WEBVTT 00:00:03.927 --> 00:00:05.089 Can we talk about politics? 00:00:05.089 --> 00:00:10.106 You should see your faces right now. 00:00:10.106 --> 00:00:10.821 That's funny. 00:00:10.821 --> 00:00:19.387 Some of you are like, oh no, we have to, and some of you are like, yeah, it's about time. 00:00:19.387 --> 00:00:23.268 And you're wanting me to say what you want said. 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:29.586 I know you are, but it's a very serious subject. 00:00:29.586 --> 00:00:33.389 It's very serious to God, so I'm going to treat it as a serious subject. 00:00:33.389 --> 00:00:43.109 I'm not going to give you any of the trit little humor that goes along with politics, like I'm not going to say things like politics. 00:00:43.109 --> 00:00:50.348 The word comes from two words poly, meaning many, and tics, meaning bloodsucking parasites. 00:00:50.348 --> 00:00:51.789 I'm not going to say that. 00:00:51.789 --> 00:01:08.563 I'm not going to say it so, and I'm not going to tell you that the only accurate statistic on the last several presidential elections has been this one 100% of Americans think that 50% of Americans have completely lost their mind. 00:01:08.563 --> 00:01:11.668 That is accurate. 00:01:11.668 --> 00:01:13.322 That is accurate. 00:01:13.322 --> 00:01:24.750 But I'm not going to say that because this is a serious subject but sometimes, honestly, it leaves a bad taste in our mouth. 00:01:24.750 --> 00:01:29.867 Right, for some reason, we see it argued on the media. 00:01:29.867 --> 00:01:31.903 But it's very important to God. 00:01:31.903 --> 00:01:46.066 But politics is just simply the actions that are connected to the governing of a nation or of nations together, between countries, especially involving debates and compromise. 00:01:46.066 --> 00:01:53.245 That's what it actually is, and so it's really the art of getting along and moving forward Doesn't feel that way, does it? 00:01:53.245 --> 00:01:56.504 But that's what it is Getting along and moving forward. 00:01:56.504 --> 00:01:59.307 But how are we supposed to think about it? 00:01:59.307 --> 00:02:08.848 You really can't think about how we are to approach the subject unless you see yourself in the middle of bigger stories. 00:02:08.848 --> 00:02:18.090 And as Christians, christ followers and as Americans, we find ourselves right in the middle of two big stories. 00:02:18.090 --> 00:02:20.787 One story is a bigger story. 00:02:20.787 --> 00:02:22.245 It's a grand story. 00:02:22.245 --> 00:02:34.889 It's the story of the kingdom of God, and there is a king in that kingdom and he is Lord of all, as we've already heard this morning that the reign that he has will have no end. 00:02:34.889 --> 00:02:41.587 It's a capital K kingdom, and then there's a lowercase K kingdom. 00:02:41.587 --> 00:02:45.330 That's our political context that we live in right now. 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:49.490 But we find ourselves right in the middle of both of these stories. 00:02:49.490 --> 00:02:53.789 So how do we think, like Jesus, in the middle of both of these stories? 00:02:53.789 --> 00:02:55.405 Glad you asked that question. 00:02:56.020 --> 00:02:57.627 Turn to Matthew, chapter 22. 00:02:57.627 --> 00:03:01.069 We'll find out, because we have Jesus' words on the topic here. 00:03:01.069 --> 00:03:03.301 Ok, matthew 22,. 00:03:03.301 --> 00:03:04.626 We'll start at verse 15. 00:03:04.626 --> 00:03:12.707 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him, jesus, in his words. 00:03:12.707 --> 00:03:18.705 Ok, we see the motive immediately, right, ok, and they sent their disciples. 00:03:18.705 --> 00:03:37.388 They didn't even go themselves, they sent their disciples along with the Herodians, saying teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not assuade by appearances. 00:03:37.388 --> 00:03:42.048 Tell us then what you think. 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:45.889 Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? 00:03:45.889 --> 00:03:48.838 I can't kind of hear them voice change right there, or not? 00:03:48.838 --> 00:03:56.825 The Jesus, aware of their malice, said why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 00:03:56.825 --> 00:03:59.626 Show me the coin for the tax. 00:03:59.626 --> 00:04:04.810 And they brought him into an area and Jesus said to them who's likeness and inscription is this? 00:04:04.810 --> 00:04:07.126 They said Caesars. 00:04:07.126 --> 00:04:16.505 Then he said to them, therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God's. 00:04:16.505 --> 00:04:25.002 And when they heard it, they marveled and they left him and they went away. 00:04:25.002 --> 00:04:31.204 Mic drop, beautiful Jesus. 00:04:31.204 --> 00:04:32.427 Mic drop moment. 00:04:32.427 --> 00:04:33.529 I love those things. 00:04:33.529 --> 00:04:34.031 They're great. 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:35.142 Observations. 00:04:35.142 --> 00:04:40.591 Number one it was a plot to entangle Jesus in his words. 