Paul Daugherty - How Do I live Unashamed to Stand With Him?

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Summary

In this sermon, the preacher urges the church to place full trust in God alone during turbulent times, declaring “I’m with Him” — meaning Jesus Christ, not any political leader. The key passage is 2 Chronicles 7:14, where God promises to heal the land if His people humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from wicked ways. The conclusion is that true stability, hope, and healing for the nation come only from Jesus, and believers must boldly stand with Him through everything.

In God We Trust: Series Introduction
All right, welcome to church. Everybody say, “In God We Trust.” For the next five weeks, we’re going to focus on those four words. This is not a series about money, although that is the phrase we see on our dollar bills and coins. This is a series where we are putting our trust completely in God. How do we now navigate the crazy times we’re living in—the crises we see on TV, all the things that are happening, whether it’s in the Middle East or right here in our own nation?

The hurricane and all that stuff—we’re going to focus on that over these next 30 days. As a church, we’re just going to lean into the word of God on how we trust in God when our nation and our world seem like they’re in a mess.

Key Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14
So, if you have a Bible, go to 2 Chronicles 7:14. 2 Chronicles 7:14. Come on, God is good. This is what the word of the Lord says: when we’re in uncertain times, when the world seems to be getting darker and darker, He says, “If my people”—that’s us right here—“if my people,” He’s talking to the people of God.

This is the Lord speaking. He says, “If my people who are called by my name,” I’m looking at some people in the room today that are called by the name of the Lord. I’m looking at people watching on the other side of that screen right now that are the people of God, called by His name. He says, “If they will humble themselves and pray.” We need to do more praying and less posting on social media, more praying and less getting into debates on Facebook and Instagram and wherever else.

We need to do more praying and less watching the news, and more, you know, seeking the face of God. This is what He says: “If my people will humble themselves.” In other words, if they’ll stop fighting up here and start fighting right here. If they’ll pray, if they’ll seek my face—whose face? His face.

They seek my face—not Kamala’s face, not Trump’s face, but the face of God. Can I tell you? Kamala won’t save our nation, Trump won’t save our nation. Jesus is the answer for America. Jesus is the answer for the world. Our hope is not in a man here on Earth or a woman here on Earth. Our hope is in God.

We trust—who did we forget? As the body of Christ, He’s sitting on the throne. He wasn’t voted in, and He can’t be voted out. If my people will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways and seek my face, He’s got a promise that if we seek His face—His face, no one else’s face.

I’m with Him
I want to title this message today, “I’m with Him.” Turn to that person next to you and say, “I’m with Him,” and point up so they know who you’re talking about. Someone’s looking down the row like, “Which Him are you with here today?” I’m not with him or her; I’m with Him.

I’m a citizen of Heaven before I’m a citizen of a political party here on Earth. I identify as a follower of Jesus. I’m with Him. Just say it with me: “I’m with Him.” He says, “If my people will seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.”

God wants to heal our land of the racism, the division, the murder, the strife, the animosity, the immorality, the dark wickedness. Our hope is Jesus. Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above Him, there’s no other. Jesus is the way.

Jesus: The Stability of Our Times
I want to look at another scripture, Isaiah 33:6. Isaiah 33:6. Yeah, you can shout if you want to. We get excited about the word of God. It says, “He will be the stability of your times.” Who will? I’m with Him.

There’s not a person on this planet that’s going to be the stability for the church, the stability for America, the stability for our church, the stability for your family. It’s not a politician; it’s not a CEO; it’s not a famous celebrity; it’s not a pastor in a church. The stability of our times is Jesus Christ.

He will be the stability of your times. In a world that is unstable, we must go back to the stable of Bethlehem and find our Prince of Peace. The stability of our times is Jesus. The abundance of salvation flows from Him. Wisdom flows from Him. Knowledge flows. The fear of the Lord is the treasure for the church.

Now, that doesn’t mean being afraid of God; that means honoring God above all else. In other words, that’s saying if you will put God first in your life, if you will make God king and ruler of your life, if you’ll let God sit on the throne of your heart and truly honor Him, you will have all that you need. You will have the provision, the protection.

In the last week, I’ve been watching the news and just seeing one thing after another, more and more, just leading up to this series. I knew I wanted to preach about what’s going on in our current events in our world, but the more I watched it, the more negative it got, and I was sad. I was watching footage of the hurricane and how devastated North Carolina is, Asheville and Boone.

The Church Responds
By the way, as a church, last Sunday, we raised $33,000, and we sent semi-trucks already to North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida—all five different states. You, as a church, gave into that, and we had partners with us that donated $5 million worth of goods and supplies. That’s a lot of money, but they gave it.

They said, “If Victory will pay for the semi-trucks, we’ll give the goods, we’ll fill those semi-trucks, and we’ll go and get it to the people that are in need and have lost everything.” I mean, people have lost all that they had—houses, and roads are out over there. But I’m watching the news, and I’m going, “Man, I’m thankful to be a part of a church that responds to the problems in our nation.”

We’re not waiting on the White House to fix our nation; God’s house is going to fix our nation. We’re not waiting on a politician to solve the problems. We are the body of Christ. We are that church. We are the answer that the world needs.

But as I’m watching this on the news, I see 220 people—and it’s still counting—have been killed by the floods, millions of houses and families impacted. Israel strikes Lebanon last week, taking out the Hezbollah main leader. Don’t mess with Israel!

