The Other 6 Days

2024 Election Q & A | The Other 6 Days | Episode 36

• Southwest Church • Season 2 • Episode 36

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In this episode, Pastors CJ McFadden & Ricky Jenkins discuss questions submitted in response to a recent weekend message about the upcoming 2024 election. We knew that our weekend service could not afford the time or appropriate space to attempt to address many of our audiences specific questions or concerns, so this episode is where we will attempt to accomplish that! Our goal will be to answer a variety of audience submissions and help bring a certain level of clarity & insight from a biblically informed perspective. Our hope would be for listeners to discover what it means to show up well as kingdom representatives & how God wants to use US for what He’s doing in these otherwise anxious and troubled times.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Other Six Days podcast, where we chat about life outside of Sundays and what it means to live from our gatherings, and not just for them. I'm your host, cj McFadden, and here, as always, with Pastor Ricky Jenkins, and on this episode we've got a special podcast answering a variety of your questions and submissions. From a recent weekend message titled Making Jesus Famous in an Election Year. Our goal is to help bring clarity at a certain level and insight from a biblically informed perspective, all while keeping in front of us what it means to show up well as kingdom representatives in an otherwise anxious and troubled times. Ricky, anything to add?

Speaker 2:

Jesus, we love you and please just keep our jobs. Lord, we just want you to keep our jobs.

Speaker 1:

In Jesus' name.

Speaker 2:

That's what I'm thinking.

Speaker 1:

Amen, I stand in agreeance with that.

Speaker 2:

Now I'm glad to be here, I'm excited to kind of. There are times and seasons where the old school church would say never. Or the old school pastors would always disciple me and say never preach on something when folks are still mad. And I've always obeyed that, and so even today we're not preaching on anything. But there's also those opportunities where there's so much right now-ness to the issue that people are feeling and people are sensing, and some people are fearful and some people are concerned, and rightly so, and I'm excited about this opportunity we get to just help as much as we can about who Jesus is in this moment that we're in and how we're going to navigate these next few weeks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely yeah. Show up and be with people and what they're feeling and what they're thinking about right now.

Speaker 2:

So that's it.

Speaker 1:

I guess the only appropriate way to really start this podcast off today would be to ask what makes West Wing the greatest TV series of all time.

Speaker 2:

Well, podcast off today would be to ask what makes West Wing the greatest TV series of all time. Well, first of all, it is the greatest TV series of all time. So, listeners, may not know this.

Speaker 2:

So there's only two shows I watch the West Wing and Frasier, and I'll walk through all seven seasons of the West Wing and then I'll go through all 11 seasons of Frasier, and I've been doing that for about 12, 13 years. So I've seen the West Wing at least 10 times, yeah, at least, and so I just what makes it best is that it's the best writing, character development, it's fast, moving episodes. Like Aaron Sorkin, who produced the show, literally said I was OK with you not getting half of it. Really Like there's so much conversation, so many things happening. Wow, that part of his story, the way he told a story, was that he was okay with you not getting some of the story.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

And I think that's a lot like the Bible yeah. You know, there's a lot of things I read where I might got the point. But man, there's something. I can come back to that story next year and so I didn't even see that there the first time. So I think now West Wing ain't the Bible.

Speaker 1:

But it was good storytelling that I just love. Love the show. I love that. That makes sense.

Speaker 2:

Why you come back to multiple episodes, then because you're getting something out of it each time, exactly, exactly right. What's like an iconic moment in there for those thousand and it's hard to pick. It is always hard to pick one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But my favorite is Two Cathedrals and I'm not going to spoil it but, there's just this moment where the star of the show, who's the president, is inside the National Cathedral, all by himself and he's praying because he's at this crux of his presidency in his life and he starts praying. And he's at this crux of his presidency in his life and he starts praying and he's mad at God. Right, and he doesn't understand that he doesn't get to be mad at God. There's a preacher who used to say be careful when you're angry at God. But it's biblical to be angry with God.

