Fathers Day

[0:00] Our Father's Day message today has a two-fold application. First and most immediate is our concern for fathers who are present this morning, and the objective is to remind you of the awesome responsibility and privilege that is yours, to lead and guide your family, and to remind you of the biblical worldview and divine operating assets that God has made available to you as the delegated head of your wife and children.

[0:33] That biblical worldview contains, among numerous other things, God's perspective as regards the issue of family finances, income, and outgo.

[0:47] So, this whole area of the disposition of assets is one of several responsibilities that comes under the venue of male headship in the family.

[1:01] Some of the additional contents of a biblical worldview include principles that we have mentioned from time to time. Among these, but certainly not limited to these, are principles alluding to the area of finances.

[1:18] The Bible has set forth God's viewpoint on all issues regarding finances, from wealth to poverty, the whole gamut.

[1:32] But who's listening? While we do not expect the world to do so, we surely should expect all who name the name of Christ to do so.

[1:45] Sadly, many who profess Christ's salvation virtually ignore what the scriptures teach when it comes to finances, and sometimes other issues as well.

[1:58] Consider briefly these tried and true principles. that are found throughout scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Number one, the requirement that man labor and that he be personally productive in his efforts.

[2:21] God never created man to loaf. He created him to work. Even before the fall occurred and man was consigned to take a living from the ground by the sweat of his brow, even before that time, when he was still in innocence, he was charged with the responsibility of tending the garden and keeping it.

[2:48] I'm not sure at all what that involved, but it didn't involve weeding it because there weren't any weeds yet. So how he tended it, I do not know. But the point is that he had a responsibility.

[3:02] And we all know that we have assigned to us, in general, what we call a 40-day, 40-hour work week. Nothing really biblical about that.

[3:13] In fact, the Bible does talk about laboring six days and resting on the seventh. We've managed to whittle that down to five. Sometimes we even get into four.

[3:25] If you live in certain European countries, they think that it's terribly imposing upon someone to work more than three or four days a week. But the productivity is reflected in that as well.

[3:37] Now, we have developed a mindset that work is not a good thing. It's something to get out of whenever you can.

[3:50] And we pay a very dear price for that. Let me explain that by an example. How many of us, yes, Christians too, how many of us work five days, just so we can get to that weekend?

[4:13] And we live our lives by the weekends, don't we? Sure we do. We work those five days so that we can get the two days off.

[4:28] And where is all of our emphasis and enjoyment placed on those two days? And when we get a three-day weekend, wow, that's the best, right?

[4:40] That's because we all naturally have a lazy streak in us, just like we have a yellow streak in us. We've all got it. It's systemic to human nature.

[4:50] And it runs right up and down our back like that yellow streak. We will avoid work if we possibly can. And yet, do you know what the biblical ethic is about that?

[5:04] It is you get one day of rest so that you can work six days. We revise that to, we work five days so that we get the two days off.

[5:23] And like everything else in human nature, God's viewpoint is virtually the opposite of ours. We work so we can get off.

[5:35] God says, no, no, I give you a day off so you can work. And we reverse that, don't we? And that's just human nature. We're all like that. But there is a joy and a satisfaction in work.

[5:49] I've heard it said often that if you do not love what you're doing, consider making a sacrifice. Give it up to get, to be able to do something that you do love.

[6:00] Life is too short to spend a third of your life doing something you hate. Better to have less income and do something that you enjoy and something that you like because life is too short.

[6:14] I've already strayed from my notes. Well, anyway, there is the requirement of labor and personal productivity that is part of a biblical worldview.

[6:27] And another principle is the requirement of just compensation for one's labor. A fair day's pay for a fair day of work is a biblical principle.

[6:39] And the laborer is worthy of his hire. Scripture admonishes us in the law of Moses and it's repeated in the New Testament. Do not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain.

[6:52] The ox is doing all the work. And in biblical days, they would have an ox, big old beast, and all he got to do was walk around in a circle all day long.

[7:08] He just walked around and walked around and he was tethered to a harness that had a long pole connected to it and that was affixed to a huge millstone that might be three or four feet in diameter and it was round and it was put in this trough and they would dump grain into the trough and this poor dumb animal would just walk all day long turning that huge millstone so that the grain underneath was ground up and could be used by the woman of the house for baking and so on and preparing meals.

[7:50] And the tendency was for the owner of the ox to get stingy and he would put a muzzle on the ox so that all he could do was walk around in a circle but he couldn't eat any of the grain because he had a muzzle on him.

