God. Did you used to know they used to call prayer labor? Labor. Travail. When Zion travails, sons and daughters are born. There's a travailing. Think of the labor and delivery room. Labor and delivery room. I remember that. I do not want to go back there again because it is not pretty. Get this out of me. I'm in pain. Stop this. Oh God, how is prayer any different? Praying for our nation, there's labor pains. Oh God, for our children and for our grandchildren, we want to call down heaven and Lord make a difference in this dark and decaying culture. There is labor. There is pain. Yes, this is going to hurt feelings today and that's okay. We need to hurt feelings from time to time. We need to step on toes. We're going to have a prayer meeting every day this week other than Monday, right here at 10 a.m. 10 to 12, Tuesday through Friday this week. It's the most, the most fascinating thing I've ever seen as a pastor. Well, I've seen a few things. The most fascinating thing, one of them, I should say top 10, let me make my top 10 list, is to understand that prayer is the most important thing we can be doing right now. I think we all agree on that, but it's the least attended event in all of the church. How can the most important thing be the least attended? I'll tell you, when you're hungry for God, it's not the least attended. Go to the persecuted church in China. They'll walk half a day to get to a prayer meeting. We won't drive five minutes. Shane, you're convicting me. Good, that's good. Sometimes we need that conviction. Who said pastors are supposed to walk on eggshells? And now looking to scripture, I read this before when you weren't here. I was preaching to a camera. I want to just read it while you were here, while you're here now. The book of Joel, God says, and the prophet Joel asked, well, let me set this up. Judah, Israel and Judah divide in southern northern kingdoms. They are experiencing massive financial prosperity and blessings of God. And guess what happened? They drift from God. They drift from God, and God brings in locusts to devour the land. Have you seen those pictures in Africa lately? Man, God doesn't mess around. They devour, and like now we might say, well, it's not as big deal now. It is back there in Africa, and it was here because that wiped out all of their livelihood. The vine, so there was no juice. The crop, so there was no food. No food for the people, no food for the cattle. The cattle were going lean. The people were in desperation. And God says, has anything like this happened in your day or even in the days of your fathers? Tell your children about it. Is that interesting? God says, tell your children and tell their children to tell their children of another generation. Why? Because God says, don't only just pass down my blessings, but pass down the warnings of God. Because see, here's what's happening. You give those rioters the fear of God, and they will stop in a heartbeat. There is no fear of God in our land anymore. The Bible talks about the fear of God being the beginning of wisdom and understanding. When you fear God, you don't fear man. When you fear God, there is morality and decency. We have lost the fear of God in our lands. And Jesus even said, I don't want to alarm too many people, but in the last days, in the last days, lawlessness will abound, and the love of many will grow cold. When you start to see murder being no big deal, Chicago, I think having its highest day in 60 years, taking life like it's no big deal. Lawlessness is abounding, meaning taking over. And so God says, because of the sins of the people, you've left me, you've forsaken your first love. What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust will eat. And what the swarming locust will leave, the crawling locust will eat. And what the crawling locust will leave, the consuming locust will eat. Basically, it will wipe out everything. And I believe that if it was just a chewing locust, the people would still be in their sin, not yet repentant. And I don't want to get too deep into this, because some people do, and they get in dangerous water, because you don't want to speak into Scripture, things that aren't in Scripture, that's actually called eisegesis, and not exegesis. And you know, some charismatic people, they pull stuff into Scripture. I'm like, where did you get that from? But it is interesting, that word chew, you can go look it up, get your Hebrew dictionary out. It talks about waste. So he says here, what the locust wasted, then I will bring in the swarming, the word swarm is overwhelmed, I will overwhelm the people, and then crawling, something that lingers, and then consuming something that takes. So you see, with almost the same thing to me, there's a waste, wasting is happening, and then an overwhelming of what, this overwhelming of what we're feeling, and then something lingers. Stay at home. Stay at home policy, right? There's a lingering, there's one hit after it, it's actually called psychological warfare, what's going on, by the way, is you beat people down to where they've had enough, and they will surrender their rights, they