Rick Warren - Having the Mind of Christ During an Election
Hello everybody and thanks for joining us. I'm Pastor Rick, Author of the "Purpose Driven Life" and Pastor at Saddleback Church here in Southern California. You know, this next week, Americans are gonna go to the poll to vote on a number of different issues and elect a slate of leaders including a president for the years ahead. You know in my conversations with people about this election year, I've heard several themes repeated over and over. And the first is that people don't like the fact that political campaigning never stops anymore. It is continuous now. Literally the day after an election people start campaigning and preparing for the next one. So there's no break in campaigning anymore. They don't like that.
Second thing in this election cycle by all accounts, it's been the most vicious, mean-spirited and polarizing campaign probably in modern times. And people are worn out from all the vitriol, and the stereotyping, and the stigmatizing, and the name calling. You know, people used to disagree with each other in political campaigns and still treat each other with pretty good respect. But these days there's a lot of dehumanizing and the opposition and people are just mean.
Third, because of this pandemic we have now been allowed early voting. And already, as I'm saying these words right now over 90 million ballots have already been turned in, and this election is going to break all records for the number of votes cast in an American election.
Finally, with more money being spent on political ads than ever before, we are being bombarded 24 hours a day with political messages. Now all four of these factors that I just mentioned have created what I call an exaggerated importance around political news actually, to the neglect of all the other kinds of news. You know, all of the news channels that we see on TV and radio, and on the internet they've all become defacto political channels because that's all they seem to talk about anymore. And as a result politics has come to dominate our conversations. And as I said it's led to what I call an exaggerated importance. It's treated as the most important topic, even among Christians. And sometimes it's the only topic mentioned by the media. This has created a lot of tension and even some doomsday attitudes toward this particular election.
I've been thinking a lot about it, praying for you. And because of this, I feel that I need to take a couple of weeks, the week before the election and the week after, taking a break from our series through the Book of James and to talk to you about what the Bible says about the place and the role of government, and politics in your life. Because I think it's really actually over-exaggerated. And I wanna calm your nerves. I wanna put up with every, excuse me, I wanna put up a little better perspective on everything that you're going through and I want to help you to remember that God's still on His throne, He's still in control, history is His story. And I'm gonna talk about that a little bit more next week after the election. But I'm also going to show you from scripture what it will take, next week to heal our division and wounds. What would heal our nation?
Now, you know, the Saddleback Church is a nonpolitical and a non-partisan congregation. We never ever, ever promote any candidate. That's just not our primary reason for existence. It's not one of the five purposes that God gave the church, to promote candidates. In the Great Commandment, Great Commission, there's nothing said there about politics. And so in 40 years as your pastor I have never ever endorsed any candidate and I'm not about to start that. So you don't need to worry about that. I think you're smart enough to make your own decisions on your own and that's not what I need talk about this weekend, besides I'm sure that probably a good portion of you who are part of that 90 million people who've already voted early.
So instead today, what I wanna do is consider the theme of how to have the mind of Christ during an election. How to have the mind of Christ during an election. How do you survive in election without losing your sanity or losing your sleep, or losing your soul? Specifically, what I wanna do this weekend is contrast how the values and priorities of Jesus are very different than the values and priorities of politics. I want you to see the difference because sadly, over the past few decades I've noticed that even people who have been Christians for a long time have been seduced into believing that politics rather than our Lord and savior Jesus has the answers to all the problems in our world. And I see people who claim to be Christians spending more time watching and listening to political news and political commentary than they invest in studying this book, the Bible and reading Christian literature that'll help them develop a biblical worldview.
Now I wanna point out before we get into this message that the Bible says that public service in government, it's a noble and it's a vital vocation. And I personally know many many deeply-dedicated Christian public servants. But that doesn't change the fact that many times the kingdom of politics competes with the kingdom of God, for allegiance. And sadly many Christians have given greater allegiance to their political party than do the family of God. You know, all politics are temporary. They're not gonna be in heaven. And where was God before your party existed 100 years ago, what was He doing for thousands of years? How did He do anything without your party? God's family is the only thing that's gonna last forever.
