LibertyChurch

Sermons

March 13, 2016

Guard your heart

Dr. David J. Vaughan

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

A Testimony from the Mission Field

This past year we’ve sent out a lot of missionaries to different places. We’ve sent people to Belize. We sent someone to Cambodia. We sent someone to Rwanda. And recently we had someone go to India. And we want to hear from them. So give it up for Josh as he comes to share about his trip to India. Thanks. Oh man, is anyone else struggling today with the daylight savings time change? I am. Man, that’s rough. So I’m Joshua Harum. Some of you might just know me as Hannah’s boyfriend. So in case that’s all you know about me, I’m going to get to share a little bit more today. And I don’t have much time, but I’ve spent the last five years in mission basically and really pursuing a lifestyle of missions and no matter where I’m at I want to reach them and pray for them, and so that ended me up living in India for over a year living in Germany for over a year at a YWAM base youth with a mission if you know that organization and then in in China, west of Shanghai, for about 10 months. And so I’ve traveled to many other countries on short-term trips, but those were the three that God really landed me for a long time, and then now in the US for the past year. But I’m excited to share. I mean, I’ve met all sorts of missionaries in these last five years, and just been thinking more and more about what it is to be a missionary. And, uh, I’ve kind of just boiled it down to what the apostles said. You know, we must dedicate ourselves to the, to the ministry of the word and to the ministry of prayer. And so that’s what I do. No matter if I’m using my photography or whatever your tool is, maybe you love children’s ministry, maybe you love, um, you know, or working in orphanages or building houses, I think if you want to call yourself a missionary, you need to be dedicated to those two things while you’re serving in that country. Praying for the people and sharing the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so that’s what I’ve tried to be faithful with on this journey in missions. And so I’m not going to share, like, my old testimony, but there was, there is one thing that, especially with the scripture that Mike shared this morning that reminded me of something and that’s about this small community in Germany. Maybe you’ve heard of it but it’s called Herrnhut. It’s a town planted by a man named Count Zinzendorf in 1700 and he was a count so he’s a very rich man. He should have been working in the government but God got him at a young age and he said when he saw a painting of Christ on the cross and in Dresden, Germany, he was in this museum, he saw the painting and it said, I did this for you, what will you do for me underneath the painting? And he just was struck in his heart and he decided, no, even though I’m a count, I’m going to give my life to the ministry and I’m going to serve man and God. And that ended him up buying land for these refugees, persecuted Christians in Moravia that were fleeing to Germany. And he bought this land and he started this little town called Herrnhut, which means the house of the Lord, or something like that. But in this town of Herrnhut, they experienced revival. And I’m just so excited to see what God’s doing here in Liberty and just the move of the spirit and what happened last week, just people getting ministered to, you know, hearts opening up to the working of God’s spirit. And so that’s what happened in 1727 in this little town in Herrnhut with, I think only about 400 people living in there. But it sparked that one fateful day in the church sparked 100 years of unbroken prayer. They literally had, they started their own thing where two people prayed every hour of every day. So there would be like 24, I guess 48 people praying, you know, in the middle of the night and throughout the day, people for every hour, and that lasted for over a hundred years and from this prayer meeting that never broke from generation to generation they passed it on came modern missions movement and people were selling themselves into slavery to reach the Caribbean islands and they shouted back on the ship, may the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering. Kind of goes with the scripture Mike shared. [audio unclear] And the reason why I share this is because this is the town that I was born again and this is the town that I gave my life to Jesus in 2010, Herrnhut, Germany, at a YWAM base there.

And I just love that story, you know, that these people were selling themselves into slavery. Like, they literally were giving up their lives. Sometimes they would pack their belongings in a coffin and just leave for the mission field. And I just don’t see that much dedication anymore. And I really want to be dedicated like that. And so about this last trip that I took, it was six weeks in Bangladesh and India, three weeks in each. I started planning ahead in about November, writing another missionary that I’ve been friends with for many years, who we did ministry in Northeast India before. And so we planned this whole trip and a couple other contacts in different parts of India and Bangladesh. And I planned this whole trip out and I was preaching here and meeting, you know, different people here and going to different villages to pray and again share with the same people.

