By the Honorable J. C. Watts<\/h2>\n

Congressman speaking to Christian businessmen: I believe that America is in need of a spiritual awakening. I believe that America is in desperate need of spiritual renewal and a fresh encounter with Jesus Christ. One out of three marriages will end in divorce this year. In a survey I read recently, 57% of young people said it is all right to cheat on an exam; it’s all relative. The only thing that is right is to get by; and the only thing wrong is to get caught. If you don’t think that we need a revival in America, consider this: the attitude is if you don’t want to, don’t. If you don’t like it, divorce it. If it’s a nuisance, abort it. That’s where we are in America.<\/p>\n

We need a fresh encounter with Jesus Christ. Like Peter, who was willing to step out of the boat onto the water, we need to step out of our safety zone into the unknown in our quest for renewal for ourselves and our nation. I believe America, the greatest nation on earth, is sending a clarion call for bold leadership.<\/p>\n

I believe that there is a clarion call for moral leadership. I believe there is a call for businessmen, elected officials, for mothers, for coaches, for everyone to stand boldly for things that are right. We have blurred the lines between right and wrong. Anything goes! If it feels good, do it!<\/p>\n

We are trying to change the definition of marriage. About two and a half years ago, we were debating on the floor of the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Washington DC (the place that has served as the center of freedom for all the world). We were debating whether or not a man could marry a man, or a woman marry a woman.<\/p>\n

At the same time America was killing its unborn and beating to death our born. America is sending a clarion call to renew this nation and, as people of faith, we cannot be afraid to stand for Jesus Christ. Like Peter, we need to take that first step. We cannot be concerned about the third step or the tenth step. God is calling every one of us to be bold for Christ in our churches, in politics, in business, in race relations and in our communities.<\/p>\n

We need to know that it requires focus. Peter was focused. His eyes were on Jesus. When he took the first step, the wind was strong, but his focus was on Jesus. Peter was serious about a fresh encounter. Then Peter felt the wind, looked at the storm and began to sink. He had stopped focusing on Jesus. It was only when he focused on the wind instead of Jesus that he failed.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from Peter? We can learn that when the focus on Jesus is lost, fear will rule your heart. We must focus on Jesus, not the storm. Isn’t it amazing that Peter focused on something he couldn’t see (the wind) instead of focusing on the only One who could keep him from sinking!<\/p>\n

When the storms of life surround us, doesn’t the adversary try to get us to do the same and thus fail? I find eagles an inspiration. I have some eagles in my office and others in our home. I have read that they can see up to 80 miles. When they see a storm coming, they don’t leave their nest. The eagle catches the wind and soars above the storms. To have a fresh encounter with Christ we must focus our hearing on Him and not on the critics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the Honorable J. C. Watts Congressman speaking to Christian businessmen: I believe that America is in need of a spiritual awakening. I believe that America is in desperate need of spiritual renewal and a fresh encounter with Jesus Christ. … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimony"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51,"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifcb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}