Revival will not start in the White House.
Revival's got to start in the Church House.
1 Peter 4, verse 17 says, The judgment
must begin at the house of God.
The Bible doesn't say the judgment must begin
in Washington, D.C. It doesn't say the
judgment must begin in San Francisco.
It doesn't say the judgment's going to begin
in New York City.
It doesn't say the judgment's going to begin
at the national headquarters of Planned Parenthood.
It says the judgment must begin at the
house of God.
I'm of the strong persuasion tonight, brethren, that
we're long overdue for judgment to begin at
the house of God here in America.
Thus saith the Lord, has been replaced with,
what will public opinion tolerate?
We've got too many question marks in the
pulpit and not enough exclamation points, said Vance
Adler.
We've got too much preaching tonight that strokes,
and too little preaching that strikes at the
heart of our problem tonight.
Preaching today, by and large, is designed to
comfort.
The only problem is that most churches in
America are already so comfortable, you would think
they were engaged in a sleeping contest.
My brothers and my sisters tonight, I believe
the Church of Christ in America is more
interested in entertainment than intersection.
We're more interested in propaganda than proclamation.
They tell us that four out of ten
evangelicals tonight don't even believe in absolute truth.
We're well into evangelical apostasy.
My brethren, we've got a grill cream approach
to truth tonight in America.
A grill cream approach to truth.
A little dab will do you.
June 12th, a newscast came on announcing that
the Presbyterian Church of USA would not make
a written statement condemning homosexuality or of the
same-sex couples living together because they did
not want to reduce the faith to a
list of do's and don'ts.
My brethren, tonight, when people that name the
name of Christ and some of our strongest
leaders in America will not take a moral
stand on the perversion and the sin of
our society, we're a long ways down the
road.
It's time for judgment to begin at the
house of God.
Someone asked one American Christian leader, he said,
what's your comment on Christianity in America?
And the leader said, well, it's definitely more
American than Christian.
Now, my brethren, tonight, if we're serious about
revival in the land, we're going to have
to get serious about revival in the church.
And if we're serious about revival in the
church, we're going to have to get dead
serious tonight about revival in the home.
The family is the building block of society.
So goes the home, so goes the nation.
We must get serious about revival in the
home.
When marriage collapses in society, so does morality.
When the God-ordained institution of marriage goes
by the wayside, there's an inevitable breakdown in
the social order that is bound to take
place.
I believe that the breakdown of the family
and the breakdown of the home is the
mother of evils.
And many of us here tonight will never
show up in divorce court, but we might
as well show up in spiritual divorce court,
because long ago did the spirit of the
home become broken, and it has not been
mended.
God said in Malachi 4 and verse 6,
He will turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children.
That's what you witnessed right here tonight.
And He's going to turn the hearts of
the children to the fathers, lest He come
and smite the earth with a curse.
This unity in the home brings a curse
on the earth.
Consider the ills that we're facing tonight as
an American society.
Consider the ills of our society.
Child abuse, rampant, malnutrition, incest, runaway welfare, suicide,
armed robbery, the playboy philosophy, women's rights, children's
rights, sodomy.
Do you know what the common denominator in
all of these ills really is?
Do you know what the common denominator is?
It's the breakdown of the home.
You see, there's spiritual delinquency in the home
long before there's juvenile delinquency in the streets.
And my brethren, tonight as one wise professor
from Yale University said that the public interest
depends on private virtue.
I'm here to tell you tonight, we've learned,
I think, over the years, government does not
have the solution for the problems of America.
It's going to have to come back down
to the church of God.
Let me say this to you tonight as
a church.
I think that when it's impossible, you know,
in the old days, the pilgrims came to
America.
They braved the unknown and came across the
ocean to worship God as their conscience dictated
to them.
And now we have come to a point
in the churches in America where we can't
get the deacons of the local church to
come to a revival or a prayer meeting.
And I'm telling you tonight, my friend, that
your church here tonight is in desperate need
tonight.
I'm here as a friend tonight.
I'm pouring my heart out to you tonight.
This is a cold place tonight, my brethren.
It ought not to be that way.
And I'm here to tell you tonight, you're
going to reap it in your children tonight
if you don't have revival in your home.
You're going to reap it tonight.
Some of you already have reaped it tonight.
But God can restore the year of the
locusts have eaten if we will obey God
and humble ourselves and come clean.
God can bless us again tonight if we
will.
Turn in your Bible tonight to 1 Peter.
I want you to see this.
1 Peter 3 7.
I want you to notice what the word
of God says about revival in the home.
1 Peter 3 7.
Notice what the Scripture says here tonight.
1 Peter 3 7.
Likewise, he husbands dwell with them according to
knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto
the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of
the grace of life, that your prayers be
not hindered.
