Oh, crossing family. It is good to be with you.
In 173 days, around 160 million Americans will vote in the
upcoming presidential election. Over $5 billion is going to be
spent trying to get your attention and influence your
vote. Your social media feeds are
going to be littered with political ads and hot takes from
friends and family members. Your TV advertisements are going
to have lots of black and white commercials with doom and gloom
messages. News programs are going to cash
in on the coverage with non-stop news alerts and campaign
updates. Which is why I would like today
to announce to you, no, I'm joking, I'm not.
That was a good presidential voice.
Sadly, over the next six months, people are going to lose
friendships. They're going to lose their
reputation, they're going to lose their influence.
They're going to lose their peace, and they're going to lose
their minds. That's why today we are starting
a new series called Don't Take the Bait.
I want to welcome those of you joining from our different
locations to those of you who are in here at 48th St. to those
of you in Macomb, Kirksville, 929 Pike County, Hannibal, Lima,
Mount Sterling, Keokuk, Monmouth, Jacksonville, as well
as those of you who are part of our online and inside family.
What if this political season, we could gain friendships,
strengthen our reputation, increase our influence, maintain
our peace, and keep our sanity? This series is going to last for
four weeks, and there are some of you who are already upset,
and I haven't said anything yet. You're trying to figure out like
there's a lot of red, there's a lot of blue, like the donkey's,
the one with the fishing poles. So obviously Clayton's a
Republican. I get it.
Take a deep breath. You might need this series the
most. There are some of you who are
already wanting to check out because you could care less what
happens. I would caution you not to
neglect the privilege that we have as Americans and to be a
good steward of your vote, your influence, and your reputation.
And there are some of you, most likely most of you, who just
want to honor God with your life and your vote.
You're looking for some wisdom in trying times, and I want you
to know that I see you. I want you to know that in large
part, this sermon series is dedicated to you.
I don't want you to take the bait.
I don't want you to get hooked, dragged out of your mind, out of
your calling, and out of your faith.
So anytime I do a sermon series like this, we establish some
ground rules. Ground rule #1.
No emails until after the series.
There is plenty that could be said.
I could go for 16 weeks on this topic, but I don't think you
want a 16 week sermon series on politics.
OK, if you can wait until the end of the series after you've
heard everything that we're going to say.
If you have questions that still need answered, we would love to
have a conversation with you. Ground Rule #2 emails asking
questions about the series or what was said in this series and
emails providing criticism will be met with this response.
Thanks for sharing. When can we meet in person to
talk? We are not going to be a church
that is ruled by keyboard warriors, OK?
There are campus pastors and staff at each of our locations
and we would love a chance to meet with you face to face to
discuss these important issues. It is impossible to assume the
right tone over e-mail and text message.
Civilized people engage in civilized conversations face to
face, and I am on a mission to civilize America.
OK, we will. There we go.
And now you know my party Platform ground Rule #3.
I want you to take time to process the information before
you respond to the information. I'm going to do my very best
every week to do what I do almost every week to the best of
my ability, and that is expose ourselves, our hearts, our
souls, to the word of God. Before you come to the
conclusion that I said something you don't like, I want you to
ask yourself, did God reveal something to you that you just
simply didn't want to hear? Any time I do a sermon series
like this, I have all of my notes.
I've written 98% of what I'm going to say.
There'll be a 2% slip and you'll just have to live with it like
you've lived with it before. I also have all of the words I'm
supposed to say on the back wall.
I'm going to be reading this message that was written in love
to you. The Bible describes itself in
many, many ways and it uses imagery to help us understand
the beauty of God's word to those who are young on their
spiritual journey. Hebrews calls it milk.
In that same chunk of Scripture, it says to those who are mature
in their faith, it is solid food which requires more work and
more time to chew or to chew and digest.
Time is part of the process. The Bible also describes itself
as a light and a lamp to illuminate the way in which we
should walk. So if we are walking in a way
that is not in the Bible, that means that we are walking in the
wrong direction and we are walking in darkness.
The Bible also describes the Word of God as precious as gold,
as sweet as honey. That means that the Word of God
is something that Christians should value, and it is
delicious for our consumption. Jeremiah the prophet, records
God saying that his word is like a fire and a hammer, a fire that
is hot and it purifies, it burns away the things that should not
be there, and it refines the things that should stay and that
it's a hammer. And it breaks things to pieces,
which means sometimes when you encounter the word of God,
you'll feel it burning away things in you that don't belong.