will surrender their freedoms, they will surrender, if I can just have that peace back. Have you felt that before? So there's waste, then there's an overwhelming sense that takes over, then there's a lingering, and then the final, the consuming locust, that we're consuming, means takes everything that is left, and that's the spot we're at, where we see that this could be a God-allowing, or God's judgment, I don't know, but there's a wasting, an overwhelming, a lingering, a taking. So if there is, if this is the destabilization of America, how do we stabilize it, Shane? Well, I'm glad you asked. It only took you 15 minutes. Stabilize, number one, we must stabilize America with accuracy. Accuracy. I've got three A's, accuracy, authority, and accountability. What do I mean by that? The right information. Amen? The right information. I'm alarmed at what some Christians are believing, and they're getting this, and this, and everything. The news is divided. Political parties are divided. Races are divided. It's, there's division everywhere. We need to get back to the stability and the accuracy of true information. I heard an acronym this week about the secular media. Media. M-E-D-I-A, most effective devil in America. And that is true. You need to know something. The major media organizations are owned by billionaires who are corrupt, that want to destroy America. Oh, Shane, come on, search it, research it. I didn't watch, I didn't see some little clip, and just, oh, let me, you research, it goes back deep. It goes back into corruption. And once you can control the news, control the media, control the narrative, bring in rioting, bring in looters, bring in all these different things and cause chaos, this is what we are seeing today. We're also dealing with something called the cancel culture. Anyone heard those terms? The cancel culture. If you do something against the politically correct police, they will shut you down. The largest church in Alabama right now is closed until further notice. Their pastor had the audacity to like a whole bunch of Facebook posts about our president. God forbid. If that's the case, then I'm in big trouble. Because see, they rented their building from the school district, separation of church and state, keep your mouth shut. See, at some point, churches might just have to throw the 501c3 in the trash and say, we are a corporation under God and God alone. And in case you're wondering, that hasn't stopped us ever one bit. But look at Drew Brees, did he just read, did he just apologize? Why? He said, we should stand when you have the national anthem. I think you're okay, you can have that opinion, right? No, you can't. Not in the politically correct culture, you can't. Nike poles are out front, all these places, you won't even be in the NFL anymore, unless you capitulate. What's that little cartoon for kids, pause. Off the air, Elmer Fudd, his guns no more. This is the, Lord, don't let me preach anger. But this is the result of what they call the snowflakes. This is the result of whining childish millennials who think they know it all. And they're so hurt by the truth. They're so offended by everything, and they go all the way to the other end. Like the new idea out there, right? You've all heard it. The new idea is actually the stupidest idea I think I've ever heard since I've been born, to get rid of the police. That is like, am I in the twilight zone? What is wrong? And it makes you think, if you want to get rid of the police, what are you up to? I remember, I didn't like the police in my twenties. Now granted, there's racism, there's racial divides in all areas of life. This isn't a black white thing. This isn't a skin problem, it's a sin problem. And that's how we're going to fix this. But you also have to understand why, because these people aren't just going to go, let's get rid of all police. They'll do that and get in their own authority. Do you know who else did that in 1935, six, seven, eight, 1930s? Adolf Hitler. Get rid of the police and bring in brown, I think it was brown jackets, brown coats, something like that, his own police force. And when they start talking, let's bring in our own police and see how it's all capitulating. It's all compromise. And so what, and if you look at the news too, you see this general, right? This five-star, four-star general, whatever. This general is against the president. This person's against the president. This person's writing a book. What is going on? You need to know something. Most of you have heard this term. I want to explain it briefly. I think it's so important to come from the pulpit. I have friends, as you know, on the president's advisory board, and we've got friends close to what's going on in Washington. There's something called the deep state, okay? This is not conspiracy theory. President Obama appointed many people as generals, as Department of Justice, as FBI, CIA. He appointed them. So many of these people are still in office there. It's called the deep state, and these people work against our current administration. So what you see in the news, how can a general be against our