Watchman Radio Hour

Today, people bow down and worship thngs lilke sports, automobiles, pleasure, sex, electronic gadgets, houses, clothes, and many other things. Anything can become an idol if we give that thing first place in our lives or substitute it for God. The gospel calls us to leave our idols and come to God. True repentance involves leaving our idols behind and following the Lord in our lives. Are we ready to give up our idols in this land? Are we ready to forsake them in order to follow the Lord? Are we going to continue to follow our idols and face the wrath of God for it or will we turn from them back to the God of our forefathers and be blessed? What do we want? God's wrath or God's blessing on this nation?

When the First Great Awakening came to America, it was accompanied by the powerful preaching of the Word of God by such men as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. The Holy Spirit road the chariot of the Word of God into the hearts of the people. Today our nation is in a great drought and is in need of powerful preaching once again. The early church proclaimed the Word of the Lord far and near and the whole world was changed. The proclamation of the gospel must have first priority. Today, power point presentations and friendly talks have replaced the powerful preaching of the Word of God in many evangelical churches. The great pulpits of the past have been set aside to make room for the worship team. Yet, have we not lost something vital in doing this? We need to return to the primacy of the Word of God being proclaimed from our pulpits with power and great conviction.

What we need today is a return to the Bible as our authority in the land. Our forefathers honored the Bible. Today's generation has fallen far from such honoring of God's Word. The only way that the nation is going to return to the Word of God is through an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the land. This is what we should be praying for continually. The Holy Spirit opens hearts to receive the gospel. When the Holy Spirit comes in power, people start believing the gospel. Conversions take place in large numbers and Christians are renewed in their faith. This is what we need today.

Today, there is a need for the powerful preaching of the gospel. When Paul preached people responded with great conviction. He knew the Lord was at work among them. He could see the results and He was assurred of their election of God. Today, we need that deep conviction that came upon Paul's congregations as he preached. Today, we have gotten so caught up in our electronic gadgets that they have invaded the churches and replaced the powerful preaching of the Word that once occurred in our churches. George Whitefield preached to thousands of people without any electronic equipment and thousands were moved and came in droves to Christ. That's not to say there is not a place for electronic equiopment but today we have allowed our electronic gadgets to take the place of a power that once was among us - the powerful preaching of the Word of God. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to sweep the land and bring us back to the God of our forefathers. The greatest need of our nation today is not a better economy or more electronic gadgets or fancy automobiles. The greatest need of our country today is a national Spiritual Revival.

We must endure in hope. Paul commended the Thessalonian Christians and thanked God for them continually for their good works produced by faith, their labor in the gospel prompted by love, and their endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. They were enduring in hope. This is what we must do today as God's people. We must endure in hope. We must believe that there is hope for the future not only for ourselves as individual Christians but hope for the church and through its influence hope for the nation as a whole.

Present judgements are a warning of a Judgement yet to come. A Judgement Day is coming when we will all have to stand before the Judgement Seat of God. How many will be able to stand in the presence of a Holy God? What preparations are we making now for that Great Judgement Day? Let us be warned by present day calamities to get ready for the future Judgement Day?

The church in Thessalonica is already established and Paul writes to encourage and help them. The church belongs to Christ. This church is "in the Lord Jesus Christ". It is grounded in Him. It is His church.

Jesus said concerning the church in Matthew 16:28 - "And I say also unto thee, that thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." That is Satan and all his forces will not be able to stop the church's forward momentum. It will be such a mighty force in the earth that Satan will not be able to stop it. How different is that view from today's popular teaching on the church. The church will wax weaker and weaker and eventually only a remanant will remain and have to be raptured out of this evil world controlled by Satan. In other words, this popular view gives Satan the victory over the church in this age. Yet, is there not a view of the church that is much brighter than this? It seems to me that there is and that it is found throughout the Bible especially in the prophets of the Old Tesament and in the teachings of the New Testament itself.

Jesus is to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Some think our work is almost done and soon we will be taken away to be with the Lord. Yet, this seems premature to believe. Our mission is to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. There seems that there is much work yet to be done when only a small percentage of great nations like India and China know Christ. Other nations have even smaller percentages of Christians. Also, there are great nations that once acknowledged Christ that have turned away from Him as a people. They need to be recovered for the gospel. There is so much work yet to be done that we must press forward and not give up. It seems to me that the greater work is yet to be done. The kingdom of Satan will not win. The kingdom of God must advance. Our prayer must continually be that the church will grow and prosper and be a shining light in this world that brighter days will yet come for her.

Our view of the church is important. How did the Old Testament prophets view the church and its future? Some say that they didn't even see the church coming. Yet, is that really true? Did not the Old Testament prophets indeed see the church of the future and prophesy of its glory? Is there no continuity between the New Testament people of God and the Old Testament people of God? There was indeed a continuity. The New Testament people of God were an outgrowth of the Old Testament people of God. This is what Paul teaches us in Romans 11. There is only one olive tree. It began in the Old Testament and it continues in the New Testament as the Gentiles are engrafted into it. Zion is renewed and reborn in the New Testament Church. The Old Testament Zion continues on in the New Testament Zion. The Messiah has come and He has set up His Church and He reigns spiritually over her. The Old Testament prophets looked ahead and saw the New Testament Zion, the renewed and fulfillment of the Old Testament Zion. They prophesied of glorious days ahead for the church. We are not going down in defeat but the church is yhet to see her glory in this age.