Other times you'll feel the word of God breaking down walls and
idols and beliefs that should have never been built in the 1st
place. The Bible also describes itself
as a sword. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12.
For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double
edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing
soul and spirit, joints and marrow.
It judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart.
That means that the word of God is a scalpel that cuts away
things in us that are growing, that need to be removed.
It confronts us, convicts us, and should ultimately change us.
And while the cutting and the piercing are painful, they are.
There is purpose in that pain. It is for our good.
Here's what this means. There will be times at church
when you will leave feeling encouraged, empowered, seen,
heard. There will be times when you
show up for church and it will feel like cold milk on a hot
day. There'll be times when you're
listening to the sermon and it will feel like a light and a
dark hour. There will be times when you are
engaging in the word of God and it will feel like honey and a
bitter season. But there will also be times
when you and when those happen. What?
This is what people say. I feel like you were talking
just to me, But how come is it when the word of God is just
saying something good about you? You're like, oh, that's exactly
what I needed to hear. God was speaking to me.
But when it says something that you didn't want to hear, what
happens when you feel like you've been burned, hammered,
pierced? There are two dangerous
responses. The first one is that that
sermon was good for somebody else.
There's a difference between I wish somebody could hear this
and I wish somebody else could hear this as well, that I need
to go on this journey, and I wish some other people that I
care about could go on this journey as well.
It's not just good. It's not just good for somebody
else, it's good for me. Response #2 is to reject the
message altogether. The Bible is clear that all of
us are sinners and the role of the Word of God and the Spirit
of God who lives inside of you when you come into a right
relationship with Jesus is to transform us into the likeness
of Christ. And since we are sinners and
Christ is perfect, there is a lot of transforming that needs
to take place. What that also means is that
when we reject the very message that's designed to transform us,
it is not only to our detriment, It is to the detriment of the
people we love because we rob them of us, becoming the person
that God commanded us to become. That Christ died and sacrificed
and bled for us to become, and the Holy Spirit has empowered us
to become. The author of Hebrews recalls
the words of the Old Testament where he says where the people
are commanded. Do not harden your hearts.
And there may not be a more hardened soil in the hearts of
Americans than our political beliefs.
So I'm elevating the word of God to you for a second.
But you might be going. But Clayton, what if you're
wrong? That's been known to happen.
I've been married. I didn't know I was wrong.
Got married. Realized I'm an idiot.
OK, and let me show you if you're going.
Hey, I hear some. I don't necessarily know how I
feel about it. Acts chapter 17 gives us a
blueprint. Paul commends the people of
Berea for their behavior. Let me show you what their
behavior was. Acts Chapter 17.
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in
Thessalonica. Here's what happens they Paul
shows up, preaches the gospel in Thessalonica, the people there
get mad. They riot, They kick him out of
town. In fact, the people of
Thessalonica are so upset that when Paul ran to Berea, the
people of Thessalonica chased after him to make sure that they
punished him some more. And so Paul shows up in Berea.
And notice how the Bereans responded to Paul's preaching.
For they received the message with great eagerness and
examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was
true. And guess what?
The result of people listening to the word of God, going home,
and daily examining the word of God.
What do you think happened? I'll show you next verse.
As a result, many of them believed, and also a number of
prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
In other words, when people dedicate themselves to the Word
of God, expose themselves to the preaching of God's Word, what
happens is the people around them fall in love with Jesus,
Which if we could make more Republicans, more Democrats, or
more Jesus followers, which would you choose?
Now you have a blueprint, so when you hear something that
doesn't sit right, go home and study, process, pray before you
ever try to defend God. Just might be up to something
for your good. So what's the target on the wall
for this sermon series? Well, first, Peter chapter 2
says this. Live such good lives among the
pagans. This is anybody who is not in a
right relationship with Jesus Christ.
So that's what they're talking about.
There's Christians, people who have a right relationship with
Jesus, and there are people who don't have a right relationship
with Jesus. The Bible calls them Pagans live
such good lives among the pagans.
Christians live such good lives around people who don't have a
relationship with Jesus that though they, the pagans, accuse
you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God
on the day that he visits us. We are told in scripture to make
every effort to live at peace with all men and to be holy.
As it says in Hebrews, we are to be kind to one another.
That's what it says in Ephesians.
