You will probably want to use your page for notes. In fact, you may need even more than what you've got on page whatever it is. My notes on today's sermon, page 10. And I think you probably got a blank sheet at the end because there's going to be a lot here. intentionally going to stay very close to my notes for time purposes, but also because I want you to be thinking biblically about these things. And you will want to turn in your Bibles to Romans 13. This election year, which seems to have begun about four years ago, is a particularly painful and unsettling one for many, many reasons. For me, this is the most painful and unsettling reason. Dr. George Barna is the Director of Research for the Cultural Research Center, which works out of Arizona Christian University. And this much-publicized report was issued on October 7th of this year. And it includes in all of these pages of data these two very significant introductory remarks. The research indicates that as many as 104 million people of faith, that's about a quarter of the United States of America, in fact actually it's more than that. The research indicates that as many as 104 million people of faith are unlikely to vote in this upcoming election, and among those 32 million self-identified Christians who regularly attend church won't cast their ballots. The survey also revealed that large numbers of Christian churches have distanced themselves from the election, refusing to even encourage congregants to vote. and avoiding teaching related to many of the key social issues that will determine which candidates people will support. There's a lot of reasons given for this. Many people are simply disgusted with the whole process. There's others who simply say that all politics is pointless, or they'll use the statement which is not a true statement. All we're doing is voting for the lesser of two evils. Government is not an evil, folks. And don't think about, I know it's a temptation, I've even said this in the past, don't think of it that way. Government's not an evil. You may want to, you're going to probably vote for the one you think is maybe the less of the evil, but don't say it's the lesser of two evils, really. A number of Christians say it simply doesn't make a difference. But it does. And sadly for all too many, it's just plain apathy. Today, the title of the sermon is not, For Whom Shall You Vote? There's no minister and there's no church that has the authority to tell you that. Don't ever let that happen. That's one of the reasons why we don't even have voting guides in the church. You can get voting guides. Even voting guides have their less, more or less disguised biases in them. If you want a voting guide, you can look them up. You don't get them here. Our role is not to tell you for whom to vote. But how then shall we vote, which assumes that if you haven't voted already, since voting opened yesterday, you are, if you're a citizen, you're going to vote. And the goal is this. I want you to think biblically, especially about the elections this year. And each of the headings is think biblically about why say that. I am deeply concerned, as you ought to be, that among evangelicals, professed, Bible-believing Christians, there is less and less and less and less of an emphasis on the Scriptures, let alone their final authority. This is Reformation Remembrance Weekend. We're going to emphasize not even justification by faith alone, but what is it to be justified. But never forget the primary emphasis of the Reformation is the final authority of Holy Scripture and its supreme authority for all areas of faith and life. It was Isaiah who writes, we usually hear this around the Christmas season, it's the section about the wonderful counselor and mighty God and everlasting father, and Isaiah paints this picture of a people who don't have the word of God and they are not in darkness, they are in gross darkness. And Isaiah says, under the inspiration of God, to the law and to the testimonies, if they will not speak according to my word, in them there's no dawn, there's no light. And sad to say is you think of too many, too many, way too many professed evangelical churches. When a leader of America's evangelical church says, as he said last Sunday, There's only two miracles you really need to believe in, creation and the resurrection. You know there is a tremendous erosion of biblical authority. If you ever see the pictures of the other side of the world at night, satellite pictures, and you see China at night is pretty well illuminated as Japan is well illuminated as parts of the Philippines are as well, as South Korea is. conspicuous by its darkness is North Korea, because they have no power for lighting in most cases at night. That's a metaphor for the way so many churches are moving in our land, sadly. So today, the topic is, how then shall we vote? Thinking biblically about three things. Number one, I want you to think biblically about the right to vote. Think biblically about the right to vote. And here Romans, and this is going to be something of a civics lesson, but it's from the scriptures, and here's why. Romans 13 begins not just with let every person be subject to the governing authorities, and we'll look into some of the implications of that next week, But there is no authority except from God. And those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment. That's not first political parties, folks. In fact, the powers in our country, the powers that be are ordained of God. You're part of them. In what has been very rare historically, and is not very common even in the world today, the powers that be in this country take you up into them. We live in a constitutional republic. a constitutional republic. In a republic, power is vested in people who exercise their authority through elected representatives. The will of the people is mediated through their