Notice what he says.
Husbands dwell with your wives according to knowledge,
as being heirs together of the grace of
life, that your prayers be not hindered.
You see, when there's disunity in the home,
it's a hindrance in your relationship with God.
When things are out of kilter in the
home, things are out of kilter with God.
Tonight, my brethren, we're living in a time,
we're living in a day, we're living in
an age when even the liberals are admitting
that there's a crisis in the family.
Consider briefly the statistics tonight concerning the family
in crisis.
They tell us that 50% of all
marriages will end in divorce.
50% of all marriages end in divorce.
60% of all second marriages will end
in divorce.
If you don't get it straightened out the
first time, it's not going to go any
better the second time.
You see, judgment must begin at the house
of God.
They tell us that 1.2 million children
will be born this year in America into
single-parent homes.
22% of all children today are born
out of wedlock.
That has tripled since 1970.
They tell us that every 22nd, a spouse
is abused in America.
And they tell us tonight, statistically, that two
-thirds of all mothers in America are now
in the workforce.
Consider the statistics concerning the family in crisis
tonight.
But consider, if you would with me tonight
for a moment, the rationalization for the crisis
of the family in America tonight.
I was listening some time back, not too
long ago, when they came out with a
report.
And now they've discovered, the experts have discovered,
that adultery is genetically predisposed.
You heard it right.
Adultery is genetically predisposed.
In other words, immorality is predetermined by your
genetic makeup, and it's really not your fault
that you're prone to be immoral, or be
a homewrecker, or be a fornicator, or any
other kind of thing.
It's all in your genes.
You're a victim.
You're a victim of your heredity.
I'm here to tell you tonight, we're all
a victim of our heredity.
Our father Adam sinned, and because of it,
we're all in bad shape tonight.
You know, they took John Wayne Gacy, when
they executed that man, that serial killer, murdered
33 men and boys, and they got permission
from him to take his brain out of
his body after they executed him, because they
wanted to study his brain to see if
perhaps there was some abnormal chemistry that would
contribute to his violent behavior.
And brethren, tonight, let me give it to
you the way it is.
John Wayne Gacy didn't have a chemical imbalance.
He had a spiritual imbalance.
And my friend, tonight, your problem is not
genetically predispositioned.
Your problem tonight is not a chemical imbalance.
Our problem tonight as a human race is
a spiritual imbalance.
We love ourselves more than we love our
God.
We love our ways more than we love
God's ways tonight.
Planned Parenthood has just done a new thing
out in Leadville, Colorado.
I have the article right here called Dollars
for Deeds.
Listen to this.
Now out there in Leadville, Colorado, they're going
to pay the teenage girls $1 for every
day that they avoid getting pregnant.
You know, it used to be that good
behavior was its own reward.
But now we're going to have to have
a government program.
I suppose that Dale and Joyful and Elders
are going to implement this thing and pay
the youth of America not to get pregnant.
God help us.
What about US News and World Report?
I'll give you one more.
One more.
One more rationalization that we've got in these
days, my friend, for the crisis of the
family in America.
US News and World Report did an article
here called The Biological Roots of Good Mothering.
The Biological Roots of Good Mothering.
And here they're studying gorillas, folks.
They're studying gorillas to try to find out
how to prevent child abuse.
You talk about the Planet of the Apes,
my brethren, we are rapidly headed down that
road right there.
And here we are, the crisis in the
family in America.
Time Magazine did a special edition on the
family.
They did an article called Beyond the Year
2000, What You Expect in the New Millennium.
Here's what Time Magazine says.
The family as we have known it will
soon die.
Boy, won't some of them really be glad
when that happens.
Won't Gloria Steinem jump up and down and
shout the victory when that happens.
The family as we have known it will
soon die.
Listen to this.
The traditional family will be replaced by serial
monogamy.
Now get this.
Serial monogamy or multiple marriages.
That's polygamy in any other culture.
Some marriage contracts will have sunset clauses to
automatically terminate at a given age.
Folks are going to get out before they
ever get in after the year 2000.
Listen to this.
The taboo against incest will weaken.
How many of you think what we need
to do in order to cure these child
abusers is not some more therapy?
By the way, we had 100 million therapy
sessions last year in America.
I want to ask you, are we any
mentally healthier than we were before those 100
million therapy sessions?
And billions of dollars?
My friend, we have now got to the
point where we don't believe that God's got
the answer.
We think that humanistic psychologists have got the
answer.
And I'm telling you tonight, my friend, I'm
telling you tonight, child abusers don't need therapy.
They need the electric chair.
No apology.
Me and Jesse Helms together on this one.
Amen?
Number four.
The trend towards childlessness will accelerate.
