Don't Panic (Part 1)

Bishop John D. Ritcheson

To start with, we all need to remember the source of America’s wealth – our industrial might and our military might.  Why are we the most blessed nation on the planet earth?  First, let me say that most of the people I know are very hard working.  I do not say you do not work hard, but people in third world countries work very hard and are not as blessed as us.  We all know our nation was founded under Godly principles (see my sermon “Chosen Nation” on the website) and on ‘in God we trust.’  I know all of you are devout Christians but is America a nation ‘under God’ any more?  I am not being negative, but positive.  One must address the problem to get the answer.  You cannot treat the disease until you first diagnosis it and find the cause.  The title of this message from God is “Don’t Panic.”  God is not saying that there are no real problems, because there are, but He is pointing out what the root of the problems are and giving us answers that will work because they have always worked.  I am not being judgmental; I am just delivering a message from God.  God is the only one who can solve our problems.  The good news is that He wants to and He will if we put our trust back in Him and do what He instructs us to do.

        So, what is the source of America’s blessings and what is God saying?  He has not left us and He still wants to pour His blessings on us, but we must make some changes as a nation and spiritual change or revival always starts in the church.

        Deuteronomy 8:17-20

17     And thou say in thine heart.  My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18     But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, the he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers; as it is this day.

19     And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

20     As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because he would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

        Before I cover these verses with you, let me establish a foundation that took me to these verses.  God, the God of the Bible (I didn’t mean that ugly, but in writing this as a message from God and because of the “political correctness” of the world we live in, I feel clarification is necessary).  I am talking about the Christian God whom I believe is the only God and I am not being hard and I will explain more later.

        God has brought His children out of Egyptian bondage through a series of miracles (God still does miracles today!).  He has cared for them for forty years in the wilderness.  He is about to give them the Promised Land and He is saying to them I am going to bless you there and lest you forget, I want to remind you of some stuff so you do not lose what I have given you. 

        It was God who established America.  It was God who made our country great and yes, we did our part – we did our best and He did the rest.  We did what we could and He did what we could not do.  This is a humble thought, but we need to humble ourselves before God.  I do it daily.  Most of us do.  Now notice what God says here.  Remember throughout history when Israel would rebel, God would allow them to be defeated by their enemies and they would go through bad economic times and some time even bondage, but every time Israel repented God would give them victory and bless them.  God has an amazing ability to forgive.  No, God did not do this to them, He just removed His blessing and favor because of their disobedience.  He is a good and loving Father.  As parents ourselves, would we reward our children for bad behavior?  We may be fast to forgive, but they have to admit they were wrong and sorry for us to do so. 

Deuteronomy 8:17: And thou say in thine heart.  My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

       Notice here in verse 17, He warns that they may think ‘hey we did all this’, but that is pride and pride cometh before a fall and destruction.  However, don’t worry, the blessing is coming but we must first discover the problem.

18:  But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, the he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers; as it is this day.

       Do you see here that remember God, He gave us the power to get wealth and to establish His covenant.  Beloved, the New Testament is the Covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God blessed us from our birth as a nation because we obeyed His covenant and we all have done this wrong.  That is not what this is referring to.  It is one thing to do wrong, ask forgiveness and God forgives, but when one does wrong and does not believe it is wrong although the covenant of God says it is wrong when wrong is called right.  Please know that God is not in heaven with a big ugly stick and every time we do wrong BAM!  No, He is long suffering and merciful.  However, when we do not repent and we will not if we do not even think it is wrong, well God just will not bless it – God will not bless what is not freely (of a free will) given to Him.  That is what a covenant is all about.  God did His part at the Cross.  We received Him, life for Him and His end is among many things.  He blesses us.  Now notice verse 19:

And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

Do you see that?  If you forget the Lord your God and start serving other gods you will perish.  Folks, I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but many in America are deceived by thinking, “I don’t go to church, but I’d never worship another god.”  The highest form of worship is obedience.  I don’t want America to perish and I know you don’t either but we will if we don’t return to God.  A big part of the problem is false gods.  People say, “Americans don’t have false gods.”  Well, this won’t make me popular with some, but the truth hurts and it will also make you free.

        All the false religions – there are too many to cover in this article – and beloved we are so politically correct we are afraid to disagree with anyone, but folks there is only one God and that is the God of the Bible.  This is racial or intolerance.  It is a fact.  Buddha is not God.  The Muslim faith is not correct.  They are not bad people, just deceived people.  If we are led by the spiritually blind, we will all end up in the ditch which in part is already happening.  Please do not be mean to these people but testify in love to them about their error.  Folks, someone has to be right.  All these false gods cannot be God – they all claim to be but there can only be one God and I believe it is God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Ghost, the God of the Bible. That is who blessed this nation, made us great and can and will make us great again if we turn to Him.