Speaker 2:

And the president at first is angry at God, and so he's brilliant, so he's praying and he's mad kind of going off on God in Latin. So there's just this moment where there's just the tension. You're just enthralled in it. But then God convicts him and he finds his help. He was just oh man, no, I did do wrong and I've got to get it right. It's just the best scene. It's not just the best scene of the show, it's the best scene in human dramatic history.

Speaker 1:

I can see why you appreciate that one.

Speaker 2:

Our studio team is like eh, I don't know, that's subjective, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well then maybe we'll go more towards their side. Who would you say is your most favorite presidential impersonator or comedian then? Ooh.

Speaker 2:

There's so many. Probably is it Dana Carvey that did.

Speaker 1:

George Bush Sr. Yes, I think it is Dana Carvey. Did Ross Perot right? Oh, he did. I think he did both of them. Oh yeah, and he did George Bush.

Speaker 2:

So just, like it was. So Dana Carver is an extreme impersonator, so he's not like Jay Pharoah is an impersonator Like Jay Pharoah is sometimes not fun, yeah, because he sounds too much like him. You know what I'm saying. But Dana would find the extreme. Yeah, camp in that, yeah, the idiosyncrasy about you and that was the impersonation. So he would always say, not good, not good. I'm going to be real, real, fair, real fair and like no new taxes, like right now, like he was so funny.

Speaker 1:

So what about you? I like, uh, I'm, I'm always a huge Will Ferrell fan, so his Bush, it was like a pretty hilarious to me. I like that one and then, um, I mean all of them are good from SNL does a great job with all that stuff but uh, tina Fey, Sarah Palin's pretty good, those ones are fun too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they're all good.

Speaker 1:

Well, in an attempt to keep this podcast from becoming multiple episodes or four hours long, I've tried to combine some of our similar connected submissions together as best I could. So our first question was past experiences with my pastor bringing up politics. It has raised concerns for me. So does the church really need to have a role in the political realm? And similarly, someone said voting for either candidate doesn't feel right.

Speaker 2:

Is it really important for every?

Speaker 1:

Christian to vote, or can we just simply opt out? Oh, that's good Wow.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know a few things here. Let's go theological, right and biblical, but really I'm more so meaning theological here. Right? So the nature of God, the study of God, yeah, right, so the nature of God, the study of God, so the word politics is has to do with the study or the the. Anyways, the word politics comes from Paulus, which is the idea of power. So now we're talking about politics, we're talking about the nature of power and the dynamics of power, yeah, right, so what to do with power is the question of politics. So insofar right that on some level the church better be engaged with how power is being managed and distributed. Absolutely, a church has to have something to do with how society is managing power. But here's the nuance. I think, as Christ followers, we need to be political power.

Speaker 2:

But here's the nuance I think, as Christ followers, we need to be political, but the last thing we should be is politicized, and I think the problem with the political arena is that what happens is, while mankind is arguing who's going to be on the throne, they forget that there's already someone on the throne. And if we're not careful we'll kind of delve into that idolatrous trap where we too have copied and pasted the antics of culture. We're way more concerned about who's going to sit on an American throne versus who's already sitting on the kingdom throne.

Speaker 2:

And it's not our job to bow down to the antics of the culture.

Speaker 2:

Tony Evans used to say this that Christians ought to see themselves as referees, and the idea is that here are these opposing sides One represents this team, another represents this team, but there's a third team, wearing black and white, who is called to legislate the rule book of the league.

Speaker 2:

We are referees in the culture, called not to sell out to sides but to understand that we're from headquarters and our calling, our mission, is to legislate another heavenly agenda in the earth. Owning then, right at the same time, this reality and acceptance that not either side fully encapsulates the whole heart of the gospel, that on either side there's evidences of the divine will. Right, you can't not say that right, there's some, maybe more than others, but at the end of the day, right, like no one fully captures the biblical heart of God. And so I think that's always been a safe biblical space for us to understand how we show up in it. It doesn't mean don't be passionate. It doesn't mean don't be political. It doesn't mean doesn't have a party affiliate. I'm not saying that, at the end of the day, there is a higher politics that you and I have been called to legislate in the earth.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what was?