Now I wanna begin by looking at several scriptures that highlight what God thinks about politics and why it's so different from all the emphasis that you get in the media. And then I wanna give you four examples from the word of God, where the values of Jesus are diametrically opposed to some of the values that we see in political campaigns. So let's start by looking at Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 verse two says this, "Do not conform yourselves to be like the people of this world". Don't conform it. Don't don't just follow the crowd. Don't conform yourself being like the people of this world instead be transformed within by a new way of thinking. That's where the transformation comes. Then you will be able to decide. You will be able to decide, circle that phrase if you're taking notes, you'll be able to decide what God wants for you, and you'll know what is good and pleasing to him, and what is his perfect will.
And as I said, if you're taking notes circle that able to decide because many of you got some big decisions to make this week. And if you allow God to transform your mind with the new way thinking you'll have a couple of instant benefits. First, you're gonna make better decisions. You'll be able to decide what God wants you to do. And second, the tension in your life is gonna go down. Now, my goal in this message today is for you to be able to say after this whole election thing is over that you'll be able to say what Paul, said in second Corinthians chapter one, verse 12. Paul said this, "We have conducted ourselves in the world with holiness and sincerity from God. And we've been guided by God's grace, not by the human wisdom of this world".
That's what I want people to be able to say about you and I want you to be able to say it about yourself after the elections are all over, that you were guided by God's grace, not the human wisdom of this world. What we desperately need to hear from is God. Not another commentator, not another poll, not another pep rally. You will base your values and your priorities, and your choices in life, your decisions, you will base all of those things either on the world or on the word. The world or the word. And these two things, the world and the word they're diametrically opposed to each other. Here's what God said in Isaiah chapter 55. Look at this verse, Isaiah 55, verse eight and nine. "I don't think the way you think".
That's really pretty good. I'm glad God doesn't think the way I think or the way you think. God says, "I don't think the way you think and the way I work is very different from the way you work. for just as the heaven soar high above the earth so the way that I work far surpasses the way you work and the things that I value are way beyond what you value". So He's on a different level. That's why some of the points that I share with you in just a second may surprise you because God thinks very differently than we do, and He certainly thinks differently than politicians do. And in first Corinthians chapter one verse 20, God adds this. He says, "God has shown us that the world's wisdom is foolishness". It may seem like great marketing material. It may seem like great, you know, merchandising, great planning, but God says the world's wisdom is foolish.
So today I wanna give you four specific examples, I could have given you a dozen but just four specific examples of contrasting what the world says and what the word says. What politics says is important and what Jesus says is important. Let's get started. Number one. Number one, here we go. The world says politics is the driving force in everything. If you get around the world for any length of time, they're gonna talk about politics as if it's the most important thing in life. I discovered this years ago when I started being invited to speak to secular gatherings. And I spoke three times at Ted, did Ted Talks. I spoke three times of the Davos World Economic Forum. I spoke at the Entertainment Gathering and the Aspen Ideas Institute and many, many other secular gatherings like the Sundance Dialog Retreat.
And what I discovered is this that for people who don't depend on God in their lives, they don't know God, and they don't depend on him as their highest power, then their highest power becomes government. Yeah, there's nothing higher, there's nobody else to appeal to 'cause God's not there. And when they see in the world, since they don't naturally turn to God, they don't pray about those problems, they naturally turn to government. They look to the government to be the solution for everything. Because if you don't have God, where do you go? It's the highest power. So for secular people, politics is the way you get stuff done. And that's why they live in it. They thrive in it. And everything has been politicized. In every endeavor there's now a political undertone.
