Well, as we all know, tomorrow, July the 4th, is Independence Day, the day that we celebrate our national independence from Great Britain, considered to be the birthday of the United States of America. And as citizens of the United States who are also Christians, we ought to be patriotic. In fact, we ought to be the most patriotic people in all the United States of America with a true and a godly patriotism. We ought to love our country and support it and defend it, and most of all, give God thanks for his goodness and blessings upon our nation down through these years. But as Christians who are first and foremost citizens of Christ's kingdom, And that is our first priority. We must, therefore, pray for our nation and weep for its sins and decry its excesses and warn our nation of the judgment of God, which must surely fall upon it. It has now been 229 years since July 4, 1776, when our forefathers declared their independence from Great Britain and then fought a war of independence in order to make that declaration stick. If they had lost the war, and there were certainly times when it looked like they would, then there would be no July 4 Independence celebration and our national history would be very different indeed. And so we certainly trace the providence of God in the outcome of that conflict, recognizing that there were many times in that war when From a human standpoint, things could have gone in an entirely different direction. But God, in his goodness, directed the affairs of our nation and of that war and brought it to a happy conclusion as far as Americans are concerned. And we had a great beginning. Our beginning, of course, began before then, before July 4, 1776, when Christians came to these shores primarily in the sixteen hundreds in order to escape religious persecution in Great Britain and occasionally in other places later on, certainly other places, and began to develop a nation that would be a Christian nation, a nation that would worship God, the God of the Bible, and put him first in our national life. And God bless those efforts. And there was wonderful development of our nation down through the years. until the United States of America has in many ways become the envy of the world and has enjoyed unrivaled freedom and prosperity. As far as I know, our nation is the oldest, though in many ways one of the youngest nations upon the earth. And let me explain what I mean by that. Our history is not very old compared to the history of England or France or Germany or something like that. But as far as living under one unbroken string of of governments all connected to the same constitution, we enjoy the longest lasting constitutional democracy on the face of the earth. In many ways, America was the pioneer in that endeavor, and other nations of the earth have followed. And so we have certainly been blessed by God in that regard. And yet I think Christians at least and I wish others would begin to understand that we cannot continue to enjoy these freedoms and to pursue the development of our nation as we have known it. If we leave almighty God out of the equation. God was so prominent in the minds of our forefathers in the beginning. who devised a system of government that very much depends upon its citizens being God fearing people who at least understand what the Bible says and understand the basic moral requirements of Almighty God and agree that this is the way that we ought to live. If we do not have citizens who agree with that, then I don't think we will long enjoy the freedoms and prosperity that we have become so accustomed to. For by and large, we as Americans have forgotten the source of our blessings. We have forgotten that our most important freedom is religious freedom, which was given to us by our forefathers in order to have freedom to worship God without harassment or persecution. But as a nation, we have largely taken our freedoms and have selfishly used them for ourselves. We have made materialism and pleasure our gods. We have misused our freedoms in idolatry and hedonism, and we are now paying the price for our sin and our folly. And we are even now reaping the judgment of Almighty God. I still remember about ten years ago when I was talking with Some men, I didn't know if any of them were Christians, but something had come up about how things were not going as well for America as they had in the past and as we would like. And one of the men turned to me and he said, You're a preacher. You ought to know it's the man upstairs. He's tightening the screws. I have some question in my mind, if anyone who would speak of God so irreverent. irreverently is to call him the man upstairs would be a true Christian, but I appreciated someone who seems to recognize that God is the ruler of this world and is the ruler of the United States of America, and that he is certainly able, as this man said, to tighten the screws. And how I long and pray that Americans will recognize the hand of God as he is tightening the screws. It seems to me that our situation in America is not terribly dissimilar to the situation facing the prophet Habakkuk. And I've chosen for my text today, the second verse of the third chapter of Habakkuk's prophecy, where he said, Oh, Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. Oh, Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known in wrath. Remember, mercy. This is Habakkuk's prayer for his nation, for the nation of Judah. And let me see if I can help you understand this prayer in its context. Habakkuk is known to us as one of the minor prophets, and that simply means that the written prophecy that we have from him is relatively short. Major prophets being the long ones, minor prophets being the short ones. That's the only thing that distinguishes them. And so. Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel being major prophets, and then we have the minor prophets such as Habakkuk and Zephaniah and Haggai. Habakkuk evidently prophesied in the same general time frame as Isaiah, one of the major prophets. His ministry was a prophetic ministry, a preaching ministry to Judah, showing them their sins. and warning them of God's judgment to come. Habakkuk apparently was frustrated with his ministry. He was carrying out his duty before God as faithfully as he knew how. He was exposing Judah, the sins of Judah to them and warning them of God's judgment. But nothing seemed to be happening. Nothing seemed to be changing. The nation of Judah was not listening to his voice and we're not turning from their sins and no judgment of God seemed to be falling upon them and in response to the prophecy of Habakkuk. In other words, Habakkuk in the opening verses of chapter one seems to be complaining about few results that are happening in his ministry. I'm grateful that his solution for that is not the solution that many churches and Christians in America today seem to have latched upon. Habakkuk did not decide, because there were not the results that he wanted, that it was time to change either his message or his methods. He didn't decide that it was time to reshape his message to make it more palatable to the changing conditions of Jewish society. But rather, he did the right thing. Namely, he went to the Lord and sought God's wisdom, God's answer, God's solution, God's revelation as to why his ministry seemed to be falling upon deaf ears and nothing seemed to be happening. And in verses 5 through 11 of chapter 1, God revealed to Habakkuk his plan to use The Chaldeans, also known to us as the Babylonians, to bring judgment upon Judah. This revelation, unexpected to Habakkuk, took him back a step or two and caused him to question the propriety of God using a nation more guilty of sin than Judah to punish a people who were less wicked than themselves. It is as if Habakkuk is protesting. Yes, I know. Our nation is a sinful nation. That's my my job, my ministry to point that out. But when I compare us with the Chaldeans, surely, God, we're not nearly as wicked as they are. How could you think of using a wicked people like the Chaldeans to punish your people, Judah? And then reply, which takes up the bulk of chapter two, God told Habakkuk three things that are of great importance. Number one, he told them that sinful and unrepentant Jews very much deserve this kind of judgment. The awful judgment of the people who are ferocious, who are unsparing when they come in to conquer a people whose atrocities are internationally famous. that the sinful, unrepentant people of Judah deserve judgment just as severe as this. Secondly, God revealed to Habakkuk that those people of God who are conscious of their sins and who are trusting in the Lord will receive special protection, special consideration in the midst of his judgment. That's that well-known text in verse 4 of chapter 2. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. And there's the first time that that well-known phrase is found in the Bible. The just shall live by his faith. The proud, the unrepentant, the unhumbled will receive the judgment that is due unto them. And you can be sure that it is completely deserved But those who are just, those who are righteous, those who have been justified by the grace of God, they shall live by their faith. God is not specific to Habakkuk as to exactly what he means by their living. He does not tell Habakkuk that they will not suffer any of the calamities that fall upon their nation. He does not tell them that they will be spared from any of the hardships that shall fall upon the people around them. But he does guarantee to Habakkuk that God's righteous people, God's believing people, shall live. When others die, they shall live. And that evidently is not speaking primarily of physical life, but of eternal life. Others shall perish. but God's people shall be spared. Others shall die eternally, but God's people shall live forever. Don't be concerned, Habakkuk, about those who are trusting in me. The just shall live by their faith. But then the third thing that God revealed to Habakkuk and takes up the remainder of chapter two is that God will judge the Chaldeans for their sins, too. after they have accomplished God's judgments upon Judah. They are going to get by with their wickedness. They are going to get by with their injustice, which they will bring down upon God's people. They, too, will be judged for their sin. But the point is that God will bring justice upon evildoers in His time, in His way. He is sovereign in these matters. Do not question Almighty God about these things. And that's concluded with another well-known text from Habakkuk, verse 20 of chapter two. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Don't question God. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Worship him. His almighty sovereign God. You see, there are at least three well-known texts in this little book of Habakkuk, even though the book itself is not very well known to the people of God. And that brings us, therefore, to the prayer of Habakkuk in chapter three and verse two. Some people think that the entire third chapter should properly be considered part of Habakkuk's prayer. It's impossible for me to tell. From about verse three onward, it does not sound like he's addressing God or making petitions to him. And yet we recognize that sometimes our prayers are simply talking about the character of God and relating the works of God. And if that's what Habakkuk is doing in the rest of the chapter, it very well may be part of his prayer. But it is evident that verse two is his prayer for his nation after he has received this revelation from God that I have just tried to summarize for you. Oh, Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. Oh, Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years, make it known in wrath, remember mercy. This response of Habakkuk to God's revelation of himself is evidently designed for public worship. Whether Habakkuk so designated it or others following him did so, we do not know. But that opening statement