Harrison Faith Church
Serve One Another "A Nation of Serving One Another" | Pastor Scott Brandon | Oct 13, 2024
Man, I don't know if I'm excited or nervous or what, but you know, it's going to be good the next few weeks. If I'm being honest with you, I feel like I could preach on politics for about six months straight. I thought I had two good sermons down and then I started writing last yesterday morning and I was like, oh my goodness, this is probably like six weeks, seven weeks, like I don't I feel like I could go on forever. Are you guys okay with that? That wasn't a real question. That wasn't a real question, you guys. So we all are like, let's do it, precious God, let's go. And the rest of you all are like, I'm going to find me another church to go to for the next. Do me a favor and turn to Romans chapter 13. We all love this as you turn it, let me pray, Father in heaven, I love you. Thank you God so much, Lord, for the word that leads us and guides us and shapes us and sanctifies us and transforms us, renews our mind. Most importantly, God, it makes us more like you, reveals Jesus and rewards us with wisdom. And I pray God today as we look into your word, I pray God, you would teach us, or become as disciples of Jesus Christ, we sit at His feet and we pray today that you would impart into our heart knowledge, understanding God that we might be a people of God, that people may look upon us and know that we are a people of God. The goal would be for adhesion, Lord, to be looked upon, and know that they are a nation unto God. And I pray today, Lord, that as we hope for that and pray for that, we know it's impossible. Lord, unless there is an individual change in every one of us, and so God let that begin with us, deal with us, speak to us, change us, Lord, to be more like you. We ask that you would give us the grace to understand and to apply for your word. And we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Romans 13, verse 1 through 7, I'm just going to let you know probably the next few weeks I've already talked to the kids ministry and they know to prepare for longer than normal sermons. And so y'all might say, oh my goodness, but you know I don't feel no problem with that because I know you guys go to football games and we're there for three hours until we're just, you'll go to a movie, it'll be bad, you'll still watch it all two and a half hours of it. And so if you can endure a bad B-level movie, sure you can endure Scott Brandon, you'll be good to go, right? I have. No, the Lord didn't tell me, he said, Scott, just do what I told you to do. So I said, all right, Lord, here I am. I hope they're ready. We're going to get into a little bit this morning. Let's read Romans 13, verse 1 through 4. Everyone, say everyone, must submit to governing authorities for all authorities come from God. And those positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted and they will be punished. Ain't that good? That's good. That's all, like we're already, but let's say right then, okay, let me go to altar right away because, you know, and I know we have not always felt that way. That's why we are to pray, Pastor Alex said, last week, we ought to pray for one another. That includes our leaders and our government. So anyone who rebels against authorities are building against God, but God has instituted and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. I'm just going to stop right there. I want to go back to this particular thing that says, all authority comes from God. Scripture tells us that human government is ordained of God. Notice the word all. That word all is kind of funny to me because when I think about the word all, it means all. It means it means just and unjust, that there is no authority, that there is no government that God did not ordain. He does not allow and bring into reality. And so when we see that, we have to understand it into some degree that somehow, in respect to God, ordaining that authority is there with his permission to be there. Some governments are cruel. We know that through looking at communism and socialism and fascism and all those different types of things. Every type of government, whether it be a liberal democratic or a republic or whether it be a capitalism society, all those things, God said yes to. And that's troubling when you think about it. But I want to share something with you this morning to maybe help you understand why the Lord can ordain all those things. And I'll start with this and I'm going to just give you just a rundown of bullet points today. I'm just going to throw them at you. My hope is that you'll go home and say, I don't believe a word Pastor Scott said and just find out yourself. Do me the favor. I beg you this morning. Go get it. Here's what I want to share with you this morning. People determine the kind of government they want and the kind of government they deserve. That's a stiff statement. But when we look at all these different governments, we have to ask ourselves, why did God ordain such a government? Why did God allow such a good, such a bad? In fact, wicked rulers are actually God's reward for wicked people. And good rulers are rewards for righteous people. Problems 29 and 2 says this when the righteous increase, the people rejoice. But when the wicked rule, the people groan. Rulers like the King David and King Solomon and King Josiah and King Hezekiah. Those were righteous rulers and the people rejoice. God bless them through those rulers. But then there was a moral decline of Israel several times and God spoke to the prophet concerning different ones, but specifically, Isaiah says this, and I will make boys their princes and infants shall rule over them. And the result is the people will repress one another. Everyone his fellow and everyone his neighbor, the youth will be incident to the elder. You are already there. And the despise of