We are all to allow our gentleness to be evident to all.
That's what Paul writes to the church in Philippi.
The prophet Malachi cries out, stating the obvious.
Don't we all come from one father?
Aren't we all created by the same God?
So why can't we get along? So how do you and I live such
good lives among the pagans? How do we strengthen our
reputation, increase our influence, maintain our peace,
and keep our sanity? Week 1 Remember, we are part of
a better Kingdom and have a better citizenship.
We are part of a better Kingdom and we have a better
citizenship. Now before I get too far into
this series, I at least need to give some disclaimers.
In high school, at the awards ceremony on graduate was we were
preparing for graduation. They invited me up to the
platform and they gave me this award most likely to become
president of the United States of America, and I'd be a good
candidate, folks. Then I went and I sat down and
then they had me come back up right after that, and they gave
me a second award most likely to be impeached by his own party.
And that's a true statement. Someone.
Well, I should also tell you this, when I was in high school,
I was arrested for political activism.
So when it comes to politics, you are talking to somebody who
has a proven track record of passion.
So if you get riled up during an election, I get it.
What I want us to do is I want us to figure out a way to
maintain our influence, maintain our peace, keep our sanity, and
still honor God. I was talking to one of our
campus pastors and I love how he said this.
He goes, Everybody likes to go to a church.
That hits hard up until the point that they get hit.
I would like you to keep that in mind because you very well might
be the party that would try to impeach me.
OK? Therefore, let me walk you
through some funny things that have happened over the history
of our beautiful America, which I love.
But for as awesome as America is, she gets it wrong sometimes.
And every four years we go through the privilege of
electing a president of the United States.
And since the beginning of our system, there have been
candidates who are flawed, who have stepped forward, and they
have pitched their ideals. We have bought into them, and we
have elected them. And our presidential candidates
are always pitching. Let's go back to 1848.
Zachary Taylor for president of the people.
There's presidents for the land owners.
There's presidents for those who have wealth and influence.
But I'm going to be a president for the people.
And the people said yes, and he became president. 1860 Abraham
Lincoln, vote yourself a farm and horses.
Catchy. How many of you would like some
farmland right now? Like, yeah, I'll take an acre.
OK. Yeah.
People were like, hey, I would like a farm and I'd like some
horses. That's my guy.
Then next one little bit different.
Union, Liberty. Peace.
You guys know what was happening?
1868, Ulysses S Grant. Let us have peace.
He has a spicier 1 the next time. 1868 vote as you shot
Spicy. This is one of my favorite
stories. 1884 Grover Cleveland was the first Democrat elected
after the Civil War. It went Lincoln, Grant, Hayes,
Garfield, Arthur. Depending on how you count.
Who was it? Johnson, who assumed the
presidency after the assassination of Lincoln, which
was a big event in our nation's history, and Grover Cleveland,
had rumored that he had an illegitimate child.
And so the naysayers led by James Blaine, who was running in
opposition to him, they used to chant at Grover's rallies.
Mama, where's my Pennsylvania? And after the election, where he
won, they said on his way to the White House.
Ha ha ha. I was like that.
Away Get them 8 or 1916 War in the East, Peace in the West.
Thank God for Woodrow Wilson, 1920 America First, Warren G
Harding, 1932 Franklin D Roosevelt.
Happy days are here again. To those of you who know what
happened around there, don't think so. 1956 Eisenhower Peace
and Prosperity. 1968 Richard Nixon.
This time, vote like your whole world depended on it and people
did. 1880 Ronald Reagan, Let's Make America Great Again, George
HW Bush 1000 Points of Light. He also said, to those of you
who remember read my lips, No new taxes until the
Democratically controlled Congress and Senate in fact
raise taxes. He couldn't keep his promise and
it kept him from a second term. So who did we get?
A guy right After that? It's time to fix America, right?
Stick to the script. In 2004 something happened.
In 2001 and 2004 George W Bush ran on this platform.
A safer world and a more hopeful America. 2008 What was the
promise of Barack Obama? Hope 2016 Donald Trump, Make
America Great Again. 2020 Joe Biden Restore the Soul.
Of the nation. And if you go to Trump's
website, the banner reads. They're not after me, They're
after you. I'm just standing in the way.
Every president makes promises, promises that appeal to our core
fears and concerns. We want peace, not war.
We want freedom, not restriction.
