Praise the Lord, amen. 1 Samuel chapter 9 is where we're at this morning, just looking at the first couple of verses for our reading. This is God's word. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Bekarath, son of Aphia, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than all the people." Father, we are reminded this morning that you don't consider the outside. You look in the inside. And I pray that as we hear this story and consider your incredible providence and sovereignty in this story and the seed form of the king and the kingdom of God that you would instruct us and help us and help us to be balanced as we think about the times we live in. Help us to seek first your kingdom. Help us now we pray in Jesus name. Amen. You can be seated. Well, with the upcoming presidential election, the news has been super duper interesting the last couple of weeks. And maybe you saw a clip of Kamala Harris rally. Someone yelled out, Jesus is Lord. And she infamously said, you're at the wrong rally. And the following day, J.D. Vance was speaking at a rally and someone yelled out, Christ is king. And he said, that's right, Jesus is King. Now, the fact that this is even being talked about is profoundly curious and interesting to me. And I'm not even commenting on the rightness or wrongness of those statements. But this topic of king and kingdom and lordship is as real time as you can get. We live in interesting days. And I want to circle back to those two events and those two comments at the end of this message, but it's not out of the blue. There's actually a direct correlation to our passage, and it's amazing to me how relevant the Bible is. The origins of Christ's kingdom is found in 1 Samuel, and last week we got a little sneak peek into that. From chapters 8 to 11, if you're looking at your Bibles, we are in this theme of King and the kingdom and some of the themes from last week, this week and next week all sort of bleed together. Brendan Carlson did a phenomenal job last week walking us through chapter 8 where we see really a seed planted for a future king and a future kingdom. This will be our main theme for the next couple of weeks. And in some ways, it's the main theme of 1 and 2 Samuel. Our passage this morning, I want you to note, has a micro dimension and a macro dimension to it. In one sense, the story is about how Saul became the king of Israel. In another sense, the story is about kingship in the coming kingdom, generally. It's the context of Jesus' preaching and ministry and gospel. And so this passage really is about the intersection of politics and faith, pardon my title, but politics for Israel, even politics for America as we're witnessing this week. I wanna give us the building blocks for properly understanding Jesus' lordship and kingship and what it means and what it doesn't mean for us here and now and what it will mean in the future. But starting last week in chapter eight, it was the launch of really an overarching narrative. So this story is about Saul and how God relates to him on one level. And it's a story about Israel and eventually the nations and how the peoples relate to Yahweh and how Yahweh relates to the peoples. So let's just go through this verse by verse and sort of look at the micro level. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish. He was a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. He had a son whose name was Saul. Now if you remember last week, the people of Israel asked for a king. Well, the name Saul or the word Saul literally means asked for, requested. This comes up later in chapter 12, you don't need to turn there, but Samuel chides them and he says, you know, you said to me, no, a king shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your king. And now behold the king whom you have chosen for whom you have asked. That's in the Hebrew, Saul. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king. So Saul's name was like an object lesson. Every time they said the name Saul, it was a reminder of sorts that they had rejected the Lord as their king. But as Brendan pointed out so well last week, God's providence is so powerful, he's able to simultaneously use evil things for good. And even though the Lord's people reject the Lord, the Lord does not reject his people. In fact, their evil request would be the very mechanism of blessing for Israel and for the nations. Well, verse 2 goes on, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upwards, he was taller than any of the people. He's like the homecoming king. the most likely to be voted in. He's physically impressive, he's the most handsome, and he's tall, a foot taller than everyone else. He was the people's choice, but he was not God's choice. And at this time in his life, he would have been in his late 20s, a man in his prime. He would reign for a king for 40 years, but there's a few things that the keen observer might note. First of all, Jacob had prophesied with his 12 sons around him that a dynasty would come, but it would come from the tribe of Judah. But Saul, notably, is from the tribe of Benjamin. Second, all this emphasis on the outward appearance is not how the Lord typically works. It's not how God views people. It's how people view people. Well, later on in the study, the Lord is going to say, do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature because I've rejected him. God does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So the student of God's word would pick up on these clues. Something already is not right. Go on in verse three. Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father-in-law, so Kish said to Saul, his son, take one of the young men with you and arise and go and look for the donkeys. And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaolim, but they were not there. They passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them. So we get some more clues into Saul. Israel's leaders were notorious shepherds, skilled shepherds, from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Moses to David. They were good at keeping watch over the flock, but Saul can't seem to find the donkeys. And donkeys usually find their way home. He comes across as a kind of dope at this point, incompetent, inept. It's unflattering to not keep track of sheep. It's even more unflattering to not find donkeys that do find their way home. So Saul is, I think, being portrayed here as not a good shepherd. Verse 5, Saul said to his servant who was with him, come, let's go back, lest my father cease to care about the donkeys, become anxious about us. But he said to him, behold, there's a man of God in the city, and he's a man who's held in honor, and all that he says comes true, so now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go. So Saul says, let's go home. This is getting ridiculous. And the servant says, there's a man of God in this town, maybe he can help. Now, of course, you know, we have the blessing of hindsight and we know how Saul's kingship ended. So this statement from the servant is packed with some irony. Verse 7, Saul said to his servant, but if we go, What can we bring the man for the bread? The bread in our sacks is gone. There's no present to bring the man of God. What do we have? The servant answered, Saul, here I have with me a quarter of a shekel of silver. I'll give it to the man of God to tell us our way. Little comment, formerly in Israel, where when a man went to inquire of God, he said, come, let's go to the seer, for today's prophet was formerly called a seer. Verse 10, Saul said to his servant, well said, come, let's go. So they went to the city where the man of God is. Now, they go see the man of God, but notice, Saul doesn't even know who Samuel is. Let me ask you something. How is it possible that Saul doesn't know who Samuel is. How is that even conceivable? He comes across as totally ignorant. Earlier in our story Samuel is known to quote all Israel. He even lived nearby Saul. Saul's servant knows about him. but not Saul. His servant has the discernment to inquire, but not Saul. He seems totally devoid of spiritual insight and sensitivity. He also seems to think that he can curry favor with God, like he can tithe his way to blessing. He comes across at this point as a kind of a parable of spiritual buffoonery. Verse 11, they went up to the hill, or went up the hill to the city and they met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, is the seer here? And they answered, yes, behold, he's just there. How do you hurry? He has just come down now to the city because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place. As soon as you enter the city, you'll find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes since he must bless the sacrifice. Afterward, those who are invited will eat. Now go up for you'll meet him immediately. So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place. So this actually seems to be like some kind of a marriage ceremony. like a wedding feast. And I don't want to read too much into it, but later on when David becomes the king, the people say to him, we are your own flesh and blood. Well, that's actually the language of Adam and Eve. When Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, the king was in a sense being married to the people. It's a kind of marriage. Jesus actually picks up this theme in the New Testament. He's the bridegroom. All that to say, the setting of Saul's inauguration is, I think, likened here to a wedding feast. He's being pictured as a bridegroom for his people. But he's not a great bridegroom, as the story will tell us. Verse 15, now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel. So we get a little sneak peek retro. Tomorrow, about this time, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over the people, my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I've seen my people because their cry has come to me." So, again, verse 15 gives us a little retro sneak peek. God has providentially been moving behind the scenes. moving pieces together. He's already told Samuel about Saul. Meanwhile, Saul has no idea. He thinks he's just looking for some donkeys and he got sidetracked. Little does he know. God has made it clear to Samuel that the people's choice is about to arrive and God is, you need to see this, he's weaving the tapestry together. There's an amazing story I actually think about often, and it was first told by Moody Monthly and reprinted in 1926. Ira Sankey, some of you will know that name, he was the co-evangelist, a soloist, he was the song leader with D.L. Moody in their evangelistic, you know, crusades they called them. Their partnership began in 1870 when Moody heard him sing at a Sunday school convention and went on their relationship to span a quarter of a century. It really took off in 1873 when for two years they held amazingly successful crusades in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London. When they returned to the States in 1875, they were international celebrities. It was Christmas Eve, 1875, and Sankey was traveling by steamboat up the Delaware River. It was a beautiful starlit evening. Many passengers were on deck who encouraged this famous celebrity