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First Samuel chapter 8. Some of you may be aware or you may not be aware that we have

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a presidential election coming up Tuesday. If you didn't know that, then you probably

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had your head in the sand for the last two or three years. But we've got a presidential

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election coming up and we're going to talk about the importance of that and we're going

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to talk about the Word of God and what we really need to focus on more than we need

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to focus on who our president is. So let's pray and we'll get started. Father God, we

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come to you and we thank you for your Word. I pray that your Holy Spirit would hide me

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behind the cross, dear Lord, that I'd be able to preach and teach your Word in a way that

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brings glory to you. Dear Lord, we need you more than we need anything. We need you far

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more than we need a man or a woman that's going to lead us, dear Lord. We need you to

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lead us. We need to be a people that would seek you. And so I pray, dear Lord, that you

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would help us, even your people, to see the error of our ways sometimes. God, that we

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would seek you and that we would trust you for our deliverance and no one else. I pray,

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God, that you would just bless the reading of your Word this morning and I ask these

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things in Jesus' name. Amen. First Samuel chapter 8 verse 1. Now before we get to this

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point in Israel's history, we see right before this that God had used quite a few judges

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to lead his people. They didn't have a king. They weren't like the other nations. They

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didn't have a king in that way. But they have judges that God would appoint. And they certainly

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needed them. They needed some form of leadership. They should have been seeking God and living

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by the commands of God and things would have gone well for them. But they did not do that.

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They knew the Word of God. They knew the commands of God. But they did not live by the Word

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of God. And so what happens in the book of Judges is God's people are disobedient. And

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God sends a judge to get them out of the mess they're in. They go through hard times. The

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judge comes, delivers them, and they're going to do good. They're going to live for the

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Lord. And then they go back and they're disobedient. And then God sends another judge and delivers

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them and then all is good. They're going to live for the Lord. And then they go back to

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being disobedient. Sounds kind of familiar. Sometimes we're probably not so unlike God's

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people. And so this went on for quite a while. God sent these judges time and again. And

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God's people were just disobedient. Now there wasn't a problem with judges. There wasn't

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a problem with God. It was a problem with God's people being disobedient and choosing

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sin. So fast forward to the book of Samuel. And the Bible tells us that Samuel was a prophet

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and a judge of God. And by the time Samuel comes along, he was a good guy. He was a good

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godly man who served God well. But what we see here in 1 Samuel is that Samuel's sons

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did not follow the ways of Samuel. And that's what we see in 1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 1.

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When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. His firstborn son's

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name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. However, his

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sons did not walk in his ways. They turned toward dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted

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justice. Now, things are not going well here. Samuel has these sons and they are horrible.

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They take bribes. They take dishonest gains. They pervert justice. They're not doing what

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is right by God. They are not doing what is right by the commands of God. They are evil,

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evil, and guileless. And so naturally, God's people want something better. Now, I don't

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think that that's a bad thing. That when we look for leadership, that we desire good leadership,

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that we desire godly leadership, that we desire those who are going to uphold justice, who

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are going to do what is right, who are going to care about the people that they are leading.

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I don't think that that in and of itself is a sinful thing to want someone who's going

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to be a good leader. And God's people were not happy with Samuel's sons because they

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were crooked and evil. Now, that may sound kind of familiar to us today because we look

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at those who lead our country and if we are honest, a vast majority of them, it would

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appear, seem to be like maybe they're crooked, maybe they're evil, maybe they don't have

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the people's best interest in heart. And so in some way, it's natural for us to want better.

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We want our country to be better. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we want a country that

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seeks God, that lives by his commands, that values life, that values the safety of its

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people, that wants our children to be taught good and godly things, not a bunch of trash

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that the world wants to put out. These are good desires for us, brothers and sisters

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in Christ, to want these things, to want godly things. And the people of Israel here weren't

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happy with those who were leading them because they were corrupt. And so let's see what the

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scripture says in verse four. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel

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at Ramah. They said to him, look, you are old and your sons do not follow your example.

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Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have. Uh oh,

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we have a problem that just started right here. Now, they wanted something good and

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that they wanted better leaders, but their heart was not right. They were going about

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it the wrong way. We see that Israel's heart wasn't right because of their request and

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because what the text tells us as we continue to read on. Now, we see here that they say,

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we want a king like the other nations have. And as you continue to read in first Samuel

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eight, they say it again. We want a king so that we can be like all the other nations.

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You see the problem there. God's people were called to be God's people. God's people were

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set apart. God was their king. God was their leader. God was their protector. God was their

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provider. And they were to be different than all the other nations because what were all

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the other nations that we see in the rest of scripture? They were pure evil. They were

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sexually immoral. They were child sacrificing. They were idolaters. They were evil in every

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way and God's people were called to be above that. They were called to follow the ways

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of God. And what do God's people here say? They say, God, these men who are over us are

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crooked and evil and we don't want them. Okay, well, that's, that's, that's pretty good.

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I think that you don't want that. But there was a problem and that is instead of seeking

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God and saying, God, these men that are over us are evil and God, I pray that you'd send

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us better leaders. God, I pray that you would deliver us. I pray that you would be our king.

