In his sermon, Dr. John Perkins focuses on how the church should engage critical problems in the cultural foundations of family and community—especially as those problems affect those in prison, and those at risk for future incarceration. He states that the church has often ignored prisoners as victims of their own failures; but the church ought to recognize that prisoners’ failures are just reflections of our own failure as Christians—failure to be salt and light in the world’s individualistic and materialistic culture. Perkins draws on the example of Psalm 11 and David’s own struggle with captivity to outline what the church ought to do in light of the worldly influences in culture. He asserts that, “the Church must be the driving force behind changes in culture. We must be a worshipping, nurturing community, allowing people to move forward with dignity.” Only through the church acting on Scripture’s directives, and truly serving Christ through serving others, can we help to free the captive and work together for God’s Kingdom.
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