        How about the false god of self (I am not referring to “the choir”)?  We live in a country blessed by God and yet there is a man who says those Americans who have faith in God are too stupid to be governed.  I often wonder why Americans make such a man wealthy by supporting his shows on television and in the middle of all that is going on he makes a movie mocking and making fun of God.  That is the pride of man.  Do we act hateful?  Of course not, but we can boycott his movie.  We can send e-mails to Larry King who interviewed him about the movie, who said it was funny and let Mr. King know that we do not think it is funny.  What I am saying is that there was a day in this country that some things were sacred and God is one of those things and if there was any fear of God in this nation the movie would be a flop for lack of support.

20                     As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because he would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

In verse 20, God warns us about not listening to the voice of the God.  That is the problem and the cause of the nation turning from God, but there is good news.  If we will return to God, He will return to us.  I believe God has told me how.

        God begins to speak to us about the cure – how to get to Him and have His favor and blessing return back to us as individuals and on America as a nation.  (Thank you for hanging in there with me on this.)

        In Hebrews 11:6 it says:  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a reward of them that diligently seek him.  God begins to reveal to us how to bring His favor back.  Hebrews chapter 11 is often referred to as the Christian Hall of Fame or Hall of Faith.  There are great men and women in this book who rose to the occasion whose actions brought victory in times of war and blessings on people.  How did they do this?  What did they have in common?  I believe verse 6 shows us what they all had in common and we can do this also with great results.  Read the chapter for yourselves.  It is awesome what these people accomplished. 

A.            Without faith it is impossible to please God.  Everything we do with God and in God and for God is by Faith.  You reading this article is an act of Faith.  Prayer is an act of faith.  Worship and obedience to God are all acts of faith.  I am writing/saying this by faith.  God inhales our praises and good things happen.  We need to praise God.  When we do, He shows up and blesses us and gives us victory.  We pray, we believe, He hears us and answers our prayer.  Prayer, my friend, changes things.  God honors prayer because prayer honors God.  I believe if the church prays, revival will hit the land and as men turn to God, God will begin to bless us as individuals, then corporately as a church and a nation.  Notice what it says that in fact that without faith it is impossible to please God.  You just cannot.  That is why non-believers don’t get it.  We get it because we have acted in faith and have seen God bless us countless times.  We know faith works, but not just faith in faith, but faith in God.  Now think about this.  If it is impossible to please God without faith, then when I act in faith it is impossible not to please Him.  Praise the Lord!  So what kind of faith is the Bible talking about here?  Not the mere faith that says to believe in God or talk about God.  That is good faith but that is not what the Bible is saying here.  The faith here is the kind that brings us to God to ask for His help, to turn to Him but if we are to do that we must believe something.  What is that?  That He is, not just that He exists over there, no we must believe that He is the Almighty, that He is Lord, our Provider, our Healer, our suffering Savior, our Help in times of trouble, all Powerful, my Friend, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, my Father, He is Wonderful, Glorious, Counselor, and Risen King.  He is the God that never loses, the Lover of my soul, the Father to the fatherless, my Deliverer, that He is Merciful, This is important because faith without works is dead.  Without a vision of God we will not do what is next.  Oh, by the way, He is gracious and merciful.  He is God and I choose to serve Him and He is always available.  He is available right now.  He wants to help us but we must do something.  Let me tell you first what God desires to do for us.  It is awesome.  The Bible says He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  It will require effort, hard work and time but it is worth the effort, time and work.

The word reward here and through the Bible means “payment in full for services rendered.”  If we sought the Lord, really turned to Him and He sent revival and healed our land and fixed our economy.  Would it be worth whatever effort we put forth as individuals if He saved our loved ones, healed our bodies, and answered our prayers.  Would it be worth any effort on our part?  Of course it would!  How do we receive this reward?  By diligently seeking God.  By seeking God, His directions come, His blessings come when we seek Him.

B.            Now do we diligently seek God?  In the Greek, the word diligently means “to search out, to investigate.”  We search out His Word, we investigate His word.  What do you say about this?  We search for Him through prayer and worship.  He can be found if we search for Him,  to crave and have a longing for God, seek after Him carefully and diligently.

C.            Seek after God, not stuff or things but only Him.  When you get Him you get all He has.  To really know Him is to live for Him.

D.           No the next word is to seek.  The word seek, beloved, is the same word as diligently.  In other words if we seek God, we find Him.  He tells us what we need to do and we obey and He does the rest.  You may be thinking, “Brother John, that is too simple.”  No, it isn’t.  Only God has the answers.  No one is as smart or as wise as God, nor is anyone as powerful as God.  We need God personally and as a nation. 

Beloved, I sought God just as His word says to do and I believe He instructed me what to do and that will be in the next part of the article which will be posted by Wednesday and it is awesome.  God wants to bless us.  He wants to give us His favor but we must seek Him, listen to Him and obey Him and then He will heal our land.  Please check back Wednesday for Part 2 of “Don’t Panic” for the answer God gave me when I sought Him.