SPEAKER_01 0:00

We're gonna wrap up a conversation we started a few weeks ago called Jesus not politics. Jesus not politics. So we we began this conversation really simply uh by by that phrase. And it's not us, by the way, saying that it's Jesus followers, and I know by the way, not everyone in the room has made that decision to be one. If you're here and you're kind of figuring that out, this is going to be a fun conversation for you because maybe you can see how Jesus followers are told by God, by the God we believe in, even if you don't believe in that God, how we should engage with the politics of our world. Because let's just be honest, politics is sort of hard to engage with. You know, there's situations in life where I just don't know what to do. Um for me, like one of the big ones, it's silly, but it's like walking into a restaurant that is way busier than I thought it would be. And when I do that, I walk in, I'm just saying, oh. And then half the time I just go, all right, goodbye. And I just walk away. You know? And that's how I feel sometimes when I look at things happening in the world and like politically or or just culturally, sometimes I just kind of pause and go, no, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go that way. But but politics, look, it's it's kind of unavoidable. It affects all of us. People can make decisions that impact every aspect of our lives, and scripture is actually filled with instructions for us on how we're to engage. So we're gonna talk about that today. Now, when we said Jesus not politics, just a real quick uh re-re-what's the word? I was gonna say relapse. That's not the right word. Uh there's a word that starts with re recap. That's different than a relapse. All right. Um one needs to have a political relapse this morning. Let's recap. Jesus not politics does not mean that we don't engage with politics. It doesn't mean that we don't get into politics, it doesn't mean we don't have uh ideas and opinions about politics, it doesn't mean we don't express our ideas and our opinions about politics. It just means that as Jesus followers, we remember that he is our hope. That he's who we put our focus on. Jesus made it very clear when he was on the earth that his kingdom, his movement that he was starting was not of this world. And so he didn't go through the normal political channels. He didn't say, you know what, man, if I really want this to catch on, that I make sure I gotta make sure I get with some really influential political people so they can really, you know, make this a thing. Not at all. Jesus bypassed all of that. He didn't need it. It was offered to him, he didn't want it. Because his kingdom is not of this world. And so we've got to remember that no matter how crazy things get politically, no matter how passionate we get about that, our hope, it's on him. It's not on an election or on a candidate, it's on Jesus. So that's where we started. Last week we kind of started to get into the nit, the nitty, uh, the nitty-gritty of all this. My brain is not working this morning. Maybe it's because I drove to Augusta and back yesterday. That was fun. All right. Romans chapter 13, verses 1 and 7. 1 through 7. Here's it says, everyone must submit to governing authorities. No one ever says woo when I read that line. There's no like, amen. That never happens on that. Uh, for all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right. They will honor you. The authorities are God's servants sent for your good. But if you're doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God's servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience. Pay your taxes too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do, give to everyone what you owe them, pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. Last week, we focused mainly when it comes to this text on the relationship that God has with government. And ultimately, the relationship he has is really simple. He's over it, he's in charge of it. God establishes nations and governments, God influences nations and governments, and one day God will ultimately judge nations and governments. And that gives us a lot of peace as believers, because when we look at the world and we look at nations and governments that we see are just way out of whack, we can know that God sees that too. I mean, Paul makes it clear what the purpose of a government should be to protect those who are doing good and to punish those who aren't. It's really simple. And when governments aren't doing that, they're not doing what God put them in place to do, and we can we can have faith and peace that God sees that and that ultimately God will make that right. And he's done that all throughout history. It's just that sometimes in the moment it doesn't feel like he is. So last week was kind of God's relationship with government. Today, we're gonna talk about our relationship with government. How do we as Jesus followers engage with the government we're part of? Now, this is this is really interesting for us because we're not like Paul. Paul, who wrote this, the author, he's he's a first century Jewish man living in the Roman Empire. And the Roman Empire was an empire. And so uh, you know, you just you didn't mess with the government in the same way that we can mess with the government today. So that whole like honor and submit thing, you didn't really have the option not to so much. We live in a different world in a different time, and and honestly, if you want to think about us as Americans and ask the question, like, what is our national pastime? Some would say baseball, you know, like the World Series uh champion Atlanta Braves baseball team. Like, if you don't know baseball, yeah, I needed a woo. I hadn't had one, and that was just no. Just pandered to the sports fans. Okay. So, you know, that's a pastime of America, but I think we have a deeper pastime. I think our national pastime, what we are the best at, what we enjoy the most from the founding of our country is just outright mocking and making fun of the people we elect to do the things we want them to do. It's just part of our culture. We're really good at it. And so, just to kind of get us in that mindset, um, I just want to show a little example of that. This is the national pastime of America, having fun at the expense of our political leaders. Take a look, and then we'll come back together.

