[Donald Ward] The messages of this Feast have indelibly impressed upon our minds the urgency of the times in which we live. The world desperately needs the restitution of all things; the whole creation needs to receive the deliverance as it groans for the manifestation of the sons of God. The world desperately needs to be taught and to be relieved of its suffering and pain. This world desperately needs godly leadership, this world desperately needs the God ordained family structure to be restored. We must become as God is, as we heard on the first holy day and if you don’t remember anything else from this Feast from what I say, if you remember 1 Corinthians 13:1-3  - Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, if I’m not becoming as God is, though I have all knowledge, understand all mysteries, prophecies and all that and all faith, if I’m not becoming as God is, it profits me nothing. That’s what we want to do, is to become as God is.

The world has entered into a terrible time of trouble and turmoil and the world will never be the same, there’s no question that the world is at war and the peoples of the world are filled with fear and anxiety. It is still amazing to me that we can have the kind of Festivals and Sabbath services, we’re able to hold throughout the world, even at a time like this, which the world is at this critical, crucial time in this tough transitional time. The news abounds with war, rumors of war, every evil that can be conceived. Where will the next shoe drop? It may be at your front door, on the freeway or it could be in the heart of the world’s largest cosmopolitan center. We have all heard this and more in the sermons and the sermonettes.

So in view of all the challenges that lie before us, what are our goals and plans for meeting these challenges? There is indeed a crisis in leadership, the way of peace they know not. Webster defines crisis as the turning point in the course of anything. A crucial situation in which the outcome is not clear and indeed the water is muddy as we attempt to sort out world affairs. Where is this thing going? What’s going to happen? How much time do we have left? How long will this go on? And on and on it goes.

We live in the era of voyeurism. Voyeurism in another plain language is peeping tom-ism. Looking in on the lives of others, vicariously looking in on the lives of the so-called rich and famous and the leaders of the land, from the celebrities in Hollywood to the sports stars, to the porn stars and so it goes. People are living their lives vicariously and if a leader does arise who begins to provide the world with a ray of hope, he is attacked from every quarter and usually killed. And if not killed, wounded and often times discredited and/or disgraced. 

The world has been shocked over and over by assassinations and near assassinations of world leaders. John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Anwar Sadat, Margaret Thatcher and a host of other ranking officials. This is nothing new and over the years Israel did the same. Let’s go to Matthew 23. In Matthew 23 Jesus Christ is taking the scribes and Pharisee’s, the detractors of His day to task.

Matthew 23:29-32 – “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous and say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Wherefore you be witnesses unto yourselves that you are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill you up the measure of your fathers.”  

Matthew 23:34 – “Wherefore behold, I send you prophets and wise men and scribes and some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city.”

So through the ages the people of God have suffered persecution, you can read about that chronicle of faithful ones in Hebrews 11, of men and women who were faithful even unto death through the ages. The world desperately needs godly leadership and it’s needed now. You may say, well what does this have to do with you? Because as we shall see today, that leadership begins with you and if you don’t perform that leadership, the world will continue to slide into the abyss. There’s no one really on the world scene to provide this leadership.
The world is shortly going to be introduced to the two so-called great leaders, the Beast and the False Prophet and the people will give their allegiance to them, in fact they’re going to worship them! They will deceive the world into believing that Christ has come and then they will kill the two witnesses. The beast that descends out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 11:7 says that they will kill the two witnesses and their dead bodies lie in the street. The world will see it, as you heard in Mr. Philip Aust’s sermon. Is it any small wonder now that God’s true leaders are persecuted? Satan hates the Church more than anything else. Let’s note Rev. 12:9.

Revelation 12:9 – And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving the whole world; he was cast out onto the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down who accuses them before our God day and night.” Perhaps a better translation would be, “the slanderer of the brethren.”

Of course when you engage in slander, when you engage in accusations, when you build your house on a false foundation, on the sins of others, you know that it will not last. You have to build your house upon the Rock and there is but one foundation, no other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3, and that foundation is Jesus Christ. He continues here:

Revelation 12:11 – And they overcame him…three things…by the blood of the Lamb…when they sinned, when they fell short, they went to God and Jesus Christ and cried out for forgiveness and upon repentance, He is faithful and just to forgive us of all our unrighteousness…by the word of their testimony…they were boldly able to speak, if you’re brought before kings and governors, think not what you’ll say because the spirit will give you utterance and you will boldly proclaim, but now also, before that day is the time to boldly proclaim the truth of God…and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Revelation 12:12 – Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell in them! See it is the time of rejoicing, because you know the time is very short, the time of deliverance, the ultimate deliverance. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth…this warning…and out of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knows he has but a short time.

