Politics and Peace (Part 2)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] go [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] welcome to revival center thanks for tuning in to our live stream i want to share with you a few awesome things we've got going on at our church we value so much the importance of staying connected to the body of christ one way we've been able to do that is by participating in small groups small groups have impacted the culture of our church in a great way it has truly helped us feel like one huge family if you have not gotten connected to a small group yet please visit our website at revivalcenter.org there you'll find a complete list of the small groups we offer you can sign up and a small group leader will reach out to you to give you information as to when they'll meet again in the near future don't do life alone visit our website to sign up as soon as possible as much as we value connection we also value the importance of your personal growth and development for us growth starts with growth track this is a four-step process where you'll learn a lot about our church and what we believe and you'll have the chance to discover your own gifts and talents so you can have a better idea of where to serve at the church in the last step of growth track you'll take dream team which is where you meet different ministry leaders who can answer any of your questions about what it means to serve with them on any given sunday so if you want to start growing and serving with us visit the website at revivalcenter.org to get more information about both growth track and dream team these classes will start again soon and we hope to see you there here at revival center we provide the opportunity for believers to get water baptized on a monthly basis every believer should want to be baptized because it's a beautiful picture of what this life in christ brings and it was one of the last sacred rituals that jesus commanded his disciples to perform it's so important that you take this step in your faith journey so if you have not been baptized and would like to sign up you can visit the website at baptisms for more information we can't wait to celebrate your new life in christ with you even though we are not meeting in person for the time being you still have an opportunity to give and to sew into this house you can give electronically by texting give to 707 as a church we participate in 10 giving otherwise known as tithing this was a model from the old testament that we like to follow because it helps us to remain consistent in our giving but as new testament believers we are not bound by that number so if you want to give more than ten percent you can if you want to give less than ten percent that's fine too or if you don't feel comfortable giving it all you don't have to the important thing with giving is that you're doing it with a cheerful heart because god loves a cheerful giver our goal is to be the most cheerful and generous givers around we want to thank you for your diligent giving because without it none of this would be possible and that concludes our announcements thank you for joining us via live stream i hope you enjoyed the worship experience [Music] [Music] i give you glory [Music] [Music] moving forward [Music] [Applause] your presence is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the cross before me [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] nobody like you no matter what comes my way [Applause] my god made me a promise [Applause] breakthrough is coming by [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is your presence is an open door [Music] your presence and your prayers so calm down [Music] like never your presidency [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are my faith for [Music] may collect but my souls [Music] [Music] said [Applause] jesus has probed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] you [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] you are my faithful father say you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] whisper away [Music] foundation my anger won't be [Music] [Applause] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] i know [Music] [Music] victory [Applause] [Music] he has never lost a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] tower he's never lost [Music] he has never lost the battle [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is has never lost the business [Applause] [Music] [Music] my god cannot [Music] [Music] he's never let me down he won't fail now [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you've always been there you've always been there you've always been there you've always been there you've always been there you've always been there you've always been there [Applause] [Music] you've always been there you've never left me alone god you've always been there you've always been there you've always been there [Music] nor have you forsaken me [Music] foreign i'll never let you down i'll never let you down i'll never let you [Music] i'll down let you down [Applause] [Music] i'll never let you down [Music] will you trust me will you trust me will you trust me will you trust me will you let go will you let go and trust me don't be afraid for i am with you [Music] don't be afraid [Music] don't be afraid for i am with you lord hear stand and not free with opening heads lord i breathe everything and nothing left [Music] [Music] lord i trust you i trust you i'm letting go [Music] my [Music] god you deserve my every breath is [Music] i trust you i just everyday god killed yourself everything said everything you'll deserve everything [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] everything i give to you cause i god [Music] everything and nothing less i give you everything and i