SPEAKER_06 6:15

It's a feather in America's cap that we went from W to Obama. Because you couldn't think of, you know, W's like, he's yeah. Yeah. And he was a plain-spoken man, you know. Remember when he famously said, we got evildoers.

SPEAKER_07 6:35

That's kind of brilliant, you know. We got evildoers. I can't say anymore baddoers, and evildoers like to do evil.

SPEAKER_06 6:45

Obama is incapable of being the Harvard genius he is, you know. There are people in the world who wish to do us Harvard. You mean evildoers? I mean, Clinton had a great phrase. Remember that one? I feel your pie, I'm feel your pie. Obama would say something like, When I say that you're having a period of discomfort, I can experience compassion. Someone told me that you were talking about him on stage as being kind of a villain, like he's a small hero. Why? Because he's got the helicopters and his Trump and the play and everything, Trump, and then his giant orange head is like he's like a Batman villain. You'll never get away with this Trump. Okay. Let me just go. And then my notice he made list. Number one, the one part, number two, the thing, number three, you know the drill. Because he gets confused and then he kind of turns on the audience. Come on, this is rocket science.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

There you go. Making fun of our leaders. And you know what I love about that is that that that's one person just making fun of all of them, right? And he's still alive. And he has actually lots of money because he does that. That is not something that existed in Jesus' day. There was no scenario where someone went up to like Caesar and said, Oh, Caesar, you gotta see this guy who does a hilarious impression of you. Like, he's taken your idiosyncrasies and expanded on them. It's hysterical. That person's dead. And and like, let's be honest, in many places in the world today, there's no version of that. Like you don't have the freedom to make fun of your political leaders in much of the world. That's a unique part of human history. Like, we're we're part of the very small number of people that have ever lived in a society where you can do that. And we're really, really good at it. And I love it. I I'm just being honest, I love laughing at that stuff. But here's the challenge for me is that and I'm not saying that should go away. Like, I'm celebrating that. That's awesome. But I'm also called in scripture to have a posture of honor and respect to the people that God's put in authority. And I'm gonna be honest, I don't wanna. I just don't want to. And I haven't been trained to, as an American, I haven't. I've been brought up my whole life, trained to laugh, to mock, to be angered and outraged. I haven't been trained to show honor and respect, and yet when I read these words, I'm called to. And so we're gonna have a conversation about what does that actually look like? How do we do that? And there's one word I'm gonna use a fair bit today, and I think it's a really important word that is lost in much of our culture right now, and it's the word nuance. So just know that as we talk through this, there's gonna be a lot of nuances. Like it's not just broad stroke stuff. This is really interesting, really practical, and I think it's very timely. Very, very timely. All right, so here's where I want to start. And we see this very much from Romans 13 that we just read a few minutes ago. The blanket statement God values authority. God values authority. And and there's a few there's a few stories in scripture that make this really just like uh jump out to me. And I was gonna have all of it on the screens, but I think I can just kind of go through it really quick for us. Um King David, a character in the Old Testament. If you're not familiar, Old Testament is the stuff in the Bible before Jesus, mainly follows the story of a group of people called the Israelites, and David was an Israelite, he became the second king of Israel. He's there, John Adams, you know, and there George Washington was a guy named Saul, and Saul was a terrible king. He started off okay, went really poorly, and Saul had a major issue with David, and it was really simple. Saul was jealous of David. Everyone liked Saul, but they loved David. And even more importantly, God had chosen David and had actually, there's this word in the Bible, anointed, which means to like set apart. He had anointed David to be the next king. And Saul was suspicious of that, so Saul's like, well, just kill him. And so David, David flees, and he doesn't flee in fear, he's not running away because he's scared. David was a warrior. I mean, David was a mighty warrior, and if you were gonna say, hey, David versus Saul one-on-one, like everyone would have chosen David. In a weird way, he actually like flees out of uh respect for Saul's authority. It's an interesting dynamic. Well, Saul pursues David, and and while David's on the run, Saul actually shows up and camps out in a cave, and it just so happens to be a cave that David and his men are hiding further back in. In this part of the world, there's lots of caves. We're talking 3,000 years ago, ancient times. Okay, and so David's men are like, hey, like, clearly God has put him in the same cave that we're in, like, go kill him. This is over. And David wouldn't do it. And it actually actually says that he kept his men from killing Saul. Why? Because he said, That's God's anointed. That's God's anointed. God put him in this position. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna take him out of it. That's not for me to do. Now, many years later, Saul died in a battle. And there's another really interesting story, uh, one that we might read. And sometimes when you read the Bible, like you open up the Old Testament, you're like, I don't know about that. You know, and here's a nuance. Okay, let's talk about that word again, nuance. Um the Bible is not condoning everything that it talks about. Like the Bible gives us a really cool record of what's happened, and it it shows us the ugly parts. And there's a lot of stuff in the Bible you'll read and be like, that doesn't seem right. It's because it's not. The Bible's not saying this is what you ought to do, it's saying this is what they did. And and if you can do your best to step into the mindset of someone who lived, you know, I don't know, 3,000 years ago, you try to understand, oh, very different, different culture and time, but it's not condoning it, it's like a nuanced thing. And so here's what happens uh Saul dies in battle, and this this guy finds Saul, and he's he's there he is. And he's like, ooh, I'll go tell David that Saul's dead, and I'll probably like I'm that's good news. You know, I'll probably get rewarded for it. And so he goes and he tells David, and David's like cries. Because that's the king, that's God's anointed. He actually loves Saul. And and this guy has the the idea to make it even better for me, I'll tell David that I killed him. You know, because like he's David's enemy, and if I'm like, and I I killed him, I took his life, you know, and and maybe I'll get a little reward for that or something. I don't know exactly what he was thinking, but you kind of get that idea. And so he tells David, I'm I'm the one who killed him, and David's like, oh, really? And then David has his men kill them kill him. He's like, Oh, then hey, you're dead. Because you shouldn't have done that. You you shouldn't kill the one that God anoints. Now we might read that and be like, David shouldn't have done that, like that's that's a little harsh. And yeah, I'm not saying he should have done that, but understand that David, maybe even if that was misguided, had this tremendous understanding of God's authority and the authority that God establishes on the earth to the point where he would not even take the opportunity to take the life of the authority figure that was trying to kill him. That's crazy to us. That is, I'm just gonna be honest, that is un-American. Can we agree? That's un-American, right? I mean, that's kind of how our whole country got started. It's like, no, we don't want it anymore, and we'll fight you. And we won, because we're good at that. And so sometimes when we read scripture, we're like, that's not how, I mean, that is not how we would do that. But David understood that God very much values authority. And that the primary posture of us, the primary, is that we should do everything in our power to honor and submit to the authorities that God has put in place. Even when we don't agree with them, even when they don't like us, that's really hard. Now, again, let's talk about nuance for a second. Does this mean that that means we just have to be like sheep and everything that the government says, we like, we gotta do it because, you know, they're the government, and we have no biblical precedent for like civil disobedience or anything like that at all? And the answer is no. No, it's not. In fact, if you wanted to be like super logical, you say, well, if God values authority, he must love authoritarian governments, because that's where authority is valued the most. And clearly not, God opposes those countless times in Scripture. And so we actually have some interesting stories in the book of Acts. Let's go to uh Acts chapter 5. It says, Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. This is shortly after Jesus has been killed and resurrected and he's risen. Uh, he's gone back to heaven, and now the apostles, the disciples of Jesus, they're telling everybody about Jesus. And they get in trouble for this, and they're told, stop talking about Jesus. And so they don't do that. And then they get confronted, and they say, and here's what the leaders say we gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man's name. Instead, you have all filled Jerusalem with your teaching about him. And you want us, you want to make us responsible for his death. But Peter and the apostles replied, We must obey God rather than any human authority. Now, is this like a contradiction? No. It seems like it. I mean, the Bible says we're supposed to honor the authority. In fact, Peter, who's one of the apostles who's saying this, uh, he wrote in one of his, one of the letters he wrote in the New Testament that we should submit to the government and honor authority. But but if there's ever like a line, you've got to have a line, right? There's always gotta be a line. And there's gotta be lines that we draw on the sand, and it's like we I'm just never gonna cross this line. And if the line is obey the government or obey God, we obey God. And then you like let the chips fall where they may. And so, no, no, it doesn't mean that we don't have a precedent for disobeying the government. If the government ever asks us to do something that would contradict our faith, then