Revelation 12:13 – And when the dragon saw that he was cast out of the earth, he persecuted the woman…it would be Israel and as you heard Mr. Martin say, Israel and Christians are under great persecution at the present time and most of these Christians are nominal, they are doing the best they know how to do with regard to where they are now, and some, and many, in fact thousands have been killed in recent times.

So Satan obviously hates the Church, most of us have not remotely suffered the kind of persecution that the leaders of the early Church suffered. But if you live long enough and remain faithful to the end, you will suffer persecution. One of the things that we need to do is not just look for somebody else. A lot of people sit around and say, I wish the Council would get its act straight. I wish that the Home Office would get its act together - we don’t hear that so much in recent times because we are in a time of peace. Probably the greatest peace we have had in the Church of God for a long time. I’ve been around almost fifty years, in fact my acquaintance with the Church is more than fifty years, but I’ve been around on the scene for almost fifty years. So we’re thankful for the Feast that we do have now.

We’re in a period of time in which we can’t wait for others, it must begin with us. I mean the leaders of this world, they are never going to get their “act” together so we have to prepare now and be prepared. As I mentioned earlier, so many live their lives vicariously, it is not just Madonna or Miley Cyrus doing whatever, they are right there looking in and living it with them. I don’t know how people can stand to watch and hear for weeks the news about a murder trial, I don’t understand that. And yet at the same time, the news around the world goes lacking, if you’re depending on the mainstream American media for news, you will be sadly lacking.

Let’s turn to Malachi 4. We’re going to talk about today, the Elijah Leadership, the kind of leadership we need right now from each one of us. In fact the motto of the Church of God and on our emblem, “Preaching the gospel and preparing a people.” Preaching the gospel – that our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, part of the armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6. It means that we’re ready to take this gospel to the world and preparing a people. In Revelation 19 when it talks about the marriage supper of the Lamb, the first six verses have all this rejoicing around the throne of God it says that “The bride hath made herself ready.” So we’re in that period of time of making ourselves ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb. In Malachi 4:4:

Malachi 4:4 – “Remember you the law of Moses, My servant….

Of course we know that the law in and of itself cannot save us, the law in and of itself cannot give us life, the law is perfect as it says in Psalm 19:7-8, the law is perfect, converting the soul. The law is spiritual as in Romans 7:14, and we know that the wages of sin is death, that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Among the main things that have been restored, the Church of God under the leadership of Mr. Herbert Armstrong was, we came to understand that the law is not done away with. We came to understand the meaning of the holy days and how they revealed the plan of God and we came to understand the nature of God, that God is a family and that He’s bringing sons and daughters to glory in that family. Those are among the three most important. We came to understand that it is only through Jesus Christ that our sins can be forgiven. Even if you were to begin to perfectly obey the law today, it would not pay for sins that are past. And whether you are first generation Christian or a fifth generation Christian, even if you have sinned one time, you need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

So we are reminded here, Malachi is a book that bridges the gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament as we shall see more clearly. It’s a book about messengers, there are five main messengers mentioned in the book of Malachi. We’re not going to spend a lot of time in Malachi but the priests were God’s messengers, John the Baptist, which we’ll spend some time with, great messenger. Jesus Christ, the greatest of all messengers that came to the earth and then the Elijah messenger and of course Malachi himself. Malachi comes from the Hebrew word “Malik” which means messenger.

Malachi 4:4-6 – “Remember the law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments, behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

It used to be, on youth day sermons that I would guess that over half the sermons would read this verse and apply it mainly to relationships within the family, which really could be applied there, but the greater point of this has to do with turning all of our hearts and minds to God. Of course the Father has been spoken of in Old Testament times, the Patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the promises that were given. The greatest promise to Abraham is through Your seed, that is Christ, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

So this Elijah leadership, perhaps you have heard the song by Twila Paris, These are the Days of Elijah. God is looking for men and women, young and old, messengers from God, standing in the gap, voices crying, “Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight the path. The Kingdom of God is at hand.” The sounding of that trumpet and the Elijah leadership begins in the home and with your family. God is looking for men who will boldly proclaim the Word of God and women who will support them and hold up their hands and not quit until Christ comes. The world does not recognize that leadership but we are not of this world. Some may be looking for a man. Christ is looking for  you and me to stand and to lead.