in chapter three says this is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shuganoth. And that designates it as a section of scripture for public worship, like many of the Psalms. On Shuganoth, we don't know exactly what that is. That probably has to do with some kind of musical instruction. That may even be the name of the tune that was used for the singing of the psalm. We do not know for sure that has been lost in obscurity, but nevertheless, it's clear that this prayer of Habakkuk was now not only to be simply his or simply to be read in private by the people of God, but was to be brought into public worship. And it was to become part of the thinking of all God's people. All God's people need to hear what Habakkuk heard and to understand what Habakkuk understood, and all God's people need to respond to this revelation in the way that Habakkuk did. So let's look for a moment at this prayer of Habakkuk, and I see there are two parts, basically. Number one, what I will call the prophet's worship, and number two, the prophet's petitions. First of all, the prophet's worship. Oh, Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. I have heard your speech and was afraid. I heard what you said to me and it has caused me to tremble. I tremble for my nation and for the judgment that you have told me will fall upon them by the hands of the Chaldeans. I tremble for myself and for my loved ones as I consider what is going to befall us. I tremble for the work of God For the testimony of God in the world, if the people who have been named the people of God and who are the one people on the earth who worship the true God and who bear testimony to his name throughout the world are going to be severely judged in this way, I tremble for the honor and glory of God in the world after this judgment takes place. I fall before you, O Lord, in fear and in holy reverence. I fall before you in adoration and in worship. I fall before you, Lord God, in humility. I humble myself before you in your presence as I have been made to realize afresh and anew what a great and holy, what an awesome and powerful God you really are. I have heard your speech and was afraid. This is true godly reverence, godly fear in the presence of Almighty God. And then after this preparation for petitions, this part of his prayer that prepares him to worship God and to be in a right attitude, a right relationship with God, the prophet gives us three brief petitions for his nation. Number one, O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. Number two, in the midst of the years, make it known. And number three in wrath, remember mercy. The prophet's petitions are number one for renewal, number two for understanding, and number three for mercy. First of all, for renewal. O Lord, please revive your work in the midst of the years. That word translated revive and is not used often. I think just one other place But it has the idea of preserve, sustain, strengthen. Lord, please sustain your work in the midst of this judgment that falls. Please strengthen your true people. Please do not allow the worship of Jehovah to to pass out of existence because of the awfulness of the judgment, because of the ferociousness of the judgment that falls upon the nation of Israel. Oh, Lord, please revive, please renew your people in the midst of the years. Exactly what that phrase in the midst of the years means is a subject of some debate and difference of opinion among commentators, but I think in all likelihood it is the interval between the Chaldeans victory in the Chaldeans defeat. Earlier in the book, that's what is before us. God reveals to Habakkuk that the Chaldeans will first come in and they will they will triumph. And of course, that will fill them with greater pride and arrogance than they've ever had before. But their triumph is going to bring judgment upon God's nation, God's people, Judah. But then the time will come when the Chaldeans themselves are going to be judged. And in the interval, in the midst of the years, we might say, while this terrible judgment is still going on and before God brings his hand of judgment down upon the Chaldeans. Oh, Lord, please sustain your work. Please revive your people. Please preserve and strengthen the remnant that are trusting in you. Oh, Lord, don't let them Be discouraged in the midst of the years while this drama that you have told us about is unfolding. And so he prays, first of all, for renewal and secondly, for understanding. In the midst of the years, make it known. Make it known. Make what known? Make your will known. Make your purposes known. Make your word known. Reveal yourself to your people in a greater measure than they have now. And do that at the same time and in the midst of the years, while all of this awful calamity is going on. Oh, Lord God, make that a time when your people shall come to a greater understanding of your revelation of yourself. For that evidently is one of the reasons why Judah is in such great decline now, there's not a lot of understanding, is there? There's not a lot of appreciation for the Word of God, for who God is, for what kind of God he is, for how serious are his holy demands and how he must in justice and holiness back up his commands and enforce them. And if they are not obeyed, bring judgment because of disobedience. Oh, Lord, please bring greater understanding of yourself in the midst of the years. And finally, oh, Lord, please, in wrath, Remember mercy. As the judgment comes, O Lord, please temper that judgment. O Lord, would you in mercy judge us less than we deserve? And in doing this, Habakkuk is appealing to the character of God, to something that we know about Him. Namely, that He is a God, a merciful God, who delights in mercy. That's the way that He has revealed Himself to Israel. That's precisely the way He revealed Himself to Moses when Moses asked to see God's glory. That's what God emphasized was first His sovereignty and then His mercy. The greatness of His sovereign power and