[8:06] Moses said, don't you do that. That poor animal is providing that grain for you with his labor? Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that turns out the grain.

[8:18] You let him eat his fill. He's working for it and he deserves to be paid in kind. That's a biblical principle. There is the biblical rejection of the sluggard or the lazy person.

[8:33] This is the individual who wants to gain his livelihood, his subsistence, through someone else's labor. He doesn't much care who it is.

[8:44] He just doesn't want to do it himself. We call this person the gold brick or the loafer or the leech or something of the kind.

[8:55] He doesn't want to put forth the effort. We had some of these guys in the army. I remember one guy in basic training. We were getting the barracks all spiffied up for inspection. We didn't understand how it worked at the time.

[9:08] But later we found out that everybody fails the inspection. It doesn't make any difference what you do. You're going to flunk the inspection because that's in the program. But we would labor and we would scrub floors and we would wash windows and all that.

[9:21] And just clown this gold brick. Yahoo was over in the corner reading one of his latest favorite magazines. Everybody else was working. Somebody would say something to him every now and then.

[9:33] Ah, you guys, you're a bunch of suckers. You go ahead and do this. I've got better things to do with my time. Well, what he was doing was making more work for everybody. So, one time we had a GI party.

[9:49] A GI party is when you get four guys, all of whom are bigger than he is. You get one on each arm, one on each leg and you dress him so that he's buck naked undressing.

[10:03] You carry him into the shower. And you take GI brushes and GI soap. And while the four guys hold him down, somebody scrubs him until he's pink.

[10:16] And that's a GI shower. That's the end of the gold bricking. Guess what he was doing the next time we had a barracks inspection? Yeah, he was cleaning right along with the rest of us once he understood the benefits of cooperating.

[10:31] So, there is the rejection of the sluggard or the lazy person who wants to subsist from the labors of others. And there is the biblical principle of the conservation of assets, otherwise known as saving money.

[10:51] Saving in general. We are given a description in the book of Proverbs where the writer says, consider the ant, how she works. and how she collects her food in the summertime so she can lay by in store for the winter and when the time comes that she's not able to get out and forage for food, she will have sufficient food stored up so that she's able to survive.

[11:18] Now, do you know why an ant does that? An ant does that because she doesn't have any choice. She is programmed to do that. That's information.

[11:29] An ant would not know how to act like an ant if she were not programmed to do so. And that's automatic. We call it animal instinct. She just does that.

[11:41] But for you and for me, it isn't automatic. It's an opportunity and an admonition, but it is not automatic. You don't have to save.

[11:52] The rate of savings for American families in the United States is at an all-time low. It is not an in thing to save money anymore.

[12:05] The only thing that's in is spending it. Now, we're getting a little antsy about that. Because of what's going on in the economy, more and more Americans have a tendency to hang on to their money because they're afraid to let go of it.

[12:19] They don't know what's around the corner economically. The Bible enjoins us to responsible saving. If you do not have a savings plan, I don't care if it's $5 a week, if you don't have a savings plan, you are already outside of biblical worldview.

[12:39] You need to get with the program. We choose to save because we have the option. As a free moral agent, we have the ability to save or not save.

[12:53] We've got a choice to make. Ant doesn't have any choice. She just has to do what an ant has to do. But we're given options, so we have choices to make.

[13:03] And with that, the responsibility for the choice that we make. And when it comes to savings, there of course are some Christians, and this I call, this is a, this is just a phony cover up of spirituality.

[13:20] Oh, I don't believe in saving for a rainy day. I just want to trust the Lord to provide whatever I need when I need. I don't have to save. I don't have to have bonds.

[13:32] I don't have to have stocks. I don't have to have a savings plan. Where's your faith, man? Just trust the Lord for that. Doesn't that sound super spiritual? Do you trust the Lord also that your house won't burn down?

[13:46] So of course, this means you don't have any insurance in your house, right? Do you trust the Lord to protect you at all times when you're out in traffic so you don't have any insurance on your automobile, right?

[13:58] No liability or anything. You're just trusting the Lord, right? Don't be stupid. Buy the insurance. Because we live in a fallen world where bad things happen to people.

[14:09] And you need to cover yourself. You need to do the responsible thing. And the responsible thing is you protect your family's assets by responsible decisions. And I know, I know, much of insurance is a racket.

[14:24] I know that. But much of it is also legitimate. And it plays a very real and important part in our society. don't be insurance poor where you put all your money in insurance.

