Harrison Faith Church
One Nation - We Will Not Be Silent
Hey, let me just tell you why I'm so excited to fall on the farm, because we talk about one another's in here. It's one thing to know what it is to love somebody and to welcome somebody and to show biblical hospitality, right? That's one thing to know it in here, but to practice it out there as a community is what matters. I'm so thankful that when people come to church, they say, "Man, I'm welcome. I feel accepted. I'm loved. I love those things, but even better is when people say those things about us outside of these walls." And so today, I mean you to show up, make sure you bring a chair, bring a friend, and bring the love of God in your heart. Amen? Let me just say today, I'm going to need some extra time, and I do mean that, and I'm going to need some extra attention. And I mean that for sure, and if you're okay with that, all of your favorites say, "Aye." I love y'all. Y'all, great. Y'all, great. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you so much, Lord. I thank you so much. God, just how faithful you are just to allow my mind to see your word, how you're so consistent to address everything with your word. God, there is no other book that we need. Lord, you're completely exhaustive on all things, and I thank you that you're a God in New Heaven who doesn't just sit back and watch what your creation does. But God, you, you're there with us. You walk through the fire with us, Lord. You celebrate with us. You are our God who is near and not far. And I pray, God, today, that as we draw near to you, your word says that you'll draw near to us. Oh, God, I pray you would look down on us, look in us. Show us the things that are not like you. Show us the things, God, that don't mirror you. When someone looks at our life, God, we want them to see a pure, transparent reflection of the glory of God and not us. And so I pray you would mold us to become that way. Remind us, God, of our responsibility, God that you've given us authority, God, and that authority requires responsibility if we're going to have liberty. Remind us of those things, God, those are not just cheap sayings and tricky things to remember, but God, they are truths that our forefathers have built around God. And here we are at this pass of life to do the same. We ask it in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. We started a series really called One Nation, and let me just say first off, the app was giving me some issues today. So if you don't see my notes today, I didn't really give you a lot of, well, I gave you a lot of notes just to kind of follow me, but there's no filling notes. We're going to have some history, and we're going to jump into the word. So we're talking about this, this One Nation concept, what's that look like? Last week we talked about how our government will never be better than we are. So if we're going to complain about our government, we need to take a look in the mirror and realize that we need to change. We are the salt. We are the light. How many of you know when you put salt on your state, you don't have to put a whole lot. Just a little bit will do, right? And that's all it takes for us as well. And so we need to understand and remember that our government will never be better than we are, but also that the issues that we face today, these are not issues in terms of government. It's not how big our government is. It's a matter of how small our crosses are. God has called us to carry a large cross. He reminded me this morning, Scott, I've given you a great yoke to share with me, but apart from this yoke, you're blessing in sharing the word now becomes a burden, because I've given you something too big and too great. You can't do on your own. You must be tied with me. You cannot change anything in your life. You cannot change yourself, your marriage, your family, your church, your city, or your nation apart from me. You can do nothing. But through him and with him, all things are possible. And so we have to understand that mindset. We have major issues today. I went out there on the web just to kind of give us an idea of what are the major issues that we face today. There's a website called eyesightedwith.org. It was a way you could vote on how you feel about certain social issues. There's quite a bit. I want to give you the top seven ones that I have found out there. And just to remind you that even though we have political issues today, really our political issues are spiritual issues. That's the reason why the Word of God always has the ability to speak into our life is because these are not political things. These are things the government feels like we're not doing well. And so they have to interject their leadership. Look at this. This is the top seven. Should gay couples have the same adoption rights as straight couples? What is your stance on abortion? Do you support the legalization of same-sex marriage? Should people under the age of 18 years old be able to receive gender transition treatments? Should the U.S. build a wall along the southern border? Should our police officers be required to wear body cameras and should employers be required to pay men and women the same salary for the same job? Now, those questions are not hard for me. They're very simple to me. But there is much debate and much division in our country over those things. And you would