Is God Your Leader?

We'll title our study today, Is God Your Leader? You will follow your leader, whomever he may be, and really there are only, you might say two choices, we could say three. You'll choose to be led by God, by self, and or Satan. So is God your leader? One of the world's greatest needs is leadership.

Leadership will depend to a large degree the course of the world, a nation, a city, a county, the family. Here I have an article by John W. Gardner, who would have one time served as in the cabinet of Eisenhower. He taught at Stanford University for a long time.

Many factors contribute to the rise of the civilization, accidents of resource, availability, geographical considerations, preeminence in trade or military power, and so on. Of course, historically the United States has had all of those things, probably more than any other nation. But whatever the other ingredients are, civilization rises to greatness when something happens in human minds.

Reflecting on great moments in history, great leaders arise, and there occurs in breathtaking moments in history an exhilarating burst of energy and motivation, of hope and zest and imagination, and a severing of the bonds that normally hold and check the full release of human possibilities. Such a leader that would be able to mobilize the people of the world, the nation, the county, the city, the family, so that they are able to achieve their human potential in such a way that would be pleasing to God. At such a time, he writes, the door is opened, and the cage eagle soars, if you have the right kind of leadership. When a golden age subsides, the genetic possibilities in the population have not changed. The human material remains, but the dream and the drama have ended when the great leaders go.

The world, a state, a county, a city, a community, your family will go in the direction of its moral and spiritual leadership. And so will each one of you go in the direction of the leadership you provide for yourself. Of course, you want to be tuned into God's way and what he says with regard to how you should conduct your life, but you have to be willing to have the self-discipline and the self-leadership yourself to be able to achieve the things that God would have you achieve.

So we can safely conclude that the most important leadership is moral and spiritual.

People will spend millions of dollars, as we're seeing now in the presidential election. It is actually obscene that hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent between the two candidates that are vying for the presidency of the United States, but virtually none of them dare provide moral and spiritual leadership. Of course, basically most people in the Church of God and most people throughout the Bible Belt would prefer the Republicans because they embraced a moral agenda that we would identify with, pro-life against homosexuality, a return to basic family values, and many of the time-honored traditions and values that are not only espoused in the Bible, but also among those who have seen what is necessary to build a great civilization.

The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a time when men forsake their God-ordained commission to lead their families, and if you don't lead your family, you can't expect much leadership from anywhere else. In Isaiah chapter 3, in Isaiah chapter 3, verse 4, it says, I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

This is Isaiah 3.5, and the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another, everyone by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honorable. There is really no respect in this world today among the peoples, because you can always find a flaw or a fault in anybody, and with the kind of communication you have today, instant communication, what is done here, maybe you think it's in secret, that might be aired abroad live and in color in Australia a few hours from now.

When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of the father, saying, you have clothing, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.

In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer. So a lot of people have run away from leadership, not wanting the responsibility to stand in the gap and make up the hedge. So he says, I will not be a healer, for in my house is neither bread or clothing, make me not a ruler of the people. Verse 9, the show of their countenance does witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, and they hide it not. And so it is openly displayed everywhere, and some even boast in their sins and unrighteousness. And if you want applause on a talk show, all you have to do is talk about your escapades that we would consider immoral. 1. Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 2. Say you to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 3. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hand shall be given him. Verse 12, our key verse, as for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. The men have abdicated their God-given role and responsibility so much in this nation that they have sold their soul. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. And today our men sell their souls for sex, pleasure, and that kind of thing.

14. All my people, they which lead you, cause you to error and destroy the way of your paths.

The Eternal stands up to plead and stands to judge the people.

Of course, God is looking for someone to stand in the gap and make up the hedge.

So who are we willing to follow? Are we willing to follow God as our leader?

So many people are busy resisting God's leadership in their lives that they become de facto leaders of their own rebellion. Nobody is going to tell me what to do. Today's leaders are victims of Satan's grand delusion, and he is brainwashing governmental officials, corporate executives, educators, teachers, ministers, and parents into believing that many options should be given, and then one must be free to choose for himself or herself and then make a decision, because all options are basically equal. And of course, the only absolute of the day is that you must be tolerant. You must tolerate all lifestyles. Once again, in Isaiah 9 and verse 14, a description of the way things are, Therefore the Eternal will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush in one day.

