America was a great nation from the start. It was a land where Christians from all over the world landed to escape prosecution. Yes, it was great and that was no accident. Our nation was great because it was founded on Godly principles. (Pause) James Adams once said: “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” (Pause) George Washington also stressed in his farewell address: “The two foundations for political prosperity in America are religion and morality. No one can be called an American patriot who ever attempts to separate politics from these two foundations.” (Pause) My how our nation has changed. It is true that many are wealthy and strong. Our nation is a super-power. Yet today, America is not great. In many ways, we have turned out backs on God and our heritage.

This may not be news to you … or at least news you want to hear. Many people ask “how did it get so bad?” Truthfully, it is because the Church dropped the ball. Today we look at the church more as a business than a church. We worry about money; where it will come from and how we should use it, and forget how it was given in trust from God to begin with. I know from my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, that the church once stood for something. It was a place where people could come for worship and also for help … NO QUESTIONS ASKED! Since I have only been on the block for awhile, I can’t really say what happened. But I can look around our communities and see the effects. We have people who need food, yet we often want to know the 5th degree first (who, what, where, times, etc.). We have people who are homeless, but when myself, my wife, or others who are on the board of Helping Hands asks for money, we hit walls. We worry about what is in the bank, instead of who we can help and share the grace of God with. It is because God has placed this on my heart that I tell everyone this morning that it is TIME TO WAKE UP! It is time to break out of our spiritual laziness. As Paul wrote, today is one step closer to the return of our Savior. We are never promised a tomorrow, so why don’t we treat today as our last. Don’t worry about how the bills get paid tomorrow, or who will be in this pew next week, worry about spreading God’s message. The message which Christ said we were to tell the world. As a church (both big C and little c), we should not care about these worldly problems. God said He would take care of us if we truly serve … I know I would never call God a liar. (Pause) We need not worry about material problems, every time we have needed money or material items, have not God sent them into our lives to be used in His service? Instead of worrying on this, we should get up each morning and ask ourselves it we have truly given our full attention and service to God. We should also ask God how we can serve Him today. (Pause)

It is interesting that Paul continues his discussion by pointing to the problems with worry over material instead of spiritual things. In verse 12 he states:

The deeds of darkness … a fancy word for sin. No matter if this sin is gossip, coveting of money, adultery, lying, etc., we must shed ourselves of this sin. As Paul told the Ephesians, “… put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Pause) I think it is clear what Paul is saying here. As Christians, we cannot continue to live in sin. We must begin CLEANING HOUSE! As discussed early this week with several of you, we’ve made prayer in school against the law, yet we have promoted the love of money as a virtue. We have made the slaughter innocent babies legal, yet said that telling someone of God in school is wrong. (Pause) Don’t anyone start thinking that it was that ‘lady’ or the politicians who did this. It was us. We said nothing, which allowed them to get away with this change. I was once told, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Well that time has passed, it is time that as Christians we fight back! Church, it’s time we start cleaning house!

Folks’ its time to SUIT UP! Let us all shed the darkness around us and put on the armor of light (or the armor of God). Easy to say, but what is the armor of God? According to scripture, it is truth, righteousness, the preparation of the Gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. These are the attributes that we must make a real part of our lives, if we are to ever truly become the People of God again. We must become a people:

That always tells the truth, no matter if it hurts our own interests or desires.

Who strive for righteousness, not selfishness.

Who have prepared ourselves to share the Gospel of Christ … a message of peace and unconditional love.

Who place our complete trust and faith in Jesus Christ … in Him alone.

Who accept the grace of Jesus Christ in our own lives.

Who not only know, but live The Word of God.

Once we have woken from our sleep and see the world as it truly is, once we have begun cleaning up the world around us, and once we have suited up in the battle against Satan, then it is time for us to BE RAISED UP! It is with this thought that Paul ends this section. He says in verse 14, that we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, “and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust.” According to the Collier’s Dictionary, provisions are “preparations made for future need.” When we turn to Christ, then we can truly know that Jesus meets all of our needs, both present and future. Yes it is true that America is no longer a great nation. But Christ has placed the provisions, our needs, before us. America can do more than just become a good place again, it can become a nation which is greater than it ever was. If we rise up as a church, no as God’s people, we can make this nation great once more. The time must come when we realize that we don’t live in America, America lives in us, and for America to be a great nation of God again, we must become a great people of God again.