be surprised at the answers that you get as you read down through there. Again, the reason why we have issues that the government feels the need to intervene because we do not understand Kingdom culture. We do not understand what the one another's really mean, nor do we know how to practice those. And since we don't walk in Kingdom culture, we're now submissive to another king. We now have another king who's passing down laws and mandates in what they think is our best interest. There are issues of social issues and immigration, healthcare, criminal, domestic, foreign policy and education. These things are among the top of things that are not new to Scripture. That's the thing we look at the issues of our day, and we feel like this is new or this is only relevant to our era, and that is not true. We know this because Solomon tells us, he says in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun, is there a thing of which it said, 'See, this is new?' It has already been in the ages before us. This is why we say we follow one book, because the Word of God is always relevant. It is never irrelevant. It is only irrelevant to the hard heart that is hardened and has not received the Word of God. Otherwise, it is always relevant to us, and even to that person who is hardened or hard, the Word is relevant either through conviction or through consequence. But the Word of God is always relevant, because we know that people' problems change their faces and people never really change. They repeat the same mistakes over and over again, and we know that principles remain the same. We have to understand and remind ourselves the principle that I have said to you many times, and that is this, never put a problem before a person and never put a person or a president before a principal. These things always bind, so I want you to listen to me this morning. The people of God, I am going to just make a clear statement, the people of God, the people of God are the only qualified persons to speak to these matters, only. Our Constitution was written by people of virtue, for a people of virtue, and it has to be maintained and executed by people of virtue. And even our forefathers would agree, James Madison said, that if we do not, if we are not a religious nation, we are a failed Constitution. It's important for us to understand who we are, and to not be obscured, not forget those things that we so easily look past because we feel like they no longer are applicable to our life. The world wants us to be quiet. It teaches us to be quiet. We are told to be quiet, but we don't have the first to be told to be quiet. Peter and John were also told to be quiet in Acts, chapter 4, it says, but in order that it may spread no further, this name of Jesus, to spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them to not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you, rather than to God, you must judge for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. That's why it's so important for you to understand your testimony, to share your testimony. It's important for you to declare to the world, I can only tell you what I've seen and what I've heard. And then we see Peter and John living up to the world, what they said, they said in verse 27, chapter 5, and when they had brought them, they said them before the council and the high priest questioned them saying, we strictly, strictly charged you not to teach in this name. And here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and apostles answered, we must obey God rather than man. We must obey God rather than man. All day. So what is the thing that's keeping you from obeying God? What is it that causes your heart to feign towards mankind, to listen to what they have to say, that their wisdom is relevant over the word of God. Can I tell you that you say, Pastor, they were talking about the gospel, not these issues, but do you not know? The gospel addresses all of these issues. You see, the gospel is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Jesus said concerning his life, that his life pertained to all things because he said in John chapter 5, you searched the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they that bear witness about me, that you refuse to come to me because that you may have eternal life. And verse 27 of chapter 24 on Luke says this in beginning with Moses all the way back and all the prophets, he interpreted them all scriptures to things concerning him. So what he's saying is this, is that the word of God all points to Jesus and Jesus addresses every issue of our life. Here's the reason why, because Jesus came for his creation and he wants all of creation and the whole of creation to serve him. That means every issue, every issue that is a human issue that relates to mankind is under his jurisdiction because he wants the whole of man under the whole of creation. So when we talk about these issues, you need to know again that there is no other voice other than the word of God that speaks to these things. So if we are to obey God rather than man, why are we so quiet? Why are we still? Are we scared? Are we afraid? Do we lack courage? Are we ignorant? Do we lack understanding as to what our call and what our motive and what our charge is? What keeps us quiet? What causes our eyes to close and act like those things are not for our addressing? Why do Christians