Paradise Revival - Day Four

I received a disturbing phone call yesterday mid-morning. A soon to be Paradise High School Senior died in a car wreck Tuesday night. Several students along with some pastors and school counselors gathered to offer comfort to the grieving. The longer I stood in that room I kept thinking about John 10:10. "The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy but I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly."

Yesterday afternoon I came to the office to study for the service after some time at the high school. For the better part of an hour all I did was weep and pray. The burden for this community and especially the teenagers weighs on me night and day. I desire nothing more than to see God move in this town.

We have a real adversary. He is the Father of Lies, the great Deceiver, the Accuser of the Brethren, our enemy, a thief, a liar, and he disguises himself as an angel of light. He opposes the work of God. He marshals all the forces of hell to steal, kill, and destroy. He is relentless in his ambition to blind, deceive, and destroy.

While he works around the clock every moment of everyday to fight God and propagate wicked in every corner of the world, the church goes about business as usual. We are losing. Check the statistics. Fewer baptisms have been reported in many mainstream denominations. Translation. Fewer people are being saved. Prayer meetings have almost become extinct. Worship services often resemble religious routine rather than revival. Attendance has dropped in many churches across the nation. People will be committed to just about anything more than serving and pouring their lives out for Christ.

We are getting our tails kicked. The forces of darkness have invaded every part of society. I read yesterday that every single second of every day over $3,000 is spent on pornography. Every single second of everyday 28,258 people are viewing pornography on the internet. Every single second 372 people are typing in adult porn search items on search engines. The internet is littered with the filth of 4.2 million pornographic websites. Every 39 minutes a new porn video is made. 25% of all internet traffic totaling some 68 million of all search engine requests are pornographic in nature. One researcher reported that one third of all female church attenders have viewed porn and one half of men admit to struggling with this sin.

Alcohol is a tool in the hands of the enemy. 100,000 deaths in the United States happen as a result of excessive alcohol consumption. Nearly 50% of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related. Every single day over 11,000 people try alcohol for the first time. Right here in Paradise students found ways to drink right on the campus during school hours. My son told me water bottles were banned because they were being filled with banned substances.

After years of declining drug use trends among high school students since 1960 drug use is on the rise. Research has shown that nearly 25% of all high school seniors have tried marijuana. This past year several football players went out and got high before playing in a junior varsity football game right here in Paradise, TX. Right here in this community drugs were found stashed in the school.

I do not even have the time to talk about the sexual immorality. I will suffice it to say that in 1960 439,000 couples lived together outside of marriage. Fast forward to 2011 and that number exploded to 7.5 million. Many of those 7.5 million went through abstinence programs like "True Love Waits" but they did not wait.

To hear another teenage girl died in a car accident last night from this little community broke my heart. I did not know her. I am unsure if she had a relationship with Christ. If she did not I shudder to think about the consequences. It angers me that such a young life ended so soon and so tragically.

So last night I preached hard. I have preached hard every night of this revival. I feel the weight of God's burden for this community. I see what is at stake. Souls. Lives. Heaven. Hell. Not for one moment do I believe the lie my kids are immune. Though Satan cannot steal their souls he can destroy their lives through getting them tripped up in sin just like anyone else.

Some would say, "Come on Matt. Lighten up. You are taking all this way to seriously. Kids are going to be kids." In response I would say, "THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SATAN WANTS YOU THINK!" He wants the church to continue to sleep. He wants preachers to preach pop psychology sermons. He wants the church to water it down. He wants us to sleep more than to pray, to sing more than witness, and to remain apathetic rather than engaged in the battle.

It struck me yesterday how many famous people died of drug overdoses. Marilyn Monroe in 1962. Elvis Presley in 1997. Michael Jackson in 2009. Whitney Houston in 2012. There are many many others. When such iconic people die we are shocked and saddened for a moment. We consider matters of eternity. Everyday around 150,000 die around the world. That means 150,000 stand before the Great White Throne judgment. If those people have not repented of their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ to forgive them, cleanse them, and to make them righteous before His Holy Father they perish into eternal damnation. Every minute another 100 die and enter into eternal life or eternal destruction. Every minute! In the time it has taken me to write these last few sentences another 100 people are gone. Some due to old age. Some due to crime. Some because of illness and disease. Some because of natural disasters. All gone from this life. I am supposed to lighten up? This is all sobering.

In 1912 the Titanic disaster claimed the lives of over 1,500 passengers. All gone drowning in the icy waters of the Atlantic. In 2001 over 3,000 people perished in the terrorists attacks. People pondered eternity briefly but soon life went back to normal except for those personally affected by that tragedy. People began to believe they were bullet proof, invincible and that death could not touch them. One deck hand on the Titanic told a nervous lady boarding the ship, "God himself could not sink this ship."

Life is fragile. We are not invincible. Satan has played us for the fool. We think there is more time. None of us know. [Hebrews 9:27] It is appointed unto to man to die and after this comes the judgment." God could not make it more plain for any of us.

You want me to lighten up. How can I? Paradise is a small community. In a week's time a five year old drowned at the lake and a teenage girl died in a car accident both from this community. How can I lighten up? People are perishing and I know not how it is with many of their souls. Satan has deceived and stolen the allegiance of many students right under our noses. Lighten up? Leave that to someone else.

I am after one thing in these days. I will settle for nothing less than a full on assault of God against the forces of evil in this community. I am determined to pray, preach, and write in opposition of the enemy as long as God gives me strength. I will fight the good fight. I will labor on no matter the cost. I will call the churches in Paradise to stand together in opposition against the forces of evil. May God answer. May He shake this city.