Speaker 2:

the other question, voting for either candidate. Doesn't feel right yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

First, yeah, first of all, I'm. You know I ain't going to say man, but you know I get it and I'm with you there. At the same time, though, this is what I'll say to the person who wants to opt out I'm on the character that they see represented on both sides, they're increasingly thinking about opting out of it.

Speaker 2:

In other words, I don't have much confidence that either of this is going to work out, and a lot of us are feeling that this is what I'll say to that. The weight of history is the reminder of how few human beings in history have had the privilege to weigh in on their political future, and so I just remind us that this American democratic experience and experiment is one of the great gifts that few human beings have ever had a choice to participate in. And I speak even particularly as an African-American who didn't have that right to vote, and I can even say to you my brother, who at one point only landowning Americans could vote and at one point women couldn't vote, and now everyone, 18 and over, gets to go to a ballot box and make a decision.

Speaker 2:

That is a rare, precious gift which, I would say, all of us then have a duty to oblige, even if it's a vote in the wind at the end of the throne or whatever dictator was on the throne, and still figure out how to legislate the kingdom of God in a decision that was not theirs at all. And so we have a privilege. This is a blessing. To be an American, I mean seriously think about this. To be an American, I actually get to have something to say about my political future. I don't know how you can be a Christ follower and not appraise highly this gift from God to have something to do with that decision making. So that's where I go on that my granddaddy's talking now, but like it's bigger than you. You know what I mean and we get to. You know what's the old saying Democracy is what you make of it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know what I mean, yeah, and so we all get the chance to make something of it.

Speaker 1:

So anyway, well, actually you know that speaks to me right now. You know even having wrestled with some of those feelings of you know, hey, what difference does it make? Or you know what, are we you know, and is it important for us to actually vote, or can we opt out? I?

Speaker 1:

think you know, something to say to people is and you just said it is we've been working to. Our country has been working towards that opportunity for all the time that we and right now we have that opportunity, and so to just kind of do away with it, we actually are just saying, you know, whatever, to like what, what we've been working towards. Whether you like where we've landed currently or not, you still have the opportunity to participate. That's what you said. So that is true.

Speaker 2:

It's tough times. I understand what people want. I get that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But when it comes to November 5th and Election Day, we are still among the envy of the world.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I know it's been a bad few years, but we still have this unbelievable gift and moment in history where we actually get to be a part of the decision, and it's just an honor. I remember going to a particular country first mission trip back in 2004, and it was rough and like man didn't take a bath for like 14 days.

Speaker 2:

You know it was rough, you know, but it was for the gospel, for his glory. Praise God. I loved it Would go again tomorrow if I could. God loved it Would go again tomorrow if I could. But, Reverend, when I flew that 26 hours into Atlanta and we got out to go into customs and you're walking down the plane of the steps, I hit my knees and kissed the ground. I kissed it, I kissed the concrete and said thank you, jesus for America. You need to vote.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, whole new appreciation for what you had.

Speaker 2:

That's it, oh man.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, I think one of our other submissions here asked can we claim that either candidate is appointed by God to lead this nation?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'd be careful with that, yeah.

Speaker 1:

At any point in history.

Speaker 2:

by the way, I just be careful with that so if I'm saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, okay, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I don't. I don't know of a lot of presidents in United States history who have articulated their faith in that regard. Most folks listening are saying, yeah, I'm saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. Jesus is the only way to God. I've read a lot of presidential biographies. That ain't a lot of language that has been used. It has been used by some. Thank God, john Adams, lincoln. To some extent express a heart or at least a consideration of the divine right.

Speaker 2:

Various presidents, jimmy Carter of the divine right, various presidents, jimmy Carter all over the place, george Bush, all those folks. But I'd be careful about saying that this is God's person. Now, at the same time, god is sovereignly weaving his will through the nations. But here's the problem with saying that. Here's the problem. Okay, and let's say this, maybe that's the case, okay, biblically, when God puts people on the throne if that's what he does and he does Okay, but God puts boogers on it. So just be careful with that.

