In the sermon titled 'The Current Crisis - Biblical Thinking on Government, Politics and Voting' by Scott Brown, the speaker discusses the biblical perspective on government, politics, and voting. He emphasizes the sufficiency of scripture in guiding how Christians should think and act in a secular state, especially in matters of civil governance. The sermon covers various biblical passages that outline the qualities and responsibilities of godly leaders, including wisdom, understanding, righteousness, impartiality, truthfulness, and fear of God. Scott Brown also underscores the importance of praying for and electing leaders who align with these qualities. The sermon addresses the current political climate and stresses the sovereignty of God over civil authorities, encouraging believers not to fear but to trust in God's provision. The speaker calls for prayer and action in the upcoming elections, urging Christians to vote for leaders who embody biblical values and to pray for the removal of wicked advisors. The sermon concludes with a plea for national repentance and a return to godly principles.

We're going to be spending some time on biblical thinking, on government and politics and voting. Scripture is sufficient to teach us how to live, how to think in a secular state, and how to pray and work for righteousness in the land. And what I hope will be the result of this time is that we'll just be able to kind of soak in some of the things that the Bible says. I'm going to cover quite a bit of scripture this afternoon. And I'm doing it intentionally because I want us to hear the words of God on the matter and to saturate our minds in that to try to even correct our own thinking and by the way I was so delighted with the song that was chosen to precede this message.

God will supply all your needs as your days, your strength shall be. What a great promise. No matter what happens in the civil realm and its impact on you, This is what you do know. God will provide your every need and as long as you're alive, He'll provide the strength that you need. What a blessing it is to have the promises of God.

I want to speak to first of all that the Bible does speak to matters of civil government civil authority and the way that we ought to respond I also want to speak about what the Bible explicitly says about the kind of people we should be electing. Now we are just in my saying that I think we recognize the difficulty in that. But first of all I want us to to be very clear as a church that the Bible makes it very clear that it really matters who governs. If you look through the Bible, I'll just give you sort of a flyover of the things that the Bible addresses. The Bible first of all really tells us to accept the realities of civil rulership.

We learn in Samuel that if you have a civil ruler here's what you should expect. Taxation, manipulation, impact on your family. You should expect that. We also learn all over the Bible of God's authority over governors. Of course, we learn in the New Testament that God appoints rulers, but we have many illustrations in the Old Testament where God takes them up and he takes them down.

And that's really what you need to know. It is God who elects the next president of the United States and he will take him down in his own time The other the other thing that we need to recognize it's also very clear in scriptures that God destroys nations that turn away from him This is comprehensively communicated in the Bible. Nations turn away from God at their own peril because God will bring them down and all you have to do is think back over the last couple of thousand years. Where are the wicked nations? God destroyed them.

They're gone. And other wicked nations have come up in their place. Don't expect anything different from the pattern. The other thing is that the Bible actually tells us what godly governors look like. Godly fathers, godly elders, godly deacons, godly civil rulers, godly judges.

The Bible speaks about all these things in tremendous detail. And so we're not left without a coordinates for how to think about how we appoint godly leaders. So we're actually even instructed on how to select them, how to think about selecting them. And we also learn how submission and authority works in the civil government. We've talked about this at some length over the past weeks going into Romans 13, 1 Peter 2, the various, I'm just going to call them civil disobedience narratives that are in the Bible, Moses' parents, the Hebrew midwives and so forth, Daniel and the Hebrew children and Babylon.

We've walked through those to try to explain what they mean in relation to Romans 13, to try to have maybe a more nuanced, mature understanding of Romans 13 and how it relates to the Church of Jesus Christ. We have seen Local governors in states and in municipalities begin to do things that we've never seen before and it's been shocking. And so we've had to think through Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 and also the civil disobedience passages of scripture to understand what this means for us. So we've been through a lot of that, but the Bible does speak about the civil realm and how the Christian ought to think about it. I want to read three passages of scripture, and I want to read them before I go in and make the points just so you see some of the primary places that these things are collected in the word of God.