remain quiet? I would like to say the reason why we're a solid starts a long time ago throughout history. We find that kings did not allow their subjects to believe something different than they did in the sixth century, Nebuchadnezzar. He, B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon, through Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and the fire. Because why? Because when the trumpets blew, they did not bow. He said, "Uh-uh." Now you can't talk like that. You can't act like that. This is the way we act around here. And so there is this fear, but I want to remind you, the Lord delivered them. He'll deliver us. And then in Western Europe, there was a thousand-year conflict between kings trying to control the church by appointing bishops. And Pope's trying to control the state by withholding communion from kings and threatening excommunication. So the church at one point in time was the state power. It was the government. And it was controlling kings because it was saying, if you don't practice what we tell you to practice the way we tell you to practice, we're going to hold your salvation guard. Because that's how the church operated in those dark times. But then there came a man by the name of Martin Luther. He was a German monk, changed the world when he told the Roman Catholic Church that one is saved by faith alone and not by your practices and not by your confessions and not by your priests, but by faith alone. And he rejected the tyrannical rule of the Roman Catholic Church. And that started a firestorm of Reformation and revolt. During the Reformation of 1517, many kings saw it as an opportunity to break from Rome. And govern their own kingdom. And with it, their church. Because whoever you were governing, whatever kingdom you were governing, you also governed that state. And that was formalized. That understanding was formalized in 1555 in what they call the Peace of Oxford. Oxford was simply a place where we simply was a peace that they all come together and agreed that whoever, who's just the reign, I'm sorry, who's just the reign, his is the religion. That meant whatever the king believed. That's what you believed. Whether it was a good doctrine or not a good doctrine and make it a difference at all. It was whatever he believed. That's what you believed. Now people had a right religion because they had Martin Luther, who was telling people that faith comes, justification comes by faith alone. And that we are to have a personal experience with God. That's not through listening to someone else to tell us how to operate and how to believe, but that a true faith requires an experience and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And that was good doctrine. That was good. But the problem was it was a state doctrine. And you were made to believe it. And if you did not believe it, you were massacred. Which happened a couple of times. One time it was 15,000 people. The next it was 30,000 people. Those people who fail to believe the right thing because they just didn't understand it and they lost their life by it. And so now people have a right religion, but to them it's just a new state doctrine. And they are left without a relationship. They didn't have that relationship. They didn't have that experience like Martin Luther had. So from this came the Piotis movement. And the Piotis movement said this is that it's important for us not to just believe right things, but to know God himself. We must have a personal relationship. And so the Piotis begin to really separate themselves and draw away and become holy and sanctified. And they said if you'll know God, then God will separate you from this world and you'll no longer go to brothels. You'll never go to bars. You'll not go to the lewd erotic theaters and you'll not be involved in worldly government. You'll be separate. But wait a minute. That's not a good thing either. And so Piotis taught us that our place was not to be involved in government. This is the German Piotis, the Lutheran Church, which was not existed here in America just yet. But from this Piotis movement, what they said was simply that you're not to be involved in worldly things. And that meant worldly government and the concept of two kingdoms come about. It's called the two kingdoms doctrine. And simply admit this is that there is a kingdom of the church and there's a kingdom of the state, the government. And these things do not touch. These things are two different things because they are two masters. This was John Locke's theory. And so he began to preach and begin to communicate this and Piotis believed this. That we are to abstain from all things. If Pearl Harbor happened, makes no difference at all. We're not going to get involved. Why? Because we are not of this world. Our job is to preach the gospel and the gospel only. And everything else is somebody else's problem. And that's easy for us to say, which was done over a period of time and really was the true backbone of what we call the separation of church and state. But the problem was that doctrine, that kingdom, the two kingdom doctrine was taught for almost 400 years in Germany. And do you know what it led to? It led to a man who had a government with nobody godly in it. And Hitler came along and seized the government. Because there was nobody there. There was no righteous person there. There was no one who would stand in