Now, listen. You can’t say I’m with Him and not love Israel, because He loves Israel. So when I say I’m with Him, I’m with who He is for, and God is for Israel. You can’t say I’m with Him, but you don’t agree with His scripture.

“Well, I’m with Him as long as it’s convenient and comfortable and it blends in with the popular Trinity.” No, no, no. I’m with Him whether I lose my social status and popularity and followers on Instagram because I stand for what He stands for, and I speak for who He speaks for, and I pray for Jerusalem, and I lift up Israel.

But at the same time, as I’m watching this on the news, and Israel strikes Lebanon, I get a text from one of our missionaries that we support who lives in Beirut, and he says, “I’m praying for Israel. I stand with Israel, but I live in Lebanon, and I’m helping the people in neighborhoods that were just impacted by the bombs that just went off to take out the Hezbollah leaders. Thankfully, none of our church members were killed, but our neighborhoods are in shambles.”

He’s sending me videos of Beirut, just in shambles. He says, “Please pray for the Middle East; Beirut needs Jesus.”

Loving What He Loves
See, when I say I’m with Him, I’m with who He’s for. And John 3:16 says He loves the whole world, which means He loves Lebanon, and He loves Israel, and He loves Haiti, and He loves Africa, and He loves America, and He loves China, and South Korea, and North Korea.

You go, “I don’t know if He loves all those countries.” Well, the Bible says, “For God so loved the world,” that means everybody, red and yellow, black and white. You can’t say I’m with Him and have racism in your heart towards another people or another nation or another tribe or tongue that’s different than you.

You can’t say I’m with Him but then make fun of paralyzed people or people in wheelchairs or special needs families. You can’t say I’m with Him and put down another people group. When I say I’m with Him, that means I love who He loves. Who does He love? He loves the whole world.

And I’m watching the news, and I see Haiti has gang attacks. In the last week, over 100 people have been killed by gang members, including babies that were slaughtered at the hands of gang members. Hezbollah leaders continue to set up different camps and different spots.

Iran is striking Israel with hundreds of missiles, and we go, “Where is the hope? Where is the peace?” See, if my hope is in a politician, I’m on a roller coaster. If he’s elected or not, if she’s elected or not, I’m going to constantly be up and down.

You go, “You can’t talk about this in the church.” Separation of church and state? Baloney! The separation of church and state means the state can’t control the religious beliefs of the church.

“Well, Paul, if you talk about it, you’re going to lose the tax.” I don’t care! I came to preach the word of God, and I stand on what He stands on. I don’t get my talking points from the RNC or the DNC; I get my talking points from the Bible. I get it from the word of God. I get the truth from Jesus Christ, not from a political party.

Standing with Jesus Alone
From Genesis to Revelation, He gives us the instructions on what to do in a world that has gone mad, in a world that’s crazy, where people are divided and angry and screaming at each other. I’m telling you, if we don’t stand with Him, if we stand with somebody else or some other party here on Earth, we will find ourselves at odds with each other.

The church has to stand with Jesus. We have to say, “I am with Him” (capital H, not lowercase). I’m with Him. And because I’m with Him (capital H, the Lord), I’m going to love what He loves. What does it mean to say, “I’m with Him”?

I want to give you a couple of points. Note takers are history makers, world changers, culture shapers. When you say, “I’m with Him,” you are saying, “I am not ashamed to identify as His. I am not ashamed.”

Paul the Apostle said in Romans chapter 1—by the way, Romans chapter 1 describes what’s going on in our world today: people forsaking the ways of God, the will of God, the heart of God, and natural human affection. People who are losing their identity, their sexuality, their gender; they’re losing their minds in Romans chapter 1.

And Paul, in the midst of everyone else being boldly flamboyant about what they identify as—if the world gets to boldly proclaim who they identify as, can the church come out of the closet and say, “I am a follower of Jesus. I stand with Jesus. I am not ashamed of the Gospel”?

This is what Paul was saying. He was saying, “Listen, this person comes out and says, ‘I’m gay.’ This person comes out and says, ‘I’m transgender.’ Can the church stop hiding in the dark, being afraid of cancel culture, and come out and say, ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel’?

You could call me a traditionalist; you could call me an old man preacher, but I stand on the Word of God. I’m not ashamed of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen from the grave, and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Early Christians and the Cost
And so Paul stands in a world where everyone was falling behind. You see the Roman Coliseum—ultimately, Paul would end his ministry here; he would go down as a martyr for the faith. And you know what? Before Christianity was actually a popular religion, today, two billion people claim to be followers of Jesus in some way, which is powerful.

But if you really got down to it, do they really actually follow Jesus? Paul was one of those guys who didn’t just claim to; he didn’t just say it on Sunday; he lived it. And the time came when Nero, the emperor of Rome at that time, was killing Christians, and they were getting ready for the gladiator games.

While America loves the movie “Gladiator,” we forget that Christians were actually being burned all around the Coliseum. At the top of the Coliseum, to provide light at night—they didn’t have electricity—so they would take Christians because Christians were against the Roman Empire.

Now, Christians didn’t try to rebel against the Roman Empire; they just chose to worship a higher King than Caesar. They chose to put their focus not on a man in the Empire or sitting on a throne here, but they chose to give their allegiance to Jesus.

And so the Roman Empire didn’t like it, not because they were causing trouble, not because they were doing bad things, but because they were turning people’s hearts to the one true King. And so Nero would take Christians and say, “What do you identify as? Are you a follower of Jesus? Do you follow the sect called ‘The Way’?”

