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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening, tonight we're in 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8, the Bible reads, It came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of second Abijah and were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Lucre and took bribes and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah and said unto him, And behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. The Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice, albeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king, and he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint them captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make him his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olives, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants, and he will take your men servants, and your maid servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep, and he shall be his servants. And he shall cry out in that day because of your king, which ye shall have chosen you. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said nay, but we will have a king over us. That we may also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel go ye every man unto his city. Let's pray dear Lord God just thank you for this church, and every soul that uh that's here today tonight Lord. And I just pray that you bless this service Lord. Please bless pastor, and fill in with your Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us in the congregation Lord. And we pray this all in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in first Samuel chapter eight, and put a paper a pen there a book marker there, and go to Acts chapter one if you would. We're going to come back to first Samuel chapter eight, towards the latter end of the sermon. The title of my sermon tonight is the white house or the church house. The white house or the church house. Let me ask you a couple questions, and obviously these are rhetorical so we don't need any crowd participation in this okay. Let me ask you a couple questions to think about uh this evening regarding the events that are going to unfold over the next two weeks because I want everyone to vote for Trump. No, I'm just kidding. I don't vote. I don't care for voting. I'm trying to help people to have a biblical perspective on this. But I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you a series of questions that I want you to think about uh as we approach these next two weeks. First and foremost, what institution did God choose to make a significant impact in this world? What institution did God choose to make a significant impact in this world? Which institution did God ordain to carry out the type of difference that we as Christians would like to see? Is the difference that we're trying to see in this world in line with the Bible? Or is our vision of this perfect world misguided and are we trying to obtain a world through worldly means rather than spiritual? Is the fact the world that the fact that the world has been made a better place in different times throughout history through political means a viable argument and justification for seeking such methods today? And does that mean that God's manners or God's methods are inferior to these methods that have been used in times past? If they're not inferior then should significant investment and obviously I'm referring to time resources emotion be made into these political parties. Now Christians will agree with me on this particular stance very I rarely run into a Christian that if I express these opinions and express what the Bible says about this I rarely run into anybody who actually fully disagree with me on this. Christians will in general agree with all of the statements that I'm going to make tonight but will still want to vote for people in order to create for themselves an environment conducive to spiritual matters. So they'll say well I agree with you on everything that you're saying. I agree what the Bible says about it. I know that the difference is supposed to be through the local New Testament church. I agree it's through sowing. I agree it's through preaching. But you know, we should also participate and do our part as the citizens of America to make a difference, right? Why? Because they want to create for themselves an environment conducive to spiritual matters. But is having the right political leader though the answer to having an environment conducive to spiritual matters? Or should we solely depend, listen to this, think about this, should we solely depend on the Lord to prosper us in spite of the environmental disadvantages that we experience? Should our political party mold our worldview and ideologies? And here's a good question. Has it molded your worldview and ideologies? You see when you look at the New Testament and the world in which the New Testament Christians operated under, they're very much at a disadvantage. Yet they succeeded exceedingly even in spite of the Roman government, and it's not because they depended on the Roman government. Often Christians can follow a political party and thereby adopt ideas that they think are Christian, but are not Christian. And we as Christians could point to, obviously we can point to political principles laid out in the Old Testament under Israel's theocracy. What is the theocracy? It's essentially referring to the fact that Israel in the Old Testament had God as their king. And we could obviously point to those principles laid out in the Old Testament as a way to advocate for modern politics and our duty to vote in the right person. However, the New Testament, and please don't miss this, the New Testament is replete with explicit instructions on how the Christian is to conduct themselves in this world until Christ returns. Now let me explain something very simple here when it comes to the Bible, and that is that when we want answers to life's issues and matters pertaining to this life, there's two things that we can use because sometimes the Bible is very clear on an issue, but sometimes it's not clear and thereby we need to rely upon principles of the word of God whereby we can extrapolate a solution based upon those principles. Does that make sense to everyone? Hope that wasn't too high for everyone. You know, if there isn't an explicit answer given in the Bible, it's okay because of the fact that the word of God has various principles that we can use in order to come to a Christian solution to a specific problem that we may experience. However, we don't necessarily need to use principles if there's already verses clearly laid out for us on what we're supposed to do. If the Bible has already instructed us clearly and explicitly what we're supposed to do, we don't necessarily need to use principles. And in fact, most of the time the principles back up those specific scriptures, okay? But nowhere in the New Testament do we see Christians even remotely involved in the political realm of their day. You can study Matthew all the way up to Revelation. You will never find a man of God. You will never find a Christian. You will never find a believer who is remotely or heavily involved in political matters as a form of