the gap and say, that's wrong. And it was available. It was available to be seized. You see, piatists, they create a self-fulfilling prophecy. They say, do not be involved in government because it's ungodly. Why is it in godly? Because the godly are not involved in the government. It's a vacuum that we create. Church, you need to know that your life creates space. Your life, your walk with Christ creates a vacuum when it shuts down or it pulls out. You and I were made, we were created with dominion and rain and authority. That's the reason why Jesus came down here. Not just to give us eternal life, but to give us authority over this kingdom now. There was a way that we can go out now, not through military and power, but to change the transformation of men's hearts. But we're also called to stand for righteousness when it needs to be stood for. That's still our responsibility. We cannot advocate that. Or else we'll find ourselves like Germany. When Germany was a strong Christian nation, in fact, they formed their language from the Word of God. Germany was the first Luther, in fact, was the first person to reproduce the Bible to the Gutenberg press and was printing it in ways that no one had ever seen. They never read the Bible before. They didn't know these things because it was written in Latin Vulgate and they would never tell them all the Bible. They just told them what they needed them to know so that people could stay subjugated to the priests. But now Luther had free people's minds to read the Word of God and have a personal relationship with him. And that creates a brand new authority and responsibility, and with that comes liberty. But Germany embraced patriotism. And they believed that it was not their place to speak on behalf or are in the mix of the government conversations. And as you guys know, that led to the worst atrocity ever committed against mankind in the Holocaust. So think about that. Here are these people who love God in the German church. And as they love God, they're singing and worshiping as train cars or Jews are on their way to a burning hill. But that's okay. Victory in Jesus' mind, right? Church, what good are we? If all we do is sing in this building. If all we do is get saved in this building. If all we do is have good families and reborn hearts and smiles upon our faces and love all the people who can make it. What good are we? Are we really the church? We're the sent ones. We're the sent ones. And our job is to not look within ourselves, but our job is to depend on him to focus on others and to be loved to those who are lost in dying and helpless and marginalized. That's who our God is to us. So non-involvement in America came from the 18th century German celebration of church and state, that was impossible to do. And so they constructed a government that enabled them to be led with integrity and virtue. Our government did not come from a pious movement. It did not expect us to not be involved with the affairs of our government. It came from Calvinist Puritans, pilgrims congregationalists in America. There were pilgrims and Puritans and Baptists and death reform and congregationalists followed by Presbyterians and Quakers and others who ramped both their churches and their colonial governments from the bottom up with citizens believing and being involved in both church and state. But not all scientists believe that way. In fact, there's many stories I found, but one of the greatest ones I found was with John Peter and Frederick Mollenberg. Henry Mollenberg was the founder of the Lutheran Church in America and he had two sons who were Piotists, Lutheran ministers, John Peter Mollenberg. He was a pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Woodstock Virginia and Frederick Augustus Mollenberg, who was the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in New York City. On March 23rd, 1775, John Peter Mollenberg, you heard Patrick's Henry's speech, "Give me liberty or give me death." And he was so deeply inspired by that that he approached George Washington and offered his help. "What can I do?" he asked the general and Washington appointed him as a colonel and said, "Now go get your men." And on January 21st, 1776, the 30-year-old pastor John Peter Mollenberg, he preached from the book of Ecclesiastics 3, verse 1. He says, "For everything there is a season and at a time for every matter under heaven, a time of war and a time of peace." And he says, "In the language of the Holy Red, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight." Me. That's the kind of guy I say, "Where are we going today, boss?" "Where are we going today, boss?" You know what I love about this is this is at the end of his sermon, John Peter Mollenberg. He took off his black clerical road. He was preaching. Go back one more slide for me. As he's preaching, he says, "I'm shedding the pastoral road and I'm going to the warrior mode." And as he sheds that clerical road to reveal his continental army uniform, he had an altar call that day and he said, "What man will stand with me?" And a 162 man responded to the altar call to go fight the fight. That very day, those 162 men joined another 138 and they became the eighth Virginia regiment that was formed in a total of 300 men, kind of like Gideon. They say, "Where's our enemy at?" And they left the church to the sound of drums as they left their wives and their