feel [Music] forever [Music] [Applause] is [Music] i give you everything forever [Music] everything foreign [Music] everything and nothing [Applause] [Music] everything [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] give you my everything [Music] is let's sing it together [Music] all of me i give to you [Applause] oh to jesus [Music] [Music] so [Music] god bless you and welcome i'm ricky nutt jr one of the teaching pastors here at revival center we're so glad that you chose to tune in to revivalcenter.tv every time you tune in you give us an opportunity to encourage you with a message of love grace and hope that comes from the gospel of jesus christ so again thanks for joining us this morning and let's get a little bit deeper today as we go further into this political season with all its craziness we want to make sure that you've done two things the first thing is go to vote.org and ensure that you've registered to vote you have an incredible opportunity to express the freedom that's been given to you today as a citizen of the united states of america to cast your vote for the things and the people that you believe in so take advantage of that today another important thing that we like to do is to make sure you go to census.ca.gov the california census is extremely important if we don't sign up if we don't make sure we have accurate accounting and numbers of all the citizens this great state of california that can result in underfunding which results in the cutting of funding that's important and vital to all different aspects of society here in california so make sure you go to census.ca.gov to sign your entire family up now as we navigate the political landscape in this country and even in our local regions we have to take a good look at the scriptures to see what role christians can and should play in the political arena and so we're continuing our politics and peace sermon series everybody say politics and peace as christians we can and should participate in the political process but we have to do so with the right perspective and we have to make sure we have the right spirit we can be involved in politics as long as we remember that god has called us to peace regardless of our politics we started off last week with uh in part one with matthew chapter five and i want you to turn there with me today we're going to go to matthew chapter 5 and we're going to start at verse 13. for context jesus is speaking to his disciples and he's using various metaphors to show them the important position that they have in this world as followers of him and he says this you are the salt of the earth come on somebody out there say i am the salt of the earth come on say it one more time i am the salt of the earth but if the salt loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again it's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot see salt in the ancient world and even today is used as a preservative and if we consider that metaphor i think in the way that jesus intended it god is using his people to preserve this world which is headed to destruction and decay but he's using us to maintain this world to preserve it so that he can gain more glory for himself see here as we continue into verse 14 jesus switches the metaphor to show us something a little bit different and then he says you are the light of the world come on somebody say i am the light of the world one more time say it i am the light of the world a town built on a hill can't be hidden and neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead they put it on his stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven let me read that one more time in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven that god wants your life to be filled with such goodness such incredible and consistent goodness that it brings glory to his name and that brings us to today's anchor point every christian who participates in the political process must glorify god with their life again every christian who participates in the political process must glorify god with their life there is no option and there is no alternative if if we claim to be a part of this incredible kingdom of light that god has remember god has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light and he has chosen us and set us apart if we claim to be a part of that kingdom it is our responsibility to live lives that glorify him and if you want to be involved in the political spectrum in any way shape or form whether it's you exercising your right to vote whether you're getting involved in party politics it doesn't matter whether you're just involved in political action in some way shape or form it doesn't matter whatever you do in whatever facet you participate you have to ensure that your life and your activity is something that's bringing glory to god and that should be a reality that weighs on each and every one of us not just within the political landscape but everything that we do and everything that we do we have to ensure that our lives are bringing glory to the one who deserves all the glory the one who deserves all the honor the one who deserves all the praise he has set us like a city on a hill and he expects us to be a spectacle for the world but what is the world going to see when it looks at the church and i'm going to tell you right now in this political landscape when the world looks at the church i'm not seeing that the world is seeing the church i'm just seeing that the world is seeing the world reflecting itself back that's what's happening we are behaving and acting just like we're people in the world we're not living the ethic that jesus called us to remember first john chapter 2 jesus said if anyone or john said if anyone claims to follow after jesus if anyone claims to know him if anyone claims to