That’s what they called it: “The Way.” Are you a follower of “The Way”? And they would say yes, and they knew that identifying as a follower of Jesus meant that they would be one of the lamps at nighttime, burning on a wooden stick.

Some of them would refuse to be on a cross because they would say, “I don’t want to be on the thing that my Savior hung on. I’m not worthy to even die on a cross; just put me on a one-pole stick,” and they would burn them like barbecue steak around the Coliseum while they would have lions attacking gladiators.

Christians burning around the Coliseum—we complain that our Wi-Fi is going out—first world problems right here—while there’s a persecuted church in the Middle East. There are people who are literally in our city right now, going to our school, our Bible college, who left everything, walked away from the Muslim faith.

Their family said, “If you come back home, we’ll kill you.” They can’t even get in pictures here because of how dangerous it is for them to be here; they have counted the cost.

“I’m with Him”—to live is Christ, and to die is gain. You can gain the whole world and lose your soul, but anyone who follows after Jesus will gain so much more in the next life. See, this life is temporary; we’re not here forever.

We’re here today and gone tomorrow. The flowers fade and the grass withers, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. When you say, “I’m with Him,” you’re saying, “I am not ashamed.” Somebody say, “I’m not ashamed.”

You know, there are people who are ashamed to stand with certain people. They’re like, “I don’t want to stand with that guy because he’s kind of in hot water right now. I mean, there are people gossiping about him, so I’m not getting a picture; we’re not posting anything on Instagram with these people because they’re going through some stuff.”

But when you stand with Jesus, you’re saying, “I’ll stand with Him even if I lose friends or followers. I’ll stand with Him even if I lose business deals.”

Jesus Freak and Counting the Cost
There was a song that came out when I was in high school that said, “What will people think when they hear that I’m a Jesus freak?” You didn’t think we could say “freak” in church? Ashley said it last week; I’m saying it this week. “Jesus Freak.”

What will people do if they find out it’s true? And then they say, “I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak; there ain’t no denying the truth.” You know what I loved about that song? It came out right after Columbine, when there was a shooting—one of the first major shootings on our soil in a high school—when a guy walked into Columbine High School in Colorado with guns.

Two guys walked in, and they found a girl named Rachel Scott. They put the gun to her head and said, “Do you identify as a Christian?” And she said, “Yes, I am a Christian.” And they said, “Go be with your God,” and they shot her on the spot—a 16-year-old girl.

Have we counted the cost of where we stand? When I say that I’m with Him, I’m with Him—I’m saying I’m not ashamed to identify.

Through the Good, Bad, and Ugly
Secondly, I’m saying I’m with Him through the good, bad, and ugly. John chapter 6 tells a story in the Bible where Jesus is preaching a hard message—a message that confronts all the disciples.

By the way, if all I preach are messages that affirm you, I’m not doing a good job. If my messages don’t challenge you a little bit, make you a little uncomfortable, cringe a little bit—I mean, His followers started cringing at what He was saying because He was talking about communion, eating His flesh, and drinking His blood.

And people were like, “Don’t say stuff like that; you’re going to lose followers.” And Jesus is like, “I’m going to preach the truth.” Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth. Truth sounds weird to people who have rejected truth—moral relativists.

Like Pontius Pilate, he said, “What is truth?” He didn’t even know truth was standing right in front of him. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” You know what? You want to know what truth is? Right and wrong—it’s Jesus; He embodies truth.

So Jesus is preaching this message, and one by one, people start walking away. And Jesus says in John 6:61, “Does this message offend you? Do you want to leave too? Like, am I making you uncomfortable?”

Because church is not about to—no, church was not designed to make Christians comfortable. Church was designed to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, and it challenges you, and it convicts you, and it stirs you, and it can bring you to an altar to say there are some things that I need to repent of and I need to get right with God.

And so Jesus starts watching as congregation members are leaving the service. This makes me feel better when anybody leaves my service. I’m like, “Well, they did it to Jesus, y’all.” “Like Paul, we’re just going to the bathroom.” Okay, all right, I know.

But there was this moment where they all started leaving, and Jesus looks at His disciples in verse 67 and says, “Do you want to leave too? You want to leave because you don’t want to identify with me? I’m making you a little too uncomfortable. I’m causing you to lose some social status. You’re losing your popularity by going to my church—do you want to leave too?”

And I love Peter’s response. Peter looks at Jesus and says, “Lord, where would we go? Caesar doesn’t have it; the synagogue doesn’t have it; none of these other people who claim to have it.”

Peter says, “You’re the one with eternal life; it’s in You I find truth; it’s in You I find hope.” Peter’s looking at Him; he’s like, “You accepted a group of us rebels, rough-around-the-edges guys that are still cussing and still need help, and we’re still cutting people’s ears off, and You still hang with us.” And if You’re with us, we’re with You.

The question is not, “Is Jesus with us?” Jesus promised, “I am with you even to the ends of the ages.” The question is not, “Is God for us?” The question is, “Are we for God? Are we with Him?” Jesus has not forsaken the American church, but the question is, has the American church forsaken Jesus?

So to say “I’m with Him, I’m with Him” is saying I’m with Him through the good, the bad, and the ugly. See, my kids asked me the other day, “Are you going to switch teams because the Dallas Cowboys keep losing?”