evangelist to sing. Well, Sankey, who was leaning against one of the steamship's great funnels, looking at the stars, just praying silently, he consented to sing them a song. And he was going to sing a Christmas song, it was Christmas Eve, but he felt compelled to sing William Bradbury's Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us, great hymn. Well, there was a deep stillness in his baritone voice as it floated across the river that Christmas Eve night. When he had finished singing, a man stepped up from the shadows. This is incredible. And he said, did you ever serve in the Union Army? Yes, Mr. Sankey answered in the spring of 1860. Can you remember if you were doing picket duty on a bright moonlit night in 1862? Yes, Mr. Sankey answered, very much surprised. And the guy said, so did I. But I was serving in the Confederate Army. And when I saw you standing at your post, I raised my musket and took aim. I was standing in the shadow completely concealed while the full light of the moon was falling upon you. At that instant, just as a moment ago, you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing. Let him sing his song to the end, I said to myself. I can shoot him afterwards. But the song you sang then was the song you just sang now. And I heard the words perfectly. We are thine. Do thou befriend us. Be the guardian of our way. Those words stirred up many memories. I began to think of my childhood, my God-fearing mother. She had many times sung that song to me. And when you had finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim again. I thought, the Lord, who's able to save that man from certain death, must surely be great and mighty. And my arm of its own accord dropped limp at my side." Incredible story. God's protection, God's leadership, his providence, his sovereignty, God orchestrating the tiny little details, the past, the history of it all. And it reminds me of Saul here. Saul at this point is oblivious. He doesn't know what's going on. Alexander McLaren said, think of the chain of ordinary events which brought Saul to the little city. the wandering of a drove of asses, the failure to get on their tracks, the accident of being in the land of Ziph when they got tired of the search, the suggestion of the servant, and behind all these, in working through them, the will and hand of God, thrusting this man, all unconscious, along a path which he knew not. You know, the Proverbs speak to this. A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. A man's steps are ordered by the Lord, how then can man understand his way? Dale Ralph Davis said, Israel's rejection does not paralyze Yahweh's providence. Although Yahweh sees Israel's idolatry in her cry for a king, he also hears her distress in her cry for relief. Israel's stupidity cannot wither Yahweh's compassions. And I want you to remember that. Look at verse 17. When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, here's the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall restrain my people. Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, tell me where is the house of the seer? Samuel answered, I'm the seer. Go out before me to the high place for today you shall eat with me. In the morning I will let you go and I will tell you all that is on your mind. As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, don't set your mind on them, for they've been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father's house?" Saul answered. Am I not a Benjaminite from the least of the tribes of Israel, and is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?" He's totally bewildered at this point. He actually doesn't even know what's going on, really. He's confused, as you can imagine. He didn't even know who Samuel was 24 hours ago. And now what exactly is he telling me? And some have speculated maybe even some unbelief here in Saul. Unbelief that certainly pops up later in his story. Verse 22, Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about 30 persons. And Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion I gave you of which I said to you, put it aside. So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, see what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed that you might eat with the guests. So Saul ate with Samuel that day. And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof. He lay down to sleep. And then at break of dawn, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, up, that I may send you on your way. So Saul arose, both he and Samuel went out into the street. Last verse here. As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he's passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of the Lord. Now next week in chapter 10 we're going to look at Saul's anointing and the story continues. But this chapter ends with the word of the Lord and the chapter started off with Saul searching for some donkeys and the chapter ends with Saul finding the word of the Lord. And that word of the Lord will be key for Saul. Key for Israel, key for us. The word of the Lord was made known to Samuel. Now the word of the Lord will be made known to Saul. Will he listen? Well, we'll find out. The answer, of course, is that he doesn't. And as we learned last week, and it's so important, God's purposes are not thwarted by humans botching it. He is at work. He's at work behind the scenes. He even uses the failure of his people, rejecting Yahweh's kingship, to bring about his plans and purposes. Amazing. Now I have two main points I want to highlight this morning. And one, we've kind of already looked at it, God's