Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is over. It is finished. Are you happy? Are you depressed? Are you discouraged? Are you frustrated? Are you celebrating? What is your mood this evening? What is your mood right now? What has been your mood all day? Has it been I mean, did you stay up all night? I mean, how are you feeling? Now, for some people right now, they have no idea what we're talking about, especially depending on when they hear this. So I guess I need to give you a proper introduction, right? Good evening, everyone. It is Wednesday, November the 6th. Does that tell you what's going on? You need a little bit more context? It is Wednesday, November the 6th, 2024. It is currently 6.15 p.m. Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well, yesterday was election day here in the United States of America. And I, and I said numerous times that all I wanted was it to be over. I wanted it to be done with, I wanted to move on. And to be fair, though, I also had a, I had a dream, right? I had a, I had a wish, I had a hope, and I wanted to wake up on November the 6th, 2024, and find out that there was not a Republican left in any governmental capacity, that they, every Senate, Congress, everywhere, mayors, governors, everywhere. There was no Republicans left anywhere in government. Now, when I say that, people are like, oh, you're a liberal, you're a communist, you're a Democrat. And that's, see, that's not the case. I wanted all the Republicans to be voted out of office so that when we woke up on Wednesday, November the 6th, everyone would look around—at least, not everyone, let me rephrase that—Christians, the church would wake up on November the 6th, wake up today and go, Well, there's no more looking to politics, no more looking to politicians, no more looking to Washington, no more looking to anything like that. We need to look to God because there's now no political ally left for us. We are left alone. It's just us and God. And I thought the best thing to happen to the church, theologically speaking, let me make that very clear. The best thing that would happen to the church is that the church woke up today and that's it. There's no more Republicans. There's nowhere to look except to God. You don't have political allies, and that would possibly be the first step in purifying the church, purging the church from this political infection, this political ideology, this Christian nationalism, this stuff that has so infiltrated Christianity. Because Christianity would wake up and be like, What do we do? What do we do? Stop looking to that. Get back to being the church. Get back to acting like a Christian. Get back to scripture, prayer, fasting. Get back to that. Then maybe, everyone keeps talking about a revival, then maybe then there would be an actual spiritual revival. But I think when people talk about a spiritual revival, they talk about getting their favorite politician elected to office so that they can enforce Christianity upon everyone else, and then we call that revival. That's not revival. Revival is a spiritual thing. So that, I'm just going to be honest, that's what I wanted. Now, I knew, obviously, realistically, that wasn't going to happen, but I wanted that to be the case. I knew it wasn't going to happen. I knew I was going to wake up on November the 6th, 2024, and Republicans would have won who knows how many different places they would have won, how many positions. What, you know, who knows? But I knew that there was going to be at least, you know, a number of them that won. All right. So that was my first wish is that all Republicans would be gone. And my second wish was that it would wake up on November the 6th, 2024. And there would be in a sense the end of the Donald Trump experiment, the Donald Trump era, the end of the MAGA movement. It would be over and we could move on because of all the chaos and the lies. and the horrible things, and I could just go on and on. That it would be over. That we could just move past it once and for all. We could be done. That's what I'm just going to be honest. That's what I was hoping. It would be over. And again, not only maybe that there may be a little bit more personal feelings there, but set aside my personal feelings. Once again, the church, the church is almost worship of Trump. It's almost never ending making excuses, though the church is overwhelming support for Trump. At times borderlines, I don't want to say it's full-blown idolatry, but at times it's very troubling, right? It's like, hey, we want a king and we want our king to be better than all the, I mean, it's very like, what are we doing? Why are we not focused that this is not our home? We are pilgrims and stringers here. What are we doing? And why are we so committed and supporting and defending someone that causes the world to look at us and go, well, your Christianity is broken. It's actually hurt the church more than it's helped the church. So I kind of wanted to wake up and all Republicans are gone and really it's the end of the Donald Trump experiment. It's over. It's done. As old as he already is, by the next time he could run, yeah, it's just, it's just, it would be over. It would be the end. And then Christians and the church could just kind of, we could wash our hands of all that has been going on since 2016. We could just wash our hands and we could go, where do we go from here? And someone could hold up a Bible and go, what about this? What about this? Would anybody like this? And maybe someone would go, what a great idea. And it wouldn't be a Trump Bible that we're holding up. It would be like an actual Bible, right? But that's kind of what I wanted. That's what I kind of envisioned. That's what I was hoping for. Obviously, a little bit naive, because obviously I knew not all the Republicans were going to win. I knew there would still be Republicans. But you know, I wanted it to be so overwhelmingly going the other way that it would at least maybe cause the church to go, maybe we've got to turn somewhere else. That was my hope. And I wanted to be