Acts 17:24-31

²⁴ God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, ²⁷ so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

There are those who say we are more alike than different, and there are others who say we should embrace our differences. There are still others who stigmatize the differences, and bring a sense of ‘other’ and ‘enemy’ to those around them who they fear, for out of fear comes hatred, and out of hatred comes the rationalization for all kinds of discrimination.

Yet being called out of the world, the Savior revealed to us through the Father’s will, we are also to fall out of favor with popular opinion, and obey the Father’s Word and will.

What we fail to realize, as we humanize the divine and put our visions for ourselves on G-d when He would put His on us, is that we have the order of things backwards.

We were at one time united, but pride would have us build a tower to Heaven. (Genesis 11:4-7)

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. ² And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and ^[b]bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

Our Father does not share His glory, nor could he have sinful man in proximity.

Now, we are united in almost nothing. Our nation alone has relied on division to secure blessings and honor for a few, and the rest will fall where they may. The complaint among us is that we have taken G-d out of schools, institutions of power, the Pledge of Allegiance, and there are those who want His Name off the currency.

You cannot take G-d away from His creation, nor separate Him from what is His; you move away from Him, and as you do, you walk toward darkness, disorder, confusion, rebellion, immorality, self-pride, faithlessness, and ultimately, Hell.

The ministry of John the Baptist and Christ contained the word repent. ‘Repent, and believe the Gospel.

2 Peter 3:9

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Here too, we are to be unified. We must pray for our nation, and each other, while there’s yet time. Christ asks of us, hopefully, to stand fast.

Luke 18:7-8

⁷ And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? ⁸ I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?

Matthew 18:19-20

¹⁹ “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.²⁰ For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Amos 3:3

³ Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

As believers, we can no longer afford to be divided among the small things of the earth: color, class, worship styles, the Lord’s color, the fact that the Bible mentions slavery, the fact that its words were twisted and used to justify horrors toward humanity; it has ever been so since before it was completed. When Satan tempted Christ, did he not say, “It is written…?”

It is time for bridges, not walls, and it is time for Christians to get off the fence, and choose whom they’re going to serve. The power of men is fleeting, and fallen natures don’t change without the love of Christ.

Let us agree to love, and pray. The day is far spent….

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven, 

This nation is deluded by its own grandeur. Its leaders give lip service to caring and loving their fellow man, while their coffers grow and the people suffer. We are a nation under a false G-d, and have chosen mammon over You, to our mortal shame and our eternal peril, placing our trust in the Herods of our day, revering them as gods and not men.

As we gather to pray today, let the Spirit come in power, and reveal the truth of our direction down the broad path to damnation. Our priorities are misplaced, our youth unguided, our men and women misdirected and misinformed, and our pastors in league with Pharisees, choosing wealth over Truth.

Yet, by Your own will, let it be as You have said, Lord: They have their reward. 

Even so, we pray for opened eyes, refreshed spirits, hearts of flesh, tearful repentance, and songs of praise and joy to Your glory to flow from our desperate lips and earnest hearts. We pray the Truth be revealed in power, speaking Truth to power, for the good of all, which is the Father’s will for all.

Embolden your people, as those who hate now speak out in public, with violence and fear have been emboldened, for greater is He that is in us, than in the world.

We would be fruitful branches, humble souls, steadfast ministers, faithful worshipers, and joyful servants ever doing works that point to Heaven and glorify our heavenly Father as we delight to do His will. 

Help our unbelief as we stumble, fall, miss opportunities, backslide, compromise, and give in to temptation. We would not be spewed from the mouth of our Savior, or have our name blotted from the Book of Life. Take not the Holy Spirit from us, the seal of our salvation, and the assurance of our resurrection.

And when we do these things, quicken us to confession and repentance, for the time to stray far is no longer, and the darkness comes closer, and faster, than before.

We pray to see all nations gathered before Christ, with none taken from His hand, and we are judged in His righteousness to be blameless before You, living in eternal agreement in the holy presence of an eternal G-d.

Let it be to us as You have said.

Amen.