Well, you know, Caucasian people don't even reproduce
themselves anymore because they're not going to be
able to take their careers and vacations and
they're more in love with their BMWs and
their cats and their poodles than they are
the heritage of God.
It's skin.
Listen to this.
Children will be victimized.
Many will have no one to care for
them.
They will roam the streets like they do
in Brazil today.
You know something here tonight, friend?
If you're trusting, if you're trusting somebody else
to raise your kid for you, you'd be
better off to live on a lower economic
scale if possible and try to raise them
in the fear and admonition of God.
I'm trying here to help you tonight.
I'm here to tell you the truth.
Number six.
Pediatricians will teach children how to use contraceptives
when they're vaccinated.
How many of you think it's no business
of the doctors and the teachers and the
public school people?
God help us.
Listen to this.
The school children of tomorrow will have no
knowledge of spiritual matters.
Why?
We can't teach them anything about God in
a pluralistic society.
It might lend a moral influence.
Hallelujah.
They need a moral influence in these days.
Gideon came to school when I was in
grade school.
It didn't work for any of us.
We already worked to start with.
We needed to be turned back to God.
Listen to this.
Mandatory abortion will be imposed on nations with
exploding populations.
There's a crisis in the family tonight.
There's no doubt about it.
You know, we've heard some in recent days
about redefining the family.
And we've had some talk about reinventing the
family.
But I suggest tonight, I propose tonight that
what we need is a revival in the
family.
We don't need to redefine.
We don't need to reinvent.
We just need to have revival homes in
the local church.
This is what is desperately needed tonight.
Now I want you to take your Bible
to Malachi chapter 2.
I want you to notice some of the
hard sayings our Lord had to say here
in Malachi chapter 2.
God is writing to the priest.
Here they're offered lame sacrifices to God.
God rebuked him for it.
And then he rebuked him in chapter 2.
He rebuked him in chapter 3.
All kinds of rebukes going on here.
Malachi 2 and verse 1.
Notice what God says.
The last book of the Old Testament before
Matthew.
Malachi chapter 2 and verse 1.
And now, O priest, this commandment is for
you.
If you will not hear and if you
will not lay it to heart to give
glory unto my name, saith the Lord of
hosts, I will even send a curse upon
you and I will curse your blessings.
Yea, I have cursed them already because you
do not lay it to heart.
Behold, I will corrupt your seed.
I want you to notice here tonight that
God said to the priest of his covenant
nation Israel that if they did not lay
it to heart, if they did not turn
back to God, that God would curse their
blessings and God said he would corrupt their
seed.
Hosea 4 and verse 6.
God said to Israel, I will forget your
children.
I will forget your children.
My friend, Ephraim was joined to his idols
and God said let him alone.
And I'm here to tell you tonight, if
you love your career, you love your bank
account, you love your mutual funds, you love
anything more than you love God, my friend.
God will corrupt your children, the sins of
the parents that pass on to the children
to the third and fourth generation.
Why was God going to corrupt the seed
of these priests?
We'll look down in verse 14.
He tells us.
He said, Yet you say, wherefore, because the
Lord hath been witnessed between thee and the
wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast
dealt treacherously, that is, unfaithfully.
Yet she is thy companion and the wife
of thy covenant.
And did he not make one?
Now notice what God says.
Did he not make one?
Yet had he the residue of the Spirit,
and wherefore one?
Why did he make you one?
That he might seek a godly seed.
Notice the purpose of marriage tonight, my brothers
and my sisters, that God might seek a
godly seed.
Therefore take heed to your spirit, God says,
and let none deal treacherously against the wife
of his youth.
For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith
that he hateth putting away.
For one covereth violence with his garment, saith
the Lord of hosts.
Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you
deal not treacherously.
Now what was the problem in Israel?
God said that the priests had dealt treacherously
with the wives of their youth, the wife
of their covenant.
What does that mean?
My friend, what had happened in Israel is
that these priests, they put away their wives
and they married younger, pagan wives, and God
said that he hates this putting away, he
hates this divorce and all this kind of
thing, and my brother, tonight, it says in
verse 15 that the purpose of marriage is
that God might seek a godly, a godly,
a godly seed.
God's going to say, he said in chapter
four and verse six, he's going to turn
the heart of the fathers to the children,
and he's going to turn the heart of
the children to the fathers.
Unless you come and smite the earth with
a curse.
Young people are here tonight, I hope that
God turns your heart to your fathers and
to your mothers tonight.
Moms and dads, grandparents, I hope that God
will turn your heart to your children tonight.
How can we be so pale when some
of our loved ones, my friend, are on
the broad road that leads to destruction?
They tell me that in Yellowstone Park they
have these signs that says, Don't feed the
bears.
I've been out there, I've seen these signs,
but in the old days they used to
have hundreds and thousands of bears all over
the place.