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I pray that we would trust you and that you'd get us out of this mess that we're in. Instead

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of saying that, they said, God, we want to be like all the other nations. Now that's

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a problem when God's people want to be like all the other nations. They were not in a

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good place right here. They go to Samuel and they say, look, you're old, things aren't

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good. We want a king so that we can be like all the other nations. That was their first

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mistake. But why were they even asking for a king? Why did they even want to be like

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all of the other nations? Well, we see the answer to that as we continue reading verse

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six, when they said, give us a king to judge us, Samuel considered their demand sinful.

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So he prayed to the Lord, but the Lord told him, listen to the people and everything they

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say to you. They have not rejected you. They have rejected me as their king. There is the

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real problem. The real problem is not that they wanted some better leadership that they

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wanted to get out from under the corruption that they were under. The real problem was

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is that they were seeking deliverance from a man instead of seeking deliverance from

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God. And what did God tell Samuel? It says, these people have rejected me as their king.

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They had stopped seeking the power of God and they had started seeking their deliverance

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from a man. And this was nothing new. Sadly, this was a pattern that had repeated itself

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for years. Listen to the next verse in verse eight. They are doing the same thing to you

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that they have done to me since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day,

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abandoning me and worshiping other gods. So these people were already in a bad shape.

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They should have been seeking God and living for him from the get go. And that would have

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never been in this mess. If they would have been obedient to God and their leaders would

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have been obedient to God, God's people would have been blessed so greatly and things would

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have been so good for them. But continually, they turned their back on God. They continually

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went after these false gods. They continually went after the ways of the other people in

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the land. They continually sinned against God and sinned against God and sinned against

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God until this point where they finally just say, we want a king. And God knew their heart

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and God said, Samuel, they have rejected me as their king. Now that's a bad place to be.

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That's a bad place to be for the nation of Israel. That's a bad place to be for any nation

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when they reject God. Now, God certainly blessed Israel and I believe that God is gracious

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to any nation who would seek him, any nation who would seek to live by his words and to

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live by his commands. God would bless that nation. And any nation that refuses God and

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rejects God, I believe that God will bring judgment on that nation. We see in Jeremiah,

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in Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 7 through 10, God is talking to his people Israel here and

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he says basically what I just said to you along those lines about him blessing our cursing

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people, about him bringing destruction on the nation or about him bringing deliverance

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on a nation. And Jeremiah 18 verse 7, it says, at one moment I might announce concerning

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a nation of a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down and destroy it. However, if that

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nation I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the

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disaster I had planned to do to it. At another time, I announced that I will build and plant

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a nation or a kingdom. However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening

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to my voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it. Well, that

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doesn't sound very good. What God is telling his people Israel, and I believe is still

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true today, that it is God who builds nations and it is God who tears nations down. There

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is no nation that has been built without God allowing it to be built. There is no nation

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that has been built because of some great king or because of some great president if

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God did not allow it to take place. And there is no nation that has not fallen that God

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has not allowed to fall. It is God who builds up nations and it is God who tears down nations.

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And those nations who reject God, whether it is Israel or whether it is the United States

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or whether it is any other nation in the world, I believe that God will bring judgment on

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those nations. But isn't it a beautiful thing that God says here? But if there's a nation

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that I've pronounced judgment on and that nation comes to me and seeks me, then I will

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relent from the disaster that I was going to bring on them. That may sound familiar

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to you. We just talked about that last week in the book of Jonah. What did God say? He

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said, look, Jonah, you go to Nineveh and you tell them I'm busy to destroy them. It's over.

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And after a series of unfortunate events and sin, Jonah finally made his way to Nineveh

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and he preached what God told him. And what did the people of Nineveh do? They received

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the word of God that God was not happy with their sinfulness, that God was going to bring

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judgment on their land and they repented of their sin. Praise God. And what does it say

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that God did? It said that God relented from the disaster that he was going to bring on

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them. What a beautiful thing that we see that God is faithful to us if we would only seek

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him. But we have a problem in our country and in our world today and that is more and

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more and more people are rejecting God. You take God out of everything and what hope is

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there left? Any good that there is in this world, it comes from God. It don't come from

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any man. It don't come from any woman. It don't come from anybody else other than God.

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If there is good in the world, it is because of God. And when you remove God, you remove

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the good. Isn't that a crazy thing that our world, so many people think that God is the

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problem, that Christianity is the problem. And so for a long time, boy, they start working.

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We're going to take God out of this. We're going to take God out of that. We're not going

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to let people pray to Jesus. We're not going to let the scripture be read. We're not going

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to let people pray. And they take all the God out that they can and things get horrible

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and they double down. Instead of saying, we should wake up and realize that the reason

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why things are getting worse is because God is not in anything. Instead of saying that,

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they say, no, Christianity is still the problem. God is still the problem. We need to take

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more of God out. And they continue down this path over and over and over again. And now

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we are in a bad shape. We are in a bad shape as a world and we are in a bad shape as a

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country because nobody, well, not nobody, many people are not seeking God and doing

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everything they can to shut God up and to keep God out of everything. And our world

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is suffering the consequences for that. If you continue reading in first Samuel chapter

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10, listen to what he says. In first Samuel chapter 10 verse 19, this is God speaking

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to the people here. But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your troubles

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and afflictions. You have rejected God who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions.