We want hope, prosperity, money, happiness.
Yet no temporary government can give you eternal benefits.
And so America, as great as she is, she's flawed.
She gets it wrong. Sometimes.
She makes mistakes, which is why we have amendments to our
Constitution. Our Constitution came into
effect in 1789. The 14th Amendment 186879 years
later extended citizenship to all natural born and naturalized
Americans. Two years later, in 1870, the
15th Amendment prohibited the restriction of the right to vote
due to race. Then we introduced the 18th
Amendment, which introduced the prohibition of alcohol.
Then, 50 years after the 15th Amendment, in the 19th
Amendment, women were given the right to vote.
In other words, we said no to beer before we said yes to
women. Interesting.
Then a mere 4 elections later, men were like if women are going
to vote, we need to drink. So they passed the 21st
Amendment repealing Prohibition. OK, we're still here.
God bless you guys. As great as America is, she gets
it wrong sometimes. And as great as America is, she
is not worth comparing to the Bride of Christ.
Doctor Gina Zerlo, who is the Co director of the Center for the
Study of Global Christianity, gives us unique insight into the
Bride of Christ, the Kingdom of God.
She says there are presently 2.5 billion Christians globally.
I love sharing stats like that with you.
And here's why. I want you to know that you are
not alone, That there are more people than you can possibly
imagine who are calling Christ their Lord, who are believe that
the Bible is true and are living in submission to it.
And she says, if you were to take all 2.5 billion Christians
and you were to reduce them to the number 100, here is what
Christianity looks like globally, 26.
Live in Africa 24. Live in Latin America 23.
Live in Europe, 15. Live in Asia. 11 Live in North
America. We are not the most godly
nation. We are not the most godly
continent. One lives in Oceana.
That means that global Christianity is not white.
It's mostly brown and black. 65 live in urban communities and 35
live in rural communities. That means that the power of God
can make headway in both rural communities surrounded by
farmland, and expand an elitist, sophisticated cultural hubs. 16
speak Spanish, 10 speak English, 8 speak Portuguese, 5 speak
Russian, Three speak Mandarin. Only 19 live in highly developed
countries, while 81 do not live in a life of luxury like you and
I do. Only 21 live in low corruption
countries. That means that 79% of global
Christians live with daily oppression from corrupt
governments. 18 live on less than $10 a day. 63 live on
between 10 and $100 a day. That means that 81% of our
Christian brothers and sisters live on less than $100 a day.
No doubt when they pray, Lord give us this day Our Daily
Bread, they mean something so much sweeter and rawer than when
we pray. She concluded her research with
this. A typical Christian today is a
non white woman living in the global S is non-english speaking
with a lower than average level of income, safety and
healthcare. That means that when you and I
get to heaven, we will be the minority group, and I can't wait
to be there. America, or any nation for that
matter, is simply limited by its borders.
It is a land of mass that has been defined on maps, codified
in legal documents, purchased with money, and defended in
blood. However, the Kingdom of God does
not elect a president, for we have a king.
Our documents need not be amended, for God himself is
their author. We need no military for the
Kingdom, for the King of Peace is the commander of Angel
armies. As Tyler McKenzie puts it, God's
borders are not geographical, they're individual.
His nation is not a mass of conquered land, it is a mass of
repentant people. Paul confirms this in Galatians.
So in Christ Jesus you all are children of God through faith,
for all of you were baptized into Christ, have clothed
yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor
Gentile, neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor
female, For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. When you place your faith in
Jesus, you become part of the promise, part of the lineage,
part of the family, and part of his eternal Kingdom.
Paul goes on to say this in his letter to the Philippians.
But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake
of Christ. What is more, I consider
everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I want to pause here for a second.
He's saying knowing Jesus is preeminent, it's number one.
That means that your pursuit of him should trump your pursuit of
everything else. In other words, if you have a
love for the Republican Party and it's here, or you have a
love for the Democratic Party and it's here, and your love for
God is here or here or here, it's in the wrong place because
it's not worth comparing. Now listen, I'm not being anti
American. I love America, Love it, Love
it. Can I?
Can I, can I say the Pledge of Allegiance?
Yeah, but the allegiance I'm giving to my country is a
remnant of the allegiance that I'm giving to God.
It's a remnant. Am I glad to be an American?
Yeah. But that is that is not the
primary thing that defines me. The primary thing that defines
me is that I have been purchased, bought, redeemed,
loved by God through the sacrifice of his son.