providence is always at work. And I think especially in this season, this is encouraging for us. Now on a national level, on a personal level, on a family level, you can apply this in a thousand different ways, God is at work. And this is a profound, precious theological reality. I just came across this story this week. It's a famous true story originally published in the Reader's Digest, 1949. I told it to my family. I couldn't even wait until this morning. But the story goes like this. January 10th, 1948, just over two years after the conclusion of World War II, Marcel Sternberger got on a train in the Brooklyn subway he had never been on before. He normally took a different line, but he had changed his schedule in order to visit a sick friend that morning and was now boarding a noon train to get to work. The train was full, but just as he stepped in, one man jumped up and ran off, realizing he was about to miss his station. So Sternberger took the seat next down, right down where there was an opening. Next to him was a man reading a Hungarian newspaper. Sternberger had been born in Hungary, though he wouldn't normally strike up a conversation with strangers in the subway, he felt compelled to say something. And so he looked over the man's shoulder and said in Hungarian, I hope you don't mind if I glance at your paper. Well, the man was surprised to be addressed in his native language and during the half hour ride to town, they became acquainted. Sternberger's companion voluntarily shared his tragic story. His name was Paskin, and he had been a law student when the war started. He was eventually put into a labor battalion and sent to the Ukraine. Later, he was captured by the Russians and put to work burying the German dead. After the war, he covered hundreds of miles on foot, returned to his home in Debreken, Hungary, and discovered his entire family was gone. Strangers were living in the apartment once occupied by his father, mother, brothers, and sisters. When he had reached the apartment he and his wife had shared, it was also occupied by strangers. Finally, he located old friends in Debreken who had survived the war. They sadly informed him that his entire family was dead. The Nazis had taken them and his wife to Auschwitz, where they were all presumably killed in the gas chambers. Stunned by the news, the man fled Hungary, which had become a funeral land for him. He headed west towards Paris and emigrated to the United States in October 1947. As Sternberger listened, the story seemed somehow familiar, and suddenly he remembered why. He had recently met a young woman at the home of friends who had also been from Debreken. She had been taken to Auschwitz but was then transferred to work in a German munitions factory. All her relatives had been killed in the gas chambers. After she had been liberated by the Americans, she was brought to New York in the first boatload of displaced persons, 1946. Sternberger had been so moved by her story, he'd written down her address and phone number and hoping to invite her to meet his family in order to help with her terrible loneliness and grief. Sternberger thought it impossible that there could be a connection between these two people, but when he reached his station, he stayed on the train with his new friend, and he asked as casually as possible, is your first name Bella? And the man went pale. He said, yes, how did you know? And Sternberger fumbled for his address book, and he asked, was your wife's name Maria? Looking as though he might faint, Paskin said, yes, yes, and Sternberger suggested they get off at the next station without explaining why. He took Paskin to a nearby phone booth. While Paskin stood there like a man in a trance, Sternberger dialed the number, and after a long delay, he held Maria Paskin on the line. Sternberger reminded her of their recent chance meeting and she remembered him without explaining why Sternberger asked Maria where she had lived in Debreken before the war and she told him the address. And Sternberger turned to Bella and said, did you and your wife live on such and such a street? Yes, Bella exclaimed, and he turned white as a sheet and trembled. Sternberger urged him to stay calm, but then explained that something miraculous was about to happen to him. And then he handed Bella the phone saying, here, take this telephone and talk to your wife. And when Paskin realized that he was speaking with his wife, Maria broke down into uncontrollable crying. Sternberger sent him by taxi to the address and he reunited with his wife. The article continues by describing the emotional reunion between Paskins and each of whom thought each other was dead. Maria Paskin hardly remembers the reunion because of the emotions, but she said this. I remember only that when I left the phone, I walked to the mirror like in a dream to see maybe if my hair had turned gray. The next thing I know, a taxi stops in front of the house and it is my husband who comes toward me. Details I cannot remember, only this I know, that I was happy for the first time in many years. Even now, it is difficult to believe that it happened. We have both suffered so much, have almost lost the capability to not be afraid. Each time my husband goes from the house, I say to myself, will anything happen to take him from me again? Now, there are of course, the digest goes on, many possible explanations of what happened as a result of that subway ride one afternoon in 1948. Some would argue that Paskins was, they were the beneficiaries of lucky coincidences. But here's how the digest ends the article. Skeptical persons would