In this sermon, the speaker addresses the troubling state of our homes, churches, and nation. He expresses his personal concern and desire for God to speak to his heart on how to address these issues. The speaker highlights the decline of churches in many parts of the country and the high divorce rate in marriages. He also mentions a message he preached at a Baptist conference, emphasizing the need for believers to engage in spiritual warfare and live up to the light they have received.

It's to be able to come to you again, bringing you a message out of my heart. I pray that will be a great blessing to you. I trust that you and your family are doing well. We're moving through this year so hurriedly. This September brings up another birthday for me. And, I mean, it seems that these birthdays are coming faster than I can handle them. So I trust that years aren't passing as fast as mine. The Lord is being real good. This has been a beautiful year thus far. But a lot of warfare. A lot of real hindrance to the ministry. Hindrances on every side. But yet God is mightily, mightily blessed through it all. And I trust that we'll come to a greater understanding of the wiles of Satan. His devices. And we'll be able to respond to the Lord. And move on through in the spiritual warfare that we are like we're supposed to. And see the victory. You know, this is an election year. And I believe this is a very important year in the history of our nation. I believe our nation is facing some issues within the next three or four years. That will be inexcusable if we do not make the right decisions. I think God has really let us know in this nation that he is extremely displeased with the nation as a whole. While on the other hand, there is a great number of people in this nation. I believe millions of people that are turning to Jesus Christ. Very legitimately turning to Jesus Christ. And it's such a beautiful, beautiful experience to go across this nation and see these beautiful people turning to Jesus Christ. In a very sound, solid, biblical way. Now, I'm not saying that we're seeing a mighty revival. Gallup Pobe and that organization believe that we are beginning to experience a spiritual revival in this nation. They believe it to the degree that they have set up an office up in the east to just keep record on the Christian activity of the nation. Well, nevertheless, the Lord is doing something. And I'm glad. But on the other hand, God is displeased with this nation as a whole. And I trust that you will pray earnestly that God will have his mighty, mighty way. In the coming election, in the coming decisions after the elections about the economy, and about the foreign policy, and so on and so forth. I know that you will. Well, in this message, I deal something about the warfare. It's just a call to the saints. It's a message that I preached in a Bible conference with Dudley Hall and T.D. Hall. As you listen to this message, you possibly will think that I'm in a Pentecostal church instead of a Baptist church. But I was in a Baptist church, a Southern Baptist church. In fact, there was about four Southern Baptist churches sponsoring this conference. And we were just having a great time. And there was a great deal of liberty to preach and teach. And God was mightily blessing. And I had a great deal of liberty. And I felt that I just needed to share this message with you. So, I am sharing this message with you. Then, I'd like to mention to you the Swiss trip. For several years now, we've been going to Switzerland. Many years ago, the Lord gave me a vision of a conference in Switzerland that would minister to the Americans in Europe. And I prayed about that and prayed about it. Sought the Lord. Just kept looking to Him. And last year, we saw a living demonstration of my vision. And if I quit today, my vision would be partially fulfilled. But we're going back this year. It's more than just a trip to Europe to see Europe. It's a real mission tour. It's an opportunity to minister to a real, real needy, hungry, desperate people in Europe. And so, I'm really counting on people from America going. I know that it costs a great deal to go. And with the inflation problem we're having in this country and in Europe, the price is extremely high. But it may be that God will let you go and have a real part in ministering to the people in Europe. So, I trust that you will look into this. We're going to leave here in February of 1981. And we will be gone for about a week and a half. We'll be staying in Switzerland with a five-day Bible conference. And I think it will be a conference that will bless you and move in your life. Now, not only do we have the Swiss trip, but I want you to pray especially for Marthy. Marthy has been invited by the Perry Ellis' to come to Brazil, or to go to Brazil. And spend an entire month down there. And she's taking with her a couple of other ladies. But they're going to Brazil and have a great time speaking, teaching, and singing. It's going to be a marvelous experience. And I think it will be something worthy of your prayers. The Lord has raised up the money for her to go. And I'm excited about that. And so, I just pray that you will pray that the Lord will have His way as Marthy goes to Brazil. She's looking forward to it so much. And I think it will be a great blessing. Well, again, I trust that this tape will be a unique blessing to you this month. For His purpose and His glory in your own personal life. Showing that our churches are in real, real trouble. In many parts of the country, the church is going down. And while in some parts of the country, some churches are doing real well. Growing real well. Doing real well in other parts. Just the church across the board is just going down, down, down. And our churches are in trouble. And not only is our churches in trouble, but our homes are in trouble. About one out of every two marriages now ending up in divorce. And, I mean, that's a real tragic