The ancient and honorable is the head, and the prophet that teaches he is the tail.

For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and they are led of them, and they that are led of them are destroyed. Therefore the Eternals shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows. For every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. So if you just look at television and what's on there and the various mediums of mass communication, you can easily make the determination for yourself. One of the most blatant examples of the way things are going has to do with the educational process curriculum in the public schools. Of course it's not everywhere, but basically in the public schools, and then there's a big distinction oftentimes between public and private schools, they have a program called values clarification, becoming more and more prevalent. Instead of teaching the students the basics of education, reading, writing, arithmetic, how to think critically, analyze, they are taught values clarification, and they narrow things down. Well, if the life of your mother or your father depended upon you telling a lie, would you tell a lie to save your mother's life or your father's life?

And of course you pin somebody down like that, and they're very apt to say, well, yes, I would, to save my mother's life. And various scenarios are presented to students. Well, you might go then to abortion. You might go to other things with regard, and you make the choice and where it's such a life and death matter that you're almost forced to then vacate your value system and say, well, for this I would. And of course there is a time.

There is a time in life and death situations, and there are gray areas, but I think you get the point.

The only absolute of the day is you must tolerate all lifestyles, and if you don't, you will become the target of those who have perverted the values that are taught in the Word of God.

In Isaiah 59, very sobering passages here, especially even the way that Isaiah starts off in chapter 59, "...behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities, your lawlessness, have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." You see, when any leader begins to stand up for that which is right, and in the current presidential race, if you stand up and say, well, you're pro-life, as in the case of the debate this past week between Vice President Biden and the Republican nominee Paul Ryan, Paul Ryan boldly stood up and said, I am pro-life, and if we are elected, we are going to advocate pro-life.

And then, of course, the other one waffles around, say, well, into my own personal life, I do this or that or the other, I'm a practicing Catholic. Well, if you are, then the Catholic doctrine is life begins at conception, and they are dead set against abortion. So, the way that things are geared today, if you do not do the politically correct thing, then all of the media jumps on you. Isaiah talks about this very clearly right here.

In Isaiah 59 and verse 13, in transgressing and lying against the eternal, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood, and judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

Yes, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. So, those who would stand up for that which is right. So, brethren, we know that our deliverance is not going to come from the political leaders of the day. The political leaders are caught in a deadly dilemma and a trap where they have to try to some way, even if they believe in certain principles, word it in such a way that no one just ups and says, well, I'm not voting for him because he's black and white on these issues, and I can't have that. But what is God's response to this? And the Eternal saw it.

He saw that those who stand up for the truth make themselves a prey, and the Eternal saw it, and it displeased him, and that there was no judgment. God is not happy with what is going on. And, of course, ever present is what we've mentioned in sermons in recent times, as in 2 Peter 3, in which some say, all things continue as from the beginning. Oh, this is just another cycle. This is just this, or this is just that. But God says, be not deceived, for God is not mocked, for whatsoever you sow, that shall ye also reap. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessory. Why is it anyone willing to lead in the moral and spiritual sense and shake this nation, and shake the world for that matter? You know, John the Baptist, which we'll talk about if we have time later toward the end, turned the world upside down in six months.

He had no television. He had no email. He had no internet.

Therefore, his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him. The notion is that values are not freely and voluntarily chosen, if they're not freely and very voluntarily chosen, that they won't be internalized. Is that true?

The people have been so conditioned to think of me first, me, my, that they cannot take correction.

Oh, you're going to correct me? Who are you? Well, the person himself is perhaps nobody.

But when it comes to that which is right and wrong, once again, human beings have only two choices. You're going to either choose what you think to be right or wrong, or you're going to choose what the Bible says to be right or wrong. And once again, you may talk about the gray areas. It doesn't specifically say this, doesn't specifically say that, but in the broad general sense, it does say this and it does say that. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul describes the attitudes and behaviors of the end times. He says in the latter days, I'm turning there, in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, this we know that in the last days perilous time shall come. We are living in most critical, crucial, transitional times in human history. It is obvious that we're teetering on the brink, and things could go one way or the other almost overnight.

Perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, those that would stand up for the right, make themselves a prey.