the end of the MAGA movement and all of that. Well, we all know what happened. I stayed up to, what, four or five in the morning. I watched it all. I heard Trump's speech early this morning, all of it. And obviously Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States of America. And I was like, wow. So let me say this, for all of you Trump supporters, for all of you who voted for Donald Trump, congratulations. You've got your man, you've got your party, you've got it all. Congratulations, you won. You voted for the person you wanted to win. Congratulations to all of you, to all Republicans, to all of you who support the MAGA movement. Congratulations, victory, you won. Great. And I mean that. I mean that sincerely. Great and wonderful. Now, don't sit there and say, oh, how dare you not vote for him? We've already talked about that. You can come at me all day and throw me into the 18th level of hell because I did not vote for him. Just remember, I don't vote for anyone because I don't play the little political reindeer games. But that's a whole different story. But congratulations. So what we're gonna do this evening, and I've done this historically through basically all of my ministry, is the day after an election, doesn't matter if it's a Democrat who wins, doesn't matter if it's a Republican, doesn't matter if I agree, doesn't matter if I disagree, what I always try to do the next day, I've done this forever, throughout basically my entire Christian life, If I get the chance to speak the day after an election, I almost inevitably try to turn everyone's attention back to scripture, back to God and say, okay, now all of that political stuff is over. let's get back to this, right? And I try to challenge us and how we should act, how we should not act and try to do the right thing. So I look on one hand, it's good to wake up on November the 6th, 2024, and we don't have chaos, right? We don't have, I mean, it is good because I mean, I think it's pretty much fair to say if Trump would have been losing any of those states, it would be chaos. would be claiming. I mean, he already said yesterday before, while it was going, he was claiming that fraud was already happening in Pennsylvania before the votes were even counted. I mean, he was already claiming there was fraud. So he would already be saying that it's fraud, that the election is rigged and everybody would be saying they stole the election and it would be the same lies and the same chaos that happened before. And, and Christians would be buying into the conspiracy theory and it would just be chaos. But isn't it funny that when he wins, all the fraud just disappeared? Hey, fraud is happening. Oh, I won. No, no fraud, no fraud, no fraud. Now, look, I'm glad that Kamala, I'm glad the Democrats seem not to be going about screaming and yelling that. So I'm glad that we don't have to go through that again. I hope we don't never have to see another January the 6th ever happen. So I'm glad for all of that. And I am, truly. For those of you who really are into politics and you're like, oh, I got to get Trump in. Look, I am happy for you. You got what you wanted. Great. I think you have Republicans now controlling, I think, everything. So you're going to get everything you wanted. And that's great. And we're going to see where it ends. But I think we do need to take a step back tonight and at least consider some things. All right. So here's what I want to do. Trump wins. Trump has won. Nobody should be yelling and screaming about the integrity of the election. We believe it was fair unless there's clear and clear evidence, but no one is challenging it. So he has won. We can get away from all of that yelling and screaming and everyone can just accept that. Now, what do we do? Well, I think in this particular case, I'm going to add something to this. All right? Typically, I would just go into some of my basic points that you're going to probably already be able to guess, but I'm going to do something different. Because, I don't know, 5 in the morning, 5.30 in the morning, I was listening to Night Sounds. That's a famous Christian radio program. I became very acquainted with it early on when I was a teenager. Came on late at night, and I listened to it throughout the 90s. And you can download the night sounds app and they have all of the you know, they have the archives and and all but yeah I'm not gonna sit there and get a whole discussion about the program But I was listening to it and it's for you know, it's a it's a program designed for late night and it was talking about change Changes and how things can dramatically change things can change rapidly they can change drastically And they can just really be, it can be confounding. It can be somewhat confusing. You can be like, what do I do? Great change can be hard to process in your life. Well, if things go the way Trump has claimed they're going to go, a lot's going to change. And it's going to change rapidly. And it could be a little bit overwhelming for all of us. So let's at least consider, and let me make it very clear, possible changes possible. Trump made a lot of outlandish bombastic statements of what he's going to do on day one that I thought would be disturbing to people but obviously that's what most people want because I mean he won he won not only the electoral college I think he won the popular vote I'd have to see the final count for the popular vote. But it looks like that's what the people want. So some of you, you'll be welcoming this change. Other you may be like, what is happening? But there's a lot of possible things to consider. So I just did a little research to find. some of the things, all right? If Donald Trump were to win the 2024 election, now this is something that was put together prior to him winning, so I think we can say now that Donald Trump has won the 2024 election, based on his own statements, here are some of the dramatic changes that may occur over the next four years. So I went to multiple sources that gathered his statements himself and said, okay, here are some of