the greatness of His mercy. How much He delights to be merciful. Oh, Lord, in wrath, please remember mercy. And we know that Habakkuk did not pray the judgment would not fall. For he knew that it should. He knew that it must. He knew that it was needed. And certainly deserved. And furthermore, he did not plead Judas Judas goodness or their relative superiority. He had talked that way earlier in the book. Surely you're not going to judge Judah by a people more wicked than themselves. But now there's none of that. Oh, Lord, in wrath. Remember. Mercy. Now, what can we learn from Habakkuk's prayer and apply to our country, the United States of America? Well, I'd say, first of all, we can learn from his format. First of all, there must be preparation before there is petition, there must be an attention to our own hearts, our own attitude, our our condition before God, the state of heart and mind with which we approach The Almighty, there needs to be preparation. Oh, Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. We, the people of God who live in the United States of America, must learn how to approach God, how to prepare ourselves to worship him aright and to lay petitions before his throne that are in keeping with his will and with his character. We must learn how to worship God aright. And I'm confident that the first thing that we must ask ourselves when we consider how we worship God is, how does God want to be worshiped? What does God desire in our worship? We recognize, of course, that there are various elements of worship that, though differing one from another, are all appropriate. There is no one set formula that we must worship God in exactly this way, one, two, three, four, five, that our order must be a certain order, that our music must be a certain style, that our prayers must be fashioned in a certain way and so forth and so on. It's not that that I'm talking about that we find the exact right formula for worship, but surely we've got to adjust our attitude. And we've got to realize that the first question is how does God want to be worshiped, not what kind of worship do people want, what kind of worship will attract the most people, what kind of worship, what styles of worship will our young people like, what will be most pleasing to the most people. When we get serious before God, those questions are going to be banished from our mind. And in humility before the Lord, we will stand with Our heads bowed before the greatness of Almighty God, and we will simply say, Lord, how do you want to be approached? How do you want to be worshiped? How do you want us to pray? How do you want us to praise you? What worship is pleasing unto you? And so we must prepare ourselves with right worship and must prepare ourselves with humility. We must prepare ourselves with confession of our sins. We must ask God to give us a right perspective. Habakkuk, a prophet of God, needed an adjustment in his perspective. He needed, we might say, an attitude adjustment. Here he was serving God zealously, fervently, with great dedication and yet complaining because the results that he desired were not accruing to his efforts. And then when God revealed to him the judgment was going to fall, severe judgment, he dared to question the propriety of God and bringing about judgment in this way. And so God had to bring Habakkuk to the place where he was willing to bow before the sovereignty of God and no longer have the creature questioning the creator, no longer the clay saying to the potter, why have you made me thus? Why have you designed to do it this way? But simply to bow in humility. Lord, I heard your word and I feared. And I believe that there are adjustments that need to be made in the people of God. Judgment, the Bible tells us, must begin at the house of God. Before we begin to worry about the national sins of America, before we are too concerned about what's taking place in government and in our schools and in entertainment and all these things are of great concern, truly. And all God's people must be grieved when sin and defiance of God is so publicly portrayed. We are grieved and we are concerned about that. But let us not forget what our Lord told us that before. We are able to take moats out of others' eyes. We've got to be sure that we don't have beams in our own eyes. Let us be sure that we, the people of God, are viewing these things are right and that we have first begun to examine our own hearts, our own practices, our own entertainments, our own attitudes before the Lord. Let us remember that God doesn't know America anything. God doesn't know America anything. America owes every blessing it has received to God. We owe God everything. God doesn't owe America anything. I've actually heard people say things like, well, surely God won't bring judgment upon America. Look at all the missionaries America sends. Look at all the work of God that is being carried out in America and is being supported by Americans. God won't bring judgment on America as if God needs America's dollars, as if God needs America's missionaries. Now, we thank God. For every. Servant of the Lord who serves him, whether at home or abroad, we thank God for every preacher of God's word, everyone who witnesses the word of God in America or around the world. We thank God for those who are willing to give of themselves and great sacrifice to go to those parts of the world where living conditions are difficult and there to pursue a ministry for God. We thank God for every offering that is given to support the work of God at home and abroad. We thank God for every sacrifice that is made by God's people in worshiping God in this way. But let's get one thing clear. God doesn't need any of it. God is God. Almighty God is he. He's the one who spoke the universe into existence. God can make anything. that he desires. God can appropriate anything in this creation for his purposes. God can raise up messengers from any country in the face of all the earth. God can pursue his purposes with