problem. You just can't believe it. That's such an awful problem. And not only is our home in trouble with the marriage situation, our home is in trouble because the children are ending up in trouble on every hand. And those are the three basic areas that we have our life and involvement involved in. It's our home, our church, and our nation. And all three of these areas where we are giving our life, we have trouble. And I mean it's really something. And the fact is, in my own heart, I have been asking for about the last two years the Lord to speak to my heart. Wanting the Lord to speak to my heart as to what to do about our nation, about our churches, and about our homes. And I have come up with sermons here and there that relate to the nation, relate to the churches, relate to the homes. And I haven't heard from God in a specific sense. But in a general sense, I have come to this conviction. And this conviction is consistent with the word of God. And this conviction is in line with our need as to how can we solve the problems in our nation. How can we solve the problems in our churches? How can we solve the problems in our homes? And I want to just address the issue tonight in a way that I believe will be real practical to each one of us. But it will also give us some light that you possibly have already had. But it will just fortify what you know if you've already had this light. And I trust to do more than fortify it. I trust it will stir you up to do something about it. Because in this hour, one of the tragic problems is that we are not living up to the light that we have. And I realize that the reason we're not living up to the light that we have is manifold. But specifically in one area, most of us see such momentous problems in the nation and in the home, or in the church and in the home, that we just cannot have the faith to believe that God will do anything about it. I find that's my own personal problem. You know, I know that Jesus is the answer to the problems in this nation. I know that Jesus is the answer to the problems in the churches. I know that Jesus is the answer to the problems in the home. And you know that. You know theoretically that's the case. But I see such big problems in the nation and in the churches and in the home that I just can't believe Jesus can do anything about it. And as a result of that, I'm living in a permissiveness that's allowing the devil to just run wild and continue to mount up his battle against God. And I mean bring the church to more humiliation, bring the home into more destruction, and bring the nation down to more chaos. Now, what I want you to see tonight is that Jesus Christ is the answer. You and I can do something about the condition of the nation. That's right. We can just do something about the condition of the nation. And you and I can do something tonight about the condition of the churches. And you and I can do something tonight about the condition of the home. And I realize that you say, well on a personal level I can do something in relationship to my home and how I live. But beloved, I believe that our responsibility and our opportunity goes beyond your home tonight. Goes beyond your church tonight and goes beyond your county or state. It goes to the nation. And I believe what we can do is very plainly laid out in the word of God. And I'm not going to deal with all of the areas specifically because all I have to do is mention one and you will know it. But beloved, the way to exalt a nation is to get righteous. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Now if righteousness will exalt a nation, righteousness will also exalt a church. The principle is identically the same. It will also exalt a home. And a child of God can get as righteous as they know how to get. And I believe first and foremost tonight that the greatest thing you and I can do for this nation, for a church, for our home is get as holy as God Almighty can make us. Now God said that righteousness exalts the nation, not Brother Man. God said it. And you may laugh about it. And you may push it aside and just as if to say, well, I can't do anything. But God says that righteousness exalts a nation. And somehow, someway, when righteousness is present in the life of a believer, they are expressing God's intended purpose that's so beautifully illustrated in the testimony where he says, we are the salt of the earth. And as long as the salt has not lost its savor, brother, it does the job of cleansing and preserving and seasoning. But when the salt has lost its savor, because of the fact that it has become deteriorated by its environments, it's no longer fit for anything but to be trampled underfoot. Now what an illustration. When a person is righteous before God, it seems to me that he's saying you're like the salt of the earth that has not lost its savor. And you stand as a means of preserving, flavoring, cleansing a nation, a church, our home. But when you get out and mingle with the affairs of this world, become contaminated in the thousand different ways you can become contaminated, then you lose that savor and you're not fit for anything but to be cast out and trampled underfoot. So what I'm saying to you tonight is this. There is something you and I can do to our nation tonight. There's something you and I can do not only for our local church, but all of our churches. There's something we can do for our home. And that is to get as righteous as we can possibly get. As righteous as the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God can make us. Through confessing of our sins and making restitution where it's necessary. Beloved, we do that and God will handle the result. Just become righteous. Now, that's not all. In becoming righteous, in becoming righteous children of God, walking with God, there are other responsibilities. And these responsibilities would take in your civil responsibilities like voting and all of this sort of thing. I think that's involved