People would come into the park, they'd read
the sign, Don't feed the bears.
You know what they would do?
They would feed the bears.
And these bears would be sitting on the
side of the road waiting for people to
come in, and they'd roll the windows down,
they thought it was funny, they'd take pictures,
and they'd hand them something to eat.
Yet the sign said, Don't feed the bears.
Well, the rangers had to shoot hundreds of
these bears, and somebody asked one of the
park rangers one time, Why do these bears
just sit around all day long?
And the ranger's comment was, They've lost the
reason for their existence.
They've lost the reason for their existence.
I wonder tonight, I wonder tonight, if we're
about to church.
I wonder tonight, if we're about to church.
I wonder tonight, if we've not lost the
reason for our existence.
I wonder tonight, if we have lost sight
of the fact that we are here for
the glory and the honor of Almighty God.
I wonder tonight, if we have lost sight
of the purpose of the local church.
It's not to meet the needs of men,
it's not to accommodate the culture, it's not
to cater to the uncommitted, it's for the
glory of Almighty God.
You can do more with a handful of
people that are totally sold after God than
5,000 half-hearted whirling idolaters, my friend.
I want to tell you tonight, we need
to turn the heat up, and some of
you people here tonight, you're as cold as
ice, brother.
Sister, you have no tears in your eyes.
You have no compassion for the lost.
You probably think that's a raving lunatic up
there.
You might be right, but let me tell
you something tonight.
Let me tell you something tonight.
When nobody gets saved in your church, something's
wrong.
I'm not here to condemn you tonight.
I'm here to plead with you tonight.
You need a real catch from God here
tonight, folks.
Why is it you go to one church,
and then the Bible's breaking out?
You go to another church, and, buddy, you
can't hardly get a grunt?
Well, what's the difference here?
What's the difference?
Oh, my brethren, I wonder if we've lost
the reason for our existence.
Strong families don't just happen.
They must be built.
And Cal Thomas said that now's the time
to return to repentance, to family, to freedom,
and to faith.
And I want to give you tonight four
foundation stones upon which to build a godly
revival church, and four foundation stones tonight on
which to build a godly family.
Foundation stone number one is the foundation stone
of radical dedication.
Radical.
strength.
Boy, you talk about demanding.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy love, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind, and
with all thy strength.
I'll tell you something tonight, parents.
Your children love what you love.
Your children get excited what you get excited
about.
You know, tonight, what are we really excited
about?
Our job?
Our hobbies?
Sports?
Money?
What are we really excited about?
You see, this thing of real devotion in
the home, it's not taught.
It's really just taught.
And our children tend to love what we
love.
My brother and my sister, this evening, where
your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.
You know, I believe tonight that the spiritual
condition of the home is a direct reflection
of the spiritual condition of the parents.
By and large, the spiritual condition of the
home is a direct reflection of the spiritual
condition of the father.
I believe that tonight.
Isaiah 44.
I want you to see this passage.
What a promise.
This is what the brother preached to us
up at the paradise about.
Got a hold of all of our hearts.
Isaiah 44 in verse three.
Look at this right here.
Isaiah 44 in verse three.
In fact, if you have King James Bible
or something close, let's read it out loud
together tonight.
Isaiah 44 verse three.
Notice the promise of God as we read
it out loud together tonight.
For I will pour water upon him that
is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.
I will pour my spirit upon thy seed
and my blessing upon thine offspring.
Notice what God says tonight.
He's going to pour water upon those that
are, I wonder, are you thirsty for God?
Are you thirsty for God?
He said he's going to pour floods upon
the dry ground.
You know, it's okay to be dry if
you're thirsty because God said he would meet
a crowd like that.
You know, tonight I wish that God could
somehow just come tonight and give us holy
hunger, holy desires, holy thirstiness.
Notice what God said.
He said, I'm going to pour my spirit
upon thy seed.
You know, tonight we were praying back there,
had a prayer room full of people tonight.
Praise God.
We're back there praying and we got a
testimony tonight for my sister right here.
She claimed this verse before her children were
even born and now she's seeing God pour
his spirit upon her seed and her offspring.
Brethren, tonight, this is something that's gotten a
hold of my heart lately.
I just can't help it.
It's just got a hold of me for
some reason.
And I would to God, it would get
ahold to you tonight.
God said he's going to pour water upon
him that is thirsty.
He's going to pour floods upon the dry
ground.
My brethren tonight, radical dedication is a foundation
stone for a revival church, for a godly
family.
General William Booth, founder of Salvation Army, preached
all over the place.
He was a borough of fire.
He had eight children and these eight children
served God all over the world.
You know why?
Because his children loved what their father loved.
He'd go out there and preach on the
street.
