During these tough economic times filled with doubt, depression, and distractions, I want to remind God’s people that God is still God. Although there are many experts and strategist that suggest that we follow their way; I don’t know about you, but I have decided to follow Jesus. And as our founder so prophetically professed, “Though heavy woes come down, though Satan seems to reign to take Him as my hiding place and Trust Him just the same”.

I have learned to Trust Him. I have learned to trust Him with my health; I have learned to Trust Him with my relationships, and I have learned trust Him with my wealth. And I know that we can trust Him in “Restoring our Generation on a Firm Foundation”.

Our Theme for this National Convention lines up with my heart, and the heart of God to see His people fully restored. Our God has ordained that we should live for such a time as this, and then He has given us the wonderful gifts of our culture and our race that have shaped us into unique vessels anointed and appointed to serve in this present age.

I want to take a few minutes to remind you that our generation and our children’s generation are relying on us to appropriately apply our anointing and to actually answer our appointment. To be anointed simply means that you are set apart or sealed for a specific purpose. II Corinthians 1:21, 22 say “Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”.

To be appointed simply means we have some work to perform. I Thessalonians 5:9, says “For God did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For what reasons are we anointed and appointed? Christ is our example, and we must follow Christ. Wherever He goes, we must go; whatever He does, we must do likewise. So for what purpose has He anointed us? Isaiah 61:1, 2 tells us that “He has anointed us to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent us to bind up the broken hearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; and to comfort those who mourn”.

But why has He appointed us? Why this unique group of ladies? Because God know that our generation would need restoration from poverty; so He has appointed us to bring good news to the poor; My Lord is aware that our people need restoration from depression; so He has appointed us to comfort the brokenhearted. God knew that our sons and daughters need restoration from incarceration; so He has sent us to announce that one day the captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. My Lord knew that our people need restoration from grief; so He has appointed us to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

And to summarize these verses, and our responsibility into one word, that word would be RESTORATION. Restoration means to take back a possession, to reestablish or to recover one’s spiritual wholeness. How do begin the process of restoration, Isaiah tells us that first we most MOVE:

Follow with me as I read Isaiah 32: 9 & 10, found on the back of your program.

So what does the prophet Isaiah says? Rise up! Women who are at ease. Wake up to our current condition. See that we are in trouble. But so often, instead of being concerned, we are complacent. Complacency means to have a casual attitude toward God, toward a great problem confronting us or others. Being lazy or at ease when you should be hard at work, when the time is late, when your full involvement is needed. God has a lot to say about complacency, in James 4:17, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it”. Hosea 13:5-6 says, “I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land. But when you had eaten and were satisfied, then you became proud and forgot me”.

As with the nation of Israel, our generation has ignored and rejected the Word of God, and as a result, the fabric of our society has unraveled. The experts say violent crimes continue to make our cities like war zones. That fifty percent of all children killed with firearms are Black. The number one cause of death among Black males 18 - 34 is gunfire. The statisticians tell us that one in five African American teenage girls become pregnant each year. When I hear what the experts say, I hear that our people need restoration.

But too often, our attitude isn’t one to be really concerned about these things-as long as it’s not our kids who are getting shot, or our girls who are becoming pregnant, as long as things are going relatively fine in our own lives we become complacent. It is to these women that Isaiah is addressing his words, saying to us today, “Rise Up! Wake up to our condition. Wake up to the certain judgment of God. Wake up and move from complacency to concern.

But concerned women say Give and it shall be given to you;

Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over.

Complacent women say, if it feels good do it;

But concerned women say, I am bought with a price;

Therefore, I must glorify God with my body.

Complacent women say, you only live once,

But concerned women say, it is appointed unto men

Once to die, but after this the judgment.

So you say, I have moved from complacency to concern, I have been awakened. Then what do we do?

Let’s look at verse 11- 14. A famous song writer once wrote; “girls just want to have fun”. But Isaiah says that this is not time for partying, this is a time to lament, to mourn, to grieve over what is happening in our land, in our homes, in our churches. This is not someone else’s problem. We’ve have to make it our problem. We are part of this. We must take responsibility and cry out to God. Some of us have heard evil and corruption so long that we are desensitized; but sin should cause us to mourn. What should we mourn about? What should we weep about? We should mourn not just about the consequences of our sin (because we got caught), but our sin itself. We ought to weep about the sin in our nation as it flaunts wickedness and as it calls evil good and good evil.

We need to weep because for the first time in recent years, the divorce rate inside the church is higher than the divorce rate outside the church; We should weep because the highest increase of gay and lesbian relationships are in our community; We should weep because our children are being abused and neglected; We need to weep because it’s hard to find a good black man; We should weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn.

We need to weep over the lack of sincerity in our churches; too many churches are just playing church. We need to weep not only over the sins of women in general but over our own sins, over our own hardness of heart. There are women in this place-I don’t know who you are, but God has been speaking to you today-women who are involved right now in a relationship that is immoral and ungodly. And I say to you, it’s to move from just having a good time; it’s time to move from merriment; it is time to mourn.