we we don't do that. What about situations though where it's not like, okay, it's not as clear-cut as the government telling you to do something that Jesus says not to do or God says not to do? What about just when the government is stupid? Like, what in our minds? This is like, that's not very honoring. You know, we all think that. Right? We're trained to. So what do we do when we think the government's just wrong? When the government's making decisions that are maybe unjust or unjust, immoral, uh, what do we do in those situations? Do we just go, oh well, well, it's because it's not like the government telling me to do something that the Bible explicitly says I should do or whatever, does that mean I just have to do it, even though it seems absolutely wrong and unjust and not right? And the answer to that is no, not exactly. The Apostle Paul actually gives us a few interesting examples because he was always in a little bit of hot water with the government. Acts chapter 16. It says, Paul replied, They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison. And we are Roman citizens. So now they they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not. Let them let them come themselves to release us. And when the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. Paul and Silas were traveling together telling people about Jesus. And so they came to the jail and apologized to them, then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. So here's what's happened. Paul and Silas, they get beaten, they get thrown in jail because they're preaching about Jesus, and this makes everybody upset, and they're stirring up trouble. And after they're beaten, Paul goes ahead and says, Hey, you guys do know that we are Roman citizens. And the way it works in their culture is you you didn't beat Roman citizens. The Roman authorities, they could beat non-citizens like all they wanted to. But if you were a Roman citizen, you had certain rights, and one of those rights was not to get beaten before you had a trial. And so it's kind of interesting, like Paul sort of let that happen before he made mention of that, and all of a sudden they freak out, and they're like, whoa, whoa, hold on. We didn't know. We are sorry. Uh please leave and don't get us in trouble. Okay? There's another story. And these these connect, Acts chapter 22. It says the commander brought Paul inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess his crime. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious. And when they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer standing there, Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't even been tried? When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked, What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen. So the commander went over and asked Paul, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? Yes, I certainly am, Paul replied. I am too, the commander muttered, and it cost me plenty. But Paul answered, I'm a citizen by birth. And the soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul quickly withdrew when they heard that he was a Roman citizen. And the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped. Okay, so here's the connection point. Paul did not agree with the way he was being treated by the government. And as a Roman citizen, he had certain rights, and he took advantage of all of them. He took advantage of every single right that he had to let the government know that he didn't agree. And so if you know the story of Acts, it's kind of like Paul using his citizenship to appeal, and he kind of goes to another trial, and then it kind of gets he just gets moved up the ladder until eventually he's in Rome and he gets executed. It ended up working out for him ultimately in that regard. It did give him the chance to tell the world about Jesus, which is pretty cool. That was his goal anyway, mission accomplished. But Paul used every single right that he had as a citizen to let the government know I I disagree. I don't think this is right. Now, we have way more rights as citizens of America than Paul had as a citizen of Rome. And we absolutely have a biblical precedent when. 100% for taking advantage of every single right that we have to let our government know when we disagree. And so you're encouraged to do that as a Jesus follower. You are absolutely free to use the power of your vote. You are absolutely free to use the power of speech, right? The power of the right to assemble. You can get on social media, you can say whatever you want to say, use every right that you have to let the world know that you don't agree with the government. But here's the challenge. This is where it gets really hard. I hate verses like this. Romans chapter, or rather, 1 Peter chapter 3. If someone asks about your hope as a believer, be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. So, we take the same principle and apply it. Hey, if you disagree with the law of the land, if you disagree with the government, then you know what? Absolutely, by all means, use every right available to you as an American citizen to protest it, to fight against it, to speak out against it, but you gotta do so in a way that is gentle and respectful. That's tough. That's tough. So listen, God values authority. And our primary response to authority is to be obedient and submissive, but that doesn't