00:04:40.591 --> 00:04:48.043 These people had evil motives and they were just trying to argue and they were pitting themselves against Jesus, us against them. 00:04:48.043 --> 00:04:53.322 That kind of feels like the political conversation these days right. 00:04:53.322 --> 00:04:59.067 It's us versus them, and us is 100% right and they are the devil. 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:09.509 It's a mixture of bad religious people and bad political people going together to Jesus here. 00:05:09.509 --> 00:05:23.889 That's what's going on, because the Herodians were the sect of Hellenistic Jews and their hero was Herod, and they wanted somebody from Herod's family, this dynasty of Herod, to be on the throne of Judea. 00:05:23.889 --> 00:05:24.651 That's what they wanted. 00:05:24.651 --> 00:05:32.404 Now the Pharisees wanted the Messiah, whoever that was going to be the son of David, to sit on the throne of David. 00:05:32.404 --> 00:05:47.968 Both were against Jesus, both were trying desperately to cling to what power they thought they had, and Jesus had a message for both of them, the political people and the religious people. 00:05:47.968 --> 00:06:00.661 He had a message Some things belong to Caesar, some things belong to God, and you need to figure that out, mic drop. 00:06:00.661 --> 00:06:02.281 That's it. 00:06:03.620 --> 00:06:07.762 So we kind of think sometimes our political environment is our. 00:06:07.762 --> 00:06:10.470 The climate here is just like the worst, right? 00:06:10.470 --> 00:06:12.867 Everything is so terrible and there's so much division. 00:06:12.867 --> 00:06:13.562 It's just this. 00:06:13.562 --> 00:06:25.511 You know it's never been worse than it is now, but I'm just telling you that's not true, because in Jesus's day, in first century Palestine, it was just as bad, probably worse than it is now. 00:06:25.550 --> 00:06:29.869 Right, because you did have the Pharisees and you did have the Herodians, but that's not all. 00:06:29.869 --> 00:06:37.428 You had the Sadducees, ok, so the Sadducees were these political compromisers and they were disguised as temple priests. 00:06:37.428 --> 00:06:41.728 Basically, they were the landlords, or you could say the holders, the keepers of the temple. 00:06:41.728 --> 00:06:45.490 But they were aligned with the Roman government. 00:06:45.490 --> 00:06:47.747 They were aligned with the worldly system. 00:06:47.747 --> 00:06:50.786 Ok, so there was this mixture. 00:06:50.786 --> 00:06:55.047 It's a terrible mixture, right, and their hope was in a political system. 00:06:55.047 --> 00:07:03.367 And I see them as woke church leaders that are in bed with this world's perversions. 00:07:03.367 --> 00:07:07.769 That's what I see Church people who are aligning with woke policies. 00:07:07.769 --> 00:07:09.144 That's what I see, the Sadducees. 00:07:09.144 --> 00:07:20.382 And you understand, when you align yourself with politics and political sides, truth gets pushed down or gets redefined or gets undiscoverable. 00:07:20.382 --> 00:07:27.670 Right, truth can be smothered or it can even be extinguished when you align with political sides. 00:07:27.670 --> 00:07:30.802 But we're not like the Sadducees, we're different. 00:07:30.802 --> 00:07:35.110 Our hope is not in alignment with a political system. 00:07:35.110 --> 00:07:37.627 Our hope is in an unshakable kingdom. 00:07:37.627 --> 00:07:39.884 It's in the capital K kingdom. 00:07:39.884 --> 00:07:43.862 Ok, this is where our hope is, not in the small K. 00:07:45.468 --> 00:07:46.451 Then there were the Essians. 00:07:46.451 --> 00:07:50.627 The Essians were sort of like Pharisees, but they were like Pharisees on steroids. 00:07:50.627 --> 00:07:56.548 They were like the Pharisees that actually thought the Pharisees were lukewarm. 00:07:56.548 --> 00:07:58.567 The Essians were serious. 00:07:58.567 --> 00:08:04.786 They actually completely removed themselves from the culture and they lived in caves. 00:08:04.786 --> 00:08:07.007 That's where the Dead Sea Scrolls came from. 00:08:07.007 --> 00:08:11.949 They were ridden by Essians, and these Essians were like separatists. 00:08:11.949 --> 00:08:21.648 Their hope was in this cataclysmic ending, that God was going to come back somehow and right every wrong, and we're going to stay away from society until that happens. 00:08:21.648 --> 00:08:27.512 So they were preppers, that's it. 00:08:27.512 --> 00:08:31.387 They were just preppers, preppers waiting for a cataclysmic end. 00:08:31.387 --> 00:08:33.005 They were preppers waiting for the rapture. 00:08:33.005 --> 00:08:34.121 Let's put it that way. 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:37.605 But we're not like Essians. 00:08:37.605 --> 00:08:38.162 That's not us. 00:08:38.162 --> 00:08:42.525 We do not separate ourselves from this world and wait for judgment of God. 00:08:42.525 --> 00:08:44.927 We rather we shine. 00:08:44.927 --> 00:08:46.845 We bring hope into this world. 00:08:46.845 --> 00:08:49.804 We offer hope to those around us. 00:08:49.804 --> 00:09:02.423 Hoping for tomorrow is not a bad thing, but hoping for tomorrow doesn't mean you quit living today, because we're here right now and we're light right now. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:05.104 And then you have the zealots. 