Speaker 2:

Because in history God has used evil kings. God has used evil to bring about his will for what?

Speaker 2:

To remind his people of the one true king and his better way of doing things. And so you know, I think we just there's a danger in conflating Americanist ideals with kingdom ideals. There are some that are there, but not all. Jesus is our king. So when God's people wanted a king, god said to them I'm your king. That's what God said to them. But Samuel said but no God. They want a king that they can see and touch and feel God said okay, here's Saul.

Speaker 2:

He's a narcissist. He acts like he loves it. He doesn't. He does this. He does that. He's a pretty good. He fights good fights and all that good stuff. He does that. He's a pretty good. He fights good fights and all that good stuff, and it ended up ruining the people setting up for ruin. So be careful when you make those bold claims. At the end of the day, my prayer is that someone who wins any election is spirit filled and following the Bible, and no matter who wins. That's going to be my prayer for whoever wins, and I hope that be the case. But at the end of the day here's my point let's say there is a spirit-filled person that's full of the word and loves Jesus, it don't stop what I got to do on November 6th and thereafter, and so we can put a spirit-filled, saved person in office, but still have Christians do nothing the next four years. Well, that person will still fail, and so Christians have to do what God has called us to do.

Speaker 1:

So Well, and as you were saying that, I was thinking wow, we're imposing in that. In a way, we're actually imposing what we think God, God should be, onto our ideals. So how he? So? By saying that it's divinely appointed, we're assuming that one side or the other is, you know.

Speaker 2:

So that's, that's a little bit of a mess. Exactly right.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, I think, like you said, he sovereignly allowed whoever's appointed to provide the leadership that he sees fit in this moment to carry out his plan of redemption in the overall world, and that's it, and I think, at the end of the day, what we have to do is understand that, even if that is the case, that that does not negate or diminish our own responsibility to show up for God, to give him glory, and how we live our life and how we steward his majesty in the earth and all those good things. I think? Um, another thing I was thinking can we claim either candidate is appointed by God to lead this nation? I think, cj, that there's a. How do I say it? I think there's. You know, how do I say this? I think there's. You know, how do I say this? I think there's. There could be a president leading the nation. Anyways, I lost my thought. Okay, so we'll have to edit this, yeah, but I lost my thought. But go ahead with what you were about to say.

Speaker 1:

I lost it. Well, in that, same as we're talking about this particular piece and someone being divinely appointed, why haven't you ever talked about who you're voting for and why? Oh man, yeah, thanks.

Speaker 2:

I never have, I never will. Yeah, the first reason CJ is just a conviction of my heart and so, man, I want to respect everybody who's excited about their candidate and involved in organizing because they have policies that they're passionate about and they believe in that candidate. No-transcript Southern Christian. My folks didn't grow up with hope on election day. I remember we had a mock election. I think it was first grade. So this is Reagan.

Speaker 2:

I was so excited about President Reagan because it was just the first president I understood and knew of and I actually have been a fan of his ever since, loved his books and his writings and all this good stuff. But I remember, excited because we had this mock election at school I'll never forget. Coming home, I was like seven, I says Mama, mama, I voted for President Reagan. And then I said hey, mom, who are we voting for? And my mama, it's not right or wrong, it's just how I grew up. My mama said, oh baby, we vote for whoever hurts us the least. That's what she said. So I just didn't grow up with that hope. So I've never been involved like that. So that's the first reason. The second reason is because I literally legally can't Right and so, as a 501c3 organization, we aren't allowed to endorse anyone, and I just don't play with that.

Speaker 2:

I'm not going to get Southwest in trouble. I got to preach to you and we like throwing rocks at donkeys and elephants, so the lamb looks good, and so I just don't even play with that. I like to be able to legislate Jesus to the hearts of our people. Third reason, though, is that, man, I got to respect this office. Yeah, it's a gift, cj, it is a precious gift, and it could be gone in a second. Yeah, I don't want to taint it. Yeah, okay, I love our people.

