A message from my heart about the recent events in our nation.
the loss the precious loss of a life
that of George Floyd has just ripped at
my heart and at the heart of a nation to
see his life snuffed out the way it was
somewhat overwhelming and it’s piercing
but it’s not a singular individual
situation there’s life after life after
life over years that have been unjustly
and unrighteous ly taken endemic of a
problem that really needs deep fixing
you know we’re in a medical pandemic
right now
simultaneously we’re in a cultural
pandemic because we’re seeing the
devolution of our society and we’re in a
cultural pandemic because we’re in a
spiritual pandemic we have wandered away
from a value system that was established
by God for how human beings were to live
and act and relate to one another across
racial and class lines we have come up
with our own standards and it is not
done as good it is absolutely needed
right now that there needs to be a reset
and this is the time to do it when it
has everyone’s attention at the very
same time the Bible is clear
and Psalm 89 verse 14 it says from God’s
throne comes righteousness and justice
and this is not a seesaw where sometimes
you go for righteousness and sometimes
you go for justice these the Twin Towers
these are twins they’re always to be
balanced side-by-side righteousness is
the moral standard of right and wrong to
which God holds men accountable based on
his divine standard justice is the
equitable and impartial application
of God’s moral law in society and God
wants both yes he wants to protect the
life of the unborn in the womb but he
wants to see justice of the life once
born to the tomb in other words God
wants a whole life agenda not a term
agenda but unfortunately all lives
aren’t valued the same way and they
ought to be because every person is
created in the image of Almighty God it
is now time on a personal level and a
systemic level that we reverse the
course of history that has brought us to
this point and that we reverse it on all
levels
God has four levels in which life is to
be lived and therefore there are four
levels in which changes need to be made
I call it and we call it the kingdom
agenda the visible manifestation of the
comprehensive rule of God over every
area of life it starts with an
individual it starts with you don’t try
to change the nation if God can’t even
change your heart in other words we have
to develop a heart that cares for our
fellow man because they’re created in
the image of God not because they look
like us or have what we have but because
they have the stamp of divine creation
on them and that means that you have the
responsibility to reach out to somebody
different than you let them understand
where you came from where you come from
the things that have been fluence to
your perspective hear from them and give
them an audience and then both of you
find out what God has to say about the
matter so that he can keep everybody
straight and then there’s your family we
must be transferring values to our
children don’t expect them to think
differently and act differently if they
aren’t hearing differently from their
parents if they’re not getting a a
righteous value system
of judging people by the content of
their character not the color of their
skin
it means you connect with other families
who may be different than you and you
not only get to know them but guess what
you do as families together you go serve
another family that’s worse off than you
because guess where reconciliation
happens it doesn’t happen in seminars
that’s information reconciliation
happens in service so as an individual
as a family with another family
different than you serve somebody worse
off than you and now you are part of the
solution through good works that God
calls us all to do and then the church
the biggest problem in the culture today
is the church because the church has
failed we wouldn’t even have a racial
crisis in America if the church had not
fail to deal with this sin like God
calls it in his word but because it
passed it off ignored it and even
promoted it we still have this division
in our culture so don’t expect God to
fix the white house if you can’t even
change the church house
churches don’t just get together for
joint worship services that’s that’s
great that has its that has its benefits
but it also addresses the issue of
inequity whether it’s racial inequity or
economic inequity or healthcare inequity
or opportunity inequity it it it
recognizes the systems that are at work
that work against the fair treatment of
people creating the opportunity for them
to take advantage of all that God has
blessed us with in this nation but they
do it in such a way where people are
held accountable to be responsible for
their decision-making and then it speaks
to the culture at large it speaks not
first of all from a political platform
it speaks first of all from a Biblio
centric platform
since God doesn’t ride the backs of
donkeys or elephants the church must
speak with one voice because we have one
God one Lord Jesus Christ and one an
arrant word to speak from and yes we
should protest evil in a righteous way
we should let our voices be heard but
then we must act because if we don’t act
all we did was have a speech we must
implement righteous principles modeling
it through the church so we can see what
it looks like in the broader society and
then finally we must challenge our civil
leaders on all levels of government to
be agents of healing in that division to
speak in such a way where unity is
reinforced and not divisive nests that
the words that come out of their mouths
and the way they say the words that come
out of their mouths must be words of
strength and kindness not vitriol and
meanness and when those four areas the
individual the family the church and the
community begin to operate that way
based on God’s standard then he can feel
comfortable to get back in the midst of
us and make us repairers of the breach
and healers of the land and so this
starts off with prayer and I don’t just
mean say God help us know I’m talking
about where we repent of where we fail
to do what he says do the way he says do
it where we realign ourselves under his
authority while pursuing a relationship
with him where his word can overrule our
ideas perspectives and agendas and then
he will listen to your prayers cuz you
praying like he wants you to pray not
like you want to pray and when that kind
of prayer goes up with that kind of
action supporting it ah now now we’re
ready to see what he will do and healing
a land
so what should we do now first of all as
an individual you should and I encourage
you to righteously protest
unrighteousness wherever you find it to
do so with truth to do so with love but
to do so with clarity but then act be
part of the solution not just part of
the complaint build a bridge with
somebody different than you and then the
two of you together go help somebody
worse off than the two of you because
now you’re part of the solution and not
just somebody complaining about the
problem then that’s families I’m a
father I’ve had to have the talk with my
sons and grandsons about what happens
when the policeman pulls you over and
you go the extra mile because you don’t
know where this policeman is coming from
in their perspective but then you teach
your children principles of character
you develop their character to judge
people rightly by their character and
not their color but then you connect
with other families different than yours
in color in class and together then you
go minister to somebody else worse off
than your family’s a single-parent
family that’s hurting a family that’s
lost its job you do it together because
the best way to reconcile is through
service not just through having
discussions and seminars and then as
churches I’m a pastor a lot of this
falls because the church has failed
we have been bifurcated legitimately
we have let race overrule God’s rule in
our lives and in our decision-making and
it is time now for the church to be what
the head of the church Jesus Christ
called it to be the repairer of the
breach in our culture and that must mean
that we not just stand up against
personal sins
but corporate sins as systemic sins and
that voice must be heard we shouldn’t
pick and choose and it should be one
voice where God has spoken and has not
stuttered there should not be an
uncertain sound coming from the church
when we have a certain sound coming from
our master and if churches would come
together in communities all over the
country as one church with different
expressions with unity of purpose and
not uniformity of persons way you adopt
all the public schools in your community
and minister to the at-risk schools or
where every church adopts a homeless
family so that homelessness is
eradicated which it could be overnight
if every church did it so we become the
solvers of the problem so people would
now be willing to listen to our sermons
and songs because they see our impact
and yes that means addressing the
structures in our society that
perpetuate evil righteous protest
collectively is absolutely biblical it’s
why Paul protested in Acts chapter 16
the last five verses when he was
arrested unrighteously and he complained
both biblically and civilly that that
was illegal we must take our stand but
we must not only take it in speech but
in action that gets visible to our
verbal and then a civic leaders we need
to challenge them from the Statehouse to
the house of Congress to the White House
to act and speak civilly that that
language must be healing words not
hurting words unifying words not
divisive language they must be spoken to
complimented for their strengths but
condemned for their failures
and then we must challenge them since
they influence the systems of the land
to make sure those systems are operating
righteously and with equity for all and
not just for a privileged few when we
begin to act like that on all four
levels then we’ll see God do some
amazing things because he can be at home
in the creation that he made