I noticed this when I would be interviewed on news shows. And even though I'm a pastor, the news casters primarily wanted to ask me questions about politics. Why? 'Cause that's what their world revolves around, completely around politics. And without God, they have nothing else to make the world a better place. So people without faith for them, politics matters much more than it should because they don't have God. Now, how does that contrast with the biblical view? Well, Jesus says this and I urge you to write this down. Politics says, we're all that matters, we're the dominant force. But Jesus says, my church matters more than anything else. Jesus, no, politics isn't the most important thing on this planet, my church is the most important thing on this planet. It's the only thing that's gonna last, politics' not. It's gonna last forever.
Let me show you some scriptures about Jesus saying the most important thing on earth is the church. Ephesians three, 10, God's intent was that through the church his manifold wisdom will be made known, that the church is the way we know about God. The way we know His will, the way we know what to do. Ephesians, one, 22, God has put everything that's including politics, everything under the authority of Christ. That includes the economy, includes the weather, everything under the authority of Christ. And He gave Christ this authority, notice this line, for the benefit of His church. That's how important the church is. Matthew 16, 18 Jesus promises, "I will build my church and the Gates of hell will not overcome it".
Jesus didn't ever say, I will build my nation. He didn't ever say I will build my ministry. He didn't ever say I will build my business. He didn't ever say I'll build my organization or my school. He said, I will build my church and the Gates of hell will not overcome it 'cause it's the only thing that's gonna go into eternity. It's what Jesus is doing in the world right now, He's building his church. That's what God's been doing for 2000 years, building His church. Bringing more into His family, God wanted a family. And that's why He created the entire universe. God wanted a family. Ephesians five, 25 and verse 27 says this, "Christ loves the church". Anything He loves, we ought to love to. Christ loves the church, gave Himself for the church to make it belong to God. He died for the church so that He could give the church to Himself as a beautiful bride.
Do you see how many times church was used in that verse? You see, you can't read this New Testament. You just can't read it without seeing how much God loves His church. He loves it more than anything else. It's his family. It's his children. It's us who are gonna spend eternity with Him. You wanna know how much the church is worth, look at the cross, Christ died for the church. If we're going to be effective as believers in this world, we must love the church as much as Jesus loves the church. You know what the sad thing is today, a lot of people use the church, but don't love it. They use it, they enjoy it, they benefit from it, but then don't love it. If you're gonna be a strong believer, follower of Christ you gotta learn to love the church like Jesus does. He sacrificed for it. He gave his life for it.
Ephesians one, 23, I love this in the message paraphrase. It says this, look at this verse there on the outline, "The church is not peripheral to the world. The world is peripheral to the church". You see there wouldn't be any world if God didn't want a church. There wouldn't be a universe. The church is the reason the universe exists. The church is Christ's body into which He speaks and acts, and by which He fills everything with His presence.
And from all those four or five verses, I just read and some many others I could have shown you, it's really clear that the church is the only thing on earth that's gonna last forever and the church is more important than any government, any organization, any business, any entertainment, any celebrity. Now, do you see how radically different the Christian worldview is from a secular worldview? Okay, He said, they say, well, politics, that's all that really matters. No, it's not, what really matters is the church. It has the power to change things. We're gonna be talking a little bit more about that next week.
Now let's move on. Here's the second thing that we hear from politicians that just, isn't true. Politicians say, we'll solve all your problems and we'll save the world. We're gonna solve all your problems and we're gonna save the world. We're gonna make the world great again. Now we all know that these promises aren't true but it doesn't stop every new politician from the same tired promises and claims when they run for office. And every single politician says, this is the most crucial campaign, this is the most crucial election. Why? 'Cause they're running in it, that's why. The problem is, when you hear something over and over, and you hear it enough time, studies have shown you actually start to believe it's true, even though it's untrue. And so no human being can solve all of our problems. That's a promise no politician can keep. No human being is a savior of the world. And in contrast, that's what the world says.
What does the word say? Jesus says, this, only I can save you. Only I can save you, I'm the savior of the world. I'm the light of the world. And only I can solve your worst problems. And He tells us that if we trust human beings, instead of trusting Him, we're gonna be severely disappointed. You know, when you look at all the problems in the world, every social problem comes back to a spiritual problem. It starts in the heart. Jesus said murder and adultery, and jealousy, and greed, and all these things, all the things that are causing crime and war, and problems, and break down of families, they're all starting in the heart. They're all spiritual issues that turn into social issues.