John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah and what did he do? How did John serve? What did he do for Jesus to say he was the greatest born among women? It is interesting to note that those who are born of God will pale John the Baptist into insignificance in the Kingdom of God. I would say the theme of this Feast is sacrificial servant leadership. Jesus Christ advises husbands in Ephesians 5 to love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. He sacrificed His life. The leadership of Jesus Christ was sacrificial servant leadership. Our mission parallels that of John, Elijah the prophet, a type, he was commissioned to turn Israel to the true God. Let’s turn now to 1 Kings 18 and note what Elijah did. Elijah wasn’t politically correct, Elijah wasn’t very popular, but Elijah came on the scene, the kings trembled. In 1 Kings 18 the great showdown at Mt. Carmel between Baal and the true servants of God.

1 Kings 18:19 – “Now therefore, send and gather to me all Israel unto Mr. Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.”

1 Kings 18:20 – So Ahab sent unto the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mt. Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, “How long halt you between two opinions? If the Eternal be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people answered not a word.

Today we are going to answer that call, we are going to stand in the gap, we’re going to boldly proclaim the Word of God.

1 Kings 18:36 – And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Eternal God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word.”
Of course they had just seen the showdown how that God had consumed the sacrifices and the altar and the priests of Baal were put to shame. John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ’s first coming. Now we go back to Malachi , one of the great prophecies in Malachi, we’ve read that one, that last one, verses 4-5 and 6. Now Malachi 3:1:

Malachi 3:1 – “Behold I will send My messenger…this messenger is John the Baptist who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, remember the book of Malachi is about messengers, there are five messengers, Malachi himself, the priest (Mal. 2:7), here in Mal. 3:1 is John the Baptist and Jesus Christ and then in Mal. 4:6 it’s Elijah....Behold I will send My messenger…My malak…and he shall prepare the way before…and the Eternal whom you seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant…that is Jesus Christ, the fourth messenger that is mentioned in Malachi…even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight in, behold He shall come.” Says the Eternal of hosts.

Now you note Mark 1, basically quotes here what we just read and of course applies it to John the Baptist.

Mark 1:1 – The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets…and here we’re reading what we just read from Malachi…”Behold I send My messenger before you and He shall prepare the way before You. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare you the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’”

See the days of Elijah in that sense began with John the Baptist and it continues unto this day. John the Baptist prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus Christ, we are, we shall prepare the way, prepare a people for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 11 now, more about John the Baptist, what Jesus Christ said of John the Baptist. Some people apparently don’t get the message of what Jesus Christ said concerning John the Baptist.

Matthew 11:7 – And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, “What went you out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold they which wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before your face…and now Jesus Christ quotes Malachi 3:1…’Behold I send My messenger before your face, which shall prepare the way before you.’”

Matthew 11:11  - “For verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding, he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Matthew 11:12 - And now from the days of John the Baptist until the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent thus taken by force.

Matthew 11:13 - We are pressing toward – I’m not going into an explanation of that verse – for all the prophets and the law prophesied unto John and if you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was prophesied to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Now let’s go to Luke, let’s go to Luke 1:15. In Luke 1:15 Zacharias had been given the vision concerning the birth of John the Baptist:

Luke 1:15 – “For he shall be great in the sight of the Eternal, shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He shall be filled with the holy spirit even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall be turned to the Eternal their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Part of the motto for the United Church of God.  Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the Elijah leadership and you and I will play a role in the restitution of all things. Let’s go to Acts 3 now. There are three great summary sermons given in the book of Acts. You might want to jot this down – Acts 2, Peter’s on the Day of Pentecost; Peter’s here in Acts 3 and Paul in Acts 13, well there’s four – Steven’s in Acts 7. So now we are going to Acts 3 and we break a little bit into the thought here in Acts 3, in this sermon, this of course is being given concerning Christ.