I lived in Northeast India when I lived there for a year and so I learned the language Hindi. When I’m in that area, I can share my testimony, I can talk to people and it’s really great, but when I’m in Bangladesh, I can’t talk to anyone. I’m in Northeast India where they speak different tribal languages. I can’t talk to anyone, but my friend was a Bangladeshi guy and he speaks the tribal language and Bangla. So we planned the whole trip out and things just didn’t go as planned. Let’s just put it that way. And you know, I’m not going to try to just paint you a perfect picture because Paul didn’t do that. You know, when he writes, we see he got shipwrecked. People gave money to Paul to do missions, right? Different churches he spoke at gave him money, and they didn’t know that he was going to be shipwrecked ahead of time. Sometimes that happens to modern missions too, even though we’re flying on airplanes. There’s other things that can happen. That’s what happened to me. In the first week, I went back to a place in Bangladesh with my friend Mark, who has many awesome ministries there. He started a girls’ hostel for girls from the village where they don’t have school, like any good schools, so that they can live in the city and go to school and get educated. So he started that. He started that school and he has about 14 girls living there and going to school. And then he also has a church. He has a grocery store to become very self-sustained so they don’t need a lot of support from overseas. And so I went there to shoot a video of all that he’s doing so that he can raise more support. And so that’s kind of what I was doing the first week was going, meeting up with his different team members. He has like 10 team members and getting to pray with them getting to just encourage them and and also shoot that video Well the second week I was supposed to meet a friend in India I bought two flights and the night before my flights my Passport with my debit card falls out of my pocket on the road and now I am identification-less and money-less. So you can just imagine what was going through my head. And it fell out on a road. In America, we have clean roads. You can go back, you can find it. You’ll see it very clearly. But there, it’s probably a pile of dust already covered it up. So I searched and searched, but I couldn’t find it. And man, I was in real turmoil because I had flights the next day. And so I rushed to the embassy. I take an overnight bus, I rush to the embassy, and I get an emergency passport. I find out that I probably don’t have, I don’t have an Indian visa anyways, so I can’t move on in my journey. So now I’m stuck. In the capital city of Dhaka, and just in a really bad place. And just questioning, you know, why did I come all the way across the world? You know, you know my heart, God. I wanna reach these people. I wanna be a blessing. I want to be a vessel of your glory. I want to be an ambassador of Christ, but now here I am. I’m stuck in a nation, I don’t know the language, and I don’t have contacts in this city. And, but God taught me so much through that. And I’m really, I’m thankful for it now, even though that week was like really hard. But, you know, I just, he ended up speaking to me about it, about how like the disciples were on the boat And when the storm came, they were overcome with the storm. But Jesus was like, why are you so fearful? Why are you, what’s with this unbelief? And he just rebukes the storm. And I saw that faith in a lot of people. And if you prayed for me in that time, thank you very much because Hannah was telling everybody to pray for me. And it turns out a man found my passport and my wallet and sent it to me in the capital city by a courier. And it’s just a miracle. I mean, a street laborer found my stuff and then found a card of mine, wrote me an email asking if I had a missing passport and sent it to me. It’s just crazy. And so then, but I had already missed a lot of my ministry. I went on and continued my journey to the other locations I meant to go to. And the week after that, I had a really great time back in the city where I lived, just meeting up with old missionaries, leading worship, praying with them, going in the villages that I went to before. I think it was my third time to some of these villages that are all Hindus, and just getting to share with them the Word of God and eat dinner with them and stuff like that. So then I went from there to Northeast India to a village that’s been Christian about 70, almost-70 years from New Zealand missionaries. And there I was able to preach at a youth conference with a translator, of course, but, and at a women’s fellowship. And the women’s fellowship is probably the testimony that I have time to share. There’s many other cool things God did, but, so they asked me to speak at the women’s fellowship And it was a pretty big church, like, you know, maybe 50 women or a hundred women there. And I was like, when am I gonna share with these women? You know, it’s like, I’ve never done this before, but Lord, I know you have something, you know. I know that you can speak through me. And so I planned a whole sermon out, you know, in prayer and reading. And then when I got there, God was like, no, actually, you’re gonna preach something totally different. And so I preached on like just, I shared stories from my mom and how like, just seeing her life and seeing her like, you know, in the mornings, like reading the Bible to me before school and when I came home, she’d be in prayer and different things like that. And just how the role of a mother, the role of a woman is one of the most crucial roles because usually, you know, the father, at least my father was always at work when I got home from school, because I got home at three and my father got home at five. And he, and you know, then he’s tired because he’s been working all day. And, but my mom was always there and she sets an example for like what a devoted life is like. And so I really encourage these women. And also, I also challenge them to live an example for their children of setting a lifestyle of like full devotion to Jesus. And if you haven’t, then to repent and to really encourage your children to go deeper with the Lord. And man, at the end of the service, we had a prayer time and some of the women were just like weeping and really like crying out because they realized that a lot of their kids weren’t in church. A lot of their kids weren’t, you know, walking with the Lord and they could really see the correlation with how they hadn’t been living a lifestyle of devotion to Jesus. So that was probably my favorite take away from the trip. Just seeing these women really get, you know, changed by God’s presence and God’s spirit and hopefully, you know, they’re going to live more devoted and raise their kids godly. So that’s a little bit about my trip and a little bit about myself. So that’s all I have to share. Thanks. That was good. Amen.