kids behind kissing them on their way to secure the freedom that you have. They don't want the pastors to be involved, do they? They don't want us to be involved. They don't want the church to be involved. But the fact of the matter is, there is nothing to be involved in apart from the church, apart from those who hear God's word. After fighting many of the battles in Revolutionary War, he came to be a U.S. senator in the first session of the U.S. Congress. His brother, Frederick Mollenberg, wrote to him and said, "You have become too involved in matters which, as a preacher, you have nothing whatsoever to do." Then accused him of serving two masters based on the two kingdoms concept, for the two did not touch. And John Peter wrote back to his brother and said, "Quit being a Tory British sympathizer." Quit sucking up to the king, boy. You know who you are? Later, the British invaded New York and it burned down Frederick's church and his wife and his children flee and relocate. Frederick's attitude changed and he became involved in the revolution. Man, what does it take, church, for us to be involved? What does it take? Does he have to burn your church down, put you on the run, take away your freedoms and your liberties? Because you're glad they do it. You're glad they do it. Not only was John Peter elected to the office, but also his brother was elected to Congress as well and became the first speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Think about that. The first speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives was a Lutheran, Pastern, Frederick, Augustus Mollenberg, who went from being a non-involved pilotist to getting involved and making a difference. These two pastors, turn activists, turn congressmen, pass the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments. People who didn't want to be involved in the government. People who thought there was no place, the two kingdoms don't touch, they don't talk. And here all of a sudden they're giving us our rights. Crazy enough that there's two signatures on the proposed Bill of Rights that were sent to states for ratification. And the Vice President John Adams in his role in the President of the United States, the U.S. Senate, and then also this guy right here, Frederick Mollenberg, as he signed the Bill of Rights so that next slide right there, right here at the bottom. I think about this. These pastors, they understand what it means to be involved. They took up arms. They sacrificed the ability to see their family again. They put themselves in government and they enrolled in war, ran for congress, and signed and passed the Bill of Rights. Do we really think these pastors would vote to allow, to not allow us to be involved? Do you really think their heart would say, no, no, no, no church, don't be involved in the government? No, no, no, no church, don't let your voice be heard. No, no, no church, be silent, just focus on your relationship with Jesus. This is not what they would ask us to do. This is not what they would give their lives to do. Their lives are important because they set before us an example and an expectation. At the freedoms that we have, the liberties that we have, that this country is so incredibly great because men made major sacrifices, even if they had to change their mind and their philosophy and their way of being taught, they changed everything so we could have a freedom. We could have a liberty. We could have a republic that allowed us to demonstrate, to come together and to meet in this place without restriction, to have freedom. So just to remind you, are we silent because of patriotism? Are we silent because Christians were taught to avoid worldly matters like government? Or maybe you don't want to talk to your friends, you're thinking, no, no, I know what politics does, not even know what politics does as well. But let me tell you something, are you afraid to talk about Jesus? Because if we're talking about politics, how does it not get to Jesus? How do the social issues of our day not lead us to a conversation about Jesus? Politics is just man's way to try to demonstrate or to enact government and the way that the word of God is supposed to tell us how to act. But if we're not acting according to the word of God, we're acting against the word of God, and that's a conversation we need to be having. We need to know if we're not lined up with this book because God's not going to come to us and say, let me interpret this constitution and see if you're right or you're wrong. No, he's going to come to the eternal word of God. That's the reason why we follow one book, one thing. And we have to be accountable to that. Pitism, not our founding Christian principles, has led us today to be silenced by fostering disengagement from the government, not our Christian principles. So what do our Christian principles say, Pastor Scott? Should we withdraw and wait for Jesus' return? Is it okay to be silent? That's my question today. I don't have a lot of points. I just want you to answer one question today. Is it okay for you to be silent? Is it okay? Let me indict you even more. In Numbers chapter 30 verse 3 through 5, turn with me there. We see in verse 3, it says, "If a woman vows, a vow to the Lord and binds herself, a pledge herself by a pledge within her father's house and her youth and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her. Then