Acts 3:15 – “and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.” Jesus Christ didn’t raise Himself, several times it says that the Father raised Him from the dead. It says in Romans 8:11, by the same spirit that He raised Jesus from the dead, He will also quicken and make alive our mortal bodies.

Acts 3:16 – “And His name, through faith in His name has made this man strong whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is by Him has given this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I don’t want you to be ignorant, you did it also as your rulers.”

We read that prophecy through the ages how that Christ had sent them prophets, different ones to help them and they killed them. They killed the very Prince of life.

Acts 3:18 – “But these things which God before had showed by the mouth of His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He is so fulfilled. Repent you therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Eternal.”

Of course from the time we were converted, we have experienced a refreshing, as it were, a new life. We received the holy spirit, we received the very essence of God. God is spirit.

Acts 3:20 – “Shall come from the presence of the Lord and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive.” Jesus Christ is currently sitting at the right hand of the Father making intercessions for each one of us. One of my favorite scriptures is Hebrew 7:25 which says, “He ever lives to make intercession for us, therefore He is able to save them to the uttermost.”

Acts 3:21 – “Whom the heavens must receive until the restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, ‘A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, Him shall you hear all things whatsoever He shall say unto you.’”

Acts 3:23 – ‘And it shall come to pass that every soul…every life essence…that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.’

So Christ is the ultimate fulfillment and we’re going to be there to help Him in bringing all nations and all peoples into a relationship with God and Christ. John was filled with zeal. John the Baptist was probably the greatest example of conviction, commitment and courage of anyone in the Bible except Jesus Christ Himself. John did not mince words, people were stirred to action. He even told Herod, as you know, the woman that you have as your wife is not your wife but your brother’s wife. He had his head cut off for that.

So have you been stirred to action? Can you name one thing that you’re going to change as a result of attending the Feast? Are you going to close the gap between what you know and what you do? John tapped the greatest source of all, the spirit of God and His Word. The spirit and Word of God are the two convicting agents. The Elijah leadership requires us to repent and do the first works. If you would, go to Revelation 2 – repent and do the first works, if you’re going to do the Elijah leadership. Now the message is to the seven churches, we know there were seven literal churches on a mail route. These letters were written to the overseers of those churches, to be read in those churches.  Mr. Miller talked about these messages reflect the predominant characteristics of the church through the ages, talk about eras.  The main point I want to emphasize is that the message is for all churches, for all times. Where it says, “He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the Churches.” In Revelation 2:1:

Revelation 2:1 – “Unto the angel…whose the messenger…of the Church at Ephesus write, ‘These things says He that has the seven stars in His right hand…that’s Jesus Christ…who walk in the middle of the seven golden candlesticks…and the seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches. So Jesus Christ walks in the Churches, He is the head of the Church. I know your works and your labor and patience and know that you cannot bear them which are evil and you have tried them which say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars…and we’ve gone through that…and have borne and have patience for My name’s sake and have labored and have not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against you because you have left your first love.”

Now some look at this as just, well I really had that sudden flash of love for the truth when I first came into the knowledge of the truth and I would stay up all night – and I experienced this to some degree and my wife thought I had gone sort of mad and so did my relatives. I only converted my wife, thankfully – actually I didn’t, God did! And miraculously He did call her, just shortly after me and she was called into God’s marvelous light and accepted that truth as well. And there is a great flush and love for the truth in those early times. I know I burned the midnight oil on many a night during those early years, especially the first year, so that I received the literature of the Church, circa somewhere around 1962 or so, that is what, about 51 years ago. There is much more to this.

Revelation 2:5 – “Remember therefore from whence you are fallen and repent and do the first works…see it says repent and do the first works, this love of the truth sudden flash is not necessarily part of the first works, it could be a part of it…or else…how serious is it…or else I will come unto you quickly and remove your candlestick out of its place except you repent.” That’s how serious that it is.