solution, as an answer to spiritual problems. Why is that? Because of the fact that the methods of this world to fix this world will always be an inferior to God's methods. Church house or the white house? I'll tell you right now, the church house is the answer to all of the world's problems of today. Now you're in Acts chapter 1 and I'm going to give you a couple of things here to think about. And you know, sometimes when I preach a sermon like this about politics, you know, I always hope to change the minds of people who don't agree with me. That's my goal sometimes. But I feel like this is the only subject where I'm not going to be able to change your mind. I'm being honest. I feel like when it comes to a lot of other issues, I can preach about a lot of things and you know, show you verses from the Bible and you're like, all right, I'm going to change my opinion on that and you're right about that. This is what the Bible says and I agree 100%, therefore I'm gonna do a 180 on that and I'm gonna go the Bible way. But I feel when it comes to politics though, this is so heavily ingrained into the mind of a believer, believers, that it doesn't matter how biblical the sermon is, some people are just unwilling to change in this area. And I'm okay with that because of the fact that at the end of the day, you know, what I'm trying to do through the sermon is kind of dig in the stakes deeper of those who do agree with the Bible and help you to realize that you're on the right side. And I would hope that those who disagree would kind of question themselves and question their ideologies and question what they're putting in their faith in for a better tomorrow. Okay. Now let me start off by saying we're going to go back to first Samuel chapter eight later on in the sermon, but let me give you a couple of things because, you know, today we think to ourselves, well, man, there's so many Christians out there that are so involved in politics, they're so Republican, they're so conservative, they're so concerned about who's going to be president and it's affecting their emotions, it's affecting their mental, their mentality, it's affecting their disposition and they have so much faith in the White House, they have so much faith in the right wing political realm that, you know, it's kind of affecting them as Christians and they can't see beyond that. But here's the thing, that's not a new phenomenon that has always existed. And I'm talking about since the very beginning, believers have always depended on the arm of the flesh to deliver them from the woes of this world. Always. It's always been a thing because at the end of the day, when you just peel back the layers of why people are so heavily involved in this, it's because of the fact that they lack faith in God. They lack faith in the Bible, they lack faith in God, they lack faith in God's systems, they lack faith in God's methods. And so to them, it's a more reliable source to go to the king, to go to the president, to go to this political party, because in that way we can see visible results. But this has always existed. And in fact, political view of the disciples was similar to the political view of a lot of Christians today. So how do you know? Well, look at Acts chapter one and verse number six, you see the disciples and even those in Israel wanted Christianity to dominate politically even in their day. Did you know that? They wanted Christianity to permeate all society. They were under the Roman government and they didn't want to be under the Roman government. They felt they're being oppressed by the Roman government. They were no longer the head honchos of their day. They were no longer under that theocracy. They were under the Roman empire and they could do nothing about it. And when Jesus came to Messiah, they interpreted Jesus coming as though he was going to set up his actual physical kingdom. Look at Acts one, verse six, it says when they were therefore come together, they asked of him, they referring to the disciples, him referring to Jesus saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Now, what did I tell you? It tells us that they thought that when Jesus resurrected, that Jesus was going to usurp the government, take over and set up his own kingdom. So they no longer have to be a part of this empire known as the Roman empire. So they're like, Hey, so is it time now? You know, you say we're going to be kings. We're going to reign with you. You're going to give us authority. Are you going to restore the kingdom at this time? He says in verse seven, and he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the father has put in his own power. Now, what does that mean? He basically saying that doesn't really matter right now. And you're, you know, obviously one day Christians, the disciples, believers will rule and reign with Christ physically on this earth and what's known as the millennial reign, but it's not for you to know the times or the seasons. And see, he's basically saying that's not your concern right now. That should not consume you right now. That's not for you to have knowledge of right now. That's not God's will for your life right now. But then he says in verse eight, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria to the most parts of the earth. Now, let me just let you know that when it says power, another word for power is authority. And he's saying, look, it's not in your authority to know these things because you're not going to be ruling and reigning at this time, but I will give you power to become witnesses unto me in these geographical locations. Now the disciples were actually ecstatic about that. They ended up being filled with the spirit, preaching the word of God, seeing people saved, but you know, to some Christians, that's just not enough though. The authority of the Holy ghost to be a witness, to promote the kingdom of God is not as important as promoting their political party, sadly. But the point that I'm making here is the fact that even the disciples thought in their day, Oh man, this is going to be a political revolt. Jesus Christ is going to usurp the Roman empire and bring the kingdom in. And we're not going to be under the oppression of the Romans anymore. Wrong. John chapter six, you don't have to turn there. Turn with me if you would to John chapter 18, John chapter 18, John six, verse 15 says, when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a King, he departed again into the mountain himself alone. So there was times throughout Jesus' ministry where he would perform a miracle. He'd perform a supernatural act. And what would happen is the people of Israel would try to take him by force to make him a King, not because they believed on him, not necessarily because they thought he was God, but because they wanted a different King, an authority figure of Israel that is essentially the alternative to the Roman empire. This is showing us that people, even in this day, relied heavily upon a political party to make a significant difference in their lives more than Jesus Christ, more than the house of God, more than the word of God. Okay. Now, let me just explain something. You say, well, what's wrong with that? You know, can we have both? Don't we want Christians to permeate all of society