You know Proverbs 29 2 says that when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. And the passages of scripture that I'm going to read really are illustrations of what a righteous man looks like, so that we're not groaning. And the truth is, you know, God often appoints wicked rulers and the people groan. He does it for his own glory, for sure.

We don't know all of God's reasons except for he does everything for his glory and he does appoint every civil leader. And therefore we should never fear. Should never fear who's gonna be appointed because God is sufficient to take care of his people. Okay, now I want you to turn to Exodus chapter 18. I'm gonna read nine verses in Exodus chapter 18, verses 17 to 26.

I'd like you to read, I want your eyes to see the words and the requirements of civil leaders, and then I'm gonna walk through and draw points from these three passages of scripture and actually others as well. But these are critical in helping us to think rightly about the kinds of civil governors we should pray for, the kinds of civil governors we should vote for, the kinds of civil governors we should raise up in our families and in our churches. This is the kind of man that God is looking for. Exodus 18 verse 17. So Moses father-in-law said to him, the thing that you're doing is not good.

Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out For this thing is too much for you. You are not able to perform it by yourself. Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel and God will be with you. Stand before God for the people so that you may bring the difficulties to God.

And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover, you shall select from all the people able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens and let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter that shall, that, that shall, they shall bring to you, I'm sorry, but it shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing as God so commands you then you will be able to endure and all this people will also go to their place in peace.

So Moses heeded the words of his father-in-law and did all that he had said and Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of 50s and rulers of 10s so they judged the people at all times The hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves. So there you have a testimony of various qualifications of judges of the people of Israel. Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter 19. Deuteronomy chapter 19, I'd like you to find verse eight. Deuteronomy 19 verse eight.

By the way, while you're getting there, let me just say this. It's very important that the people of God know where to go to make a point. The people of God need to know where the critical texts are to describe various things. I think it would be very helpful if you're the kind of person that knows where to go to talk about the qualifications for civil governors. Don't just pull it out of your head, pull it out of the Bible.

Deuteronomy 19 verse 8. Now if the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he swore to your fathers and gives you the land which he promised to give your fathers and if you keep these commandments and do them which I command you today to love the Lord your God and to walk always in his ways then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. And thus the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally so that he dies and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of this city shall send and bring him from there and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die. Your eyes shall not pity him but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you.

You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark which the men of old have set in your inheritance, which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or sin that he commits by the mouth of two or three witnesses, the matter shall be established. If a false witness arises against any man to testify against of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother so you shall put away the evil from among you." This is more information about how these judges ought to think about dealing with crime. 14.

Deuteronomy 17 verse 14. Deuteronomy 17 verse 14, we'll be reading through verse 20. When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you and possess it and dwell in it and say I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. You shall surely set a king over you from whom the Lord your God chooses one from among your brethren. You shall set as a king over you.

That's a qualification. One from among your brethren, someone locally that you know. You may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother, but he shall not multiply horses for himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses for the Lord has said to you you shall not return that way again neither shall he multiply wives for himself lest his heart turn away nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. And it shall be, also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from one before the priests the Levites and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

Here in this text are many structural and ethical matters regarding civil magistrates. And one of the most striking is that the king was to write out in his own hand the law of God and read it and keep it close to him and implement it. It's really an amazing thing. Oh if that would happen today would things be different. There are other passages we could go to.

Of course, we've mentioned Romans 13 and 1 Peter 3 and others, but you know, in reading what I've just read, I'm sure many of you are thinking, oh my, these are very high standards. Where do we find governors like this? And I think that we recognize that we really are in a time of crisis in our nation and there are tremendous dangers to churches and to families and the nation itself. I was reading Isaiah chapter 10 a couple of days ago and I read these words, woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who right misfortune. He's talking about governors, which they have prescribed.

And we have experienced such marvelous freedoms in this nation. We have enjoyed them very, very much. They are being challenged like never before. You know, and what we have in America doesn't exist anywhere in the world. I was speaking to one of our deacons yesterday, Ash Inoa, and I asked him a question because he had lived in many nations of the world and I wanted to get just sort of his stream of consciousness of what he thought about what's happening in America having lived in so many nations.