the dramatic changes that could occur. Number one, immigration policies. Trump has promised to restore strict immigration policies, likely intensifying border security and reinstating measures such as the Remain in Mexico policy. He may also seek to implement large scale deportations of undocumented undocumented immigrants. So we could see mass deportations take place if what he said is true. So two sources. I'm going to read from one, then I'll read the second source. There'll be some overlap here. We could see mass deportations. And it could have a profound change and impact on everything. And I don't know how you're going to view that. I don't know. You may be one of the people sitting there celebrating. Get them out! Get them out! You may be celebrating. Others may be like, what is happening? Who knows, but we'll see if mass deportations occur. We'll see. Second, Justice Department and law enforcement. Trump has expressed frustration with the current Justice Department. If elected, he may attempt to restructure federal law enforcement agencies, appoint officials aligned with his policies, and he's also indicated support for enhancing law enforcement power to counter crime. Number three, economic and trade policy. Trump has proposed policies to bring more manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., potentially through new tariffs on imported goods, especially from China. This approach could reshape trade relations and impact global supply chains. Now if he starts putting tariffs, ladies and gentlemen, those tariffs could have profound impact not only on supply chain, You may want to be watching how much things cost because it could have a profound impact on your life. Everybody thinks that maybe now that he's in office, it's going to fix everything. If he goes with this tariffs program, there's plenty of economists out there going, this could be a total disaster. Don't know if that's true or not. We'll have to see. But that's a change you need to be prepared for. social policies in education. Trump has shown interest in regulating school curricula to prevent so-called woke ideology, which may lead to federal level directives in education. It may also support policies that prioritize parental control over educational content. The entire educational system could be just turned upside down. Now, many of you will be like, yes, Okay, well again, change for change. Sometimes you get change and the change is not the change you necessarily thought you were going to get, but change is possibly coming. Foreign policy. Trump has promised a more isolationist approach, potentially reducing US involvement in international conflicts. He may prioritize policies to limit foreign aid and focus on America first and international alliances. So again, you may be for this. could have profound impact on our involvement, which may be good if we reduce the involvement, but it could also create difficulties and problems with maybe some of our allies. There's going to be consequences here, right? Next, judiciary and Supreme Court. Given the opportunity, Trump could appoint more conservative judges at both the federal and Supreme Court level, which could lead to a long-term shift in rulings on issues like abortion, gun rights, and executive power. So we could see some changes in the judicial makeup in our country. climate and environmental policies. Trump has historically prioritized deregulation in the energy sector and has been a skeptic of climate change initiatives. A second term could see a rollback of current climate policies with an emphasis on promoting fossil fuels over renewable energy sources. be a major change there. Healthcare. Trump has discussed dismantling parts of the Affordable Care Act without a comprehensive replacement plan, which may impact healthcare access and insurance coverage for millions of Americans. There could be millions of Americans who are like, wait a minute, what just happened to my health coverage? Now, is that going to be, some of you may say it's good, some of you may say it's bad, but it's gonna be change. I'm not here making a judgment on any of these. What I am simply saying is change could be coming. And sometimes the change isn't the change that you thought and was wanting. We'll have to see, all right? These potential changes would depend heavily on congressional cooperation, as well as legal challenges that could arise from more controversial initiatives. The balance of power in Congress and shifts in public opinion would also play key roles in determining the feasibility of these actions, all right? But there's another article. This one was published at 6.07 this morning. What Trump said he would do on day one if reelected. Former President Donald Trump is set to return to the White House after he was projected to win the presidential race, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. During Trump's third campaign for the presidency, he laid out many of the things he would do on his first day back in office. Here's what Trump said he would do on day one. Number one, be a dictator for the day. Trump raised new alarms last year when he referred to himself as a dictator, but only on day one during a town hall in Iowa. When asked by Fox News Sean Hannity if he was promising that he would never abuse power as retribution against anybody, Trump responded, except for day one. When asked what he meant by that, Trump said, I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. We're closing the border and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. Trump said, after that, I'm not a dictator. So that's a little bit kind of confusing, but okay. So he's going to be a dictator in some way for at least one day. I don't know what that means. It's to me that when you have a president saying he's going to be a dictator for one day, that seems somewhat troubling if you believe in our form of government, but okay. Number two, he's going to fire the special counsel who indicted him. If he returns to the White House, Trump vowed to fire Jack Smith, the special counsel, who