Lamentation 2:19, the prophet says,

Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the night pour out thine heart

like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the

life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

When we get in the presence of God, when we cry out to God, God is going to cause a groaning, a moaning, intensity, a compulsion in our hearts. We’ll no longer be able to be complacent we will become concerned, and we will move from merriment to mourning. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted: Matthew 5:4, the time for comfort will come, the time for rejoicing will come. But there is also a time to mourn. Not only are we to wake up, to turn from complacency to concern, to weep, to turn from merriment to mourning, but we should move from isolation to influence.

We have such a powerful influence as women, and few of us realize how great that is. How do we influence the next generation, by becoming women of God’s Word, women who know this Book and who know how to apply it to real-life situations in our generation. It takes boldness. It takes courage, because ours is not a popular message. But we have to say it anyway. A great writer of the past century said this:

The great influence on earth, whether for good or for evil, is possessed by woman.

A community is not likely to be overthrown where women fulfill her mission.

For by the power of her noble heart towards others she will raise it from its ruin

And restore it again to prosperity and joy.

Women we have been chosen not just to belong to God, but to be God’s instrument in this dark and perverse culture.

Our lives are a powerful influence on those around us. Oh, that we would use that influence to show our mates, our children, others in the body of Christ the critical condition we are in so that we will be motivated to join us in weeping, repenting, and crying out to God for mercy.

In order to influence our generation, we must follow the example of Jesus. Ephesians tells us we are to be followers of Christ as little children. Wherever He goes, I must go; Whatever He does, I must do. I John 2:6, “He who says he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk just as He walked”. So I have a responsibility to ask: Where is Jesus going so that I might follow:

Jesus is going to that young single mother who can’t make it by herself, and I’ll go with you Jesus and I’ll tell her “There is a God who cares”;

Jesus is going to that young man, who has a habit he can’t break, and I will go with you Jesus, and I will tell him that “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the World”.

Jesus is going to that person who is gripped by grief; bound by bereavement, and I’ll go with you Jesus and I will tell them that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”.

Jesus is going to that young girl who has had one abortion or two abortions, and I’ll go with you Jesus and I will tell her that “if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness”.

Jesus is going to that divorce woman who doesn’t know how she is going to pay her bills with a zero checking account; I will go with you Jesus, and I will tell her; “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory”.

Jesus is going to that mother whose child is dealing with sexual immorality; I’ll go with you Jesus and I will tell them “Train up a child in the way that He should go and after they are old they will not depart from it.

Some of you might say, I am concerned for the next generation, I mourn for my sins and the sins of my people, and I am not isolated, but rather I try to warn and influence my generation; but nothing is happening; nothing is changing. The prophet Isaiah speaks of the power of God to transform the most hopeless situation in verse 15 - 18. The prophet promises that when the Spirit of the Lord is poured down upon us from heaven; the wilderness will become fertile field; and the fertile field will become a lush and fertile forest. Justice will rule in the wilderness, and righteousness in the fertile field. And this righteousness will bring peace. Quietness and confidence will fill the land forever. Then my people will live in safe lands; my people will live in quiet homes; my people will be at rest.

When you get discouraged, don’t give in to fear; hold on to your faith and wait on the Lord. When you get depressed, don’t give in to fear; hold on to your faith and wait on the Lord.

Yes there is hope; but He is our only hope. So we must pray for an out pouring of the Spirit of God in our day. The Puritan Thomas Brooks states, “After much prayer, waiting, and weeping; God will come with his hands and heart full of mercy to his people, and He will not come...empty handed; and He will come to those that have sat long with tearful eyes at mercy’s door”.

# Pray for an outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord, humble yourself before God, seek his face, repent of any wrong that you are doing, and then wait in Faith.

When it seems that the wait is long, don’t get discouraged. Don’t give up hope. Be faithful. Because I want to tell you, that God has written the final chapter, and He will have the final word.

Revelations 19: 11- 16 tells us, that the day is coming when the heavens will be opened, and we will see a rider coming upon a white horse. His name is faithful and true. For He judges fairly and then goes to war. His eyes are bright like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. A name is written on Him, and only he knows what it means. He is dressed in a robe dripped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and he trod the winepress of fierce wrath of God. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He was bruised and brings healing; He was pierced and eased pain; He was persecuted and brings freedom; He was dead, but He brings life; He is risen, and brings power; He reigns and brings peace; He rules and brings Restoration.

You might ask, when will my Restoration come? I found from experience that He does not work on Central Standard Time, neither does He work on Pacific or Eastern Standard Time, but He works on IDS time. In Due Season. In Due Season he will bring deliverance; In Due Season, He will bring Victory; In Due Season He will bring Healing.

When will my Restoration come? The simple answer is found in the Words of an old hymn:

He’s a God that you can’t hurry

He’ll be there don’t you worry

He may not come when you want Him

But He is always-

He’s Always

He’s Always

On Time