[14:39] But you should exercise prudent care and save money and have some insurance. There is nothing wrong with that.

[14:50] And that is not a lack of trusting the Lord. The biblical principle of avoiding the lure for immediate gratification that leads to impulse spending and purchases often regretted later.

[15:08] This all comes with emotional maturity. This should have been left in childhood. It is both unbecoming and inordinately expensive to adults to not be able to say no, I can't afford it.

[15:28] As a child, as a child, if I saw it and I wanted it and I could buy it, I did. End of discussion.

[15:40] That's immediate gratification. And it's part of being a kid. But once you grow up, you're supposed to get out of that mentality.

[15:52] Gotta have it. Gotta have it now. These are but a few of the tried and true principles contained in a biblical worldview.

[16:07] They work and work well for anyone who applies them, including even unbelievers. They work because they are geared to a world of reality, not a make-believe world.

[16:23] Numerous other principles are included in a biblical worldview, but these are concerned primarily with money. And few things impact our temporal lifestyle and value system like money.

[16:39] This, no doubt, is why the Bible addresses the question of finances so often. Money is an indicator of our value system.

[16:51] Got a couple of verses that we need to go to. Turn, please, to Luke's Gospel, Chapter 12. Gospel according to Dr. Luke, Chapter 12.

[17:02] 12. Realizing, of course, these are in a Gospel context, has special application to the nation Israel, which Christ was addressing at the time, but the principle that is found herein applies across the board.

[17:19] It is intra-dispensational. It doesn't make any difference what time or place you're talking about. Luke, Chapter 12, and verse 34. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

[17:39] Where you put your money is what you value. That makes it very easy to discern.

[17:51] Where you put your money is what you value. it's true of everyone. And then, in Luke, Chapter 12, and verse 15, same chapter, powerful verse, our Lord said, Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed.

[18:15] For not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. It sounds strange to me when I read this because I memorize it in the King James and it's Take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesses.

[18:37] In other words, life, its fullness and its richness is not found in stuff and things and junk all of which perish with the using or with age.

[18:53] it turns to nothing or to rust or whatever. Life and its fullness and richness is comprised of the connections and the relationships you have with people and it begins with our relationship with God.

[19:12] So our attitude toward money is a dead giveaway as to what we are really all about. And then the last reference that I want to share with you is from 1 Timothy and it is a powerful one.

[19:24] 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 6 the apostle said godliness godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

[19:42] For we have brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either. and if we have food and covering with these we shall be content.

[19:58] Do you know any Americans who would be content with just food and covering? This is food and shelter. But you got to throw in a couple of cars and you got to throw in a couple of other things don't you?

[20:13] With these we shall be content. And you know contentment with godliness is great gain. contentment is so seldom realized by Americans.

[20:28] And I don't want you to confuse contentment with complacency. Not the same thing. We ought not to be complacent.

[20:38] We ought not to be satisfied with the status quo when there are improvements and gains that are legitimate that can be made. We should strive to make them.

[20:49] And we should strive to better ourselves. We should strive to better our society. We ought not to be content with that or complacent. Someone said that contentment, a contented man is a man who can enjoy the scenery when he's on a detour.

[21:04] man who will want to get rich. Verse 9, but those who want to get rich, and this isn't all that obvious in the Greek, but the Greek expresses it in this way.

[21:21] The Greek expresses it in the way that the individual who lives just for this one thing, and that is amassing wealth.

[21:33] That's all he wants out of life. That is his sole objective. That is his target. That's his bullseye. That's the thing that he's aiming at in everything he thinks and does and breathes and drinks.

[21:47] It is acquisition of wealth, assets, getting more, getting more. Those who would be rich, that's their sole objective in life, is to get rich.

[22:00] And when someone has that mentality, they set themselves up with incredible vulnerability for all kinds of problems.

[22:16] And the reason is they are so intent on gaining wealth that they can be a sucker for a Ponzi scheme or a get rich plan.

[22:33] You see this stuff on television all the time. And it's all geared to the get rich quick. $5,000 a month income, part time.

[22:48] Why do they do that? Why do they advertise this stuff? because they're getting rich. And they know that there are people out there who want that desperately.

[23:01] And they'll take all kinds of crazy chances to get it. And do you know what? Works. They're getting rich off of it. So someone who is getting rich, Timothy says, falls into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

[23:26] You know what we would call that? Bankruptcy. How many have even been brought to the point of suicide and have even accomplished it because of financial problems?

