Oh, crossing family, it is so good to be with you.
I want to welcome those of you joining at our different
locations, those of you watching online, and those of you who are
part of the crossing inside. You guys have been wonderful as
we've been going through this sermon series on politics.
This is the last one that's kind of like one we got to get
through. And then I really do hope that
you'll see next week's sermon as a great gift to your soul
because I'm going to, I've been kind of teaching through this
series. I'm going to preach next
weekend. I think you're going to enjoy
it. But before we get into it, we
need to celebrate something as a church.
We are getting ready for our camp season.
In fact, camp is starting this upcoming week as a church.
And yeah, it's great. And at the writing of this
sermon, which was yesterday, because I got way behind, we had
13198 campers set up or signed up, which is an all time record
for the crossing. Now let me show you what this
looks like in a graph. So we track stuff.
We are big into numbers here at the crossing and figuring out
stuff. This red line right here is 2024
and we actually moved our entire camp season into the month of
June. So we're not going to get some
of the bumps we've had in the past and we were a little
nervous about that. But God came through.
You came through. And we have set another all time
record. Campers are still coming in.
So I want to say a special thank you to those of you who
participated or sponsored at any of our different golf outings
that we did this year to help raise money for kids to go to
camp. God bless you.
I'm playing in the Macomb one tomorrow and then my back needs
a rest. And then the second thing is, to
those of you who joined Jennifer and I and wrote a generous check
to help sponsor kids to go to camp, I want you to know that
God saw your efforts. He took the seed that you sowed
and He used it to produce a harvest in kids lives because
more kids are going at our church than have ever gone
before. In fact, we are sending more
kids to camp this year than the size of 99% of churches in
America. Like we are sending a mega
Church of kids to camp. And I absolutely love it.
Let me tell you another reason why this matters to me.
I pulled up some stats this week.
These are share of those by demographic. believe in God
without a doubt. Like they're going, yeah, for
sure there's a God. All right.
Now you've got 60%. This is on decline.
You've got 60% of Boomers right here, this little red line right
here, Boomers, 60% of boomers believe that God exists.
A God exists, right? Which was great.
And millennials, you, you know, we've, we've, we've, we've,
we've struggled. This Is Us.
OK? We're on a pretty significant
decline. Gen.
XI should throw this at you guys.
You guys are winning. You guys have overtaken the
Boomers and you're on a slight D increase.
Nobody ever pays attention to Gen.
X, but if you're a Gen. Xer, God bless you.
I married one. I'm a millennial.
She was my babysitter. That's how we met, and that's a
joke. She wasn't my babysitter, but
Boyada loved it if she was. OK, and then.
But I want you to look right here.
This is Gen. Z.
They're in free fall. Only 28% of Gen.
Z ers have a belief in God. These are the kids who were born
from 1997 to 2012. They're between the age of 12
and 27 today, and half of that demographic is going to be
participating in our camp. And so while we are setting all
time records, we are setting all time records with the generation
that need Jesus the most. So when I say things like our
church is downwardly focused, I need you to know that's what I
mean. At no point in time do I not
like older people. That is not me.
We just like them more. And let me explain this to you.
If I were to put me next to your kid and I were to ask you who do
you love more, you would say you love your kid more than you love
me. Now, I have no doubt that you
love me, but you love them more. And as a church, we have
intentionally decided that we want to love this group of
people more. And in 10 years, I'll be looking
at Gen. Z and saying, I want you to know
that we love Gen. Alpha more.
And I don't know what's going to come after Jen Alpha, but we
will figure out a way to reach them too.
Deal. All right, let me pray for a
camp, would you, Heavenly Father?
They're going to be kids who are going to come to camp who have
come out of a horrific school year.
There are kids who are going to show up at camp who are having
horrible battles with their parents.
There are kids who are going to be at camp who are completely
lost. They have no direction, no sense
of purpose. They're going to be kids who are
going to show up for camp and it'll be the only week of peace
that they will experience all year long.
There are kids who are going to be showing up at camp who have
no relationship with you, no concept of you.
They're going to be kids that are going to show up at camp
that are going to make a decision for you, get saved by
you, dedicate their lives to you.
