from D. James Kennedy Ministries. This is Kennedy Classics. Welcome to Kennedy Classics. Hello, I'm Frank Wright, President of D. James Kennedy Ministries, where we are standing for truth and defending your freedom. Welcome to Kennedy Classics. You've probably heard it said that there is strength in numbers. Well, that statement is obviously true, but that doesn't mean we should automatically discount efforts of the individual just because they're only one person. Many times individual efforts to effect great change have been very successful. For example, Martin Luther was a simple German monk and he ended up becoming the seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. William Wilberforce was a British politician, just one member of a very large parliament, and he ended up becoming the driving force to end the slave trade in England. Both of these are great examples of the power of individuals that they have to influence and create change. With our culture seemingly falling apart around us, it would be easy to adopt a defeatist attitude. You might think, I'm only one person, what can I possibly do? The truth is, you can do a great deal to impact the Kingdom of God for Christ. God calls us to Himself as individuals and with His help, all things are possible. Our culture has turned its face from God and it desperately needs to turn back. What is our role as individuals in helping make this happen? Here is Dr. D. James Kennedy's stirring message delivered at a Reclaiming America for Christ conference held at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. What can one person do? Thank you. What can one person do? That's a question that I hope all of you will be asking yourselves. You remember Paul as he was on his way crossing the desert, was stopped by the Lord, The blazing light, he was thrown from his horse, and trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And I believe that any of us whose hearts are truly open to the Lord and his will for our lives can do that. return to your city, search his word, go to him in prayer, wait upon him, and he will tell you what you must do." We have a world that's full of problems today. Of course, it seems to be full of problems most of the time, doesn't it? Whether it's war, we've got that, or whether it is natural disasters, we've got those, whether it is immorality, that is certainly here, in spades as they say, whether it is inflation or depression or whatever it might be, it seems that there's always problems. And why do we have so many problems and what can we do about them? I would like to suggest to you today two things which I believe are uniformly the cause of our problems and also contain the solution. And those are the two great mandates that God has given to us. The first one is called the cultural mandate. It's not as well known, but it's found in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis 128. And there God told Adam and Eve that they were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have Lordship over it all. Take care of it. And that is what we are to do. This is my Father's world, we sing, and God should get the praise. And yet, does he? Is it God who gets the praise from our culture, our world, our television, our radio, our motion pictures? Only rarely. It's usually the devil who is getting the praise for what he does. And God is mostly left out. Christ is more than that, left out. And so how can we bring Christ back into this world, into his world. He has all but been evicted from his own world. Somebody asked when a fire broke out in a school, where was God? Someone replied, you excommunicated him, you threw him out. A year ago, don't you remember? That's where he was, not wanted. And unfortunately, that's where he often has been. Too often, people are told that we're not to get involved in our culture, whether they're talking about politics or whether they're talking about communications or the arts. This is to be left to unbelievers and Christians are not to involve themselves. I remember 20 years ago, a lady asked me, do you think Christians should get involved in politics? And I responded, of course not. we should leave it all to the unbelievers. Otherwise, we wouldn't have anything to complain about. And we would really rather complain than do something, wouldn't we? And unfortunately, there's more truth to that than we would like to admit. And so we should be involved in every sphere of our life and culture and not leave it to anyone else. But we should do that in order that God may get the glory from his own creation instead of what we often see. The second great command that God has given to us is his last command, and that is that we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. As we know, that's called the Great Commission. And it was the last thing Christ said. In fact, he repeated it four times at the ends of three of the gospels and the first of the book of Acts, that we are to preach the gospel to every creature. That is what we're to do, which is to say, folks, it's all up to us, not to anybody else. And I believe that God's plan will succeed and that we will reach the world. I remember just reading recently about a man who took a taxi cab in Washington, D.C. The passenger spoke to the man about Christ. I assume he was planning to witness to him. And he found out that the man didn't know anything about Jesus. He said, who is that? I said, Jesus, you know, Jesus Christ. Who is he? And he asked him, how long have you been in this country? He said he'd been driving a cab in Washington, D.C. for 12 years. He had never heard of Jesus Christ in 12 years. Now you multiply that millions of times across this country and you'll find out why we have so many problems in our nation today. because we have been disobedient to the Great Commission. The result of that is that there are tens of millions of people, many of them born in this country, most of whom have heard of Jesus Christ, but millions of which have never understood the gospel, have never received Christ into their own heart and life to change them, transform them, and make them new creatures in Christ. And so consequently they haven't been changed. And we remember the backdrop of this whole thing, that we're part of a fallen human race. Now that was 50, 75 years ago, understood by everybody in America. You know, it's not anymore. How many times do you hear people say, oh, well, I'm a good person. Oh, we're good people. All these people are all good. Gee, I wonder what Jesus Christ came down here for. From all these good people. You know, I frequently say to people who tell me that they're good, I say, no, you're not. I mean, they need to hear that sometime before they die. The Bible says there's none good, no, not one. And if there were, you're not it. We're all sinners. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I the Lord search the heart. So we live in a world of sinners and we do our part to keep it going. The sin that is. And consequently we need a savior. Since most people don't think they're sinners, they don't see any need for a Savior. So they need to realize that. And you can tell them in such a way you're not going to get them furious, at least most of them. So far I haven't gotten shot. I've had a few come to do that. So far, the Lord has protected me. But we need people to understand that they are sinners and they need a Savior, and their lives need to be changed. Just last night, I talked to a man right in my office. And the idea that he was a sinner and needed a Savior was alien to him. And that's true of so many people. And we need, you know, it's nice to say everybody's good, everything's fine, but it's not that way. We're all in need of a Savior. And unless you are a sinner, you can't have anything to do with the Savior of sinners. He came to seek and save that which was lost and nothing else. So we need to proclaim the gospel. Somebody said they were happy that we had an evangelistic emphasis here in the church, which underlies everything else and which is absolutely vital if we're going to understand our times and be able to make a difference in the lives of people. And that's what I feel is where we begin in the Christian life is leading people to Christ and training church members to be able to do the same. I would have I wouldn't have this church, we wouldn't have television, we wouldn't have any of these many organizations that we have unless someone had first of all taught me how to witness and lead people to Christ and teach others to do the same. That's something that's vitally essential in our world today. Thank you. It's going to be done by Christ and His Word and His Holy Spirit and His gospel. But it is our job to tell them, not somebody else's. And it's interesting, if you look in the New Testament, You'll see that God said, Christ said to Paul, when he smote him from his horse, Paul said, Lord, who art thou? And he told him who he was. He was Jesus whom he persecuted. Then he said, finding out who Christ was, he said, Lord, what will you have me to do? And Jesus told him. Peter, however, you may remember, responded differently. When Christ was still in his resurrection form on this world, they were at the lake, you may recall, and Christ said to Peter, Peter, follow me. And Peter said, well, Lord, what should I do? Uh-uh. That's what Christians say. What Peter said was, Jesus said, Peter, follow me. And Peter said, when he turned and looked at John and said, Lord, what shall this man do? Let's get somebody else to do it instead of me. And Jesus said, whether I would that he should stay here till I return, what is that to you? Follow me. And I would say to you, forget what all the rest of this people here may or may not do and all over the country. The question is, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Will you then do it? We so easily want to pass the buck and leave it to somebody else to accomplish it. But I believe that Christians are waking up. I believe they're getting involved. I believe that they're multiplying in numbers. And those numbers are getting involved not only in evangelism but in the cultural mandate of impacting every facet of our society. I heard a story that touched my life deeply many, many years ago. And I'm going to leave you with it. I hope it'll have the kind of impact it had upon me. It's a story about courage. And you know, one of the reasons that the church has not done what Christ told it to do is because it does take courage. You remember, they took note of them that they had been with Jesus. When they saw their halo, their piety, when they saw their what? Boldness. They took note of them that they had been with Jesus when they saw their boldness. We need Christians that are bold. And I think I can say that because I was once president of the International Association of Cowards. We had our own motto, we had our own emblem, and greeting, you know, huh, huh, huh. But the Lord began to work on me, and I am happy to say that He has given me that boldness that Christ can give to enable me to share the gospel with anyone—presidents, prime ministers, governors, senators, anybody—and see that the gospel can have an enormous impact on people. courage, boldness. I think of a man who was very bold. In fact, it was said that he wasn't afraid of anything. He was the only one that could break this enormous black horse named Eusephalus. They were going to kill him, but he took him and broke him and rode him for the rest of his life. You may be figuring out who this was. He was a very bold warrior. He was a conqueror. His name was Alexander, and we call him the Great. Unfortunately, he lived before Christ 300 years. And he conquered the known world and wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. And one day he was having court for his army in the city of Babylon, not far from where a lot of activity is taking place now, about 50 miles from the present capital. And one after another, the soldiers were brought out by the officer involved there, and the whole room was surrounded by his officers. They're all shiny armor. They had their shields. They had their spear. They had their swords. And they were a room far larger than this. And finally, they brought out a young man, very young, who was a Macedonian, as Alexander was. And he was a