Brethren, they'd throw things at him.
They'd urinate on him.
They would make fun of him.
They'd mock him.
Rotten vegetables right upside the head.
And those children were out there right in
the middle of the street, taking the brunt
of those rotten tomatoes coming their way.
Do you know why they loved that?
Do you know why they endured that persecution?
You know why?
Because they loved what their daddy loved.
They loved Jesus Christ.
They had 45 grandchildren and all of them
went into full-time Christian service.
My brethren here tonight, wouldn't it be good
tonight if we had a foundation that was
so strong that God could raise up generations
of godly seed off of us?
Some of us here tonight don't come from
Christian backgrounds.
We didn't grow up in a Christian home,
per se.
We don't have that privilege.
But wouldn't it be something tonight if God
could so radically revolutionize our hearts and our
homes that there would be a godly foundation?
I go to a church in Northern Virginia.
It's one of my favorite churches to go
to.
I'll tell you why.
Because right there in the middle, they've got
four rows of teenagers, and they're all sitting
down front every service.
And they're attentive, and they're respectful, and they
pay attention, and they're responsive, and their hearts
are open to God.
So what a blessing.
I go to some churches, and man, they're
sitting on the back row.
The parents have no control over your children.
Listen, Danvers, if you don't have any control
over your children, you ought to be speaking
in the face of God tonight.
Do you know where they're going to be
five years from now?
Do you understand this?
Oh, my brethren, God can do it.
We had a half-night of prayer at
our church not too long ago.
Gerard DePoy was there.
We had about 35, 45 men.
I don't know how many were there.
My son Michael was there, 11 years old.
I don't want to embarrass him, but let
me just say this.
He and another young person was there on
Friday night.
They could have been at the roller rink.
They could have been at a concert.
They could have been somewhere else.
And there they were, supplicating on their face
before God.
This is the kind of revival we need
tonight, to where our children's hearts are drawn
after God.
You see, now they're drawn after everything, but
they're not drawn after God tonight, brethren.
You know why?
Because the foundation stone of radical dedication is
absent so often.
I say it again tonight, parents, I think
we need to forget, deal with the mistakes
and failures and sins of the past, and
forget about it, and resolve from now on
out, resolve from here on out, to make
our families, work at making our families what
they ought to be by the grace of
God.
Radical dedication.
Foundation stone number two tonight is that foundation
stone of regular devotions, of regular devotions.
Gerard DePoy said we need a compass in
our hand, and we need a magnet in
our heart.
We've got the compass in our hand.
We need a magnet in our heart, to
where our heart is drawn after God.
My brethren tonight, men ought always to pray
and not to think, Jesus said.
Jesus said that God the Father would avenge
his own elect who cry out to him
day and night.
They tell us that ten percent of professing
Christians in North America have regular devotions.
Ten percent of professing Christians have regular devotions.
Now they've got their one-minute Bible.
Look, if all you're going to get is
a one-minute Bible, chunk it.
Go on down to Moose Lodge.
Go on down to the liberal church down
the road.
You stick around here at the Glory to
Christ.
I mean, just go on down there, you
know, if that's all there is to it.
My brothers and my sisters tonight, we're biblically
illiterate.
We've been so humanized, and we've so humanized
God, and deified man, and minimized sin, that
seldom today can we find people that even
have the time to meet with God in
regular devotions.
DeRogatoy told a story when he was in
Africa and he got saved.
Theological school, he got saved.
You know, it really helps when you get
saved.
It really helps living a Christian life to
be saved.
I'm being serious.
It really helps to have a heart for
Christ.
I mean, before I came to the Lord,
I had no interest in God.
None.
But brother, I want to tell you, the
zeal of this house is consuming me.
I can't get away from it.
But he told a story.
There was this African fellow, these black guys
over there, they were prayer warriors.
They came in and wanted to talk.
He wanted to talk theology.
He said they wanted to get involved in
neology.
They invited this white man, Gerard, out to
the night of prayer, and he said they
were walking down the road on the way
to the mountain of prayer, and he was
perplexed.
He couldn't understand it.
He went up to one of these African
guys and said, how in the world are
we going to spend a night in prayer?
He couldn't conceive of how a human being
could spend a night talking with God.
And the African said to Gerard DeRogatoy, he
said, white man, your problem is you're in
a hurry and God is not.
Hurry is the depth of prayer, St. Andrew
Murray.
Steve Fowler is here tonight.
Call me up.
He calls me up about every week anymore
and gives me a new report about what
God's doing there in his heart and in
his home and in his church.
He called me up one day.
I was sitting there at my desk, and
I had a busy day, and the first
thing he got on the phone, he said,
Brother Harold, have you met God today?
Well, yes, I read my Bible this morning.