mean, right? Nuance. That word, nuance, it doesn't mean that there aren't moments that we say, you know what? No, I don't agree. And I'm gonna, like Paul, use every single right that I have. All the rights that I have as a citizen of my country, which happened to be a lot more rights than Paul had as a citizen of his, to let that be known. That's that's fine. But it has to be gentle and respectful. It has to be loving, it has to be honoring. Now, what that means most of the time for us is a really simple filter. And it's it's just obey the law. It's just obey the law. That's like the old, like Paul, what he's talking about here, like if you're gonna be honoring of the government, it's just obey the law. Not some of the laws, not the laws you agree with, not the laws you like, but obey the law. That's like our main focus. And he actually uses the example of taxes here. He says, pay your taxes. Pay your taxes. And like, it's an interesting story. There's a an early leader in the church named Justin Martyr. And I don't like Justin Martyr. I never met him. He's been dead for 2,000 years. I just don't like him because of his name. Because I was born in the 80s. Any other children of the 80s in the room? Like, let it be known. Come on. Ninja Turtle kids? Okay, cool. Um, so I don't know what happened in 1983 to 89, but if you had a boy, there's like a 75% chance you named him Justin. And we moved around a lot, and so I always was a new kid in school, and there was always a Justin already in the class that I was doing, always. And so I never got to be Justin, I always had to be Justin M. Like, well, we already have a Justin. So you're just an M. And I didn't want to be Justin M. I wanted to be Justin. And because of Justin Martyr, I can't even be Justin M in my own faith. I have to be Justin Mick or whatever, because there's already a Justin and already a Justin M. It's just not fair, but whatever. Justin Martyr, though, all jokes aside, was really he was awesome. An early leader in the church. And at this point in time, the church is under a lot of attack from the government, the emperors of Rome. Like they just, there's a really deep history there. And, you know, he was martyred, and like many early Christians, but but Justin had an opportunity to actually speak to the emperor of his day on behalf of Christians. And here's what he said. We have this on record. He said, just go check the taxes. Check the tax records, and you will see that the Christians, the Jesus followers, pay their taxes better than anyone else you have in the entire empire. Just check the tax records and you'll see how much we honor the government. And I thought about that, like, man, how many pastors in America would invite the IRS to do an investigation of their people and be like, hey, we just want you guys to do a deep dive into all of our tax records, and you'll see that because we're Jesus followers, you will find no one has not reported all their income or anything like that, right? I haven't done that, just so you guys know. Don't worry. It'd be really awkward right now. So, hey, here's Jim. He works for the IRS. And if you just wouldn't mind sticking around afterwards, he'll be out in the lobby. He'd love to talk to you. Like, people would leave faster than has ever happened in the history. No, I'm teasing. But that but that's the example that's given. Just obey the law. And that's really hard. It's so difficult. And I'll I'll pull the curtain back a little bit and we're almost we're almost done. I got one more point. But like during the whole COVID season, we were one of the first churches that closed down. And we didn't close down because we had to. We didn't close down because we were told to. We closed down because we didn't know what was going on. And this is all new, and like all the information coming out, and we're like, what do we do? And and so we said, you know what, let's let's let's shut it down. Let's see what happens. Let's just trust our people, and everyone responded really well. We were also one of the first churches to come back. Because after a few months, we're like, okay, this seems like this is how it's playing out, and we feel confident and comfortable, and we took some precautions, and the whole last two years has been this weird world of like, does this work? I mean, we were told that this is what you should do, and I don't know if it's what you should do. And man, one of the hardest is when we came back, our governor, Governor Kemp, had asked any gatherings of 300 or more to wear masks. It wasn't a law, but it was a str it was a from our governor, it was an ask. And we had more than that. And I was like, ugh, alright. And so I said, hey, we're coming back, but for at the beginning, we're gonna wear masks. And you would have thought, for some, that I had said, like, you gotta get a face tattoo. Okay? For you to come here, you must tattoo your face. Uh like, I don't, it was like, and and I'll just be honest, I don't like I this some people are gonna be mad at me. I don't care. Um, I maybe wore masks less than any human being during the pandemic because what happened for me was I'm a pastor, and I realized really early on, no, I can't, like, I'm gonna get this thing. Like, there's just no way I'm not. So I just threw caution to the wind. Like week two, I was playing basketball with people, and I was like, no, breathe on me, just breathe all over me. Because my