Guiding Principles for a Biblical Worldview in Voting

1. "The kingdom of God is our primary focus. Jesus would spend time with his disciples and he would emphasize his kingdom. And at the end of his life here on planet Earth, right before he's about to ascend to heaven, he's already resurrected from the dead. He's already been crucified for the sins of the world. He's already spent three years teaching and training his disciples. There's this small band of brothers and sisters that Jesus is going to send forth with the good news. And they have a question for him. This is their question at the last moment before the ascension. Acts chapter 1, verses 6 through 8, it says, they gathered around him and asked him, speaking of Jesus, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel. Their focus is on a physical nation. Are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel? Now Jesus responds to them, and you get so much understanding from what Jesus says to this question, because so many people want to know, are you going to restore our kingdom? And Jesus says this, it's not for you to know. Times or dates, the Father has set by his own authority. It's not for you to know. This is not your focus, Jesus is saying. This is not what I want your eyes to be on. Here's what I want your eyes to be on. Jesus says, but, but, Jesus inserts a new way of seeing, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in all of Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Jesus is saying, my kingdom is the primary. Every focus for your life. What I want is those who are my followers, who've been transformed by my grace, who know my kindness, who've come back to the heart of the Father, that they would be on a mission to get this good news to the ends of the earth. My focus is not a physical kingdom. In fact, every physical kingdom will be gone at some point. But Jesus' kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. It's an eternal kingdom that outlasts every generation, every nation, and the investment of your life, Jesus says, I want to be in my kingdom. He says this, seek first, in Matthew 6, 33, my kingdom, and it's in his righteousness, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." [08:40] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "The love of God is our central message. So the message that Jesus proclaimed was a message of love. In fact, this is why the religious leaders were so frustrated, because broken sinners whose lives were a mess wanted to be with Jesus. People who were nothing like Jesus, liked Jesus. And they wanted to sit with him at tables and have meals together. And Jesus, at the end of his time, after modeling for his disciples, after being here for three years, he would say before going to a cross, if you want to know how the world is going to change, you have to know how the world is going to change. And he said, the world will know you're my people. This is how, John 13, 35. He says, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. By this, and notice he does not say your political allegiance. Jesus says, by your love for one another, they will know if you are my disciples. They will know us by our love. Friends, this is so crucial. For followers of Jesus, the goal of our lives is that we would be known by our love for one another. That our treatment, our care, our concern for our friends, our family, those in need, those around us, those in society who are less fortunate, that the love of Jesus is the central message that we're proclaiming. The leads us to repentance. So we have a loving God whose love for you is far greater than you can, possibly, fathom. The Apostle Paul says, oh, the depths and the riches of God's love, the height, the breadth, the length, no one can possibly fathom. But his prayer was that you would encounter an experience to be transformed by that love. Followers of Jesus who have encountered his love, love one another and love those around them. The invitation is to let love be the central message of our lives." [15:38] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "The Word of God is our final authority it would be Malpractice as a preacher to not bring us back to what does the Bible teach? The Bible is ultimately God's authority for our lives second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 says this all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting Training and righteousness so that the servant of God might be fully equipped for every God Good work. I'm so thankful for this book this timeless eternal book called the Word of God that is Inerrant and given to us as an act of love so that we might know his heart for us So that we might know his mind so that we might understand his ways And this book is the authority for my life. It's the authority, if you're a follower of Jesus, for your life. It's the authority for our church. So we stand underneath the authority of Scripture. And some of us are confused. Like we open the Bible and it's like, yeah, yeah, I like that, like that, like that. Don't like that. And it's like, well, whenever I disagree with the Bible, guess who's wrong? I'm wrong. And in our culture, in many ways, there are people that would just love to rip certain pages out of the Bible, out of the counsel of God. But friends, there's a word for that that's called heresy. If I go to the Scriptures and I say, I don't like that, so I don't submit to that, that is not submitting to the lordship or the leadership of Jesus in your life. So you and I stand under the authority of Scripture." [21:50] (106 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "The way of God is our ultimate standard. So the more I read the word of God, the more I know the ways of God. The more I get into his mind, the more I get into his heart. So when I open this book, I am saying, God, I want to know you. I want to know what you care about. I want to love what you love. I want to declare what is evil, the things that you say are evil. I want to make choices that honor and please you. I want the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart to be pleasing to you. And for 25 years in my journey, this book, God has used it over and over again. I've come early mornings exhausted and God's infused a sense of energy into my heart. I've come with confusion. God's given me clarity. I've come feeling lonely and isolated and in his word, encountered the fatherly love of God and it's changed me. His ways are so powerful. When we know them, it changes the way that we live. Now, Paul says in Romans 12, 1 and 2, I urge you, brothers and sisters, there's an urgency in his voice in view of God's mercy. So the mercy of God that was displayed at the cross of Jesus, when he would take our sins and nail them there. view of that. Offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper form of worship. So Paul is saying it's all areas of your life. That worship is what you do with your money. It's what you do with your time. It's your thought life. It's what you focus on in the internet. It's what you give your energy and passion to. It's who you vote for. All of this is a part of your worship. This is your true and proper worship. So what do you do, Paul says? He says this, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. The more you're in his word, the more your mind is going to be transformed to understand the mind and the heart of God." [27:09] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "The glory of God is our supreme motivation. The glory of God is our supreme motivation. 1 Corinthians 10 .31 says, whether you eat or drink or vote or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. What I want for you is that when you mail in your ballot or go in and vote here in the United States of America, that your conscience before God would be clear. That's my hope for you. And at the end of the day, there's some things that might happen. The person you want to win might not win. The person that you vote for might not be the next president. The thing that you put. You put down for a proposition might not happen. And the question is, can the church still thrive regardless of who's in office? And that is a resounding yes. From generation to generation, Christians were burned at the stake in the first century of the early church, and the church grew exponentially. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And what if the person you want to win, I want to win, doesn't win? And I would say, friends. God causes kings to rise and fall. Kingdoms to rise and fall. And he is supreme. He is the one who is the authority. He is the one who is seated on his throne. Yes, we're in a critical hour. Yes, your vote matters. Go and make a difference in that area. But at the end of the day, have faith and confidence that God can do what God says he will do regardless of what happens." [38:29] (93 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)