Sermon

          On September 11, 2001, we in America received a wake-up call. On that date, we found out that America was not invincible, but in fact, was very vulnerable to outside attacks from hidden enemies both here and abroad. God used this event to show us that we are helpless and hopeless without His direct involvement in our lives. Nothing has been more evident to me during the last six months than the need for a far-reaching revival in America, that will be lasting, and will not die out as past revivals have.

          Over the past month, God has been wrenching my heart to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our churches, our homes, our places of employment, our schools, and in our government institutions. And this brings me to the reason I have asked all of you to join us in praying for revival and a great awakening among people in the Central Pennsylvania area, and throughout our nation as a whole. Over the past 30 years, America has experienced a breakdown in religious affiliation, family structure, morality, and obedience to the civil law. People are becoming more and more barbaric in their behavior, and the church has been consciously ignoring this breakdown because it is asleep in the light.

           It is time for Christians to wake up to the reality that God is holy, is righteous, and is looking for people who want to obey him at any cost, in spite of what our society preaches or tries to force upon us. We need to experience a fresh outpouring of God's Holy Spirit in our lives, an outpouring so great, that it will spread like wildfire across our nation. In fact, I believe that this is the only hope left for America, as our freedoms and the things we hold dear are in greater jeopardy than we might think.

           Churches in this country have become so inner-focused, so factionalized, and so "committee" oriented, that they have lost sight of their chief purpose - to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.

           Let me share some startling statistics recently released by the Barna Group- A Christian research organization well known in both secular and Christian circles.

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The 7 Most Important or Revealing Results

          Poring over hundreds of statistics released during 2001 through The Barna Update, the bi-weekly report on American culture and faith, Barna chose the following seven outcomes as those that have the most significant implications.

1.  When people who regularly attend Christian church services were asked to describe the importance of various spiritual endeavors, a minority of regular attenders described evangelism, having meaningful relationships with other people in their church, and giving 10% or more of their income to their church as very important endeavors.

2.  After studying more than three dozen different faith practices and biblical beliefs, adults under the age of 35 were the least likely to have a biblical perspective or consistent participation in each of the factors examined.

3.  Forty one percent of the adults who attend Christian church services in a typical week are not born again Christians - meaning they have not embraced Jesus Christ as their Savior.

4.  After exploring the religious life of adults attending a variety of Protestant churches, only three types of churches - Pentecostal, Assembly of God, and non-denominational churches - had a majority of adherents who had shared their faith in Christ with a non-Christian in the past year.

5.  Based on people's reactions to a series of moral issues, Americans are comfortable legalizing activities - such as abortion, homosexuality and pornography - that they feel are immoral.

6.  Religious teaching or values minimally affect people's moral choices. The major influences on such decisions are the expected personal outcomes of their choices, minimizing conflict over their choices, and the values their parents taught them.

7.  Compared to two years ago, just half as many Americans believe that absolute moral truth exists, dropping from 38% in January 2000 to only 22% in November 2001.

          Barna noted that this list suggests that "faith is just one component in people's lives that helps them to interpret and cope with reality - and it certainly is not the central shaping influence for most people. The data regarding young adults also poses the possibility that churches are losing ground in terms of influence and may need to consider new approaches to making ancient truths more vivid and comprehensible in a technology-drenched, relativistic global community."

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The 7 Most Controversial Statistics

          Based upon the letters, phone calls and e-mail messages received in response to the bi-weekly Updates released during the year, Barna identified the statistics that got the greatest number of people exercised.

1.  Among adults who have been married, born again Christians and non-Christians have essentially the same probability of divorce.

2.  Mormons are more likely to read the Bible during the week than are Protestants or Catholics.

3.  Adults who attend charismatic or Pentecostal churches were more likely to possess biblical beliefs than were those attending other Protestant and Catholic churches.

4.  By the end of the decade, 50 million Americans will seek to have their spiritual experience solely through the Internet, rather than at a church; and upwards of 100 million Americans will rely upon the Internet to deliver some aspects of their religious experience.

5.  Roman Catholics represent the second-largest denominational group of born again Christians in the nation - trailing the Southern Baptists, but way ahead of Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others.

6.  Although one-third of all born again adults claim to tithe their income, only 12% actually do so.

7.  Just half of all home schooling parents are born again Christians.

          "One of the greatest values of research is that it can identify myths that we hold on to - myths that often prevent us from seizing opportunities, or that prevent us from responding appropriately to the world around us," Barna explained. "A lot of the anger that was expressed to us in reaction to these findings reflects the difficulty we sometimes have in changing our predispositions and coming to grips with a world that is rapidly changing and does not conform to the rules we believed were firmly entrenched. Knowing the reality, rather than the myth, can help us address reality and, if need be, redirect it."

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The 7 Most Surprising Findings

          Barna acknowledged that after more than two decades of conducting research on faith matters, it is unusual for surprises to emerge from the research. However, he listed the following seven unexpected outcomes:

1.  The percentage of US Hispanics affiliated with the Catholic church has declined from 68% in 1991 to just 53% today.

2.  Since 1993, the number of pastors who say they have the spiritual gifts of preaching/teaching, pastor/shepherd, discernment, and leadership has risen significantly.

3.  Despite their evangelistic reputation, just four out of ten adults attending a Baptist church shared their faith in Christ with a non-believer in the past year - less than the proportion of adherents of many other denominations.

4.  A higher percentage of adults are against legalized abortion in all or most circumstances (55%) than supports it (42%).

5.  A plurality of adults support the legalization of same-gender sexual relations, and even one-third of born again Christians support this aspect of "gay rights."