has brought two federal cases against him within two seconds. We've got immunity at the Supreme Court, so it's easy. I would fire him within two seconds. He'll be one of the first things addressed," Trump said on a call to the Hugh Hewitt show on October the 24th. Trump has also said he would punish the prosecutors and judges overseeing his multiple criminal cases as he's focused his third presidential campaign on retribution. So, hey, any of those people who supposedly went after him, he's going to go after them. Do we care about law and order? Well, no. People say, it's not law and order. It was political. Well, okay. So if they go after the person you don't like, it's political. But if they were going after someone you didn't like, it would be justice and it would be law and order. You see the inconsistency that can happen here, but okay. So he's going to be a dictator for day one. We don't know exactly what that means. And he's going to basically go after anyone who did anything to him. It's going to be about retribution. It doesn't sound like a positive thing, but okay. Vice President Kamala Harris has honed in on this during her campaign for president, saying at a rally this week, if elected, Trump on day one would walk into the office with an enemies list. When I'm elected, I will walk in with a to-do list on behalf of you. But the people didn't care. People wanted, go on Trump, take your enemies list and go after them. Almost like, For some, they're almost rooting for it like they're watching a sport. We'll see what happens. The next one is very concerning to me. Trump has said one of his first acts, if elected for a second term, would be to free some of the people convicted for their roles in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, whom he continues to claim are wrongfully imprisoned. See, so this, you talk about change. This is turning the entire justice system, the entire legal system. He's just going to turn it upside down. Hey, you stormed the Capitol. Well, I think you were wrongly imprisoned. So I'm going to let you out. That, that to me Man, I just have to, you know what, I'm trying not to make any judgments on them, but that one, I'm just, man, I don't even have words for that. He goes on to say, and I quote, this is Trump, I'm inclined to pardon many of them. I can't say for every single one because a couple of them probably, they got out of control, he said on a social media platform in March when announcing the promise. Trump has repeatedly downplayed the violence that ensued that day, referring to the defendants as J6 hostages calling for their release. As of early October, more than 1,530 individuals have been charged criminally in federal court in connection with January 6, with more than half pleading guilty, according to the Department of Justice. There were approximately 1,000 assaults on police officers during the January 6 riot, according to the DOJ. But hey, if you're assaulting police officers in an effort to overthrow basically a peaceful transition of power, then I guess it's okay. Morality is out the window. Truth is out the window. Who knows? But these are some of the things he's going to be like. Everybody's like, he's going to come in and fix the economy. Well, it's going to take a while because he's got a lot of other things to do first. But all right, here we go. Next. Trump said in campaign video last year he would end the Green New Deal atrocities on day one. The Green New Deal, a public policy initiative to address climate change. It was never signed into law, though. Trump has used the term to generally refer to the Biden administration climate and energy policies like the landmark Inflation Reduction Act. To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. Remember, it was never actually turned into law, but okay. Truth doesn't matter about any of this, all right? will rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act. During a New Jersey rally in May, Trump promised to halt offshore wind energy projects on day one. I'm going to write it out, write out an executive order. It's going to end on day one, Trump said, claiming that wind turbines kills wells. which was later denied by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Again, he just says crazy things, but nobody seems to care. Nobody seems to care. It's okay. He has also revived his Drill, Drill, Baby slogan during the campaign. Or Drill, you know, Drill, Baby, Drill. Trump has said his motivation behind withdrawing from climate initiatives and pushing for continued reliance on oil and gas is driven by economic needs. Mass deportations. With immigration a top issue for voters, Trump has said he's determined to ground up and deport millions of migrants living in the United States without legal permission. He stated again a campaign promise to enact mass deportations on day one during his rally at the Madison Square Garden in New York City last weekend. On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out, he said. I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the blank out of our country as fast as possible. Man, that's, but hey, there's a lot of Christians who are like, yeah, do it, do it. To do so, the former president said he would use local law enforcement and the National Guard to find migrants living across the U.S. Trump has railed against the Biden administration's immigration policy, in part claiming that he has made America less safe, though statistics show that U.S.