00:09:05.104 --> 00:09:10.628 They're even more radical, but they were on the political side of radicalism. 00:09:10.628 --> 00:09:12.384 They're radical extremists. 00:09:12.384 --> 00:09:14.927 They're going to bring the kingdom by force. 00:09:14.927 --> 00:09:16.725 So they're not just prepping. 00:09:16.725 --> 00:09:17.783 They're prepping in a different way. 00:09:17.783 --> 00:09:32.587 They're buying ammunition and they believe if they fought Roman occupation and tyranny then God would bring his kingdom in, but they're going to do it through the power of their arm. 00:09:32.587 --> 00:09:36.330 They're going to do it through this military might. 00:09:36.330 --> 00:09:37.082 So that's their hope. 00:09:37.082 --> 00:09:40.509 Their idea of a messiah was a military messiah. 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:41.724 Ok, we're not like zealots. 00:09:41.724 --> 00:09:43.769 Ok, that's not who that's. 00:09:43.769 --> 00:09:45.285 We don't hope in our own strength. 00:09:45.285 --> 00:09:51.609 We don't look for some political figure who's going to right all of our societal wrongs. 00:09:51.609 --> 00:09:52.731 I don't know. 00:09:52.731 --> 00:09:56.604 Some of us are old enough to understand that ain't going to happen. 00:09:56.604 --> 00:10:06.725 We've been through enough election cycles and heard enough promises to realize our hope isn't coming through a man, right, it's simply not going to happen. 00:10:06.725 --> 00:10:08.085 Our hope isn't God himself. 00:10:08.085 --> 00:10:16.361 So we have all this mess of a political climate there in first century Palestine and then. 00:10:16.481 --> 00:10:22.792 But if you put all those people together, it might be maybe 5%, maybe 7% of the total population. 00:10:22.792 --> 00:10:28.206 You have the other 90% to 95% of people who are just common people. 00:10:28.206 --> 00:10:32.566 So historians gave them a name Amha Aritz. 00:10:32.566 --> 00:10:38.030 Amha Aritz means people of the land, people of the ground. 00:10:38.030 --> 00:10:40.625 They're just common people. 00:10:40.625 --> 00:10:41.764 They're just trying to live. 00:10:41.940 --> 00:11:04.047 I mean menial jobs, trying to survive, trying to eat the next day, right, and the Essins condemned them and the zealots tried to recruit them and the Sadducees hardly even noticed them, but those were the ones that flocked to Jesus. 00:11:04.047 --> 00:11:07.427 They flocked to His message of hope. 00:11:07.427 --> 00:11:11.008 In fact, jesus himself was one of them. 00:11:11.008 --> 00:11:14.784 He wasn't one of those other political party. 00:11:14.784 --> 00:11:21.626 Interestingly, he chose people from some of those political parties to be in his 12. 00:11:21.626 --> 00:11:24.522 There's a lesson. 00:11:24.522 --> 00:11:28.004 But he wasn't one of them. 00:11:28.004 --> 00:11:29.445 He was one of the common people. 00:11:29.445 --> 00:11:34.010 And these are the ones who flocked to His message of hope. 00:11:34.010 --> 00:11:41.062 And His hope was in the good news that he was preaching of another kingdom that was coming into this kingdom. 00:11:42.907 --> 00:11:48.976 So I don't have to be separated from God by a system of laws or traditions of man. 00:11:48.976 --> 00:11:51.828 That's good news. 00:11:51.828 --> 00:12:11.538 Acceptance and restoration and even relationship with God is available, and God is setting up a new kingdom through the work of His Son, a new covenant by which we can approach Him and know Him, not through our own works but through the work of His very Son. 00:12:11.538 --> 00:12:12.508 This is good news. 00:12:12.508 --> 00:12:14.149 This is the hope that they found. 00:12:14.884 --> 00:12:34.134 So if we could summarize this render to Caesar and render to God thing, I would say it this way we cannot put our trust fully in the form of government that we live under, thinking that deliverance is going to come from government deliverance for our social or economic or spiritual problems is going to come solely from government. 00:12:34.134 --> 00:12:36.071 We can't set government up as our idol. 00:12:36.071 --> 00:12:52.115 We have to render unto God, but we cannot neglect being salt and light and allowing the influence of the greater kingdom to break into this lesser kingdom that we're a part of as well. 00:12:52.115 --> 00:13:00.538 We cannot abdicate our God-given responsibility to be active in the context to which we replaced. 00:13:00.538 --> 00:13:06.595 We were born at this time, in this country, under this political system. 00:13:06.595 --> 00:13:11.692 Here we are, here we are. 00:13:11.692 --> 00:13:18.455 We have to steward both responsibilities to God and to Caesar, and we need to be salt and light in every layer of society. 00:13:18.455 --> 00:13:25.875 We need to represent Jesus, we need to speak for righteousness and justice and love everywhere. 00:13:25.875 --> 00:13:28.690 We have to render to Caesar. 00:13:28.690 --> 00:13:30.871 We have to do both. 00:13:30.871 --> 00:13:44.436 So what I'm saying is there is an earthly kingdom and we are participants in this kingdom, but there's a greater kingdom, the kingdom of God, to which our greater allegiance goes. 00:13:44.436 --> 00:13:52.134 But part of being true to that greater kingdom is full participation in this lesser kingdom. 