Amen.

God is good. Amen.

The Hearts of God’s People

Appreciate the worship today. Appreciate Josh’s sharing. Open your Bibles, if you would. We’re going to look at a lot of scripture. Is that okay? Do you like the Bible? Okay, good. Then you’ll appreciate the word today because we are going to look at a lot of scripture. I want to open with two passages on prayer, 2 Chronicles 7 is one of them. Y’all there? You know, when you use your phone for a Bible, I can’t hear the pages moving. So I don’t know if you’re there or not. Maybe they ought to make like a page noise. They have a page noise. I’ll have my son, Ethan, take care of that, at Apple. Second Chronicles, chapter 7, says, then the Lord appeared to Solomon. Oh, did I tell you what verse? Just making sure you’re paying attention. Verse 12. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.” Now he’s talking about the temple. When I shut up heaven and there’s no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from the [audio unclear] quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the truth. [audio unclear] of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. We’re going to come back to the passage in Chronicles in a bit, but I wanted to—usually, let me just say this, usually when our country is heading into a major election, I usually give what I call an election day sermon because our country has a long history of this. if you go back and read about the founding, or even before the country was officially founded, it was very common for pastors to address the public on the occasions, especially local, I mean, nationally, even local elections. But this is not my election sermon. This is my pre-election sermon. And I’m not going to be talking about politics per se. I want to talk about something more important than politics. Can you believe something more important than politics? And what I want to talk about is the Church of Jesus Christ. More importantly, I want to talk this morning about the hearts of God’s people as they interact in the political realm. When we look at the scene today we see a divided, a radically divided country. We’re divided by race, we’re divided by wealth, we’re divided by religion, we’re divided by politics. We are divided, and people are angry. This is obvious. And when people are angry they say mean things.

So we’re now in an atmosphere of anger, we are in an atmosphere of reviling and condemning and really of self-righteousness and judgment, and it does not bode well for the country. It seems to be getting worse and worse. And as I was meditating on scripture, I noticed Paul says here in 1 Timothy that we are to pray for kings. Well, you know, today we’d say politicians or leaders, political leaders. And all those in authority, but he says for this reason that we, the church, may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in other words. What do we see? We see judgment and self-righteousness. Is that what we are to see in the hearts of God’s

God. And Jesus said that although we are in the world, we are not to be of the world.

And he even prayed in that same prayer in John 17 that the Father would keep us while we are in the world. That He would guard us. So we would not be like the world. He prayed to the Father. Father sanctify them with thy truth and thy word is truth. Thy word is truth.