all her vows shall stand. And every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her because her father opposed her. He can be silent and agree or he can speak up and disagree. But there is going to be an action by both. There's no such thing as inaction by the father. His inaction is action. It is conferring or disagreeing. Have you ever heard during a wedding ceremony? It says, "Speak now forever, hold your peace," right? Did you know that came down? So the Book of Common Prayer in 1549, it says, "If anyone presents or if anyone present knows of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now forever, hold your peace." We call that the rule of tacit admission. And tacit admission is everywhere in our culture. In trial law, let me just read what tacit admission is. Black law, dictionary states this. An admission reasonably inferrable from a party's failure to act or speak. An admission that's reasonably inferrable from a party's failure to act or speak. In trial law, tacit criminal admission refers to the assumption that a person is more likely to deny a false accusation than remains silent. It is in trademark law. If you design a trademark and someone copies it and is using it, if you are silent and do nothing to defend it, you lose your exclusive right to keep it. In real estate law, under adverse possession, if a squatter occupies your property, you guys know, and do nothing to charge rent or evict them, you risk losing ownership of the property over time, regardless of how much you pay for it. Silence in an action leads a squatter legally claiming the property. In financial or tax matters, if creditors or tax collectors wait too long to pursue a debt, they may exceed the statute of limitations forfeiting their legal right to collect repayment. And in the U.S. Constitution, the rule of tacit admission is simply this. In Article 1 of Section 7, every bill which shall have passed shall be presented to the President. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within 10 days, after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he signed it. Think about that. The President's silence equals his signature. He said it's okay. That's why it's important for us to not be silent because our silence equals our signature. You may not agree, but if you don't vote, you just signed your name on it. You gave your signature, said it's okay. And I know some of you in here today, and you're registered and you don't want to vote, but you need to vote. Did you know that right now, out of 90 million registered evangelistic Christians, in terms of who is ready to vote and able to vote, the statistics say right now that in excess of 60% will not vote. 60% of the 90 million. Why? Why are we silent? Because we've been told to be quiet. And more importantly, we don't understand the requirement of God's Word. Can I take you a little further? So if the ballot says that marriage is not defined as the Bible would define it. If the ballot says that a child can choose their own gender, if the ballot says the two people who are experiencing the penalty of sin and the wrath of God against unrighteousness, because that's what Romans chapter one says that are fit to adopt a child. And if the ballot says that murder of babies at any stage of life, and it is life, is acceptable, are we allowed to be silent? I would say that scripture provides us a hard no. A hard no. Turn with me a little bit against chapter 20. Verse one. It says the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Sate the people of Israel. Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel." Not just the people of God, but there are strangers with you who gives any of his children to Molek, shall surely be put to death. And the people of the land shall stone him with stones. This is the picture of Molek here. Molek was a large bronze statue. A large bronze god really was just a furnace to some degree. And they would heat bronze up. Bronze could extend extreme temperatures of heat. And what they would do is they would take their children that they had because about nine months ago they were celebrating a sexual festival. And now they're offering the product of their lust, the product of their sin. Now they're offering their children and they put them in the hands of Molek, the statue. And he is brazen hot. And when they do that, they play drums and they sound trumpets as worship to drown out the cries of the babies. And they burn to death. This is who God's talking to. He's talking to the people of God. He says, "And when you do this, and when you do this, I myself will set my face against the man and will cut him off among his people because he has given one of his children to Molek to make my sanctuary unclean and to proclaim my holy name." And verse 4 says, "And if the people of the land do it all close their eyes to that man, when he gives one of his children to Molek and does not put him to death, the empathetic version says this, "And if the people of the land do it all hide their eyes from the man, when he gives one of his children as a burnt offering to Molek, the fire God, and they overlook it or neglect to take legal action to punish him, winking at his sin, and do not kill him as my law requires." Verse 5 says, "Then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut him off from among their people, him and all who follow him in horing