representatives. Let me give you an example. We are praying that little John, who was adopted by Erica Piagetti, that's her son legally, that he will be able to come to be with his mother in Florida. And it's difficult to get lawyers to deal with something as complicated. Erica is working as she should through her own elected representative in Florida. Why? Because as not only an American citizen, but as part of that congressman's constituency, she has certain rights and privileges. And a representative is to represent her. And he is beginning to do that. And that is by design in a constitutional republic. Now listen carefully. Our country is not a democracy. You might want to call it a constitutional or representative democracy, but it's not a democracy. It doesn't make any difference how pundits and politicians speak of this country. Our nation is not a democracy. Democracy, our founding fathers knew, at least pure democracy, if you want to call it that, is very dangerous. It is the direct rule of the people, which means majority rules, period. And that becomes the norm. That becomes the standard. It was represented in the French Revolution of 1789 that ended up with the guillotine, not least for those who espoused democracy. That, brothers and sisters, is why in this country We have an electoral college. Technically, you do not vote for the President of the United States. You vote for electors that are the sum total of a state's representatives and its two senators. And those electors meet, usually in December, in Washington, D.C., and they cast votes, ideally, for the party that has been elected or the party that they represent in the election. That's the purpose of the Electoral College. It is to cushion government from the direct expression of the popular will and to represent the states, you eliminate the Electoral College and you will eliminate the meaning of this United States of America. Period. And to speak against that constitutional arrangement is either gross ignorance or it is a direct challenge to the federalism of our national system. What's federalism? It's actually a word that comes from covenant, believe it or not, in the scriptures. It grows out of a biblical view of varying levels and spheres of government. Our national system is a federal one in which the power is divided between the national or the federal government and various regional governments, state, regional, national. We have towns, we have villages, we have hamlets, we have states, we have counties. And those distinct parts of the government are given distinct powers and responsibilities. That's our system. It is not a democracy. The powers that be that are ordained of God have given us not just a republic, but a constitutional republic. That's the technical term for the government that we have. A constitutional republic means that all are under a document which we know is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the amendments that have been approved in an orderly way. A Constitution embodies the fundamental laws and principles by which we are governed. And brothers and sisters, you ought to read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and all of the approved amendments, okay, because That, for our country, is the power that God has ordained for us. How can you say that? Every elected official is to take a solemn oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Democrat or Republican, liberal, conservative, socialist, communist, libertarian, they are all under the power that is, that be in our country that is the Constitution of the United States. Now that's different than the first century. In the first century there was no such thing. You had an emperor and the writer of the Book of Revelation, John, calls that government the beast because it was a tyrannical government. And yet Christians were to submit to that. We'll parse some of that next week. That's not the government that we live under. We live under, not a democracy, but a constitutional republic. Now inherent in that and included in that is the right of citizens, not non-citizens, is the right of citizens of age who meet the qualifications. to vote. That's Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, Amendments 15, 17, and 26 have wrestled with the meaning of voting rights. That's how important those rights are in our Constitution and in the Constitutional Republic. Inherent in that structure of government and included in it is the right to vote and part of your Christian stewardship is the stewardship of that right. Period. Regardless of how you feel. Part of your Christian stewardship is the stewardship of that right, especially to vote otherwise. Number one, you neglect one of your most basic rights and responsibilities. as an American citizen. And I would add to that, that's a privilege for which countless thousands have spilled their blood. And if you neglect that stewardship, you neglect a means by which you have a part in the direction of a nation, the nation, in which God has placed you. You are part of a constitutional republic. God has a purpose in that. And part of that purpose is that you will be a steward of your freedom. Jeremiah chapter 29 is an interesting letter that Jeremiah the prophet sends to the exiles there, the Israelites, and they're in a foreign land. It's pretty much the way we feel. And it's appropriate because Babylon is a picture of the world system. The Israel of that time, it is a picture of what the church is today, and so you can make an application as you should, what do you do when you're in the Babylon of this world as the Lord's people? And Jeremiah says in chapter 29 in verse seven, seek the welfare, and he talks about being married and working and feeding your family, all these different things that we do. He says, seek the welfare of the city, or we would say even the nation where I've sent