The Heart of America’s Problem is a sermon teaching us that the root of America’s problem lies in the natural condition of the heart of man and the solution is in accepting Jesus and letting Him control your life. Only then will America’s problems be fixed.

Where does evil come from and what can you do about it? Many people talk about world peace, a one-world order and they look forward to it. Peace is not around the corner and there will be more trouble until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ and then there will finally be peace.

The heart of America’s problem: Too many people do not respect each other. Too many people do not respect the church. It wasn’t too long ago that churches didn’t lock their doors so anyone could come in and pray to God. But nowadays, churches are vandalized, burned, and have the threat of shootings. These have escalated in schools, entertainment venues, businesses, as well as churches. If people respected each other they wouldn’t do evil to each other. If people respected the church, they wouldn’t do evil to the church.

People do not respect the Bible and say it is not God’s Holy Word. Millions if not billions of people have had their lives transformed because of the Bible. Many of the great leaders of the world have given testimony to the Bible and to its effect on their hearts, minds, and lives. But by not respecting each other, by not respecting the church, and not respecting the Bible, people do not respect God. It’s always been true that people do not respect God. It is true because people know what God says and they don’t care and do what they want to do. By saying “it doesn’t matter what God says” is to disrespect God.

What the Bible says is wrong, is wrong, and it is sin. What has happened to us? There has never been a time in this country when everyone was bible-believing. We have had times of great revival and the majority of people would say they are bible-believing, but never a time when all believed the Bible. Our Constitution says that is perfectly fine as long as we obeyed the laws. But we’ve had years and years of people turning away from God. People have been saying “God is Dead” or at least acting like it. As scripture says, “only a fool says there is no God.” Any logical person can take a look at the world, the creation all around us, the evidence of the Bible and of Christian testimonies — you have to say there is a God.

We have problems. We’ve had problems and we’re going to have more problems. And we’re looking for solutions to those problems. We’ve got to get to the root of the problem to find a solution. Too often we deal with the symptoms but we need to get to the root cause. We blame others and not take responsibility for our problems. We like to blame our government leaders, but if you don’t like them, vote for someone else. Our leaders are not perfect and need prayer to save their souls, use godly wisdom, and to do right.

Schools are another problem that people like to blame. They are learning institutions but some have gone further to teach indoctrination of things that are not true and not teaching things that are true. Schools are a problem but not the only problem. They are miseducating people. You can’t expect people to act like Christians when they’re not. We should pray for the schools, to pray for educators’ souls, to have wisdom, and to do right.

Ravi Zacharias, the great Christian apologist described the heart of the problem in our country. He said, “The problem with America today is not America, it’s the church. We have become very shallow as Christians. We have become masters of engineering feelings without much thought. Trying to become seeker-friendly, we have become message-unfriendly. We have no real depth in what we are trying to teach and speak. Somehow, we have fallen into the trap that music is everything, forgetting that it is only one thing and teaching and ideas are important. Until our church wakes up to what our message is and thinks deeply about these things, we will sink deeper and deeper into parroting phrases that have very little difference in our lifestyles. An expenditure of words without ideas will lead to conceptual bankruptcy.”

We need to get back to the Bible, to doctrine, to living the principles of God’s Word. The root of the problem is the heart. To fix the problem, #1 is to pray that people’s souls will be saved. That they trust their Savior and the Holy Spirit comes into their being and begins to work in their hearts, their minds, and their lives. And that the Holy Spirit helps them recognize truth, understand the truth, and help them to grow in what’s right. That is not to say that everybody who is saved leads a godly life, but we should strive to do so.

Jesus said the problem is not an external problem and is not going to be healed with external sources. Jesus said to listen to Him. He is going to teach us what’s true and what’s right. The one who said “I am the truth” is going to tell us the truth. Once you listen to Him, you are going to understand. Listen to what the Lord God is saying. What comes out of a man, that, is what defiles him. The Lord teaches us what the root of the problem is, what the heart of America’s problem is. He says it’s the heart of the individual. From the heart of man proceeds the sins of the heart, sin lies in the heart. He says when we sin it is quite natural. Why? Because we have a sinful nature, that’s why it’s natural for us to sin.

So what we need is one who will clean our hearts because all these evil things come from the heart — evil thoughts, a lying tongue, imagining wickedness, and evil actions come from evil thoughts such as adulteries, fornication, murders (attacking the very image of God), thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. Jesus said all these things come from within.

Our society is treating the symptoms and not getting down to the root of the problem, the heart of the problem — all of these sins of the heart. Jesus taught us this great truth, God sent this message to the people of Earth long before Jesus came, speaking through the prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The problem of everything that people do wrong is in the heart.

We are going to answer to God for the things we have done. Maybe you didn’t get caught by human beings for the things you did wrong, but you will answer to God. God says you have a hard heart. But if you give your heart to God, He will take away that stony heart and give you a new living heart and put His Spirit in you. He will give His Son to save your soul. He will give you eternal life and make you His child. And then, keep the Lord’s judgments, and do them.

The heart of America’s problem is not the police department. They are human and as all humans can do wrong, but can also do right. There are calls to remove the police, but that is not a solution. People say the problem is with communities. Yes, we can change them, but it starts in the heart. Pray for our police. How do you expect God to fix it if you don’t pray? The problem is not with the police, communities, in the White House, or in the State House. The problem is not in the places we think the problem lies, the problem lies in the heart of the people.

We need to come to Jesus and ask Him to cleanse our hearts. Jesus is the answer. We need to surrender our hearts to the Lord, let Him control your life. Ask Jesus to clean all the selfishness out of our hearts — that’s the root of all evil. Then ask the Lord to take out our hard hearts and replace with a new heart of flesh and to have His own way with our hearts. The heart of America’s problem can be solved when we give our hearts to Jesus and pray like Paul of Tarsus to do whatever the Lord wants. It’s one step at a time in complete surrender to the Lord. Only then will we see society change, and then we shall see revival, and then we will see a cure to what ails us because it’s all a heart problem.

The Heart of America’s Problem sermon starts with verses from Mark 7:14-23:

¹⁴ And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

¹⁵ There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

¹⁶ If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁷ And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

¹⁸ And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

¹⁹ Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

²⁰ And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²² Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

²³ All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Also, verse from Psalms 14:1:

¹ (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Romans 10:14-15:

¹⁴ How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

¹⁵ And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Jeremiah 17:9-10:

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

¹⁰ I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Ezekiel 36:26-27:

²⁶ A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

²⁷ And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Acts 9:6:

⁶ And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

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