Now, Ash has lived in Australia, Sri Lanka, Greece, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Bahrain, Egypt, Sudan, Greece, India, New York, and now North Carolina. Now, Ash didn't just visit these places. He lived in these places. So I was asking him a question as one who had been a citizen or at least an occupant of many, many nations. And you know, Ash and Noah became Ash and Sona became US citizens a couple of years ago I believe it was and just a was it was six years ago six years ago wow amazing but here's what Ash said and I I was very struck by it he said he said Scott every other country in the world has already lost these freedoms.

And he said, America is really the last bastion of freedom on the planet today. And our nation really is unique. There's no country like it in the world where every person has an opportunity to pursue whatever they want to do. And it's really astonishing. A man can rise out of poverty and be the president of the United States no matter what his color is, no matter what his background is, this is astounding.

And it does not, this kind of freedom does not exist. The economic freedoms, the social freedoms are like no other country in the world. And at the same time, you know, we've most recently seen dramatic usurpations of authority in our land, the authority of the family in matters of healthcare, the authority of the church in matters of how they how they operate. I was reading that the Attorney General of the United States, William Barr, was at Hillsdale College and here's here's what he said, putting a national lockdown stay at home orders is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which is a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.

This is the greatest intrusion of civil liberties in American history. And I think that we just should recognize what is happening around us and really how dangerous it is. At the same time, you know, I don't think it's time for us to run in fear and, you know, scream with our hair on fire because God is absolutely in control. God is doing this and so we really do have no reason to fear. But I don't think we should be naive as we look around to see what is happening.

So let's talk about what the Bible says about governors and I hope the passages of scripture that I'll cross over will just sort of help us think through the kind of governors we really ought to be praying for particularly, and for to be appointed to office and to be banished from office, because I think you have both. Just to underline again that God destroys nations that do not worship him. Joshua 24 20, if you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after he has done you good. In other words, you can have a nation to whom God has poured out tremendous blessings. If they turn from God, then he will do them harm.

God will do them harm. We know from scripture that the wicked kings are destructive in Proverbs 16 12 we read this it's an abomination for kings to commit wickedness for a throne is established in righteousness in other words what establishes a throne and causes it to bring about blessing is righteousness. The righteousness that's from God and that's demonstrated in his word. In Proverbs 20 verse 28 we learn that mercy and truth preserve the king. Mercy and truth preserve the king, and by loving kindness, he upholds his throne.

In Proverbs 25, verse five, we learn about the removal of the wicked. Take away the wicked from before the king and his throne will be established in righteousness. No matter what ruler or king that exists, there are often wicked men around them. And it glorifies God when the wicked are removed from the presence of the king. Every king has advisors.

They all have different motives. And what a good king would do is surround himself with advisors so that he's not just thinking his own thoughts in the echo chamber but that he has wise men around him but when he has wicked men around him then there's tremendous turmoil as a result but but But God desires the wicked to be removed from the presence of the king. I think we should be praying for that. Let's pray very specifically that God would remove wicked men from the presence of our president, from the presence of our governor and the various other civil leaders. We have many civil governors around us and they all have their advisors and this should be a matter of prayer.

In Psalm 82 verses one through eight, We learn that God judges rulers whether they defend the weak and the needy. God stands in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the gods and he's talking about civil rulers. It's code for civil rulers. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?

Defend the poor and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and the needy. Free them from the hand of the wicked." The role of civil rulers is really to banish evil. And we should be praying for that.

And that they would judge justly, that there would be justice, biblical justice, not the justice of the Marxist revolutionaries and the socialists, not the intersectionality wonks, but the justice of God that's in the Bible. In Jeremiah 22, verses one through seven, we find an instance where God commands a prophet to instruct a king and that he will destroy them unless they unless they turn to him and the people marvel and Jeremiah 22 the Lord commands Jeremiah go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word. Prophets and and holy men should be speaking to and teaching the civil government, teaching the civil magistrate. That's actually the role of of pastoral leadership is to teach so that people understand how civil government should operate. Jeremiah was commanded to say, "'Execute judgment and righteousness, "'and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor.