[23:43] Verse 10, and be sure that you read this carefully because let me tell you something. There is nothing wrong with money. It's the coin of the realm.

[23:54] It is what we use to make the world economy go around. There is nothing wrong with money. The problem is in the love of money.

[24:05] That is the root of all evil. Money is good when it is used responsibly and wisely. Someone has said money is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.

[24:22] The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pain.

[24:37] So your attitude toward money is a dead giveaway as to what you are really all about. And here's the bottom line. Insisting upon living within one's means is a simple yet profound way of honoring the God who provided us with these principles.

[25:00] Dad, when it comes to finances, this ought to be your principal objective, belief is to see to it that your family lives within its means.

[25:15] And who is to establish that? You are. Hopefully, with the wise cooperation of your wife, but the buck stops with you.

[25:28] It is your responsibility to see to it that your family lives within its means. insisting upon living within one's means is a simple yet profound way of honoring the God who provided us with these principles.

[25:48] How can this be done? In this day and age, with the economic crunch that we're in now, how can you possibly live within your means? The answer is so simple I'm embarrassed.

[26:01] Do the math. That's it. Do the math. Numbers don't lie. My good friend, now with the Lord, used to say, figures don't lie, but liars figure.

[26:23] We've got a passel of liars in Congress, have had for about the last seven decades, and they figure. And figures have brought us out to where we are now.

[26:38] More about that later. Do the math. Anyone can live within their means if they will just do the math and then commit to doing what the numbers dictate. If need be, and is often the case, create a budget that accurately tracks your income and match your outgo to it.

[26:59] If there is more outgo than income, you begin paring down your outgo until it matches income. Sometimes you're able to increase income, but the point is you've got to get them where they balance.

[27:17] Congress may not have to balance its books, but you have to balance yours, or at least you should. Husbands and fathers may not be the only breadwinner in the family.

[27:30] That's often the case today. Sometimes there are two breadwinners. In fact, a dad may not even be the chief breadwinner. Yet he alone, by virtue of delegated headship bestowed upon him by the God of creation, he has the responsibility for the disposition of assets from the family treasury.

[27:53] He may not even do the book work or actually pay the bills. His wife may be far better at that than he, which was the case for Barbara and me. Yet we both realize that the principal responsibility was mine.

[28:13] Dads must step up and make the calls when it comes to income and outgo. And sometimes they are tough calls that no dad wants to make.

[28:25] sometimes he just has to say, and sometimes say it often, sorry, we can't afford it. And it can be bruising to the male ego to have to say that because he's looked upon as the provider.

[28:45] And it may feel like he's being cast in a bad light because he's not providing well enough so that his family can't enjoy so many things that others have.

[28:57] And all he can do is say, sorry, we can't afford it. What father wants to do that? What father wants to experience the look of disappointment on the faces of his kids or his wife when he has to say, no, no, we just can't afford it.

[29:19] And you know what the temptation is, of course. The temptation is to pull out the plastic and lay it down and say, well, I don't know how in the world I'm going to pay for this, but I'll have to come up with the money somehow.

[29:37] I'll get it together some way. That's later on down the road and this bill won't come due for maybe there will be a miracle in between. You know, advertisers and marketers know all of this better than we do and they know how to make their pitch and they know how to do it effectively.

[29:55] It is dad's responsibility to see to it that his family does indeed live within its means. Ideally, his wife is not only cooperative but eagerly so.

[30:11] We all know there are horror stories replete with spendthrift wives, wrecking their own family budget because she suffers from the syndrome of immediate gratification and very little sales resistance.

[30:24] Gotta have it, gotta have it now. And sometimes it's the husband, not the wife, who spends the family into financial oblivion. The wife may be the financial conservative of the two and he spends money like water, which the family can ill afford.

[30:43] solutions are then sought in the ever tempting debt consolidation plans. We are the end of your problem.

[30:57] Call this 800 number right now. We'll tell you how you can reduce your debt, pay off all your credit cards, and not owe any credit card debt at all.

[31:09] That's because you'll owe all of your debt to them. with a very healthy chunk of interest. All of this come on stuff that is on TV that advertises debt consolidation, eliminate your credit card debt, and all the rest of it.

[31:26] And we've got secrets that your credit card companies don't want you to know. You've got $30,000 in debt in credit cards. We'll tell you how you can get that down to a fraction. So that you don't have to pay what you rightfully owe.

[31:39] what is this? Don't fall for this nonsense. Live within your means and you don't have to worry about this. Or bankruptcy that is more prevalent and more easily filed for than it has ever been.