So we can't have anybody standing up for that which is right. We've got to level them. We've got to put them down. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such, turn away.

And I skipped verse 4, which says, tradey, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And of course, we have created a pleasure-oriented society. The two Ps dominate practically all human activity today, profit and pleasure. If it's not profitable in the monetary sense, and if it doesn't give me pleasure, then I don't want any part of it. He continues, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such, turn away. All that may go to church, they may espouse to believe in God, but faith without works is dead, according to James. So you may say all day, it says in James, that the devils believe and tremble.

Many of the demons recognize Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with different lust, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Oh yes, there's a knowledge explosion, and knowledge is being increased almost in a sense that is unbelievable, and that you have the computer there to store it in today's world.

So the notion that values that are not freely and voluntarily chosen will not be internalized, is that true? As far as God is concerned, the question is not really freedom of choice or free will. God will always give those whom he is called freedom to choose.

Now the people in the world think that they have are free to choose anything also. You can always choose to go Satan's way, and you can choose to go God's way. Satan is a tyrant. He's an oppressor. He rules in anger. His chief product is death.

How can you be so... Satan is the greatest salesman of all time, because he can sell death. If you were to knock on somebody's door and say, hey, I want to sell you death, you would not be very successful. But if you wrap it in the glamor and the glitz and make it look pleasurable, exciting, youth-oriented, then you can sell it. Satan poses as an angel of light and the father of liberty. It's one of the things that has corrupted the churches of God, and one of the reasons why we're scattered abroad is the fact that some came in promising liberty. I walked into the pastor general's office in January of 1995, in which he had the in mind to fire me on the spot. After he had given the sermon here in Big Sandy on December 24th, we had all the alumni in, some 3,000 people there.

He in essence said, you no longer have to obey God's commandments. So I walked in and he holds up the paper. First of all, he says, well, on why I called you here was, it was really about the future of Ambassador College, about Big Sandy. I'm not going to let a bunch of renegades down in Texas hole me up.

He began to read. The first one read, and he quoted from Martin Luther King's big speech, Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, free at last. And so he thought that to do away with, in his mind, you can't do away with that which is eternal, that which God has said is perfect, that which the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7.14 is spiritual.

So, Satan poses as an angel of light and the father of liberty. Look at 2 Corinthians 11, verse 14. So the continuation of that story of January of 1995, he then came down here, and he tried to win Wanda and I through flattery. He sent her 36 roses, talked about how she was the best thing since sliced bread, and...

But we made it clear. We're not going that way. We're not giving our lives up, and then turn around and go back.

In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 14. And no marble for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their works. Of course, all of our ends are going to be according to whether or not we're faithful. Now, if you look at 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2, verse 17, which I said that on the one hand, Satan poses as the father of liberty.

Oh, you can be free. James talks about, in chapter 1, the perfect law of liberty. Be you doers of the word and not hearers only. If you are a hearer of the word only and not a doer, James says you deceive yourselves.

In 2 Peter 2, verse 17, These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with the tempest, to whom the midst of darkness is reserved forever.

When they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escape from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for as of whom a man is overcome are the same as he brought in bondage.

Paul writes in Romans 6, And so once again you go back to, are you going to choose to be led by God, or are you going to choose to be led by self and Satan? We can all ask ourselves, have we been influenced by Satan's system of existentialism? In the language of the street, existentialism means do your own thing as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.

Now what is the logical fallacy of such a philosophy? That is, do your own thing as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. Well, the logical fallacy is that you choose, you determine what hurts someone else. Will me blow in smoke into somebody's face in a clothes room, a restaurant, or in the home in the face of your children?

Oh, you can make that choice to do it, but does it hurt someone else? Or if you are a pregnant mother and you decide, oh, I'm not going to abstain from alcohol during my pregnancy, I'm going to do what I've always done. I'm going to drink, I'm going to smoke. And so you have premature births, babies that have lower weight, sometimes far worse consequences than that. You could go on and on with, you can do your own thing, but how are you going to judge what hurts somebody else?

Almost everything that we do has some kind of effect on somebody else.

The world has devolved into social Darwinism.

Of course, Darwin taught the survival of the fittest.

So, dog eat dog.

