Voting Biblically
Notes
Transcript
Election 2024
Election 2024
This morning I want to look at Voting Biblically, I will be using a few points and information from a sermon I watched by Gary Hamrick.
There is a lot of controversy over preaching on Politics.
But I am not here to endorse or campaign for any political party or candidate.
Pastor’s have been preaching on Biblical issues that are tied to elections since the beginning of this country.
The question then comes up about the separation of church and state.
Interestingly enough, the phrase “separation of church and state”–– originated in a private letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut.
When people cite the “separation of church and state,” they are often suggesting that government and religion are separate.
A proper reading of the First Amendment acknowledges that the government and the church were intended to be two distinct institutions.
The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law [1] respecting an establishment of religion, or [2] prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
In other words, the government cannot establish a national religion funded by taxpayer dollars.
Understood in context, the “separation of church and state” does not mean religious exercises or prayer should never occur on government property.
The original intent was to protect the church from the intrusion of the state.
Thomas Jefferson––who wrote of the “separation of church and state”—was himself deeply religious and did not hide his convictions despite working in government.
Jefferson attended church services held in the U.S. Capitol and the local courthouse.
He even publicly prayed in both his inaugural addresses.
Another fear is the church losing their tax exempt statues.
While it is nice to have that statues, we cannot allow the government to hang it over our heads in a manner to control us.
As a pastor if I do not say what God has called me and lead me to say, because of fear of losing tax exempt, then I am bowing to the government instead of God.
I cannot do that.
If you are giving to the church to get a tax write off instead of giving to the Lord, then you are bowing to government instead of God
I am here to glorify a audience of One, that is God Almighty.
Now saying all that let’s pray and get into the message
Pray
Pray
1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
Here we see that all authorities are put in place by God.
We may say well, what about those that are not God fearing.
Well God uses anyone, some times those that were considered righteous kings in the Old Testament did unrighteous acts.
Also those that were considered unrighteous in the Old Testament did righteous acts.
Some times those God places in authority are there to bring judgement on the land.
But one thing we must understand is we cannot look to a person to save us, our hope is not in a political candidate, our only hope and salvation is in Jesus Christ.
Until Jesus comes again, we have been called to be Ambassadors of Jesus Christ to this world, that is salt and light.
Political engagement is one way that we can be salt and light in this world.
That is voting and advocating policies that are righteous.
In that we must support and vote for candidates that are supporting those righteous policies.
Let me ask you this:
What can we do to advance the Kingdom of God for the glory of God?
As we look at the question: What can we do to advance the Kingdom of God for the glory of God, and in light of politics we must examine three points.
I. God will use flawed and sinful people
I. God will use flawed and sinful people
I have heard people say well I do not like some things about candidate A but I cannot vote for candidate B, so therefore I just wont vote or I will do a write in, which is a vote for no one.
Christians some times think well I cannot vote for a certain person because they do not represent biblical values 100%
But what other decisions do you make that you consider biblical values 100%
Now we should take every decision to God and evaluated it by the Word of God, but we do not 100% of the time.
And we could go down that trail a long ways, but we need to continue on.
You are here today, but I am sure we do not meet 100% of what you were looking for in a church, as we are not perfect.
Your spouse was not perfect, your job is not perfect.
You do not base you opinion, your decision, or your vote on the 100%, but on what the majority is, not the majority voting, but what option or policies meets the majority of issues.
There is no perfect spouse, no perfect church, no perfect child, and Jesus is not on the ballet, and so there is no perfect candidate.
We must vote for the better choice.
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.
Every candidate is a flawed, sinful human being, Trump is no perfect, Harris is not perfect, we cannot look at which candidate is the most likable one but which one promotes righteous policies.
In the Old Testament, when God used unrighteous kings for righteousness sake, it was not the unrighteousness of the king, but the righteous acts that set them apart.
David was a man after God’s own heart but he committed unrighteousness, he committed adultery with Bathsheba, and counted the soldiers when he was not supposed to, and God brought wrath against David.
God uses flawed people to produces good policies, it does not mean that those people get away with their sin, but that God can use anyone.
Don’t look at the person, look at the policies that they are promoting.
People say I cannot vote for Trump, he is a bully, I do not like the way he talks, and tweets, and he is a mean guy.
On the other hand, people say, I cannot vote for Harris, she just repeats things and does not see the burdens that are on the people.
People want to make it about personalities instead of the policies that they stand for.
We must stop focusing on who is a good candidate.
There is no good candidate, no perfect person
This brings us to our second point.
II. Vote for policies not personalities
II. Vote for policies not personalities
Here are some topics of policies that we need to considered when we are preparing to vote.
1. Israel
1. Israel
Which candidate will support Israel the best.
Not in the sense that they agree or support everything Israel does, but in the sense of Genesis 12:3
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Just as we do not agree with everything a candidate does, we may not agree with everything that Israel does.
But what candidate will show unwavering support of the nation of Israel as a whole
If we want to see the USA blessed by God again, we must bless the people of Israel.
2. Religious Liberty
2. Religious Liberty
This should hit us hard as believers.
We need to considered which candidate will support Religious liberties.
That is the freedom to worship the God we are called to worship
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
This means that companies and people will be protected from things that they do not agree with due to their beliefs.
It means that companies and people will not be forced or sued for not doing things that go against their belief.