[31:58] Dads and families who ignore these simple principles cannot do so without paying a steep price, often leading to financial bondage.

[32:11] Okay, that's my message for dads. Now I'm talking to a different father. Do you realize who the greatest offenders of these very principles are?

[32:30] It's not our family's fathers. It's our nation's fathers. They are the greatest violators of these simple principles that we have been sharing.

[32:43] Our spendthrift congresses have over the past six or seven decades plundered the nation's treasury with abandon. Our national debt that we must impose upon our grandchildren is hardly pronounceable and surely incomprehensible.

[33:03] Our government has not even attempted to live within its means, dismissing the entire idea as impractical and unworkable. It is not accurate to say our government spending is out of control.

[33:19] It has been out of control for decades and is now merely more so than it has ever been. I am not speaking from the standpoint of an expert about money, economics, world finance, or anything.

[33:34] I know little or nothing about it, but I have got a modicum of common sense and I can do the math and so can you. What I am saying is not at all profound.

[33:46] These are not great words of wisdom. These are simply expressions of simplicity. simplicity. To every Congress in my lifetime, it is nothing more than a necessary way of doing the nation's business.

[34:06] Deficit spending, huge monetary commitments and obligations that we have no way of paying have become the norm. It needs to stop.

[34:19] the inmates have been in charge of the asylum for far too long. But who's to stop it? The only ones who can are the ones who are doing it.

[34:35] We have long since given up any hope of Congress being willing to police itself when the national till is in question.

[34:47] occasionally there is a Jim Jordan voice in the wilderness crying out, but they are far too few and quickly branded as unrealistic, impractical, out of step with mainstream Congress.

[35:05] And he is. Congress has a collective ego, just like the individual dad I spoke of earlier. what do you mean we can't afford it?

[35:18] We're the USA. We can afford to do whatever we want. We're Americans, remember? We will make away. Guns and butter. Yes, sir.

[35:28] That's us. We can do it all. No, we can't. No, we can't. We haven't been and we aren't.

[35:41] We need to recognize that we have limitations. There's nothing wrong with that. When you say we have limitations, all you're saying is we're not God.

[35:56] Is there something wrong with that? We have limitations. That's okay. We're human beings. We're allowed to have limitations. This great can-do nation that has accomplished so much.

[36:11] over the last two centuries still has limitations. And we need to confront the reality of that. Limitations are what's realistic.

[36:26] We do not have at our disposal a special kind of math designed just for the USA. The kind of math that when you crunch the numbers you get a different result than anyone else would because we're the USA.

[36:39] There is no such math. Congress needs to ignore the crankiness, the demands, and the threats of withholding campaign contributions from their constituency unless they push more pork in their direction.

[36:55] And why, you may ask, why in the world does Congress do this? And the answer is simple. They do it because they can. sound financial principles that have been an historic part of economics have long since been abandoned by our federal government as well as by many major business corporations and even private individual families.

[37:25] We speak of the principles that dictate prudent spending, wise borrowing, and lending, and an emphasis upon saving. These tried and true principles have been jettisoned in many cases and replaced with one contagious, alluring, and extremely easily obtained substitute to be summed up in one word, credit.

[37:51] Much emphasis has been placed on the value and necessity of credit for the flow of commerce and industry. We are told, money must be available for borrowing since credit is the mother's milk of the entire economy.

[38:09] Governments and banks must loosen up the reins on credit so we can get the economy going again, we are told, by virtually all of the experts. Never is any thought given to the emphasis ought to be on capital, not on credit, but on capital.

[38:27] But when you're not into savings, you don't have any capital. These are what the experts tell us.

[38:39] But, isn't it these same experts and their concepts of economics that has gotten us into the mess we're in now? Will following their advice, which has an embarrassing track record, be the equivalent of throwing good money after bad?

[39:01] We are well familiar with the way of doing modern economics, as presided over by the financial gurus of Harvard Business School and other like institutions.

[39:13] Their policies have been lauded and implemented by nearly all of our past and present presidents and congresses. The government has danced to the tune of Keynesian economics, which advocates deficit spending, and it has contributed mightily to the financial crisis we are facing, particularly in regard to our national debt and our astronomically lopsided foreign trade deficit.

[39:41] Most Americans, myself included, fail to understand how our government, whatever the administration, could possibly allow our nation to become so vulnerable that a historic traditional adversary like Red China could actually and literally bankrupt the United States of America by merely demanding that we pay them what we owe them.