00:13:52.134 --> 00:13:56.009 You see, this is part of it. 00:13:56.009 --> 00:13:59.192 So what does it mean to render unto Caesar? 00:13:59.192 --> 00:14:03.249 That's really what we're talking about today In the context of the big kingdom. 00:14:03.249 --> 00:14:04.913 How do we render to Caesar. 00:14:04.913 --> 00:14:07.191 How do we perform our civic duty? 00:14:07.424 --> 00:14:14.133 So let's talk about politics, and we've been talking about some hard issues the last few weeks, and so we've been approaching it three different ways. 00:14:14.133 --> 00:14:15.394 What does culture say? 00:14:15.394 --> 00:14:18.830 What does God say, and how should we speak about it? 00:14:18.830 --> 00:14:22.355 So let's think about what culture says about politics. 00:14:22.355 --> 00:14:31.732 Well, culture often tells us that we need to choose a side, and then we see all the other opposing parties as the enemy. 00:14:31.732 --> 00:14:36.392 That's what our media culture it's really like. 00:14:36.392 --> 00:14:38.157 It seems like that's what we're talking about. 00:14:38.157 --> 00:14:40.933 That's the function of media right now. 00:14:40.933 --> 00:14:44.272 Whatever side you're on doesn't matter if you're left or right, I don't care. 00:14:44.272 --> 00:14:48.509 We don't debate anymore. 00:14:48.509 --> 00:14:58.534 There is such thing as conversation, guys, you know where we actually talk and we actually work toward things, but we don't debate anymore. 00:14:58.534 --> 00:15:05.871 We just demonize, we just call people names or at least our media does, let's say it that way. 00:15:05.884 --> 00:15:14.693 And we have leaders in our political system and in the media that are contentious, and both sides are involved in this contentiousness. 00:15:14.693 --> 00:15:22.875 They are polarizing, both sides have polarizing people, and the thing is there's a danger of that spirit. 00:15:22.875 --> 00:15:40.226 I think it's a demonic spirit of division in our country, but the problem is, if we're not careful, that demonic spirit that filters into our hearts and suddenly we find ourselves being the dividers not the peacemakers, but the dividers. 00:15:40.226 --> 00:15:45.211 And while we hold to truth, we do hold to truth. 00:15:45.211 --> 00:15:51.595 There is a time to hate what God hates and love what God loves. 00:15:51.595 --> 00:15:58.376 It doesn't matter if majority of the country believes abortion is right. 00:15:58.376 --> 00:16:01.870 It's not, and we're going to stand for righteousness. 00:16:01.870 --> 00:16:02.692 That's the way it is. 00:16:02.692 --> 00:16:03.734 Okay, we're going to do that. 00:16:03.734 --> 00:16:08.293 We hold this truth, but we have to hold this truth in the spirit of Jesus. 00:16:08.293 --> 00:16:14.014 We have to resist that divisiveness, right? 00:16:14.014 --> 00:16:20.676 I mean, jesus rode on a donkey once, but that was not a political statement. 00:16:20.676 --> 00:16:30.278 Okay, the kingdom of God does not ride on the backs of donkeys or elephants. 00:16:30.278 --> 00:16:32.408 Okay, he doesn't need it. 00:16:32.408 --> 00:16:34.514 That's not necessary, okay. 00:16:34.684 --> 00:16:44.009 So the non-Christian culture often uses politics for selfish gain and for control and for power, and we all understand that. 00:16:44.009 --> 00:16:44.546 Right, we see it. 00:16:44.546 --> 00:16:46.710 Not everybody is like that. 00:16:46.710 --> 00:16:50.572 Not everybody in politics is that way, but often it's that way. 00:16:50.572 --> 00:16:55.475 The Christian culture has kind of two views. 00:16:55.475 --> 00:17:02.272 Either let's use politics for the advancement of an agenda or let's just stay out of it all together, it's a mess. 00:17:02.272 --> 00:17:06.529 Let's be Essians, right, let's hide in the caves? 00:17:06.529 --> 00:17:10.809 Okay, all right, but what does God say? 00:17:10.809 --> 00:17:12.523 What does God say? 00:17:12.523 --> 00:17:19.647 God says we have a duty both to the greater kingdom of God and to the political context in which we live. 00:17:19.647 --> 00:17:23.633 So are you guys good with scripture? 00:17:23.633 --> 00:17:24.809 You like scripture a lot? 00:17:24.809 --> 00:17:29.894 Because we're going to have scripture Quite a few scriptures here and we're going to go through them kind of quickly. 00:17:29.894 --> 00:17:37.614 Okay, because we want to look at the New Testament to see what is our position in this greater kingdom and is our position in the lesser kingdom. 00:17:37.805 --> 00:17:52.696 So we'll start at 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 1, paul writing to his spiritual son, timothy Paul, who was in prison many times under his own government, under Roman occupation. 00:17:52.696 --> 00:17:54.487 Paul wrote this. 00:17:54.487 --> 00:18:02.798 Okay, first of all, first of all, circle it, underline it, put it in bold letters. 00:18:02.798 --> 00:18:06.614 First of all, how do we, how should we approach politics? 