in Christian responsibility. But I'll tell you what. You can go through all your Christian responsibilities, voting and supporting the government and all of that. But beloved, if you're not righteous, all of that's in vain. But when you are righteous, you're responsible to carry out your responsibilities. And I believe we can do something tonight for our nation. I think we can do something tonight for our churches. I think we can do something tonight for our homes. And that is get as righteous as the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God can make us through confession and restitution. And I believe when we do that, then we take on the significant responsibility and opportunity of a priest, king and soldier relationship. Now, when a child of God gets developed to where they are righteous children of God walking in the Spirit, as far as I can tell, they take on a three-fold responsibility. They take on the responsibility of being a king. They take on the responsibility of being a soldier. They take on the responsibility of being a priest. Now, I'm not sure that you have come to that place. I'm not sure that many Christians across America has come to the place where God can entrust or thrust into their being these responsibilities on an experiential level. I'm not sure they can or that they have come to that place. As I look at my own life, I'm not sure that after all these years, 32 years of walking with the Lord, that God can honestly trust me as a king, as a priest and a soldier tonight. Now, I realize this, that positionally I'm all three of those. Positionally you're all three of those. But I'm not sure, beloved, that God can trust you with such responsibility. Now, the responsibility that we talk about is that of a king. That means, my dear friends, allotted domain and allotted authority. God raises up people and saves them by his grace and, my dear friend, fills them with his spirit and brings them into the position of being kings. And when they're kings, they're to rule and reign. And when a person is ruling and reigning as a king, there should be nothing that goes on within the realm of that person's domain that's not energized, initiated by the spirit of the living God. Even the election of a governmental official, even the action of a local church, or even the practices in a humble hall, all of it should be in accordance with that king's walk with God. Now, God has not only raised us up to put us in this position of being kings, but he's raised us up to put us in that position of being priests. I had some experience to define a priest. What is a priest? Man, you could talk all night about a priest, but the greatest thing, the greatest thing I can say about a priest is a priest is one that has found the supply, and he's found the need for that supply. And he is the one that goes between and reaches over and gets hold of supply with one hand, and the need with the other hand, and he brings them together. Now to me, that's a priest. That's a priest. My dear friends, we're not only allotted the position of being kings, but we're allotted the position of being priests. And if we were a world without need, if we were churches without need, if we were homes without need, wouldn't be any use for a priest! But God's seen to that, that there's plenty need. But if there was needs in the world and there was not adequate supply to fit those needs, there would not be a God! So here stands God with all the supply of the nation, the church, and the home, in one hand. And here is the nation, the church, and the individual, the home, in the other hand with the need. But where in heaven is a priest that will reach out with God, with one hand, and reach out with a need for the other hand, and bring them together? Seated before me tonight is either lost sinners on the road to hell, or blinded or crippled priest, wondering which way to go. When God has made it plain which way to go. He's made it plain in numerous ways. He's made it plain by His supply. Or maybe I should have reversed it like we humans like to think. He's first made it plain by need. Amen. He's let the need become so obnoxious that the man who has his head in the sand can no longer say, I don't see the need. The need. And the supply on such other hand that is so powerfully, we have six thousand years of history, said I am on the scene. And I'm not only on the scene right now, but I am adequate to take care of the problem right now. I am that I am. Whatsoever you need, just write your ticket. Furthermore, if you can't handle that, let the need write the ticket. There's no, there's no, there's no question tonight about the fact that God has allowed us to have needs. There's no question tonight that He's, He has made all the provision. But the question tonight is where's the priest? You say, well, Brother Manley, I do not know how to be a priest. That's strange in Romans 8 chapter. He says we do not know how to pray and what to pray for. But the Holy Spirit will lead us into such tender work. God has already made you priest if you're saved for this only. And I believe the Holy Spirit could take you and lead you into that tender work. Amen. This is so beautifully illustrated in the prayer of importunity. Remember that prayer? A man came one night to visit his friend and he was hungry. And so the man that the hungry man was visiting knew a fellow with a supply. And he just exercised his priesthood position. Went and knocked on the door and said, I want some bread. I want some bread. The man inside said, leave me alone. He said, I want some bread. He knew where the supply was. He saw the need and he went to the supply. And he stayed there until the man got out of bed and come home and asked for bread. Gave him the bread to go home and meet the supply. It's as simple as seeing the need, knowing who's got the supply, and going there, knocking on the door, till not a reluctant God, not an obstinate God, not an ignorant God, not