[40:15] Do you realize that's where we're at right now? And do you realize that nobody denies this? This isn't my opinion. This is fact.

[40:28] And even those who hate it most will not deny it. Sounds so impossible it is difficult to accept, yet we are assured that it is indeed true.

[40:40] Congress doesn't deny that. our national economic situation is surely as dire as it has ever been. The potential is therefore exceeding the difficulties of the Great Depression of the 30s.

[40:54] The impact is global because of the strategic position of the United States of America in the world economy. These kind of numbers, hundreds of billions and even trillions, and economic reality call for unusual measures to combat it.

[41:14] But, throwing hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars at the problem, that can certainly be called unusual, can't it?

[41:28] No. It isn't unusual. It's business as usual, only in greater numbers, with greater demands, and greater loss of the free market options.

[41:43] We desperately need more people in positions of influence to simply stand up and say that's enough, stop the insanity. This is just plain nuts.

[41:57] Government bailouts of private companies is un-American and bad economics, and government intrusion into the private sector is un-American as well.

[42:08] These are clearly not the policies that has given this nation its greatness. Congress, no more than anyone else, can be trusted to responsibly use the flexibility entrusted to them with the nation's wealth.

[42:24] They have in the past, and they continue in the present, to abuse and abandon the principles of common sense and prudent use of their power and influence. these, Congress, more than anyone else, constitute the major machinery for decision making, and they have proved that they are not up to the task.

[42:48] This is because they have replaced the age-old tried and true principles of economics and common sense with their own version and try to make it work. The result is failure, which is precisely where we are in the present day.

[43:02] Of course, they are not up to the task. Let me make it very clear. If you and I were in their position right now, we would not be up to the task either.

[43:17] The issue is simple. We either go with those tried and true principles adopted by our founding fathers and let them work for us, or we replace them with human viewpoint, which we arrogantly and mistakenly consider to be superior and more modern, and then try through our perpetual finagling and revising to make them work, and they are showing us that they aren't working and they won't work.

[43:45] Maybe it all comes down to us. Joe Citizen, have we dozed off while Congress has been carrying on this national madness?

[43:58] It appears so. It appears so. Maybe we are beginning to wake up with the current conditions shouting loudly, this isn't working, this isn't the America we have come to know and love.

[44:15] What will it take for America to be restored? I'm not sure it can be done. I know we can't do it. and we know Congress can't do it.

[44:30] And we must always understand that Congress is nothing more than an extension of ourselves. Only God can do it.

[44:42] And I frankly don't know if that is on his agenda or not. I do know that God always waits on man to do just one thing in particular before he will do anything.

[44:58] And what is that? That is repent. Change your mind. Congress needs a radical attitude overhaul.

[45:13] And so do we as Americans. That verse that is often quoted in dire times 2 Chronicles 7.14 My people who are called by my name humble themselves pray seek my face turn from their wicked way and will hear from heaven forgive their sin heal their land that is as Israel as you can get it's Old Testament it's under the Mosaic law but it is still a principle God will respond to human repentance and human humility but we tend to be such a proud people and Congress has got such a colossal collective ego frankly I'm pessimistic that that would ever happen it's possible maybe we just have to really hit bottom before they'll look up before we'll look up the answer is up it's not within us it's not around us

[46:18] I'm over on my time and I'm going to refrain from Q&A but I promise you this next week next week we will make sure that you have ample time for Q&A so you come with your ax to grind or questions if you want to write them out put them in the offering box and we'll do our best to treat them may we pray gracious father we are so grateful for principles that you have incorporated in your word you put them there for our use not to be ignored but for our use and our blessing and we confess as a nation sometimes as individuals we have simply used those principles rather than use them and for this we certainly do owe you an apology for too long we have turned a deaf ear to the clear clarion call of scripture we've gone on our own we've done it our way and this is what it's gotten us it's a mess it's a mess that we've created you've provided everything that was needed to steer clear of things like this that we plowed on unheeded unheeding what you provided now we're suffering a price it's difficult going to be a lot of people in need a lot already are jobs lost homes lost lives lost ruined destroyed all because of our foolishness and ignoring clear principles of scripture would you be pleased to stir the hearts and minds of people there's no way we can do it unless you do it it's all on you unless you do it it simply won't be done we want to place ourselves as individuals and as a congregation at your disposal we want to be available to be used any way that you might deem in accordance with your wisdom we thank you for it you are dismissed