00:18:06.614 --> 00:18:29.075 First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 00:18:29.075 --> 00:18:34.007 First of all, pray and be thankful. 00:18:34.007 --> 00:18:39.416 Oh, but Paul didn't live today. 00:18:39.416 --> 00:18:45.028 Oh, but Paul lived in his day and you didn't. 00:18:45.028 --> 00:18:46.511 You you're not living in his day either. 00:18:46.511 --> 00:18:47.726 You should be very thankful of that. 00:18:48.849 --> 00:18:49.792 What does this imply? 00:18:49.792 --> 00:18:50.115 This? 00:18:50.115 --> 00:18:56.140 To me, this implies that we're to be engaged, number one and that we're to be compassionate number two. 00:18:56.140 --> 00:19:06.894 Okay, engaged means we have an opportunity to bring the power and the hope of this greater kingdom to bear on this lesser kingdom. 00:19:06.894 --> 00:19:11.286 That's a privilege, and we do it through prayer. 00:19:11.286 --> 00:19:23.430 And compassionate means we have to be empathetic about leaders, even leaders that we don't agree with, even leaders, even people who agree with those leaders that we don't agree with. 00:19:23.430 --> 00:19:27.625 We have to be empathetic, we have to be Christ-like. 00:19:27.625 --> 00:19:30.717 So, and it implies that our prayers make a difference. 00:19:30.717 --> 00:19:38.277 If you pray, there's a peaceful and godly way of living that can happen if we pray. 00:19:38.277 --> 00:19:45.073 If we pray, things can change, okay. 00:19:45.073 --> 00:19:49.022 So we're encouraged to be engaged and to be compassionate. 00:19:49.022 --> 00:19:57.009 And number two, I would say we should talk to God about politicians before you talk to God to others about politics. 00:19:57.009 --> 00:20:01.946 Talk to God about politicians before you talk to others about politics. 00:20:01.946 --> 00:20:05.153 Well, I don't. 00:20:05.655 --> 00:20:07.807 There's a few things I like for you to take home with you today. 00:20:07.807 --> 00:20:22.873 This is one of them Talk to God first about the people, and I have to tell you that this has been a real conviction in my heart this week because I realize I have failed in this. 00:20:22.873 --> 00:20:27.246 I failed, I haven't been doing it the way I should be doing it. 00:20:27.246 --> 00:20:30.092 I haven't been doing this. 00:20:30.092 --> 00:20:40.239 First of all, I sometimes can become one of the name-callers because my heart's not right. 00:20:40.239 --> 00:20:45.174 So I've had to allow the Holy Spirit to change some things in me. 00:20:45.174 --> 00:20:49.874 This week I want to just tell you a story back in the 1980s. 00:20:49.874 --> 00:20:51.760 This is a story about how our prayers make difference. 00:20:52.825 --> 00:20:58.204 But in the 1980s, if you're alive in the 80s, you understand the way things used to be. 00:20:58.204 --> 00:21:05.430 It was a real dichotomy between two superpowers, right, or at least what we understood as superpowers. 00:21:05.430 --> 00:21:15.557 And so it was United States, it was a Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union was godless atheism, it was communist it was, it was oppressive. 00:21:15.557 --> 00:21:22.547 We have some people who lived under that regime here with us here and felt that very oppression. 00:21:22.547 --> 00:21:33.426 Right, you know, in the 1980s, starting in 1983, there's an organization called Open Doors with Brother Andrew and they started a prayer campaign. 00:21:33.467 --> 00:21:55.515 It was a seven-year prayer campaign to bring down the, the iron curtain, to bring down communism, so that the gospel could come into these atheistic lands, oppressed lands, and that was, that was like, almost like the prospect of that seemed absolutely impossible. 00:21:55.515 --> 00:21:57.060 It was such a stronghold. 00:21:57.060 --> 00:21:59.009 How could this even happen? 00:21:59.009 --> 00:22:04.751 But there's a seven-year prayer campaign and so I got my little email, my little snail males. 00:22:04.751 --> 00:22:05.313 I didn't have any. 00:22:05.313 --> 00:22:06.586 There wasn't any email at the point. 00:22:06.586 --> 00:22:11.930 It's like I got my little snail males, opened it up and and every month they would send out prayer points. 00:22:11.930 --> 00:22:13.895 And it was a methodical and it was strategic. 00:22:13.895 --> 00:22:22.682 It's how to pray for, it's who to pray for, it's how we are praying for the kingdom of God to come, for the walls to fall down, for the gospel to go forth. 00:22:22.682 --> 00:22:23.906 And we prayed. 00:22:23.906 --> 00:22:29.087 Maybe some of you were part of that campaign, I don't know, but we prayed and I prayed. 00:22:29.127 --> 00:22:32.423 It was a seven-year campaign, starting in 1983. 00:22:32.423 --> 00:22:34.589 Do you know what happened before the end of the decade? 00:22:34.589 --> 00:22:40.204 The absolute unthinkable happened. 00:22:40.204 --> 00:22:51.869 I mean a land of atheism, a land of banned Bibles, a land of political and religious prisons. 00:22:51.869 --> 00:22:55.037 The gospel broke into that. 00:22:55.037 --> 00:22:56.961 The wall came down. 00:22:56.961 --> 00:22:58.184 God moved little. 