after Molek." Church, do you know there's a, we got a Molek today. There's a Molek, he's alive today. He's alive today. God said, "If you close your eyes, if you act like this is not happening, if you fail to take legal action, winking at his sin, then he, his family, and his extended family will face the same judgment as those who went to the clinic and asked for the abortion, for those who worked at the clinic to enable the abortion, and for those who hold the utensils of death and perform the abortion, that your judgment is the same judgment as him who close his eyes." This is the word of God, what would we do with it? What can we do with it? What is our response? What is our action? It's not an action. Because he says, "I will set my face against you." If you've been in trouble with your dad, he put his face against you. And you knew there was no play in him. You knew he was serious. In every word he said, he meant, and the Lord speaks to us the same way. His words raised an even greater question to which I don't, for the state of shock, try to invite you into this question, but I ask this question out of a true spiritual reflection. When matters such as these are on the ballot, is it sinned to possess the privilege to vote and not vote? I'm not asking for your preference. What I'm saying, given these issues on the ballot, is it sinned to have the privilege to vote and you don't vote? Because I'll be honest with you, Church, and I just, you know me. I don't preach my preferences. I don't share my opinions from the poor. I want you to look at the text and say, "God, what should I do? God, what should I do?" In the face of your holy word, what shall I do? James 4 17 says, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sinned." Luke 12, Jesus is giving a parable, and he says, "And the servant who knew his master's will, but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and deserved a beating, he will receive a light beating. But every one to whom much was given, liberty, authority, responsibility, a republic, a nation, a freedom of religion, of him, of him much will be required. And from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more." Jesus goes on to say, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see, your guilt remains." I preach that you might see. I share the word of God that you might see, because that truth will come for every one of us. It's not just a political matter, it's not just an exercising of our privilege. To me, this is a real serious issue. It is a spiritual issue, quite possibly. It is a salvation issue. How can we say, how can we say? It's very important to me you understand this. In fact, to emphasize this even more, Jesus and his church, Jesus and his message to the church of Thyatira writes, "I know your works." He's speaking to the church, "I know your works, your love, and your faith, and your service, and your patient endurance, and that your latter works will see the first. But I have this against you that you tolerate, that you tolerate this woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual morality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refused to repent of her sexual immorality. Jesus says, "He's against the church that tolerated Jezebel." That means they endured her. In fact, the Greek word will simply say this as they look to someone else to do the job. They tolerated because they were looking for someone else to do the job, to rebuke her and deal with her, but she was in the church, influencing the church, leading the church, but they did nothing themselves to do anything about it. And Jesus is saying, "I have this thing against you, against you, that you tolerated her." If remaining solid means approving what we know to be wrong, then we continue to close our eyes as well as our mouths. But we ignore our Jezebel. But we continue to push out her voice and let her lead us astray. Or when we stand and act according to what Scripture demands. God told the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 3, he says, "Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately. If I warn the wicked saying you are under the penalty of death, but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths." Verse 20 says, "If righteous people turn away from their righteousness behavior and ignore their obstacles, I put in their way they will die. If you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered. I will hold you responsible for their deaths." Church, that's who we are. We're a watchman on the wall because those who are lost have no idea, no concept of judgment. They don't know what they're responsible for. They're living in a way that is irresponsible. You and I, we know the Word, we know the truth. We can be like the Jews and have the Word given to us, but not perform it, and not teach it. In fact, there's a story that's in 1 Samuel, chapter 22. And as you go there, what we see is this, is that there is King Saul, and King Saul is, you know, he's jealous of David, and David flees King Saul, and he goes to the temple, and David is hungry, and he has just men with him, and he goes, and he asks the priest. He says, "Is there any bread?" And the priest gives him some bread, and sends him on his way. King Saul is looking for David, and he finds out that David is at the priest of Nob. And he shows up, and as he shows up, he asks the priest, he