And God, I pray that you would equip all the speakers, all the
people who are going to serve, all the camp staff, all the
difference makers who are going to volunteer their time and take
off work. God, I pray that the moment that
they leave one of our locations and drive to the camp that your
presence invades their spirit, that something special begins to
happen. God, I pray that through the
worship and through the sermons and the small group times, I
pray that during the times in the pool and on the lake and on
the ball field that they sense that there is a community that
cares for them, a church that loves them, and a God who's
willing to send His Son to die on the cross for him.
In your name I pray. Amen.
Now we are in a sermon series called Don't Take the Bait and
it is a sermon series on faith and politics.
And week one we learned that we as Christians have a better
citizenship, a better Kingdom, and that this is not our forever
home and we have an even greater allegiance to God than we do to
any political candidate or political party.
Week two, we learned that we have a godly responsibility to
bring our faith into our politics and that our right to
do so is secured by our founding documents and our Constitution
as a nation. And even if it were not, we
would still do so. Even if they made Christianity
illegal, we would still bring our Christianity into the voting
booth because we are not going to separate ourselves from the
one who saved us. And our target on the wall for
this series has been First Peter chapter 2.
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 he visits us. Today I want to talk to you
about how to be bold, how to behave, and how to be friendly.
Behold, behave, be bold. Behold, be bold, behave and be
friendly. That's Southern Baptist right
there. Did you see that?
For those of you who came from a Baptist Church, you appreciate
what I just did with that sermon.
Now, what I want to do is I want to zoom out on the first Peter
chunk of scripture that we've been looking at and help you to
see the context that it's sitting in the middle of.
I think it's going to surprise you.
There's some words in there you're not going to like.
How do I know? Because I didn't like him
either. We ready.
Here we go, verse 11. Dear friends, I urge you that
you and me, as foreigners and exiles, we have a better
citizenship. We have a different Kingdom.
You and I are aliens and strangers in this world.
This is not our home. We're simply passing through to
abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your
soul. OK, let's keep going.
Live such good lives among the pagans.
You know this part, that though they accuse you of doing wrong,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day
that he visits us. Live such good lives that people
take notice. This is Jesus's city on a hill
speech, a light on a stand. There should be something
different. People should take notice.
They should see, man, Christians really do operate differently.
I'm going through this political season and everything around me
is falling apart, but that guy's got it together.
I'm going through this political season.
I'm dealing with all kinds of stress and anxiety and worry,
but this guy's going through the exact same political season and
it looks like he's walking on water.
Christians navigate it differently.
And if someone were to follow you, you're living such good
lives among the pagans that if somebody were to follow you more
than you making them a Republican, more than you making
them a Democrat, more than you making them a better American,
following you would make them a better Jesus follower.
Following you would make you make them a better Christian,
live such good lives that they end up glorifying God.
You ready for the next part? This is where we really take a
nosedive. So far, everybody's smiling.
Like, I think I'm going to like this sermon.
Now watch this submit. Oh, OK.
All right. We got to find a different
church. This one does the whole Bible.
OK. Submit yourself for the Lord's
sake. For whose sake?
Yeah. To who?
Every human authority, whether to the emperor as to the supreme
authority, or to the governors who are sent by him to punish
those who do wrong and commend those who do right, submit to
every human authority. And I know what you're thinking.
You're going. You know what?
I'll do it when it's my president.
But when it's not the one I voted for, I won't.
And I want you to know that you would be wrong.
I know what you're thinking. I'll do it when we have a good,
godly president. And if you were to wait to do
that, you would be wrong. That was my chicken dance, I
think. I don't know where that came
from. Flirting with chickens all over.
All you chickens watching online.
OK, now, who would they have been talking to when Peter wrote
this? He was writing this.
And the emperor was Nero. Not for those of you who didn't
take church history in your public school, which is probably
all of you. Nero is about as bad of a person
as you could ever meet. The persecutions that came upon
the early church came at the request of Nero.
Nero would take Christians alive, sew them inside the
carcasses of an animal, throw them into the stadium and
release wild beasts to eat them for the crowd.
He would take people who professed to be Christians and
he would impale them on a stake, light them on fire so that they
would be the the lights for his garden parties.
And Paul and Peter both write to Christians saying, submit
yourself for the Lord's sake to every human authority.
Let me show you what Paul says. Romans 13, one through 7.
I hit a little bit on this in a Roman Series A while back.
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there
is no authority except that which God has established.