president? Listen, he was against our president on day one, when he was inaugurated. So you have deep state, you have corruption in the FBI, you have, you see what's coming out, subpoenas. Hillary is now going to have to answer for her emails. Their subpoena, they might even subpoena Barack Obama. There is, there is the all, God's not, God's not playing around. You see all these subpoenas coming out, all this corruption, perversions coming out. Jeffrey Epstein in New York decides to kill himself while the cameras are out, and the guards were sleeping. Wow, you need hashtag drink, stop drinking the Kool-Aid, okay? There is, there is an underpinning, there is an evil, they're at work, it's called the, that's what he meant from the get-go when he said, I will drain the swamp. That's what that means, there's a deep state. This isn't conspiracy theories, this isn't Shane getting weird, this is true. There are CIA, FBI, and all types of people in there that hate our current administration. Listen, when you're wanting to bring back the Bible into schools, when you have prayer meetings throughout Washington D.C., when you're putting godly people, actually acknowledge the name of Jesus Christ in all the higher offices, when you put Christians like Ben Carson in charge of HUD, urban housing development, when you, when you start to do this, you start to defund the world's largest abortion clinic who slaughter children, when you start to bring back prayer into schools, when you start to do all these things, I don't care about the man's character, I'm more concerned about the heart of the nation. Let, when you start to honor God in our legislation, honor God in our laws, that's when there's a spiritual upheaval. Give the churches back their voice, get rid of the Johnson Amendment, let the Bible be profound again. The president actually tweets, watch this pastor, listen to this sermon. Can you imagine? The enemy hates that. Well, don't, that's why there's a spiritual upheaval. I love the emails I get once a month, I might as well just tell you. I really loved your sermon until you got to the part about supporting the president. Well, go home and cry about it, turn us off, unsubscribe, I don't care anymore. We're not politically correct. Listen, if he, if I could, if I could edit his tweets, if I could talk to him, trust me, we'd have some conversations, you got it, but I'm more, I'm, the question all of you should be asking is what kind of nation are we leaving our children? What kind of nation, what kind of nation has a political party that thinks it's okay to kill a nine month old child? Folks, that is murder, that is a stench in the nostrils of a righteous, I don't care if I have no claps, I have no claps, I am well aware that these kind of sermons could get me killed someday or thrown in prison. I understand, but these days you better be filled mightily with the spirit of the living God. You will not, let me be prophetic right now, you will not survive these dire times if Christ is not your entire foundation. If you're not filled with the spirit of God, if you're not, if you're not looking to God's truth, God's word, if you're not looking to that, you will fall. Isn't it interesting if even the elect could be led astray? Jesus, even if it were possible, it's not, it's not possible, but if it were possible, even the elect would be led astray by the debauchery, by the filth, by the confusion. I mean, it's so confusing. One news story says, former president Bush's camp says that he's not supporting Trump. I'm like, whoa. So I text a few people. No, no, no. Here's this story. His camp says he is support. That was fake news. Okay. Now there's bombers over Alaska. And now there's, now there's this North Korea. And now it's like, we are inundated. And if you're not careful, you will be driven by fear, not by God's spirit. Christians need to be a less media influence and more Holy spirit driven. Well, hold on. I'm not, I'm not done on this topic. We need accuracy. Rasmussen, you can look at this as I think it was about a week and a half ago. Rasmussen poll said 40%. You're not going to hear this on the news. 40% approval rate of blacks among blacks for our president. According to the media, you think it's 4%. See, there's a skewing that do that. My blood boils. There's a lying and they're deceiving and there's an agenda and there's a false narrative. And we have to call them out. There's another news story. CNN sticks to the liberal script, ignores, ignores all the black police officers killed in riots. Did you know that if this upsets you, maybe it should. If you're, if you're not liking what I'm saying, it's probably because you need to hear what I'm saying. That's not journalism. That's lying and that's deception. And they should not even be journalists. When you start to skew things and remove things and have an agenda, that's called lying. And God is not pleased. Whatever man sows, he will reap. The spiritual condition of our nation is at stake. And Joe Biden, God bless his heart. He had the audacity to say that, and I quote here, racism is a white man's problem. No, no, no. Racism