Time to Fight

Salem First Baptist Church, Sunday, January 12, 2014:

Elbow to elbow, crowded pews, 479 people gathered for a single purpose, to worship the I AM, Jesus, the ONE TRUE GOD.  The sermon was powerful; God-breathed, "It's time to stand and it's time to fight! … Men, God created you with the heart of a warrior!" Words spoken with conviction and a passion that only comes through a personal relationship with God.  It was a challenge, a directive, to the men present to stand up a be MEN.  To fight for family and faith.  To fight to return this country back into 'one nation UNDER GOD…'.  To fight for the moral and family values that now seem to be looked upon with ridicule and scorn…deemed as antiquated and outdated.  It was a challenge to the men present to once again be the spiritual head of the household.  It was a directive straight from the holy book, the Bible.

Though it was directed toward the men, it ignited a flame within the women as well.  Everyone listened, even the 9 year-old on the pew next to me who usually spends his Sunday mornings drawing wolves, longhorns, and deer on the back of the Sunday bulletin.  He asked questions on the way home.  The 17 year-old listened.  On the verge on manhood, he listened.  He was moved.  He is ready to fight.

We are becoming a nation desensitized to the collapse of good moral values and beliefs.  The sitcoms make the husbands out to be bumbling idiots who can't do anything right.  What happened to "Father Knows Best"?  I'm sure Ward Cleaver, John Walton, and Andy Taylor would be aghast at today's prime time programming.  Yet we accept it as something we cannot change, turn a blind eye, and continue in our daily lives.  We have traded "The Walton's" for "Modern Family", all in the name of progress.

I was guilty of it, too.  Yesterday a flame was ignited.  Small and flickering, but a single spark can start an all-consuming fire.  Yes, you will encounter opposition.  Yes, you will be ridiculed by some, but that is what Jesus dealt with on a daily basis.

"For where two or more are gathered together in My name, there I will be also."  Matthew 18:20

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear them from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."  2 Chronicles 7:14

It happened, the altar was full, men were kneeling in the aisles, humbled, seeking God, asking Him to heal our land.  Return us to that ONE NATION UNDER GOD.

To watch the sermon delivered by Brother John Hodges from Salem First Baptist Church in Salem, AR, click the following link.  You will be blessed.  Time To Fight. SFBC, January 12, 2014