Psalm 146, verse three, here's what the Bible says, "Do not put your trust in princes". Who's that? Government leaders. "Do not put your trust in princes who are mortal men. They cannot save you". And again, in Jeremiah, 17 verse five, God says this, "Anybody who turns away from trusting me to put their trust in a human being will be cursed". That's what He says, that we'll be cursed. "They'll dry up like a bush in the desert with no hope for their future". Sadly, I've seen Christians who started off on fire for God, all of a sudden get hijacked, get diverted, get detoured, and all of a sudden, all their energies going into the candidate of this year and then the candidate of next year, and the candidate in 10 years as if that's where all of the power is, that's where the change is. No, no. Jesus is the savior of the world. And if you spend as much time praying for the problems of the world, as you do campaigning for a candidate, you'd probably see greater change.
Let me give you a third worldview difference between politics and Jesus. Politicians tell us, votes and money come by creating division and fear. That you get more votes and you get more money, you raise more funds if you just create some division and you create some fear. Now I'm not gonna give you the name of the person who taught me this because you all know the name of this very famous politician. If I mentioned the person's name, you'd know it. But one night I was having dinner at his house and this well-known politician looked at me and he said, "Rick, the easiest and fastest way to raise money is to find it enemy and target them". And that man had raised hundreds of millions of dollars. And every politician learns this eventually, all the campaigns learn it. It's why attack ads are more effective than positive ads.
If I get a flyer in the mail that tells me all the good things you're doing, it's not nearly as effective as if I get a flyer in the mail from you that tells me all the bad things your opponent's doing. And that's built in to politics to create division. You see if there's no division then there's no reason to vote for different people, we all believe the same thing. If there's no division, there's no reason for you to vote for some other person. So you have to create what politicians call wedge issues, that put citizens or pit citizens against each other. It's no wonder that the United States doesn't feel so united these days. You see fundamentally politics divides. Every time you take a vote on anything, you vote on dinner, anytime you take a vote somebody loses because nobody can win all the time.
And if you vote on everything, pretty soon, you've got a nation or family, or business, or a church full the losers. People begin to resent each other. People begin to be afraid of each other. People lose the concept of the common good. It just becomes acquaint relic. You know, we all know that in recent years, the world has become more divisive and more opinionated, more polarized, and we just talked about it and we're coming into the last week of this campaign. And part of that comes from the fact that everybody gets their news from different sources today. And that simply reinforces our bias. And you heard what you wanted to hear 'cause you were listening to your station. And I heard what I wanted to hear 'cause I was listening to my station. And, you know, it's not like 50 years ago, everybody watched the same news. So they knew what to talk about. And it was news, it wasn't commentary. But social media has also given us the most negative and divisive voices, a platform. It gave them a huge platform so that anybody can spout hatred and things like that.
Now, why am I saying all this? Because the Bible says that we, as Christians are supposed to navigate the culture we live in, we're to be in the world but not of the world. So how in the world are we as Christians supposed to navigate such a divided and divisive culture? Well, there needs to be one place where there's a safe haven. And Jesus says this, in my church, unity gets priority over politics. He said, politics has no place in the church. Unity gets priority over politics. You bring politics in, all of a sudden, you're gonna divide your own congregation. You're gonna divide the body of Christ. Let me show you just a few verses on the importance of unity and how deeply God values that in his church. Because I want you to have the mind of Christ. This is the way God thinks. This is the way Christ thinks about his church and about what's going on in the world.