and the political realm and businesses? Wouldn't the world just be a better place if Christians just took authority over every aspect of this world? And the answer is no. You say, why is that? That's what's known as preterism. And what is preterism? What will preterism do to this world? It's going to prepare everyone for the Antichrist because there's never an instance prior to the millennial reign where Christians will permeate society. We will always be the off scouring of this world. I hate to break it to you, but you know what? We don't mean anything to anyone in this world. We are literally the least, the off scouring of this world. We're the least esteemed in this world and it will always be that way. When the world promotes this, or when so-called the pseudo Christians promote this view that Christians need to just take all political realms, be the mayors, governors, presidents, and permeate all this stuff. It's a preterist view because of the fact that the only time in this world that that will technically happen is under the Antichrist reign, where he will permeate everything. He will permeate all of society, religion, politics, currency, known as the new one world order. The only time that will literally happen to us is during the millennial reign. And so that will never take place this side of eternity through political means. And you have these preterists out there, you have those who consider themselves as being individuals who are ushering in the kingdom, promoting that type of agenda, and it's not a biblical agenda whatsoever. Now, let me give you some reminders this evening regarding this particular topic. First and foremost, I know you're an American citizen, but actually before you're an American citizen, according to the Bible, you're a citizen of a different country known as heaven. We are citizens of a different country and are to promote the ideals and policies of that nation. The Bible tells us that, that when we got saved, we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we became fellow citizens and heirs with those of the children of God, of the household of saints. The Bible tells us that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that we should show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so you're like, well, we know that, that's like a spiritual thing, but is there anything wrong with promoting where we're at right now? Well, let's just look at the Bible. Doesn't the Bible say that we're strangers and pilgrims on this earth? Well, that's just symbolic, symbolic of what? Right? Do we believe the Bible literally or not? I mean, when Jesus said that we are not of this world, I know it's a fancy sticker everyone likes to put behind their truck or whatever, but it actually means something to those who are saved. It means we actually don't belong here. We're foreigners in this land. We're strangers. We're pilgrims. We're sojourners in this world. Means technically we don't really belong here. So journey means that we're only here. We're visiting for a season. Look at John chapter 18 and verse 34. Jesus speaking to Pilate says, Jesus answered him, sayest thou this thing of thyself or did others tell it of thee of me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Thy own nation and the chief priest have delivered thee unto me. What has thou done? Verse 36, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is in the United States, actually. It's in America. You'll know about it in a couple thousand years. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight. That I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest that I'm a king. To this end was I born and for this cause come I into this world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. I want you to notice that Jesus said, I'm not from here. This is not my kingdom. And the last time I checked the message that Jesus promoted along with the disciples is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. They were preaching the kingdom of God. And by the way, that's what you and I are supposed to be preaching as well. The Bible tells us in Luke chapter 19 verse 10 for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. And as they heard these things, he added and speak a parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem. And because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear again, showing us that the people in the New Testament thought that this was going to be a political thing that Jesus was bringing a political revolt that he was actually bringing. And that was not the case. And in fact, he gave this parable and he said, he said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. And he called his 10 servants and deliver them 10 pounds and said unto them, Vote in the right guy. I said, Occupy till I come. Serve God, win souls, occupy till I come. The Bible also says look at Luke 17, if you will, Luke 17, Luke chapter 17, and verse number 20. It says in verse number 20, when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, or votes, or political campaigns, or the Republican Party, or conservatives, or Trump, neither shall they say, lo here, or lo there on November 5. For behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Now I know that's not as glorious as having a Republican in the office, the White House, but who cares? I don't care what this world deems as glorious. The Bible says that the kingdom of God is within you. He's obviously referred to salvation. He's referring to the fact that we as believers have the kingdom of God within us. The Bible also tells us, I'm gonna read another verse here. Turn with me if you would. You're in Luke chapter 17, go to Luke chapter 12, if you would, Luke chapter 12. The Bible says in Hebrews 11, verse 13, these all died in faith, referring to the patriarchs, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things, listen to this, declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they have been mindful of that country from once they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire, listen to this, a better country. Let me just remind you, there's actually a better country than America. They desire a better country, that is, and heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. The Bible says, what am I showing? I'm reminding us that you and I are not supposed to be a part of the Republican Party, we're not supposed to be a part of the Conservative Party, we're not even necessarily citizens of America, we're citizens of heaven. And let me ask you this, are we ambassadors for Christ or not? And if we're ambassadors for Christ, what is our message? It's the gospel. The message is that we're promoting the ideals, the doctrines, the ideologies, the things of God in this world, because of the fact that we seek a better country than even the country that we're in. And so even the disciples of the New Testament, excuse me, had that political view that, hey, you know, I thought we're gonna have like a physical kingdom now. And this is what Christians today want. You know, they want a political power now, they want, in order to have their security, in order for them to feel safe, in order for them to have their safe space, they want to have that guy in office that will protect