no doubt attribute the events of that memorable afternoon to mere chance. But was it chance that made Sternberger suddenly decide to visit his sick friend and hence take a subway line that he had never been on before? Was it chance that caused the man sitting by the door of the car to rush out just as Sternberger came in? Was it chance that caused Bella Paskin to be sitting beside Sternberger reading a Hungarian newspaper? Was it chance or did God ride the Brooklyn subway that afternoon? remarkable story, and it reminds me of Saul in 1 Samuel 9. Unaware that God is at work in the minutia of lost donkeys and suggestions from servants, in the mundane, routine activities, God is working. And we see this elsewhere. I think of, you know, Abraham chilling by his tent when God showed up for a visit. or Moses bored out of his mind in the middle of Moab when God chooses to show up. God's providence is notoriously hard to discern or see, but it's a good reminder that whether we can see it or not, he is always at work. And today we don't need to guess at his word, we can read it. But I want to pan out now. We've looked at the intricacies of Lost Donkeys and the micro story of Saul, but I want us to consider the macro picture. And again, starting or picking up where I started off, how is it that both American presidential candidates are interacting with the reality that Jesus is Lord, that this is even being talked about, the kingship of Jesus? And I'm asking sincerely, what do we make of this? How do we process this? What does it mean? What does it not mean? I wanna talk about the kingdom of God, and this is gonna be a theme that pops up throughout the series, but it really starts here in last week. There's a lot of confusion about the kingdom of God today. And I'm only gonna dip my toe in the water on this this morning, so we're gonna come back to it. But I do wanna say a few words about this. A lot of confusion about the kingdom of God and our role in bringing it about. One example for us to consider is what's called Christian nationalism. And it's a species of post-millennialism, which is the idea that Christians build the kingdom of God by God's grace, and we sort of build a golden era of Christendom for a long period of time, and then Jesus returns at the end of it. Now there are many good godly people who hold this view. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ, but this is very much not our view at LBC. Our conviction is that the scriptures teach that Jesus will bring the kingdom when he returns. And after a time of tribulation, he returns and then the messianic kingdom commences. He brings the physical kingdom, not us. Now I say physical because Jesus did inaugurate the spiritual kingdom in His first coming. His kingdom is all ready, but not yet. So believers in Jesus believe that he is the Christ, which means the anointed Savior King, and that the fact that he is the anointed Savior King has profound real life application for us. We live like that now, even though it's only a spiritual reality and not physical. One of the immediate applications of how this plays out is in our priorities as his people. As Jesus taught in the parables, this is the age of spreading the seed of the Word of God. It's the mystery form of the kingdom. We live our lives in loyalty and devotion primarily to Jesus and what Jesus the King wants. And Jesus made it clear what our priorities are, the Great Commission. the proclamation of the Word of God, casting the seed of the Word of God to whoever will listen and obey. And Jesus told us the kind of reception that we would receive. Most people would be difficult ground, choked out by the weeds of money and the cares of this world, not interested in the kingdom. But some people would respond, people like you, And those people gather together and collectively we say, how can we live our lives to be careful to obey all that he's commanded us? That's what we're doing right now. Our priority is not politics. But that's where it gets a little tricky because part of our responsibility does include politics. Politics is a Greek word, it just means the affairs of the city. And as Christians, we care about the city. We care about people, we're commanded to. So Christians are not only people who care just about the kingdom of God, we also care about the city. We're dual citizens. So there's a delicate balance I want to walk us through, and you could call it an allocation of energy. One extreme is to care nothing about politics and completely check out a society, like a hermit or a monk. But that's clearly not right. Jesus calls us to be salt and light. John the Baptist spoke to the political leaders of his day and he got his head chopped off. It's not wrong to speak out and speak up against evil in society. But the other extreme has many different forms. And the worst form, at least in our context, is Christian nationalism. But even this is tricky to parse because there are many versions of Christian nationalism. The kind I'm referring to is the kind that thinks Christians are to build the kingdom of God on this earth, that it's our main job and priority. And that motivation greatly animates politics and law and business and schools and entertainment and culture. And it's sort of a let's take back our culture for Christ ethos. And one of the results of that thinking is often a lack of proper emphasis on the Great Commission and missions and preaching. All the energy goes elsewhere. But I want to be careful not to overstate my case because there is a sense, and it's a very real sense, in which we should promote biblical laws