Satan tries desperately to get us to take the bait, and we
can't. Let's keep going.
I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in
him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the
law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of His
resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like
him in his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection
from the dead. Not that I have already obtained
all of this, or I have already arrived at my goal, but I press
on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me,
that you and I should be relentlessly pursuing the grace
that Jesus brought us, because that was exactly what Jesus did.
He took hold of grace on our behalf.
He took hold of the pain and the punishment on our behalf.
And so our preeminent concern should be to chase after the
grace and faith that we have through him.
Let's keep going, brothers and sisters.
I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining
toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us. Then who are you?
Say this word. I'm going to let you self
identify for a little bit. Mature should take such a view
of things he's saying. This is the view of mature
people. So if we're going to have the
conversation, let's at least have it acknowledging whether
we're being mature or immature. And on some point, if you think
differently, that too God will make clear to you.
Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters.
And just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those
who live as we do. As you get ready to go into this
political season, keep your eyes on people who are pursuing
peace, who are maintaining civility, who are trying to
honor God and not being disruptive.
Keep your eyes on those people. Follow after those people,
people who are emanating or emanating the fruits of the
Spirit, not spewing talking points from political parties.
Let's keep going For as often as I've told you before and now
tell you again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the
cross of Christ. Let's keep going.
Their destiny is destruction. Their God is their stomach.
Their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly
things every A presidential candidate pitches you what you
already want to hear. They want you to reach into your
carnal nature and vote based on your carnal nature.
What is good for you? They want to get your mind set
on earthly things so they can manipulate you, control you, and
this is both parties both. And what they will try to get
you to do is to think that somehow the vote for this
particular party is a vote for Christ.
He doesn't need elected. You need to remember that the
election that matters is the election that you do in your
heart as to whether or not you are going to surrender your life
to Jesus. So when someone says, hey, I'm,
you know, you. If you love God, you got to vote
for this. No.
When Donald Trump tries to sell you a Bible with the
Constitution in it, that is stupid.
It's incredibly stupid because Jesus doesn't have a political
party and the Constitution, as beautiful as it is, has no right
being next to the Bible, to the very words of God.
You are setting your mind on earthly things.
Let's keep going. But our citizenship is in
heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring
everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies
so that they will be like His glorious body.
Satan tries desperately to get you and I to take the bait to
live as if this is all there is, that America is the only nation
that matters, that this election is for the soul of America.
Don't take the bait first, Peter.
Chapter 2 says this. But you, talking to those of you
who are in Christ, are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare
the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light. Pause.
There is no candidate that has done more for you than what God
reveals on your behalf in these verses.
He gives you a new identity. He lets you understand you have
a new role, a new responsibility.
And he says that we are to declare the praises of him who
called you out of darkness and into the light.
Let me ask you this question. As you get ready to go into this
political season, do you use your words, your social media
platforms, to declare the praises of God or to elect a
fallen president? Use the energy you have to
promote Christ More than anything.
Let's keep going. Once you are not a people, but
now you are the people of God. So we belong to somebody else.
We belong to him. Once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as
foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage
war against your soul. Pause.
He is not only called U.S. citizens, he's not only called
us a royal nation or a royal people, but he's also said we
are foreigners and aliens in this world.
America is where you live. It's not your home you're
passing through. There were Christians before
America existed, and there will be Christians after.
America exists unless Christ comes back beforehand.
So I'll go back. We'll go back.
Go back, Go back. Go back.
Right there. What do you think the next verse
is? You've seen it.
It's the target on the wall. Live such good lives among the
pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see
your good deeds and glorify God on the day that he visits us.
The sad truth today is that many Christians are better Americans
than they are Christians. I want to do an exercise with
you right now, and I want you to know that this exercise is in
love. Would you please take out your
phone open to your calculator? Once you have your calculator
open, I want you to type in your age.
You don't have to show it to anybody, just type in your age.
Then I would like you to subtract 18.
Then I'd like you to divide by 4.
That is the number of presidential elections that you
have participated in. Now, I know that there are some
of you who are voting before 1971 and the passing of the 26th
Amendment, which changed the voting age from 21 to 18.