the honorable, Hosea 1311 says it's about King Saul, I gave you a king of my anger because you rejected me, I gave you that king and then because he acted in such a way, I took him away in my wrath. And so what we find is this is that we see that wicked rulers can't come because the Lord is rewarding the people for their wickedness. And he's rewarding the people for their righteousness. Founding father of the U.S. Alexander Hamilton said this, people get the kind of government they deserve. He understood he was with that committee of people, that group of people that had done research. He looked out through history and time and he realized these things were true. That's why it was so important for them to write a constitution in the way that they did. And the thing I want you to know is really two points this morning. I don't know if I'll get to all of them or not, we'll see. But I hope this morning you'll understand walking away here knowing that strong character is the foundation of freedom. That's the first thing I want you to know. The second thing I want you to know is that weak character is the gateway to bondage. Strong character produces freedom and weak character produces bondage. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Look at 1st Samuel chapter 8 verse 4 through 9. This is right up after the book of Judges and Ruth at time frame right there. About 400 years prior to this moment, we have Joshua who has come in and led the conquest with Israel. They've taken the promised land. This is the place. This is the time of promise. They've been walking through the wilderness and they've finally come into a place of blessing and abundance. From that time to this time is roughly about 350, 350 years. He says this. Verse 4. "When all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Reimah and said to him, 'Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways.' Now I point for us a keen to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, 'Give us a keen to judge us.' And Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel, 'I want you to pay attention here.' Obey the voice of the people in all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all their deeds that they have done, from this day I brought them out of Egypt even to this day. The whole time they've been wandering through the wilderness outside of Egypt. From that time to now they have forsaken me and they have served other gods and so they are also doing to you. He says, 'According to what they've done, give them what they're asking for.' Now then he says, 'Obey their voice, only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.' So you see up until this time Israel was what they call a theocracy. They had no king. God was their king. God ruled over them. God provided for them all through the wilderness. God protected them. God went before them and conquered the enemy. But now they're rejecting God and they long for the type of government that's surrounding the other nations. And so God says, 'You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to give you the type of government that you want. I'm going to ordain a government for you and it will be the government you desire and it will be the government you deserve.' Now I want you to understand that human government is ordained of God, right? God generally gives people the government they deserve and the government they desire. What that means is simply this church we need to understand is that our government will never be any better than we are. And I want you to think about that for the second. That our government will never be any better than we are as a nation. And so I don't know about you but I've been there before. I've been frustrated because of the lack of leadership or the corruption of leadership in the White House and in the government but I have to stop because it begins with Scott Brandon. See it's real easy for us to make politics about somebody else because that's what politics does. It makes it about the person who's in the race or about the person who doesn't believe correctly or the person who's ignorant or whatever it might be. We've come to a place where we're just slinging mud and we forget that this whole thing starts with us specifically the church. The church. We cannot be angry. It's like me one time I was opening the refrigerator and I saw a whole bunch of energy drinks in the refrigerator and I said, "Girl, what in the world are the energy drinks?" They should not be drinking that many and then I realized, "Oh, shucks. That's me." I taught them that. You haven't been in that place when your kid does something and you go, "What? You're not supposed to..." "Oh, that's me. I do that." You haven't been there before? You perfect parents. You know what it's like and that's what the Lord is saying. Listen, we're looking at the world and we're angry at the world being the world. We're angry at the leaders being corrupt leaders. And God says, "You know what? You're the salt. You're the salt. You're the light. If you don't like it, quit being apathetic, quit prioritizing other things that are non-spiritual over those things that are eternal and everlasting. So what we find is simply this is that our government will never be any better than we are. That's because the type of government we have is directly in proportion to the character we possess. Mark it down. Whenever there is a loss of character, there is a growth of government, always. Because character is the virtue. Character is that thing that guides us and convicts us and says, "You know what? I ought not take from that man. I ought not lie to that man. I ought not hurt that man." Why? There's a virtue. There's a conviction inside of us. There's a law written upon my heart that says not to do that. And so long as I'm being virtuous, so long as I'm having character, I don't need man to mandate his