Speaker 2:

You know, there are some people who think I'm on the left. There's some people who think I'm on the right, and I like that, you know. I just like because my heart is to try to be biblical in all things, right, and so that's kind of where I'm at. So I've just and I've been a pastor for 25 years, and so I know what happens if I get too far out politically. I'm not going to win with somebody, yeah. So at the end of the day, I'm not going to be left enough for you or right enough for you. Are you going to say you know, pastor Ricky is voting for such and such, or you're going to say you know Pastor Ricky is voting for such and such. So that means Southwest is that kind of church.

Speaker 2:

And here's my problem. I want to get Democrats and Republicans saved, so I'm never going to do that. And so me and April just have rules. We never talk about it at home, okay, unless the kids are asleep or going somewhere. So my kids have been asking me they're big enough now. So, dad, who are we voting for? And we just learn to say I'm still praying about it. What do you think I should do? So that's literally what our kids have no idea of our politics, and it's funny because they'll see different commercials, so different ones are voting for different ones because of their personalities.

Speaker 1:

It's just hilarious.

Speaker 2:

And Cam said the other day well, I'm voting for this person because I don't want to pay any more taxes.

Speaker 1:

I'm like boy, you ain't paid a taxi.

Speaker 2:

You know what I'm saying. So, anyways, but that's why I don't do that, because it's not fair to the sheep. You know, I don't want to put another weight on them, I want to serve them. And here's the thing Whoever's winning, cj.

Speaker 1:

I'm praying for them every day, you know.

Speaker 2:

I pray for President Biden every day. I pray for our governor every day. I pray for our governor every day, and I speak of a tradition called Christianity, where our first 400 years, all of the emperors hated us, and in that context, romans 13 is written pray for those who have authority over you. That's where I stand on that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow, I love that there's too much on the line and too many to get in the way of the thing that matters the most. Right, that's right. Oh man, that's it. Well, the next question was we advocate for Christian principles over policies or politics? All the biggest topics of concern right now are the economy, inflation, immigration and abortion across all parties, Many of these mentioned in Scripture. How should we address asylum seekers specifically, and what is the gospel view of political borders? That's so good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's such a fine line, right. It's such a contested issue, especially we in Southern California who kind?

Speaker 2:

of feel that, like the Texans and the Arizonans and all that good stuff, it's, it's, and here's where I kind of land on that Law is the law, you know. And so I think a nation has to do some things to protect itself. I think a nation has to do some things to legislate a sense of order, and I think that there's laws. I do think our laws need to be amended to address the problems that we're seeing and that we're experiencing. I'm all for that, and so this is how I look at it, and it's not a clean break, don't get me wrong. But, man, I think the law is one thing, my wrong, but, man, I think the law is one thing, my Christianity is one thing, and so that's what I mean when I talk about.

Speaker 2:

Be careful, conflating your Americanist ideals with your kingdom ideals. America's not set up to be an individual Christian. Does it make sense? Sometimes we put expectations on America that only Christianity can accomplish, and so I think it's a dangerous thing to muddy the two. I would also say be careful with how you speak about the asylum seeker, the migrant, the immigrant, whatever you want to call that particular community, and talking about what God says, because when you look at what Scripture says about the love we already showed the foreigner. Well, at one point Jesus was an immigrant.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Right. So Jesus was kicked out of wherever he was and was in Egypt for a couple of years and was welcomed there, right, and so like, there's the thing that nations have to do to protect the self, but then there are things that Christians should do, and so when it comes to that, our church has said, okay, we're going to respect the law of the land, but we're also going to more so respect God's law, that we're going to show love to whoever he entrusts to us. So we have a ministry here called Immigrant Hope, where we literally come alongside families who are trying to move forward in the immigration process according to the laws of the land. Little ministry that we have that we're excited about is growing. Pastor Noel is running that and, at the end of the day, what Immigrant Hope allows us to do is to find that space where our people can flesh out the biblical concern for the immigrant and for the asylum seeker and for those people who are trying to move forward legally in the process, so we can be a blessing to them.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, I love that. And let me say this it's hard, that's not that clean, right, it's not that clear a break, but at the end of the day. I would be careful. I would just be careful where my heart stops after my vote is cast on the issue right. And so what I mean by that is man, strong borders and being the law of the land. But that shouldn't stop my heart from being involved to be a blessing to people I encounter in my life.