No, no.
Did you meet God today?
I said, well, I prayed and tried to
get off that subject, you know, and trying
to move on to the next thing.
And then we talked about some other things,
and then we got ready to close.
And then he said, Brother Harold, Brother Harold,
I'm serious.
Did you meet God today?
And I said, Brother, to be honest with
you, I went through the motions of reading
my Bible.
I did.
I went through the motions of praying.
I did.
But I hadn't met God.
He said, when you get off the phone,
are you going to get on your knees
over there and meet God?
I said, yes, Brother, when I get off
the phone, I'm going to get over here
and meet God.
And I got off the phone, and you
know what I did?
I went over there and got on my
knees and met with God.
Radical, a regular devotion.
I ask you tonight, I ask you tonight,
have you met with God today?
Have you met with God today, brethren?
You know, Abraham pitched his tent.
He built his altar.
I said, it's Sunday morning.
Our tendency is, and temptation is, to spend
all of our time building our tent and
merely pitching our altar.
Do you have an altar tonight?
You know, Jesus said, when you pray, enter
into your closet, and when you go in,
shut the door.
You know why I told you to go
in the closet, in the private place?
To save you from hypocrisy, because there's nobody
to impress when you're alone with God.
Do you have a closet?
Have you met with him today?
Has God met with you today, brother?
That's what we're just talking about.
Spiritual reality, regular devotion.
I want to ask you tonight, do you
have a family altar?
You know, all of us are intimidated by
this, and we don't know exactly what to
do, and we've been through all the books
and all this kind of stuff.
Friends, it's not so much having a formula
or a plan.
It's basically having a heart and opening a
Bible and praying, and it can be spontaneous.
It can be varied.
It doesn't have to be an academic exercise,
you know.
And God will help you with it.
God can help you with it tonight.
You know, at our church, we have two
weeks of prayer, around-the-clock prayer.
The associate pastor, he's a neurologist who quit
being a neurologist to go on staff and
serve God.
He's 42 years old.
You know, I kind of like it
when these kind of things happen, you know.
I'm kind of prone to think that when
God's on the move, you're liable to see
some of this stuff.
This is different.
And he was starting a prayer movement in
the church, and he said, Harold, we're going
to have two weeks of around-the-clock
prayer.
And you know what I said to him?
I felt like saying to him, why don't
you just try maybe one 24-hour period
around-the-clock in prayer?
He said, no, no, we're going to have
two weeks around-the-clock in prayer.
The OU is a little fake.
Well, families signed up.
They encouraged families to spend an hour in
prayer, and we filled up about 80%
of the slots.
We didn't fill them up all, but we
filled about 80% of them, which was
pretty good for a two-week around-the
-clock prayer measure, you know.
And you know, my family and I, we
drew aside one afternoon at spirit clock.
You can ask my boys.
We got together, and there we opened the
Word.
We began to pray.
It's like the Spirit of God was breathing
on our family, and every family we talked
to that participated in this kind of thing
noted an extraordinary measure of God's presence and
God's blessing in the home.
You know, wouldn't it be a good thing
to just call a whole night of prayer
or a day of prayer and fasting before
we came into a crisis in the local
church?
Wouldn't it be a blessing to just have
a day of prayer and fasting when you
didn't need to raise $500,000?
I mean, wouldn't that be a blessing?
Regular devotions.
One elderly Christian said to Augustine's mother, the
child of many prayers will never perish.
I'm telling you, the world's strong.
The world's spirit is strong.
I believe tonight with all my heart, if
we don't get on the watchtower and God
doesn't break our hearts for our children and
our grandchildren, they'll go straight to hell.
God didn't give you grandchildren to populate hell.
God didn't give you children to populate hell.
Brethren, tonight we need a broken heart.
God knows we need a broken heart.
Regular devotion.
Foundation stone number three, respectability in daily life.
Respectability in daily life.
You know, in Proverbs 31, the virtuous woman's
children, her children rose up and called her
blessed.
Do you know why?
She'd earned their respect.
Wouldn't it be good?
Wouldn't it be good if Jesus carries and
God's grace sustains us and by His mercy
we're not consumed, that in 20 years from
now our children would come home.
They wouldn't even be in there by the
fireplace somewhere.
Our children would come in, walking with God.
Grandchildren would come in.
Here they come in.
Granddaddy?
God saved this week.
Grandma?
God called me to the mission field yesterday.
Wouldn't it be something?
I believe respectability in daily life, brethren.
Andrew Murray was going to preach in a
church in South Africa and they said he
was a godly man and when he entered
the pulpit of the church and he entered
up on the platform, they said there was
a holy hush that descended on the whole
congregation like the presence of God came when
the man stood up and they said that
a little kid on the front row chucked
his mother inside and said, Mommy, is that
the Lord Jesus Christ?
