Should Christians Vote

In this episode we share a message from a Texas pastor on should the church talk about politics and how should Christians vote. 

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Transcript

jeff: 0:16

Well, welcome to the SHIP podcast. My name is Jeff Dole and I've been a licensed farm dealer for the last 17 years in this fire. In this podcast, we talk about all things related to the second movement, as well as anything else going on in the world. Or a super story or anything else I might find interesting. So welcome, welcome, welcome. In this episode, we're going to do something a little different. Um, I'm going to share a message from my pastor, uh, that he spoke last, uh, weekend in our, our service. And I think it's very appropriate and timely and powerful. Uh, as gun owners, uh, we have a tendency not to vote and that's what this podcast has been about about half the time. gun owners out there don't vote and me trying to encourage you all to get out and vote and share the message because if we can get the gun owners to vote, uh, we'd have a definite, uh, advantage in this upcoming election. Yeah, another large voting bloc that is staying away from the, the ballot box are Christians and pastors, uh, have done a disservice to their flocks. to their members by not talking politics out of the pulpit. Uh, they, you know, they take this separation of church and state and I'm just not going to risk losing my tax free status by getting too political. And, um, that is just wrong. They are doing a disservice because if you look in the Bible, Jesus does nothing but talk about politics. He goes up against the politicians of the day. And it's important that I believe that as Christians, we vote, and we get involved in politics, and we don't just stay away. But, uh, that is what's happening. A lot of Christians are staying away from the ballot box because, uh, they're trying to send a message, or, you know, I just don't like this guy, he seems mean, um, whatever it might be. And my purpose of this is to, to Encourage y'all if you are one of those folks that It just doesn't feel like you need to vote and that you don't have anybody that you think is the right candidate because of your christian values Uh, listen to pastor josh Listen to his message and please share this podcast share this message Out to other christians because if we can get the gun owners and we can get the christians to vote Vote their values and what's important to them. We will definitely win this election so Take care, listen to Pastor Josh, share his message, and vote. Some of you, your polls are open already. Get out and vote. Don't vote till, wait till election day. Vote now, who knows? There may be another hurricane, maybe a snowstorm, maybe an EMP. I don't know, but let's get our votes in the ballot box. And use the election day as the day that we count our winning votes. So take care, have a great day, and I will talk to you next week.

pastor Josh: 3:22

Uh, buckle up! What's, uh, gonna happen today, it's been said! That, um, if you don't want to ruin a dinner party, don't talk about two things, religion or politics. I am here to ruin your party. That's what I am here to do. Today, um, what we're gonna do in the next few minutes is, uh, this will be, um, a very, I take one week to do this. If you're brand new with us, you're gonna be like, what did I just walk into? I'm taking one week right now just to, uh, have a very direct sermon. The title of the sermon is How to Vote Like Jesus. And before you freak out, just kind of hang out with me. Um, let me talk real quick about why I'm doing this. And the reason I even need to do this is because somewhere along the way, I don't have time to get into this. It's interesting about this really developed about 45 years ago, somewhere along the way, this idea developed that was brand new in all of church history, that the church and pastors should avoid politics and stay away from commenting on politics or political leaders. I just need you to know that concept is completely and utterly unbiblical. Completely and utterly unbiblical. For instance, let me talk Bible and logic. You cannot read the Bible about Moses, Daniel, Esther, Nathan, Nehemiah, John the Baptist and think that the church and pastors should avoid addressing government and governmental leaders. You just can't do it. It's all throughout the Bible. Number two, let's just use a little bit of logic together. I just want to point this out. Hey guys, as we often say at Lake Point, if the church won't disciple people, the world will. So what's going to happen, check this out, is if godly leaders and godly pastors and godly voices all go silent, what's Or refuse to be clear on issues related to politics and government, then the only voices that are left are the godless ones. So we have to understand this, that if we don't do this, they will, they're, they're, they're simply, listen, there comes, there are points when it's the job and responsibility of pastors and spiritual leaders to be like John the Baptist who rebuked a political leader of his day, King Herod, and just said, Hey man, You are doing godless things. You must repent because the people under your leadership can never be blessed while the leaders of this nation lead the nation into open defiance of the living, living God. So you've got to repent or we got to essentially, we, we, we, we got to get you out. Okay. So I need you to understand this. If you're brand new, if you've been around a while, then you've heard me say this before, but here's what I need you to understand. Okay. Some of you will hear the first few part of the sermon and be like, Oh man, Josh. So It feels like you or the church are getting more political. That is not what's happening. What's happening