Ephesians four, three and four says this, "Make every effort to preserve the unity of the church which the spirit gives us". Bind yourselves together with peace because we're all one body, we all have the same spirit, the Holy Spirit, we've all been called to the same glorious future. He says, make a priority of being unified in your church family. First Corinthians chapter one, verse 10 says this. "I beg you, I beg you dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of the Lord, Jesus Christ," and what is he gonna beg us to do? He says, "To not argue, to not argue among yourselves". So don't argue in church. There needs to be a safe haven. "Let there be real harmony," He says, "So there won't be any divisions in the church". I plead with you to be of one mind united in thought and purpose. We should be purpose-driven. We should be unified on, we have the same savior, we have the same Bible, we have the same Lord, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. He says, be of one mind. Don't bring in other stuff that divides people up.
Romans 14 verse one gives us some practical insight on how to do this in a world that's more and more politicized. Romans 14 one, and the message says this, "Welcome with open arms fellow believers," and here's the part it says, "Who don't see things the way you do". Let me read that again. Romans 14, one, "Welcome with open arms," into our fellowship, into our family, "Fellow believers who don't see things the you do". Why, they have a different background. And He says, and then here's the second part of the verse, "Don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with". We don't have to see eye to eye, to walk in arm and arm. We can have unity in our church without uniformity.
You know, at Saddleback, we come from 167-168 languages. We come from every kind of different ethnic background, economic background, different races, different religions, different regions but we formed this beautiful mosaic called Saddleback Church. We might be the most diverse church in America. But what matters is not how we're all different. What matters is, we've got the same Lord, the same word, the same Holy spirit. We've got the same salvation. We've got the same place we're going to in heaven. Now let me just say, if you know more about politics than you know about the church, you're studying the wrong thing because politics aren't gonna last. No party lasts, no politic lasts, no leader lasts. The church is the only thing that's gonna last forever.
And unity in the church is so important. God says it's so important. He gave some special instructions to pastors in Titus, chapter three, verses 10 and 11. Here's what it says. "Warn a divisive person," He's talking about in the church, "Warn a divisive person once, then warn him a second time and after that have nothing to do with him". By persisting in divisiveness, He cuts himself off from fellowship. He says, you know, you just stop associating with people who just wanna argue, who just wanna divide people up. Now, let me just mention one more difference between the worlds view as seen in politics and the word's view as seen in Jesus. Politics says, results matter more than character in leaders. Results matter more than the character. This is a transactional value of politics.
And when a leader says, you know, in politics it doesn't really matter what kind of character they've got as long as they're getting the job done. They say, it doesn't matter how you get it done as long as you get it done and you can give up your principles, and you can change the rules, and you can lie and you can cheat, and you can demonize and stereotype the opposition, and all these are okay because the ends justify the means. That's actually an acceptable view to many people who operate in that world, that the ends justify the means. But the Bible says that's a lie. It's a lie out of the pit of hell. And it's certainly not biblical. God says clearly that the means are just as important as the ends, that how you do what you do and why you do what you do, your motive is just as important as doing the right thing.
In fact, you can do the right thing in the wrong way. I could give you dozens of examples of that in scripture. Character matters. The ends do not justify the means. God says, I care about what you're becoming while you're going toward those ends. And if you do the right thing in the wrong way, it's still wrong. And if you study the ministry of Jesus, you'll find that He emphasized personal character and personal integrity over and over, and over. Now in contrast to this view, political view, that the ends justify the means. If we wanna change the rules, we'll say something four years ago and now we'll change it because we wanna do something. And we'll break a promise, it doesn't really matter. Jesus says the character of a leader matters the most. The character of a leader matters the most. That God is more interested in who you are than even what you do.
Let me say that again. God is more interested in who you are and what you're becoming, and what your character is developing than what you do. Now, there are many, many verses I could show you about this but I'll just give you one. Ecclesiastes 10 verse two and it says this, "A wise persons heart... Will lead in the right way but the heart of a fool will always lead in the wrong way".