have fellowship with him and to be with him they must live as jesus lived and there is no like fine printing there where it says except within the political landscape you can act as crazy as you want i've i've been looking in my bible and i haven't had the opportunity to find that it's not even in the footnote it doesn't matter what the situation is if you claim to know jesus and you have to live like jesus in every single aspect of your life and we talked about last week if there's something about your life that you don't want to allow jesus to lay his hands on then that's a problem and if politics is the thing that you just say you know god you don't need to lay your hands on this then that's a problem there can't be anything in our lives that jesus can't touch we've got to give him free reign over everything and even within this political landscape we got to give jesus the opportunity to guide us and lead us not just in terms of who we support and who we vote for and the things that we vote for but also in terms of how we represent the things that we stand for and how we stand for the things that we believe in just because people disagree with you it doesn't give you a right to not shine do you know that you can you can shine even in the middle of disagreement that god can use seasons and situations of disagreement to glorify himself do you know that and if god can do that it's not necessarily important that you be proven right in each and every situation but what's most important is that your life gives glory to god imagine what you know i said i think about what what my life would be like if in everything that i did i really thought about you know what god is just gonna bring you glory like is this gonna is this gonna be something that brings honor to your name is this going to be something that makes the gospel look beautiful that that reveals the gospel and the beauty that it really is like imagine i think about that like in my own life if what if i did that what if i did that every day what if i did that at home with my wife and with my children and with my family and with my friends and with my coworkers and with my students and what if i did that what if i did it with strangers imagine imagine how much glory god would receive if we made that commitment i want to read you something that i wrote really the bible doesn't speak much to the issue of politics as we see it today the bible in his scope and his message continually reminds us that we're citizens of a kingdom that hasn't fully come like the kingdom is here spiritually don't don't get me wrong but the world that many american christians want to live in is not really something we can expect this side of heaven not without the real physical presence of jesus christ we're flexing our political muscles as it were to bring forth the eschaton here in american society that is the end of all things when christ's dominion will be manifested in every part of our society but america today is not a christian nation because jesus is not the king of our nation he's the king of the church he's the king of my life but he's not honored as king in our culture and that's okay for now as god has allowed it because one day every knee will bow come on somebody say every and every tongue will confess come on somebody say every so every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is god to the glory of god the father so it's okay for now if things in our country don't line up the way we like as christians because god in the middle of this perversion and in the middle of this wickedness he can still be glorified and he will still gain glory for himself and you might scream at me but ricky we're one nation under god but look in order for america to be a christian nation wouldn't its foundation need to be established on christ god it's a little too open-ended it's too non-specific especially these days look the foundation of america is freedom that's what it's always been that's a good thing that's awesome like and america hasn't always lived up to that and we're going to be honest about it but that freedom is really why christians are having such a tough time grappling with today's culture this america that we have today was always the destiny of a nation that was founded on freedom freedom can only be restrained by the transformative power of the gospel and in a society where the gospel is not preeminent freedom will always be perverted freedom will always be perverted when the gospel is not central and we can try to transform and change society as i mentioned before but look look sin has a way perversion has a way of manifesting in many different places it is really smart about going covert going under the scenes hiding out so nobody can see it until the right time when it manifests something different that's how sin is that's how perversion is and yeah as the church we are an imperfect people and if america was a church there would be problems in that church that's real but if america was a church then christ would be king and jesus christ will be glorified but as it is america is not a church america was not founded on christ america was founded on the principle of freedom it just so happened that many of them were looking for religious freedom but that concept of freedom was perverted because you know as humans are really good at doing we really know how to pervert stuff we really know how to pervert stuff and when i think of when i think of like republican policies and republican ethics and i think of the extreme i think of perversion when i look at and i think of democratic policies democratic ethics and i think of the extremes i see perversion see perversion pulls us farther and farther away from the center really because the reality is is that there are some concepts that i i think even some