00:22:58.184 --> 00:23:03.609 His little players you know there was little players that he put in position to make all this happen. 00:23:03.650 --> 00:23:06.845 But I'm just saying our prayers make a difference. 00:23:06.845 --> 00:23:18.267 Church, first of all, I urge you that prayers and supplications and thanksgivings would be made for all men, especially the kings, especially those who are in positions. 00:23:18.267 --> 00:23:20.672 We can pray. 00:23:20.672 --> 00:23:41.835 So I want to tell you, I want to encourage you to pray, and I want to tell you in in my best pastoral and prophetic voice if you're not praying for your leaders, shut your mouth in the name of the Lord, in the fear of God. 00:23:41.835 --> 00:23:53.346 Shut your mouth because you do not have the right to criticize those you don't even pray for and you're not acting in love. 00:23:53.346 --> 00:23:59.913 And that goes for leaders that you disagree with as well and the people who support those people. 00:23:59.913 --> 00:24:04.560 Because there's this, there's this weird dissonance in our walk and the way people look to us. 00:24:04.560 --> 00:24:08.421 So people in the world look at the Christians and they see this strange thing happening. 00:24:08.421 --> 00:24:19.898 We talk all about love, but we act all about hate, in this area at least, and we're like building walls and we're making enemies and we're plotting against where. 00:24:19.898 --> 00:24:22.969 I mean we're being ferrisciak herodians. 00:24:22.969 --> 00:24:28.096 You know what our heart has to change. 00:24:28.096 --> 00:24:32.708 It's not right, okay? 00:24:33.328 --> 00:24:35.474 So John 18 let's see what Jesus is. 00:24:35.474 --> 00:24:40.878 The words of Jesus standing before Pilate a few hours before his crucifixion. 00:24:40.878 --> 00:24:44.710 Jesus answered to Pilate and said my kingdom is not of this world. 00:24:44.710 --> 00:24:51.464 If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. 00:24:51.464 --> 00:24:53.888 But my kingdom is not of this world. 00:24:53.888 --> 00:24:57.219 There's a capital K kingdom right. 00:24:57.219 --> 00:24:58.844 Colossians 1, verse 13. 00:24:58.844 --> 00:25:10.305 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 00:25:10.305 --> 00:25:11.892 There's a kingdom. 00:25:11.892 --> 00:25:13.056 He's the king of it. 00:25:13.056 --> 00:25:14.422 We're brought into it. 00:25:14.422 --> 00:25:15.866 Philippians 3 20. 00:25:15.866 --> 00:25:22.482 Our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:22.482 --> 00:25:25.096 Okay, we have a greater kingdom that we're a part of. 00:25:25.096 --> 00:25:31.419 So how should we live if we're part of a greater kingdom in this context of our nation? 00:25:31.419 --> 00:25:33.972 Well, it's really interesting. 00:25:34.414 --> 00:25:41.239 First of all, it's interesting that Matthew the tax collector is the one that tells us about tax collectors, and he tells it twice. 00:25:41.239 --> 00:25:42.750 There's one in Matthew 22. 00:25:42.750 --> 00:25:55.003 There's also one in Matthew 17, when the guys were in Capernaum and the tax collector came to Peter and said does your teacher not pay the tax? 00:25:55.003 --> 00:26:00.278 And Peter said yeah, yeah, he plays a tax. 00:26:00.278 --> 00:26:02.465 And went to Jesus and said what do we do? 00:26:02.465 --> 00:26:05.955 And Jesus said go catch a fish. 00:26:05.955 --> 00:26:10.867 And I just found out that in one of the? 00:26:10.867 --> 00:26:14.402 Is it toddler to class, three-year-old class or something there? 00:26:14.824 --> 00:26:19.778 The lesson today is about the fish in the mouth of the fish who had the coin in the mouth. 00:26:19.778 --> 00:26:21.551 That's really cool, so that's nice. 00:26:21.551 --> 00:26:25.319 So so, did your teacher not pay the tax? 00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:28.172 Yes, and so Jesus tells him to go catch the fish. 00:26:28.172 --> 00:26:40.194 Interesting, interestingly, in this chapter 17, jesus transfigures in his heavenly glory in front of them, he heals a boy by casting out a demon and he pays his taxes. 00:26:40.194 --> 00:26:47.355 That's the three things that happen in Matthew's gospel in chapter 17. 00:26:47.355 --> 00:26:49.701 Okay, go catch a fish. 00:26:49.741 --> 00:27:07.693 So Peter, who took the fish and took the coin out of the fish's mouth and paid the tax for both him and Jesus, wrote these words first, peter 2, verse 11 through 17 beloved, I urge you he's urging to just like Paul urged. 00:27:07.693 --> 00:27:16.032 I urge you, as sojourners and exiles what are we so, sojourners and exiles? 00:27:16.032 --> 00:27:21.912 To abstain from the passions of flesh which war against your soul. 00:27:21.912 --> 00:27:32.192 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 00:27:32.192 --> 00:27:49.058 Be subject, for the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor, a supreme, or to governors, as sent by him, to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 00:27:49.058 --> 00:27:55.271 For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put the silence, the ignorance, of foolish people. 00:27:55.271 --> 00:28:03.194 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. 