Now let me just stop there for that, look at that verse for just a second. A wise person's heart, the word heart in Hebrew is the word love, love. And it means, it's not talking about your pump. It's that your heart is your inner being, it's who you really are. It's your mind, will and your emotions. It's your personality. Your heart, anytime you see the word heart in scripture, think of the word, character, your character. Let me read that verse again, Ecclesiastes 10, 4 from that point, "A wise person's character," if you're wise, you've got good character, "Wise person's character will lead you in the right way. But the heart are the character of a fool will always lead in the wrong way". Character does matter. That's a totally different word that you get from the Bible than you get from politics.
Now, I wanna just close this message by showing you the kind leader that God approves and blesses. It's in the profiles in Isaiah chapter 32. And in Isaiah chapter 32 we are given a prophetic picture of what it will be like when Jesus is the leader in the coming millennial reign. When He reigns for 1,000 years. Jesus is the leader. This is a prophecy about Jesus. But I don't wanna look at it from the prophetic angle. I want you to see the character qualities that are in Jesus, that God says that's what I value in a leader. That's what I value in a leader. So if you wanna know what kind of leadership qualities God looks for, go read, you know, Isaiah 32. The first half of this passage gives us the characteristics of a good leader, the one that God blesses.
If you have these qualities in your life then you're gonna be a leader that God blesses. If you're gonna be a leader at work, you know, a leader on a team, a leader in an organization, a leader in our church, those are the characteristics we're gonna look at. Then the second half describes the characteristics of a foolish leader. And I want you to pay attention. And I want you to notice the contrast between a wise character and a person with foolish character. Now, Jesus is the model of the best kind of leader. And the fool is the model of the worst kind of leader, the kind that God doesn't wanna bless. So let me read it to you now. And these verses, Isaiah 32, one day, I've used the TEV, the NCV and the NLT to give the full meaning here. Here is what it says. "Someday, someday there will be a King who rules with integrity. There will be a King who rules with integrity and national leaders who govern with justice".
So the first two things we see God looks for in a leader is integrity and justice, okay? Integrity and justice. Then He said, "Each of them," these leaders, these national leaders, "Will be like a shelter from the wind and provide safe covering in storms". He's saying these leaders will protect people. They wont exploit them. They'll protect them from the wind and from the storm. They'll give them safe covering, they'll help them. We're in a pandemic right now. Good leaders, godly leaders protect us when we're being going through the wind and the storms, we have safe covering. And then He says the next quality is, "They will refresh others". A good leader, a wise leader with character refreshes others "Like the streams flowing in a desert and like the cool shadow of a giant rock in a hot barren land".
You know, that hot barren land, you're in the middle of a desert and you can't find any shade. You find a big rock and you sit under the shade in it. It gives you refreshment. He said, that's what a real leader does. They protect you in the storm. And they restore you when you're going through the dry spells. They give you the cool shadow and the streams of water. And then here's the next quality of a good leader. Notice this, "Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of people". What's He saying there? A good leader is empathetic. A good leader is sympathetic. A good leader can empathize. They're open, their ears and their eyes. They listen, they're good listeners to the needs of people. That's what it takes to be a good leader, to listen to the needs of people. And then He says, they will not a good leader, they will not be rush. They will not be reckless hot heads. Instead, they will act with understanding and they will say what they mean.
Isn't this an incredible passage? They will act with understanding and they will say what they mean. That's the kind of leader God looks for. And in that day, listen, He said in that day, in the future when this King of integrity is here, in that day, ungodly fools will no longer be called great and scoundrels won't be given positions of honor. Wow. A foolish leader, then these next few verses, He contrast a good leader with a foolish leader. He said, "A foolish leader speaks foolishly". We say, you know, a guy's a fool if he speaks foolish stuff. Out of the mouth comes your character. A foolish leader speaks foolishly and he thinks up new ways to do mischief. And then a lot what, look at this line, what, the foolish leader, "What he does and what he says are both an insult to the Lord".