job, my whole life is about being with people, and I can't choose when I'm so I'm just like, give me COVID, give it, give it to me, give it to me real good. I want as much COVID as I can handle. And so then I would come to church and put a mask on. Right? And I wasn't being a hypocrite. It was, it wasn't my filters. We don't run this based on what I my filters are. It was a really simple filter. Our governor has asked us to. We have a biblical mandate to be submissive in honoring of our government. I don't believe this crosses a line of our faith. This isn't like us disobeying God. So let's just let's be model citizens. Let's be and let's let's be grateful that we're not being told we can't meet, like some states and other countries were telling churches. Let's be grateful for that and let's do our best to do it in a way that's respectful. So we did that, and then Governor Kemp announced that you didn't have to, and the day he said that, we were like, masks are optional. And uh optional meant pretty quickly no one wears masks. That was like, you know. And I mean, some of us, I know I'm bringing up stuff that, like, like this is that whole thing was so divisive and so explosive, and maybe for some of us it still is. I'm just simply expressing that guiding us through that whole, that whole experience wasn't it wasn't fear, it wasn't even really COVID. It was like, okay, how do we engage with our government? Here's what our government's asked us to do. What are these lines? What are these convictions about being honoring and submissive, crossing the line of faith? And we had to navigate that, and it wasn't easy, and we maybe didn't do it right. We going back to that day, I may I may do it differently if that happened today, but but that was the filters that were at play. Those were the filters we were using to honor the government, but not to cross the line of faith. And and what would happen if the government told us you can't meet? I don't know. I would pray about that, and I probably wouldn't go along with it. I'm I'm almost like I can't imagine a snare, I don't know everything, but like that's different, right? It's different, and so my point is it's hard to navigate this, but it's what we're called to do. Now, of one other thing. And uh, and by the way, I just want to thank you guys because it has not been my dream to spend three weeks talking about politics in church at all, but it's what the Bible has for us, where we're going through Romans, here it is, and so you guys have just been awesome. Maybe you're bored and checked out, maybe you want me to shut up. I don't know, but I'm grateful that you guys are going through this because what I'm about to do is is very challenging. Okay? I'm gonna ask us to be become, this is how we're gonna wrap this whole thing up. I'm gonna ask us to become more involved in politics as a church than we have ever been in. In fact, I'm gonna ask you individually to become more involved in politics than you have ever been in your entire life. But maybe not in the way that you're thinking. There's no voter registration happening in the lobby. Okay? 1 Timothy chapter 2. I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority, so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God, our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. He wants everyone to be saved and understand the truth, even the people you disagree with the most, even the people that you don't vote for, even the people you think who shouldn't be in authority. And so Timothy says, pray for them. And I had to ask myself the question this week: how much time have I spent in my life praying? For my president, for the leaders? How much time have I spent laughing at them, mocking them, expressing my distaste for the decisions that they make? I mean, a good bit. Like a lot. How much time have I spent on my knees in prayer? Not much. Just being honest. There's another early leader of the church, Tertullian, and he actually said this to the emperor of his day. We offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true, the living God, whose favor beyond all other things they must themselves desire. Without ceasing, for all our emperors, we offer prayer. We pray for life prolonged, for security to the empire, for protection for the imperial house, for brave armies, a faithful Senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man or Caesar an emperor would wish. Like that's not American. Um but there's this idea that we should be extremely involved in politics in the area of prayer. And I wonder sometimes from this is for me, what what if I took my responsibilities as a Jesus follower as seriously as I take my rights as an American? Like what if I clung to my responsibilities as a follower of Jesus every bit as passionately as I cling to my rights as an American? And what would it be like if I daily prayed? Daily prayed for the people who are in authority over me. And the answer is I don't know because I've never done it. But I think we should start. And so here's actually what what we're gonna do, and I'm gonna invite Fred and Megan to join me on stage. Um we're gonna wrap up by doing that very thing. We're gonna pray for our leaders. And here's what's really cool uh we're gonna do three prayers. And I want all of us, if you're willing, and if this makes you uncomfortable, just hang. But if you're willing, I'd like us all to pray together. We're