What would you say is the first work? Well I believe it is Matthew 23:23. You see…but I want to make a stop at 2 Corinthians first because one of the main things that God has committed unto us is the ministry of reconciliation. If we were to grade ourselves on the ministry of reconciliation that God has committed unto you, what would be our grade? See the ministry of reconciliation has to do with the first works, because God wants us to walk in a reconciled position with Him and Christ, each member of the body of Christ and the world extended. And one of the main things that He has extended to us is a ministry of reconciliation and if we would follow the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith, we would not have splits and divisions and that kind of thing. We would have the kind of relationships that were talked about last evening in the seminar and I would encourage if you were not here to get the tape, the message, ties a lot of things together. In 2 Corinthians 5:18:

2 Corinthians 5:18 – And all things are of God…v. 17, you’re a new creation…who have reconciled himself to Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To know that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation. And then as we sang in the opening hymns:

2 Corinthians 5:20 – Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be you reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Now we go to Matthew 23:23. If we’re truly preparing a people for the Lord, if we are exercising the Elijah leadership, if we’re fulfilling what we put on our emblem here, logo, whatever you want to call it, I guess technically it’s not a logo, I get some of those legal terms confused. In Matthew 23:23:

Matthew 23:23 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint, anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. These ought you to have done and not leave the other undone.”

Notice this, these are the weightier matters of the law. In other words, they stem from, they spring from the law, judgment – how do I know that I’m a sinner? I would not have known sin unless the law had said, as Paul says in Romans 7, you shall not commit adultery. So it is through the spiritual law of God that we are judged. See if we want to walk in a reconciled position with God and Christ, upon being convicted of our sins, we come before God and Christ and we ask for forgiveness and then God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, extend mercy and then He says, Go and walk in faith, go and sin no more, as the case of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery in John 8. See that is, we are to walk continually in a reconciled position with God and Christ.

But as you recall, the two great commandments, first to love God with all your heart, mind and soul, second, to love your neighbor as yourself, you walk in a reconciled position with your neighbor, in the same process. If you and your neighbor have a disagreement, then you go to your neighbor, your brother, it includes husband and wives, don’t sweep it under the carpet, don’t sweep it under the rug, don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, solve it, if you stay up all night, so what? Walk in a reconciled position beginning in the home.  Father, mother; father, children; mother, children, everybody, and then in the Church. You know what Matthew 5 says, if you bring your gift to the altar, talking about praying, we’re to offer spiritual sacrifices, prayers is one of those, and recognize that your brother has aught against you, go be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. God heareth not sinners, He’s not too happy with people who are not reconciled. That’s so simple, it’s so simple but of all the things, the first works, the ministry of reconciliation, exercising judgment, mercy and faith, brethren we need that.
Now look at 1 John 3, in essence, 1 John 3 puts us in a more spiritual context I guess you could say, that’s not really good terminology but in 1 John 3:10:

1 John 3:10 – In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother, for this is the message that we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

You know, there’s a scripture, 1 Peter 4:8, just going to quote it, it says, “love covers a multitude of sins.” How does love cover a multitude of sins? You know, if you see your brother sinning, you just say, well, I’m going to pray for him, I’m going to love him and hopefully he will stop sinning. That’s sort of what the Corinthians were doing in 1 Corinthians 5 with the incestuous fornicator. They didn’t face it, finally Paul had to write a letter and say, put him away, turn him over to Satan so that he might be saved in the day of the Lord.

This kind of love of judgment, mercy and faith is where the rubber meets the road, it’s what we are really weakest at. If we’re really going to be leaders and fulfill the Elijah leadership, we really need to consider these things and grow so that we will be prepared in helping God reconcile the whole world, every person who has ever lived as we know, shall have an opportunity for that.

Continuing here in 1 John:

1 John 3:12 – Not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his own works were evil. Jealousy, jealousy! Envy.

We read on the first holy day from James 3 that where envy is, there is hatred and every evil work including murder and you don’t have to perform the physical act in the spiritual sense, to kill someone, as we note here.

1 John 3:12-15 – Because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not my brethren, if the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother, he is a murderer and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 3:16 – Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Oh it’s easy if the house burns, give some clothing or food or the storm or tornado or whatever it might be. But this spiritual reconciliation, that’s a different matter, displayed by the sons of men from Cain and Abel to present day. Brethren I hope and I believe that we are growing in that and we are beginning to learn the lesson. We are in desperate need of masculine leadership in the Church of God. Who will stand in the gap and raise his voice like a trumpet showing Jacob his transgressions and God’s people their sins. “Where have all the young men gone, long time passing, where have all the young men gone, long time ago? Where have all the young men gone, gone to women every one, when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?” Turn to Isaiah 3 because Isaiah prophesied of the times in which we live. As it stands right now, the leading candidate for the Democratic Presidential nominee for 2016 is a person known as Hillary Clinton. On today’s Drudge Report, if you’re not familiar with Drudge Report you get every news service in the world, virtually every newspaper on that one site. Drudgereport.com.