-born citizens are more than twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes than undocumented immigrants. estimated 11 million people are living in the country without legal immigration status. Just think about that. 11 million people? On day one, he's going to try to mass deport 11 million people? What does that even look like? How does that even take place? What is going to be the cost of that? How does that even work? If feasible, the cost to deport even 1 million undocumented immigrants a year would cost over $88 billion, for a total of $967.9 billion. billion dollars over more than 10 years, according to a new report from the American Immigration Council. It could cost almost 960, around 967 billion dollars to deport all of these people. And we don't even know what that would mean when all these people are gone. What jobs are they leaving? Who's going to fill those jobs? over $900 billion to get, like, these are, you talk about change, these are drastic changes, ladies and gentlemen. This is going to leave, I don't even know how do we even process all of this. Now Trump deviated from his usual anti-immigrant rhetoric when he advocated for automatically giving non-citizens in the US green cards when they graduate from college. So he wants to deport You know, 11 million people. But then at the same time, if you graduate from college and you're here illegally, then you just immediately get a green card. So it's kind of like exactly how that'll work. I don't know. All right. But those are just two sources pulling from Trump's own words. So this is not like people are like, this is what Trump is going to do. This is what Trump has said that what he's going to do. So what does that mean for you and me? Well, again, we could sit here and debate it. I'm not here to debate these steps. Now, I obviously have raised some questions and obviously I've got some grave concerns. And I think any rational person would be like, what is happening right now? But that's okay. That's okay. That's okay. We already know. We make it, I make it very clear. Look, I try not to be political, but I try to, I mean, I think it's very clear. I'm not a Trump supporter. Obviously not. No way. No. Once January the 6th was happened, I'm done. And all the lies about the election. I mean, there's so many, so many things that he has said that is just like too far, too far, but that's okay. And we won't even get into all of the legal issues and things. He's a convicted felon, all the other things that we could get into, but that's irrelevant. I'm not here to debate the issues. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. You take those things. I'm not saying he's going to do any of those. He may not do one of those things. He may have said he is and not do one of them. I don't know. Maybe Trump supporters will be upset if he doesn't do them. I don't know. Or maybe they won't care. Maybe they'll make an excuse. I don't know. But whether, if he does them, if he even does half of them on day one, Radical, dramatic change and upheaval awaits all of our lives and the life of this country. That is what we have to be prepared for. Now, in the face of possible dramatic change and uncertainty, what should we do? How should we act? How should we handle ourselves? So I'm going to say it this way, in the face of these possible dramatic changes, let me state dramatic changes and possible, in face of these possible dramatic changes and uncertainty, what are some scriptural principles and guidelines and how we should react, not only to these changes, but to the election result. Donald Trump is going to be the 47th president of the United States of America, whether you like it or don't like it. Just like Joe Biden became the president, whether you like it or don't like it. Just as Obama became president, whether you like it or don't like it. Because in every election on the Wednesday after, I always say the same thing. This is who is your president. Oh, you can run around saying, not my president. You can do all of that nonsense, but they are your president. They were put there. So, what should be the Christian response? Not what the atheist response, not the agnostic, not the Muslim, not the Buddhist. No, what should be the Christian response based off scripture? Well, number one, are you ready? I say this every four years, and I forget it usually three months, three days, 15 hours after, but it's scriptural. You know what we need to do? We need to pray for our elected officials and leaders. Now, this is what—I always say this. It's such a good principle, but I'm just—I'm trash when it comes to actually doing it. You know what we should do? We should talk to God far more about our elected officials than we do talking about them to other people and complaining about them on social media. If we're really going approach it from a biblical standpoint. You need to spend more time talking to God about talking to God on behalf, interceding, petitioning God for your elected officials, way more than you talk about them. I mean, it's always the key. How much do you talk about your governmental leaders and how much do you pray for them? Because scripture literally says, this is not like something, just some made-up concept, This is one of those times where I think scripture is relatively clear. You can tell me, 1 Timothy 2, I mean, you know the passage, we all know the passage. 1 Timothy 2, verse 1, I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior." It is good and acceptable in the sight of God that you make prayer for everyone, for kings, for all that are in authority. so that we can live a peaceable life. I pray to God, Lord, I pray for my governmental leaders so that I can live a peaceable life. I pray for them. I lift them before you and talk to God. And if you are frustrated about them, or you don't like something, talk to God about it. Stop talking to everyone else. Stop making false accusations, bearing false witness. Stop the gossip, the slander, and the conspiracy theory. Go to God and say, God, here is my concern. I pray for them. And actually pray for them. prayer that demonstrates, I don't know, love? Because even if you view, even like, I'm not a fan of Donald Trump, obviously, right? But if I follow scripture, I'm supposed to love even my enemy, even if I perceive him as an enemy. Well, then do I truly show that love and how I pray and how I talk to God about them? all you Christians who've run around and made fun of Joe Biden and his mental deterioration and mocked him. How much did you pray? Has your words on social media demonstrated that you love even someone you perceive your political enemy? You're literally