Do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. If you indeed do this thing, then you shall enter the gates of this house riding horses and chariots accompanied by servants and people and kings who sit on the throne of David but if you will not hear these words God says I swear by myself that this house shall become desolation it's right it's right for for men in the population to speak to the civil governors and say, if you don't turn to God, he will make your nation, your government a desolation. Now, when it comes to voting, and I know we're all thinking about that, I think the voting questions are a little bit easier this year than any other year in my lifetime. And you'll be seeing all kinds of voters' guides coming out. I'm glad for them.

There's some people in our church that produce excellent voters guides and I'm very grateful for that. But I think we should be very careful to remember the weighty significance of our role really as a church and as individuals, as families to vote and to think biblically in our in our voting. So in November the next president of the United States is going to be chosen. He will shape the moral and the economic and the domestic and military policy of our nation for the next four years. And the battle is fierce for all these things.

And he will be appointing judges. He will be dealing with Congress. He will command the United States military. So it's very significant. And I'm confident that most of you are thinking about voting, you're going to vote.

But these decisions have far-reaching implications, and it's really, it's no small matter for the church to think biblically about voting and who they ought to pray for and vote for. So the question is, does God in the Bible give people direction for how to identify worthy civil leaders and And of course the answer to that is yes God in the Bible does explicitly define the kinds of civil leaders we ought to be voting for. You know God is a good shepherd and he gives guidance to his people. It's a great gift to have that. And there are many places we could go.

I've read to you three of them, Exodus 18, Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 17, and so forth. But I'd like to begin to just sort of flesh some of this out and take a fresh look in terms of just headings. I'm going to give you 16 qualities. 16 qualities to pray for, 16 qualities to work for, 16 qualities to work in your family so that the future civil leaders maybe are in your family and they'll rise up and actually be judges or governors or maybe even presidents of the United States. So here's a brief survey.

I'm going to give you 16 qualities. The first is wise, wise. That's Deuteronomy 1.13. Choose wise understanding and knowledgeable men, wise men. This qualification describes a man who is skillful in the administration of the ability to handle significant matters, complex matters with discretion and with sound judgment.

And of course, we know that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God but God calls for civil judges and rulers to be wise pray for wise men Second understanding Deuteronomy 1 13 makes this clear a good understanding have all those who keep who do his commandments his praise endures forever but God calls for men of understanding who have a sense of insight. They're able to, these are men who are able to see the realities behind the superficialities. They see beyond the surface. They're able to recognize truth and justice. Number three, known.

They are known. Deuteronomy 1821, Deuteronomy 115, and Deuteronomy 1715 make it very clear that civil leaders should be selected from among their own people. There's a sense that there's a no ability of a candidate. This is why candidates are examined. You know, of course, we see this more clearly in the local level.

You know, the people who are running for the local offices are our neighbors. They live within our district, and so they are local. Here, this is why the Constitution of the United States requires a president must be naturally born in the United States. Fourth, tested, tested in leadership capacity, Deuteronomy 115. Not all men are equally gifted in leadership capacity.

Some are capable of commanding large realms, and others are better fit for smaller realms. That's why Moses's father-in-law encouraged him to divide the people up into thousands and hundreds and fifties because there are different capacities that men have. Fifth, righteous in judgments. This is Deuteronomy 1, 16, and 17. I'll just read it again.

Then I commanded your judges at the time saying, hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of man's presence for the judgment of God." This is a righteous man in his judgments. He's not afraid of man.

He fears God. He's independent in the sense that he stands before God in his word alone, and he's a little bit like John Knox whom they said he does not fear the face of man, but he's a righteous man. He looks to God. Sixth impartial Deuteronomy 1 17, you shall not show partiality in judgment, you shall hear the small as well as the great. In other words this is a man who treats the high and the low with the same love and the truth and since God is no respecter of persons neither should a civil leader be a respecter of persons, but equally concerned for the rich and the poor, the influential, and those who have no voice at all, and he must execute judgment, justice, without respect to any other category other than the word of God.