democrats can say of republicans that you know what these these are some pretty good values there's some pretty good ideas but it's our our tendency to move to extremes because we we always assume we always pervert the good things god gives us we always pervert that and so we've perverted ideas and ideals on both sides of the aisle that's what happens that's the that's the outcome of freedom that's that was bound to happen this is where we are and as my dad likes to say my dad he'll say you know what the way our country is headed and the way democracy is headed in america especially we see the perversion we see the transformation of society we see the direction is heading he said it's just showing us that you know this system is just as broken as all the other systems that preceded it democracy is an incredible and beautiful thing this democratic republic that we live in is awesome some of us might not like the electoral college that is kind of whacked if we're going to be honest about it but man america is an incredible place to live but the foundation of america has been freedom and has always been freedom and mankind has always throughout history every time it's had freedom it has always perverted it and so i stand by what i said we need the constraining power of the gospel if we want to see society transformed we need to transform society through the gospel we can make superficial changes through the do the ballot box in our voting and stuff like that but man if we really want to see transformation and change that honors god it's going to be seen in the hearts of people who have conformed to the transformative power of the gospel and it's very likely that those numbers of people won't be very huge you won't be very large because what did jesus say he said wide is the road that leads to destruction and many are they who find it but narrow the door narrow the gate narrow the road that leads to eternal life and fewer those who find it so look you should vote but when you vote you need to keep having in mind let me tell you something you can be a values voter that's well and good that's perfectly fine you can be a single issue voter but you must be a godly voter there are no ifs ands or buts about it there is no look you have the freedom in christ to vote your convictions and we don't want to deprive you of that freedom i believe that christ has given us such incredible freedom that we um as believers and part of this incredible community of faith that we should not constrain the freedom of god's people we should allow the spirit of god to constrain god's people but look i will say that nothing about how you vote should ever trump your allegiance to jesus christ there is no factor there is no reasoning there is no circumstance there was no philosophy there was no idea there is no conviction that can ever trump the reality of jesus christ in your life your identity should be forged and fixed in him so securely that your political views conform to the reality of who you serve and if you are conformed by your political views then that shows that there's definitely a problem point blank period let me repeat that you you can be a values voter when i say values are like i i consider myself to be a values voter the problem for me is that as i get deeper and deeper into the scriptures and i experience more of the counsel of god in the text i see so many things that i could be concerned about i see so many things that i could be worried about on both sides i i see it and i'm like you know what that it makes it difficult for me it's hard it's hard to vote my values just because there are so many things that i value and i care about and my values are derived from the text of scripture so if you want to be a real values voter you need to make sure you keep reading the entire bible read the whole bible get the full counsel of scripture and you will see so many incredible things that god is concerned about things that are valuable to god and the way you vote your values may in fact in the future change because i believe as a values voter my values should be derived from the scriptures they should be anchored to the scriptures anchored to the text there should be no value that comes from a worldly philosophy every value must come from god's word that's the true values voter and you can be that you can do that and then maybe you know maybe you want to be a single issue voter maybe something is so important to you something is so heavy on your mind something is just like this is we have to stop this guy maybe god has given you this incredible burden for this thing and you're like i don't care about anything else except for this one thing hey you have the freedom to be that kind of voter and don't ever let anybody tell you any differently this is the freedom that we have to to vote our convictions and if there is something that convicts us so much that it becomes the preeminent thing and it's something that we know that honors god then hey if you want to be a single issue voter then single issue vote all you want to go on ahead because you have that freedom because there is nothing in the scripture that tells us that you can't do that you have that freedom so don't let jimmy over here tell you don't let susie over here tell you don't let leroy in them tell you it doesn't matter you can vote for whatever your convictions are use your christian freedom and everything that you do to glorify god remember that's the commitment that we have to make that whatever we do in whatever way we're involved whether we are politicians we become politicians we serve our local communities we serve our national communities we serve our statewide communities if we're just going to vote it doesn't matter what part of the process you're going to be involved in in whatever way shape or form you're