The word of God is to guard and keep us from being conformed to the world in any, in every respect. But this morning I want to reference the fact that I believe, unfortunately, the world is being tainted, excuse me, the church is being tainted with the spirit of the world in this area of politics. We are to not be like the world because we are not of the world. The Word of God says that we are called to be a unique people. The old King James, I love it, it’s peculiar. We’re a peculiar people, and some—and they are. We all are. We are called to be different people. So when people see us, they notice that we are different. We are called to a quiet and peaceable life. So this morning I want to mention three things that we are to avoid in our political involvement.

Put Off Anger and Love

The first is we are to put off anger and we are to love. [audio unclear] I really just want you to interact. So, you know. So, don’t doze. Hear me? No, not really. 5:21, you’ve heard that it was said to those of old, ’You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Same chapter, verse 38. You’ve heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. [audio unclear] This section, chapter 5 of the Sermon on the Mount, repeatedly Jesus says you’ve heard this. Meaning this is what the Jews were teaching their people and they were teaching them to hate people. Love your neighbor, which is a fellow Jew, if he is converted, but don’t love the Samaritans, don’t love the Gentiles, love your neighbor. So they took the word neighbor and shrunk it down to basically love, love those who are like you and who agree with you. Other people, it’s okay to hate. And I’ve read numerous quotes by rabbis; we did, in fact they did teach this. We could translate it, love Republicans but not Democrats. Well, Jesus says no. Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you and do good to those who hate you, and and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? [audio unclear] If you love people who are like you, you’re not doing anything different than a natural man does. Because the natural man wants people to agree, the natural man likes those who are like him. In other words, the natural man likes those who agree. The test then of love becomes will you like, or should I say, love someone with whom you disagree, or disagrees with you. He goes on to say, therefore, you shall be perfect, or mature as your Father in heaven is perfect. I’ll look at Romans chapter 13. I’m going to try to limit my comments and just read.

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed of God, or by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority, resist the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on those who practice evil. Therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due. Taxes to whom, taxes are due. Customs to customs, fear to whom, fear honor to whom, honor. And notice the very next verse, what does he say? Owe no one anything except to love one another.

For he who loves another fulfills the law. So Paul talks, here he is talking about our attitude to our political authorities, and then immediately talks on love. Because our attitude is to be one of love versus this attitude of hostility and an attitude of anger. Look at Ephesians chapter 4, in verse 26. Paul says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Should we never be angry? No, of course not. But don’t nurture that thing. Don’t allow it to fester. Don’t allow it to grow. So he says, don’t let the sun go down on your wrath; it’s a proverbial expression, meaning deal with your anger right away. And don’t let it fester in your heart. Because otherwise you end up giving place to the devil. The devil loves anger. He loves hatred. He loves all of the dark emotions. Okay? Then he says, Let no corrupt word come out of your mouth, verse 29. Verse 30, do not grieve the Spirit of God by whom you’re sealed to the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, his dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. Ah, Colossians—no, go to Philippians. This is a great verse, Philippians 1. Great passage. Paul’s praying for the church in chapter 1, in verse 9, and this I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and all discernment. But this is really interesting, because what Paul is really saying, or at least implying, is that if you’re going to be able to discern things properly, you have to have the right motive or the right heart. In other words, discernment is not just a matter of the mind, it’s also a matter of the heart, you see? And when our attitude is not one of love, but one of anger and one of judgment, We don’t see things clearly. Now we think we do, right? When you’re arguing with somebody, you think you’re right. But Paul says if we’re not walking in love, abounding in love, we’re not able to truly discern things as they are because our anger distorts our perspective. That’s why he said in verse 10, that you may approve the things that are excellent. Colossians 3, and by the way, we’re only looking at a few of the many, many scriptures that talk about this. Colossians 3, verse 8. But now you yourselves are to put off all of these. In other words, we’re not to be like this: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, which blasphemy here is not cursing God, but probably cursing man. Filthy language out of your mouth. Verse 12, therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved put on this, or these, tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, etc. etc. Then he says the bond of perfection is love. One more passage. Many are written down but we don’t have time. James chapter 1 and verse 19, it says, so then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath [audio unclear] activities by hate. I’m really motivated by love, love for my country. I would love to see Christians get as—I wish that I would see them love the kingdom of God as much as they love the kingdom of man. If [audio unclear] their wealth, their station, whether Jew or Gentile, whether black or white, a Republican or Democrat. And I know this is difficult for some of you to hear, but God loves people that don’t agree with you.