laws upon me. If I have a large character, a large virtue, then the government decreases. But if not, but if not, all authority is ordained by God. So whatever character decreases, government increases, and conversely, whenever character increases, government decreases. And this is due to the relationship between responsibility, liberty, and authority. You need to understand how those things work with each other. But there is a synonymous relationship that they are all almost like a trinity. If one is affected, all of them are affected. And that is responsibility, liberty, and authority. Let me explain it to you this way. A baby has no authority. Well usually, has no authority. Because a baby can't accept no responsibility. And so therefore it has no authority. And if you gave it authority, it would not know what to do with it, right? Because a baby is not responsible. And so since it's not responsible, it is utterly dependent on its parents. That's why it's force-fed. That's why it's made to go places. It has no power to decide or choose. And so since it's not responsible, it has no liberties, it has no freedoms, and since it has no responsibility, it has no authority, and thus it has no liberty. All of those are interconnected, and they play. But as it gets older and becomes more responsible, it gains authority, the power to make decision. And this leads to an increase in liberty. Are y'all following me this morning? The more responsibility it has, the more authority it exercises, the more liberties it takes. This is what we see in our children, that you've heard me say before, we like to practice this model of what we call from control to conviction. When our kids do not make good decisions, we control them. And when they exercise responsibility, we give them more opportunity to exercise their conviction. Because one of these days they're going to leave your house, and when they do, you can't control them anymore. But you have better done a good job while they were under your control, teasing them responsibilities so they can operate on conviction when they leave outside of your house. This is the dynamic I'm talking about. That we give them responsibility, we give them authority, and that leads to more liberty, and as they're more responsible, we give them more authority, which leads to more liberty and so on. But now what happens, what happens if that person gets older and becomes not very responsible, totally irresponsible, completely irresponsible. In fact, if you get totally irresponsible, here's what we do in America, we'll throw you in jail because you weren't responsible for other people in other people's lives. You endangered them because you were totally irresponsible. Now that adult returns to that disposition of a baby, and that adult has no responsibilities and therefore no liberties, no authority, they can't turn the light off, they can't lock the door, they can't do any of those things because the liberties are gone, because the authority is gone, because the responsibilities were not kept up. And what we see are these things are always linked. And what is true for an individual is true for a composite of individuals called a nation. There is no separation between the two. We either act in concert or we do not. And so these principles still apply to us. This is why we need to understand that responsibility and liberty are inseparably linked together. Because our character strengthens so does our freedom, but there is also a reverse effect to that. Now, how do we know this to be true? We find principles of this in the Word. Look at Galatians 5, 13. It says, "For you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom that is your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." You see, you're called to liberty, but you're not supposed to use your liberty irresponsibly that is for your flesh. Be responsible with your liberty and through love you're supposed to serve one another. Is there a limit one can serve one another through love? Is there a limit to that? No, it's exponential. And so as your love strengthens, that's your character, so does your freedoms and your liberties. And that is what you and I are called to do in the context of all these things. Really the government is about this. It's about making sure that you and I love God and love one another. Our country is not at the place that it cares not that you love God and hope that you love one another, because eventually they're going to regulate your love for one another. Eventually they'll make you love one another whether you like it or not, or at least respect one another. And so God is showing us to these principles that we must make sure that in our liberty our ability to practice that we're responsible with that. And as we're responsible with that, there is more authority and more liberty. Can I tell you right now that the church is weak? You know why? Because she does not exercise her authority because she's become irresponsible and therefore she's losing her liberty. It's just the truth of what is. If the church was stronger, we would have more authority and we do not. We would have more liberty and we do not. We're fighting to get those things back. It's like we're just now realizing we're losing it. And now we're having to wake up and be responsible again. And the reason why we've not been responsible is because we've been so comfortable, so apathetic. All we care about is us and that's the problem with the church. She's concerned with herself and nobody else. We've been saved to reach other people. We've been saved to serve other people. But we are saved to comfort ourselves. We are a disgrace to the saving grace of Christ. He did not die on the cross for the glory of his father. He died upon the cross. So you and I could be back in relationship with those who were lost. Still yet, while we were sinners, he died for us. And