The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Let's keep going. Consequently, whoever rebels
against the authority is rebelling against what God has
instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on
themselves. Let's keep going for rulers,
hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do
wrong. We'll pause for just a second.
How many of you have ever been driving and you saw a police
officer? Those of you who were not
speeding did not immediately slow down because when you see a
police officer and you are a law abiding citizen and your seat
belt is on, you just see the police officer and you know what
you do? Because a police officer holds
no terror for those who are doing what is right.
But if you've been known to speed, you're not wearing your
seat belt and you're smuggling stuff, you're going.
You're finding your Christian music.
I was just worshiping too loud, Officer.
I apologize. Holy Spirit got a hold of me
right? That's you only fear authority
when you've been doing something wrong.
Then do what is right and you will be commended.
Let's keep going. For the one in authority is
God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid.
For rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.
Every law that we have is backed up with a gun.
Do this or you will. If you don't pay the ticket,
you'll get arrested. If you resist arrest, you'll get
put in handcuffs. If you, then it just keeps
getting worse. Eventually.
There is a gun behind every law. They are God's servants, agents
of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
Therefore, if it is necessary, it is necessary to submit to the
authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also as
a matter of conscience. Let's keep going.
This is also why you I know I'm just winning people right and
left. All over the region, people are
getting saved. Pay taxes for the authorities
are God's servants who give their full time to governing.
Let's keep going. Give to everyone what you owe
them. If you owe taxes, pay taxes.
If revenue, revenue. If respect, then respect.
If honor, then honor. Government was actually God's
idea. It is a legitimate God ordained
institution created for the good of humanity.
When government is done right, it brings order, justice,
virtue, prosperity, safety. You can chase this all the way
back to the Garden of Eden, to Genesis.
The first command that God gives us, the marching orders, is
government. I mean right after sex, it's
government. Watch Genesis 1.
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God.
He created them, male and female.
He created them. God blessed them and said to
them, be fruitful and increase the number.
Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the sky and over every living creature that
moves on the ground. Subdue, rule.
Those are government words. In fact, depending on the
translation of the Bible that you use, the word they actually
use is govern. Now some of you might be going,
OK, so God instituted government.
Great. Did God choose Donald Trump?
And I mean of all weeks to be doing a sermon series and some
of you might be going, Did God choose Joe Biden?
Here is what I genuinely believe and I believe scripture backs
this up. The answer is no.
God instituted government that it is used for people.
For instance, if somebody wrongs you, if you go and wrong them
back or you seek your own justice, the Bible calls that a
sin. But if you bring the what they
did to you to the public court and they punish them, the Bible
says that that is right. That's one of the ways that God
gets vengeance. So that way you don't
participate in it. Other people have to be a
participant in it through our court system.
Here's what Paul and Peter are saying is that you and I should
be good, law abiding, taxpaying, respect giving citizens.
They are not saying that every government is good.
They are not saying obey them on every issue because as long as
you are being obedient to God first and foremost, if a
government put something on you that is in violation to God's
will, you are obligated by God to disobey it.
But if the thing that they are asking you to do is not
prohibited in Scripture, you are scripturally obligated to obey
it. And a lot of times the areas
where we want to disobey our government have nothing to do
with anything that's in the Bible.
That you and I should be preeminent.
We're early in lying to pay our taxes.
We're early in lying to give honor and be thankful for the
service that they provide. We might like the president.
We have good news is God's still on his throne?
And you might get a president you don't like.
Good news, God is on his throne. I'm going to get into that next
week. But that you and I as part of
our worship to God are to be obedient, subservient to
government. But you didn't see that one
coming because government is God ordained.
Both Paul and Peter were killed by these governments.
They were both put to death by the very people that they told
us to submit to. They said, Paul, you better stop
talking about Jesus. And he said, I can't, Peter, you
better stop talking about Jesus. I won't.
I'll pay my taxes. I'll give you the honor you
deserve. But if you're asking me to stop
talking about Jesus, I refuse. Well, we're going to have to
shut you up. Then you better shut me up
because I can't shut myself up. I can't stop talking about
Jesus. And so they killed him.
They refused to stop talking. And they were eventually killed
for it. What makes this so challenging
for you and I is unlike the writers of the of scripture,
unlike the 1st century Christians, we get to pick our
president. We get to pick our Senate, we
get to pick our representatives. Can you imagine being a 1st
century Christian? They had emperors.