It shows Hilary with her new hairstyle which mimics the hairstyle of Angela Merkel, the Prime Minister of Germany. So I guess Hilary knows whatever this is she’s had, won’t cut the mustard on the world scene, but anyhow…

Isaiah 3:1-5 – For behold, the Lord, the Eternal of hosts, does take away Jerusalem and from Jerusalem, the stay, the staff, the whole stay of bread, the whole stay of water; the mighty men, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the prudent, the ancient, the captain of fifty, the counselor, the eloquent orator. I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. The people shall be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.

Isaiah 3:6-7 – When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, you have clothing, be you our ruler and let this ruin be under your hand: but in that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer, for in my house is neither bread or clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

So many men have abdicated their God-ordained position of leadership in the home and the family and they turned it over to the wives and the mothers. And the wife and the mother struggle to keep the family afloat and to keep things going, whereas God wants the men to fulfill their rightful leadership, their God-ordained  leadership potential and their office.

Isaiah 3:12 – As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. Oh my people, they which lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.

In the majority sense, and hope it’s not true in any household that is present here today, if it’s not, it can serve as a warning. If it is, you can change it. To a large degree, women are the moral leaders in America today but the sad thing about it is that our women have been conditioned to be sexually seductive. There is hardly a magazine, even the old line magazines from the past in which you look at the newsstands, does not have something about becoming sexually attractive, sexually seductive, how you can lose fifty pounds in two days and all of that kind of stuff. All the latest whatever it is, to make you look like you are 17 without a blemish in your being and, as they say, the body of a goddess. I don’t know how a goddess would look but anyway, in 2 Peter 2, Peter addresses this, believe it or not, about what is happening to us that our women and our children have been conditioned to on the one hand, you have the men abdicating their leadership responsibility and on the other hand you have the women conditioned through the advertising world.

The advertising world today revolves around sexual, in fact there’s a book called “Sexploitation,” – exploitation of sex. It is so incredible. We look at the, I have here some of the headlines I got off Drudge this morning. “Child psychologists getting new guidelines about the age range  that cover the upper age range for adolescents is being increased from 18 to 25. Adolescents now ends at 25 to prevent young people getting an inferiority complex.” So many of them are moving back in with mom and daddy. “Four month old fetus found in a jar in a high school classroom.” “Teen causes attack on a 70 year old man to celebrate.” “Male nudes take center stage in Paris.” “Russian parents….one thing you can commend Russia for, they have outlawed homosexuality, notice it’s playing a big international argument with the Olympics coming up there in the winter…Russian parents group ask Putin to cancel Elton John concert.”

In Britain, channel 4 is now going to air a program in which couples have sex live during the show; they’re going to put them behind an opaque screen. One couple heterosexual, one couple homosexual and then they’re going to discuss about sex and it says, “The campaign for this starts on September 30 with a program titled, ‘Porn on the Teenager Brain.’” Tomorrow you think, if that’s as far as it goes, tomorrow it will be worse. In 2 Peter 2:13…only need another hour and half, but we’ll quit at twelve!

2 Peter 2:13 – And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving’s while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery…better translation is having the eyes of an adulteress…look at your newsstand at the magazines, look at the women, look at the poses….that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls; an heart they have exercised…a better translation there is…train…they have been conditioned in hair, youth, beauty, all of that together with some commercial product…a heart they have trained with covetous practices; cursed children…or children of curse.

I really feel for our children in today’s world. But among our people, it must not be the case. Teens, regardless of gender are led to believe that they don’t measure up if they remain virgins until marriage. As we notice here, the women have been taught and conditioned to be sexually seductive. Results are unwanted pregnancies, abortions, STD’s, now some of those STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) are resistant to antibiotics and they’re searching for antibiotics for some of these. You couple this with alcohol, drugs, electronic media, perverted music and sadly, adults are leading the way. If there were no more wars and all of man’s economic problems were solved, we would still destroy ourselves because of sin.