Number seven, fearless of man, fearless of man. Moreover, you shall select from all the people, able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness. Men pleasers are always a disaster as leaders. Leaders must fear God and do justly and not be governed by the fear of man. We know without question that the fear of man brings a snare that's what Proverbs 29 25 says and the Lord Jesus himself said don't be afraid of those who will kill the body but fear him who has the power to cast both body and soul into hell and a fearless man.

Number eight, a male. Deuteronomy 1821 and Deuteronomy 113, make this very clear, Exodus 18 says it like this, in summary, moreover you shall select from all the people able men, able men, such as fear God, men of truth. Deuteronomy 1.13 says, choose wise and understanding and knowledgeable men from among your tribes. The scriptures require that we choose wise and knowledgeable men and the word men used here is not the generic term for mankind. It's the word for male.

Everywhere in the Bible unequivocally, comprehensively, the qualifications are directed to men, men and men alone, and never ever to women. You can go other places to find this exact same pattern. Deuteronomy 16, 18 through 20, Deuteronomy 17, 14 through 20, 1 Samuel 23, 3, 1 Chronicles 19, 6 and 7, Nehemiah 7 verse 2, Proverbs 29, 2, Romans 13, 1 through 6. In every one of these texts, it's men, males who are in view. And we find, we find this pattern in really in all leadership kinds of positions.

In Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verses 16 and 17, kings who are given to drunkenness and sorrow cause sorrow for the people and they are men. Blessed are you O land when the king is the son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time Isaiah chapter 3 verse 12 as for my people children are their oppressors and women rule over them. Oh my people those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths, you know, we live in a time when There's a tremendous movement and push for women in civil authority and things like that Deborah is always the the example of this and I just think that we should recognize that you know Deborah is a blessed example of a holy woman whom God used in a time of terrible spiritual declension. It was a sign of judgment that Deborah rose to do what she was doing. We're not exactly sure what she was doing.

Judges in the days of Deborah were nothing like the days of civil judges today, nothing. These were tribal families and they had people who were speaking truth to one another. In many ways in the way that, you know, holy women speak truth today to one another. But Deborah lived in a time when everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes and the men were not there. Judges depict situations where the rule and the authority of God had been abandoned and the scenes and judges, all of them should be seen that way.

And it's amazing that people would go back to the period of judges to find their paradigm for a woman being a judge. This was a time when everyone's roles were ungodly and it's not really the place to go. If you say, perhaps you could say, you know, we live in times like the judges, when men have abdicated their authority, they've abdicated their role, where are the men? And I think that you could easily say that, you know, when you find that God is appointing women as judges, you have a nation under judgment. It's not a time to rejoice.

It's a time to grieve that the men are not there to serve in the capacities that God has called them to serve in. It's not glorifying to God for women to be an authority in the government or in the church and while husbands and wives you know do have tremendous authority in their homes God has actually said very clearly the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is also the head of the church the idea of of women's civil governors and leaders is Is really an idea that did not come from the Bible. It came from rejecting the Bible Number nine, Abel, the ninth quality, Abel, Exodus 1821. The word translated Abel is much more frequently translated valor or strength and this this qualification focuses on whether the man has strength of character whether he's strong to stand against the hail and the assaults and the temptations that will come to him. Civil leadership, you know, brings a person into, under tremendous pressure morally, financially, in every, every possible area.

Number 10, fearing the true God. Exodus 18, 21 and Deuteronomy 17, 19 and Romans 13 really teach us the pivotal nature of this man's relationship with God. His first concern is faithfulness to the one true God and everything. Most people are not as aware of how important this requirement is. God issues this command to the civil rulers in Psalm 2.

Be wise, O kings, be instructed, you kings of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry with you and perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. It is for kings to love the Lord Jesus Christ, to kiss the Son, to find all of his hope in him. Number 11, truthful.

Exodus 1821 and Deuteronomy 1619. We are told to elect men who keep their word. Most civil leaders in the United States take an oath of office with their hand placed on a Bible. That book has been replaced by others recently, but our government really is based on promises from our leaders to keep the law and to be faithful. That's why what we we find the Lord Jesus Christ saying, let your yes be yes and your no no.