Either you kissed the ring or you didn't.
But you and I, we get a, we get a voice, we get an opportunity
to go, hey, if I have a choice here, I think I'm going to go
for this guy. So how do you and I be bold in
our faith, behave with our faith and be friendly with our faith?
First thing we do is we prioritize our faith over our
politics. I bet you already know this to
be true. And some of you wish I would do
it. I could preach a really
convincing sermon on Jesus would be a Democrat.
Some of you would never come back.
And just so you know, I could write a really good sermon on
Jesus would be a Republican and some of you would invite your
friends to church. Billy Graham, kind of a big deal
in the Christian circles, was actually a spiritual advisor to
both Republican and Democratic presidents.
And this is what he would tell people.
I'm not right wing or left wing. I'm for the whole bird.
And I think that's probably the right line of thinking that we
need to put our faith filter ahead of our political filter.
Jesus is better and bigger than any party platform, and that
means that our love for people should be bigger and better than
any party platform. The problem is, you and I get
sucked into a war all the time. For instance, the place where we
are supposed to get our information, the news is being
designed to create outrage, fear, echo chambers.
If you were to talk to somebody typically, well, I'm not.
If you were to talk to somebody for a long period of time,
chances are you can find out in about 5 minutes where they get
their news and wherever they get their news.
This is what they have been convinced of, that they are
right and everybody else is a sheep now.
So let me show you something and I've told you like I'm a
recovering addict when it comes to politics.
So I'm speaking to my people. If you're look at Fox News, this
is how they kind of rate on the meter.
So if you got, you got far left, lean left, center, lean right,
right. If you're a Fox News consumer,
they scale at 3.2 on the right. They're beyond leaning right.
They are right wing news. And if you are a right wing
Christian, you're so thankful there's a news program that's
standing for the truth. OK, and let's say you're a left
wing Christian. Guess what?
They've got a news program for you all the way over here.
They've got MSNBC and they lean left.
And I know some of you who watch Fox News are going, but see,
they're further on the left than we are on the right, that that's
what you're doing. You're already doing the math.
So I had somebody on our staff, us at the same time every day
for the last 14 days, hop on the news and pull down the
screenshots from the websites of both Fox News and CNN and a
bunch of others. But I don't want to make this
sermon 30 minutes long. And I just want to show you what
they've been feeding you same day, same time, only one slide.
Here we go. Here is Fox News.
Key witness in the process. Obviously, I wrote this sermon
before today. Key witness in the prosecution's
case against Trump is a ghost in the courtroom.
Obviously they weren't now silent treatment.
We talk about the butcher's dead from Israel, talk about the Pope
Francis correct CBS anchor over Catholic Church's stance on same
sex couples and then definitely something for all the the
conservatives homemaker scorches liberal backlash with reality
check over chiefs kicker's speech.
OK, now let's just at the exact same time, let's go to MSNBC.
Trump's possible hush money testimony could be a nightmare
come true for his case. Same facts.
One is they're a ghost. And the other one, it's a
nightmare come true. And they're, you know, they're.
Fox News's Trump trial coverage proves it's no longer Rupert
Murdoch's network. New ad taunts Trump over his
apparent reluctance to testify. And then they've got live
updates on the hush money trial. Both of them are feeding you
what you already want to hear and I was going.
I'm tired of this. So I came today to give you a
gift. I decided to stop getting my
news from those places and I didn't want to get sucked in and
find myself 90 minutes later stressed out and ticked off.
Which has what happens to me when I watch regular news.
So I get my news from 2 separate places now and I'm actually
going to tell you where I get my news and I love it.
OK, First one is called 1440 News.
They are designed to give insight, not outrage.
It's for people who want unbiased content.
They send it in your e-mail. It's made for knowledge, not
clicks. Their whole goal is it gives you
everything that's happening. So I know what's happening with
the elections in South Africa because I got it sent to my
inbox. I know that baseball has just
integrated leaderboards to talk about the Negro League and
they're going to incorporate them into their leaderboards,
which is fantastic. I also found out what's going on
with AI and how Vox has actually spent money.
And there's a whole bunch of other places are, which I
thought was actually kind of scary.
And then over here it says aging starts earlier than you think,
which, you know, forget them. But that was their
advertisement. There was no pictures.