or without the United States of America. God can accomplish his purposes with or without our cooperation. And we need an attitude adjustment We need to recognize that anything we are allowed to do for God is a great privilege. God doesn't owe us anything. We owe him everything. With that kind of preparation of our heart, then we can go to God and make the same petitions I think Habakkuk made for his nation. Oh, Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. Oh, Lord, please revive, preserve, protect and strengthen the church, the true church in the United States of America. Oh, Lord, in the midst of the years, make it known. Make your word clear, prominent, powerful. Give people an understanding of your word. Give people a longing for your word. Give people a hunger for your word. Renew that, oh Lord, we pray. And, O Lord, in the midst of wrath, remember mercy. O Lord, as you bring just judgment upon our nation, we will not protest, we will not complain, but we will humbly plead. Lord, be merciful, be gracious, be kind. Judge us less, we pray, than we deserve. For if you judged us fully, as much as we deserve, we will be destroyed. We will. But before we leave this text, I'd like to explore a question. If we should pray this way with these right attitudes and if God should answer our prayers, what would that answer look like? If we prayed for God to revive his work in the midst of the years and God answered that prayer, what would it look like if we prayed for God to make his word known in the midst of the years, what would the answer to that prayer look like? I think we can understand if God shows mercy in the place of deserved judgment, what that would look like. But let's concentrate upon the first two. All of these are elements of revival. We're talking at this point about revival and what it is. All of the petitions and their answers relate. To revival. If God brought the judgment that was deserved, that would be the end of God in mercy. We withhold some of the judgment, then that is God preserving his people, that is God reviving his people. And as God does so, he brings greater focus upon the word, which brings greater focus upon Christ, which brings greater focus upon the glory of God. I want to talk just for a moment or two about what revival is, because there are a lot of, I think, erroneous ideas. And let me just offer a short definition of their many other definitions that could be given that would be equally appropriate and maybe far better. But I would like to suggest that revival is a sovereign work of God, whereby he accomplishes in a relatively short time that which usually occurs gradually or at all, if at all. Revival is a sovereign work of God, whereby he accomplishes in a relatively short time that which usually occurs gradually, if at all. That's revival. That's what Habakkuk is praying for, Lord, strengthen, preserve and revive your work in the midst of the years. Do something, God, and do something that is significant because we desperately need it at this time. The key elements, therefore, of true revival are number one, its divine origin and number two, the compressed time. I think oftentimes. what we are praying for God to do in revival, God is actually doing. But because he does it over a long, extended period of time, we don't recognize it as a significant work of God. God is busy saving souls. People are being saved. God is busy. Christ is building his church. God's people are being sanctified. That work is going on. It hasn't stopped. It isn't going backwards. It's going on. And if you took All the people who are genuinely saved over a period of 10 years and saved them all in six or eight weeks, we'd say revival has come. If you took all of the progress of sanctification in the lives of God's people that occurs gradually over 10 years and compress that all into about six or eight weeks, we'd say, wow, revival has come. Revival involves sanctification. God's people making greater progress and sanctification, greater progress and holiness over a shorter period of time than otherwise they would. Sometimes our progress is so slow, so painfully slow that we don't even detect it. Sometimes we don't even think we're making any progress. Sometimes we're more aware of our backsliding than we are our forward movement. And indeed, we ought to be concerned about our backsliding. But nevertheless, God's word is true and God is at work sanctifying his people. We are moving forward. We are becoming more like Christ. Our minds are being renewed little by little. But when God does a work that normally would take a long time and compress it into a short time, we think we have had a great visitation from God. Indeed, we have. And when this happens, when God compresses his work into a shorter period of time, The result is that it catches attention of people like his regular work does not. Normally, his work is relatively unseen, secret, silent. He told us that's the way it would be. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of a mustard seed. It grows up slowly, becomes a great tree, another various interpretations of this parable, but becomes a great tree, but slowly, gradually. The kingdom of heaven is like a woman putting a little leaven in a In a lump and and eleven's the whole lump slowly, gradually, that doesn't seem too spectacular, but that's telling us that that the work of God is moving forward. That's telling us that it's moving forward quietly, slowly, silently, unperceived. Unseen, unnoticed. That's telling us that Christ will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, but that many times we don't. Recognize any great progress taking place, it looks like we're moving backwards when actually we are moving forwards. But when God brings what we call revival and compresses this work into a short period of time, then. The attention of the church is focused on that. And yes, even the attention of the world many times is focused on that. And people are thinking about God and talking about God