Violence fills our land. There are no more "SAFE" places except "In Christ."
​Locking our doors and hoping for the best will not change the situation.
Violence has come to our streets, our malls, our government, our schools, our churches, and within our homes.

Taking our guns will not stop the spirit of violence any more than taking away alcohol to stop it's destruction. It is what is within the people that drives the violence, not the weapon. Let's look at some alcohol FACTS.
86.3 % of Americans reported they dank at least 1 drink.
26.5% reported they engaged in binge drinking.
14.4 million adults have a drinking disorder
401,000 teenagers 12-17 have a drinking disorder
88,000 people die a year from alcohol related death making it the 3rd leading preventable cause of death in America
Alcohol abuse costs American tax payers 249 Billion dollars a year
More than 10% of American children live in a home with alcohol abuse

Would taking alcohol away stop the problem. Funny thing, America tried that once.

I could go on......Yet our politicians major in the outward trying to legislate morality. We have enough laws on "THOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER"

Sticking our head in the sand and ignoring it will not change the fact that we are in critical days where there is...
NO Self-respect among people
NO Respect of others and their possessions
NO Respect of Life

THE VOICE OF VIOLENCE:
The selfishness of violence says "Because we have life we have the right to determine if someone else has life".

THIS IS THE CURRENT STATE OF MANKIND:
Jeremiah 22:17 ESV  But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence."

However, we have this hope...
A NEW DAY IS COMING IN A NEW LAND:
Isaiah 60:18-19 ESV  Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.  (19)  The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

In doing this "Casting  Our Cares" series I have listed certain KEYS to remember as we learn to cast our cares upon the Lord. So far I have listed these two KEYS...

PRAYER KEY: God knows and understands our current need and our current position better then we do.

PRAYER KEY: The Bible is God speaking to us. We can and should cast all our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us affectionately. The Father watches over His Word to accomplish it.

Today we will address the third KEY in learning to cast our cares upon the Lord.

PRAYER KEY: In daily life we all will have plenty of opportunities to worry and fear if we want to do it:

I guarantee that you had many opportunities to worry and fret over this last week. And I bet you took ample time with some of those opportunities. So let me ask you this. Did any of the worry, fear, or fret achieve anything, change anything, or help in any way? Did that worry, fear and fret give you some feeling of control over the situation and it's outcome?

Matthew 6:25-27 ESV  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  (26)  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  (27)  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Matthew 6:32-34 ESV  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  (33)  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  (34)  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I have been raised up from a death bed three times now, in 1979, 2007, and 2009 when my heart stopped during a medical procedure. In each of these times I had received both negative and positive words from family and friends about my health. Of course we typically get warm feelings when we get the positive words and we typically get emotionally down when we get the negative reports. However, our victory does not depend upon either the positive or negative words of people.

The words we get from other people need to align with the Word of God and be in agreement with the Holy Spirit. We need to confess our sin of worry and be filled with God’s Word and His promises.

Our faith should grow through trials. If we do not respond correctly in trials then our faith can wane. We need the Word of God in us because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. We cannot pray correctly without knowing the Word of God and the Character of God.

James 1:2-4 ESV Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, (3) for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (4) And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Romans 10:17 ESV So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

I have been in places and situations were I would have run away had I not gotten a Word from God that assured me He put me there for a season and for a reason. Sometimes the only word I would get is “There are hard trials ahead, but they are not meant to destroy you, or make you a victim, for your good." 

Philippians 4:6-7 ESV do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (7) And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We live in crazy days. It is time for Americans to go back and reread the foundational truths of our founding fathers. Christians we know that we have spiritual freedom in Christ and that we are called to pray, which we should.
I wonder though: Were there any Christians in England that prayed and yet came to the new land to start a new way of life of freedom?
I wonder: Were there any Christians that went to war against their former home land England for that right to have political, social, and religious freedom in this new land?
I wonder: Were there any Christians that drew up and singed their names to the document we now as "The Declaration of Independence"?
I wonder: What would these founding fathers say today if they saw what was doing on? I think I can answer that with a few lines within the document they signed.

In reading The Declaration of Independence, we can know why it is under so much attack by the liberal controlling amoral group running Washington and our Country. 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

MY SUBJECT TOPIC: I want to discuss Dr. King's statement "Riot is the language of the unheard".

KING (interview): I will never change in my basic idea that non-violence is the most potent weapon available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom and justice. I think for the Negro to turn to violence would be both impractical and immoral.

MIKE WALLACE: There's an increasingly vocal minority who disagree totally with your tactics, Dr. King.

KING: There's no doubt about that. I will agree that there is a group in the Negro community advocating violence now. I happen to feel that this group represents a numerical minority. Surveys have revealed this. The vast majority of Negroes still feel that the best way to deal with the dilemma that we face in this country is through non-violent resistance

I think that we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.

So that I would say that every summer we're going to have this kind of vigorous protest. My hope is that it will be non-violent. I would hope that we can avoid riots because riots are self-defeating and socially destructive. I would hope that we can avoid riots, but that we would be as militant and as determined next summer and through the winter as we have been this summer.