I was like, “You don’t know your daddy well enough. I’m not a switcher! I’ve been with the Cowboys since I was a kid. We’ve had some rough seasons. I remember really good seasons with Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin. I remember some good seasons, but I’m not a switch! I’m with my team! I’m not a fair-weather fan.”

I’m a Sooners fan even in the ugly seasons. I’m sooner all the way. But that doesn’t mean that I’m always excited about our season. But I’m with our teams through the good, bad, and ugly.

That’d be like getting into a marriage and saying, “I’m with you through richer and richer, in health and in healthier, as long as you get skinny and skinnier, as prettier and prettier, and life is better and better.” No, no, no! I’m with you in sickness and in health. I’m with you for richer or poorer. I’m with you through valleys or mountaintops till death do us part.

And how many times have we signed up for Christianity just to get the free meals? See, there was a group of people who were with Jesus as long as He was feeding the multitudes—loaves and fishes fans.

False fans are committed to the team as long as the season is going well. They’ll cheer for Jesus, but if the season goes south, the bleachers get empty. They’re close enough to get the benefits from God but not close enough to bring any sacrifice to God. They are no-strings-attached relationally as long as it doesn’t mess with my life.

But when I say I’m with Him, I’m with Him through the good, bad, and ugly.

Loving and Hating What He Does
Thirdly, when I say I’m with Him, I love what He loves. Who does He love? He loves people; He loves truth; He loves life; He loves obedience; He loves worship. So I love what He loves, and I hate what He hates.

Now you go, “Paul, I don’t want to be labeled as a hater.” Well, you’re not a hater of people; God doesn’t hate people; He loves people. But He hates Satan, and He hates the works of Satan that have twisted and perverted our nation and the nations of the earth.

See, God detests the spirit of deception; He detests the spirit of divisiveness and wickedness and the lying tongue; He detests the spirit of arrogance and pride. So when I say I’m with Him, I’m saying, “Lord, I love what You love,” which means I love the whole world.

That means I love my enemies too. That means I pray for my enemies. That means that I believe that God has a plan even for people that I, in my mind, want to cancel. But I also, when I say I’m with Him, hate what He hates, which means that there’s sin that I need to have a hatred toward—not people, but the spirit of sin in your life and in the world.

To say, “God, I want to live with righteousness.” When I say I’m with Him, that means I stand where He stands. Where does He stand? He stands for truth; He stands for hope; He stands for compassion; He stands for life; He stands for the church being the church—being the hands and feet of God, being salt and light.

Joshua had this moment with the people of Israel where they were starting to look at foreign gods. They had a wandering eye. They were like one foot in the church and one foot— they were kind of like in a relationship with God but not really fully in; they were wandering; they were just looking for other idols. Maybe.

And Joshua says this in Joshua 24:15: “If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you,” in other words, “if serving God, if being with God feels like an unpopular choice and an uncomfortable choice, it’s making you cringe; it’s making you feel a little frustrated; you’re not happy with it,” he says, “then go choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether it’s the gods of the ancestors you served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.”

But I love what Joshua says: “As for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord.” As for me and my house, we stand with Jesus; we stand with the Lord; we stand where He stands.

Believing and Accessing His Favor
When I say I’m with Him, that means I believe what He said. If God says that He can do it, I believe that He can. You can’t say, “I’m with Him,” but then reject what He says. “Well, I just don’t think He can do it.”

When I say I’m with Him, I believe what He says. When I say I’m with Him, I have access to His favor. Now, this is an awesome one because those who suffer with Christ also reign with Christ. Those who walk with Jesus walk with the favor of Jesus.

There was this—I remember going to Israel many years ago, and there was this tour guide that was telling me that one of the most powerful things was walking in the dust of your rabbi. Your rabbi was your teacher; he was your mentor, your leader—whoever you chose to follow.

And he said followers wanted to be close enough to catch the dust of the rabbi because there was something about the dust as they were walking off the trail of their feet. As long as they were walking and getting that same dust of the rabbi, they were walking in his spirit, his mantle.

This is why Elisha wanted to be right next to Elijah; he wanted to have the dust of his rabbi; he wanted to have the anointing of his rabbi. When you are with Jesus, you get the anointing of Jesus; you get the favor of Jesus.

I remember going to sports games sometimes by myself, and I would have to sit in the nosebleed section, you know, and I’d have to pay for popcorn, and I’d have to pay. But when I went with Billy Joe, my dad, to some of these basketball games when he was alive, he would walk in and he got VIP access.

They were like, “Oh, it’s the pastor, Pastor Victory,” and would walk Billy Joe backstage to concerts with Carmen and The Power Team, DC Talk, and Audio Adrenaline—and I would walk in, and they would stop me and they were like, “Who are you with?”

I said, “I’m with him.” And they were like, “Billy Joe? You’re with Billy? Billy Joe, do you identify with this kid over here? That’s my son,” you know? He’s looking at me, and John, and we’re like, “We’re with him.”

“If you’re with him, I’m getting you guys free popcorn, free M&Ms, free snacks, free cocoa.” I was like, “Thank you, Jesus!” The benefit of walking with Billy Joe and Sharon Dye. But when I say I’m with Him, not only do I stand with Him through the good, bad, and ugly, but I get to access His favor.

I’m telling you, there are great benefits to saying, “I’m with Him.” When I say I’m with Him, I’m saying God is my King. I’m a citizen of Heaven before I’m a citizen of a political party. Before I try to identify with my ethnicity, I identify with the Kingdom of Heaven. I stand with God.