a blind God, not a deaf God, but a God who arranged the need to awaken the priest to the supply, to come and get the supply, to take it back to the need, because they're all tired. In other words, an anticipating God, just waiting on the priest to see the need, and waiting to come to the supply, to get the supply and take it to the need. An anticipating God. A faithful God. An anchored God. A loving God. A merciless God. Well, glory to God. Amen. A God that's worthy, brother. God. Waiting for a priest. Waiting for the priest. We're not only kings, we're priests, but we're soldiers. And you say, what do you mean soldiers, brother Manley? I don't know how to define a soldier, but usually a soldier is clothed in special garments. Amen? And usually, a soldier has special orders. And his orders gives him the right to the territory he's taken. Now, there's a lot more to be said about a soldier. He usually has weapons that's adaptable to the situation. Right? Now, here tonight again, the Bible tells us that God has made a soldier's position. But a lot of the soldiers I look on these days are half naked. They aren't clothed in the armor. They aren't clothed, beloved, with the armor of God. They're not clothed with the truth. They're not clothed with the blessed plate of righteousness. They're not clothed with the gospel of peace. They're not clothed with the shield of faith. They're not clothed with the helmet of salvation. And they're not, not only are they not clothed, but beloved, they aren't given a sword of the Spirit. And they're ignorant of the fact that in their mouth they have the instrument that sets the course of nature in the world. And ultimately brings death or life with the very confession of their tongue. That's right. Beloved soldiers, we're looking at soldiers tonight but not aware, it seems so many times, that soldiers, beloved, has the title deed, the orders for which they act upon. And these orders come straight from God itself, right out of the old blessing book. They can take these orders and step out when they are properly clothed with a sword in their hand, the two-edged sword in their hand, and the praise of God in their mouth. And they can execute vengeance upon the heathen, punishment upon the people, and bind the forces of hell that oppose God in the nation, that oppose God in the church, that oppose God in the home. And they can see the forces of hell crumble on the basis of them standing on the blessed word with a two-edged sword in their hand, the real praises of God in their mouth, which is saying what God says. And, beloved, they can see satanic forces crumble in the nation, in the church, and in the home, and the glory of God come rolling in to magnify and glorify God. They can do that. The tragedy is this. We have soldiers in an army that do not even know they've been enlisted. And they do not even know that God has clothes for them. And they're not even aware that God has the weapons, a two-edged sword in their hand, the word of God. And the spoken word from their mouth. So they just let the devil defeat them. You say, preacher, what can we do? Well, you're a priest, you can rule the land over the jurisdiction that God has made you responsible for. You're a priest, so you can reach out to the need that you face in your jurisdiction, to the supply of an almighty God that's ever-present. And you can bring that supply and that need together. Amen. And you can wake up and put your clothes on, as a soldier, and get your orders from God. And, my dear friends, you can take that which belongs to you. I've seen mothers and dads wake up one day when their children were on the road to hell. And they realized scripturally that those children were created by God and belonged to God because they'd given them to God, and they'd never been saved. And I have seen those mothers and dads come alive to not only their kingship but their priesthood and their soldier relationship, and walk out and say, Satan, you have no right in this home. Get out. And through struggles, battles, as a soldier, but brother, bless God, they overcame. I've seen almost on the rocks, Satan had been able to wiggle his way into the man or woman or both, and they realized that that tragedy in the home, breaking up the home, was not of God. And they took over their position as a king, as a priest, and as a soldier, and stood against Satan, not the personality, the flesh and blood personality, but Satan, the one behind all of the chaos, and took their stand, and Satan be defeated. And that home welded back together to be stronger than it was ever before. Yes, sir. Nations, churches, they see that the warfare in the church is the strategy of Satan. I mean, see the awful strategy of Satan. That person, that group of people become aware of the activity of Satan in the church, and there they go and take on their position as kings and priests and soldiers, and see Satan defeated, and never have to lift their voice towards a brother or sister, but settle it in the closet. Amen. Just settle it in the closet. And I realize when I talk about the nation, I talk about a problem so big, so big that our minds cannot comprehend it. Amen? But I want to ask you one question in closing, tonight. Is the problems of America as a nation, are they greater than our God? Then why can't we as kings take our position? Why can't we as priests reach out with the problem of this nation in one hand and our God with the other and bring them together? Why can't we as soldiers go to war on the basis of the truth and see righteousness prevail? That's right. Well, what can I do tonight, preacher, to save this nation, save our churches, and save our home? Get as right with Jesus as you can get. Live out your responsibilities as a citizen. But friend, take on your position as a king and start living like a king. Start living like a priest and living like a soldier. Now, I'll just preach the introduction tonight. I'll finish the rest of it tomorrow.