And to find a man who does what he says he's going to do is very very important and it is rare. Number 12, hating covetousness. Hating covetousness. Exodus 1821 and Deuteronomy 1717. Power is corrupting and it's all too common that those who are selected for public office and they go to a place like Washington that the lure of popularity, the pandering, the power, and the money are just too great for them and they change and they become different men, different than you knew them when they were in your realm.

Flattery and bribes and political favors can corrupt a man and pollute his ability to lead. Number 13, guided by the word of God. Deuteronomy 17, 18 through 20. Civil leaders must be guided by the authority of scripture. In Israel, civil leaders were commanded to write a personal copy of scripture for their own study.

Isn't that amazing? And it was to be read, I'll quote the text, all the days of his life, reading it all the days of his life, saturating his mind in the word of God. Why? That he may learn to fear the Lord as God and be careful to observe all the words of the law. That's the kind of civil leader we need.

Pray. Number 14, trusting in God alone. Deuteronomy 17. This requirement comes, concerns where a civil leader places his trust and his confidence. Does he trust in horses?

Does he trust in chariots? Does he trust in his alliances? This was a disaster for the kings of Israel, if you read the prophets for sure. Isaiah had those memorable words, woe to those who go down to Egypt for advice. We pray for men who trust God alone, not in their chariots, not in their alliances, not in their favors, but in God.

Number 15, faithful in marriage, Deuteronomy 17, 17. Neither shall he multiply wives for himself lest his heart turn away you know the Bible makes it very clear that marriage is between a man and a woman and the two shall become one flesh." And there are tremendous temptations. Number 16, the final one, free from the love of money, Deuteronomy 17, 17. "'Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.' He should not have a driving hunger for riches. Leaders cannot be men who are led by greed and lust for riches, lest they find themselves working for themselves and not for the people that elected them.

You know, one of the common rebuttals of this kind of thing that I've just been going through is, hey, wait a minute, we're not voting for the pastor in chief, we're voting for you know, we're voting you know for the commander in chief and I hear that over and over again and I just want to say that's a category error just to think that way. There are three jurisdictions where the Bible gives requirements and they're all different. There are specific requirements for pastors and those are found in 1st Timothy 3 and in Titus and then there are specific requirements for deacons and there are third there are specific requirements for civil leaders and we've just been going through those the there is overlap in the qualifications for civil leaders and elders But we're not voting for the elder in chief. We're voting for the commander in chief the way that God has designed his duties. So Imagine what it would be like to be ruled by men like this.

What a blessing. You know, think about the kindness of God to define such a wonderful kind of leader who's not covetousness, who is not wise in his own eyes, who is a humble man, who loves God, who reviews the commands of God daily. Pray for governors like that. I pray that God will give us these governors for us here in our land. And I want to conclude with a couple of things here.

I want to bring us back to Joshua 1, 8, where Joshua is instructed, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, But you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success, have I not commanded you. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Well I pray that we think about our civil leaders biblically that it's the words of scripture that shape the way that we think about them and pray for them. And this is a great time for us to rise up and pray for the days ahead and that God would bless our nation with righteous leaders.

Many leaders will be voted in. And let's pray that God would give us a wave of holy men. We know he can do that. Now I started this time talking about Ash Noah and my question to him yesterday and how striking it was to hear his answer. And I'd like for Ash to come up here and conclude this time and then pray for us.

Ash, would you come? Ash, would you come? So I don't want this to sound as though God is not sovereign. We recognize God is absolutely sovereign. But we are to recognize that we are the one nation under God and that one nation is under attack.

We just see everywhere anything to do with God is being dismantled and I just truly believe in my heart that we need to be on our knees and we need to be praying more than ever. This is not just another step and another blow of the axe against the nation. I think we are at a precipice and we need to cry out to God that he would stay the evil one, that he would push that back. As Scott said, I've lived in many countries, no other country, And the reason I'm saying this is because for you who have always lived in America, you take this for granted. You think that this is how the world is, and this is how the world lives, and that God is recognized, and that God is in our vocabulary, in the government, in the public sphere, it's not so.