very young man and of fine countenance. And Alexander looked at him, and you could tell that he was attracted to this fellow. Then he asked what he had done, and he had run in the face of the enemy and had hidden in a cave. Alexander's countenance changed completely. He said, this man is so young. He says, soldier, what is your name? The soldier took a deep breath along with all of the guards standing around this huge hall, and he said, Alexander. The countenance changed completely. And with a stern look, he said to him, what is your name? The man snapped to attention and said stutteringly, Alexander, sir." The king leaped from his throne chair, took him by the tunic, and lifted him right off of his feet, stared him in the eye, and then threw him on the ground and said to him, soldier, change your conduct or change your name. What is your name, sir, madam? Christian, Lord. What is your name? Christian, my God. You who have cowardly denied Christ year after year in this world and have never confessed his name or borne witness to his grace, you dare to take upon yourself that name? Man, woman, change your conduct or change your name. Amen. I'm Rob Pacienza, Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, which was founded by Dr. Kennedy. I'd like to ask you a question that he often asks people. Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that when you die, you'll be with God in heaven? Or would you say you're still working on that? The Bible tells us today is the day of salvation. And if you don't have the assurance that when you die, you'll go to heaven, then I have the best news you could ever hear. You see, heaven is a free gift. We can't earn it and we don't deserve it because of our sin. And we're all sinners who have fallen short of God's perfect standard. Only Jesus lived a perfect life, which is why He could die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins, a penalty we could never pay. But Jesus died and then rose again three days later, and now He offers us the free gift of eternal life, which we receive by trusting in Him alone. No amount of good deeds could ever earn us heaven. It's all about Jesus. If you'd like to receive this gift and know peace with God in this life and next, pray this prayer with me right now. Lord Jesus Christ, I know that I'm a sinner in need of a Savior, and I thank you for dying to pay the penalty for my sins. I ask you to forgive me and give me a new heart with the right desires so that I might live for you and for you alone. I place my trust in you, and it's in your name I pray. Amen. If you just prayed that prayer, I want to be the first to welcome you to the family of God. We have a special book that we'd like to send you. It's called Beginning Again. Dr. Kennedy wrote it to help new believers grow in their faith. To receive your copy of Beginning Again, just write to our address or call our toll-free number. And may God richly bless you. As Dr. Kennedy shows us, one person can make a great difference for the Kingdom of God. When we rely on God for all things, there is no limit to what we can change in our culture. One ongoing travesty in today's culture is the disregard for human life. It's absolutely chilling to see what's happening in the medical community as sanctity of human life as an ethic is discarded for so-called quality of life. Especially in a nation where more and more politicians on the left are calling for so-called Medicare-for-all, like so many promises of socialism, Medicare-for-all sounds great until you realize what it actually is. Single-payer, government-controlled health care that would double the federal budget and abolish private insurance. Health care rationing by government bureaucrats would become an absolute necessity. We want to give you an opportunity to make your voice heard on this important issue. We are sending an open letter to President Trump asking him to stand firm in his pro-life convictions and veto any legislation that comes before him calling for Medicare for All, for death panels, for abortion funding in the U.S. or around the world. The Congress failed to defund Planned Parenthood and replace Obamacare, and the authority of the President is our last political resort. Please go online right away to sign this urgent letter to President Trump encouraging him to stand firm. Just go to djkm.org forward slash letter to sign. And we also want to share a new resource with you that will help you understand the threat posed by the new socialists and their health care proposals. It's the new Truth in Action Q&A booklet entitled What's Wrong with Medicare for All? And we will send you a three-pack of this important booklet as our thanks for your generous donation to the ongoing work of this ministry. Simply write to us at D. James Kennedy Ministries, Box 11164, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33339. Or call toll free, 888-332-3069. Or you can go online to djkm.org. What's wrong with Medicare for All? Shows how this proposal is nothing more than a socialist scheme that is completely unworkable and that will endanger the most vulnerable among us. Do you want government bureaucrats deciding whether or not you have enough productive life ahead of you to warrant life-saving surgery? This important booklet explains in concise, easy-to-understand language what the issues are from a biblical perspective. Get one for yourself and as an individual you can make a concrete difference by sharing the other copies with friends and family or others in your sphere of influence. We'll send you the three-pack of our Truth in Action Q&A booklet, What's Wrong with Medicare for All, as our thanks for your generous donation. Simply write to us at D. James Kennedy Ministries, Box 11164, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33339. Or call toll free, 888-332-3069. Or you can go online to djkm.org. I'm Frank Wright. Thanks for joining us for this edition of Kennedy Classics. We'll see you next time. Today's program is available on DVD for your gift to this ministry of any amount. Please call, write, or log on to our website today. This has been a production of D. James Kennedy Ministries. you