you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, or to promote the common welfare. Welfare means what? The well-being of, the good state of something. Pray to the Lord on its behalf. Pray to the Lord on behalf of Babylon. For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. Are you concerned for the welfare of this nation? Righteousness exalts a nation. It doesn't say sin is a reproach to the church, it is. Sin is a reproach to any people. Are you concerned for the welfare of your country? You want to say you're apathetic about voting and also say you're concerned for the welfare of this country? You can't live with that tension, folks. They're contradictory. Now, there's two errors to beware of under thinking biblically about the right to vote. You can be overly exercised about the election, and probably true of most of us, okay? And next week, we'll kind of look at that. Next week, believe it or not, before the election, or at least before many of us will have voted, it's how then shall we receive the vote, okay? So don't be overly exercised about the election. But don't be under-exercised about the election either. Because especially this year, there are two major moral issues with utterly severe consequences for our nation and for any other. And brothers and sisters, please Beware of the bombarding of appeals to your emotions. I don't know about you, I get about a hundred, at least a hundred emails, let alone texts every day. from candidates who are telling you in one way or the other the sky is falling and if you don't give them your 15 bucks, the country is going to go to hell in a handbasket. And frankly, I'm sick of it. It makes me want to vote for the other party. But brothers and sisters, beware of being bombarded by the appeals to your emotions. The direction of our country is at stake in this election. Its destiny is not. At least at this point, we still have a system of checks and balances in a government with a legislated body, the Senate and the House, the executive, the presidency, and the Supreme Court and lower courts. That's why when you vote for Ken's, we don't think of this. What kind of justices will a president appoint critical, because those justices have a responsibility to see that the government God has ordained, a constitutional republic, be upheld. So long as that's in place, the direction of a country may be at stake, but its destiny is not. So please, please be careful, and be careful of the name-calling that comes. One candidate is not a communist because her father, with whom she had very little connection, was. You may not like her policies, you may see elements of that in it, but don't call her a communist. And don't call another candidate a fascist because you just don't like him. That kind of stuff is out, folks. So beware of the bombardment of appeals to your emotions. Now, number two. Think biblically about government and governing. Think biblically about government and governing. Now going back to Romans chapter 13, speaking of the authority and our supreme authority in our country, at least in paper, is the Constitution. Whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers, We call magic ruler on any level, not just president, a legislature, a governor, a mayor, a sheriff. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct. but to bad. And that's the language that's used throughout here. For the sake of reading it properly, you'll often read wrong, and that's not incorrect. But Paul is saying there's good in government and bad in government. There's good in government and bad in government. And if something is bad, then it can make you sick. If you have bad food, if you have food with listeria, it's bad. and it'll make you sick if not kill you. So that's the contrast that Paul makes throughout writing under the inspiration of God. They're not a terror to good conduct but to bad. When you have no fear of the one who's in authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do bad, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God." I, for the life of me, cannot understand why even people within the Reformed community can say there is a sacred sphere, the church, and there is a common sphere called the state. This isn't a common sphere. Magistrates are as much in their own sphere, ministers of God, as ministers and elders are in the church. There's nothing common or unholy about a minister of God. And so the magistrate on whatever level here is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Think biblically about government and governing. One, the magistrate on whatever level, president, mayor, alderman, whatever it would be, is a minister of God. What does that mean? Well, it's what he or she is meant to be. That's their role. That's what's sobering. In the same way those who exercise office in the church are held to a greater standard of judgment. Let not many of you be teachers, brethren, knowing you shall receive greater judgment. Anyone who is given any position of authority in the civil sphere is not only held to accountability for his or her personal life, but for his or her governmental life. That's stunning. That's sobering. That would make any thoughtful person think many, many, many, many times before running for office, let alone running on a particular party. But that's what that means as a minister of God. It's what he or she is meant to be and or it's also what he or she is in the hand of God. The Lord speaks of Cyrus who was a king of Persia in the Old Testament as his servant. Cyrus who's a pagan. but God used him for the purpose of seeing Israel brought into the land and protected and provided for, even though he was a wicked man. All right, so a minister of God for good, not for bad. Now how do you define good? Well, number one, good, is what the moral law of God says is good. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, an interesting text for you to read, Paul says the law is not made for law-abiding people. Now obviously it is, but there's an internal principle in you that makes you want to do what's right, but for those who don't have that, the law is made, he says, for the lawless. And he spins out explicit violations of the last of the six of the Ten Commandments. Things like man stealing, which was the root of a slave trade in many ways. Things like sexual promiscuity, stealing in other ways, and killing. The law is made to restrain those things And he ends by saying, this is in accord with the gospel. Now, what does he mean by that? Because law is not the way you preach the gospel, and it's kind of difficult to get a handle on it. Basically, what it says is this. If there's not restraint of iniquity in the world, people aren't going to be listening to the gospel if they're concerned that their throats might be slit by their neighbors. And so for the sake of the gospel going into the world, which is why we pay for peaceable and godly lives, the law is made to restrain iniquity. And he says that law is good. It is holy and spiritual and good. So good is number one, what the moral law of God says, and number two, Good is defined by the things God says are good when he made the world. God looked at these things and it was all very good. And in that pre-fall situation, there are certain things that we call creation ordinances. It's fascinating to study these because this is kind of our daily life type stuff. but creation ordinances that are for people as people. And what are those creation ordinances? Well, one is truth. And you say, well, where do you get that from Genesis 1 and 2 in creation? Rather simply, God spoke. God's word is not given first because we're fallen. God's Word is given because we're meant to live out of it. Man doesn't live by bread alone. Man, he doesn't say Christians, he says man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And no society can function if it doesn't have truth. It may be groping for truth, it may have a standard of truth, maybe a wrong kind of truth, but it has got to be some standard of truth. And if it's not true truth, There'll be problems. So truth is a creation ordinance. Work is a creation ordinance. And Sabbath is a creation ordinance. God ordained, you labor six days and you rest one. You have stewardship over the creation. That's what you do in your work. Fascinating to think of whatever you do in the musical field, financial field, medical field, teaching field, whatever, you have a stewardship over what is before you, whether it be pupils, or numbers, or computers, or whatever it be, and you're to steward that part of the earth. It's a fascinating theme. That's why it's wonderful on Labor Day to build up some of those themes for its work. And Sabbath. Jesus didn't say the Sabbath is made for Jews. He said the Sabbath is made for man. And as we've said so often, and as doctors say, there's an alternative to not taking a day of rest. Kill yourself. because we're made as people to rest, especially if you labor six days, let alone rest in a fallen world, but this is pre-fall and obviously it's a day in which you remember God. So work and the Sabbath is a creation ordinance. Everything but sexuality and marriage and procreation is a creation ordinance. It was before the fall that God made a woman. And when he brought Eve to Adam and she said, he said, bone of my bones, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. There was no animal that was lent to Adam that would satisfy that, but this was of him. It was distinct from him, but of him. And that statement is an expression of excitement. To put it bluntly, Adam was turned on by Eve. And so he said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she's of the man. And God brought her to the man. and they became husband and wife, and from that procreation comes. And again, that's not part of the fall. That's part of the way a race is propagated. All creation, the marriage, all cultures marry and are given in marriage, right? And so it's a creation ordinance. And then the sanctity of life is a creation ordinance. God said, let us make not my people were remade in the image of Christ, let us make man in our image. And in the image of God, he made them. I thought, but do you realize, folks, that if this had been taken seriously by churches, we probably wouldn't have had a civil war. The fact that black or white That person is made in God's image. Again, it's for man, and that's how serious these creation ordinances are. Truth, and work, and Sabbath, or stewardship of the world, sexuality, marriage, procreation. So that's for the world as unfallen. Notice that Paul, and so that's good, right? OK, those are good things. But he also speaks about the magistrate as a minister of God who has the power of the sword. He doesn't bear the sword in vain. What does that mean? Well, you see this in the covenant with Noah. In the covenant with Noah, God preserves the world so that we might not be at one another's throats. And he says, Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. And that can mean one or two things, if not both. Man made in the image of God, God who has the power of life and death in his hands, vests that in those who have the power of the sword to in some cases even call for death. Or it could mean whoever has murdered someone. Manslaughter can be a little bit different, but that's when you murder, you intentionally kill someone. He's destroyed image of God. And by man his blood shall be shed. So power of the sword in the case of the death penalty for murder, power of the sword to protect a country from invading armies, and the power of the sword to protect a country from an influx of people who are not meant to be there. It doesn't mean you wage war on them, but it means there's an authority to stop what can be destructive to