One of the main things that media has done so well is to desensitize, especially the youth, with the heart-rending tragedies that are besetting the sons of men. The fine sermonette that Mr. Hopkins gave yesterday about sighing and crying, it’s difficult for a lot of our people to sigh and cry because they have been desensitized so that they do not sigh and cry. We’re in a period of time in which all the characteristics of our present generation are described in Proverbs 30:11, let’s go to Prov. 30:11.

Proverbs 30:11 – There is a generation that curses their father…that is going on today…and does not bless their mother. So many children have killed their parents and so many parents have killed their children in recent decades.

Proverbs 30:12 – There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from the filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up. They’re so bored with all of you, you cannot manipulate your cellphone and your iPad or whatever, your computer, they way they can message, email, look up ten scriptures before you can turn to Genesis 1. Too bad.

Proverbs 30:14 – There is a generation whose teeth are swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men.

What we have now is all of these generations are manifested at one time, the perfect storm, as they say. I see several great obstacles that stand in the way of our youth and young adults. I would venture to say almost everyone under 30 years of age.

First obstacle is difficult to label with one word. It is a type of “we know it all” attitude. The attitude is fostered by technology, the internet and social media as you heard in the sermon on Monday. The know it all kind of attitude says you can barely make a phone call on your cell phone but we can surf the net, send a text message, email, call up the scriptures before you can turn to the book of Genesis, as I’ve already said. It’s the kind of attitude that says, “we are so far ahead of you that it is quite boring to hear you voice your ideas, the world is way past that kind of thinking, we need to be in step with where the world is.” But I have news for all of you and everybody else, human nature has not changed from the Garden of Eden to the present time. The Word of God and God has not changed from the Garden of Eden to the present time. No matter what the ethnic origin is or what the culture is, the Word of God remains the same. The two great convicting agents are the Word of God and the spirit of God. If you’re going to teach and preach, if those elements are not there, the spirit of God and the Word of God, there will be very little convicting taking place. Notice in 2 Timothy 4:1:

2 Timothy 4:1 – I charge you therefore, be followers of God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they will turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

Brethren, if you hope to survive you have to love the truth, and as we heard in one sermonette, you have to hide the Word of God in your heart that you might not sin against God. That’s the challenge to the youth. As it says in Psalm 119:9 - How shall a young man cleanse his way? By hiding the Word of God in his heart.

So brethren, in view of all of these things, what are we going to do? The crisis in leadership is going to be solved and I know you want to be a part of the solution. What do leaders do? They establish goals, objectives, priorities. Remember the Joshua scripture that has been quoted? “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” You want to serve the gods on the other side of the river, go do that, but for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You develop strategies to reach goals, you communicate the plan. You supervise, you monitor, you be aware, you be involved, you spend time.

Just discovered something last evening with regard to building relationships. Never surrender your God-ordained position. It says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 that God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of men, men is the head of woman and the parents are over the children. So in your house, do you provide the spiritual leadership, are you the one that provides for spiritual instruction, for Bible study, do you set the discipline? This is what we expect of you. And then if the discipline is not met, do you take whatever steps it is to correct them?

Pat Riley led the Los Angeles Lakers to several play-offs, he’s now the President of the Miami Heat, he wrote a book about coaching and one of the things that he says here, he writes: “ We can safely conclude that any level of leadership, established for any purpose, that does not clearly articulate the mission, the goals and the objectives, the core covenant, the expected behavioral outcomes, the administrative and operational strategy necessary for the desired results, coupled with disciplinary action if the core covenant is violated is doomed for failure.”

Well brethren, we must establish that core covenant, as it says in Ephesians 5 – train up a child in the nurture and admonition of God. The word nurture means the discipline really, just as we’re talking about here.
God’s eyes are upon us. I believe we can come to understand and practice the proper roles that God has ordained in the family. Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the Church. Wives, see that you respect your husbands. The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church. Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Children, obey your parents for that is right in the Lord. In the rewrite of Isaiah 3:12 will be this: God can write of us – As for My people, the fathers are loving leaders of the home, the mothers are submissive and virtuous and the children obey their parents. He who hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the Churches.