gonna pray for three people our president, our governor, and our mayor. Fred's gonna get started in a second by praying for our president. He's gonna lead us in that. Um, Megan's gonna pray for our governor, I'm gonna pray for the mayor. And here's what's what's really neat is I got to have some correspondence with the mayor this week, and and he knows we're praying for him this morning. He's actually uh very involved in another church. His name's Michael Caldwell, if you didn't know, that's your mayor. Um and uh some of us are like, I have no idea. You know, okay. Can I be honest? I didn't either. All right, but now I do. Sorry. Yeah, you know the name of the president? Okay, good. That's easier, but whatever. All right. So, but but his name is Michael Collwell. We we've had some, we've we've spoken this week, and he knows we're praying for him this morning. And he actually specifically told me this is what he wanted you guys to know. He believes in the power of prayer, and he is grateful that there's a church praying for him. Also this week, we got uh a letter hand-delivered to Governor Kemp, and Governor Kemp knows that we're praying for him this morning, and he responded and asked us specifically to pray for a few things. And so Megan knows that, and that was given to Megan a few days ago, and so the governor knows we're praying for him this morning, and he has asked us his hands church, not some general group of people, he's asked our church to pray for a few specific things. Fred failed to get a hold of Biden. Um I asked him to, I got a hold of the mayor, we got a hold of the governor.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Yeah, but he's been in the news a lot.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

He's been busy. Okay. So we like to have fun, we like to laugh, we love to pray. And we we are called to be people who pray for our government. And so, with that said, let's let's do that. Fred, would you actually get us started?

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Please bow your heads. Holy and eternal Father. We are grateful that you have called us into the eternal kingdom of your Son, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. And that that is our primary identity. We're also grateful that you have given us the privilege of living in this land in this time. As complex and complicated as it is living in America today. We are grateful for the blessings that are ours. But like your ancient people wandering through the desert after you brought them freedom out of Egypt, we grumble a lot, Lord, and we complain far too much. And before we pray for our leader, we ask you to forgive us for that. Take that to the cross and cause us to be people who are grateful and not grumblers. We also humbly ask that those times that we laugh about our leadership, when it turns to mocking, we pray you would forgive us. Because indeed, as our pastor reminded us, we are to honor our leaders and not put them down. I can't imagine a more complex task than our president has these days. So blessed Lord. We come to you now in prayer, not by our rights, but by your grace and mercy, and humbly ask that you would bless our president, that you would grant him the light of your presence, for indeed you are light, that the darkness and confusion of the many decisions that he might have to make are cast away into the abyss, that he might have the revelation of heaven. We pray for his wisdom, a wisdom that comes from above. And yes, Lord, the wisdom that has sought to be spoken through his advisors and counselors, his many leaders, those who seek to have his ear, we pray, Lord, that they would pass through the filter of your wisdom. That he would know how to make decisions for the sake of the hundreds of millions that he serves here in this nation, but also the billions of people who wait for his words and decisions in this world. We pray, Lord, for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would protect him, that you would guide him, that you would be within him, granting him a new heart and a new mind each day as we seek that for ourselves. That he would be continually open to you and to the guidance of your Holy Spirit. And finally, Lord, the power that he needs to stand firm despite the millions of opinions that he may be wrong. Grant him the power to continue to walk in the might and power of your spirit, and for the glory and honor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We ask all this in your precious name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

Heavenly Father, we want to pray for our governor, for Governor Kemp. Lord, we we want to pray for the three things that he asked for. God, at first he asked for wisdom. And what a wise thing to ask for first. I want to pray what you said in your word in 1 Kings when Solomon came to you and asked for wisdom. You were so pleased with that request. And so, God, as we come to you, I just think about you sitting on your throne, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who reigns over everything. And as a church, I just picture us walking into that throne room and thinking about the governor and bringing him before you. And all he wanted was wisdom. All Solomon wanted was wisdom, and you were so pleased with that, Lord. And you gave Solomon a wise and discerning heart. And so, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, give