And it’s difficult, this may be for us to do, God calls us to love those very same people. God calls us to love people that don’t agree with [audio unclear] Hatred will never defeat hatred. Anger will never conquer anger. Only love, and I mean the love of God, only divine love can overcome human hate.

Bless and Do Not Curse

So we are not to be a people who are motivated by anger and hatred. Or are we to be a people that are motivated, or should I say that as a result of that, proceed then to judge and curse others rather than bless them? As Christians we are called to bless, we are not called to condemn or revile or curse. Romans 12 again. Paul says in verse 14 of chapter 12, bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. He says in verse 17, repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, the vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink. For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. In Titus chapter 3, Paul again addresses our attitude toward those in authority. And this is what he says. Titus: for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special, unique, different people who are zealous for good works. Then in chapter 3 he says, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one. To speak evil of no one. Now I want you to understand I’ve studied this in the Greek, there’s no exception clause, there’s no footnote that says if someone’s a public figure you can speak evil of them. There’s no clause that says if they’re a politician we can speak evil of them. Speak evil of no one. To be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. Luke 6, I’m gonna skip some passages because of time. Luke 6 verse 27 Jesus says, but I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you and bless those who curse you. In other words, when someone curses you, don’t curse them back. When someone reviles you, don’t respond and revile back, but rather return blessing for cursing. Jesus also said, Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And James said, out of the same mouth proceeds cursing and blessing, my brethren, this ought not to be. Why? Because James says, because all men are created in the image of God. So we are called to love, even our enemies, even our political enemies. We are called not to revile or curse them according to the word.

An Uncritical Temper

Now this spirit of anger and this spirit of damning others is unfortunately the fruit of pride. It’s born of thinking that we are better than others. The person who condemns others claims to know. [audio unclear] And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can, you say to your brother, brother, let me remove the speck in the eye eye, when, you yourselves- [audio unclear] a well-known devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. Jesus says regarding judging, don’t. The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual. Now, criticism is a part of the ordinary faculty of man, but in the spiritual domain, nothing is accomplished by criticism. And I love this. The Holy Ghost, we call him the Holy Spirit, but like the Holy Ghost, you know what I mean? When revival comes, then you call him the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the only one in the true position to criticize because He alone is able to show what is wrong without wounding. It is impossible. Now this is my heart here, right here. This is what motivated today’s—I mean, the Lord, I had a whole different message prepared until about nine o’clock last night. And I really believe the Lord wants us to hear this, and this is why. Listen. It is impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper.

It makes you hard and vindictive and cruel and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person. Jesus says as a disciple cultivate as a disciple cultivate the uncritical temper. Beware of anything that puts you in in the superior person’s place. I mean, this is the thing that concerns me. Yes, I’m concerned for the country, but I’m more concerned for God’s church. That as we engage in the political realm, that we get tainted by it, and our hearts get hardened. That we enter into the wrong spirit that we’re seeing in the world. And when we do that, what happens is we, not only are we a bad witness, we lose our communion with God. Self-righteousness strikes at the very heart of the Gospel, because the Gospel says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Not, ’all the politicians have sinned, but I’m righteous.’ But we have all fallen short. The Gospel says that all men stand guilty before God.

Paul says that we have nothing to boast of except Jesus Christ.