And we need to recognize that God has preserved this nation And we need to recognize that that is under attack. And we need to cry out to God. I just, I was looking at several things where, you know, how this is different. So when we had the issue with the churches closing down, I looked at the North Carolina Constitution, and the North Carolina Constitution opens with, we the people of the state of North Carolina, grateful to almighty God, the sovereign ruler of nations, for the preservation of the American Union and the existence of our civil, political, and religious liberties and acknowledging our dependence upon him in capital H for the continuance of those blessings to us and our posterity do for the most more certain security thereof and for the better government of this state ordain and establish this Constitution. There are eight references to God and the supreme being in North Carolina's constitution.

The only other state which has more, which has gone way down in the order of recognition of God is Massachusetts. They had 12 references to God and the supreme being from whom all power comes. But we see this being dismantled. Every, everywhere, in 2002, I was looking at this One Nation Under God. In 2002, they had to reaffirm the reference to One Nation Under God.

And I'll just read some of the reasons that were given. The first reason, Congress finds the following. On November 11, 1620, prior to embarking for the shores of America, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact that declared, having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia. So Congress goes back to that first compact. Why do we retain one nation under God?

On July 4, 1776, America's founding fathers, after appealing to the laws of nature and of nature's God to justify their separation from Great Britain, then declared, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator, acknowledging that we are created with certain unalienable rights. You've heard all this before, but Again, they went back to that. In 1781, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and later the nation's third president, in his work titled Notes on the State of Virginia wrote, "'God who gave us life, gave us liberty.' And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God, that they are not to be violated, but with his wrath. Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. And so on it goes, 19 different reasons for why we need to maintain one nation under God.

And you see that itself under attack most recently, removing the acknowledgement of God. So my plea and and my family's prayers for this nation go out every every night. We are on our knees to cry out to God that God would preserve this nation as we recognize it I know you might think yeah but does this really matter this reference to God in our allegiance of Pledge and the reference to life and liberty in our Constitution, does it really matter? I mean, these are not, you know, we are not constitutionalists, we know that. But we live in this country.

God has caused our boundaries to fall in these pleasant places. And God has determined our boundaries. At this time and space, we live in this country, and God recognizes nations, and God judges nations, and God deals with us as individuals, but he also deals with us as nations and so I think it is really time for us to take our role extremely seriously in the future of this nation and we might think I'm just the one, you know, what difference is this going to make? No one is certain about the outcome of these elections. God knows and God has already decided we know that but my plea is let us cry out for our nation that God will give us more time so that we may repent and is it possible is it just possible that God might turn all this back and that we once again call the Lord our God and we turn to him and that he will heal our land and that we would remain that nation as that shining light that the Pilgrims first thought this nation would be.

The city on the hill. Would we be that nation? Let's pray. Oh Lord, we cry out to you. Lord, we know that you are seated on the throne.

Lord, that it is you who rule. It is you who determine the fate of nations. It is you who determine the rise and fall of nations Lord we know that you have blessed us you have not treated us according to what we deserve as individuals and as a nation. Lord we have departed from your ways as a nation. We have tried to dismantle and throw you to dismantle and throw you out.

And we continue to see that happen now. Oh, God, I pray that you would cause your people, who are called by your name, to fear now, to fear you. Not to fear man, but to fear you. Lord, that there would be a turning to you, that there would indeed be a revival in this nation, even as we prepare for these elections in these next few weeks. Lord, I pray that every Christian would recognize his and her duty to you and to the nation.

And Lord, that we would pray, Lord, that we would be on our knees, Lord, that we would cry out to you, Lord, that we would repent, each one of us individually, but also as a nation. O Lord, that we would, in our lifetime, see this nation turn once again back to you. Lord, we acknowledge that only you can do this and we pray that you would. We implore you oh Christ we implore you oh father that you would have mercy upon our nation. Lord, that you would show mercy to those who shake their fist at you.

Lord, that you would also strike down the intents of the evil one. Lord, we see the deconstruction of this very nation that we love. And I pray, O Lord, that you would move. Lord, we know that you are a merciful God. O Father, we cry out to you in Jesus name.

Amen.