a nation. Okay, so that's basically the simple form of the role of what is good is over against what is bad. Remember, what is bad is not good. And then also the fact that in a fallen world, there has to be the power of the sword. So that's kind of a little overview of Romans 13. As far as other parts, we'll look at that next week. Now, number three. I want you to think biblically about the consequences of political positions. Now, politics is more about worldviews and views of government than any particular issue. Now this is question and answer time. I know there'll be questions about this. Politics is not first about specific issues, the party's platform. Behind those issues is a certain view of government and a certain worldview. A worldview is on what basis do you say something is right or wrong? Or, if you want, you can even regard the worldview as your religion. Let's just use the word worldview here. Politics is more about views of government and worldviews than special issues. Some issues deal with different views of the role of government, even in a constitutional republic like ours. Some issues involve different views of the role of government to promote the general welfare. Well, how does that apply to medical care, providing for those who are needy? That becomes a governmental issue. How you deal with disaster assistance, especially when we are connected as states and you're to promote the general welfare. How, what degrees, to what degree is government regulation required? And government regulation is required. We have a Bureau of Weights and Measures that grows out of the biblical fact that there is to be a just weight. You were supposed to get a gallon of gas when you go to get gas at the gas station. And 16 ounces should be what a pound is. And so there's discussion about how government regulates that and it has the right to do that. And we wrestle with those things under the Constitution. And we do wrestle with them. Some issues involve different views of the role of government, and you wrestle with these things under the power that is our Constitution. Other issues involve worldview or your religious view. Whether or not a certain particular candidate said to a protester at the person's rally in response to the person's statement, Jesus is Lord, If, in fact, this comment was directed at that, it's a religious statement. You're at the wrong rally. That's a religious statement, as well as a statement of worldview, if, in fact, it was said to that comment. And these issues, these worldview, religion issues, clearly moral issues, have definite implications for the welfare of the place where God put you, which is our nation. Those have definite implications for the welfare of the place where the Lord put you. Look at Leviticus chapter 18 once again in verses 1 through 5. This is page 114 and 115. Israel was familiar with Egypt and Israel was going to go to the land of Canaan. The Canaanites were like their surrounding nations in that the amount of their profligate behavior was incredible. We wonder why there was a call to wipe out the Canaanites. the more archaeology has discovered how perverse that culture was. That was hardly an unjust decree. And so God says in Leviticus 18, he speaks to Moses, he says, you tell the Israelites, when you go into the land, you take it. Don't do what they did in Egypt. Don't do what they did in the land of Canaan. Don't walk in their statutes. You follow my word. because I am the Lord your God. But then he adds this, you shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules. If a person does them, he shall live by them. The common welfare will be promoted. Not I am the Lord your God, although that's true, I'm the Lord. And whether a nation acknowledges that or not, I am the Lord. And as my people, you are to display that before others. Now as you go to verse 20 after this catalogue, this gross catalogue of all kinds of sexual impropriety, all of that is summed up in verse 20. You shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife, adultery, and so make yourself unclean with her. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God. What was that? Molech was a pagan god, and in a ritual that was honored regularly, the arms of that pagan god were heated, the metal arms were heated until they were red hot. And if you wanted your freedom, you wanted your prosperity, you wanted to be blessed, you put your child on those red hot arms and that child was killed so that you might have your prosperity. You shall not profane the name of the Lord. I am the Lord. You don't profane my name by taking my image and destroying it. And he goes on, again, this distillation. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Homosexuality. And it would apply as well to lesbianism. and you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, bestiality. Neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it. It is perversion. Now note the next verses. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things. For by all these things, the nations, plural, not just Canaan, The nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger, Sojourns among you for the people of the land or before you did all these abominations So that the land became unclean Lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean as It vomited out the nation that was before you For everyone who does any of these abominations the persons who does them shall be cut off from among their people and so keep my charge and never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them. Why? Not here I am the Lord your God. Oh, that's true. I'm the Lord. This speaks to the nations and particularly to God's people. Here's the way one old writer described so powerfully what's in view here. The land itself vomits out her inhabitants. The very ground they went upon did, as it were, groan under them and was sick