Boast in the Lord

Look at 1 Corinthians 1. I’m almost done, hang on. Getting a lot of Scripture anyway. 1:26, Paul says this: For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world. Now Paul is so smart. Because a lot of these people are really proud. They were proud of their gifts and they were proud of their tongue talking and they were proud of all. And so what does Paul say? He’s really, you’re not so wise because God doesn’t call wise-people. You’re not so mighty. [audio unclear] to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen, [audio unclear] no self-righteousness will stand before Him. Verse 30, but of Him, you, meaning the true church, the believers, of Him, you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God. Do you think you’re wise? If you have any wisdom, we got it from the Lord. That’s what he’s saying. And righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Are you living right? Well that is a gift from the Lord. You have knowledge it is a gift from the Lord. Are you walking in holiness? It’s a gift from the Lord. It’s all from the Lord. So how can we boast? How can we say, well we’re better than those people when what we have is a gift. And the only way you get the gift is to acknowledge you’re not worthy of the gift.

Verse 31, that as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Let us boast in the Lord. Amen.

Not in ourselves, not in our parties, not in our candidates, let us boast in the Lord.

Pray in the Right Spirit

I believe in conclusion, if we wish to see change in our nation, then we must be a people of prayer. But not just prayer, but humble and repentant prayer. Luke 18, Jesus taught us about prayer. In Luke 18 he taught us about perseverance. He taught us about faith in prayer. But then he taught us a very, very important lesson about the proper spirit of prayer in Luke 18, verse nine. Now he’d already taught about the parable of the widow and perseverance and the unjust judge and all that. And he says we should pray always. Men ought to always pray and not give up basically. But then he says in verse 9, he gives another parable about prayer. He spoke a parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Now these two things always go together. It’s the self-righteous person who’s looking down and despising other people. Verse 10, two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. And the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Now notice Jesus doesn’t say he prayed with God, because his attitude had cut off his communion with God. He still prayed, but he was really talking to himself. He prayed with himself. I thank you [audio unclear] extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. Listen, listen. I know we’re going long, but we’ve got to listen. Right at the moment he’s praying really to himself, but he thinks he- he’s praying to God. Right at that moment he’s looking over here and he’s despising and judging somebody. So you talk about a prayer that is so contrary to prayer and communion with God, yet in the very act of prayer, he’s judging others. I fast twice. I give tithes of all that I possess.

Now Jesus says the tax collector on the other hand, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus says, I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. The humble man, that repentant man, not the self-righteous man, not the critical and condemning man. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. You know, the church in America has been praying for revival and social transformation for decades. Yet what have we seen? We pray against abortion, Yet we still have nearly a million a year in America. We pray against pornography or perversity, yet we get the cesspool of the internet. We pray for justice, yet we get racial oppression. We pray for biblical morality, yet we get gay marriage. The question I believe the church has to ask herself, and each one of us need to ask ourselves, is why are these prayers not getting answered? Why, in spite of all the prayers, all the national day prayers, all the election day prayers, all of the special prayer meetings that happen in churches around this country, why is it that no matter how much the church seems to pray, things seem to get worse?

Is it possible that the reason is, is that the church is not praying in the right spirit?

Let’s go back to 2 Chronicles where we started and then we’ll close.

Second Chronicles 7, verse 14 is a favorite verse that is used on the National Day of prayer and other important times in the political life of our nation. Yet [audio unclear] “and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Now some Christians say this passage isn’t even relevant because it’s an Old Testament promise. It’s not relevant to the church. I’m not sure I agree, but my point is, the point to be made about this text is this, that this is an appeal not to pray for one’s nation.