OKAY: So in the interview Dr. King says that turning to violence would be impractical and immoral. He also said that those who chose to riot in violence is few and a minority.

HOWEVER: He said that riot is the language of the unheard. This statement is a license to do what he said that he was against.

RIOT DEFINED: According to dictionary
A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property or people. Riots typically involve vandalism and the destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted varies depending on the riot and the inclinations of those involved. Targets can include shops, cars, restaurants, state-owned institutions, and religious buildings.

Riots often occur in reaction to a perceived grievance or out of dissent. Historically, riots have occurred due to poor working or living conditions, governmental oppression, taxation or conscription, conflicts between ethnic groups, (race riot) or religions (sectarian violence, pogrom), the outcome of a sporting event (football hooliganism) or frustration with legal channels through which to air grievances.

While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots typically consist of disorganized groups that are frequently "chaotic and exhibit herd behavior."

Why did I post this: Because violence seems to be the forst response in America to anything we disagree with, injustice we feel, or circumstance we find ourselves. Rioting is not limited to a specific 
race, religion, creed, ecomonic status, or gender. There are those prone to be violent and there are those who are easly swayed by the mob herd mentality, who would do with others what they woould never do alone. 

We need to educate all people as Dr. King was attempting to educate black people that rioting is not only NOT the answer but a display of chaotic insanity. We wonder why our first responders, police force and other public servants have backed away somewhat. Rioting is the answer. When a spirit of violence blows across a land, people will cast aside moral restraint and common sence and use any reason of disagreement to bring disorder, chaos, and civil unrest.

This is America folks, the land of the free and the brave. Let us not misuse those blood-bought traits to do injustice and lawlessness and then say we had a right to do it. Freedom abused is bondage.

We have been taking about how and why we should cast our cares upon the Lord. The key to walking a life of peace is having a life of faith. Everything we do needs to be "in faith." Even the things we have done naturally in our own strength and we could now do blind-folded. We don't need faith to do them, we need faith so that the Father gets the glory in it. I don't need faith to comb my hair by I need faith to please the Father and give Him the glory.

Once I practice this in the small things that don't seem to matter it will be easier to stand in faith when the big issues or the crisis comes. We are out on a limb in big trouble if we get in the habit of trying to exercise faith only when we are in a crisis and place of extreme need. It is like telling the Father that we can handle this thing called life on our own and we will call on Him when we need Him. This is definitely not a life of faith.

Hebrews 4:2 ESV For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

PRAYER KEY: God knows and understands our current need and our current position better then we do:

Our Father knows what we need before we ask. But we are still supposed to ask in faith. The cares of life are heavy. It is Scriptural to pray for strength while in trials, but it is unscriptural to pray for grace and strength to carry your load or cares. I have heard people pray this "Lord, give me strength to carry this burden I have been given." The Lord told us that we are to take His yoke upon us and that His burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  

PRAYER KEY: The Bible is God speaking to us. We can and should cast all our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us affectionately. The Father watches over His Word to accomplish it.

Jeremiah 1:12 ESV Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."

Do you need a good word from the Lord today? Then read your Bible and find out what God says about your situation. Ask the Lord to remind you to stand in the position of faith throughout the day.

We, as believers, choose to present to the Lord a heart that says “AMEN” at the beginning of each day. An AMEN heart is one that says yes to the Father no matter what He says. We will present a “So be it” and an “I’ll do it” heart to the Father so that we can hear the voice of the Father.

The Laodicean Church:

I’m going to begin with some “WE MAY” statements.
We may very well be the last generation of human culture and life as we know it.
We may be approaching what is known as the end of the age.
We may, as the body of Christ worldwide, seem to be manifesting some of the the traits of the Laodicean Church spoken of in Revelation 3:14-22.

What if these statements are true? What if the Church is manifesting the signs as if she were that Laodicean church, that end of the age church, that last generation church?

What our Lord Jesus sees!
Revelation 3:13-16 ESV He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' (14) "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. (15) "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! (16) So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

How the church sees herself!
Revelation 3:17 ESV For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
 
Command from our Lord:
Revelation 3:18 ESV I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Invitation from our Lord:
Revelation 3:19-20 ESV Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. (20) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Reward from our Lord:
Revelation 3:21-22 ESV The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (22) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

It is my intent to share with all of us from the Word of God in such a way that we can determine where we are in our Christian life. It is the belief that the Word going forth has to do with a woman who wants to make herself ready for the return of the Lord.

If this is the end of the age then there are really two things evident from the Word of God happening at the same time. First we will see a portion of the Church making herself ready for the Lords return. Secondly we will see a portion of the Church so deceived that she does not even know where she is or who she is.

Which portion are we a part of? Actually we can't answer that question now can we? If we knew that we were deceived we would do something about it. We can only know truth if we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.

We all know this passage of Scripture from Psalms 37.

Psalms 37:4-7 ESV Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (5) Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. (6) He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (7) Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

The word “commit” in Psalms 37:5 means “to roll.” We are to roll our way on the Lord. We need to obey the Word of God if we expect results in both the spiritual and physical realms.