supposed to love your enemy. How much did you mock? It's just, it's usually Christian men who sit around, you know, talking, oh yeah, well Joe Biden is, and they talk all big and bad and they mock and they make fun and they can't be bothered to be, I don't know, convicted by it and go, wait a minute, guys, we shouldn't be talking about this. We should be praying to God for him. That's what we should be doing right now. We're supposed to be demonstrating that we love even our enemy, and we're not letting people see that we love her. We mock them, we talk about them, we bash them, we call them names, because Christians have been more influenced by political commentary on Fox News or on talk radio or on podcasts than we have from Scripture. You need to be praying, and you should be praying in a way that demonstrates love for your enemy, if you perceive them to be your enemy. And if you perceive that they are a political leader whom you support, then it should be much easier to demonstrate that love for them. But we are to demonstrate love. What better way to demonstrate love than by lifting them up before God day in and day out, and really trying to make it your goal that I'm going to talk to God about them more than I'm going to talk to others about them, or I'm going to talk to God for them or on behalf of them, right? I'm going to intercede for them more than I'm going to complain, grumble, bash, mock, Look, I wish I could say I'm good at this. I'm trash at this. I'm trash. Right? I'm so good at saying it, and then next thing you know, I'm so irritated by it. Regardless of who wins, Christians are called to pray for their leaders, pray for wisdom, guidance, and justice for those in authority, contributes to peace and godliness in society. We want to lead a quiet, peaceable life, not yelling and screaming and griping. And we want to pray for our leaders. Again, even if you disagree, even if you perceive them to be your enemy, this is where you can try to demonstrate love. And it's not for show. You're not doing it for everyone to see. You do it in private. So in light of all these crazy changes that could be coming, that I may disagree greatly with what President Trump may do, I may strongly, I may be greatly bothered by some of this, right? You know what? I have to remember this is a person created in the image of God. And even though I may perceive them to be my enemy ideologically, I need to love my enemy, turn the other cheek, pray for them, and basically live a quiet, quiet and peaceful life. That's what I'm called to do. Number two, respect and submit to the authority. Romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 2, let everyone be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. I got to realize whether I like it, whether I don't like it, God put him in power just like he put Joe Biden. Now you could run around calling Joe Biden every name in the book, mocking and making fun of, God put him there. Blame God for it. And God put Trump there. And I may not like Trump, and I may disagree. God, that's what, we either believe it or we don't. I may not understand it, may be confused, and it's true every time. When your political power gets put in office, when your political power of choice gets put in office, you're like, well, praise God, he put him there. When it's someone you don't like, you're like, Well, I don't have to always submit. We start looking for ways we don't have to submit. But I'm going to read that same passage. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. No, people go in and try to make all kinds of exceptions. Well, wait a minute, if it's a good leader, then we only have to submit a good leader. Well, then how do you define good? Because, I mean, do we need to go through all the things Trump has done? Like, see, we can start, it could just get all twisted. The point is, is our position, we're supposed to approach it with respect and submission. How about 1 Peter 2? 13-17. Submit yourself, for the Lord's sake, to every human authority, whether it be to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to the governors. That's 1 Peter 2, 13-17. Submit yourself, for the Lord's sake, to every human authority, whether it be to the emperor, or the supreme authority, or to the governor. The New Testament emphasizes a posture of respect and submission to governing authorities as an expression of trust in God's sovereignty over leadership. That's 1 Peter 2, 13 through 17. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake. Submission, authority, to authority, respect. 1. Pray for our leaders. 2. Respect and submit to the authority. Romans 13, 1-2. 1 Peter 2, 13-17. We could do far more time looking at the scriptures, but I'm just giving you the basic reference. 3. You and I are called to trust in God's sovereignty in light of chaos, change, whether we like it or don't like it. How about Proverbs? I'm just going to read a number of these. Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a water course wherever he pleases. We trust in God's sovereignty. He's the one controlling it. Now, sometimes it makes no sense, right? Because, well, God is controlling it, but why is this happening? It raises all kinds of philosophical and ethical questions. It makes it very complicated to know what to do. But if God is the one who controls the king's heart, and he directs it in whichever way it goes, I mean, that's something for you to process, and nobody has a lot of good answers. Psalm 146, 3-5, we talked about this, I think, on election day itself. We were going to do a lot more on election day, but the internet was down, so we didn't get a chance to do all that I wanted to do. But here we are, Psalm 146, 3-5. Do not put your trust in princes and human beings who cannot save. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob. Don't put your trust in men. Your trust needs to be in God. The Bible assures believers that God ultimately holds authority over earthly rulers. Trust in God's control can help Christians remain steady, even when leadership doesn't align with their expectations. Trust in God's sovereignty. Next, pursue peace and unity. Matthew 5, 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. Are you going to be one who tries to bring peace, tries to bring some kind of calm in the midst of the chaos? The church should be the source of people finding peace. We shouldn't be adding to it, to the chaos and to the divisiveness that is so present. Romans 12, 18 says, if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Election can create divisions. Election can create divisions, but Christians are called to promote peace and seek unity even among those with differing political views. Do you seek peace with those who hold different political views? But we've seen it from the church. We don't seek peace from those who have different political views. We say they're not saved and they're going to hell. We throw them out of the kingdom of God. Number five, practice humility. and avoid divisive speech. Philippians 2, 3-4, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility, value others above yourself. How about a little bit of humility? How about a little bit of putting other people before you? Ephesians 4, 29, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful to building others up according to their needs. how people talk about politicians, many within the church. It is ungodly. It is corrupt communication coming out of our mouths. Christians are encouraged to respond with humility and avoid inflammatory language that could further divide or hurt others. Number six, how about advocate for justice and compassion? Micah 6.8, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. We need to pursue justice, mercy, and humility. No matter who's in power, you should care about justice. You should care about humility. You should care about mercy. James 1.27, religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows and their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. We need to show mercy, compassion. We need to be there to serve and help others. That's what we do no matter what the political world is doing. Number seven, we need to remember our true citizenship. Philippians 3.20, but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13.14, for there we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for that city that is to come. Christians need to be reminded that while we live under earthly government, our ultimate allegiance is to God's kingdom. The eternal perspective helps keep political concerns in balance. We need to remember this is not our home. We're strangers here. We're pilgrims here. Our citizenship is in heaven. We're looking somewhere else. We got to remember these principles. Number eight, we have to learn to love our neighbor and our enemy. And you can see that in Matthew 22, and I think is it Matthew 5? I think it's Matthew 5. Between Matthew 5 and 7, we have to love even our enemy. Turn the other cheek. We need to be reminded that our focus is loving our enemy and our neighbor. That's what we're called to do. Now, I've got more here, but I'm just going to stop right there. Chaos could be coming. Great change could be coming. It could be insane. I don't care if I was recording this today and it was Kamala Harris, I would be telling us to do the same thing. Pray for our leaders. Talk to God more for them, talk on their behalf, intercede for them, petition for them. Talk to God more for your elected leader, more than you talk about them to other people. 1 Timothy 2, 1 through 2, pray for our leaders. Number two, respect and submit to authority. Romans 13, 1-2, 1 Peter 2, 13-17. Submit to the earthly authority. Submit. Respect. Number three, trust in God's sovereignty. Proverbs 21-1. God is in charge of the king's heart. Psalm 146, do not put your trust in princes, do not put your trust in this, and civil authority, put your trust in God. Number four, pursue peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. If possible, as far as depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Seek peace. 5. Practice humility and avoid divisive speech. Do nothing out of selfish ambition with conceit rather than humility. Put others before yourself. Ephesians 4.29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. 6. Advocate for justice, mercy, and humility. Pursue justice, pursue mercy, pursue humility, compassion. Number seven, remember that your citizenship is in heaven, not here. Remember, this is not your home. You're a pilgrim, you're a stranger here. Stop loving this world and being so preoccupied with here when you were supposed to be focused on somewhere else. Number eight, love your enemy and love your neighbor. No, those are basic. Those are like Christianity 101. Now, I wanna say a lot more. I do, I do, I do, I do. But 47 minutes, some of these other things we're gonna get into, we'll talk a little bit more about them. A lot of these things we may not talk about again until we see what happens, right? Once Donald Trump has his first day in office, if he does the mass deportation, how should you as a Christian look at mass deportations? How should you look at that? There's some clearly theological issues there, right? I mean, that's true constantly. Every day when you look at what's going on in the world, there's theological ramifications and issues in how you should focus on these things. So many times where our theology becomes separate from our worldview, and our theology should be central to our worldview. But here is the biblical mandate of what you're called to do. It doesn't matter who's in power. Democrat. It doesn't matter if it's a conservative. It doesn't matter if it's a Republican. It doesn't matter if it's a communist, for crying out loud. These are the things we're called to do. Our mandate is a scriptural mandate. Now, if you're happy today that Trump won, well, I'm happy for you. I really am. You kind of got what you want. I hope it goes the way you wanted it. I hope you're happy with it. I hope it goes great. I don't know whether it goes great or whether it goes bad. These are the things