is a sin problem. It's a sin problem. See how they do that? See how they do that? They want to, they want to initiate fear. You know what happened with George Floyd? And I'm not going to say a lot on that because it was, it was a travesty. But if the news would just said a bad person killed an innocent person, you would not have the racism issue. But see, because they make it certain things, they make it about skin color. They make it about the racial war. That's what is fueling it. However, on that note, I want to just say here a few things. What black people wish white people knew and vice versa. Black people wish that we knew, and me and Pastor Abram have talked about this extensively. And those of you might be black and we have a great friendship and we talk about these things and are united in this, but we need to understand that racism runs deep in our country. It was, it was not a good thing. It's unless you're black, you don't know how it was or is to be living here because of what has been, what has happened in the past. Many of you know, Tony Evans, who we have on our radio network. He actually was not allowed to go on the radio in the 1980s because of his skin color. Henry Hearns, who I know here locally, many stories he would tell. There's a racism there. There is, from our nation's history, that is not good. And it has to be identified. It has to be correct. It has to be repented of and apologized for when warranted. Okay. And it is real. And if you're not black, you can't relate. And we need to stop saying, oh, I know how you feel. No, we don't know. We have to realize that. But what whites, which blacks knew is that for years, revisionists have been rewriting history. Did you know that not all founding fathers were slavery owners or believed in slavery? Did you know that people fought for the abolition of slavery? White people? Founding fathers abhorred the practice of slavery. William Wilberforce spent 30 years getting it eradicated. And I mean, I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but I'm going to. The Democratic Party was the party for slavery. Okay, do your homework. I don't care what side I'm on. We are a place of truth and facts. The Republican Party, I believe, started in a schoolhouse. I'm not getting political. I'm just telling you the truth. They started a schoolhouse for the purpose of removing slavery. Now, look, see, but they won't tell you that. They won't tell you that. And we are starting to feel the dynamic, too. That's why I'm saying we need to be united in a united cause. It's not about black and white issues. It's about Christians uniting for the cause of Christ. And we don't see skin color. We see our hearts. As a final point of application here, I want to encourage everyone listening. Don't take my word for it, but please just read the mission statement of Black Lives Matter. Just read what they teach. Read what they believe. The abridged version. The promotion of transgenderism among the youth. And homosexuality. And a disdain for the father in the home. Dismantling. Dismantling of the family unit. Pro-abortion. They just raised 40 million dollars in 48 hours and no one seems to know where that money went. I'll tell you where. It's a fundraising arm of the Democratic Party. This is all just facts. And if you don't like it, then you're being convicted of the truth. See, I love the title. All Lives Matter. Black Lives Definitely Matter. Let's get on the same page. Let's unite. But I cannot be part of an organization that is for the slaughtering of children and goes against God's word. And just, you can find on YouTube, it's amazing what just, it's amazing what is happening during all this. Joel Osteen comes out, marches with ATIFA and Black Lives Matter, and he says, you know what, this got me so upset. I'm finally getting a little political. Well, Joel, where were you when 60 million children were slaughtered since the 1970s? Where were you when they were trying to redefine marriage? Where were you? The cry goes out to all pastors. Where are you? You're not trying to be political. You're trying to appease your audience. Wake up, America. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid. We need pastors who are faithful to the word of God, not passive. I love what I saw on Facebook. I know I'm going to mess it up, but it said something like this. We need faithful pastors, not careful pastors. It's the careful pastors who write biographies of the faithful pastors decades later who stood and did something for our nation. We have to be faithful. And please, this doesn't, I'm not angry at all. I'm not angry at all. You know what, Pastor Abram, after the first service, he said, don't hold back a thing. America needs to hear that. And that's from a black preacher. See, we know we've got to hear the truth. How do you overcome evil? With the truth, spoken in love. I'm befriending people on Facebook left and right. Listen, I'm no longer tippy-toeing and walking on eggshells because you might get offended that we support the president. Grow up. In the 1940s, your age went to war in World War II. Think about that. I