of them and not easy under it until it had discharged itself of these enemies of the Lord. This bespeaks the extreme loathsomeness of sin. Many a house, many a town, have spewed out the wicked inhabitants with abhorrence. Sinful customs are abominable customs, and they're being common and fashionable does not make them at all the less abominable. I want to read that again. Sinful customs are abominable customs, and their being common and fashionable does not make them at all the less abominable. And one modern commentator, dealing with the same text, said this destruction was not a matter of arbitrary divine favoritism, but of explicit moral judgment on societies which, as described in the Bible and confirmed by archaeology, were degraded, oppressive, and perverted. Brothers and sisters, that ought to make us weep. We have a day of fasting on Wednesday to pray for the election. Let this text make you weep. James speaks about a time at which we turn our laughter into weeping, not screaming, but weeping. You don't scream at somebody that's sick and vomits. You feel with them. Now specifically, what are we dealing with? Number one, infanticide. Very interesting, Nan was saying today that in China, the word abortion, in China, in communist China, the word abortion means the killing of a baby. They've got it right. And we've heard the word abortion, which in itself is a very strong word, incidentally. If you abort something, it's serious. We've heard it so much, you become dull. Abortion is infanticide. And it doesn't take much to prove it. Within a very few weeks after conception, that's a human being. Infanticide is here condemned. and all forms of sexual perversion are condemned. Again, creation ordinances, sanctity of human life, and the sanctity of sexuality and marriage. So when there's a violation of those things that are given for people as people, a land spews out its inhabitants. I didn't say it, God did. And to call these things good rather than bad turns the purpose of government totally upside down. And it invites not the welfare, but the destruction of a society. And if that sounds too hard for you, I say this respectfully, you plant yourself in the book of Leviticus and these texts in chapter 18. And you indict God if you think that's too severe. And if we wanted to do it, you can chronicle from history specific examples of cultures, especially that have tolerated sexual perversion. and in very specific ways God puked them out. Now let me ask you a question. Do you want this nation to vomit out its inhabitants? I'm not asking what party you're part of. Do you want this nation to vomit out its inhabitants? I'm not speaking as a liberal or a conservative. Do you want this nation to vomit out its inhabitants? Brothers and sisters, think biblically about the consequences of political positions. Okay, here's a challenge when you preach this. Pastor Shishko, you're to preach Christ. I am preaching Christ because Jesus Christ is the King. In order to keep what's left of what I hope is still some sanity, I regularly sing Psalm 2. Don't just read it, don't just pray it, I sing it. Why do the heathen rage and the nations imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth and the rulers of this world have set themselves against the counsel of the Lord and his Messiah. And they say, let us cast their cords from us. Isn't that our culture? Again, not Democrat or Republican, liberal, conservative, isn't that our culture? He who sits in the heavens laughs. He says respectfully, you fools. Because it says next, he'll hold them in derision. Why? I've set my son upon the holy hill of Zion. Because I said, this day I've begotten you. He's referring to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he ascended into heaven. And I've given him the nations. Democrat party, Republican party, conservatives, liberals. The nation's not yours. It's mine. And I've set my son upon my holy hill of Zion. and he's going to reign, and he's going to get his victories. Now there's different ways he does it. There'll be more next week. But brothers and sisters, no political party, no presidential candidate, no candidate at all was crucified for you. So you never put politics above Christ. None has risen from the state of death And none will until the one who was raised from the dead comes back. And none reigns from heaven as Jesus does now, as he will on election day, and as he'll reign afterwards. And praise the Lord, he's not up for election or re-election. Scriptures say, not vote for the son, And that's why all you gotta do is just let Jesus into your heart. Forget about it. You surrender to him. Kiss the son, lest he be angry. And you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. As king, he has put you in the USA in election year 2024. Don't you dare say you're apathetic. Don't you dare say you're disgusted. I am too. That doesn't mean you don't vote. That's not even logical. There's a lot of things we're disgusted about, you still do them. And one of those is if you're eligible to do it, and you haven't done it already, vote. Think biblically about the right, the precious, blood-bought right, in terms of human blood, blood-bought right, that you have to vote. about government and governing. The scriptures didn't speak to it, I couldn't say think biblically about it, but it does, and you do. Think biblically about government and governing. And you think biblically about the consequences of political positions. And then if you're able to do it, you haven't done it already, vote. To the glory of God. and for the welfare of the place where God's put you. Let's pray. Lord, seal these words to our hearts. We are your friends if we do what you command us. May in this realm of politics and in all other, whatever we do, do it all to the glory of God, according to your word. For the sake of the word made flesh, Jesus Christ, Amen.