and values and morality. Honestly, what's the alternative? radical secularism, radical paganism, Islam. We don't want that. Those things would hurt our neighbor. They don't love our neighbor. I found Al Mohler to be helpful and clear on this topic. He has denounced various versions of Christian nationalism, but he also said this. We have the left routinely speaking of me and others as Christian nationalists as if we're supposed to be running from that. And he added, I'm not about to run from that. So LBC, I want us to be careful here and I hope by God's grace to help us navigate through this and think about this and think biblically in balance. And it does cross over and correspond to our passage here in 1 Samuel chapter nine. This is the beginning of really a teaching we see clearly, obviously, in the New Testament. Christ is King. Jesus is Lord. And we should live in that reality every hour of every day. We should proclaim that. And we should also promote the kind of environment that will help foster that. realizing all the way that our number one allegiance is to Jesus, and he promises that we would be aliens and sojourners and strangers on this road. Persecution will come. Hostility will be the norm. And if we get a reprieve from that, if we get a break from that, then praise the Lord. Let's vote for that. Let's promote that. And if I may, speaking personally, this is not a difficult decision. If you think about the choice we have between this destruction of gender, the destruction of marriage, destruction of babies, destruction of children, the promotion, maybe you've seen this, the promotion and protection of pornography. The whole porn industry is banded together on this. Destruction of the courts. I would add the support of Israel whom God made an eternal covenant with, the gifts and calling are irrevocable. There's a lot at stake and I don't think it's right to play the part of pilot and just wash our hands. And this isn't the church being political. This is being foisted upon us. These issues are theological. And the most politically provocative statement in the early church was Jesus is Christ. Jesus is the King, Jesus is Lord. I was thinking about this and maybe this is helpful, maybe it's not, and maybe I'm wrong on this, but it reminded me when I say it, just the election and what's going on politically, it reminded me of King David taking a census. David sinned greatly, it says, and God says to David there's going to be a judgment. And God gives David the option of three different punishments, and I won't read the whole text, but thus says the Lord, choose what you will. And then David said to Gad, the prophet, I'm in great distress, let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man. Yeah, there's a sense in which our nation is under judgment. We're living in the judgment. It's not like God will judge us if we do these things. What we're seeing is the judgment. Romans 1 is the judgment. But notice, God gives David a choice. And if I may, he's given us a choice. Which option do you choose? Well, we don't bind the conscience here. The choice is yours. But again, you've got one party that is far more antagonistic to the things we hold dear as believers. But let me give another warning while we're at it. You and I know we're not voting for a pastor. It's not like one side is bad and the other side ushers in the kingdom of God. But we are voting to stay the tsunami of evil. And while it may be clear to us which option is more evil, I want us to think evangelistically. I want us to resist the urge to come across triumphalistically, like this election is all we care about. Or this candidate represents Christianity somehow, he doesn't. Or this election is the most important thing in our lives, that this is our badge and our brand and our ultimate loyalty. We want to win people to Jesus, the Savior King, not a political party or a slogan. We want to tell people about the coming kingdom of God and how to be part of that team, which is far more important, far more significant, and far more lasting than this election. Now, maybe you feel differently than I do on how I'm thinking about some of these things. I'll just say that's okay. But what's patently clear is that Jesus is the King. His providence is working behind the scenes even if we can't see it. He will establish His purposes and He'll even use the sinful choices of humans to engineer His will. He will come back to rule and reign and establish his kingdom on this earth. And our primary focus, the allocation of energy for us, is to be the lordship of Jesus and getting his gospel out. And the genesis for that kingdom begins in 1 and 2 Samuel. We're going to pick this back up next week when we see Samuel getting anointed as king. But let me close this in prayer. Father, we thank you that there is an unshakable kingdom that already exists in mystery form and spiritual form, but nevertheless, literally has a king, Jesus, ruling and reigning. And we long for the day when he comes. And as the Lord taught us to pray, when his kingdom is on earth, as it is in heaven. We look forward to that day. Help us to seek first the kingdom and recognize the all-encompassing importance and significance of the lordship of Jesus, the gospel, and the coming kingdom, and help us to be balanced and biblical as we process being dual citizens under your lordship. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to this sermon from Littleton Bible Chapel. At LBC, we are passionate followers of Jesus, proclaiming Christ and his word. For more information about LBC, please go to littletonbiblechapel.org.