just did a memorial service for a World War II veteran who was enlisted by his mom at the age of 17. You get someone now at 17, 18, you have to go cry and hide because the wrong person is elected in office. Parents, you need to take the responsibility. You have raised the snowflakes. You have raised the millennial generation. This sermon is getting me in trouble. So what, yeah, it's easy for you to say. The application here is what does God wish we all knew? That all people are created in God's image. Did you know there's racism within the Hispanic community and Asian community and black community and white community? Why? Because this group hates this group. This group hates this group. This group hates this group. Even white people hate white people. Right, because it's a sin issue. Just the way you look, people don't like you. I mean, look how I look. People say, Shane, they're going to think you're Peckerwood or white supremacist. I mean, look at how you look. And those people don't even like me. See, those people don't even like me because I preach the truth. I call them out too. I call out sinful, arrogant hearts. Hope that's a good word. I don't know. But that's what they say in jail. So anyway, when I go to visit people in correctional facilities, and it's an interesting environment there. And we actually have a lot of about 150 prisoners listening to these messages in correctional facility in California City and different places through our radio network. So we love that group of people. We pray for them. But my whole point was we are created in God's image. Racism comes from a sin of the heart. It's not white versus black. It's good versus evil. That's what you're seeing. So watch out when they make this about skin color. Because this is not about that. It's about people created in the image of God. So the stability, we have to stabilize with accuracy, with right information. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this next point. But I just want to say this. We need to stabilize with accountability. What is accountability? We need to hold people to it. And see, that's what sometimes we do. We get too, I don't want to offend anybody. Just quiet, Shane. Just quiet. And nobody's held accountable. So you have all these politicians can do whatever they want, say whatever they want. All these groups can say whatever they want. And no one is held accountable at all. And it's sad. I'll give you just an example. Many of you know of the man, the poor man who they found hung in Palmdale. I'm talking with the mayor and black pastors who want to get together. He hung himself in Palmdale recently. And they want to, you know, obviously investigate his murder. It's a potential suicide. They're not sure. But someone posted and said, there's a protest in support, you know, because he was murdered. And I called the person. I'm saying, you can't just, you don't, don't jump there. That's part of the problem. That's part of the problem. We don't know. We can't fuel these things. And see, there's no accountability. People can just do whatever they want. Isn't it amazing? If Twitter got ahold of what I'm saying, or YouTube, they're just, this sermon's toast. But they can plant child porn on the internet. They can allow these things. They can say, gun godly groups to do whatever they want, say whatever they want. Why? Because when it comes to truth, when it comes to talking about Jesus Christ and the truth of God's word, they don't want to hear it. They don't want you, they want you to bow your knee to them. But who do we, you know, I'm going to bow my knee like I did the first service. I'm bowing my knee to Jesus Christ. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. I serve notice, right? I will not bow my knee to a godly organization, to an ungodly movement. We bow our knee to Jesus Christ, Lord of Lord and King of Kings. He is on the throne. God, we bow to you. We look to you and you alone. We will not bow to this culture. We will not bow to bell. Yes, it may cost imprisonment. Yes, it may cost the lives, but the church was built on the blood of the martyrs, not on the cowardliness of pastors. There's a boldness. You got to stop reading Joel Steen's book, Your Best Life Now, because you better read Fox's book of martyrs to get prepared. My Lord, help me. My Lord, help me. That way people won't think I'm using God's name in vain. I get those emails too. Stabilize with accountability. Here's why this is so important. Once the light of freedom goes out, it vanishes forever. Have you ever known where you give up things, you get them back in government? No. It was actually what fueled 1776 Boston Tea Party and things like that, is freedoms were vanishing. So the application on that is to return to the accountability of God's truth. Fear God. Isn't it clear that these writers are not fearing God? We've lost the fear of God in our culture. We've lost the fear of God in the churches. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. The fear of God. See, that's why I'm praying for revival. Because when revival truly comes into a community or in a church, the fear of God permeates the atmosphere. It's not about finding games. It's about having your face on the floor before God saying, oh, and God, am I right before you? Give me clean hands and a pure heart. Let me not lift my soul to an idol. If I've sworn deceitfully, Lord, who may ascend into the hill of your mountain, Lord, but he has clean hands and a pure heart. God, we fear you. We look to you. We reverence you. And then finally, we stabilize with the authority of truth. We stabilize with the authority of God's word. Back to Joel, God said, awake, awake. He's telling you, I'm motivated to go around and do that too. Get up, wake. Are you awake? The church is sleeping. She's dead in the house of the living God. But in Joel, he says, awake. Awake, you drunkards, and weep. Now, how would that apply today? Of course, alcohol, drugs, anything, but awake. Awake, you that are dead spiritually. You're being led by the wrong spirit. You're full of the spirit of this world. Awake and weep. See, those have to go together. You have to wake and you have to weep and wail, all you drinkers of wine. So God says, for a nation has come against my land. He's talking about the locusts. A nation, a group, these locusts have come against my land. They are strong and without number. Their teeth are the teeth of a lion and their fangs are fierce as a lion. He has laid my land to waste and he has stripped bare everything. And then it says, surely, surely joy has withered away from the sons of men. Do you feel like that now or is it just me? Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men. That's why I've got to get to prayer meetings. That's why I got to get to worship times, because that joy comes back when I refocused on Christ and Christ alone. So God says, do this. Gird yourself up, meaning prepare yourself like a man. Men, maybe a message to you. Lead your families. Get back in fearing God and leading them in the right direction. And lament well, well who minister before the altar. Come lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God. In a nutshell, how bad do you want it? Coming to church on Sunday is great, but that's not turning America around. God has to have you Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday. He's an all-consuming passion. And as you seek him and as you consecrate a fast and as you, what he says here, lament and cry out to God, God will begin to hear. He said, call a fast. Call a sacred assembly. Gather all the elders. Gather all the elders and the inhabitants into the land, into my house, and praise my name. Gather everyone into the church. He's saying, oh wait, parentheses, unless there's a virus. I don't, those translators got that one. But people say that. I'll run into them. Shane, man, it's so much easier sitting in my PJs and watching on my laptop. Or people say, you know, Shane, COVID's out there. I know, but so is the lion. So is the lion roaring who seeks to devour. See, God says, come back church. And churches are not going to be the same. Most, many people are not coming back from all churches. Like they're shrinking because of all this. But sometimes God gets a remnant of people. Get rid of those who don't want me. Get rid of the half-hearted approaches. Get rid of the carnal Christians. Get rid of the Pharisees and let my remnant worship me and watch God move. And he says, blow the trumpet in Zion. Sound the holy alarm. Cry out to the Lord. Basically saying, can you hear me now? Remember that Verizon commercial? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Your comfort is being robbed. Your convenience is being robbed. Finances are shaky. The housing market, who knows? Financial collapse, uncertainty, fear. Can you hear me now? Then God says, turn to me with all your heart, with all your strength, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. Then he says, wrench your hearts and not your garments. What does that mean? Rip open your hearts. I'm concerned in the church, not for the blatant sin, but for the sin we can't see. It's called spiritual pride. Did you know that spiritual pride is deadly? In the Christian, spiritual pride. The Christian sits in the seat of judgment and not the seat of brokenness. They come critiquing, not wanting to be encouraged. Their spiritual pride is deadly. So basically God says, can you hear me now? Turn to me with all your heart. So now we know what causes destabilization. Let me for just a brief, I'm going to close here shortly. Let me introduce you to the stabilizer. God. He says this, oh, fear not, O land. Be glad and rejoice for the Lord has done marvelous things. I will remove that army from you. I will drive them away into a desert of desolation. Their stench has come up to my nostrils. His foul odor will rise because he has done monstrous things. So you see the people now doing monstrous things, haunting things, gruesome things. Thank you, guys. Grotesque things. You see all this, but God says, fear not, fear not. Like he told Elijah, I have 7,000 people who have not bowed to Bell nor kissed his image. Remember that story? Elijah goes running. This is amazing. He calls down