Speaker 2:

Does that make sense? Oh, absolutely Okay.

Speaker 1:

Am I in?

Speaker 2:

trouble. Am I in trouble?

Speaker 1:

No, no, no, I think you're good. I mean, we'll find out.

Speaker 2:

We will find out.

Speaker 1:

Well, and you see Jesus all throughout scripture. He constantly is talking about these things, and he even talks about defending your faith and other things, but he says do so with gentleness and respect. I think we approach all of this like you said. It's a little muddy, there's not all of it, but we always do so with humility and thoughtfulness rather than arrogance and apathy. Right, so that's how I think you know I love the looking at it and that's how I step into it. I think it'll kind of temper your response.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's good, Um, go ahead. Yeah, I think. I think, like you know the rhetoric we are inundated with social media, the punditry on our news shows and all that kind of stuff everybody's mad yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, and what ends up happening when everybody's mad, everybody's fearful. It makes you mad and it makes you fearful. Yeah, and I think it's okay to be passionate about an issue, but if you saw a real human being at the Ralph's grocery store who's on the other side of the fence of your political convictions, you wouldn't treat them in that moment like you treat the TV screen. Yeah, wouldn't treat them in that moment like you treat the TV screen when you're all riled up and screaming and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1:

So I think there's temperance that needs to be employed in those moments. Right, we're humans. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Humanity for sure. Well, another question is someone submitted was another major concern is regarding the election, is the integrity and the acceptance of the results. Many are concerned that either side will fight to overturn election results, only elongating this whole process and tension. How might we respond as believers?

Speaker 2:

I call us to prayer. I think that this is such a real moment. We always say this election will be the best. You know we always say that about election, but this will be the most consequential one in my lifetime. I've been around 47 years, so no matter what happens on November 5th, it will be consequential. I do not see the election being all tied up and clean by election night.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

I think this goes all the way through the first week of January, and I'm kind of preparing my heart for that and so, but I also see this sense of such magnitude, cj, that I have no idea what I can do about it other than be on my knees in prayer, and I just want to caution our people be careful. If you're more politically involved than you are prayerfully involved, and if you love Christ, and if you're seeing what's going on in our nation, you should be on your knees daily, pleading to the heavens that our God will sustain us during these questionable times, and so I would call us to prayer on that thing. At the same time, though and you know this is not kind of diminishing the urgency of the moment, but I don't have answers for it- other than prayer.

Speaker 2:

So I'm just being honest, but I will say too, contextually and historically speaking, man, christians have been through what we are experiencing only on an aesthetic or cosmetic level. It's just surface right now, but the history of Christianity has been through this so much where kings were worn with one another and you didn't know who your next leader was going to be. So much so that we invented a word to talk about what's happening when these fights are happening. It's the word gospel, it's euangelio, which was the context of a messenger telling someone the good news that the conflict is over.

Speaker 2:

And so the very nature and heritage of what it means to be Christians, to be in the middle of tensions and conflicts, waiting in anticipation for the good news to come through. And we're in that moment again. And so my point is this I know we feel it because this America's kind of first like it ain't never been like this, and I get that and I'm with it. I'm a little scared too, by the way, but I know this. This ain't God's first time and and God knows what's going to happen on the other side of this, and I can trust him and I can have my faith in him, and I know he's got a plan for America.

Speaker 1:

So I'm going to hold on to that.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, I would say prayer, but then trusting that the God, who's been in this stuff before with his people, knows how to be with us today and his people of today.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I like that. I look at it as we have some opportunities either way.

Speaker 2:

On the other, side of election day. Some opportunities either way, on the other side of election day.

Speaker 1:

So I just think like do you know what I mean? One way or another, we have some opportunity and we get to share. We get to be you and Galeon, to share the good news of the gospel continually with people, as we will, you know, in any, any direction that they yeah that.