them from all the Democrats, from all the liberals, from all the liberal ideologies, from all of the woes that the liberals want to enforce upon you. You know, Christians want Trump to protect you against Gavin Newsom, against Kamala, against Biden, against Barack. It's nonsense. Now, let me show you what are the only interactions, according to the New Testament, that we should have with political parties, okay, the political world. Now, first and foremost, look at Luke chapter 12, verse 10. This is a guaranteed interaction that you and I will have one day. He says, Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, verse 10, it shall be forgiven him, but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you unto the synagogues, listen to this, and unto magistrates, what's a magistrate? It's a ruler. It's a political figure. And powers, take ye no thought, how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say, for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. So according to the Bible, according to Jesus, one of the only interactions that you're supposed to have with the political parties of this world, the rulers and magistrates, is when you're being persecuted by them. Not being promoted by them, but being persecuted by them. It's when the magistrates come to you and don't like you because of your views, your doctrine, the things that you believe. You say, yeah, but most Republicans agree with what we believe. I don't know about that. All types of fags in the Republican Party, promotion of abortion. How about the elephant in the room known as Zionism? Last time I checked, we don't support that as Christians. Last time I checked, we stand against the doctrine of Zionism. Oh, except for November 5th when we vote for the person who is, right? When we advocate for people like that. Oh, I thought we were pro-life. What the exception, of course, is when we're on November 5th voting for the guy who's not. It's garbage, my friends. According to the Bible, the magistrates of this world, according to the Bible, the magistrates of this world do not stand with Christians in their ideologies. And one of the main interactions that we will have with magistrates is what? They're going to be persecuting us. And this will actually be fulfilled in a greater way in the end times. And if you're depending on politics and having the right guy in office, and you're thinking that that's going to make a difference in this world, you better read Revelation all the way through before you actually come to that conclusion. That's a fantasy you're living in. Because I hate to tell it to you, but the most powerful man in the world in the end times will want you dead. The Bible says that he will make war with the saints and overcome them. And he will use his political power to do so. Your own nation will turn against you. Well, you know, but they are somewhat like us. Well, you know, the somewhat that they're like us is the somewhat that they're trying to bait you with to support them. Okay. Now go to Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter number 13. Now, obviously, the government plays a role in our lives. So we're not anarchists. We're not usurpers of the government. We're not usurpers of magistrates. We're not people who promote rebellion against the government, bearing arms against the government, things of that nature. Why? Because the Bible teaches us that we need to be in subjection to the governments of this world. And even to the point where even if they are, you know, some of the wicked governments, you know, the Bible says to be subject unto them. Because at the end of the day, God wants us to be law abiding citizens. And it shouldn't bother us because of the fact that we got bigger fish to fry. Understand what I'm saying? You know, one of the ways that Satan will try to minimize your effectiveness in this world is to get you fighting a different battle that's not the battle of the Bible. Okay. Look at Romans 13. Let's look at the role, the government's role in our lives. It says in verse one of Romans 13, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. And the power there again is referring to what? What's another word for power? Authority. So the authorities of this land, according to the Bible, are placed there by God. These specific systems, whether we agree with them or not, are structured there and placed there by God himself, because God is a God of authority. Okay. He says, verse two, whosoever therefore resisted the power, you know, rebels against the power, resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rules are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Would thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and now shall have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So what is this telling us? It's telling us that God has specifically placed governments there in order to punish evildoers. Now, do they do that all the time? No. Well, then that's why we got to vote in the right one. Wrong. Wrong. Because you know what? They delivered up an innocent man known as Jesus, and Jesus still allowed it. As a she before shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. You know, Jesus wasn't like, before I go, just vote in the right emperor one day or something. You know, help me out here. No, he knew that this is the manner of Christians. This will be the manner of Christians throughout history is that governments will turn against us. That's his will for our lives, by the way. He says in verse five, wherefore you must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay tribute also. For there are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. I want you to notice verse seven. This has nothing to do with the sermon, but it's a good verse for everyone to read here. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to custom, fear to fear, honor to whom honor. What does that mean? Pay your taxes. You know, there's a lot of nonsense out there being put out by Christians like, well, I'm not going to pay taxes because, you know, they're using taxes for wicked means. And therefore that's kind of like me promoting those that wickedness by paying taxes. Jesus paid taxes. And if that's true, what you're saying that somehow we are guilty of the crimes that our government is guilty of for using the money that we give in our taxes, thereby we're guilty. That means that Jesus is also guilty for the crimes that the Roman Empire committed because he paid taxes. But you know what? That's not true, though, is it? Because according to the Bible, Jesus said render unto Caesar that which is Caesar and unto God that which is God's. And by the way, it says custom to whom custom, honor to whom honor. Look, I'm not anti-American because I believe if you live in America, you should be an American. Amen. We should speak English. You should submit yourselves to the customs of America because this is the model by which God has said you need to submit to the customs of that land. Okay. And of course, the only exception to that rule would be if it's a custom contrary to the word of God, whereby it would cause us to sin against the customs of the Bible. Okay. He says, oh, no man, anything but to love one another for he that loveth, hath, excuse