our governor a wise and discerning heart. You say in James that anybody who lacks wisdom can come to you and ask, and you will give it freely. So, Lord, freely give him wisdom, all wisdom and all discernment, as he has to make judgment calls every day, things that we would never ever want to have to do. Lord, please give him wisdom. The next thing he asked for, Lord, was guidance. Guide him, Lord. Give him advisors that will help him. In Proverbs, you say that victory and right decisions are made through wise advisors. God, I pray that you put into his path and into his office people that will help give him the right decisions. And I pray that you remove the words and the people that will give him the wrong ones. I pray that in your um in your divinity that you put into his path the right people. Lord, I pray that by your your justice and your right hand, that you remove those who shouldn't be there. Lord, I pray that you surround him with godly counsel and that you guide him. That as the head, um, the ultimate head and authority, that you turn him the way he should go, that his eyes move to what he should see, that his hand signs the things that he should sign, that he stays out of the things that he should stay out of, and that you give him divine guidance. And Lord, he also asks for strength. So I pray that you strengthen him and that you uphold him, that you are his um fortress, that you give him safety, and he asks for prayer for Marty and for his girls. And I want to pray strength for them. That as they are a family in the public eye, that everything is scrutinized, Lord, that you give them strength and that you give them peace. I pray that Governor Kemp makes right decisions and that you give him the strength to make those right decisions when every eye is on him. Lord, as he is our governor in the time that he is our governor, I pray that all the decisions he makes are the ones that you would have him to make, and that you give him the strength to do that. And it's in your name we pray, Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Father, we just want to lift up our mayor, Michael Caldwell. Lord, we just pray that you be with Mayor Caldwell. Uh this is a new role for him. He's he's new as our mayor, and I can only imagine how much there would be to tackle. Uh, we live in a growing community, Lord. There's a lot going on, and I pray that you give him bandwidth, energy, most of all wisdom and discernment that comes only from you. Lord, we thank you for the fact that uh that we have a mayor who's a man who prays and who values prayer. We ask that you be with his wife and his three children. Lord, that all the responsibilities that are on him as a mayor wouldn't take away from the responsibilities that he has as a father and as a husband. Lord, we pray that uh the people in this community um show up to support and to serve, to ask what can be done to help, to improve our community. Lord, as a church, give us that heart to come to our mayor as servants, saying, We're we're part of this community, you've been elected to lead it. What can we do to help? And Lord, I just pray that that is that is our posture, that is, that is our desire. So, Lord, give him wisdom and discernment. God, give us a heart to serve, and we pray this in your name. Amen. Hey guys, thank you very much. And Fred, if you hear back from Joe this week, we'll uh we'll pray again, okay? One more specific. Well, guys, thank you so much for that. Um we're gonna wrap up with one more thing, and we got some people getting baptized. So that's awesome. That's our exclamation point. But here's my uh super practical, like, how do we go about this prayer thing? Like I said, let's be more involved in politics than ever in the area of prayer. Here's what I'm committing to do myself. This is like my personal challenge, and this is hard for me. Um, every time this week that I laugh at a politician, I'm gonna stop and pray for that politician. Every time on social media a video pops up that suggests it to me because of all the other times I've laughed at politicians and it knows this is what I like, I'm gonna pray for that politician. Every time I am angry or upset at something that I hear is happening and I want to blame that politician, I'm gonna pray for that politician. So every time you you're frustrated, angry, disagree, or tempted to laugh and mock, which is, by the way, we live in America. Like I'm grateful for Dana Carvey being able to do what he can do. But I'm not called to mock and impersonate. I'm called to pray for and honor. So let's do that. Let's let's be the most involved church in politics in America in the area of prayer. Sound good? All right, let's do it. Let's do it. All right, so I'm gonna pray one more time. I'm gonna hand it off. God, thank you for this morning. Thank you for this amazing group of people, thank you for all that's happening here, and thank you for these awesome people about to go all in and get baptized. Lord, we're so excited for this. We ask that you bless this moment, Lord. Remind them that they are uh ultimately, Lord, they're doing what we're talking about this morning. They're honoring you. You've asked us to get baptized. It's a step of obedience. It's us actually recognizing your authority and honoring it. That's awesome. Um, Lord, just help us as a church come around these people in any way we can. We ask this in your name. Amen.