right now is not, the church is not getting more political. Politics are getting more theological and politics are getting more spiritual. When the government moved past things like building roads, issuing driver's licenses and teaching math. To things like redefining marriage, erasing gender, reframing abortion as reproductive rights, and then using the government school system into indoctrinate everybody's kids into believing those things. Hey guys, the church didn't move. Politics did. That's what happened. Politics moved, okay? So when that happens, it's the job of Bible believing churches to grab a Bible in their hand, Holy Spirit of their heart, wisdom in their head, courage in their bones, and essentially like, Hey man, I got dust your bumper. Get back in your lane. Get back in your lane. Okay, so let me just go ahead and take the air out of the ball real quick on something I am NOT going to be endorsing a candidate in the next few minutes. I'm not gonna do that I do that for two reasons number one whenever pastors I Personally think it's not wise because whatever pastors do that people view that as that person condoning whatever anything that candidate has ever done Is doing or will do in the future and any, I'll just be very honest. I'm going to be very honest with you throughout this message. Any thinking Christian with our eyes open would be looking at both of these candidates and going, well, we can't do that. Can't condone every single thing that person's ever done, uh, is doing or will do. The other reason I'm not endorsing a candidate is I just need you to know this. I am not here to seek the approval of man. I am not here to seek the approval of a party. And I'm not here to seek the approval of a politician. I am here on behalf of the living God, to speak from his word and just go, man, this is what we are. Okay? So while listen, your conviction should pull your vote right or left. We'll talk about more, more about that later. Your conviction should pull your vote, right or left. But my ultimate goal is not. My highest goal is not your heart should not get, I don't want your heart. Let me just make sure I get this right. Your convictions ought to pull your vote either right or left. But ultimately the most important thing is that your heart goes up into the kingdom of God so that the Holy Spirit can come down on your life and bless your life. That's what matters. So in the next few minutes, you're going to hear criticisms of both candidates and you will not like it. You will not like it. And I do just one last thing I need to get out. You won't like it. And if you're here at any of our campuses with the goal of being an agitator, I just need you to know that, uh, and you want your 60 seconds of fame. This is not your moment. And you may be going, no, wait a second. I thought the phrase was, was 15 minutes of frame fame. It usually is, but our security teams are so good. You're only getting 60 seconds. That's what's going to happen. All right. So here we go. All right, let's get right in now. Let me give some, uh, some credit here. I am indebted to a lot of study this week. I am indebted to the following pastors and theologians, Rob Ketterling, Ryan Visconti, Gary Hamrick, Mark Driscoll, Josh McPherson, Wayne Grudem for their thoughts in what follows. So here we go. Let's begin with this question. How, uh, the question, would Jesus vote? Would Jesus vote? Now, interesting. I think a lot of people are like, well, there's no way we can know. Actually, I think we can know the answer to this question with a Bible in our hands, spirit in our hearts, wisdom in our heads. And here's what I mean. Let me, let me, I need to teach you about this because most Christians are really uninformed theologically on this concept. All right, now let me show you a Venn diagram really quick. I love Venn diagrams, okay. So in the Bible, God has established three institutions that he establishes in the Bible. God establishes the family in the book of Genesis, Genesis two, God establishes the church. The church is officially established in the book of Acts. And then the Bible also teaches that the government was God's idea. That God established the state, the institution of the state. I want you to see this. This is from Romans chapter 13. It says, let everyone be subject to the governing authorities because those authorities, the authorities that exist have been established. So I need you to see this, that God established all three of these institutions, the family, the church and the state, all of them established by God. Now, right now I need to do about 60 seconds of a high school civics class. And if your eyes roll back into your head, you're like, why are you doing this? Well, here's why, because my job is to take the text of the Bible and overlay it on the context of the world that you live in. So in order for me to do that, I need you to understand the context of the nation that you are in right now. You right now, you do not, contrary to very popular belief, you do not live in a democracy. That's not what this is. You live in a constitutional republic. That's what America is. This is a constitutional republic. In a constitutional republic, and the questions that I'm going to ask, they're not trick questions. I think they have obvious answers. In a constitutional republic, the elected leaders are representatives of the People. That's right. Great job. You did a great job. Okay. So the people. So let me ask this question and it's not a trick question. If in our form of government, the elected leaders are representatives of the people, who are the leaders of that nation? The people, the people on the org chart of the United States of America at the top are the voting members of the nation. Now let me, again, we're doing some