We have seen in the past bakers that have been sued for not making a cake for a homosexual couples wedding.
We have seen other companies and people persecuted for not going against their beliefs.
We must consider religious liberties when we vote.
3. Biological Sex
3. Biological Sex
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God has assign male and female in the womb and God does not make mistakes.
When we allow gender change, we are promoting and allow mental illnesses to take over.
Booker T Washington said, “A lie does not become truth, wrong does not become right, and evil does not become good, just because it is accepted by a majority.”
They are coming after our children.
They are pushing these things down our children’s throats.
In reality they are coming against our rights, and especially the rights of females.
As we have seen biological men participating in women’s sports.
Biological men being allowed to use whatever restroom they feel that they identify with that day.
Therefore, we must ask ourselves, which candidate will best protect God design of biological sex - male and female.
4. Family
4. Family
3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Parental rights have been stripped.
Children are being attacked by evil.
Children do not belong to the state, they belong to God who has entrusted them to parents.
IF the government tries to over step, and take lead in our children’s life we must fight back.
They are trying to make it where children do not have to have parental consent for gender-affirming appointments and medication.
I know of a situation in Florida a few years ago, where a mother was not willing to take her child to doctors to become the opposite sex, from female to male.
The department of families got involved and threatened to take all of her children away if she did not take the child to the doctor for the gender reassignment appointments
They are trying to make it where children do not have to have parental consent for abortion.
We must vote for the candidate that support policies that will protect families.
5. Life
5. Life
God is the author of Life
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
The question then is which candidate will best protect life.
Some may not like what I have to say here.
We do not have a pro-life candidate in this presidential race
Trump has move more left then he was in 2020, he is now advocating for a 15 week ban on abortion.
This should be a 15 week allowance, as Trump is promoting a 15 week allowance on abortion before they are banned.
The CDC has given us some numbers on abortion.
In 2021, 93% of abortions occured during the first trimester - that is, at or before 13 weeks.
In 2021, 56% of abortions were done using abortion pills, the FDA states that the pill is safe until 10 weeks into pregnancy.
57% of abortions are for women in their 20’s, while 31% for women in their 30’s and on 8% for teens 13 to 19, and 4% for women 40-44.
Here are some reasons women have listed for having an abortion. 95.5% elective and unspecified reasons, 2.2% health concerns, 1.2% abnormality in the baby, 0.4% rape or incest, 0.3% risk to mother’s life.
Some of the biggest reasons people are fighting to make abortion legal is for rape, incest and risk of mother’s life, which is not even 1% of the reasons mark for having an abortion.
Therefore, when a person is going around promoting 15 weeks, they are in a sense saying they are for killing babies just a little less than the other person.
Now we must understand that the other side is worse.
The Democrats are supporting abortion all the way up to delivery, which is Harris’ stand.
She has even said it is reproductive rights.
The Democratic national convention even had a mobile abortion clinic set up right out side of their national convention.
Let me say, Abortion is murdering babies.
Now if you have had an abortion, understand I am not here to condemn you but to help you to deal with it, God loves you and is ready to forgive you, and you must forgive yourself.
I have even heard Christians say, well what about in the case of rape which is less then 0.4%, let me tell you that every baby that is conceived is a gift from God.
Here in Florida we will also be voting on Amendment 4, A resolution to protect human life .
Amendment 4 would impact pre-born lives by allowing the abortion of children up to the point of viability; and
God’s design for life is from the moment of fertilization Psalm 139:13-14
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
and that God declares, through Holy Scripture,
All disciples of Jesus Christ, who desire to obey God by protecting human life, need to unite together in renouncing the proposed Amendment 4
We must vote NO on amendment 4
3. We must Vote
3. We must Vote
42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?
Every election has been the choosing between the lesser of two evils.
We must remember the question, what will we do to advance the Kingdom of God for the glory of God.
If we as believers do nothing then we are allowing evil to come in and over take us, we are at the point that if we as believers do not stand up, and vote biblical values and policies then evil will over take us.
We must be engaged in this election
There are 90 million self identified evangelicals in America who are eligible to vote.
Out of that 90 million the last presidential election 40 million did not vote.
And 15 million are not registered to vote.
That is 55 million evangelicals that are sitting down and allowing evil to come in and take over.
It is our duty to vote.
Amendment 3:
Amendment 3:
Legalizing Adult Recreational Marijuana
Amendment 3 that would legalize the adult use of recreational marijuana;
Throughout Scripture, we are directed in how we should live out our lives in honor of our Lord and Savior
The Bible provides clear warnings as to what will happen if we subject our bodies to the vices of this world (Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Providing legal access to marijuana for recreational use will only lead to the further decay of our society and would be a detriment to the citizens of our state
We must make our voices heard by voting against Amendment 3
Let me just say, I am not enthusiastic voter, this year.
It is our right and duty to vote.
I have never meet either candidate.
I have heard that Trump is just as raw and unfiltered in person as he is on tv.
In front of a group of pastors, he even used profanity.
There are things that I do not like about Trump,
But we must look at his policies and not all of them are good, but there are some really good one.
Fredrick Douglas stated, “I will unite with anyone to do right, and no one to do wrong.”
I am not saying that Harris does not have some good policies.
But which is the better of the two choices.
We must seek God and allow Him to guide us in our votes.