00:28:03.194 --> 00:28:12.693 Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. 00:28:12.693 --> 00:28:21.984 This is Peter who, who also was imprisoned at times. 00:28:23.392 --> 00:28:27.968 Observations here our, our essential identity is as citizens of heaven. 00:28:27.968 --> 00:28:29.111 That's who we are. 00:28:29.111 --> 00:28:33.912 We're citizens of heaven, which means number two we are sojourners, we are exiles. 00:28:33.912 --> 00:28:38.942 We are not nationalists, we are resident aliens. 00:28:38.942 --> 00:28:42.388 Resident aliens. 00:28:42.388 --> 00:28:43.730 We're in both places. 00:28:43.730 --> 00:28:52.152 We're citizens of heaven, but we live here and we should be subject to every institution. 00:28:54.076 --> 00:29:00.291 Pay your taxes and stop at the stop sign and drive the speed limit. 00:29:00.291 --> 00:29:03.942 We should do that and we do this. 00:29:03.942 --> 00:29:07.330 Oh, we need to have an altar call right now. 00:29:07.330 --> 00:29:08.873 Is this what I'm? 00:29:08.873 --> 00:29:10.875 Wow? 00:29:10.875 --> 00:29:20.372 And he says we do this, unto God, for the Lord's sake, we do this. 00:29:20.372 --> 00:29:25.961 Oh, there's a higher king that we submit to. 00:29:25.961 --> 00:29:38.692 Hmm, there's a true, real authority that we submit to, and Paul said something very like it in in Romans, chapter 13 as well, that every subject, be, every person, be subject to the higher powers. 00:29:38.732 --> 00:29:42.106 There's no powers except the ones God ordains. 00:29:42.106 --> 00:29:43.932 Okay, so Paul says it, peter says it. 00:29:43.932 --> 00:29:44.755 So which is it? 00:29:44.755 --> 00:29:52.482 Are we, are we citizens of heaven or are we to participate in the form of government that we find ourselves in? 00:29:52.482 --> 00:29:52.865 Which one? 00:29:52.865 --> 00:30:04.436 Yes, yes, the answer is yes, we do both right, but I think it's more than then the speed limit and stop sign and paying taxes. 00:30:04.497 --> 00:30:30.230 Okay, because because we have been given more in this country, we have been given a greater privilege because of our form of government, and I believe being subject to the institutions doesn't mean merely obeying the laws, but being subject to the governing authorities means participating in the political context that we were sovereignly born into. 00:30:30.230 --> 00:30:38.314 We're, we're to be subject to the powers that be, and the powers that be in our nation is our constitution. 00:30:38.314 --> 00:30:45.929 It's not whoever is president man we're. 00:30:45.929 --> 00:30:53.314 We're stuck in this fight down in the mud, when the truth is, we have something so much greater in our constitution. 00:30:53.314 --> 00:31:04.281 So we're not subject to a party or to an individual ruler, like a king, like Paul and Peter were, but to the form of government. 00:31:04.321 --> 00:31:07.380 So can we talk about the form of government that God blessed us with. 00:31:07.380 --> 00:31:10.455 For a minute, can we do that and our active part in it? 00:31:10.455 --> 00:31:14.814 So, as Christians, we have a founding document. 00:31:14.814 --> 00:31:15.857 It's the word of God, right? 00:31:15.857 --> 00:31:21.733 And as Americans, we have a founding document two of them. 00:31:21.733 --> 00:31:28.857 You could say it's our declaration of independence, it's our bill, it's our Constitution, right, all of that. 00:31:28.857 --> 00:31:34.115 So our in our national context, we submit to these two things. 00:31:35.220 --> 00:31:56.672 So I'll give you a little history lesson, because it's what I do, right, and just to remind you, because of abuses from England, the colonies in America, english colonies in America created a new form of government self-government. 00:31:56.672 --> 00:32:06.997 Self-government rare self-government based on the fact that we've been given rights by God. 00:32:06.997 --> 00:32:12.252 It literally says by nature and the laws of nature and nature's God. 00:32:12.252 --> 00:32:14.817 This is where our rights come from. 00:32:14.817 --> 00:32:28.454 So new form of government where God gives rights to all men and women, where the purpose of government, according to our Constitution, is securing those rights and ensuring those rights. 00:32:28.454 --> 00:32:35.251 The government gets its power from the consent of those who are being governed. 00:32:35.251 --> 00:32:39.839 I have a say so in the laws that govern me. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:42.851 I'm responsible to God. 00:32:42.851 --> 00:32:45.997 The elected government is responsible to me. 00:32:45.997 --> 00:32:48.541 Well, to us, not to me. 00:32:48.541 --> 00:32:54.603 It would be pretty cool if it was just me, but it's not, it's all of us. 00:32:54.603 --> 00:33:01.380 Do you understand, though, how rare this is in all of history. 00:33:01.380 --> 00:33:09.978 What a incredible blessing and privilege it is to have an empowered citizenship. 00:33:09.978 --> 00:33:12.363 It's so rare. 00:33:13.044 --> 00:33:16.598 The treasure of what we have in our Constitution is precious. 