Would you like for me to pray for you? Do you expect me to come in agreement about what you need prayer for. Well the most common answer to those questions would be yes. And I would want you to pray for me and come in agreement with me concerning my prayer request.

Someone might come up to you with an unspoken prayer request. They will say, “The Lord knows my prayer request.” You should tell that person “Then leave the request with the Lord.”  This is not being mean or hateful. If we are going to pray for people we need to know what they are praying for. How can I come in agreement unless I know what they are praying for? They might be praying worry, fret, and fear. You don’t want to come into agreement with that.

We know that in our daily needs we already have a promise and our prayer should be one of thanksgiving, even if we do not see the reality of our need.

Matthew 6:31-34 ESV Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' (32) For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (33) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (34) "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Luke 12:22-26 ESV And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. (23) For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (24) Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! (25) And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (26) If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

There have been many times when I have preached that worry is a sin and someone would come up to me and say, “Oh pastor, I don’t have worry, I have Godly concern.” It is amazing how we can rename things like our emotions in order to justify our faithlessness towards God’s Word. Worry is a sin and it does reveal a lack of faith and trust in God and His Word. Therefore, it will affect our payer life tremendously.

Hearing the voice of the Father is by far the most important communication we will ever have, therefore it is vital when we hear a voice that we know who it is that is speaking. I have had the unfortunate experience of acting when I was sure that I was hearing the voice of God only to find out later that I was listening to “other voices.”

When we talk about hearing the voice of the Father we need to know there are other voices in competition for our attention. In fact over the course of our childhood we have been conditioned to listen to the other voices. We have to train our ear to learn to hear the Father’s voice. One of the biggest problems is NOT the hearing of voices, but distinguishing which voice is speaking. In order to hear the voice of the Father we need to shut out or quiet the other voices that are screaming for our attention.

What or who is the source of those other voices that bombard our soul, the inner man, both in our waking and sleeping hours. That is right, we have voices in our sleeping hours also. This is our dream state. We are warned in the Word of God to be careful how we hear and to what we hear. We know that the Word of God teaches us that words carry life or death, and blessing or cursing. Therefore we are warned to take heed and pay attention to what we hear.

Mark 4:23-24 ESV  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." (24)  And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.

Luke 8:18 ESV  Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."

Hebrews 2:1 ESV  Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

It is nothing new when I state that Christians undergo trials and are sometimes afflicted, brokenhearted, crushed, and depressed. We just want peace. How does God our heavenly Father respond to us in these times?

Psalms 34:18-19 ESV The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

The Lord knows the afflictions and trials of the believers and the Lord’s deliverance is ready for those who ask and surrender the cares upon Him. If we want deliverance we need to know that it does not come by our telling the Lord what He already knows. He knows we are hurting.

It is not enough for us to know that God knows, understands, and cares for us. We must do what His Word tells us to do. Every distraction that keeps us from walking in the rest and peace of the Lord needs to be cast or thrown upon Him.

Philippians 4:6-7 ESV do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (7) And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

The things we fear and fret over nullify our prayers. We need to turn them over to the Lord. The Greek in 1 Peter 5:7 actually says to cast or throw them to the Lord. How do we know if we have turned these things over to the Lord? If we have fear and worry then the Lord does not have it because we have not given it over to the Lord by faith.

If the Lord has received your frets, fears, and worries then you no longer have them. When we still have the frets, fears, and worries and are anxious we are trying to figure out a solution to the problem. God does not need to figure out a solution to a problem.

If you can’t sleep or eat because of the constant thoughts of the cares then they have not been committed to the Lord, no matter how long or hard you have prayed. When we really, by faith, cast our cares upon the Lord it is a done deal. We don’t have to do the same ones over and over again.

The world would like to tell us that we are who we are in our physical body. The commercials draw our appetite towards fulfilling the desires of the soul. However, the Word of God teaches us that our spirit is who we really are. Our soul is being transformed daily as we walk with the Lord. So, we are a SPIRIT, we have a SOUL, and we dwell in a BODY.

From the spirit realm God created the natural realm. The Spirit realm has always existed with the Father. But the natural realm had a beginning and has an end. When God spoke from the realm of the Spirit things came about in the natural. He spoke and bam, there it was. He spoke and things were created. The key is that God spoke. He made man and then He breathed the life of Himself into man. Because we are spirit that has a soul and live in a body we can operate in the spiritual realm. Living in the spiritual realm means that we can know what God knows.

Acts 17:28 ESV for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'

The Words we speak have power. We are spirit as God is Spirit and we are called to walk in dominion whereby God will back us up. But who are we listening to? Are we still living out of the past life of hurt and rejection or are we living in the new life of the spirit as a child of God? We can speak and declare. Are we listening from our flesh because it hurts? Are we living in the lies of our forefathers?

Declaration as a Spirit-filled person:
I am a spirit, I have a soul, I live in a body, I am walking in dominion over my circumstances, I am righteous, God rules in my life, I speak what He speaks, and I declare what He declares. Because I have His Spirit I can know His mind.