A world where pleasure and profit are the bottom line. And may the strongest survive. The Machiavellian principle of the ends justify the means. Whatever it takes to get there, I'm going to do it.

Now, it's true that character cannot be legislated in one sense, but civilization after civilization, nation after nation, shows clearly that people become what they are taught, think, and practice.

And you know the old saying of, you know, so a thought and reap an action. So an action, reap a habit. So a habit and reap character.

So, the people in China have a culture. And why do the people embrace that culture? Because that is what they've been taught. That's how they think. That's what they practice. They think it is right. It is their culture.

And then you could go around the world and the same thing. That basically, you come to believe and internalize that which you think, that which you're taught, that which you act on, what you practice.

Recent psychological studies show that people become what they practice even in the internal sense. By that I mean people who practice being happy and enthusiastic become more happy and enthusiastic.

And you can practice the opposite side and become more glum and dumb.

So, what is the Bible proclaim regarding the development of character and about self-leadership? Godly character cannot be developed apart from clearly defined laws. I mean, by sheer definition, if it's godly character, then it must emanate from God.

One of the hallmarks of the New Covenant is the fact that God says that He will write His laws on our inward parts so that our hearts reflect the very substance, the very character of God.

Look at Hebrews 8. The book of Hebrews compares and contrasts the elements of the Old Covenant with the elements of the New Covenant.

In Hebrews 8, verse 6, But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, talking about Jesus Christ. He hath obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is a mediator of a better covenant, which was virtually every translation does not accurately reflect the Greek word here. The Greek word that is translated established in the King James, the Greek word is nomo theiteo. Nomos is the Greek word for law. Theiteo has to do with being furnished or provided with.

So nomo theiteo should be more aptly translated, which was furnished with law upon better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second, for finding fault with them.

Of course, they disobeyed and didn't obey it. He said, Behold, the days come, says the Eternal, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that made with their fathers. And the day when I took them by the hand, led them out of the land of Egypt, because they continue not in my covenant.

And I regarded them not, says the Lord, and he gave them a bill of divorcement, and he put them away. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Eternal, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.

It is furnished, the new covenant, is furnished with law, and God says, I will write it, my spirit, on your inward parts, so that you will have a new knowing. You know, conscience means literally knowing within yourself. And the new man is to have a conscience that is based on the Word of God. The great lesson of the two trees in the Garden of Eden is that character cannot be developed apart from the law and spirit of God.

God is a revelator of right and wrong, good and evil. Now, Adam and Eve, of course, they rejected what God said. God said that in the day that you eat of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. In other words, when you decide to be the determiner of what is right and wrong on your own, you're going to begin to die. And as a result of that, I'm going to cut you off from the tree of life, and you'll be cast out of the garden, and so they were.

And the only way back to the tree of life is through Jesus Christ, who then has come and paid the price for our sins. You know, Israel failed to learn the lesson. God led them out of Egypt into the Promised Land on the way to Egypt. He thundered the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. He gave them the statues and the judgments. He entered into a marriage covenant with them. He instructed them on how to build a tabernacle. He led them by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.

His presence was with them. His presence filled the tabernacle. But once they got in the Promised Land and settled, and Moses and Joshua died, they went the way of all flesh. And the book of Judges closes with, And in those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

And more and more, even in the Church of God, we see people who take on that attitude. Nobody tells me. I'm nobody. I'm nobody. No human being is anybody in and of themselves. Paul says that all a man's righteousness is filthy rags. Of course, he's quoting from Isaiah, I believe. He's a filthy rags in the sight of God. But are we accurately reflecting what this says? That is, to a large degree, the bottom line. It seems in the course of human behavior and discourse that people come to the point in which they... You might describe it as crossing the line.

But it can be crossing the line in the good sense and crossing the line in the bad sense. You know, the tale is told about the Battle of the Alamo, in which William Travis got out and drew a line in the sand when the Mexicans were surrounding the Alamo, and he said, Everybody who wants to stand with me and fight into the death cross over this line.

Some say that story is a myth. I don't know if it's true or not. But for illustration purposes, it can serve. And so basically everybody crossed over the line, and according to the story, that all of them died defending the Alamo and Texas, quote, independence. And then the battle continued, and Sam Houston led the fight down around Houston at San Jacinto, and Texas won their independence.