involved you got to make sure you're glorifying god that is your first priority that is the major thing you're you're only allegiance let me tell you right now my allegiance is not to the color of my skin don't get me wrong i love being black i love this beautiful color of skin that i have i love being a part of the black community um but my allegiance is not to my color my allegiance is to the cross jesus christ has my heart my soul my mind and if if my color believes something different or stands for something different something that opposes coming when i told you before if it if it tries to trump christ nope sorry i can't rock with you on that okay i love being black but i serve the god most high i'm a servant of jesus christ that's my focus that's my reality that's my foundation let's read this scripture first peter chapter 2 verse 1 through 10. therefore ridge yourselves of all malice and all deceit hypocrisy envy and slander of every kind like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the lord is good as you come to him the living stone rejected by humans but chosen by god and precious to him you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god through jesus christ for in scripture it says see i lay a stone in zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame and now to you who believe this stone is precious but to those who don't believe the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall look there are many people in america today who claim to be christian and they're stumbling over that rock instead of using that rock for support instead of using that rock for shelter and protection and strength when they approach their political views and they are confronted with that rock it becomes for them a stumbling stone don't ever let the rock of jesus christ become a stumbling stone for you recognize that that's not a stone to stumble over but that's a stone on which you need to stand they stumble because they disobey the message which is also what they were destined for verse nine remember this in all of your interactions and all of your disagreements and when you are confronted with philosophies and ideas and lifestyles that you disagree with remember this you are chosen people you a royal priesthood you a holy nation you got special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light and let me tell you too remember it says in verse 5 that you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood when we read verse 9 where it says you are chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation god's special possession we must have in there this reminder that it's not just talking about you or me and it's talking about us and so god has determined so incredibly because if i was god i wouldn't trust the acquisition of glory to a vessel like me or like you because as imperfect as we are i just don't think god gets the glory he deserves from our lives each and every moment that he deserves it but we have to remember that as people of god we are being built into a house this incredible family this incredible community and our responsibility in everything that we do regardless of whether each stone agrees with each other each stone can be placed next to each other and each stone can be placed on top of each other and each stone can be spread to build this incredible spiritual house and we together as diverse as we are can glorify god and we can be together we can be a chosen people we can be a royal priesthood we can be a holy nation we can be god's special possession so that we can declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light verse 10 once you were not a people but now you are the people of god once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy and i'll leave you with this discourse on freedom from the apostle paul this is first corinthians chapter 6 verse 12. paul says that he's speaking of sexual immorality but we're going to find a way to apply the principle that's at work here paul says i have the right to do anything that's what you say but not everything is beneficial he brings up another statement that they might say i have the right to do anything but i won't be mastered by anything you say food for the stomach and the stomach for food but god will destroy them both the body however is not meant for sexual immorality but for the lord and the lord for the body see we do a great job of perverting the freedom that god has given us and we engage in things and we interact with things that we have the freedom to do but are not necessarily beneficial and paul says something here in response to one of the statements he says in verse 12 i have the right to do anything but i won't be mastered by anything and in this political season don't allow your political alliances and your political allegiance to master you to have dominion or dominance over you no allow your political alliances and convictions to be conformed to the glorious gospel of jesus christ don't treat jesus christ as a stumbling block instead use him as a stone in a rock to stand on a cornerstone on which to build all your political views whether you stand on the right or whether you stand on the left this is the opportunity that we have don't allow your freedom to be perverted to get involved into things that aren't necessarily beneficial for you if you recognize that something has kind of taken hold of you in this political season you need to take a step back and say hey you know what i have the right to be involved but maybe it's not beneficial for me at this time in my life maybe i'm not ready to participate in the discourse because my actions would not bring glory to god instead my my actions would bring him shame and i challenge you today to use your christian freedom in this political landscape to glorify god in