that love should exist in us and so we should be concerned. We should be mindful about those who are not going to heaven, making sure that we demonstrate not just one time of every four years, our values. We should be living out if anything, the election should be the overflow of our lifestyle. We should not vote for righteousness because it will never happen, but we should vote from righteousness. We see the relationship between liberty and responsibility in Jesus' teaching. He says in Luke 1610, one who is faithful, that's responsibility, in a very little is also faithful in much, that's character. And one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. Essentially, Jesus is suggesting that true liberty or the freedom to manage greater affairs stems from a proven track record of responsibility. And this parable highlights really a reciprocal relationship between liberty and responsibility. One person provides approved responsibility and they earn more liberty to act independently and manage more substantial matters and this is what Jesus is talking to. He's saying these principles are true, we're not just making this up. This is not what something Pastor Scott just pulled out of thin air and said, "This sounds great. It sounds political." No, this is what we're living around. This is how we're governing our lifestyle. Your marriage is based off these principles. How you parent is based off these principles and how our government function is based off these principles because these principles govern the relationships between God and man. Matthew 25, I'm going to want to echo the same thing. Imagine if Israel would have maintained their character before God, that they had been responsible with the virtue that God gave them as keeper of God's law. God blessed them among every other nation, he gave them the law. And what did they do with that law? He filled the responsibility. They forgot what they were there for. And because they did that, they lost liberty because they did not exercise the authority that God gave them. And so what we see here, especially in Judges 21, 25, we know what kind of people they were because it says in those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in her in his own eyes. That means you believe your truth, I believe my truth, right? All truth is relative. That's what he was saying here. And that was not the case. So when character decreases, so does liberty. Strong character is the foundation of freedom. Let me give you an example. Did you know that before our nation ever declared its independence on July 4th, 1776, there was a series of major events that led up to it. As I began to dig into this, I was like, this is so incredibly cool. I love this. I love history and over the next three weeks you guys are going to get pummeled with it. So I hope you're okay with that as well. But from 1740 through 1770, there is a period of revivals called the Great Awakening. And this Great Awakening was led by people such as David Brainerd, who led revivals among Indians, savages, who gave their life to Christ. Not only David Brainerd, but also Jonathan Edwards, who preached that famous sermon centers in the hands of an angry god, led to a massive outbreak in revival, George Whitefield led the New England and Awakenings. And all through this time, there was just this prayer and most important, there was a practice of repentance and repentance. Can I tell you that real revival church, you know, I see a lot. A lot of revivals come and go, but can I tell you to me, to Scott Brainerd, I may be narrow minded and judgmental, but a revival to me, it's no revival at all. If there's not truth of repentance, it must be repentance, repentance that leads to reformation. You must be changed. You must be reformed. If you don't walk out of that revival, a disciple of Jesus Christ, then you didn't find a revival. You didn't find repentance. You're not going to be, you're not going to find reformation. You got to be changed. You are not be like you used to be. That's what real repentance is. I'm not going this direction no more. I'm going this direction. And that's what they experienced, real change. There was a fire of repentance and out of that time frame, Christians begin to feel the need to educate, they begin to build schools and almost all schools were built by Christians at that time. And not only schools, but colleges like Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, which was the first institution to be called University, Columbia, Brown University, Dartmouth College, which were all Ivy League colleges that were built during this time. But the significance wasn't in the schools and the universities being built, it was in the principles being taught. In the principles, it was what they were being fed. You know how it is when you don't feed your spirit, your spirit dies and your flesh grows. You know how it is when you starve your flesh and your spirit is fed. You know the effect of that. And this is what was happening. They were being taught, they were being taught in the school, what they were being taught, the word of God, and they were being taught how to practice prayer. All of that created a character in our nation that grew. And the outgrowth of this character came our Constitution and the governmental framework of our country. But since responsibility is the outgrowth of character and is an increase in responsibility is an increase in authority which results in an increase of liberty, what we have was this, the Declaration of Independence. See their virtue grew, their character grew that meant the responsibility grew and because the responsibility grew they had more authority and more authority led to more liberty which was the declaration that says we are no longer under that reign, no more. We are completely free of that monarchy. We are free to find the face of God. We are free to