Shortly after that, they became a state, and shortly after that, seceded from the Union, and shortly after that, they were back in. But, anyway. But crossing the line can be for good, it can be for bad. You know that people have crossed the line for good when they make the decisions based on the Word of God.

You know that they've crossed the line for bad when no appeal to the Word of God, no appeal to common sense, no appeal to logic, no appeal to emotion will turn them from their course. Their mind's made up. They're going to do what they're going to do, bound and determined to go their way, do what they want to do, nurture their own bitterness, get their pound of flesh, and at the same time feel as if they're justified.

We can always somehow justify what we think is right or wrong. We see these kinds of mindsets from the leaders of the land to people who claim to be Christians. Note what God says about crossing the line. Go to 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy 4, verse 1. This is a prophecy for the end times. Now, the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. And Satan has probably never been more active than he is in the world today.

And of course, you have what it says in Revelation 12, where he is cast down, realizing he hasn't. But a short time, he goes about seeking to destroy everything that he possibly can. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. How does your conscience get seared? Your conscience gets seared when you continually refuse to do that which you know to do, that which you know is right. And if you do it enough times, and I don't know how many times it is, your conscience can become seared.

And what you once thought, well, I wouldn't dare do that. You compromise, and you go that way. There are those who have made God over in their own image and think they can determine what God will accept and not accept. I mean, we can't reason around God, and we can't say that God will do this or God will do that unless it's revealed here.

Now, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, Matthew addresses this. Of course, he records. You have a red letter Bible. It would be in red because it's the words of Jesus as recorded by Matthew.

In Matthew, chapter 7, verse 20, Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Verse 21, Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

But he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name have cast out devils, and in your name done many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.

Depart from me you that work iniquity. And of course, iniquity literally means lawlessness.

Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock.

Verse 28, And it came to pass when Jesus had entered these sayings that people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

What does the Bible say about how we should view life and how should we make up our minds as what to do? First of all, let's look at Proverbs 14.12.

And then we'll read another scripture from Proverbs 14.12.

In Proverbs 14 verse 12, There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Now if you just use human reasoning, apart from the word of God, with regard to what you think is right or wrong, you could go astray. Now what is the instruction from the Bible with regard to what to do?

You go to Proverbs 3 and verse 1. Proverbs 3 verse 1, In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. See, is God your leader? Is he the one that is directing your path? In today's world, there's a cloud of suspicion and doubt basically on everyone and everything you want to name. So how do you know who's right and who's wrong? Who do you know?

How do you know who to follow? Well, we read from Matthew 7 verse 19. Jesus said, by their fruits you shall know them. So if you look at a person's record, if you look at their life, what have they represented in their life? And then in what we have today is a mish-mash of every opinion under the sun that you want to name. And so many of the news telecasts are presented with the pro-side and the con-side.

And they get in and they fly back into and expressing their opinion. Nothing is settled, and people go their merry way. And basically they say, well, you let us know what you think. Well, 85% of you think this, or 20% of you think that. And so the court of public opinion is supposed to shape the values of the day. And so they have. And we have become, as a nation, as a people, we have become enslaved by our peers, by the court of public opinion.

There is no clear clarion call to do the right thing. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14, 8, If the trumpet shall sound an uncertain sound, how do you know when to prepare for battle? So the leaders are intimidated in the name of political correctness. They yield to the court of public opinion. The media jumps all over everything that might be remotely considered controversial, like wild dogs and fresh meat.

They especially jump on anyone who stands up and speaks the truth, as we read from Isaiah. And regardless of what you do, someone is going to be offended. What a world! What a world that we live in. My brother and I hope that we are not captured by the court of public opinion, that we're not enslaved by the peer group, that we are willing to stand in the gap and make up the hedge.

So let's turn there. Ezekiel 22. Definitely this prophecy is for all times, and especially for us at this critical, crucial time in human history. Ezekiel. Ezekiel, when he wrote this prophecy, of course, was one of the early captives when Nebuchadnezzar began to come against the nation of Judah. And he took them into captivity. They took the young and the brightest, those who would be potential leaders, in deservitude first. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Ezekiel.

