Preface: I have had the opportunity to advise a number of people to incorporate into their daily regimen....(Ok....I then relent and say.....weekly regimen)....that they listen to a John Piper sermon....or any sermon from a great preacher of the past...or any preacher today who preaches like great preachers from the past. I've had the opportunity to encourage pastors to also do this. Why wouldn't they? Do they not understand the enormity of their responsibilities and then beg of God for help in this area of preaching? So anyway....there are two ways that you could do this.....the first with Piper or Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or anyone....would simply be to Google their name along with 'sermon YouTube." As for John Piper specifically....it's easy to listen to his daily sermons on his website but I'll make it a little easier by giving you a step-by-step....
1....go to desiringgod.org
2....click on the menu at the upper right
3....click on podcasts
4....scroll down to sermon of the day...click on subscribe...you're not subscribing to anything.
5....click on Apple Podcasts.....and you are there!
Note: Today's Sermon Of The Day is very powerful....(it is yesterday's sermon now)....perfect for a new believer or one who wonders if they could ever be one. It also can be Googled at....John Piper, Behold, Believe, Be Raised...please do so!
Note: The voices on the ministry's 'sermon of the day' have been altered and are very fast and at times hard to understand but you can do what I do....that is Google the same sermon....and the voices are normal.
There is analysis all over the place on why the Republican Party did not do nearly as well as expected in the recent elections.....and there is probably some truth in all of that analysis....but there is one fact that takes all of it in consideration....and supersedes all of it. It's an explanation that we on our side do not even want to consider.....because if we accept it then we would have to admit that we can put enormous effort into these elections and it will not drastically alter anything. That fact is that half of America simply wants nothing to do with God....or anything that is directly or indirectly tied to belief in God. Nothing is going to change their mind....and we could see that in how John Fetterman won a Senate seat from Pennsylvania despite serious health concerns....and very radical statements when he could enunciate. He should not even have been considered for the positions that he has had and now has....but then neither should have Donald Trump. All that either party apparatus has in elections is with personal attacks and fear mongering and rage in hopes of winning enough of the supposed independent voters out there.
Before I give what would be an answer to this situation....I have to warn that we can do nothing on our own....and that there are no escapes by means of politics from judgment.....no matter how successful any election might be. That is our mindset right now....and has been for along time.....but it has become more pronounced in the Trump era. The best that we could hope for is that there would be a general repentance and returning to God in much of America....and that God would once again be with us in our decision-making and in the trials that surely lie ahead.
We cannot bring this general awakening about through our own efforts. No prayer march or day of prayer is going to change anything. Only our pulpits can affect the minds and hearts of Americans....and we cannot influence them to do that....nor could they do that if they wanted to. And if they did attempt to something like this on their own it would be so saturated with politics and ideology that it would make things worse.
We cannot call an assembly to change things......but we can call an assembly to say what Joshua said in a similar situation.....to everyone else.....choose whatever you want....we are not going there.....we are humbling ourselves before God.....imploring His strength to return to Him.....and putting all of our hopes upon Him. We will do this as individuals....bringing as much of our family along as we can.
And then we look....and then we look....and see if God is moving within America to repentance. Was the statement that we just made that of one person in a small remnant....or was it a part of a much greater movement that God was doing? We are not the Nineveh of Jonah's day. Our days of avoiding judgment are long gone. And America is not God's Israel today as we have been told....for we are Israel only in that we have forgotten God as Israel often had done....and if we return to Him He will guide us and be with us through the maelstrom that for quite some time we have known to be coming.
Addendum: If my above thesis is correct in that half of America wants nothing at all to do with God....(remember the clear warning of Jesus on what happens when a house is divided against itself)....then we have failed to come to grips with America being one half anti-Christian....while the other half also does not please God! If we can at least see this....then we might be able to also understand why God is judging us right now. If we cannot see this then we would be of the same mindset of the people that Malachi wrote to....who could not understand why God was displeased with them....asking questions such as....the people speaking to God through Malachi's words...."In what way have You loved us?'...."In what way have we despised Your name?"...."In what way have we defiled You?"...."For what reason [did God not regard their offering]?"....and...."In what way have we wearied Him?".
