Changing the Course
Jerry Watts
Habakkuk 1:5-11
With the importance of this week looming large, I went to my bookshelf and reviewed some of the books found there. The titles which I found there (I.E. Heal our Land, Seducing America, Reclaiming Morality in America, Preserve us a Nation, A Nation with a Conscious, and even Enough is Enough) remind me that pulpits and books have been calling for a change in direction, attitude and action for almost a generation. Sad to say, these calls have gone largely unheeded until tonight we stand on the precipice of what could prove to be disastrous.
For the person who has ever endured sickness, here's the lesson which is learned; the sooner you recognize that you have a problem and the sooner you respond to that problem, then the easier the healing will be. Perhaps our country has delayed diagnosis or has ignored the illness for so long, that major surgery is going to be needed.
This week is a time of decision for this nation and we need that power of God to direct or redirect us. For the last 40 or 50 years every sacred institution and belief we have known has been attacked and honestly, most have said, ''That's not really any of business of mine because it doesn't affect me.'' And so, as a nation, we have lived and let live. In 1946, a German Pastor named Martin Neimoller offer these thoughts about his former apathetic society;
''In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.''
Although Habakkuk 1 is our text for the night let me begin by bringing to our attention 1 Thessalonians 5. Please turn there (Read verses 1-3). There are many things which literally jump off the page at ...
Jerry Watts
Habakkuk 1:5-11
With the importance of this week looming large, I went to my bookshelf and reviewed some of the books found there. The titles which I found there (I.E. Heal our Land, Seducing America, Reclaiming Morality in America, Preserve us a Nation, A Nation with a Conscious, and even Enough is Enough) remind me that pulpits and books have been calling for a change in direction, attitude and action for almost a generation. Sad to say, these calls have gone largely unheeded until tonight we stand on the precipice of what could prove to be disastrous.
For the person who has ever endured sickness, here's the lesson which is learned; the sooner you recognize that you have a problem and the sooner you respond to that problem, then the easier the healing will be. Perhaps our country has delayed diagnosis or has ignored the illness for so long, that major surgery is going to be needed.
This week is a time of decision for this nation and we need that power of God to direct or redirect us. For the last 40 or 50 years every sacred institution and belief we have known has been attacked and honestly, most have said, ''That's not really any of business of mine because it doesn't affect me.'' And so, as a nation, we have lived and let live. In 1946, a German Pastor named Martin Neimoller offer these thoughts about his former apathetic society;
''In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.''
Although Habakkuk 1 is our text for the night let me begin by bringing to our attention 1 Thessalonians 5. Please turn there (Read verses 1-3). There are many things which literally jump off the page at ...
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