logic. Let's go a layer deeper. What you're going to see in the Bible is that whatever God creates, Satan tries to capture. I'm going to say that twice. Whatever God creates. Satan tries to capture. So let me go back to this. For instance, God established the family in Genesis 2, first family established in Genesis 2. In Genesis 3, because Adam was a weak and passive husband, he stood idly by and Satan stepped forward and led Adam's wife instead of Adam leading Adam's wife. Big idea. Husbands, if you won't lead your family, Satan will. Now, let's do the next one. The church, God establishes the church in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. Very interesting, I'm right now studying for a series next year in the book of Revelation. So, in Revelation 2 and 3, there was churches with passive, weak pastors. Who, instead of calling their church to repent of sin, they led their church to tolerate sin. As a result, what the Bible says is those churches, Satan's step forward, began to lead those churches and Jesus calls them in Genesis 2 and 3, quote, a synagogue of Satan. Big idea. If godly pastors won't lead their churches, Satan will be happy to. Now, let's apply this to this third institution, the institution of the state. Let me make something, uh, what I hope is obvious to us. If godly people If godly people won't lead their nation through voting, if godly people won't lead their nation, godless people will. God, the only people that are left become godless people. This is what the book of Proverbs means when it says this, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, But when the wicked rule, people groan. So I'm going to say something that has a bit of an edge to it, but I need you to understand this biblically. When Christians do not vote, what they're doing is they're abdicating their leadership position in the constitutional republic that God has placed you in. And it's a form of passive rebellion against God. In the exact same way that it would be wrong for a husband to refuse to refuse to lead his family, and it would be wrong for a pastor to refuse to lead his church, it would be wrong for you to refuse to lead, take part in the leadership of the nation that God has put you in. Does this make sense? Yeah, this makes sense. So, if we go back to ask the original question, would Jesus vote? Yes! Yes, he would because he wouldn't abdicate the responsibility that God has given him. Now, let's talk real quick about a few things. This is gonna be fun for me. We'll see if it's gonna be fun for you. Let's talk about a few things that voting is not. Because there's a lot of concepts right now that well meaning but naive Christians, they're just, they don't understand what a vote is and is not, okay? So let me talk about a few things a vote is not. Number one, a vote is not a valentine. Do you remember when you were in middle school and you were trying to decide, you know, who to give your Valentine to? And you would look around the class. And if you were a girl, your eyes would fall on somebody and you'd be like, oh, he's so cool and cute and funny. If you're in middle school today, you'd be like, his aura is like crazy. Okay, that's it, okay, that's it. Now, and you would see them and you know, this would. warm fuzzies, and then because of that feeling about them, you would give them your Valentine. Now, I know this may shock some of you. That's how a lot of people vote. Um, in fact, some of you, I wasn't alive for this. I mean, you guys were alive for this. I wasn't alive for this. Um, in the 1960 presidential election, it was the first time ever in our nation's history that there was a televised debate between two candidates. It was John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon's 1960. I wasn't around for this. Okay. So what you had is this is what happened before the first televised debate. Nixon was crushing Kennedy in the polls. But then they did this televised debate and Richard Nixon was much older, uh, was apparently not very attractive. I wasn't around for that. Uh, he, because it was the first time ever it had ever been done, he chose not to do the makeup artist from the TV station. So you had him on one side. John F. Kennedy, much younger, apparently attractive, did the whole, uh, makeup thing. And so what happened was, As soon as people watched the debate and they saw an unattractive person, an attractive person, the vote, the polls radically shifted towards John F. Kennedy because a lot of people just went, He's so dreamy. And they decided to give him their vote. Now, I hope this is very obvious, but this is not how mature Christians should vote. In fact, God says this when choosing a governmental leader in the book of first Samuel, the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance. Or his height for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Let me say a few uncomfortable things. Mature Christians do not vote on superficial things. They don't vote on vibes. They don't vote on looks. We shouldn't vote on, he's got the same skin color as me or she'd be the first woman president or I've always wanted an orange leader. We don't vote based on whether they give us, that had a delayed reaction around the room. We don't vote based on whether they give us the warm fuzzies. Why? Because a vote is not a Valentine. So some people, what Christians are doing right now is they'll look at these two candidates and they'll look at them and go, Oh, I don't like their personality. Hey guys, can I say something? Personalities come and go. Policies last a long time. Personalities come and go, policies last a long time. So let me just say this. Don't vote for who you like most. Vote for who will lead best because a vote is not a Valentine. Okay. Number two, um, a ballot box is not