00:33:16.598 --> 00:33:29.718 It has created a peace and a prosperity that has never been seen before, but it will not stand if we don't defend it vigorously. 00:33:29.718 --> 00:33:35.271 We who are the governed have to defend the Constitution. 00:33:35.271 --> 00:33:37.998 We have to, we can. 00:33:37.998 --> 00:33:46.088 The freedom can only continue to exist if we take our responsibility to steward that that freedom, to whom much is given. 00:33:46.088 --> 00:33:47.994 Much is required, and we've been given a lot. 00:33:47.994 --> 00:33:55.602 It's not just obey the laws, it's participate in this form of government God has given us. 00:33:55.602 --> 00:33:57.307 It's beautiful. 00:33:57.307 --> 00:33:58.151 It's beautiful. 00:33:58.151 --> 00:34:00.157 Why were you born here today? 00:34:00.157 --> 00:34:01.561 I don't know. 00:34:01.561 --> 00:34:22.510 God knows why we were born here today, but here we are, right here in this context, and the first settlers that came to America seeking religious freedom covenanted that this would be a special place unto God where we can be engaged in the arena where decisions are made. 00:34:22.550 --> 00:34:26.481 So the purpose of government is to secure man's rights. 00:34:26.481 --> 00:34:32.052 The purpose of government is not to fix every situation I'm talking about from our Constitution. 00:34:32.052 --> 00:34:33.478 This is not a political side. 00:34:33.478 --> 00:34:44.998 Our Constitution says this is what the government's purpose is to secure man's inalienable rights given from God, rights that come ultimately from God. 00:34:44.998 --> 00:34:47.893 Rights don't come from the government, they come from God. 00:34:47.893 --> 00:34:50.661 This is a brilliance of our founding fathers. 00:34:50.661 --> 00:34:55.733 The people rule through representatives. 00:34:55.733 --> 00:35:00.101 Experts don't rule, bureaucracies don't rule. 00:35:00.101 --> 00:35:07.257 Non-elected institutions don't rule, as they shouldn't. 00:35:07.257 --> 00:35:13.436 According to the Constitution, it's the people who rule through our representatives. 00:35:14.338 --> 00:35:24.068 Our Constitution was created to limit the power of government, and it did this by creating separate branches, led, executive, legislative and judicial branches. 00:35:24.068 --> 00:35:31.070 And actually God, the nature of God himself and also Christ himself, is reflected in these things. 00:35:31.070 --> 00:35:42.760 I just want to read this to you from Isaiah 33, verse 22, for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king. 00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:44.483 He will save us. 00:35:44.483 --> 00:35:48.717 That's judicial, it's legislative, that's executive. 00:35:48.717 --> 00:35:50.641 The Lord is our king. 00:35:50.641 --> 00:36:01.844 This is the pattern our government was built on, and you see the brilliance of checked power, so that no man or no system is all powerful. 00:36:01.844 --> 00:36:11.594 Not only do you see that in our Constitution and our declaration, you see that there's a transcendent power above all of it, from which these rights come. 00:36:13.998 --> 00:36:26.119 Man, we've been given a treasure, absolute treasure, guys, and our founding fathers pledged, they coveted it themselves and all they had to this cause of freedom. 00:36:26.119 --> 00:36:35.221 And it's our civic duty, the duty that we owe our country, our citizenship, is to be involved. 00:36:35.221 --> 00:36:52.195 It's a little bit sad that we were once willing to fight to defend these freedoms and we would give our lives for this, and now we're not even hardly willing to engage in them Generally, across the board. 00:36:52.195 --> 00:37:07.793 As Americans, it is very ironic that we live in the volunteer state and we're known for being willing to cross country and cross oceans to fight for liberty than many of us won't even cross the street to vote. 00:37:16.150 --> 00:37:18.215 And why did they set up a separation of powers? 00:37:18.215 --> 00:37:23.559 They did it because they understood the depravity of man. 00:37:23.559 --> 00:37:32.563 They understood that we needed, because of our sinful and fallen and fickle nature, we need a Savior. 00:37:32.563 --> 00:37:34.172 Christ is a Savior, not government. 00:37:34.172 --> 00:37:46.351 But they knew that we had to have these powers in check because any one of these powers out of balance, or if you give all power to any of these, it's tyranny. 00:37:46.351 --> 00:37:52.518 So it's brilliant, it's what we have, is brilliant church. 00:37:52.518 --> 00:38:06.425 We have to steward this and the Holy Spirit through the church, the righteous ones, the saints made righteous through Jesus, the Holy Spirit, through the church, is the constraining factor in our nation. 00:38:06.425 --> 00:38:23.503 Holding back evil, righteousness exalts a nation's sin as a reproach to every people, and if we don't do what we're supposed to do, then evil is going to be victorious. 00:38:23.503 --> 00:38:33.617 We have to occupy, and we have to be, the immune system of this body and we have to take every possible approach to uphold righteousness. 00:38:33.657 --> 00:38:34.378 So what do we do? 00:38:34.378 --> 00:38:35.442