It was just, hey, I've got stuff on sports, I've got stuff on
Harvey Weinstein. I've got stuff about new science
and technology. They've got another little
partner, a little ad that they want me to know, which, you
know, it's about aging. But I got stuff about the
business markets. I know what's going on with
Conoco Phillips. If I want to get an update on
that, I can just read through this thing and in about four
minutes I get all of the important news that I need.
And if I want something, I can click on it to get a little bit
more information. And in 7 minutes, I can be
briefed on what's happening in the world without getting a
crazy hyper slant. You know what that helps me do?
Have a little bit of peace. It brings my emotions down.
I don't think the liberals are coming for America.
I don't think that the conservatives are trying to
destroy it. I don't.
I just, I just got my news. Here's another place I go.
This one is more spiritual. So if you're wanting spiritual
news, this one's called the Pour over.
This one takes 6 minutes to read, and this exists to give
you trustworthy news but point people towards spiritual hope.
So they have a chunk of news, This Is Us news.
And at the end of every chunk of news, they have a Christian
perspective and they have a Bible verse and you just get
kind of hopped up on Jesus in the middle of your news, which
that doesn't happen on any of our other networks.
It also has a sponsored thing about lacking daily food, which
that's me, OK? It's got stuff about what's
happening with the weather, with all the crazy tornadoes that
have been happening all over the Midwest in other brews.
Oh, they're so cool and hip, aren't they?
Instead of other news, Elon Musk, a lot of the country's
looking for a bit more. It's talking about T-Mobile and
how they're trying to buy US Cellular, which would be
interesting for those of us here in the Midwest.
How did you spend Memorial Weekend?
Here's what's happening at the movies.
Here's what's going on with Uncle Sam's non allies talks
about Bill Walton dying. It also talks about the things
that they're paying attention to.
I get all of my news in like 12 minutes and I can read it and if
I want more information, I can click on it.
No drama, no real advertisements.
I can just digest it and move on.
And you know what that does? It calms me.
I want to be informed because I want to be a good citizen.
I want to be informed because I want to know how to navigate
things and take advantage of things.
But I don't have to buy into the outrage.
Why is this matter to me is if I'm constantly consuming
information that is amping me up, it's going to be really hard
for me to treat people the way that Jesus called me to treat
people. And that's who we are supposed
to be. Christians are supposed to treat
people the way Jesus would treat people.
In the past, we used to be able to respectfully disagree with
somebody. Do you guys remember that?
Do you, like, remember when we were like, yeah, I think you're
wrong, You know, like, I think you're wrong, but do you still
want to get pizza? And I think part of it was
because we both kind of wanted the same thing.
We were just trying to figure out different ways to get there.
It's like young couples when they're getting married.
You've heard me talk about this. Jennifer and I's marriage barely
survived folding towels because we both wanted the towels
folded. But she's a dictator and like me
folding it the way that I wanted to, which is the way that made
sense. She wanted me to fold the towels
the way she wanted to. But today in politics, it's not
about how to fold the towel, it's whether or not we're going
to have towels or not. And whichever party you're on is
the party of towels. And the other people are the
savages who are just walking out of the shower, air drying while
they pull their pants on. Like, you got wet underwear.
And I'm not living with somebody with wet underwear, right?
Well, that's what's happening. And when we start getting to our
conversations, we're no longer attacking their argument, we're
attacking their character. And so ideas don't ever get
tested because characters get assassinated.
And so the information in the dialogue is reduced.
And when we attack people's character, we are stepping into
dangerous territory because then we're judging people.
And you and I don't know the hearts and thoughts of a person.
That's why James, who's Jesus's brother, gives us some helpful
information on this James chapter one, my dear brothers
and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry because human
anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
When you are in conflict, when you are talking politics, when
you're having an argument in your house, try James's method.
Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
When you are in conflict, our ears stop listening, our minds
start shutting down, and our hearts get hard.
And so we never end up in a place that we were supposed to
end up. If we want to be Jesus, people
sitting on a hill, people light on a stand, people, we need to
become quick to listen. Most of us get this backwards.
We are quick to speak and we are slow to listen.
But when you listen, you know what happens.
You gain understanding when you are slow to speak.
Literally late when you are late to speak.
Ladies, just imagine with me, if you will, you being late
somewhere. Try to do that with your mouth.