me, loveth another hath fulfilled the law. The Bible tells us in Titus chapter three, go with me. If you went to first Peter chapter two, first Peter chapter two, I'm going to read you from Titus chapter three. I'm reading off some of these verses that show us what are the type of interactions that we should have with our government. Okay. We saw in Romans 13 that we're to be subject unto them. Titus chapter three, verse one says, put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates, not take arms against them to be ready to every good work. Look at first Peter chapter two, verse 11, dearly beloved, I beseech you as, oh, there goes that phrase again, strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul having your conversation, meaning conduct honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may buy your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation. Now I want you to notice verse 13, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the King as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well, for so is the will of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Now who are the foolish men? The Republican party. Who are the foolish men? The libertarians. They hate these verses because it's telling us to submit to these governments. He says, verse 16, as free and not using your liberty, I want you to notice this for a cloak of maliciousness. In other words, we don't use our liberty as an occasion to the flesh. We don't use our liberty as a duty to rebel. He says, but as the servants of God honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King, servants be subject to your masters with all fear. Well, yeah, but I mean, if we have like a wicked president though, you know, then that's, we shouldn't follow them. Well, look, let's read on. Not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. And you know what? It's kind of hard to say this, but if Kamala becomes president, she's our president. And man, she's froward. That's as froward as you can get. And by the way, this doesn't mean we can't preach against them because we have examples in the Bible of prophets who preach against the magistrates. John the Baptist preached against the magistrates. Jesus preached against the magistrates. It's our job as a church. It's my job as a pastor to make sure that I'm exposing the wickedness of this world. And you know, the whore Babylon is going to get it if she becomes president. Amen. But the Bible says that we're to be subject unto them, even if they're froward. Why? Verse 19, for this is thank worthy. If a man for conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully for what glory is it? If when you'd be buffeted for your falls, you shall take it patiently. But if when you do well and suffer for it and take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. It sounds like God wants us to suffer a little bit. It sounds like he wants us to live in a world, a realistic world where the governments are not on our side. It sounds like we're to live in a world that's evil and still operate as Christians in that world, even if we suffer wrongfully because it's acceptable with God. So why is that? Because Jesus Christ, who's the ultimate authority, subjected himself to the wicked authorities of this world. And he suffered wrongfully and was glorified because of it. That I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. Now go to Luke chapter 22. So obviously that is the interaction that we should have. You say, well, is it wrong though if a Christian gets involved in politics and actually, what if a fundamental Baptist preacher decides not to be a pastor anymore and wants to run to be the governor of California? Isn't that just a noble thing? If they want to be the mayor or a governor or have a political position of sorts, isn't that okay? Isn't that noble? Wouldn't God accept that? He could be used so greatly as the governor of California. He could institute laws and favor us, and we could just live happily ever after. We no longer have to have the rest of the country making fun of us as California. We could have a fundamental Baptist. First of all, it's never going to happen. Never going to happen. That's a dream world. But let me just say this. It would be wrong for a Christian to do so. And let me repeat, I don't, and I don't, I'm not careful to answer the, in this matter. It would be wrong for a Christian to run for a political office. Why? Well, obviously a political office is a position of what? Power. Right? Everyone understand that? Political power. You are an authority in this world as a magistrate, as a mayor or as a governor. That is a political power, position of power. I think everyone would agree with that. You say, well, what's wrong with that? Isn't that good? Well, why don't we ask Jesus? Lord, is that God's will for Christians to exercise lordship over people? Let's look at Luke 22 verse 24. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors, but it shall not be so, but ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at me, or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at me, but I am among you, as he that serveth. Notice when Jesus came, he didn't come to be a king. He didn't come to be a king. And if you wanted to change the world through political means, he would have been the king. He would have taken it. He would have tried to win all the, why didn't he go to Caesar and try to win Caesar over? Why did he go to the, I'll tell you why, because it's a fool's errand. That's why. And you know what? The kingdom of God will not submit to any kingdom as being the superior kingdom. It's willing to submit to it for a season, but at the end of the day, he's not going to go through political means of this earth in order to accomplish his will of the gospel being spread. And according to the Bible, Jesus said, it shall not be so with you. Why? Because the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship. What is that? Becoming a mayor, governor, becoming a president. And you know, one thing I've noticed over the last 17 years is anytime a Christian gets heavily involved in politics and they want to do it, you know, for a noble reason, because they want to promote biblical principles. They often just end up espousing a lot of false doctrine. You guys ever noticed that you will never get a fiery independent fundamental Baptist in office and still have them be a man of integrity, doctrinal integrity. It's not going to happen. And look, all these people on social media, on Twitter and on Instagram who claim to be Christians and promote a conservative way of life, let me just tell you, they believe all kinds of false doctrine. Oh, but that doesn't matter to you, huh? It should, because I'm telling you right now, the more people get involved in politics, the more far removed they become from the Bible. That is fact. Why? Because in order to be a political, have a political position of this world, you have to please everyone in order for you to be a mayor, to be a governor. First of all, you gotta lie. You gotta talk out of both sides of your mouth and you can't hold a strict position on doctrine. That's fact. Whereas when you're Christian, you know, to hell with whatever people think, you're gonna hold your