Idols in Athens and Today
Anyone else in this room stand with God here today? In Acts 17, Paul the Apostle walks into Athens, Greece, and he’s on this mission trip, which is kind of connected to the Roman Empire. There are all of these people that care about power and intellect and knowledge, and Paul gets there in verse 16 and is greatly distressed as he begins to see the city was full of idols.

And as he’s looking at these idols, he’s watching, and his heart begins to break. When I say I’m with Him, that means I allow my heart to break for what His heart breaks for. His heart breaks for people to know Him, to be right with Him, to be delivered from idolatry.

And so Paul starts watching it; he starts looking at it. An idol is anything or anyone that becomes more important in your life than God. So Paul’s looking at these idols, and he begins to reason in the synagogue with Jews and God-fearing Greeks as well as in the marketplace.

You know, God called us to be in the marketplace preaching the good news, so if you’re a business person, you’re called to be salt and light in your company. You’re called to be a witness. Don’t hide your Christian card; don’t keep that a secret.

Let people know you found hope, you found life, you found joy, you found peace, and it’s not in a money amount or a salary or a bank account; you found it in Jesus Christ. So Paul was witnessing in the marketplace; he was witnessing at the university; he was witnessing in the schools; he was witnessing in the hallways.

Y’all, the greatest revival is going to happen outside the walls of the church; it’s going to happen in schools and universities and businesses and Walmarts and parking lots. And I’m telling you people are going to get baptized outside of the Arkansas Razorback Stadium.

It started happening last month—10,000 young adults went public with their faith in Christ, got baptized outside of Arkansas University. And they beat Tennessee last night, all right?

But here’s the point: Paul starts looking at this, starts preaching, and they start asking this question. Verse 18, they said, “Who is this guy? Who is this babbler? What’s he talking about? Tell us what’s on your heart, Paul.”

And so Paul gathers in front of all of them, and they say, “What are you advocating for? What are you standing for? Where do you stand?” And Paul starts to preach, and I love what he says.

He stands up in verse 22 and says, “People of Athens, people of Tulsa, people of America, people of Oklahoma, I see that in every way you are very religious.” I wonder if religion is also an idol in Tulsa, Jerusalem.

I wonder if we’ve made the traditions of man, and religious checklists and rules, more important than an encounter with Jesus. Now, I’m a Tulsa-born-and-raised; I love our city. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there are some sacred cows that need to be pushed over in this city.

There are some idols of religiosity that are really not the heart of Jesus; they’re just religiosity. And Jesus is greater. Hear what I’m saying: Jesus is greater than religion.

You go, “Well, Jesus is a religion.” No, no, no! Jesus is a relationship with us. Jesus wants us to know Him personally. Jesus doesn’t want us just checking off the checklist that we went to church; Jesus wants us to know Him personally.

So Paul says this. He says, “I see that in your city you’re very religious. I walked around, looked at this.” In verse 23, he says, “I carefully looked at your objects of worship. I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown God.’”

He says, “I see that you’re worshiping a God you don’t even know. You’re ignorant of the very thing you worship.” Now Paul—he’s stirring up some people; people are getting upset at him; it’s getting quiet, kind of like it is right now.

He says, “This is what I’m going to proclaim to you. I’m going to proclaim to you who you really need to worship, who you really need to make the focal point in your life.” Worship is deciding where you’re going to focus your attention, your energy in life.

What Is Your Focal Point?
I remember when Ashley and I first moved into our house, and she had a friend who had helped some other people design their living room space, and we were trying to figure out where to put our couch and a rug and our coffee table.

And she said, “Well, you need to decide what the focal point is in the living room. Is the focal point the TV, or is the focal point the couch over here, or are you going to take the TV out of the room and just make the focal point each other, just talking to each other?”

You really need to decide what is it—the fireplace—what’s the focal point? What she was saying is where are you going to direct people’s attention? And this is what Paul is saying: “What is your life going to focus on? Is it going to focus on gods you don’t even know?”

And you might be here today and go, “What does this have to do with my life?” Paul, I don’t have any other gods but God. But sometimes idols can be very deceiving in our lives. We don’t realize we have idols that are sitting on the throne of our heart until we start probing ourselves and saying, “Do I have any idols?”

Like, what is it that takes so much attention from your mind? What is it that drives you to make you happy? What disappoints you the most? What makes you feel the most alive? Is it Jesus, or is it money?

Money is a terrible god, by the way, because money will never be enough for you. You can make all the money in the world and still be miserable. Some of the richest people in the world who have all the stuff and the houses and the cars—you go, “Well, yeah, it’s easy for them to say they’re miserable; they have all the money.” No, no! Money is not a good god.

For some people, their idol is their job. They’ve turned J-O into God. They live for their job. You go, “My job is not my God. I just love my job so much that I’ll do anything to not lose it, even if that means I’ve got to skip church and not read my Bible, not pray. I’ll travel wherever they tell me; I’ll do it, even if it costs me my family.” Your job has become your god.

For some people, it is their kids, and they love their kids. We should love our kids. I love our five kids, but kids are not a good god. Kids are a terrible god. They’re good kids, but they’re not a good god.

And some of us—we’re allowing our kids to control everything about our life. Or for others, it’s your spouse. Your spouse— you love your spouse so much, and you should, but if your spouse sits on the throne of your heart, your spouse is not a good god. Your spouse is a spouse, and you should love your spouse, but your spouse should not be your god.