a mailbox for you to send a message. Okay. So there was a husband that, um, uh, his birthday came around and he desperately wanted a sports car and he was frustrated because his wife wasn't figuring out. That that's what she should give him. So he decided that he was going to send a message. So when his wife asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said, huh, this is my chance. I'm going to send a message. She said, huh, I want something that's going to go from zero to 200 like that. And she went, say no more on his birthday. He woke up and she gave him a bathroom scale. Okay. Now this is, you see what I got here. Here's what I want to point out, just kind of understand what I'm saying, is he thought that he was sending a message, but no one was receiving it. Do you get that? Okay, here's what's happening to frustrated Christians right now who are a little naive, is they're looking at what's in front of us, and they're going, well, neither candidate perfectly meets my standards, so I'm going to send a message by not voting. Or I'm going to send a message by just for voting for a third party. Or I'm going to write you in, Pastor Josh, please don't, I've been on the news enough this year, let's do something else. So let me just, this is what they're doing, and can I just say this to you, is hey guys, there's no point in sending a message if nobody is reading it. There's no point in doing that. Let me just, let's be very honest. The only thing that people read on election day is who won. That's the only thing people read. So the goal, the, the, the, the goal isn't to make a point. The goal is to make a difference. Don't waste your chance to make a difference trying to make a point that nobody gets. Don't do that. Okay. Now, number three, um, a selection is not a sacrament. This is one of the biggest misunderstandings Christians have right now. A selection is not a sacrament. So that's a big churchy word. Here's what a sacrament is. A sacrament, it's a religious ritual like communion or baptism or marriage that it's really important not to let Any impurity into and like I said, uh, what, what Christians are doing right now, um, is they're looking at our current candidates. And if you have any eyes open, and I'm just going to say this, I need to be honest with you. Any Christian that's got a Bible open and their eyes open and their brain working ought to be looking at both of the candidates we're looking at and going, man, I see some flaws in both things I got in front of me. And what Christians are doing is they're going, well, I just can't vote because there's no candidate I can fully support. And what they're doing is they're thinking that their selection is a sacrament. That somebody's got to be totally pure for them to be able to vote for them. Can I just point this out? I'll only vote for somebody if I can fully support everything about them. Guys, you don't do that with any other choice in your life. Uh, the reason you come to this church, you might come to this church and be like, Oh, I like the preaching, but the music's a little loud. Or more, you know, probably more likely, I like the music, but the preacher's a little annoying. I never know what he's going to say. All right, man, movies, music, all these things. Nothing is a hundred percent. Are you married? Like, let me just point this out. Are you married? You did not choose your spouse because 100 percent in every single thing about them, they met your desires perfectly in every area. Here's what, you loved them and you went, best available. That's what happened. You loved them, you went, best available. Now here's what I know, in the lobby, there's gonna be some dude that's like, Yeah, pastor, you're wrong. She's perfect in every way. Okay. Well, bro, you're not. She got a beer belly and food on your beard and all the things. Okay. So, so let me just, let me just, Hey guys, let me say in a straightforward way. Jesus is not on the ballot guys. Get over it. Jesus is not on the ballot. Get over it. Okay. So, and now, and this is, let me, let me go a layer deeper with this. This is this next part of the sermon. It, it, I need to teach you about this. It might be the most important part of the sermon. So here's how you need to think about leaders. In the Bible, there's three types of leaders. This is a taxonomy in the Old Testament, three types of leaders. On the one hand, you have leaders. I'm going to call them Josiah leaders. Josiah leaders, they're righteous people who promote and celebrate righteous things. Josiah is a great example of this. Young kid becomes king, really young, He walks into like a church closet, rediscovers the law of God that Israel had forgotten about for years. He's like, he reads it. The Holy Spirit fills him. He's like, this is amazing. He literally walks out, grabs it, gathers all of Israel and just reads line by line through the Bible in front of the whole nation. He personally repents, leads the entire nation. There's an outpouring of God's spirit. There's revival in the nation, all these things. Josiah was an amazing, every mom in Israel could say to her son, I hope you grow up to be like King Josiah someday. Now listen, we all as Christians, we want a Josiah leader. We beg God to raise up Josiahs, but Josiah is not always on the ballot. So there's a second kind of leader in the Old Testament. Um, leaders like Ahab and Jezebel. I'm choosing them because the Old Testament says they were the most wicked leaders Israel ever had. These are leaders who are unrighteous people who promote and celebrate wicked things. This is what Ahab and Jezebel did. They led Israel into idolatry and Baal worship. They persecuted the Bible teachers and closed the churches. Just gonna let that sit for a second. They murdered innocent people. They