Mommy, brother, I'm about as unlike Jesus as
anybody you ever met in your life, but
I'd like by the grace of God, by
the sheer grace and mercy of God, to
have respectability in daily life.
We ran a meeting one time in West
Virginia and a whole godly woman, wife of
a president of a Bible college, stood up
and she said, You know, I've been more
concerned about having a clean house than a
clean heart, and God has convicted me.
An 80-year-old woman was just weeping.
A very balanced woman, by the way.
She was just weeping and broken before God.
You know, our children were small.
One day we'd have one of those rough
days.
I know you all don't have those down
here, but we have them up our way
quite often.
It was a rough day.
Voices were raised.
Things were said that should have been said
in a different way.
Probably some things were said that shouldn't have
been said at all.
It had been one of those days.
It came time for devotions, and you know
when there's a distinct spirit of alienation, it's
kind of tough to have a meaningful devotional
time.
You know, we earn the respect of our
children by living an exemplary life and then
also by admitting when we've been wrong.
I'll give you 10 words that'll help you
in your home tonight.
Here they are.
I was wrong.
I'm sorry.
Will you forgive me?
Try them out with me tonight, and let's
see if we can get the hang of
it.
All right.
I was wrong.
I am sorry.
Will you forgive me?
Let's try that one more time.
I was wrong.
I am sorry.
Will you forgive me?
I wonder tonight, do you need to say
that to anybody tonight?
Do you need to say that to your
mate?
Do you need to say that to your
mom and dad?
Do you need to say that to your
children?
Do you need to say that to your
pastor?
Do you need to say that to your
local church?
Do you need to say that to your
employer or employee?
I mean, do you need to say that
tonight?
Respectability in daily life.
A young blooded pastor came to prayer advance.
I never met the brother, but he got
home and called me back.
He told me when he got home, first
thing he did, he got his teenagers and
his wife and squared it with them.
He said he went to church Sunday and
revival came after revival had come to his
home.
I really think this is the way it's
supposed to work, you know.
Respectability in daily life.
Brethren, the way we conduct ourselves, the way
we communicate and the way we live must
be worthy of respect.
Foundation stone number four for a revival church
and a godly home.
Foundation stone number four is the foundation stone
of relevant discipleship.
Relevant discipleship.
I asked the question the other night, who
are your children's heroes?
Whose posters are hanging on their walls?
Whose music are they listening to?
You know, parents, God called us to shepherd
our families.
And in Deuteronomy 6, God said, These words
which I command thee this day shall be
in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk
of them when thou sittest in thine house,
when thou walkest by the way, when you
lie down, and when you rise up.
Now, you're supposed to talk of these commandments
of God when you're sitting, when you're walking,
when you rise up, and when you're lying
down.
That pretty well got it covered there.
That discipleship is not some canned package you
got from some organization.
It's a way of life.
Relevant discipleship.
Let me tell you something tonight.
If you're trusting your Christian school to make
your kid turn out right, you're going to
be sadly disappointed.
If you're looking to the local church to
see to it that your kids are, you're
going to be sadly disappointed.
If you're looking to the average youth group
in America, my friend, you are going to
be terribly, terribly disappointed.
We talk a lot of it in these
days about Satan's attack on the home.
Now, friend, no doubt about it, Satan's attack
on the home, but let me tell you
something.
I believe that most of that right there
could be summed up with this phrase right
here.
We have rebelled against God's design for the
home.
We have rebelled against God's design for the
home.
God has got an order for the home.
And my brethren, tonight there are not only
benefits, there are responsibilities connected to the Christian
life.
And you see, we'll never advance on our
knees while we're retreating from the truth.
One man said one time, he said, I'm
the boss in my home, but I'm not
the leader.
I'm the boss, but I'm not the leader.
The godly woman, her name is Mrs. Palmer.
She and her husband have four children.
They all love the Lord.
They're serving God.
Whenever I find somebody like that, I always
get curious and go up and ask them
a few questions.
I said, tell me, tell me, how can
you attribute this here?
Your kids are walking with God.
They did get better.
You know, they were in the ministry or
it's a secret here.
And you know what this dear old woman
said to me, Mrs. Palmer, she said, what
the hell?
I really don't know.
But, but, but she said, one thing I
can tell you is that I never down
talked my husband in front of my children.
She said, even when he was a bit
grouchy, good to know that other guys get
like that, you know, and a bit irritable.
He said, I always made excuses for him.
And she said, I never down talked my
husband in front of my children.
She had proper respect.
And you see, the kids grew up with
a sense of authority structure that God had
ordained.
You see what I'm saying?
God's got an order in the home and
brethren tonight latch hold of this God's promise
to pour water upon those that are thirsty.