says, "Is David been here?" He goes, "Yes." He goes, and in his mind, understanding that you fed him, and the priest says, "Yes." He says, "How is it that you would conspire against your King, your government, to do this thing?" And then he orders the guards to kill the priest. And a funny thing happens there, the guards freeze. They don't do anything. You know why? Because they were still living under the republic of the Hebrew people. That says that they are accountable to God for everything. And they knew that no matter what the state told them to do, they were not going to do it. They were not going to justify murder to be okay. When we always knew it was sin, all of us are subject to God, and the guards knew this, and they didn't do anything. They understood that. In fact, the word of God says this, is that if you're going to accuse someone, you better make sure you have two witnesses. And they knew they didn't have two witnesses. And the second thing was this, if you're going to indict a priest, you've got to bring their trial before the elders. And none of that was there. They totally ignored what God had taught them for 400 years. But he was still lingering in them. The sad thing about that is this. The reason why people did right in their own eyes is because the priest, the priesthood, in that 400 years before King Saul, the priesthood slowly begin to teach less and less of the law. And as the priest did not teach the law, the evil within the hearts of man grew. And so here are the priests now being murdered as a consequence to their own inaction. Because if these priests would have been teaching the law, it would have not had a king in Saul, and Saul would have not have killed them for conspiring against him. Another tells me, church, you're a royal generation, you're a holy priesthood. And because you are, your job is to not be silent. And if we are, then we'll find ourselves at the hand of persecution, wondering why what happened. No, no, no. Our job is to declare the name of Jesus. Our job is to declare the name of Jesus. And every sphere of life, your job, your responsibility is to declare the name of Jesus. And if we do not declare that name, when there is opportunity to do so, then we're okay. With them killing us as well. We're okay with the consequences that come as well. Because the only way they can preserve these people, the only thing that can preserve these people, preserve a nation. The only thing that can make us one nation is that we proclaim the name of Jesus with both our mouths and our actions. Ezekiel reminded us of three simple things. We have a responsibility as watchmen to speak the truth and love. If not, there will be a judgment for silence. Why? Because our silence denies the opportunity for redemption. Church, let me just make it clear as you leave out of here. I want you to wrestle with the idea. Does my silence lead to consent lead to sin? I would say from the Word of God, yes, yes. I'm not trying to guilt you. I want you to understand I'm concerned for your soul. This nation will burn, this world will burn, and God will recreate, make all things brand new, but that cannot be said of you. If you do not walk according to Scripture, I'm not dealing with political matters, I'm dealing with eternal matters. Are you going to obey the Word of God? Are you going to do what's right when it presents itself to you? I love John Peter's call. I love it all to call. What men will stand with me and take on this tyrant in the UK in 162 men stood up. You know, my question today is simply this. It's who will stand today with me and say, I'll not be silent. I will not be silent. Who will stand? Who will stand with me? Who will stand with me and say, I will not be silent. I will not be silent. Yeah. Father in Heaven, I pray God today, Lord. I know it may seem like we're small in number, God, but I pray God, you multiply our voice. Multiply our voice, God. Let the world know, let this city know, God, that there are a people in Harrison, Arkansas, who will not be silent. God, we will speak His name, we will declare His name, we'll declare your word, we'll declare your values, Lord. We'll declare your principles, God, and we will not be silent. God, put in us, God, a courageous lioness, God outro, God to erore the Word of God. To declare God to those who are small, and those who are great, those who are empowered, and God those who are marginalized, that there is one key who sits upon the throne. And we are subject to Him, we shall serve Him, and it is His boldness, and His confidence, and His courage that we act and speak out, Lord. I pray God, multiply us today. Multiply us today. God, join us with the body of Christ. Join us with other remnants, God, who have been fearful, God, to speak on behalf of the Kingdom of God, and make our voices known today, Lord. Give us wisdom, give us compassion. Oh God, I pray, let us speak your truth, and let us speak it in love. And as we walk out of here today, Lord, I pray, move us to action, move us to action, Lord, move us to action, let it not be said of us that we close our eyes and shut our mouths. But let us speak your word with conviction, with clarity, in Jesus' mighty name we pray, in all God's people said, amen, amen, amen. I love you guys, don't forget today, fall on the farm, fall on the end, bring your chair, bring your friend, we'll see you there. (upbeat music)