Speaker 2:

I think that referee metaphor continues to help us right when we are called to be represented as an of headquarters, of heaven's headquarters. And I am praying for peace in the election. I'm praying for clarity. I'm praying that like it used to be in the good old days, you know by the end of the night, we know what's what, and I pray so overwhelmingly clear and fair. There's like all right, god's spoken. Let's get back to being a witness in the earth. That's what I'm thinking.

Speaker 1:

That's what I'm praying for. I love you. I used a pulled your John Maxwell's quote that use. The biggest decision you'll make this year is not who you vote for, but how you'll behave, and so that's a that actually leads into our uh, our last uh, piece how can we ensure that we continue to make Jesus famous in this election year?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um you now I don't know that we're really wrestling with that question and I would. I'm speaking to myself, speaking to our listeners, dear brothers and sisters who are listening, I invite you to begin daily petitioning God's throne, to ask him to give you a heart where your utmost concern in this election season is glorifying him and making him famous. We have right fears, we have right concerns, and that is real, but my prayer is that he'll do something in my soul and in my heart, where my utmost, chiefest concern is Jesus, help me to represent you and to glorify you in the moment that I am.

Speaker 2:

I just want to call us to that. Humbly, very humbly, I want to call us to that. I think sometimes we make so much about the vote and the election and politics and who's who and who's doing what and who's in the White House and all those good things and who's who and who's doing what and who's in the White House and all those good things, but man, god, god's glory and revival can reign, whether there's a Nebuchadnezzar on the throne or Hezekiah you know, and so God's used both good kings and bad kings to usher in his will for the earth, and America's no different.

Speaker 2:

So I just want to call us to that as a pastor. So prayer, I think, is the big deal and I think that, referee, you know you've got the line here invest in the country you're in by representing the kingdom you're from. And I'm just going to say this and I'm going to be careful, cj and if this is bad, you're going to edit it out for me. Let's just not do something stupid.

Speaker 1:

Is that okay, you?

Speaker 2:

know what I mean. Like God, if I trust God, then no matter what's about to happen here, God's going to take care of me.

Speaker 1:

Keep trusting him. God's going to take care of Southwest.

Speaker 2:

God's going to take care of you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I just want to say that I want to honor him in this moment.

Speaker 2:

Here's my point when the pandemic happened and then the last election, I think the church lost a lot of chips in culture because I think everybody in the world was losing their mind and acting a fool like them and a lot of people said, okay, well, christianity didn't have anything to say. My hope in this moment is that the world can look back at us and say, huh, you guys still have some hope, you guys still y'all are loving each other. Huh, you guys aren't worried like we are. What time is service? So that's, I hope we don't lose the chips we lost four years ago. Yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 1:

I love that because I think as Christians, especially when the world's going crazy, the gospel calls us to and we see it all over show up counterintuitive and counterculturally. So when it's going wild and it's on fire, do we get to show up with love and create a space where someone and they say what is going on in? You, that's different than what's going on out there.

Speaker 2:

That's right.

Speaker 1:

And you say let me tell you about where I find my peace and where I find my joy and the trust in the future and the hope that we have. I mean you don't get to point people to that unless you showcase it. And so I just pray. That would be. My prayer is that people can remember that, and that's where we find that we don't live in fear and anger. And then you know we trust in God.

Speaker 2:

Well, listen to this ethic to bring to bear upon your words. The whole of the New Testament was written by authors who were living in a context of evil kings. So, matthew, mark, luke, john, acts, romans, 1st, 2nd, corinthians, and all through Revelation, paul would not have understood what it means to have a saved president. He just had no context for it. John, luke, jude, james, list goes on and on.

Speaker 2:

Push that into the first couple of hundred years of church history, where the fathers are piecing together the fragments that we might have the New Testament today and the councils where we were codifying doctrine and answering the question who is Christ? Answering the question who is Christ? None of them would have had any semblance of understanding what it's like to have someone in the political seat of power who is favorable towards Christianity.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, looking out for their good.