And God has promised to pour his spirit
upon our offspring.
Well, if you're dry and you're willing to
admit it and you're willing to do something
about it, God can meet you tonight.
And then brother, God can pour his spirit
upon our seed.
You say, how do we get in on
it?
Well, I'll tell you how we get in
on it.
Isaiah 57, let's say it's a high and
lofty one that inhabited the eternity.
He said, I dwell in the high and
holy place with him.
Also, this great God said, I dwell with
him.
Also, that is of a contract and humble
spirit to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the hearts of the contract
was, you know, the ones that the great
high God of heaven camps out with.
It's not what they're arrogant or the self
-righteous or the self-satisfied.
It's not their crowd.
It's the crowd that's willing to get low
enough, low enough to where God can bless
them.
Would you be willing to humble yourself tonight?
Would you be willing to develop a broken
and a contract heart before God?
That's the one God will meet.
God can do it for you.
You know, tonight, brethren, if what is being
said in these days holds no interest at
all, you probably need to make your calling
and elections.
We had the prayer events.
Then it gets to get up there to
speak.
You talk about an odd looking fellow.
It looks like an Amish guy.
Got a long beard.
Dress is funny.
Don't make the difference what he's got on,
brothers.
What's in him that makes a difference.
And he got up there and ministered our
hearts.
He had a 12 year old boy and
a 17 year old boy here at the
prayer event.
You know, he called me ahead of time,
said, well, Harold would be okay with me
and my boys fasted for three days.
12 year old kid fasting for three days.
You see your children love what you love.
I said, yeah, it'd be all right with
me, brother.
If you want to fast for three days,
we didn't plan on inviting him to speak,
but he got up and gave a testimony
and then we just felt spontaneously prompted.
Hey, maybe this guy's got a word for
us about the family, you know?
So he got up on Wednesday morning and
you know what he got there and spoke.
And he spoke on some of these, this
text right here out of Isaiah that I
just mentioned to you.
And you know what he got up there
and spoke.
God came and nearly 300 men were, I
mean, there wasn't any manipulation.
The whole crowd was just laid out for
about 30 to 45 minutes and God broke
our hearts.
God, this is a lot of people, you
know, did a lot of guys.
I mean, there's still some things going on
consequently about it.
I'm telling you, but my brethren, we're talking,
we're talking tonight about strong families.
They don't just happen.
They must be built for foundation stones for
godly families tonight.
Number one, relevant discipleship.
Now I want to ask you a question
tonight.
Are you growing as a child of God?
Are you growing in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord?
You know, if you're running on the fumes
you picked up 20 years ago, you're far
from God.
You know, every school field note brother, and
some of you ought to forget anyway, but
I'm telling you here tonight, you can know
it all.
But if you're not growing, there's no way
in the world you can be growing others.
If you're not growing yourself.
And one of the tragedies in the churches
today is when people reach a certain plateau,
it seems that they become comfortable and nobody
ever gets past them.
So they never get found out.
So they're able to stagnate at a certain
plane without going on with God foundation stone.
Number two, listen to this respectability in daily
life.
I want to ask you tonight.
I'll ask my, I'm asking myself these questions
tonight.
Are we examples?
Question number three or foundation stone?
Number three, regular devotions.
I want to ask you this evening.
Have you met God today?
I didn't ask you if you had your
devote.
Have you met God today?
Are we meeting God on a regular basis?
If you meet with us, he'll draw near
to us.
If we're drawn near to him and then
foundation store, number one, number one, radical, radical
dedication.
I want to ask you tonight, are you
surrendered to God?
You know, the best definition I've ever heard
of total surrender is you take a blank
sheet of paper, sign your name on the
bottom, tell God, this is your life history
and hand it over to the Lord.
So God, you can write it any way
you want to.
Here it is.
So there it is.
Are you surrendered tonight?
Are you surrendered to Jesus Christ?
If there's going to be revival in the
land, there's going to have to be revival
in the church.
And there's going to be revival in the
church.
There's got to be revival in the home.
Disunity in the home brings a curse on
the earth.
Have we not witnessed that in our lifetime
and disunity in the home is a hindrance
to prayer.
Peter said, dwell with your wives, according to
knowledge, giving honor to your wife, that your
prayers be not hindered.
Revival in my home.
Please revival in your home.
Yes, God can do it.
I want to tonight.
How many of you really, really would like
to freshly surrender to God and to become
radically dedicated to Jesus Christ and by the
grace of God, by the grace of God,
fulfill God's design for your life and your
home and your family.
We've got a prayer room right back there
in the back tonight.
And I'm wondering this evening, if some of
you men, some of you dear women here
tonight, and I know, I know some situations
are difficult.
I understand all that.