In Ezekiel 22, verse 23, the word of the Eternal came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, You are the land that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof. This is the Word of God. We have those who laugh at people. I have talked about this going back into the 70s, early 70s. Almost 40 years. Well, it probably is 40 years.

There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

Her priests have violated my law, have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane. Neither have they shown difference between the clean and the unclean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. And it goes on talking about it. It's like reading the newspaper today. And then at the end of this chapter, God makes a plea, verse 13.

And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore, have I poured out my indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way, have I recompensed upon their heads, says the eternal God.

So God is looking for men and women who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge, men and women who are not afraid to really, as opposed to what some politicians say, say what they mean and mean what they say and stand by it and not make idle promises.

For example, this article here that I read from John Gardner with regard to leadership. Franklin Roosevelt declared a production of 50,000 planes a year before the United States entered World War II. John F. Kennedy announced his intention to send a man to the moon by the end of the 1960s. Both goals were met, due in large part to the dramatic announcements of the President's high expectations. If you have the kind of leadership in which you communicate to people in such a way that they can do, brethren, we can do. We have some of the brightest, most capable people on the face of the earth, some of the people who are most in tune with what's really going on in this world, and also who know what needs to be done about it. This little essay here, actually I guess it's written in poetic form, Wanted a Man, a Man Who Will Stand by Frank Carlson, former governor of Kansas, congressman and U.S. senator.

We have had men in both ancient and modern history who have had the courage to take a stand and stand firm. And then he quotes from Ezekiel 22, verse 3, where the prophet says, And I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it.

So God is searching for men who are unique, thoroughly secure in Him, filled to running over with His Spirit, men who are not for sale, men who are honest, sound from center to circumference, true to the heart's core, men with consciences, as steady as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth reels, men who can tell the truth and look the world right in the eye, men who neither brag nor run, men who neither flag nor flinch, men who can have courage without shouting it, men in whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep and strong, men who know their message and tell it, men who know their place and fill it, men who have their business and attend to it, men who will not lie, shrink, shirk or dodge, men who are not too lazy to work or too proud to be poor, men who are willing to eat what they have earned and wear what they have paid for, men who are not ashamed to say no with emphasis and who are not ashamed to say, I can't afford it. God is looking for men. I would add women too. He wants those who can unite together around a common faith, who can join hands in a common task, and who have the kingdom for such a time as this.

You remember the story of Esther and the challenge that her alchum Mordecai gave her when the Jews were facing extension at the hands of the evil Haman in the Persian Empire, and Mordecai challenged her with, who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

God give us such men, God in the world need men, who will stand in the gap. Are you on God's short list? You see, there's a short list that they develop when the president begins to select a vice presidential candidate. And going back before that, the GOP and its nominating committee and those GOP political bosses, they have a short list in which they are able to vet the various candidates and come up with those most likely to be able to be elected and be real leaders.

We are here, as I've already said twice, in the most critical crucial time in human history. It's a time not to be intimidated. It's a time not to draw back. We must get in the arena and fight. Fight the good fight of faith. Paul writes in Hebrews 10.38, Now the judge shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. There is never a time for us to draw back. It's onward Christian soldiers for us. But we're not fighting in the military sense. We're not fighting in physical war. You know what Paul says in Ephesians 6, 10, and 11. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against its principalities, powers, and high places. So it is spiritual warfare. And when all is said and done, the battle that is being waged now is spiritual warfare. Our leaders do not understand that the motivation behind the Ayatollah, Ahmadinejad, and so many of the leaders in the Islamic world, it is a spiritual mission and commission, as they see it, from Allah for them. And no amount of diplomacy, human reasoning, or anything like that is going to change their minds. They are set on a course. They are fighting what they believe is holy war, jihad. And we try to fight it purely in physical terms. But those who will survive, that which lies ahead, will put on the whole armor of God, and they'll fight it in the spiritual arena. Of course, there are things you have to do in the physical arena as well. God says to us today, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will suck with him and he with me. To him that overcomes, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am sat down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So, brethren, we have a great challenge before us. It's time to totally focus on God. It's time to boldly proclaim his way, as the apostles did in the early church, and read in the first three or four chapters, especially in the book of Acts. It is time to exercise Godly leadership. It is time to stand in the gap. It is time to boldly live his way. So, let's start today.