position as a Bible-believing Christian. Why? Because our kingdom is not of this world. That's why. Yeah, but you know, so what if they could just kind of compromise in one area for the greater good. It's never right to do wrong to do right. And look, Luke 22 is pretty clear. It shall not be so with you. Last time I checked, he didn't say, go ye therefore and run for office. Go ye therefore and influence the political arena. He says, just preach. The Bible says in Psalm 75, verse five, lift not up your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck for promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge. He put it down one and set it up another. That's why you don't even have to vote. Your vote doesn't count. Why? Because it's God who puts down one sets up another. I think my vote counts. I mean, you could believe that delusion if you want, but I'm gonna go with the Bible where God says he allows one to be put down and another one to be propped up. That's what the Bible says. And by the way, let me just, let me help you with something. He doesn't need your assistance either. He doesn't need your aid to put someone up and to bring someone down because that's not our arena. That's not our responsibility. That's not our, you know, we need to stay out of that area of jurisdiction. That's not our business. The Bible says in Daniel 2 20, Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his. He changed at the times and seasons. He remove with Kings and set up Kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that no under standing turn with me. If you would to Mark chapter 12, Mark chapter 12, actually skip Mark 12, go to first Timothy two, first Timothy chapter two, first Timothy chapter number two. So you know what? Our relation to the government is that we're in subjection to the government. We abide by the laws of this government. Why? Because, you know, in order for us to be effective in the ministry, we don't want to entangle ourselves in the affairs of this life and thereby, you know, become ineffective as a Christian. We want to, you guys do whatever you guys are doing. We're going to continue to win souls to Christ, preach the word of God, reform the minds, you know, God's method of changing this world is through a grassroots level, grassroots movement, meaning from person to person, who cares? Who's in office? Who cares what they're promoting in office? I want to talk to the people because the only way a difference is going to be made in this world is by you talking to people individually, soul winning, preaching. This has always worked. And I don't care if, and by the way, let me just say this, you know, who cares what the media propaganda says about what's popular and what's not, you know, people can make this argument that, Oh, sodomy is so acceptable. People need to just get over it. Everyone by and large has accepted it. That's completely false. Because when you actually talk to the grassroots, the people, just day to day, you see that everyone's disgusted by it. So you can promote that all you want. You can promote that narrative all you want. You can promote that lie all you want. But at the end of the day, the individual says otherwise, the people say otherwise. And that's what I'm concerned with the actual people themselves. You see preaching and soul winning deals with the people individually. Who cares what the overall narrative of political party says? They lie to you. I'd rather just talk to the people. And I do believe there should be a distinction between church and state. The state should not get involved with what the church is doing. The church is not to get involved with what the government is doing. We're not sanctioned or deputized to carry out, the death penalty on anybody or do anything. That's not our department. We're not to get involved in that. You say, well, don't you preach Leviticus 2013? Yes, of course, because it's a superior law. Leviticus 2013 is a superior law that every nation should adhere to. But we don't enforce Leviticus 2013. I just want people to believe Leviticus 2013. Right? I want people to believe. If I can get hundreds of people to believe Leviticus 2013, my job is done. Who cares what laws are enacted? I don't care. You can say that facts can get married as long as people at the grassroots level believe in Leviticus 2013. Fact. So quite frankly, I don't care what laws are. You say, what if there's a law passed that bans sowing? We're going to keep sowing. And you really think they're going to stop churches from sowing? They're not going to be able to do it. They can't do it. You say, well, how do you know? Because when you look at the book of Revelation, people are still preaching the word of God in Revelation. Even throughout all the nonsense that's going to take place, all the tribulation, all of the difficulties, all of the martyrdom, there's going to be still people preaching the gospel. And I'm sure it's going to be made illegal, but who cares? We ought to obey God rather than man. But I'll just be honest with the United States of America. It's probably not going to happen. I know people want to fear monger people and thinking that it's going to happen, but it's not going to happen. Look at first Timothy chapter two and verse number two, verse number one. He says, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of things be made for all men, for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. What is this telling us? It's telling us that on November 5th, you should go on casting your vote. Praying is just another way of saying voting. But you know what? The old IFP, they'll use these verses to try to justify it. They'll use all these verses to say, they'll try to cherry pick everything, and they can just get you at the polls on November 5th voting for their guy. But no, sorry, it says supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of things. And what's the purpose of praying for this? So that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Here's the prayer. Lord, keep our government away from us. May you allow us to continue to prosper, and may the word of God have free course, in spite of Kamala being in office, if she does. If she's in office, I'm praying this. Lord, destroy her. But if it's not your will to destroy her, may you bring her devices to naught so we can continue to serve you in all honesty and with peace and integrity, that we can continue to serve you. And if it gets crazy over the next four years under her rule, we're still going to serve God. I mean, we did it these last four years under Biden, right? We succeeded as a church under the administration of Biden. And he's one of the worst people ever. And obviously, and let me just say this is that, you know, if Kamala gets voted out, I'm always saying this because you need to understand this. If Kamala gets voted in, it's just a cherry on top and the curse of God upon our nation. It's not cursing our nation. Like Kamala being president is not cursing our nation. It's just confirming, oh, the nation's cursed. You understand what I'm saying? So it's not like, oh, the curse begins. No, no, no, no, no. It's already here. Bro, we got a woman for a president. That's the worst possible thing. We're cooked. We are so cooked if she becomes