each and every avenue on which you travel don't let your politics be something in your life that jesus christ can't touch don't let your politic be something that jesus cannot lay his hands on to transform and to change and to personally identify with we are a holy nation a chosen people a royal priesthood and our purpose is to show forth the praises of the one who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light our purpose is to glorify god that is our purpose that's why we exist and if you participate in the political spectrum in any way shape or form you better make sure that everything you do and in everything you say you're asking yourself the question am i bringing glory to god am i being light am i being salt and is god going to be glorified in this come on let's pray real quick father god we thank you this morning for your word that transforms and challenges and changes us god we thank you that jesus prayed that wonderful prayer about his disciples where he asked you to sanctify them by your truth god we know that your word is truth and your word is the truth on which we stand sanctify our religious and our political convictions god sanctify them by your word transform us and change us direct us and guide us according to your will according to your plan and according to your purposes god we stand in all of you in absolute trust of your goodness and your choices and your power we're not trusting in the power of the politic we're not trusting in the power of the ballot box at the end of the day god and even at its beginning we're trusting in the power of god we love you we thank you in jesus name we pray amen if there's anyone here today and maybe you tune in for the first time maybe you saw the title politics and peace and you're like what's this about to be about but maybe in this time in the season you saw i heard the spirit of god pulling you calling you out of the darkness and into his wonderful light and maybe you've been living in the darkness for a long time in one way shape or form and perhaps god wants to call you out and i want to give you this morning an opportunity to just seek after the voice of jesus so if that's you and you've tuned in and you want to give your life to christ this morning you want to take that step look the gospel is simple god sent his son to pay a debt that you couldn't pay [Music] to pay a debt that you'd never be able to pay god said i'm going to pay that debt for you and all i want is you to recognize that you owe me something like recognize like no like hey say you know what god i i get it i owe you something i owe you a debt that i can't pay and god said hey i i paid your debt for you come and walk with me that's the gospel god paid a debt for sinners who [Music] we're so bankrupt there's no way we could pay any sin jesus christ to be a sacrifice for our sins and his blood can cover and transform and change us from the inside out you're never going to be perfect that's not what god is asking you to be not this side of heaven but god wants to have you he wants you to walk with him he wants to teach you about his mercy he wants to teach about his grace and his love his forgiveness and his holiness and his righteousness and his justice we want you to walk with jesus today so if that's you and you want to take that opportunity to step forward and to take that first step and that next step and the next step and the next step in your life with christ i want you to repeat this prayer after me you can close your eyes while you do it and just repeat father god i thank you for the love that you've shown to me even in times where i didn't know you loved me you love me still god i thank you while i was your enemy god you sent your son to die from me and by faith i accept his sacrifice as payment for my sins i ask that you would wash me and change me and heal me from the inside out take me as i am god with all my fears and my failures and my insecurities and transform me make me more like your son jesus from this moment on i'm yours in jesus name i pray amen you prayed that prayer this morning we want to thank you we want to give you an opportunity to follow after christ at the end of the message you're going to hear the directions to go to revivalcenter.org forward slash connect and you can fill out a digital connect card online you could tell us that you chose to follow jesus today we want to thank everybody for joining us this morning we want to thank you for being with us and hey we miss you we love you and remember in everything that you do make sure you bring glory to jesus christ catch you next time peace if you gave your life to jesus we'd love to know about it visit revivalcenter.org forward slash connect and tell us all about it we'd love to help push you towards your next steps of following jesus you can also visit revivalcenter.org forward slash connect if you're looking for prayer we have a team of people that are excited and hungry to pray for you and to pray with you so whatever the prayer request is go ahead and submit it there and somebody from our team will reach out to you soon if you'd like to give to support us financially you can go to revivalcenter.org forward slash give all of your financial donations will go toward our efforts to expand the gospel of god in the kingdom of heaven and the earth you can also text give g-i-v-e to 707 655 to support us that way or if you'd like to mail in your donation you can send your donation to revival center at p.o box 5037 valeo california 94591 we want to thank you in advance for your financial support and hey thanks for tuning in to revivalcenter.tv we'd love for you to catch us next week see you then god bless you

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Length: 69min 8sec (4148 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 11 2020