US Presidential Election Special

well let me take a big U View and then a more restricted view first of all we should care about our nation that is biblical if you look at the Old Testament uh the Psalms say told Israel pray for the Peace of Jerusalem uh even when the Israelites are in Exile in Jeremiah 29 it said to pray for the Peace of the city where you are peace in Hebrew Shalom uh means wholeness Health much more than just a peaceful relationships but the preservation health and well-being of the community so we should care about the community the city the country that we're a part of and we do find examples in both Testaments of people who are godly people who are involved in secular even Pagan governments so you have Joseph you have Daniel Shadrach meac Abednego you have Esther in the New Testament uh you had the Roman dictatorship the Roman Empire uh oversaw the tiny nation of Israel or Palestine and so people didn't have the same kind of Rights we have to participate in the government couldn't vote things like that but still you see people like IUS in Acts chap 10 who was a Roman Captain you see the en Ethiopian unic in Acts 8 who was a treasurer of his Nation you see erastus in First Corinthians uh in Romans 16 who was actually a the city treasurer or some translations say the director of public works for the city of coret the prominent City you find Paul as a Roman citizen uh expecting that uh when he was arrested and put on trial that he he invoked his rights as a citizen uh and Paul himself inspired by God in Romans 13 said we are to be good citizens pay our taxes obey lawful government Etc uh First Peter chapter 2 the Apostle Peter likewise said both of them say pray for our leaders um pray for peace and safety pray that they do the job that God has intended for government to do cooperate with them when they do this honor them support them it doesn't mean we support rulers and wrongdoing but it's talk about the principle of government so with all these principles in place if we're supposed to be praying for our leaders supporting our leaders when they do their job well in a nation such as ours where we have the right to vote to select our leaders it seems obvious we should exert that right we should participate uh so I think a strong case can be made that Christians should be good citizens and as part of being good citizens we should EX excise the right to vote we should have it try to have whatever influence we have can have at every level to promote um not all leaders are going to be Godly but there can be biblical values or values of health safety security freedom of religion which is very important to us freedom to preach the gospel security and safety of society so the church can operate effectively all these things are directly important to the church and even more broadly to the well-being of society so absolutely we should pray and we should vote I saw that uh a statistic that cons about conservative Christians in America that in the last major election only 60% voted if 80% voted it would change the outcome of many elections even in places like you say the it seems to be a foregone conclusion but even in places where it might seem to be a forgo conclusion there there's several reasons why Christians should still vote first of all we're not only talking about a national election but elections at every level and you could still even if your preferred candidate doesn't win on a national or state level there may be other races that are affected there may be uh other propositions or referendums that could be affected and also just having a strong presence even if it's not a majority it still is a check on on the unrestrained Ambitions of politicians to realize well I might have won but I won by 51% or 55% uh I've got to be careful and I I still have to listen to my constituents so I think for many practical reasons we should vote and and of course we should vote as as a church we don't promote political candidates or political parties and the reason for that is first and foremost our mission is to preach the gospel it's evangelism and discipleship so we don't want anyone to feel that I could not belong to that church if I don't uh have a certain political position we want everyone to feel welcome to come everyone to feel welcome to become a part of the church and so on we do believe that as Christians Christian teaching and discipleship will start influencing their values and therefore indirectly there will be an influence on some of their political choices but our goal is not political our goal is uh the kingdom of God and so we don't want to be distracted from that however I do think we need to be part of that process process so I do believe every Christian citizen should vote it's it's it's a responsibility I feel and something God wants us to do uh others will feel led to be more involved and I think as individual Christians we can be involved in political campaigns some will hold political office and I think that's that's acceptable if you feel that's what God has called you to do we do have an organization that the upci has endorsed called The nacc National Apostolic Christian leadership conference it has a website NAC lc.org we did put a non-partisan voting guide so you can see what the positions are of the major candidates the nacc also goes far beyond just elections but we monitor State and National legislation particularly things that could would be of interest to us freedom of religion uh freedom for our institutions such as Tupelo Children's Mansion to operate without uh government um excessive regulation we we want to operate in a you know an acceptable way of course at the highest standards but we don't want secular rules such as transgenderism and homosexual rights to be forced on us for children's homes and for adoption and things like that so legislation that would um we we want to monitor things we want to protect and we monitor lawsuits and we join as what was called Friend of the Court where we join our names to certain lawsuits to protect parental rights especially when there's attempted uh transgender transitions of minors there needs to be parental notification parental consent in fact we don't believe it's appropriate to perform surgery upon miners of of a life-altering nature and so we're monitoring those kind of issues that to us are freedom of religion freedom of per the home parents responsible Parenthood and so forth so there's a lot more than just voting but certainly who you vote for can drastically affect that at various levels so whether you're talking about the presidency and vice presidency or the senate or the Congress or state legislature having people in various positions that support our values or at least will listen to us and are open to a reasonable explanation of why certain things should or should not happen I think I think it's vitally important and we should do everything we can uh to emphasize the the the issues that are important to us as Christians

well at the end of the day our trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ so actually no matter who wins we're going to forge straight ahead it's not going to change anything we do in the sense we're going to preach the gospel we're trying to win souls we're trying to disciple people we're going to establish the church so if our if someone you wanted to win does win that doesn't mean you're in Utopia okay your expectations to be very realistic and and lowered because you're still going to have to be vigilant because these issues that I mentioned the secular culture is pressing them on everyone on every political party and so we even if the candidate you choose wins that doesn't mean that you don't have to be concerned about these issues you still must be concerned on the other hand if you're candidate loses don't give up because ultimately our hope is not in politicians our hope is in Jesus Christ and the Lord will help us and one way the other we'll face the issues as they come and we'll pray for victory and we'll pray for God to help us and we'll just keep forging straight ahead and not be deterred so yes our job could maybe be easier or harder but at the end of the day our our job doesn't change and our faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately we're not going to have a perfect government until Jesus Christ sets up his kingdom on Earth in the Millennium and so until that time we are going to deal with imperfections and frustrations and disappointments but thankfully we can have hope in the gospel and the church is the answer in every Community