fire on Mount Carmel and the prophets of Bell were executed and God's word went forth and God answered by fire. Let the God who answers by fire, let him be fire. Let him be God. And then he ran for his life. He says, it's only me. It's only me. And God says, I have 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Bell, nor have they kissed his image. That's what they used to do. They had their little statues. We see that today still sometimes. He goes, I have a remnant. I have a remnant. And so what you need to do, my application on this is, there's the only way to get through this is to saturate your mind in prayer and worship and God's word. What happens? Many of you know that some people don't. Your mind, your mind can actually be manipulated. Your mind can be conformed. You can actually shape your mind to the things of this world. That's why some of you have Christian kids or family members like, how can they believe that? That's so against God. Conform. Be not conformed to this world. None of those people are in scripture. I guarantee it. I mean broken, humble, repenting, reading the scripture. You have to saturate your mind in the word of God. So I'm just going to tell you what I did this week. I wrote down some scriptures and I just pour over them. It begins to strengthen me. And I don't have references, but let me just share some of this with you. Like Jeremiah, his word has been in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones. And God says, I have not sent some of these prophets yet they ran, but I have not spoken to them yet they spoke. But had they truly stood in my counsel, had they truly preach the authoritative inerrant word of God, you would have saw the nation turned back to me. God says, ask for the old paths and you will find rest for your soul. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding and all your ways, exalt him. And he will, he will guide your path. The integrity of the upright will guide them. Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. When those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up wings like Eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him. When you pass through the waters, you will not be overcome. When you walk through the fire, they will not scorch you, not by might, nor by power, but by spirit, saith the Lord. But the people who know their God will do great exploits for the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those hearts who are loyal to him. One thing of I desired, I love what David said, one thing of I desired. Can we say this? One thing. I don't want the house. I don't want the 401k. I don't want, I just want one thing. One thing of I desire. What is that, David? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. What can man do to me? And we strengthen ourself in the Lord. And I like what Joel closes with in Joel 3.16, not John, Joel. It's the item in paraphrase. If you think COVID and writing is bad, wait till you see the final judgment of God. The buzz of the rioters will be muted by the Lord roaring from Zion. See, as much as we preach, God is merciful and God is graceful. Be clear. There is a judgment. There is a judgment. Actually, it's often referred to in the Bible as God as a judge. The judgment of God, the righteous standard of God, the judgment is coming. There is a judgment coming. And we need to tell people that in love. And if it convicts them, good. We got to get back to that conviction, go home and make you think about it type of sermon. Won't be to the sermon that comforts in sin. You know, that's how we got in this position. We comfort people in their sin. They come in engulfed in sin and they leave encouraged in their sin. Do you ever, you saw that movie? God is not dead. Where it comes from is actually, uh, Nietzsche. I believe that's how it pronounces his name. He's an atheist. He actually said God is dead. God is dead. I think it was the 1800s. Don't quote me on it, but God is dead. So the movie comes out. God is not dead to kind of offset that, but I'm not promoting the movie. It's interesting. He was so adamant. God is dead. There is no God there. There's, this is just our human intellect. It's what we can see. God is dead, but then they forget to read what else he said. And I quote, but who will remove the blood from our hands? God is dead, but who will remove the blood from our hands? So you can't run conviction. You can't run from conviction. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is no doubt weighing on some people right now, listening online, listening even later. The Holy Spirit is convicting and drawing you to himself. Who will remove the blood from our hands? Well, that's a wonderful question because we know what can wash away my sin. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. There is no other hope. There is no other answer. Protests are not going to fix it. More police departments are, nothing is going to fix America's problem, except the blood of Jesus Christ. When we begin to repent and call on the only name that saves, that's how you change your heart. You change the heart of the nation.