live and count each other equal. We are free to see that we are no longer in some caste system. That you and I are the same no matter what because you were made in the image of God. The great awakening laid the foundation for a nation on Christian principles. My question to us today is what foundation are we laying for future generations today? If our culture in America went back to the 1700s would there be a Declaration of Independence? Would there be a Constitution? Well, arguably it would not. It would be some totalitarian government, some authority that reigns over all of us. Because you and I don't know how to have self-control although we want self-government. Church you and I belong to a Christian nation. We belong to a Christian nation and just like our lives there are times spiritually we are beat up and beat down but we always know that there is a hope in Jesus. And regardless of what happens in the next month or the next year or three years it makes no difference. There is always a hope in Jesus. You and I belong to a nation that was forged by God and we were forged by it and for it. Someone argue and say you know what I don't believe that America is a Christian nation but in 1892 the U.S. Supreme Court made an exhaustive study in the case of the whole eternity versus United States and here is what they said because someone said we suppose there might be a connection between Christianity and the government of the United States. And so the Supreme Court launched a humongous dossier, a humongous search and they rolled to the volumes and here is what they found and they recorded. They said these references in a volume of unofficial declarations declare that this is a religious people, a Christian nation. That's who we are. That's who we are regardless and so don't hang your head and say well we're just not that way anymore. No we still are. It's just time for the church to be a Christian church and then we'll find the nation being a Christian nation. It will love God like we're supposed to love him and love others like we're supposed to love ourselves, we'll find a change in our nation and we don't have to vote that in. You see we get a chance to vote every day by walking out what we want to see in our leadership because remember leadership will never be better than what we are and so if we want real change on the hill we got to have real change in the heart. That's where it begins. So let me just help you for a second, throw away those complaints, in fact let me just tell you what God told me, shut up, shut up, quit complaining and start interceding, quit complaining and start praying because I have given you authority but if you are going to abdicate your authority then you're going to abdicate your responsibility which means you'll lose your liberty and you have nobody to complain to but yourself, Scott Brandon. So quit being a naysayer, remind yourself and remind the church who she is and why she was sent to this land, this piece of earth. When William Douglas said this, he was a justice supreme court, he says we are religious people and our institutions presuppose a supreme being, church when the Constitution of the United States of America was drafted, it was written by a people of character, for a people of character and it can only be maintained by a people of character. The Constitution only works so long as we are a people of character. And until we are a people of character, it will be reinterpreted, reinvented and abused and used against us because that's what Satan always does to the gifts that God has given us. When we don't participate in a way that's good in our stewardship, then Satan seizes those things from us. So where does the burden of the Constitution land on the people of character, remember when people walk in character, the need for government is at its smallest? So where does character come from? Romans chapter five or state two five says this, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. Knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character. Oh, I love where character comes from, tough times, suffering, hardships, that's still the party out, that's where we, who all wants some character raise your hand. I would not raise my hand. The Lord has done it enough for me already, but character produces hope, and that's what we need right now. Hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Culture is proof that you stood the test, tried and true, genuine, examined and approved. Proverbs 17, 3 says, "The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests the hearts." Church the demise of the American people is not found by looking at big government. The demise of the American people is found by looking at the small cross that we carry. It's not the size of the government, it's the size of the devotion. For Jesus said to us, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." And we have a hard enough time trying to follow him one time a week, let alone daily. Can I continue, or should I shut this down? Are we good? Okay. So this brings me to the issue that we have, is weak character. We have weak character, weak character is the gateway to bondage. After the war won, America began to slide into the war in 20s. I don't think about it from the war in 20s, right? The war in 20s. They called it the flapper age because women wore things that flapped. I don't even describe that, but just know that's what that meant. It flapped. And it was really a time where women began to express their freedoms and ways, they dressed in ways that were counter-cultural, non-traditional to some degree. Thing was they were expressing their license and not their liberties. See, the difference between the license and the liberty is this is the liberty requires you to have character. The license allows you to sin without having character, obviously. Allows you to do things and say, "Well, I