The Great Experiment - Day 3 (night)

The Great Experiment, Day 3 (night)

Here are this evening's video devotional, Scripture passage, prayer points, and guide for Day 3 of The Great Experiment.

Blessings,

Matt Bennett
Founder and CEO, Christian Union

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Transcript:

Hi. Matt Bennett here. Thank you for being part of the Great Experiment as we press into the Lord these ten days, trusting Him for something extraordinary. This is another video from Fiji where I and a number of Christian Union staff have spent the end of May and the beginning of June, here in 2019, learning from the Fijians what it means seek the Lord.

The second half of Psalm 1 says this: "The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the wicked. Sorry. The Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish."

These are the last three verses of Psalm 1, and it shows the negative consequences of those who live wicked lives. And in the United States, both in the church and outside the church, we're experiencing a lot of negativity in our communities, in large part because we have not repented of our sins and are not seeking the Lord. Here in Fiji, they identified a bunch of sins they consider to be corporate sins that the whole village would need to repent of.

And people of course, have all their individual sins. But a corporate sin is something that affects so, so many people within the Christian community and outside the Christian community. And we as a team of about 15 of us, are talking and praying and seeking the Lord and feel like we've come up with a list that affects the United States in a very deep way. There are other sins of course, but we're thinking of six that we really identified which are so endemic to the United States within the church and outside the church.

One is sexual immorality. All of the taking in of all sorts of movies and practices and fornication of every different kind. All sorts of sexual immorality inside the church and outside is a big problem in the United States. We think of materialism and greed, putting that ahead of other concerns and not giving generously even though we're incredibly wealthy. It causes problems, all sorts of problems because of that. That's a big issue.

Three, self-indulgence. We don't take the time to seek the Lord. We're lovers of pleasure. We don't pray day and night. We don't fast. We don't make sacrifices for the Lord's purposes. Nothing's wrong with these amusements and different things in our lives but when they take the place of seeking the Lord then we're sinning. This is true of Christians and non-Christians alike.

Let me see the list here. Oh, number four. Fear of man. So many Christians are fearful of what the world thinks of them and afraid of being different and of being consecrated. Afraid of all the push-back that will come when we stand for righteousness and speak the truth of God's ways. Fifth, rebellion. Rebellion's a problem in so many ways.

I was talking to a leader of the Healing the Land team here that goes to these villages and he says to me, he says, "So if the pastor of a church stands up and calls the church to a 40-day fast, the people wouldn't do it?" And I kind of laughed and I said, "There are some churches where the people would do it but the vast majority have never even fasted nor would they do a fast if the pastor said that was what was needed for their spiritual health."

But it's not just rebellion in church circles. It's rebellion in employment and governmental ways. Rebellion is a big problem among so many Christians. One person pointed out to me some time ago that if you look at the theme of almost every movie, there's a person who rebels against authority because the authority is corrupt and that person ends up being correct and the authority was bad and corrupt. But where are the movies and stories where the young person rebelled and it became plain that those in leadership were correct and it was the wisdom of the leadership and elders that prevailed?

Almost no movies are like that. It just shows what's in our DNA in our country. Then the last one, six, is unbelief. We have unbelief outside the church. People are skeptical of whether even God exists. And then in the church we have unbelief. We don't believe God will do anything. If we turn to him, fast and pray, we don't think it will make a difference. We don't pray for healing for people or do things, sometimes for other reasons but one of the reasons is, we don't think God will do anything anyway.

So this permeates the church. So, there are other sins as well in our group. We talked about killing of the unborn. We talked about racism issues and breaking of covenants, all sorts of other different sins. But we talked about those six a lot. We're continuing to seek the Lord and perhaps through this ministry in August when we do fast through the Day and Night, we can talk more about those things, that we can repent as a nation and receive the blessings of God.

I'm very glad to have been here and to learn all that we've been learning. And thank you for joining with this effort. Thousands of us across the United States are seeking the Lord during the Great Experiment. The Lord's blessings to you.

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Here is this evening's guide for the “Five Rs” of The Great Experiment, June 1-10, 2019.

1. Read and Pray

Ezekiel 36:27 – And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Read Ezekiel 36:16–38 for more context.

This evening's Prayer Points

• Ask God to increase the power of His Spirit within us so that we would walk in every way that is pleasing to Him.
• Ask Him to shed light on the areas of your life that are out of step with His rules. Trust His power to help you amend your ways.

2. Repent.
What sins do I need to repent of today? What hindrances to my devotion to Christ can I remove today?

3. Respond to the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, what is the one thing you most want me to do today? (Write it down, and do it today).

4. Represent Christ. 
How will I bear witness to Christ today? With whom shall I share the Gospel today?

5. Raise Your Faith.
Be bold and courageous in living out your faith (Joshua 1:8,9). Choose from one of the following options for a “Joshua Faith Challenge”:

1. Host an all-night prayer meeting. Set a date during June 1-10 and invite friends to come and pray with you for revival in America.
2. Every day, pray for ten friends and family members to come to faith in Christ and look for opportunities to share the gospel with them.
3. Share an evangelistic post on social media every day from June 1-10.
4. Anything else the Lord burdens you to take on that will require courageous faith.