and are listening to God and are concerned with eternal things. And God gets the focus and God gets the glory. And that's what we desire. And we pray, O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known! But back to my former question, what would revival look like if it occurred? Well, let me just suggest some things. If God answered this prayer for America, what would it look like in the lives of individual Christians? Well, there would be a renewed love for God greater than we have now, a renewed interest in the Bible greater, no doubt, than what we have now, a renewed interest in the church and its progress and prosperity in the world greater than there is now, a renewed interest in holiness. Getting our sin out of our lives and and having our lives pleasing to God in every regard, there'd be a greater zeal for God and for for the work of the kingdom. Surely that would be the result in the lives of individuals. If God should bring revival, what would revival look like in churches? If God really brought revival to the churches of America, what would there be? Well, I think there would be seriousness about true worship, seriousness about the word of God, seriousness about the work of God. I think we wouldn't be nearly so enamored with a lot of the gimmicks and psychological techniques and methodologies that seem so attractive and interesting to us today. I think we would be far less concerned about putting on a show and getting down to business with God. I think churches would become far more serious, far more sober. Far more holy, far more dedicated. What would it look like in our communities if God brought revival? There would be a reduction in immorality. There'd be a reduction in drunkenness. How do I know that? Simply by tracing the effects of such revivals in history over years gone by. We can see how they have affected communities. I'm so thankful. But the Lord has closed down this dockside dowels blight upon Alamance County out here on the interstate. I pray that it shall remain closed. I don't want it anywhere, but if it's going to have to be moving into Orange County, they seem more suitable. And yet, I think we have to recognize that has been there in Alamance County all of these years. Maybe Alamance County is not in relative terms quite as Godly, as Christian, as churchy, as pleasing to God as perhaps we'd like to think we are. Maybe that's just a manifestation of the true condition. And what's really going on in the hearts and minds of lots and lots of the citizens of Alamance County, even those who never step a foot inside a place like that. But if revival comes to our community, there's going to be a reduction. and immorality, there's going to be a reduction in drunkenness, there's going to be a new soberness. And what does revival look like if it should come to our nation? It will bring about a God, a national God consciousness, a national standard of holiness, which formerly we had, which we seem no longer to to maintain. There would be a national appreciation for the Bible. An appreciation for Christians, an appreciation for churches and what they are able to contribute to communities and to the national life of our country. There would be a whole new attitude toward God, toward the Bible, toward the church, toward Christians. God may or may not bring revival to America. If he doesn't, dear friends, we've got some hard days ahead. We've got some wrath ahead. We've got a worsening of what's going on now. We have become spoiled, I think, in this country with our freedoms, our religious freedoms and with the general appreciation for things Christian that our nation has had during most of its history. And that has gradually been changing and continues to change until now. Some Christians in America are finding out that it's not so popular to be a Christian and you might even be persecuted for being a Christian and that all of the Privileges and freedoms that we have enjoyed as Christians and as churches might not continue to be extended to us. We might not continue to maintain those protections. We might have to start actually sacrificing and and being inconvenienced greatly in order to be called Christians and in order to gather together to worship the Lord in the way that he has commanded. It might be that that's what's needed in America to bring us back to where we need to be. I don't know. I leave that to Almighty God. He's omniscient. He knows all things. He knows what we need. If that's what's needed to preserve and strengthen the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ in America, to make us godly, to make us holy, to make us spiritually fruitful, to make us who are willing to give up those things that are nonsense and to get down to business with God. If that's what it's going to take, then so be it. O Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive your work. In the midst of the years, make it known. In wrath, remember mercy. Shall we pray? O Lord, we do not know what you have in store for us. We know what you have done for us in the past. And we are recipients of blessings untold. Thank you. Thank you, O Lord. If all of these should stop, if they should change, O Lord, we still will praise you for who you are and we'll praise you for what you have already done. For you have been so gracious. To us as individuals and to our nation. Lord, we tremble for our country. We tremble, first of all, for ourselves. We tremble, first of all, for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, O Lord. Wean us from our pleasures and pet sins and pursuits that we insist upon holding on to rather than being serious with you. O Lord, revive your work In the midst of these years, O God, do a work, save our young people, make us serious about things of God, make raise up churches that are interested in pleasing you and you alone, regardless of what anyone else may think or say. Help us, O Lord, to bring honor and glory to you and be willing to do so at whatever cost. For we ask it in Jesus name. Amen.