stole from citizens. Ahab was a passive, weak man, and Jezebel was a promiscuous, manipulative woman, and her husband was controlled by her emotions instead of leading his family because of his passivity and his weakness. Now, these were evil people, okay? Now, let me ask this question. What happens to a nation when Ahab and Jezebel leaders lead? Well, here's what happens. The cities of that nation begin to be filled with lawlessness and theft. There's chaos in the cities, entire months in that nation's calendar that begin to celebrate perversion. That same perversion begins to get taught to the children of that nation in sex ed classes. Nine month old babies are murdered in the womb. Parents have their children taken away from them if they refuse to affirm their child's gender identity. Bible believing Christians are stigmatized and marginalized. Terrible things happen when Ahab and Jezebel leaders lead. Now, a lot of Christians, what they do is because there's just a little naive, they think these are the only two types of leaders there are, but in the Old Testament, there's a third type of leader. Third type of leader is I'm going to call it a Jehu leader. These leaders are people who are flawed, flawed people that are used to do some good things. Jehu, King Jehu was an example of one of these types of leaders. In second Kings nine and 10, he was used by God to do some. Awesome things for the country. He executed judgment. On Ahab and Jezebel, the godless leaders. He did it with swiftness and ferocity. Um, some Bible scholars would say this was a guy that was anointed, but not saved. I actually find this really, really awesome. He, uh, he destroyed all the altars of Baal and turned them into toilets. I think that's awesome. This is really cool thing you did. Um, but he was a deeply, deeply flawed man. Um, he tolerated some forms of idol worship in his nation. He let golden calves be worshiped. In Israel, he let this happen. So these three types of leaders exist. Josiah's Ahab's and Jezebel's and Jehu's. Now, let me say two things on this. Number one, don't treat a Jehu like a Josiah. Do not ignore imperfections. Don't do that. But number two, we all want a King Josiah. But sometimes God uses a flawed leader for good purposes. And when you don't have the option of voting for a Josiah and your choice is between Ahab and Jezebel and Jehu, that choice is very obvious because a flawed leader used to do some good things is better than suffering under wicked leaders. It's better, okay? So we need to, Now, here's here's the question. Okay, here's next question. So if that's what voting is not, what is voting? And I want you to see this voting is it's your power to pick the best available path forward. That's what a vote is. Voting is your power to pick the best available path forward. Let me put this to you in biblical terms because, again, a lot of well meaning but naive Christians, they struggle to put these things in biblical terms. So Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, here's what he said, He said, You're the, I want you to say the yellow words out loud. You're the, of the, He didn't say you're the salt of the church. Hey, just keep your religion to yourself. Just keep it right here. Don't try to influence the nation or don't try to do that. Don't, don't, you know, Hey, uh, by the way, I wish I don't have time to do this in a sermon. It's in the podcast. Separation of church and state does not mean a separation of righteousness and state. And it does not mean a separation of politics and religion. That's impossible. It means a separation of governments. So, when Jesus says this, you're the salt of the earth, He's saying, hey man, don't take your light and hide it under a bushel is what He says. Don't just keep it in the house of God. We need that righteousness to influence the world and nations. And check this out. Here's what a vote is. He said, you're the salt. Salt was a preservative. Its purpose is to slow decay. So check this out. When a Christian is, uh, is choosing who to vote for, they're not asking who perfectly embodies all my values. That's not what you're asking. What you're asking is, Whose set of policies is most likely to slow societal decay? That's the question you're asking. Alright, now, this is the spot in the message where um, I've got a, this is a brace yourself moment. Because I need to get specific. I need to get specific about some things. So let me do that. I'm going to speak to you in a straightforward way on five policies that I think Thinking Christians should be thinking about right now in this election. Policies. Okay, five of them there are border security, religious liberty, biological sex, family, and life. I'm gonna do them very briefly. Number one, border security. Now, really quick, I just need to say this. If you're gonna clap at one spot in the, the, these parts of the message, you better clap at both, at all the right spots. Oh, I wasn't, I wasn't saying that, but that's great. Okay, so let me just say this, as Christians. We are called to love immigrants. That's a biblical command. That's a biblical command and the leaders of a nation are called to uphold the law. They are. They're called to do this. Okay. Let me just say this. Like a lot of Christians, they really struggle with this. Guys, God is not opposed to borders. I'm going to read this to you from Acts 17, 26. From one man, he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth. And he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. This same God led his people in the Old Testament and blessed them in building a wall to protect their border. So God is not opposed to borders, but then also, obviously, we are commanded and blessed to love individual immigrants. I could read dozens of verses on this. I'm gonna give you Zechariah 7 10. Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner. That's a big Bible word for an immigrant, or the poor. So I just need to say this. If you are an immigrant that's here, and by the way, we have thousands of immigrants that are, that are part of Lake Point. I need you to know this. We love you. This church loves you. We love you. Okay. This is why we partner with dozens of local partners, food pantry. They're helping people, immigrants all throughout the city. This is why we have Lake point in Espanol. Come on somebody that is full of people from nations all over the world, all these things. And listen, we should welcome legal immigrants. Listen, these are people who have worked hard for decades. It has cost them money. They love this country. They contribute to society. We love that. And you need to understand this. Not all illegal immigrants are evil people. They're just not. Okay, they're just not But I do need to speak honestly about this issue. There are currently between 10 and 20 million Illegal immigrants in our nation. The data I'm about to give you is not some like crazy info wars, you know fake news data This is this is data released from the Department of Homeland Security last week Okay, of the illegal immigrants in the United States right now, 425, 000 of them are known to have criminal records. 16, 000 of them entered our nation as convicted rapists. 13, 000 of them entered our nation as convicted murderers. I just have to ask this question, where was the Borders are? Where, where was the borders are? So you need to ask yourself the question you do, you need to ask yourself the question, which candidate will best protect our national security? You should ask that question. Number two, these, these go a little quicker. Number two, the issue of religious liberty. The early church in the New Testament adopted a phrase, here's the phrase in Greek, Iesus Kurios. That means Jesus is Lord. It was counter what all the Romans were saying. They were saying, no, no, no, Caesar's Lord, Caesar's Lord, the early church went, you know, Jesus is Lord. What they were saying is Caesar is a king, but Jesus is the king of kings. So whenever a government commands us to do something that God forbids or, or, uh, or forbids us to do something God commands, our job as Christians is to humbly. And respectfully have a backbone and tell them to go pound sand. That's our job. That's like through all throughout church history. That's what civil disobedience. There's tons of examples of this in the book of Acts, tons of examples. So now what you need to understand is that Christians, Protestant, Christian, Protestant ideals, they founded our nation. So what the Christians who founded our nation did is they founded it on the concept of religious liberty to keep people from being forced to violate their genuinely religious consciences. What this means is that doctors who object to performing abortions should not be forced to. It means that Christian bakers, graphic designers, and photographers who object to providing their services in celebration of marriages that their convictions cannot celebrate should not be prosecuted for the purpose of trying to have their businesses closed like Jack Phillips in Colorado. It means that Christian teachers, like Byron Cross, should not be fired for objecting on the basis of his convictions to using a minor's pronouns in an elementary school. So you need to ask, so you should be asking yourself, ask yourself the question, which candidate is more likely to protect religious liberty because Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not? Okay, number three. Number three, the issue of biological sex, okay? Genesis 127 says this, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. Now on this spot, I want to speak with grace and truth. Grace and truth. If you are a person that currently identifies as transgender, or you have somebody in your family, maybe a son, daughter, a cousin, whatever it is, a family member that currently identifies as transgender, I need you to know this. God loves you. And the Lord Jesus Christ died for you. You are deeply, deeply loved by God. Like y'all are so like, I have these conversations in the lobby because what's happening now is people who did the transition thing, they get through four years in and they realize, oh man, this was like a dead end of misery. And so they start doing the D transition thing and then I'll pray with them in the lobby. And it's like, Hey man, you don't know what I've done. You don't know how I feel. Okay. Listen, here's what I know. Feelings come and go, but the love of the father lasts forever. I know that. Okay. So you just need to know this, man. If that's you. You are created in the image of God. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You should know that full well. You are valuable and you should be treated as valuable. And if you underwent some procedures and you got scars in your body, you need to know this. Your scars don't define you, His do. Those are the scars that define you, okay? So, Grace, but listen, I also need to speak with truth. We don't get to decide if we're a different gender. And to support that idea is to call God a liar, to rebel against the created order, to erode the family, and to contribute to mental illness instead of helping people with the only truth that can set them free. So, currently, you need to know this, 14 states in our nation have what are called Transgender Healthcare Shield Laws. Among them, the state of Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz signed legislation making Minnesota a trans refuge state. I want to read you what that means. It means if a m Listen. It Carefully. If a minor child has been unable to obtain gender affirming