House Church Talk - America in Need

[jim sutton]

My wife and I have been moved and blessed by all the coverage on C-Span and 
the networks of Reagan's passing, funeral and life.  We have been especially 
blessed by the extraordinarily Christian theme of the services and music.  And 
I thank God for the clear witness to Jesus Christ that Reagan?s oldest son 
gave at the funeral in Simi Valley.

It's even more interesting for me, because just the other day I was home, sick 
with a cold, watching 2 or 3 hours of testimony to the U.S. Senate 
subcommittee on "Religious Expression in Public Places."  I must admit that I 
was greatly stirred and also blessed by that coverage as well.  I thank God 
for our nation, for our system of government, and for our opportunity as human 
beings in this day and age to be and to do something worthwhile.

I believe that the church in America has let America's people, the government, 
and the Lord down.  When we fail to see our lives as Reagan saw those last 
years of his public service -- as an opportunity to do God's will -- we miss 
the boat.  

I believe that most Christian believers have good intentions.  Most of us want 
to be good people, good Christians, good witnesses to our neighbors and 
family.  But too often we ignore the voice of the Lord.  How can we serve our 
Master if we put our own ideas, feelings and schemes ahead of His?

God has spoken in ages past.  God speaks to day.  And for all who know God 
through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, God's voice should not be a mystery or 
some mystical, incomprehensible experience.  We have the Bible, we have the 
very Spirit -- the living Presence and Power of our God -- within us if we 
know the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know why we fail.  We fail because we are not yet complete, not fully mature 
in our faith, in our understanding, or in our surrender to the King.  And we 
will never be truly perfect in these things until we get home.  

But the Lord is with us, here and now, as Isaiah 41:10-13 promises.  He with 
us to make us strong as we need to be.  He is with us to help us in whatever 
ways we need help.  And He is with us to hold us up whenever we feel unable to 
stand and make the walk on our own.  

It was never God?s plan that His people should have to stumble along on their 
own.  The Lord Jesus is the strength of our walk, our resolve, our faith.

How can we become more responsive to God?s leading?  James says that if we 
will resist the devil, he will flee from us, and that if we will draw near to 
God, that He will draw near to us.  Jeremiah 23 teaches us that we must spend 
time standing, waiting in the Lord?s Presence, listening for His counsel if we 
want to know what He has to say to His people.

May we each renew our commitment to spend good time each day with the Lord in 
honest and meaningful prayer.  May we likewise spend time each day alone with 
our Lord in His good Word, which is the Word of God in Scripture.  

My Father and your Father, My God and your God will fully equip all who stand 
ready before Him, to serve in His ranks.  Our Lord Jesus is a Mighty Captain, 
undefeated in all of time and eternity.  He will surely lead us to a 
resounding victory.

God?s best to each of us as we allow God?s Spirit to instruct us more fully in 
righteousness and love and in loyal service to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The 
nation needs a Christian voice.  The people of our land need the people of God 
to do whatever He says to do each day.  

America?s children need us.  America?s aged men and women who stagger without 
hope need us.  America?s teens who are so lost, with no idea of what is right 
or true, they need us.  America?s lost need us to simply be who and what we 
already are in Jesus Christ -- God?s dear children, God?s own servants.

We may often feel outnumbered.  But look!  Look, there on the hills all around 
us, everywhere!  Flaming chariots, shining soldiers, ready horses!  And a 
Captain on a brilliant white horse!  A Mighty Lord and Leader so bright that 
the sun is a dark, dark spot by comparison!  

Many more, and infinitely more powerful, are those who are with us, than those 
who may ever think to oppose us.  And, having read the Book to the end, we 
already know who wins this war.  

The rest is just history for the making.

Jim