And you go, “Okay, well, my spouse is not my god; my kids are not my god.” But for others, it’s sports. Sports have taken over your life. You will skip church for sports.

You’re like, “We’ve got to get our kids in more sports—more sports, more success, more volleyball teams, more basketball teams, more soccer teams, more A-teams, more special teams—as long as we’re winning out here, we’re winning life.” And sports control your schedule; it controls your happiness, your joy. Sports are a terrible god to have in your life. You should play sports, but sports should not control your life.

For others, it is politics. You’re like, “Woo, this next president? Yeah, that’s my guy!” He sits on the throne of my heart. That’s a terrible god to have in your life! Trump is not the Savior; Kamala is not the Savior—Jesus is the Savior! Jesus is the Savior; He is our King!

Now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t vote; you should vote! You should register to vote. Every Christian should vote!

Listen, the Bible does not tell Christians to disengage from your nation, don’t care about your nation, blame all the problems on the nation on the people who voted for it. We should use our voice to vote. God placed us in our nation.

We are citizens of Heaven, but God has given us a voice, and it is an honor and a privilege to live in the United States of America. And you go, “Well, Paul, if I’m not supposed to have a politician as my god, what am I supposed to do? Who am I supposed to vote for?”

You should vote for whoever is closest to this Word right here. There is no perfect candidate. We’re not picking a pastor or a top Christian; we’re just picking someone that we think is going to lead our nation in the right direction, and you get to decide that—that’s your choice.

But I would just say, if you’re a Christian, if you identify as His, then you should be looking at this and go, “Who’s aligned the closest to this that’s going to help our nation in the right direction for the next generation?” That’s all I’m going to say about that today.

The True God
The God who made the world, Paul the Apostle says, and everything in it is the Lord of Heaven and Earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands.

In other words, this is not the place where God lives. We gather here; we worship here; we gain wisdom from here; we get the Word, the truth, but Jesus lives in here. So wherever I go, and I’m praying for more godly politicians to come out of Victory that take over the White House and the Capitol building.

We need more godly senators and congressmen and great vice presidents, presidents. Some of you in this room might go on to be the President of the United States.

And I just challenge—that’s why I’m preaching this word—to someone in this room: will you lead our nation in the right direction? Whoever that is, whoever feels called to that realm, we need more people in that realm.

So Paul starts challenging all the idols—and all the gods—and the people in the room are getting uncomfortable, and they’re cringing at what Paul’s saying. But I love what Paul—he just doesn’t hold back; he doesn’t hold any punches back.

He just says this: he says, “Listen, you’ve been worshiping the sun, the moon, the stars, the Mediterranean Ocean. You’ve been worshiping the mountains and the cliffs, and it’s all beautiful, but none of that is the object of our worship.

All of that was built by a Creator who wanted you to look at it and ask the question, ‘Where did this come from? Who made us? Who made me? Who made these mountains? Who made this beautiful Mediterranean Ocean? Who made these fish? Who made the sun, the moon, and the stars?’”

And Paul says, “It wasn’t monkeys that we came from, and it wasn’t a big bang. It wasn’t some other person. He says, ‘I know the Creator; I’ve met Him.’”

Paul says, “I was a religious man; I once was zealous; I was trained by Gamaliel; I was trained in all of the Jewish understanding; I studied the Torah; I knew it all until I fell from my horse and my eyes were opened when I saw the One who was pierced in His hands, when I saw the One who died for my sins.”

And Paul says, “For in Him,” ever say “in Him,” “in Him we live and we move and we have our being.” It is only by God that we exist. We don’t exist for money; we don’t exist for marriage and children. All of that’s good, but I’m telling you, we are the bride of Christ, and all of it’s pointing to us preparing ourselves for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

He’s coming back again; He lived and He died, and He rose from the grave, and He’s coming back again. And Paul says, “In Him.” Ever say, “In Him.” “In Him we live, in Him we move, in Him we have our being.” He’s the reason we’re alive; He’s the reason we exist.

Distinctions of True Followers
A.W. Tozer said it like this: there’s three distinctions about those people who are truly with Christ—people who are truly crucified with Christ who are following Jesus. If I say I’m with Him, there’s three distinctions about it, and then we’re going to worship.

I want the band to come out. He says, number one, they’re facing only one direction—not the old band, One Direction—they are facing only one direction in life. They don’t have a wandering eye; they’re not looking around, figuring out what other options there are. They’re just all in.

My eyes are on Jesus! My eyes are on Jesus! I’m going to live in Him; I’m going to pray. I’m going to worship. I’m going to do what God’s called me to do. And if marriage is in your desires and having kids is in your desires, do all those things, but just do it for the glory of God.

And if business—and you make a lot of money—just do it for the glory of God. And sports and media—all the stuff that you’re called to do—just do it for the glory of God. So my one direction in life is, “Lord, I want my life to bring You glory.”

He said, number two, they can never turn back. They’ve burned the ships; they don’t have any prenuptials; they haven’t come up with an escape plan. “If this doesn’t work out, I’m going to go; I get the house, you get the car, you get the kid.”

You know, there are no prenuptials; there’s no skipping out on the hard parts. They’ve decided, “No turning back—the cross before me, the world behind me—no turning back.”

Number three, they no longer have plans of their own; they’re submitted to Christ.

Prayer
I want you to stand on your feet all over this place if that’s okay. And I want us to go into a moment of worship and prayer because our nation needs it. How many of y’all think our nation needs some prayer right now? I think so! I think so!