care because one or both parents object, the Minnesota law allows courts to have, quote, temporary emergency jurisdiction over the child. Translation, they can take your kid from you. They can take and have done so. Now guys, what you need to understand is evil never stops itself, it must be stopped. So if that ideology is not stopped, understand this, wait. If that ideology is not stopped, it will not be 14 states. Someday it will be 50. So ask yourself the question, which candidate will oppose the erasure of gender through transgender ideology? You need to ask that question. Number four, the issue of the family. Okay, I wish I had time to do this. It's more on the podcast. I wish I had time to do this. God established, what God did is he built the world in four layers. The layer of the individual, the family, the church, and the state. What God did is he established it so that the health of everyone is dependent upon the health of the one that is previous. So a family can only be as healthy as the individuals that make up the marriage. A church can only be as healthy as the health of the families that make up the church. A nation will only be as healthy as the health and boldness of the churches that make up the nation. What this means, what this means is that whenever a nation, uh, whenever a nation, uh, Attacks or erodes the family through things like abortion, the incentivization of divorce, the redefinition of marriage and the erasure of gender, it is sawing off the very branch it is sitting on and someday it will fall. So what we're doing right now in our nation is all these things that we're breaking down the family, we're breaking down families, and then we're asking the government to step in and do what the family's supposed to do. So the government now is going, hey man. We'll be your family. We'll protect you. We'll provide for you. We'll educate you. We'll indoctrinate you. In some case, the state is literally saying, we're the parents now. And everybody's going, oh, well, we're looking, they're looking at all the problems in our nation and going, oh, we need to fix the system, fix the system, fix the system. How about we fix the family? How about we fix the family? And then all of a sudden, stuff starts to trickle up. We don't need more government. We need better families. So ask yourself the question, which candidate is more likely to stop or slow the corrosion of the definitions of and the functions of the family? Finally, the most sensitive one of all, let me finish with the issue of life. In John 10, 10, Jesus said the thief, the enemy, comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that you might have life. The Bible calls God the author of life. And the book of Proverbs says the Lord hates hands that shed innocent blood. Now really quick, if you are one of the one in four adult women in our nation who has had an abortion or terminated a pregnancy, I need you to know this. The Lord Jesus Christ loves you, and we do too. I need you to get this, man. What you need to understand is, if that's you, the death that most defines your life is not the death of your unborn child, it is the sin cleansing death of the Son of God for everything you've ever done. That's the death that defines you, okay? Now we do, let me speak truthfully. We need to ask the question, which candidate will best protect life? Now, this is where I'm going to say some things that many of you will not like, and honestly, I don't care. Okay, my job is to tell you the truth. I'm called to be a prophet, not a politician, okay? I need to speak truthfully with you. We do not currently have a consistently pro life candidate in this race. We don't. We just don't. Okay. Strangely, while Donald Trump is responsible for the greatest victory for the protection of the unborn in two generations in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, he has now moved left, more towards the center of American popular opinion. Increase, including after the vice presidential debate, I was like all over it. He immediately after that debate tweeted in all caps that he would veto a national abortion ban if it came across his desk because he wants the states to be able to decide. He wants this to be a state's rights issue, although he did say that he opposed the termination, uh, uh, the, uh, the termination of pregnancies in late term abortions, the 7th through the 9th month. Very frankly, I got to be honest with you, that, that means percentage wise, that means very little. The CDC says that 95 percent of all abortions happen in the first 15 weeks. At least, I just gotta be honest with you. Here's, here's honesty. The Republican Party today on the issue of abortion has become what the Democrat Party was 30 years ago when Bill Clinton said he wanted it to be safe, legal, and rare. So this is where we are right now. Now, I also have to be honest. The other side is far worse. Far worse. The other party has moved from a desire for abortion to be safe, legal, and rare, to something that should be celebrated, paraded, and promoted as a moral good. There are currently 12 states that allow for abortion up to nine months. Think about this. That is a thinking, feeling human. It has fully developed pain receptors. It is emotionally, Just hearing a precious child in that moment. It is emotionally connected to the mother inside of whom it is growing. When they terminate one of those pregnancies, they dismember it limb from limb in late term abortions. This is what they're doing. Very frankly, this is Kamala Harris position. She refuses to articulate even one potential restriction, even one, at any point, uh, during a pregnancy. She has now said that her desire is to eliminate, I know this is a little government y, you know, She's now said that she, uh, desires