Yeah, I did my work. Folks, I want you to look at
that number. That is how many presidents you
have elected. And if you have not discipled,
baptized 1 to Christ, matured in Christ more than that number,
that means that every four years you have voted for a president,
but every four years you have not completed the Great
Commission. We have become better Americans
than we have Christians. We have woefully missed the
mark. Our ultimate goal is not for
there to be a Democrat in office or a Republican in office, but
for Jesus to be in the hearts of our neighbors, friends, and
family members. Satan is trying to get you to
take the bait that the next election is the only way
forward. The truth of the matter is that
our apathy, our fear of rejection, our laziness and
accomplishing the Great Commission is sad in light of
Christ's sacrifice on our behalf.
Peace and prosperity hope, 1000 Points of Light.
There's only one person who can give us that.
That's Jesus. They're not coming after me.
They're coming after you. I'm just standing in their way.
There's only one person who's ever done that.
My sin. My past, my evil deeds were on
their way. After me, Satan, the accuser who
knows all of my wrong, stood accusing me, and someone stood
in the gap. And it wasn't Trump.
It was Jesus. And he bore my sins on his body
and by his wounds I have been healed.
I have very little to give. Very little to give, Donald,
because so much of it belongs to Jesus.
Restoring the soul of America. How dare you?
How could you? The only way you could restore
the soul of America is for Christ to reign in people's
hearts. And we don't have to get access
to the gospel through Joe. He gave us the access to the
gospel through his spirit which descended on us on Pentecost
today when 3000 people, the church was started, gave their
life to him. Your hope is not in an office,
it's on a throne. Satan is trying to get you to
take the bait, and some of us already have.
But by God's grace, we can break the line.
We're moving to a time of decision.
If you're here today and you've never started an intimate
personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or if this is your first
time, this is not typical crossing.
But if you can survive the next three weeks, you're going to
love it here. And I want you to hear me say
this. I believe the fact that you are
here is a sign that God is wanting to come into a right
relationship with you, and he is using the circumstances of your
life, the courage of your friends, to bring you into an
intimate, personal relationship with Him.
If you want to know what an intimate, personal relationship
with him looks like, I'm going to encourage you to go home and
read the 23rd Psalm. One of the most powerful and one
of the most popular passages in all of Scripture defines what it
looks like to be in an intimate, personal relationship with him.
And if you're here today and you've never started it, you can
have it. You can become a part of his
Kingdom of peace, a Kingdom of peace that surpasses all
understanding. You become part of the family of
God that is full of love and grace and mercy.
And in just a few moments, the people around you are going to
stand and sing, and some of them are going to come to the steps
and pray. And what I want to do is I want
to encourage you to maybe make a walk that could absolutely
change your life. And walk from wherever you're
sitting right over there underneath that screen, next to
the baptistry, and somebody will be waiting there to talk to you
about what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The testimony of thousands of people who call the crossing
home is that starting a relationship with Jesus Christ
is not only the best decision that we've ever made.
Our biggest regret is how long we put it off.
And we would love God to have an opportunity to write a better
story for you. But he's not going to do it
unless you surrender to him. The way we come into His Kingdom
is we abandoned our own. We wave a white flag of
surrender and say I give up. You rule in me now instead of
me. To those of you who already have
a relationship with Jesus, Christians, I'll be quick.
But what I want to encourage you to do is I want to ask you to
pray. Pray that this election season,
you would maintain your influence, increase your
reputation, keep your peace, not lose your mind.
I'm going to ask you to pray that God would show you point
you, compel you to talk to people about how to have a
relationship with Jesus Christ, that you would promote Christ
more than a presidential candidate.
Maybe some of us, we're kind of looking at that number that we
were left with, and we realize that we have not been as serious
about our faith as we have been about our elections.
Maybe we would repent over that. Go.
God, I'm sorry I've been misaligned.
I don't want to draw back to you.
Maybe we need to just repent for a radical allegiance to a
political party and a lukewarm commitment to Christ.
God promises that he meets us in our repentance.
God loves a humble heart because he can do anything with it.
So if he we would humble ourselves, he promises to lift
us up. Would you stand with me,
Heavenly Father? I'm asking you to do a work in
our church that could only be described as you.
That nobody gets the credit, nobody gets the glory.
God That none of it is shared, that it solely goes to you.
Stir something loose in US. Break something loose in US so
that way we more fully cling to you.
Soften our hardened hearts. Remove the scales from our eyes
so that way we can see your will and your purposes more clearly
over our life and your name, I pray.
Amen.