And I think as a church we have to decide that we are with the Lord at the end of the day—that I’m with Him (capital H). I’m with Him! If we want to see America turn back to God, we as a church have to turn our hearts back to God.

And I love how Paul ends his message by talking about the resurrection. He just starts challenging these philosophers. He says, “You don’t understand. Jesus died; He rose from the grave; He loves you; He has a plan for you.” He was waking them up to purpose.

I just—I also feel in my heart just to challenge people right now to recognize God is a jealous God—not jealous in a human jealousy of sin, but jealous in a way of He wants our hearts, because He knows anything else that has our heart—anything else that has our full attention, our worship—is only going to rob us of the peace and the joy that He can bring.

God said one of the first commandments He gave was, “You shall have no other God before Me,” and that includes no other person that you place on the throne of your heart or the throne of your nation.

That we would say, “You know what? I’m going to vote, and I’m not going to wait for the White House to fix the problems. I’m going to get involved in the Dream Center at Victory, and I’m going to serve, and I’m going to help single-parent kids, and I’m going to help neighborhoods that need help, and I’m going to give to the poor, and I’m going to respond to the crisis, and I’m going to believe God that we’re going to get some people in office that will help shape our city, state, and nation in the right direction.”

But at the end of the day, the throne of my heart belongs to one King only, and that King is Jesus. So I am not moved by what comes and goes, and I am not moved by what hurricane blows in or blows out, and I am not moved by what wars are started in the Middle East or right here in our own country.

My heart belongs to one King and one King only, and it’s Jesus! And because He sits on the throne of my heart, I come to worship, and I come to lift up His name! And when I walk out of this room, He’s the One that I’m living for. He’s the One I’m advocating for. He’s the One I want people to encounter.

Which means that I’m going to guard my heart against divisiveness; I’m going to guard my heart against trying to get back at my enemy. It means I am going to live for the glory of God. I’m going to let Jesus sit on the throne of my heart.

And I just feel to do this altar call in two ways: one, people who need to get right with God; you need to put God back on the throne of your heart. Maybe for some of you, it’s the first time you’re just saying, “I want Jesus to be Lord of my life.”

If that’s you, I want you just to raise your hand all over this place, or you’re just saying, “I need to get God back on the throne of my heart.” Can we give a big hand clap for anyone that just raised their hands? That’s a big deal! If you’re still thinking about it, there’s time right now.

But the second part of this altar call is I want to invite people to pray, and I sense in my heart that our nation is going to need a lot of prayer over the next 30 days and then beyond these next 30 days for the next however many days.

Because the enemy, more than ever, wants to stir up civil war in our country. The enemy wants the right versus the left and this tribe against this tribe and this ethnic group. And the church has got to stand with Jesus Christ!

We’ve got to say, “No, no, no! We are brothers and sisters. We are the family of God. We’re going to love our neighbor; we’re going to pray for our nation; we’re going to believe whatever God has for America; we’re going to believe that God has greater things in front of us.

We’re going to walk in honor; we’re going to walk in wisdom; we’re going to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” You say, “Where does that come from?” Jesus said it. I’m going to preach more on that next week, but I feel to do an altar call right now for prayer.

If you have a sense in your heart just to pray for our country, to pray for these elections coming up in the next 30 days, to pray for the next generation, to pray for the children of our nation—I look at my kids, and I’m just going, “Man, it’s a different country growing up in today than it was when I was a kid,” and I have this urgency to pray.

So I want to invite whoever in the room just has a desire to pray—we’re going to, for the next five minutes, pray. And I want you to just come down to this altar and pray for America, pray for the elections, pray for the children of our nation, pray for the teenagers of our nation, pray for the families of our nation, pray for people that are caught right now in the middle of confusion, and they don’t know what the truth is, and they’re searching, and they don’t know where to turn.

And I want to invite anyone who wants to join us at this altar that just needs to get right with God—come and join us; come and find a spot today. There’s room at the cross; He loves you; He’s for you.

And we’re going to worship the King of Kings; we’re going to lift up His name as you come down to this altar. You could just begin to pray and worship and declare, “Jesus is King over America! Jesus is King over Victory! Jesus is King over Tulsa! Jesus is King over Oklahoma! Jesus is King over the nations of the earth!”

Jesus, we worship You. All hail King Jesus! You are the Lord of Heaven and Earth. You are the creator of all things, God. Lord, we pray right now, God, for the United States of America.

We pray against every demonic attack that’s trying to mess with our schools, with the universities, with children, with teenagers, with dads, with moms. We lift up the United States of America.

We pray right now, God, for Your grace, Your wisdom, Your truth. Lord, we pray for our nation, and we pray for the next generation of our nations.

Yes, in Jesus' name, Lord, we pray that You would be King over our nation. We surrender to You. I’m with Him; I’m with God; I’m with Jesus.

In Jesus' name, God, we pray for revival in America. We pray for revival in the next generation. We pray for revival in the youth group of our church.

Lord, we pray, God, for a strong devotion to Jesus, a strong allegiance to Jesus. Lord, we pray for encounters with the Holy Spirit for every teenager, every young adult, every child, every son, every daughter, every grandmother, grandfather, every husband, every wife, every single parent.

Let every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord! You rule, and God, we pray Your Kingdom, Your will be done. We cry out, “Holy, holy are You, Lord God Almighty! Worthy is the Lamb! Worthy is the Lamb! You are holy!”