This is an appeal to pray for God’s people. This is an appeal for God’s people to repent of their sins, to humble themselves before God. I’m not called to repent for Obama’s sins. I’m not called to repent for Ted Cruz’s sins. I’m not, and I can list every candidate and every politician in Washington or Jefferson City, I am called to repent for my sins, my sins. And when the people of God stand before God and say God heal the abortion in our country, Lord take away the sin in our nation. God preserved traditional marriage in our nation, while in the Church of Jesus Christ, women are sleeping around, men are sleeping around, people are looking at pornography, Christians are getting abortions, and on and on and on and on, we are hypocrites. We cannot stand before God and denounce the sins of our nation if we do not first condemn our own. God will not hear that prayer. We might as well pray to ourselves like the Pharisee because we are praying just like him. For us to stand before God and to condemn other men and women in a spirit of self-righteousness will lead to an ongoing deterioration of this nation. It will not do any good. God’s people are called to repent of their sins, to turn from their wicked ways, to humble themselves before God, to seek God. And the question I have, humbling themselves, seeking God, turning from their wicked ways. Does this describe the church in America? Can we honestly say from what we know of the Evangelical Church in America that these are the characteristics of the Church in America. That the Church in America is a humble people. That the Church in America is seeking God’s face. That the Church in America is a repentant people who turn away from wickedness? Does this describe Liberty Church? Are we a people that humble ourselves? Do we seek God’s face? This isn’t reading your Bible once or twice a month. Seeking God’s face, seeking personal intimacy with God, turning from our sins, repenting our sins. Does this describe Liberty Church? Does this describe you? Does this describe me? Now don’t get the wrong impression and think that I don’t believe that politics is important. I have a master’s degree in political science. I’ve written two full-length books on political leaders. I think politics is very important, but it’s not the most important. And if we’re going to navigate, if we’re going to navigate this, the political arena, especially in troubled times that we are in, we must do so in the right spirit. You can all clap if you want. Oh, nobody agrees? That’s okay. [audio unclear]

Guard Your Heart

I guess in conclusion I want to say this: Guard your heart, for out of it are the issues of life.

Measure yourself, not by what’s happening in the world. Measure yourself by the plumb line of God’s word. And if the word of God tells me not to indulge in anger, then that might mean I have to turn the television off. I’m just not going to watch that debate anymore. I’m going to watch the hockey game. And if I get mad at the other team that’s playing against the Blues, I’ll change the channel again. I’m not going to indulge that spirit. Say, Amen.

I’m not going to indulge anger. I’m not going there. It’s seductive. Let me tell you, when political stuff, I’m like, and I’m like Jesus saved me from me. Saved me from being seduced by that and sucked into that and thinking that more hate and more anger will conquer anger anger. That doesn’t work that way. Not in the kingdom of God. You know, I love our nation because of its rich heritage. I don’t love a lot that I see going on today. It’s very disturbing. But I love God more. And we need to recognize the supremacy of Jesus Christ over the nations. And we need to get our priorities right. and we need to guard our hearts, okay? I understand you got your favorite guy or gal running. You have your favorite party. You got your favorite things. You know, you can have civil discussions with people, but I’m giving you a warning from the Lord. Do not be seduced by the dark side.

You know, I’ve told this story before, but when Rwanda went through the terrible genocide that went through, nearly a million people were murdered in a few months. I mean, can you imagine the bodies, the bloodshed, bloodshed, the stench? I interviewed a gentleman who wrote a book about forgiveness who was from Rwanda, and he had lost five family members in the genocide. And he told me something that was very shocking, because I have distorted images of things, you know, about, and he said, you know, the warfare in Rwanda was tribal.

You had different warring factions of tribes who had long histories, I mean, long histories. He said, but what many people in the West don’t know, is that many people in both tribes that were warring were professing Christians. I was [audio unclear] politics. So how do we look at a brother who’s going to vote for somebody we don’t agree with? Are we going to love them or not? Is our unity in Jesus Christ greater than our political affiliation. Guard your hearts my friend. Guard your hearts.

Closing Prayer

Lord I thank you for your word. I thank you that we are so so lost without your word. I thank you that it’s true, that it’s right that it’s just. I thank you for the light you give us in darkness. I thank you that that those of us here that know you truly know you. Lord you didn’t save us because we’re worthy. We are unworthy of anything. Everything we have is a gift of Your grace. Lord, I pray that you keep us a loving people who bless others, even our enemies. [audio unclear] That we would be humble people and not self-righteous. God, we actually can’t do this apart from you. I can’t love my enemies. I can hardly love my friends. Because I’m selfish by nature. I’m proud by nature. So God, I need your grace. We need your grace. We want to be different. We want to be unique. Because we’re your people. Make us so, Lord, through Your Word and Your Spirit. And do so, Lord, for your honor and for the benefit and blessing of your church.

I pray in your name. Amen.

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