can do this because I have a license to do so. I have a freedom to do so." But a freedom to sin is a license, but it will eventually go away. You'll be robbed of that. But a liberty is something that you have to have character to maintain. Eventually, as you know, if you've sinned for any good period of time in your life, that you may have a license to sin, but eventually you'll lose that license. Eventually, someone would come along and say, "You can't do that no more and shut you up or lock you up one way or the other." And so this is where we find the 20s going into. The 20s were marked by sexual liberation, a tremendous rise in organized crime, a boom in consumer cultural and materialism. This is where we get the phrase, "The Joneses," was there in the 20s. There was a rise in secularism that questioned traditional, religious thought. That's when Freudian theory really begins to circulate and they begin to ask if religion was more than just an opiate, more than just something that makes us feel good. Is it really something that's real, is it a reality? And because of the war, there was a lot of more ambiguity. People didn't know what was good anymore. They became cynical of the world. They didn't see that the world really had any good after they saw and experienced what they saw. And so that came, that led them up to a place in 1929 where we saw the start market crash. And the start market crash and created the Great Depression and what we see here is that people were completely wiped out. They didn't know what to do. Why? Because they were not operating responsibly. And here comes the Savior. Here comes the United States of America. They come to rescue its people. What I want you to see here is that America wants its self-government, but she lacks self-control. And if we're going to be a people of self-government, of self-govern, then we have to have self-control. It's the same way, going back to the analogy of being in prison. If you don't have self-control, if you don't have self-control, then you'll not have self-government. Eventually, somebody will control you, someone will govern you, but you've got to have that control. And so after the Great Depression, we saw the government step in in ways. I mean, everything from -- man, there were a ton of regulations. I was just going down to the list. It was just an incredible amount, the New Deal and, man, just non-stop Social Security Act. All of the stuff was stepping in, but the Lord was simply -- the Lord did not step in. We wish he stepped in. The government thought it was the Lord stepped in and said, "We got brand new programs for you. We got new ways to regulate everything for you so that way you don't go hungry and that you have your assistance to grow your crops and you have the ability to get into a brand new house that you can't afford, and we'll bring all of this -- the problem is this. Instead, a government has to take before it gives. A government always takes before it gives. And if it's printing money, it's taking money somewhere else. We can't expect a government to be a cow. If you milk that thing all day long, guess what, you're going to have to pay for it some other way. In fact, a government is supposed to be a watchdog to be fed and not a cow to be milked. A government is supposed to protect us but not provide for us. In fact, if you look at the Constitution, you'll see that right there. It says to protect the common welfare and provide the general -- I'm sorry -- promote the general welfare, not provide general welfare, but promote general welfare. It's not supposed to come in and deal with the orphans and deal with the elderly and deal with the children, do with the family, but that's what the government wants to do. It wants to take responsibility from you as an individual, as a family, as a church. That's why I told you a couple of weeks ago that your child can go to Minnesota right now against your responsibility as a parent and they can suspend your parental rights, your guardianship over them so they can have a sex change. Because the state is always pulling against your responsibility because it doesn't want you to have liberty because it wants your authority. It's always pulling at you and this is the monster we've created. You see, history shows us that when people lack self-control, they lack self-government. And when this happens, the people look to the government to provide. Look at 1 Samuel 8 verse 19 through 20. But the people refuse to obey the voice of Samuel and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us that we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles so we don't have to do those things." Again, like I said, the thinking person knows that a government cannot give if a government does not first take. In fact, there was this story I read, you've probably heard the story before, but the quote I read caught my attention was, "Whatever I feed, I can control. Whatever I can feed, I control." There was a story about a neighborhood where there were some wild pigs and they were coming in and the rest of everybody's cows up and chasing their goats and all those things. And so they said, "We had to find out some way to deal with these pigs. These wild pigs don't want to kill them, they couldn't catch them." And this guy says, "I got it." And so what they said was he came in and he began to lay down some corn for about a week and they came up and got used to it and began to eat that corn. And then he came back the next week and put some more corn out and put a stake in the ground and continued to feed him that corn. The next day he come out and put another stake in the ground. Next day another stake. Another stake. Another stake. The corn was there the whole time. Until eventually he had finished the pen up and then one day he put the corn out again like normal and when they came in he pulled the string and