I stand with the Lamb—the Lamb that was slain, the Lamb that has conquered sin and death. You are worthy; You are worthy, God. You are holy, God! Worthy is the Lamb! Worthy is the Lamb!

Holy Rebellion and Standing Firm
In 2020, I learned something specifically in regards to our call as the church in our nation, and I wrote this down; I wanted to share this with you because as we’re praying, I want you to keep this in your heart.

Romans 13 teaches on submitting to government and honoring them—praying for them. We should always pray for those that are in government positions, whether we voted for them or not; that’s our call—pray for them.

But as Christians, there are times where we do not stand with what our government stands for. And you go, “I don’t know if that’s biblically correct.” It is because in the Book of Daniel, the Hebrew children had a choice.

They were under a king that was not righteous, and that king lifted up an idol and said, “Everybody must bow down to this.” And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had a decision to make.

“Do we honor the government by forsaking who we actually stand with, which is Him, Yahweh, and please the king of this earth, that’s here today and gone tomorrow?”

In the Book of Daniel, four different kings came through in a matter of about 80 years because kings come and go. Every four years there’s a new king or every eight years.

And so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they had to make a decision. “I know I’m called to honor; I know I’m called to pray. But sometimes I’m called to have a holy rebellion. Sometimes I am called to stand when everyone else is bowing.”

And so they stood, and by standing, they knew it was martyrdom. By standing with God, they were saying, “I don’t stand with this king. I’m in this nation, and I’m thankful to be in this nation, but I don’t stand for what he’s standing for right now.”

And there comes a time— in 2020, we had to do this because everyone was telling the church, “You’re not essential. The church needs to bow down.” And there were governmental leaders saying everyone needs to—and I’m thankful during that time there were some governmental leaders that were saying, “No, the church is essential, and the church does need to stand.”

I’m thankful for those governmental leaders that did say that. But regardless of who was going to say it, we as a church decided we were going to stand. And we stood, and we began to minister to people across the nation, and we took shots for it.

In the next few weeks, I’m going to tell you some things I’ve never preached on that I think would be really helpful during this series. But there was another time in the Book of Daniel where Daniel chose to open his windows and pray when they said, “You cannot pray to God. You cannot pray to any other god except for King Nebuchadnezzar.”

And Daniel said, “Not only am I going to pray; I’m going to let the whole world know that I’m praying. I’m opening my windows.” That’s holy rebellion.

And this is what’s important. George Washington said it is possible to govern a nation without God and the Bible—but what we’re seeing happen right now is that our nation is starting to want to move further and further away from Bible beliefs and Bible values.

And so the church has to stand on this. Now, if you go, “Well, I’m only here as long as we’re trendy with the politics,” then you should go to another church that’s going to trend with the politics because we’re going to stand on the Word of God.

And I just might have saved you some extra weeks in our church. Other people will come and say, “I’m not afraid of losing people for standing on the Word of God.” What I am afraid of is gaining people by not standing on the Word of God.

I’d rather lose some people by standing on God’s Word knowing that God will bring more people into our church that are hungry for a Bible-believing, truth-speaking church than a watered-down, politically correct church that stands for whatever America stands for.

I don’t stand for whatever America stands for; I stand for whatever God stands for. I’m thankful for our nation. I’m blessed to be in this nation. We honor the soldiers that laid their lives down for this nation.

But that doesn’t mean we forsake our Christian beliefs and values and morals just because of a leader’s words. And so we are coming into a time where the church has to choose where you stand.

And that’s why I preach this message today: I stand with Him. I want you to just say this with me: “I stand with Him” (capital H). “I stand with Him.”

There is one-only one capital H Him in the world. It’s not a person here on Earth; it is the Lord. I stand with Him; I stand with the King of Kings.

Lord, I pray right now, God, for every person here and every person at this altar. I just pray, Lord, that You give us boldness; give us love; help us, Lord, to walk in wisdom.

Deliver us, God, from division and strife and anger. Deliver us, God, from unnecessary arguments with people. Help us, God, to walk in wisdom-in our relationships, our conversations.

Help us to be salt and light. Help us not to waver in the truth; help us not to be cowards when it comes to standing for truth. Help us, God, to rise as bold as lions in this hour.

The righteous are as bold as lions; the wicked flee though no one pursues them. But the righteous stay and they stand. So Lord, I pray that You would help us to stay and stand with You.

God, You’re with us; You’ve always been with us; You’re for us. So Lord, today we say we’re with You, and we’re for You, and we’re for Your Word and Your truth, and Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in our nation, God.

We want Your love to flow through us to our neighbors, to people that think differently than us, to people that vote differently than us.

I pray, Lord, that You would help us to be the reputation of Victory: that we would be the church that walks in so much love and compassion and truth and grace and wisdom, and the church that’s always on the front lines of helping change the nation for the better, back to righteousness, back to God, back to the Lord, back to truth.

Just pray this with me, Say:

Jesus, help me to follow You completely, wholeheartedly. You died on the cross for my sins; You rose from the grave, and You are coming back again, and I want to be ready.

So I say I’m with You; I’m with Your word; I’m with Your heart for this world. God, I’m all Yours. I repent of my sin; I receive Your forgiveness, and I will pray for this nation, and I will pray for my generation.

I will believe for revival in my lifetime to see You move in our nation like never before. You are King over my heart; You are King over this nation; You are King over the world, and I believe that I have victory in my life because You live in me. In Jesus' Name, amen and amen.”