Yeah, I got you, boys. Hey, OK.
It's literally saying be slow. Like don't be the first one to
show up talking. Like, arrive late.
You're late to church, you're late to the game, you're late
everywhere else. Be late with your mouth, fellas.
You're always on time. Slow it down, shut it down.
Because the moment you stop talking, you Start learning.
Have you ever said, I don't know how anybody could behave that
way? Have you ever heard yourself
say, I don't know how anybody could vote for a person like
that? I don't know why anybody would
do that. You know what you're saying?
You're saying you don't understand them.
You're not saying something about them.
You're saying something about you you don't understand.
Do you know how you understand? Slow to speak, quick to listen.
Let me give you an example. How many of you have ever been
frustrated with the public school system because they
didn't cancel snow or cancel school on a snow day?
I can't believe they're making us go out in a snowstorm with my
2 little specials who I love dearly and it's dangerous out
there and they're wanting us to go to school in this snowstorm.
Crazy. Now let me pause for a second.
That's me. Wait, wait, now you know what's
also me? You guys want to go to Dairy
Queen? It's cold out here.
We should get some chicken, those chicken strips with those
tech. You guys want to go?
Hey, you guys want to go sledding?
Hey, everybody in town's on their way to the grocery store.
We better get the milk fast because that is like the Midwest
potluck. Hey, it's snowing outside.
We better get to the store. We better get there quick.
The Amish are coming. We what is like, we don't have
enough in the pantry. We've never missed a meal.
But as soon as it's we're never getting out of here, we can do
all of those things. You know what we can't do?
Send our kids to school. You know what you could do?
Keep them home. Just call the school like you're
the parent. Yeah, they're not coming in.
What are you doing? We're tearing stuff up all day.
We're starting in the neighbor's yard with the car hood and the
four Wheeler. Don't know what's going to
happen, but it's going to be epic.
He might be back tomorrow if there's any food at Hy Vee right
now. So I used to be this guy.
Why won't they close school? Do you know why they don't close
school? Because there's kids that don't
get fed on schools, that on days that schools get closed, oh,
they're not as worried about how many inches are falling on the
ground as they are about the kids that don't get fed.
So keep your kid at home. Go to Hy Vee and feed them if
you don't want to go to school. You know what that did?
It brought me back a little bit. Find someone who you admire in
their faith who doesn't agree with you politically.
Sit down and shut up and let them talk to you.
There is a subset of Christianity who votes primarily
Democratic, and if you are primarily a Republican and you
were to sit across the table from them, who is a believer, a
follower of Jesus in ways that would impress you and amaze you,
you would find out that a person can love Jesus and vote for
somebody different than you. Now listen, I can sit across
from somebody who votes differently than me and I can
believe that I'm right. And listen, if you want to know,
do I have political ideas and political leanings, you better
believe it. But there are people that I
respect and admire who have a deep abiding faith, who see the
world differently, but they still see it through a Christian
lens. Sit down and instead of trying
to convert them, learn from them and then become slow to become
angry. How many of you your life has
turned out fantastic since you started getting angrier?
Man my marriage was really just kind of going downhill and then
I just elevated the amount of anger I had and it just started
becoming smooth sailing. I was really struggling at work
relating with my Co workers and I just started screaming a lot.
I keep getting promoted. Has that ever happened?
Have you ever met an angry person and been like he's got it
figured out? Now let me ask you this
question. When it comes to your politics,
how angry are you? Is it working?
Have you noticed that the people who get angry last usually win?
The ones who keep control of their emotions?
The ones who can sit and listen and are slow to start talking?
Because the more you start talking, the more amped up you
get. Your spouse, your job, your
parenting, your faith, your politics all get better when you
are less angry. Why does this matter?
Because you and I are supposed to be a light for the people
around you. Last thing is this.
Christians pray for people like we believe prayer works.
Can I read a verse? It's going to frustrate you.
Frustrated me. First Timothy, chapter 2.
I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers,
intercession, and Thanksgiving be made for all people.
We're like we're praying for everybody.
Verse 2 for kings and all those in authority.
Don't raise your hand, probably because there won't be any hands
raised. How many of you only pray for
your family but not your president?
How many of you only pray for the president that you voted
for? How many of you only pray for
the president you didn't vote for?
I was, I wrote this part and realized I don't, it's been a
while since I've prayed for President Biden.