down comes the gate. And hear these pigs just naively thought, "Man, what's going on?" But slowly and surely, slowly and surely, if they can feed us, they can control us. If they can feed, if they can provide for us, and that's where my heart is right now, I'm so scared because people don't want to work no more. They want the government. They'll stand, people will line up to the government all day long for the government to feed you. But the government does not care about feeding you, providing for you, it wants to control you. And we see this here, even in Scripture going back to Saul, Saul says when the king comes in, he's going to take your sons and your daughters, he's going to require a tenth, he's going to take your boys and your servants, he'll take all these things because that's what a tyrant does. And the way to prevent that is to be a virtuous people, is to be a character. People of character, we operate, not just boat, but operate in that way. You see, sin works the same way in our lives, just like this trap they set for the pigs. Sin works the same way in our lives, right? Sin feeds us, makes us happy, controls us, tells us we are, somebody when we're not, tells us lies, and we buy into the lie of sin until eventually, "Pah, it's got you." This is not a new thing, it's not a new principle. Satan has been doing this all along, in fact, if you look at America, we are in no difference of a shape than a previous civilization, going all the way back to the Mesopotamia area when Israel was sacrificing their babies and putting their babies in the fire and sacrificing them to molding all the way back to then, to the time of the Greek and the Roman era. We're doing the same things, you know why we're doing the same things? Satan understands how to manipulate humanity, and the only reason why we're not as bad as they are is because there was a generation before us that went before us with character. There is the principle of family fortune, that's what they say is this, is that when a family has fortune, the first generation generates, the second generation speculates and the third generation dissipates. That's where we're at right now, we're in that third generation and we're dissipating everything our forefathers generated in their character, and so the question relies on us right now, what are we going to do, are we going to allow history to repeat itself? Are we going to prolong it, are we going to overcome it, are we going to endure it until Christ comes, ask Adam, who lacked the strength of character to say no and put us all in bondage, ask Samson, who lacked the character and responsibility that led to his change and ask Israel, who plundered by, who was plundered by the enemies and sold into slavery because everyone did what was right in their own eyes, every time we allow something to feed us and provide for us, there's always a trap on the other end. Where people had the kind of government they deserve, a responsible government requires a responsible people. Lastly, as the worship team comes up, even though Adam and Samson and Israel's demise was evident, I want you to know that God is still faithful, I still will not choose another country in this world than America. She is the best by far, the best country in the world, amen. And I'm not so much slamming America, as I am really looking at the church and saying church, we got to be better. We got to be better. Before we look at politics, before we look at policies, before we look at any of those things, we must understand that we vote every day, we live our life. And if we are living as if none of these things matter, then why are we upset when our vote says, hey, we want you to act like we don't act. We want you to embrace the values that we don't embrace every day of our life. It's important for us to understand, but thankfully God is still the hope of America. And for going to operate by a document written by a people of character, for a people of character, we must be a people of character. Jesus said, Matthew 5, 13, you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. Matthew 5, 14 says, you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. You don't need a majority to change the nation because you don't put a majority of salt on your steak, but it does change. You don't have to have all the light that's on in the room. You just have to have enough light on to change the room. And can I tell you that there are enough people here today right now to change Harrison Arkansas? There is enough. There is enough. So the question is this, is if there is enough of us to change this city, why has it not been changed? Why do we still have homeless abounding? Why do we allow the spirit of abuse, the spirit of substance abuse, the spirit of greed, spirituality, or we allow those things to exist and I can tell you why the church is the reason why is because we don't operate like we're from another kingdom. We're trying to adapt our citizenship from heaven to live within this kingdom. That won't work. If we truly want things to change, then change what you can change. Change what you can change, change yourself, change your family, change your marriage, change your church, change your school, change your city, change what you can change because whoever has been given little, right, whoever has been faithful and little, we faithful much, God knows that as He trusts us more, as we walk more responsibly, as we walk in more liberty, He'll give us more authority to declare to the schools, to declare to the government, to declare to the crime, to declare to those things that would speak against the church, you don't have the authority to speak to me. You don't have the authority to take my liberties away from me. You don't have the authority to deny me of my responsibility. We're going to walk out as a people of God. We are the salt of the who, the church. No, we're