to eliminate the Senate filibuster that has been in place for 180 years for the purpose of making it illegal for any state to be able to enact any restriction on abortion whatsoever. If you don't think they're serious about it, the Democratic Party pulled up mobile abortion clinics like taco trucks. Outside of the Democratic National Convention, mockingly celebrating murdering infants with banners and hashtags like shout your abortion. As I watched that on TV, there was one Bible verse that tattooed itself on my soul. Proverbs 8, 36 says, all who hate me love death. So ask yourself the question, which candidate will best love death? Limit the taking of unborn lives. Okay. Now this sermon just ends. So I'm just gonna end it. Here we go. Okay. Let me say two things One there are some again well meaning but naive Christians that they hear all that and they're like, yeah Josh But even if this politician gets elected, they won't save America or they say yeah Yeah, Josh, but the politics can't save anybody My response to that is, from what? From what? You're right. Politics can't save anybody from hell. In fact, let me just say this. This is so important. Politics can't save anybody from hell. There will be people in hell who are very passionate about their Judeo Christian values. Politics can't save anybody from hell, but the book of James says that our everyday decisions either pull heaven up, up, uh, pull heaven down into our lives or pull hell up into our lives. So politics can't save anybody from hell, but they can save us from pulling hell up into our cities, states, and nations. So just ask, ask yourself this question, ask yourself this question, like, okay, what is hell? In fact, if you're, if you're a guest, if you're a guest, you're like, what did I walk into? Bro, this is insane. You're like, y'all talk about one more, I'm one less. You know, whatever it is, okay, let me, what is hell? You need to understand this, because without saving faith in Jesus, you will spend eternity there. What is hell? Hell is a place of darkness, of lawlessness, of bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred. It's a place of chaos, all these things. Think about this. When you look at urban centers in our nation, cities ruled by godless leaders, and you see lawlessness, Rioters burning buildings, looters shoplifting in broad daylight, and police aren't even allowed to do anything about it. Drugs sold in open air markets in front of children, people and businesses fleeing because of rampant lawlessness. What happened? Decisions were made that pulled hell up into the city. And let me say this, leaders who lead cities like that should not be given more authority to lead an entire nation. They should not, okay? So, let me just, I, I, I, I need this, I need this to sink into your heart. I'm gonna, I'm gonna say something, I'm gonna, what I'm getting ready to say, I'm gonna say it twice. Because I don't think people have internalized this yet. 30 million. 30 million Bible believing Christians abdicated their spiritual responsibility and did not vote in the last presidential election. 30 million. That same election was decided by a strategically placed 42, 000 votes. I just want that to sink in. 30 million Bible believing Christians did not vote in the last presidential election. That election was decided by a strategically placed 42, 000 votes. That So listen, I just want, I just want to say this, if there are 24, 000 in person attenders at Lake Point this weekend, I want 24, 000 people walking in as disciples and doing their, like, man, let's go, let's do our God given job. Okay, let's do that. All right. Now, that's number one. Number two, this is the most important part of the sermon. You come back any other week. This is what you're going to hear constantly. Number two, you are primarily, you're going to want to turn my volume down. I'm high and I'm about to get higher. You are primarily a citizen of heaven and you are only secondarily a resident of a nation. That is the most important thing. And very frankly, some of you, honestly, your capital are Republicans and lowercase C Christians or your capital D Democrats and your lowercase C Christians. You must be born again. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That is the only thing that ultimately matters in eternity. That is what will matter. Listen, your Judeo, your Judeo Christian values can keep you out of jail. It will take the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of hell, and He wants that for you. What you do with your vote. It can change. It can absolutely can impact your life. It can impact your children's lives. It will impact your children's children's. It might do that for 50 years. What you do with Jesus will impact your eternity for 50 million. That's what matters. So listen, your convictions ought to pull your vote right or left, but I don't want to pull your heart left or right. I want to pull it up into the kingdom of God so the Holy Spirit can come down on your life and bless your life. That's what needs to happen. That is our greatest hope in life and death. Listen to me, man. There are absolutely, and you need to get this, there are things that politics can fix, but listen to me, politics cannot fix what politics did not break. And you cannot solve a spiritual problem with a political solution. The world's greatest problem, it's the problem underneath all the problem. The world's greatest problem is a sin problem. And sin problems require savior solutions, and we've got one of those. Okay, so listen. I close this sermon. I close this sermon with one final sentence. All that said, may God pour out reformation and revival on our nation for the good of people and the glory of his son. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.