I was like, that's kind of a fail that we may live peaceful
and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to
be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
What's his heart's desire? Keep going, for there was one
God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus
Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
Please, the one who died for you, How?
By praying for who? For all people, especially your
president, especially your governor, especially your
senator, especially your police chief.
Pray for those in authority, because when you pray you are
putting your faith in Jesus, and faith pleases God, and faith
works because prayer works. Second Corinthians chapter 10
says this. For though we live in the world,
we do not wage war as the world does.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds. We demolish arguments and every
pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to
Christ. And if we are, and we will be
ready to punish every act of disobedience once your obedience
is complete. Here's what I want to unpack in
there. When you start praying, you're
using godly weapons in godly ways.
When you're praying, you're demolishing, you're winning in
prayer. And the Paul finishes.
We're going to show up and we're going to discipline some people.
But just so you know, when Paul shows up in this letter, he's
not showing up to discipline all the politicians.
He says. We're going to discipline all
the Christians who haven't been acting like Christians, who've
been calling themselves Christians.
If you're going to swing hard this political season, don't
swing hard for your political party.
Swing hard for Jesus. Swing hard at the person who
calls himself a Christian who isn't acting like a Christian.
But before you do that, the Bible would tell you, be careful
pointing out the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye
and ignoring the plank in your own.
What Paul is trying to do, what Peter is trying to do, what
James are trying to do, is get you and I to live by a higher
standard. James chapter one, verse 22 says
this. Do not merely listen to the Word
and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Too often you and I have beliefs but have no action to accompany
them. To those of you who are pro
lifers, are you stingy when it comes to supporting adoption in
foster care agencies? Or do you just want other people
to keep the baby alive? If you're pro immigration, are
you just for other people to be able to come in and other people
foot the bill, or are you putting your house on the market
so they can and saying, hey, you can live with me?
You know what? Christians would be both of
those. They'd be looking for somebody
who doesn't have what they need and to be trying to figure out a
way to make sure that they have it.
But they wouldn't be asking the other people to use their money
to make it happen. They'd be using their money
first. We vote for the things we
believe, but we want other people to pay for.
Christians are different. Our actions speak louder than
our words. Every single one of us.
We know the right Bible verses to back up our position.
The problem is we haven't lived out enough Bible verses in our
communities to make a difference.
Think about that as we move to this time of decision.
To those of you who are here or watching online that don't have
a relationship with Jesus Christ, I want you to know Jesus
offers a better way to live, and I hope you got to see a little
bit of that today. I really hope you're paying
attention when I read that passage out of Timothy where it
says God wants all people to be saved because that includes you.
In fact, He wanted you to be saved so much that He sent His
Son to die on the cross on your behalf.
And I know for some of you that sounds a little bit crazy and a
little bit weird, but if you have questions about what that
is or what that looks like, it'll be one of the best
decisions you've ever made. And it's just a few moments.
The people around you are going to stand and sing, and some are
going to come to the steps and pray.
What I want to encourage you to do is to walk right over there
by that baptistry underneath that screen, and they'll be a
couple there who would love to talk to you about what that is
and what that looks like. Because you can have a better
king, a better citizenship, and your citizenship would be in
heaven means that when you die, you don't have to worry about
death. You don't have to worry about
life after death because your life will be forever held in the
hands of Jesus. And that makes all the
difference, not just for your future and makes all the
difference today to the rest of you in the room, to those of you
who would call yourself a Christian, here's what I want to
encourage you to do. Would you spend some time
praying for your president or somebody in authority in your
life? And don't just pray for them to
think like you think. Believe what you believe, but
pray for them. Try to look at them the way you
would look at your child. Because when you are praying to
your Heavenly Father, you are also praying to their Heavenly
Father. Maybe spend a little bit of time
repenting for the huge gap between your beliefs and your
activity. Pray for the areas of your life
where you have not exemplified the way of Christ.
Not your typical weekend, not your typical service, not your
typical invitation time. But I think it's one we could
use. I think it's one we need.
Would you stand with me, God? We stand before you right now,
and there's not a single thing we can hide from you.
You know it all. So you know what we need, You
know what we need to do, and you know what we need from you.
And so, Heavenly Father, would you please meet us here?
Would you please meet us in this moment and take the ground that
only you can take? Your name, I pray.
Amen.