not the salt of the church, the earth, but somehow the enemy has coerced us to think that it's okay to talk about politics so long as it's in the living room. I'll tell you next week, we're going to talk about how silence equals consent next week. We're going to talk about how we have the right to be heard and that we ought to be heard and that it is your Christian privilege and duty to be heard. Nobody will change this nation like you. Nobody carries the power like you. Nobody carries the authority like you and nobody carries the responsibility like you. It is our responsibility. You are the salt of the earth, not the church. You are the light of the world, not the church. Our job is to go and to proclaim the gospel. Our job is to go and make disciples. And we don't do that by getting together and have a kumbaya woman on Sunday mornings. We got to get out and declare to the world who we are, most importantly who we is. The power of 29 and 2 says this, when the righteous increase, the people rejoice. But when the wicked rule, the people groan. When the righteous increase, people rejoice. But when the wicked rule, the people groan. I want to just take some time to pray this morning, I want to open these altars up. And how ever you pray, you can come to the front or you can come down to the stage or you can do it in your seat. But if you don't feel the prompt to pray, then just remember what the Lord told me. Shut up. Don't complain because there is life and death in your tongue. Instead of speaking death to a nation and death to a people and death to a church, speak life. Speak life. Pray. Oh, God, remember us. Oh, God, know us. Oh, God, hear us. Oh, God, hear our voice as we call upon your name, as we intercede for you. Oh, God, you said that the prayers of the righteous are very much. Oh, God, inspect me. If I'm not righteous. Oh, God, help me to repent. Help me to be forgiven by you. Help me to walk in righteousness, God. Make Scott Brennan Hall impurely before you, God. Show every sin I got, every imperfection I got, every time I talk to somebody or belittle them. God, show me how I'm not like you. And then when I'm like you, God, make my prayers for my people, make prayers for my country, make prayers for my church, prayers for my city, prayers for my family, make those prayers avail much in the heavens. That's how we pray. And if we're not there yet, I pray God would sensitize your heart and remind you who you are. If you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light that you might proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you. That's who you are. Don't forget who you are. Stand with me. Father, I pray in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Come before you, Lord, right now, God, God, I ask for repentance, Lord, I just ask that you would forgive me, God, I'm sorry, God, for those times, Lord, my mouth was loose, my mouth was irresponsible, God, my mouth was critical, God, I spoke death, Lord. Forgive me, God, forgive me, God, I call upon the blood of Jesus, Lord, to wash over me and cleanse me and make me whole, Lord, bring the cold, God, present to my lips that my life, Lord, and my words, and my works, God, might be a testimony of your love and your worship, Lord, to you who you deserve to have, God, I pray, Lord, this morning, God, make us a people like you, make us a people, God, who submits to you, who surrender to you. I say, change this nation, God, we're not the hope, but you're the hope, you're the hope. And I pray, God, before you lead us and teach us God to do anything externally, God, I pray you would do all the work internally. One of these days, God, you'll not stand before you, God, and say how he voted or how he didn't vote. God will stand before you, God with a life, a life that says we served you and we didn't, and I pray, God, today, Lord, you would search my heart, God, oh, God, you know, Scott Brandon, you know me, Lord, and you know, God, where I fail, God, you know where I lack, God, you know my inconsistencies, God, you know, God, where I promise that I couldn't follow through with you, Lord, you know all those things, and I pray, God, you would change my heart, God, because I want my prayers to avail us much, because I want to be able to pray and know that the people I'm praying for, the city I'm praying for, and the church I'm praying for, and the wife I'm praying for, and the kids I'm praying for, I want to know my prayers matter, God, so I pray, Lord, today, Lord, help me, Lord, to lead, help me Lord, to lead the things you've placed in my hands, God, repent before you, O great King, we need no one else but you, no one else we desire but you, that I pray, God, you would make me assault, you'd make me light, Lord, that my life would bring preservation, Lord, my life would bring light, God, to a dark world, Lord, I pray, give me words of life, Lord, let me speak life, God, Lord, instill in my heart, God, your words just from the abundance of my heart, Lord, my mouth speaks, oh, God, fill me with joy, fill me with hope, fill me with love and life and encouragement, God, fill me with those things so that a world who is lost and dying, God will know where the source of love and the source of life is, I pray, God, today, that you would lead me, pray, God, today, that you would change me, renew me, transform me, God, in a month when I vote, Lord, it won't be a badge of righteousness, I pray in my life, Lord, say that before I get there, pray you would give me wisdom, God, to know how to choose, but God, what I need right now is wisdom, God, to know how to live, and I pray if you would do that, God, then the rest, Lord, is whatever you desire, God, you ordain governments, Lord, and so I pray, God, that I change what I can change right now, pray it in Jesus, pray it in Jesus, just find a few moments and just talk to the Lord by yourself. (gentle music)