I have taken this title from a time in History where one person made a difference in her entire world. Her name was Esther, while her situation did not seem like it was God at the time, it certainly was, but she had to choose if she was going to follow God or not. This election you will do the same if you understand voting Biblically.
Esther 4:14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
She made the right choice and she and her entire nation where spared from extinction.
Now it is our time to stand up and make a difference, we were created for such a time as this. God knew we would be facing this time and he will give us the wisdom to make the right choices, if we are willing.
Today I am going to present two sermons in one but both fit under now is the time.
I recently read an article by a group calling themselves Pro-Life evangelicals for —–.
Their argument is this that while they recognize the importance of the pro life stance in order to be truly pro-life you must also stand for the impoverished, those with health care risks, climate change, and smoking are all threatening lives every day and their issue is that they believe the these issues to be on the same level as the life of a child….there is an ethical problem as well as a Biblical one with that view in that poverty, climate change, health care disparity certain do cause problems and may lead to death of some, every abortion leads to the intentional death of a human being.
Just as a reminder let me walk through something with you this morning (very quickly) if you need more information go onto our website and look up a sermon I did in 2017 called “Please don’t ask me about abortion”
Please allow me to remind you of this scripture first
Psalm 139: 13-16
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born
January 1—On the very day of conception, all forty-six chromosomes are present, so a human life has already begun. This is a unique human being, with a unique genetic makeup, who can never be reproduced or replaced. (Day 1)
February 4—In the fifth week, which is around the time many mothers confirm that they are pregnant, the child’s eyes, legs, and hands begin to develop. (Day 35 5 weeks)
February 14—By Valentine’s Day, which is merely the sixth week after conception, the child’s brain waves, which have already been active for some time, are now detectable. (Day 42 6 weeks)
Late February—Just under two months into the pregnancy, every organ in the child’s body is in place, the bones are taking shape, and fingerprints have already begun to form. (Day 56 8 weeks)
So if we are being asked why can’t you just leave me alone to make choices for my own body the problem is, as we can see that it is not your own body you are making choices for but a completely unique human being
If this is not a child then what is it…terms are used like conception material, uterine contents, birth matter, tissue mass. These are all deceptive euphemisms for a human child.
As the world famous French geneticist Jerome Lejeune (photo)put it years ago when he testified at the United States congressional hearings,
“To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion. . . . The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence.”
My stance against abortion isn’t because I am against the right of a woman to choose what is right for her own body but instead about the right of a separate human being who can not defend themselves to have someone who speaks up for them. It is about the right of 50% of the unborn women to have the right to be born.
Proverbs 31:8
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.
If someone took a baby and either chemically burned them to death, cut them apart into pieces, poisoned the baby, or stuck a pair of scissors into the back of its head and removed the brain they would be sent to prison for murder but as long as that child is in the womb all of these things are permitted and promoted in our nation. These are each ways in which abortions are performed every day in the US.
3000/day
58 million since 1973 Roe v Wade
For a person, pastor, Christian, politician or whomever to say they are against abortion but would not stand against it, is to be double minded and the scripture is very clear about that…
James presents the argument that if someone needs wisdom to ask the Lord and have faith but if you are saying you are living one way but act another you are…
James 1:8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
You can not say you are for God and for abortion or racism, or not caring for the poor these things make you double minded
Please allow me to make this connection if you have a point of view that places no value on life and finds it easy and expedient to murder the innocent and unborn then it too is easy to devalue and dispose of the elderly, those of different races, different religions, those who were considered less desirable in society, and the list goes on. This is what Hitler lead his Nazi party to do. You would know and understand this if our schools and colleges taught real History
Ladies and gentlemen life is life and I am willing to bet that the majority of Christ-followers who are willing to vote for a pro-abortion candidate have never made the connection but when you have Governors placing the welfare of our elderly at jeopardy. With this virus we seen the mentality of the pro-abortion mind set…it wasn’t even a thought except expedience.
I know Christ-followers who have taken this stance haven’t thought it through but we must love God with our intellect as well as feelings and care for the “least of these” and really process what a pro-abortion stance mean… Please understand if you had an abortion, it is not the unforgivable sin, your baby is in the arms of Jesus and if you ask for forgiveness you will be forgiven….God really loves you….if you have promoted abortion by the way you have voted in the past that is part of why we have been praying 2 Chronicle 7:14 because as a church we have things to repent of as Christians…our votes are not about a person as they are a platform, the platform is what each parities candidates work toward.
I cant express this strong enough, if I did not stand up here and say this I would be accountable to God for being silent on the lives of 3000 children per day.
That being said I need to tackle another subject that will probably offend the rest of the believers in this room.
Nothing divides like politics because nothing divides like fear…..each of the parties are focused on talking about what is going to happen if the other party wins….if you are still afraid I suggest you go back to a sermon I taught two weeks ago entitled “Everything is going to be OK”
- Look for an opportunity to love unconditionally
1 John 4: 7, 8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Do you know someone with whom you disagree with politically? If you don’t that is a problem. We should have all kinds of people in our lives.
You may say “Pastor I just don’t understand how someone could think that way?”
Great that is a good place to start you have already admitted that you don’t understand something and we should always pursue understanding others!
Think about this….How many times have you been misunderstood?
Proverbs 14:29 People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Proverbs 18:2 Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions
If we take the time to hear others, why they believe what they believe we may learn something. I have learned I need to change my opinion by listening to those with whom I disagree and I have also strengthened my opinion, my resolve by listening to those with whom I disagree.
If you truly love unconditionally, the way the Good Samaritan did we may still disagree but will honor our brother or sister in the Lord and honor the Lord!
This is probably a lot harder than you think because we are so divided as a nation
My challenge here is learning to listen…it is important for building our faith, ministering to others, and healing our nation that we learn to hear others so we can understand. Understanding builds bridges and tears down walls
We should never ever find ourselves burning a relational bridge over a political view. I understand it will be much harder when we are standing strong on a biblical one. But if we listen we can learn how to reach the person because we understand their view
- Politics or Faith
The deep question every Christian has to ask themselves is not which party to belong but are we willing to put our faith filter ahead of our political filter.
No politician is going to be perfect each of them will have their failures but as Christians we have to be honest with non believers about the failures of our candidate spiritually as we see it so that they understand our faith is above our politics
People who claim to be believers have a requirement to be Jesus first and politician 2nd just like any other job. The character of the man or woman running for office, if they claim to be a person of faith should reflect that.
Even if they are not a person of faith we need to be willing to defend what we see as godly or Biblical stances versus those that are not in the candidates we choose to support. Otherwise non-believers will see a weakness in our faith.
Proverbs 28:6
Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
Titus 2:7,8
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
Don’t confuse Christianity with any party or candidate but stand for those things that are of integrity and will bring hope and love and stand against those things that lead to bondage. We have to be first and foremost Kingdom people that influences parties. I have seen failures in the church both ways with this election.
If you are one of those that is not thrilled about any candidate you have to pray and think it through as well
If you feel you are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils you still have to call out the evil!
When forced to choose between two imperfect candidates, two imperfect platforms, and imperfect planks within the platform, we have to call out those imperfections.
For those around us that know we are people of faith, we need to be clear on those things with which we disagree and champion the thing with which we do agree
Please get out and vote, if you haven’t already our nation is in trouble and we need men and women of God to vote with Kingdom principles in the minds and on their hearts