Folks I'm reading scripture to you right now, Isaiah 32. "What he does and what he says are an insult to the Lord". He never feeds the hungry. He never gives thirsty people anything to drink. These are things that God values. These are the things that God says are important to leadership. The scoundrels methods are wicked. He constantly lies. He is cruel and unmoved by the pleas of the poor and the hurting. He doesn't even pay any attention to the pleas of the poor and hurting. And he denies them the justice and their rights. Wow. But a good leader plans good things to do good and those good things make him a good leader.
I hope you'll go back to Psalm... excuse me, Isaiah 32 this week and read those first eight verses, the qualities of a good leader and the qualities of a foolish leader 'cause it can't be any clearer on what God wants me to be, wants you to be, wants all of us to be and wants our leaders to be. Now I wanna close just by praying for our nations. I'm gonna talk more about how to do that next week. But I want us to just pray because this is an important week in America but also in all of our other Saddleback countries. So if you're in Saddleback, Hong Kong, I want you to pray for China. And if you're at Saddleback Santa Rosa, I want you to pray for your con country, the Philippines. And if you're at Saddleback Berlin, I want you to pray for your nation, Germany. And if you're a part of Saddleback Buenos Aires, I want you to pray for Argentina. And those of us in the United States let's pray for this country and this election right now. All right, let's pause for a minute:
Father, I'm asking you and we're asking together, you said if any two agree as touching anything, it shall be done. I'm asking you to help us have a Christ-like mindset, to not get caught up in the way the world thinks but to realize what really matters is your church, your word, and our character, and that all these other things are secondary. Then all these other things aren't gonna last. But we will take our character with us, who we have become, the men and women we have become, we'll take into eternity.
And so we pray first for ourselves. It's me, it's me, oh, Lord, standing in the need of prayer. I wanna be the kind of leader that we just read about, all of those eight or nine qualities. And I don't wanna be a foolish leader, and ll those qualities we read about. And I pray that we will help each other be better leaders in our communities and our homes, in our workspaces, in our church. God, you may call some who are listening right now to go into political leadership. You may call them out of this meeting, say, I wanna be that kind of man or woman of character. And I wanna base my life on the word, not the world. We pray for these elections, not just the presidential election, but senators and congressmen, and state senators, and congressmen, and all of the city councils, and school boards, and water districts, and all of the different positions that will be opened up this week.
We pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we ask you to hear our prayers, help us to remember that no matter what happens, you're still in charge, you're still in control, that the hand or the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, and you can turn it any way you wish. So we wanna surrender ourselves to be leaders wherever you called us to be leaders. And to pray for others, raise up godly men and godly women who can lead the next generation of our church and our ministries, and our nation, and the world.
And so we pray first for ourselves. It's me, it's me, oh, Lord, standing in the need of prayer. I wanna be the kind of leader that we just read about, all of those eight or nine qualities. And I don't wanna be a foolish leader, and ll those qualities we read about. And I pray that we will help each other be better leaders in our communities and our homes, in our workspaces, in our church. God, you may call some who are listening right now to go into political leadership. You may call them out of this meeting, say, I wanna be that kind of man or woman of character. And I wanna base my life on the word, not the world. We pray for these elections, not just the presidential election, but senators and congressmen, and state senators, and congressmen, and all of the city councils, and school boards, and water districts, and all of the different positions that will be opened up this week.
We pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we ask you to hear our prayers, help us to remember that no matter what happens, you're still in charge, you're still in control, that the hand or the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, and you can turn it any way you wish. So we wanna surrender ourselves to be leaders wherever you called us to be leaders. And to pray for others, raise up godly men and godly women who can lead the next generation of our church and our ministries, and our nation, and the world.
Now maybe that you've never opened your life to Jesus Christ. And I always like to give you an opportunity to do that. I said earlier that politics and no politician can save us, but there is a savior who will save you. He will forgive your sins. He will give you a new purpose in life. He will give you a home in heaven. He will save you from yourself if you'll just open your heart to Him, say:
Jesus Christ, I ask you to come into my life right now. Help me to understand it more. I wanna follow you. I wanna step across the line. I wanna begin a new life today. In your name I pray. Amen.