president. Now, when I say we, I'm referring to the nation, but as Christians, we're in Goshen, baby. We're going to keep winning people to Christ. And, you know, in my opinion, if she becomes president, I just have a lot to preach on now. Just more ideas. Amen. But the Bible tells us here that we're to pray, not vote, pray. Well, yeah, we should pray, but we should vote too. You know, I don't, where's that in the, is that in there? Supplications? No. Prayers? No. Intercessions? No. Giving of things? No. Maybe it's in the original languages, huh? Or are people just inferring that into the text? Can we just stick to what God says? Can you stop trying to add to God's instructions and just go with what he says? Well, I don't know if prayer is enough. Prayer is enough. Go to Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter two. Hey, White House or the church house? I say the church house. White House or the church house? I say the preaching of God's word is what we need to depend on more than anything. White House or the church house? I say the Holy Spirit of God is what we need to depend on more than anything else. White House or the church house? I say soul winning is the way we're going to get things done in our nation. White House or the Church House. I say Christians are going to be the ones making the difference in our nation. Not these pseudo Christians in the political realm. Stop placing your faith in man and place your faith in the Bible. Well what's what's God's solution for Christians in a corrupt nation? What if we just become corrupt? We're already corrupt. What are you talking about? This nation is corrupted. Stop living in a fantasy world. But you know what? This world has always been corrupted. It's called sin. Well what should we do? Look at verse 14 of Philippians chapter 2. Do all things without murmurings and disfutings that ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke. I want you to notice this in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Hold on a second. Among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Did you know the darker the night the brighter the light? I don't want any of these fake lights of the Republican Party to try to outshine us. Make this thing dark so that we can shine brighter. You know what? And it may be that God will allow it to get darker in order for the Word of God to shine forth more brightly. You know and I know Christians are more secure when their man is in office and it just gives you this false sense of security that everything is gonna be okay and you know we don't have a woman for a president, a Democrat for a president, labor for a president and everything is gonna be fine and dandy but folks it's false sense of security. It's not real. Let this thing go dark as hell because of the fact that when it is we can shine that much more brightly. People and look the worst the world gets the more normal people become open to this kind of preaching. Right? Because they start seeing all the nonsense. They're just like where's those crazy preachers that maybe they're on to something. Oh look at that horror Babylon. That's interesting. Kamala is a thumbnail. You know you click on that they're like hey you know this is actually and then they get saved they end up getting converted. That's a better route rather than having this false sense of security. He says in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation and that's the Apostle Paul writing this in the first century AD. I mean we're still in a crooked and perverse nation. Among whom he shined his lights in the world listen to verse 16 holding forth your vote. You say to amen at the wrong time. You should have waited. You answer the matter before you heard it. Holding for I'm just kidding holding forth the word of life then I may rejoice on the day of Christ that I have not run in vain neither labored in vain. What's it telling us? You know what? Ask Christians in order for us to be effective we're to hold up the Constitution? No. The word of life. This right here. That's God's solution for us being in a corrupt nation. Go to Psalm 1 18 and then we're gonna go to 2nd Chronicles 7 or Psalm 1 18 White House or the Church House? I say the Church House. The Church House is the pillar and ground of truth. God's method will always be superior to the methods of this world to the methods of these magistrates depend on God. And you know what? Maybe you need your faith to be increased a little more. Maybe you need your faith in the Bible to be increased a little more. Maybe your stakes are a little too deep into this world and you don't really depend on God as much as you should. You do depend on the arm of the flesh. Look at Psalm 118 in verse 9. I love this verse it says it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. You know presidents lie all the time? They give you all kinds of promises and they lie about it. They say they're gonna do all kinds of stuff and they just lie. That's what they do. I remember one time I was on a missions trip to Mexico and this is years ago and I was with my pastor from Pastor Anderson and we were preaching the gospel. I was at this door and we're knocking and you know I'm just kind of going over the just a basic Romans road and you know I get to the point about a gift and you know the illustration used as a gift you know is if I say this is a gift and then I take it back you know what does that make me? And the guy says a politician and I just started busting up laughing because he's actually right about that because politician and liar are basically synonymous. Don't put your confidence in a prince. Don't put your confidence in the promises of a prince. Trust in the Lord and you know you say are you stressed about what's happening? Nope. I actually don't care at all. I care for the people who are stressed though because I know what an effect and an impact it can make upon the minds of Christians who are worried about it. I'm actually I actually don't care at all. It doesn't affect me one bit because I know at the end of the day like I in order for me to be safe from the tidal wave of woes I got to be on God's side and I don't need some visible leader to protect me from those things. I need the Lord. I need the Bible. Look at Second Chronicles chapter 7. Second Chronicles chapter 7 and then we're gonna close off in First Samuel chapter 8. Look at Second Chronicles chapter number 7. White House or the church house? Choose the church house and you know if you are twitching a little bit because of no media November because you're dying to know who's gonna be president you know then you need no media for November and you need your faith to be in Greece. It should not affect you at all as a Christian. It should not affect you whatsoever. This should not bother you at all. Why? Because we look for a better country. We have God as our King. Look at Second Chronicles chapter 7 and by the way Second Chronicles chapter 7 is the ultimate solution for a nation to be blessed of God. Look at verse 14. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and vote no pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. I'm sorry to break it to you but the Liberals aren't the reason why this country is being destroyed. It's not the Democrats. It's not the gas prices. It's not Biden. It's not the blue-haired fat feminists fighting for her right to abort her babies and murder her baby. It's not Kamala. I hate to tell you this. It's Christians. It's your fault. It's Christian's fault according to the Bible. Do we believe the Bible or not? Because he says if my people. He didn't say if they. He said if my people and let me say this America's filled with Christians. America's filled with churches. America's filled with pastors. America's filled with believers and yet we still have a wicked country. Why? Because of my people which are called by my name showing us that you know what God's people are depending on someone else other than God which is why the land has not been healed. That means that God's people are the ones who have not turned from their wicked ways which is why the land has not been healed. That means that God's people have not humbled themselves and prayed and turned from their wicked ways. How do we know? Because the land hasn't been healed. You know what this is showing us? It shows us that the ball's in our court. The solution to a nation's problems is when God's people actually stand up and they actually seek the Lord. You know how about you read your Bible November 5th instead? How about you pray on November 5th? How about you go soul-winding on November 5th? How about you think upon the things of God on November 5th? How about you humble yourselves and pray seek his face and turn from your wicked ways? That's way more effective than a vote. A vote you're just you put a vote in and it just makes you think it's a placebo. Your vote is a placebo. It's a Flintstones vitamin. It's a Pez dispenser. You get your little stupid little sticker, you know. I voted. Did you just make this difference? That's all it is. Hey come to me if you actually want to make a difference. Come talk to me if you actually want to make an impact. And I'm sorry I don't have stickers for you. I don't. You know they get I voted meaning I made a difference. I did my part. Oh talk come talk to me when you're actually ready to do a part. Come actually talk to me when you're actually ready to actually you know stop playing these games. Playing according to the world's games and actually do something significant and something that will make a difference. Go back to 1st Samuel chapter 8. 1st Samuel chapter number 8. You know there's a time when I was grieved at this. It would grieve me when Christians would talk like this and obviously you have like the old IFP who's gung-ho about politics. It would grieve me in my heart and would just bother me so much. And it would frustrate me. I would get angry. Not at politics but at Christians. Get very angry at Christians. Because I'm like why can't they see this? Why? But then I just kind of learned that this is has always been the manner of believers. Not just in America. Literally throughout history it's always been this way. So how do you know? Well look at verse 6 of 1st Samuel chapter 8. Or actually look at verse 5 and said unto him behold thou are old and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. What are you talking about? You have God. Why do you need a physical king if you got God? Oh because we want to be like all the nations. Yeah but you have God though. And Samuel was grieved at this. It displeased him. Because in his mind he's like why are you going for an inferior leader compared to like God? He says in verse 6 but the thing displeased Samuel when they said give us a king to judge us and Samuel prayed unto the Lord. So it displeased Samuel. He's very upset about this. He's grieved at this. And I know how Samuel feels sometimes because I feel that way sometimes. It grieves into people who place more faith in a man than in the Lord in these types of matters. It's kind of heartbreaking. But then the Lord sheds light on Samuel and what does he say? And the Lord said unto Samuel verse 7 hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee and they didn't reject your sermons. They agree with your sermon. They amen to your sermon. They agree with what you're saying. Don't feel rejected. They haven't rejected you but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. Now that's a sad statement right there. Because at its most basic level, do you know why people get involved so much, Christians get involved in politics? It's because they've rejected the Lord's protection over them. They never rejected you. They rejected me. They don't think I can take care of them. They don't think I can make the difference. So he's like he's basically telling Samuel like don't take it personal. Don't get sad about that. Do as they say because at the end of the day they rejected me and you know what throughout the history of Israel it's always been that way. So it's just like well if we could just get a nation today in 2024 that adheres to Christian principles and institutes biblical laws and does all these things we would have a Christian nation wrong. Folks Israel had it made. God was like you're judge, you're the executor and they still wanted a king. They still rejected the Lord because at the end of the day having a specific man in power makes no difference. It's the fact that the people are rejecting the actual king which is God. That's the issue at hand. It's not a law that's making people vote for a person. It's the fact that they lack faith in the king and so my admonition to you today, my encouragement to you today is place your faith back in the king. Don't reject the king. It doesn't matter how bad it gets. It's not a reflection on the king. It doesn't matter how evil this world gets. It's not a reflection on the king. It doesn't matter how evil it gets. It's not a bad it's not a reflection. God's not responsible for all the evil. It's his people which are called by his name but God will never let us down. I hope that you put your trust in the Lord. Obviously I know you do so with salvation but can we go from faith to faith and place our faith in God in other matters as well and not worry about what's gonna happen in the next month. The next month we're feasting. We got banquets coming up. I'm about to gain 10 pounds. We're about to party hardy. Not gonna preach on gluttony for two months. Amen. Christmas is coming around. I'm gonna be celebrating the birth of Christ. I'm gonna be celebrating Thanksgiving thanking God for you all. Thanking God for our church, for my family, for my kids, for souls. I'm not gonna be affected by this and I hope you aren't either. Don't reject the king. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the power of your word Lord. Help us never to fall into this trap because at the end of the day anybody is susceptible to this and we can easily place our faith in princes and hope that they would deliver us from the tyranny of evil men. But Lord you said in John chapter 17 that you wouldn't you didn't want us to take us out. You don't want to take us out of the world but that you would keep us from the evil and I pray that you would sanctify us through your word. Not through a political party but through your truth through your word and I pray you bless us as we go on our way. Help us have faith in you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.