6.  Four out of ten Senior Pastors do not have a seminary degree.

7.  Despite sales that top 5 million units, The Prayer of Jabez was known to only 13% of adults; and despite sales exceeding 20 million units, the Left Behind books were known to only 24%. In contrast, the Harry Potter books were known to 69% of Americans - and that was before the movie release and related hype.

          Barna stated that these findings tended to remind us that American culture as well as people's faith is constantly changing, and assumptions need to be continually re-examined to assess their validity.

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The 7 Most Significant-But-Not-Surprising Insights

          There are some conditions that have been assumed or anticipated, yet having factual evidence of their existence does not diminish the significance of such knowledge. Among the figures Barna cited that meet this description were these seven:

1.  After the 9-11 attacks, religious activity surged, but within two months, virtually every spiritual indicator available suggested that things were back to pre-attack levels.

2.  Just 12% of Senior Pastors say they have the spiritual gift of leadership; only 8% say they have the gift of evangelism; in contrast, two-thirds say they have the gift of teaching or preaching.

3.  There is a fairly strong correlation between regularly reading the Bible and having conservative theological, moral, social and political views.

4.  Less than 5% of the nation's churches have youth groups that attract 100 or more teenagers.

5.  The gap between Protestants and Catholics in terms of religious practices and beliefs remains quite substantial.

6.  From 2000 to 2001, there were no significant changes in 12 out of the 13 core religious practices tracked; only 2 factors have changed significantly in the past five years.

7.  Less than 1% of Hispanics attend a mainline Protestant church, and less than 1% attend a Baptist church.

          "Sometimes, it is the things that we have suspected but failed to act upon due to lack of factual support that have the greatest potential for impact in ministry," the researcher noted. "Some of these findings are perhaps obvious but are nevertheless critical elements in facilitating strategic responses."

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The 7 Most Challenging Outcomes

          Barna closed out his lists with one describing the greatest challenges churches face based on the year's research findings.

1.  There has been a substantial deterioration regarding people's understanding of spiritual gifts, with a five-fold increase in born again adults who are aware of gifts saying God did not give them one, and half of all born again adults listing gifts they possess which are not among the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible. Even one-quarter of all Protestant pastors listed one or more gifts that they possess which are not identified in the Bible.

2.  Financial support of churches dropped substantially between 1998 and 2000 - and will likely decline again this year, as a result of changed giving patterns related to the 9-11 attacks.

3.  At least three out of ten born again adults say that co-habitation, gay sex, sexual fantasies, breaking the speed limit or watching sexually-explicit movies are morally acceptable behaviors.

4.  Half of all adults maintain a non-biblical perspective on the moral acceptability of four or more of the eight core moral behaviors evaluated.

5.  Although attending church as a child increases the likelihood of a person attending as an adult, that affect is declining substantially.

6.  The religious beliefs of people who have attended church since childhood are no different than those of people who did not attend when young but attend as adults.

7.  Compared to teens throughout the past 20 years, today's teenagers have the lowest likelihood of attending church when they are living independent of their parents.

          Barna commented that such data underscore the magnitude of the challenges facing American ministries. "This is an exciting time to be alive for religious leaders who understand the spiritual search that millions of Americans have embarked upon and are willing to engage with people who do not necessarily accept pat answers or traditional solutions to spiritual problems. Our society offers people a plethora of choices. Helping people to comprehend that spectrum of options and the consequences of their choices is one of the exciting challenges facing the religious leaders of our nation."

NOTE: If you would like more information on George Barna Surveys, click the following link:

http://www.barna.org

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          We can see from George Barna's research that Christians in today's American culture are no different than the world when it comes to taking marriage seriously, believing in moral absolutes, practicing sexual abstention outside of marriage, obeying the laws of the land, and believing God at His word.

          The statistics are astounding!. While most pastors view themselves as having the gift of teaching, people in their churches have no clue what they believe in or how to practice their faith in daily life. Let's face it, if our preaching and teaching do not result in changed lives, they are useless. It is time for ministers in the body of Christ to wake up to the facts, and stand up for the truth, regardless of how unpopular that may be.

          Christians in our society don't know how to practice their faith. They say they are "born again" and know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, but don't know the first thing about living a holy life; a life that is pleasing to God. This is one of the many things that we need to pray for. There is no consistency when it comes to allowing Christ to live through them, and showing others his love through what we do and say, or what it means to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Remember folks, to many people, we are the only Bible they will ever read. Let's not let the devil destroy what God has come to do by allowing ourselves to become lethargic, uncommitted and undisciplined in our Christian walk - in other words - by not allowing Christ to live his life through us.

          God is looking for people who will not bend the knee to the false gods of our time, but who will follow Him unequivocally, giving him complete and total control of their lives. The American church has become the Laodicean church of its day. We say we are rich, but are actually wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. We hold the form of godliness, but deny its power. It's time for the church of Jesus Christ to seek the face of God, repent of her sins, and submit herself again to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, or she will become desolate.

          Click these links for the Vision Statement, and Mission Statement that Shirley and I believe God has placed on our hearts.

          We need to focus on this vision and mission and make them part of our daily lives. If revival comes, it must first come to us, then spread to others in the body of Christ. Christians need to focus now on seeking God as one body, regardless of denominational affiliation. We need to quit fighting each other on secondary doctrinal issues, and focus on what is most important - bringing to salvation to those who are lost, and restoring those who have become backslidden as a result of sin. We need to repent as members of Christ's body, not as members of a denominational church, or for that matter, a non-denominational church, and seek the face of God Almighty, as we humble ourselves before Him and turn from our wicked ways. We need to hear from heaven so that God will heal our land.

          May God be with us as we begin this spiritual warfare and hold high the banner of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.