Speaker 2:

Right Now. Hey, I hope a Christian wins, and that's all I'm going to say. Yeah, Okay, but the context of my faith was written in another, which means that's why I can so easily say we've been here before. Yeah and God knows what he's doing. Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 1:

Anyways, wow, no good stuff. Well, and I would. I would. I'd like to add I do think it's a good practice because I love when you're talking to your kids about this stuff and you're getting to laugh and enjoy. Some of you know and it's you know they don't know enough about it to know any better, but that is, you are creating a safe and comfortable space for them to have these conversations and healthy conversations, and I think we might need to embrace making ourselves a little uncomfortable and making uncomfortable more common.

Speaker 2:

And I talked about that a little bit before.

Speaker 1:

I just think it helps us develop empathy and understanding when we can recognize that our true comfort comes only from our dependence on Christ. And if we can somehow inject that into the conversations that we're having, even if they make us uncomfortable. I'm going to lay down some of my rights and my comfort so that I might step into a space where I can have a conversation that might not be had somewhere else. I would love to be able to do that and I would love to pray that for others.

Speaker 2:

I was with a as in the airport the other day, is on a layover in Dallas and it's taking forever and they're fixing something on the plane and they're making announcements, and you know, delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed. And I'm talking with a person who had no problem communicating with me that he was a gay man and he is married to a man, they have three kids, he's a musician, and we're just talking having a good old time getting to know each other and he said so what are you doing? I was like I'm a pastor and you know, and I'm just, I'm just saying he's going to ask me what our position is. I don't know. Okay, it's coming, let me love him as great as I can because it's coming and it never.

Speaker 2:

That moment never came, and so it just ended up being friendly exchange. But I remember the spirit, just saying this is how you do this, by the way, you love them so well to where, when your positions end up being different, that they have to look at your position through your posture of having loved them. And I felt like, oh Lord, was that a practice run? And I'm sure the Lord said yeah, buddy next month is going to be a booger.

Speaker 2:

I want to echo what you said and getting in different spaces right, Because that's the only way the gospel goes forward. So I'm not supposed to witness to people who already agree with me.

Speaker 1:

Amen. Yeah, it's easy. Anyway, that'll preach. Well, we always want to make sure we provide people with helpful resources as well. What are some things that you would like to point people to that they might find beneficial? I know we're going to include some stuff from you from our weekends as well, as you know, so maybe we'll do an election prayer guide in here, I believe.

Speaker 2:

Anything else, yeah well, you know, for those who want to nerd out, our church has position papers on various issues, and we have one on politics, and so if you want to know what our elders right have just kind of codified it, this is how God has called this church to show up politically according to scripture. Right, we have that as a resource for you as well. A little bit of a note about immigrant hope. We talked about that as well, and so, yeah, just get involved, get, get sunken too. But here this is. If you didn't hear none of what we said, hear this Southwest is for Jesus Christ and his word, and that's where we're going to be.

Speaker 2:

That's where we're going to stay period point, point blank, and before I take it back, I'll add more to it.

Speaker 1:

We'll include a link to your favorite YouVersion Bible or whatever. We have the Word of God. Well, as always, we want your questions, comments and feedback, so leave a comment on YouTube. Actually don't do that for this one.

Speaker 2:

We're going to turn comments off. There you go, but Actually don't do that for this one. We're going to turn comments off.

Speaker 1:

There you go, but if you're listening, email us Always. Feel free to email us at the other six days at southwestchurchcom, the number six. We'd love to hear from you guys. We do want to hear what you guys are going through, how you guys feel and how we can show up and show up well for you guys as we go through this together. Any last comments before we wrap this up Ricky, God. Before we wrap this up, Ricky.

Speaker 2:

God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her.

Speaker 1:

That is our prayer in this season Amen. Well, there you have it, guys. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Other Six Days podcast. Be sure to hit that subscribe, follow, share and like and spread the word and, as always, take what you've heard and turn it into something you can do to further the gospel in the world around you. Until next time, Peace.