you're called to do. Right? That's what I know. Me, if you were to ask me, so what do you think is going to happen? I don't know what Trump is going to do. My fear, this is my fear, is that the church now sees power. It sees opportunity. Ooh, we got Republicans, we've got Trump, now we can do it! And that the church is going to become even more political and even seek more to look for politics to impose its ideology, its vision upon the world. And I see the church is only going to become more politically hijacked, not less. I believe the next four years, the church is only going to become more political. I could be wrong, but that's what I see happening. I think the church is going to become more political. It's going to become almost unbearable. I'm hoping I'm wrong. I mean, I so wanted to wake up November the 6th, 2024 and the church is like in complete panic. What do we do? What do we do? There's no Republicans left. Trump lost. The MAGA movement is down. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do? And you can be like, I got an idea. I got right here. I got an idea. I don't know. How about go back being the church, you know, Bible, preaching, teaching. those kinds of things, and stop at the culture wars, and Christian nationalism, and patriotism, and wrapping ourselves in the American flag. Maybe we just get back to being the church and lift up high the cross and proclaim to a world of Christ being crucified for them. How about that? Now, I'm not saying churches have completely abandoned that, but it's been so mixed with politics that at times it's hard to see the cross because we've got that big American flag and that big red hat. and nobody can see the cross. May only get worse. We will see. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but we will see. So for those Trump won, congratulations. We'll see what happens. But guess what? even if you're the most staunch Trump supporter and you're Republican, Republican, Republican, all right? You're patriot, patriot, patriot, patriot. You've got a giant American flag, a big red hat, 14 guns, an NRA sticker. You're all in. Okay, congratulations. But guess what? What I just laid out is what you're still called to do as a Christian. That's what you're supposed to be focused on. And for those who are the opposite politically of all of that, you're the opposite of all of that. You know what? Humbly accept the fact that God has put Trump as our 47th president for whatever reason, and guess what? You're still called to do those exact same things. So if you're a Republican, if you're a Democrat, if you're a Trump supporter, if you're not a Trump supporter, we're all called to do the exact same thing. That's how the church can have unity in the midst of political chaos, because our focus is on the Bible and doing what God calls us to do, not the politics and politicians. Let's pray for the church. Because I believe Christianity is about to become more political. And I'm hoping, I'm hoping I'm wrong. But time will tell. In the meantime, we've got Bibles, we know what we're called to do, that's what we should pursue. Thank you for listening. We'll be talking more soon. I do apologize that I did not get to the microphone until, you know, 7 p.m. on a Wednesday, the day after the election. I wanted to, I wanted around 3 in the morning, 4 in the morning after Trump gave his speech, I wanted to turn on the microphone then, but my, the Internet's been out here for like, It's been a citywide outage, countywide outage. It's been crazy. So yeah, the internet would come on, go back off. It's just been nuts. So finally everything seems to be fixed. So that's why there was a delay. I wanted to get right back and go, hey, but you know what? In some ways I'm glad because my emotions, I mean, I was pretty depressed. I'm going to be honest. I was pretty discouraged. And one, because I just know the politics are going to continue in Christianity. It's never going to end and just, Yeah, I have a hard time with someone who said the most horrible things being put in office and some of the things he wants to do. I just I don't understand it. But you know what? That's the way it works. I mean, that's the thing, right? Trump supporters can't understand me and I can't understand Trump supporters. But you know what? You could be a Trump supporter and I'm not a Trump supporter, but we should be able to open our Bible and focus on what God calls us to do and look at our Bible, not from a political standpoint, but from a theological one. And now you got what you wanted for as Trump supporters, you got it. Now we'll see what happens. We'll see. I'm hoping it's not, I'm hoping a lot of the things he said he's going to do on day one, I hope he doesn't really do them. Right? And if that makes you mad as a Trump supporter, well, then you can get mad at him. But I'm hoping some of those things, because those things would be, whew, I don't even know. I don't even know how any of that works. Right? Yeah, let's spend $987 billion to try to do this, right? And I mean, I don't even understand. Some of those things are just crazy, but all right. All right, thanks for listening. Everyone have a great night. It's the day after, and we just move forward, and we'll see. A lot of times, you know what happens? All the fear and all the worry and all the concern, it never manifests itself. It never really turns into what everyone claims it's going to turn into. I'm hoping his claims don't pan out, and then it'll just be another normal four years, and, well, it'll be good and bad. ups and downs like every other four years. I'm hoping it's not immediate day one chaos. So I'm hoping that what he said he was going to do was just rhetoric and hyperbole. We will see. Time will tell. Time will tell. And well, we know what to do, whether he does it or doesn't do it. Whether it's a normal four years or whether it's just total, utter, it's the worst case scenario, we know what we're called to do. I've laid it out for you scripturally. That's what we're called to do. All right, thanks for listening. God bless.