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Now who was it that built Israel up into a nation? It was God. Who was it that delivered

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his people out of Egypt and brought them into the promised land? It was God. Who was it

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that tore down the walls of Jericho? It was God. Who was it that provides all that God's

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people had needed up to this point? It was God. Who was it that defeated all of Israel's

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enemies up to this point? It was God. Everything that they had was because of God. And now

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they have rejected God. And what does it say? He says in the verse, you have rejected the

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one who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions. So if we reject the one who saves

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us from all of our troubles and afflictions, then what is left for us? Troubles and afflictions.

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So God's people here were in a bad shape. And God had been good to them and God had

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blessed them and God had delivered them. And they say, we don't want you God. We want to

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be like the other nations. What in the world is going on around here? What in the world

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is going on that these people are so crazy that they would reject God and they would

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seek to be like all of the rest of the evil around them? Well, I could ask that question

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of our generation. What in the world is it that we are so foolish and crazy that as a

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nation that has been blessed by God, that we would throw God out of everything we have

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and seek to live like the rest of the world? What is our problem? Our problem is this,

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that we, like the people of Israel, have rejected God. And what was their solution? What was

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their solution to their problem? They have rejected God. What are we going to do to fix

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our problem? We are going to establish government because government is going to fix our problem.

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Well, we do that today, don't we? Oh, we got lots of troubles. Let's let the government

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take care of us. Oh, we got health problems. Let's let the government take care of us.

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Oh, we got money problems. Let's let the government take care of our money. Let's let the government

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decide what's good for our kids. Oh, let's do that because the government has such a

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great track record of making good decisions. Not. Tell me something good the government

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has done. You probably can tell me something, but I guarantee you they're a lot more bad.

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But what do we do? Oh, we seek the government. We need a better mayor. We need a better governor.

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We need a better president. This is going to be the one that's going to deliver us.

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This is going to be one that's going to turn our country around. It is not. I don't know

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who you're voting for Tuesday. I don't care who you're voting for, but I can guarantee

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you this, that there ain't no man or woman who's going to change our country. What's

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going to change our country is when people call out to God, is when God's people start

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living like God's people should live, is when God's people who are called by God's name

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will humble themselves and cry out to him. Then we will have healing in our land. When

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God's people stand up for the truth of God's word, then we will see healing in our land.

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When God is brought back into our society and God's word is preached to a lost and dying

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generation, then God is going to bring blessings to our land. But there's no man or woman that's

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going to be president that's going to be our savior. Now look, we want good leadership.

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I don't think there's anything with wanting good leadership. We don't want bad leadership.

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We don't want evil leadership. But what we have to know is that government is not the

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solution to our problem. God is the solution to our problem. We have left God out of everything

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and that is what has caused our problem. So we don't want to fall into that trap of thinking,

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oh, if the right person gets in there Tuesday, everything is going to be better. Well, maybe

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some things will, maybe some things won't. But we get so caught up, we get so caught

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up in our side, red versus blue, my team against your team, R versus D. We're going to get

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you, and L if you're a libertarian, maybe some of you in here. We get so caught up in

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all this. Do we get so caught up in things that don't matter and we are so focused on

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this man or this woman or these other men or women or whoever else is running that we

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forget about God. But what we need to be praying for is that God would put into office who

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needs to be into office. Now here's the scary thing. Here's the scary thing is I believe

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that God will give people what they ask for. And the problem is, is that too many times

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in our country, what people are asking for is pure evil. And if people keep asking for

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evil and they vote in a politician who's going to continue to promote evil, then guess what's

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going to happen? We're going to see more and more evil flourishing in our country. If we

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continue to seek sin and won't sin and reject God, then eventually God will hand us over

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to our sin individually and as a nation, I believe. And that's a scary thing. So in some

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way, I suppose our vote does matter. I won't say that it's insignificant, but we can't

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trust our vote or we can't trust our leaders above all else. We must trust God above all

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else. Because what we see too much in our world today is we see leadership that is just

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as evil as it can be. What we see in our world today are leaders that call evil good and

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good evil. We see leaders in our world today that will speak lies and silence the truth.

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We see leaders today that will start wars in the name of peace. We see later leaders

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today that will call sexual immorality, love. These are the things that we see in our world

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today. We see leaders today that will let criminals run free and punish the innocent.

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This is what we see in our world and this is not what God calls a leader to be. Now

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we as Christians should desire and we should seek and we should pray for that leader in

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our country. We should pray for the leader who's going to do good for God's people, who's

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going to bring God back into our country, a leader who's going to seek God and follow

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God's word and follow God's instruction and follow God's will. And maybe there's some

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leader like that out there, maybe not. Maybe there aren't any running. Maybe there aren't

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any good people running for president. Maybe we need to be like Charles Spurgeon sometimes.

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He says, when I'm faced with the choice of two evils, I choose neither. Maybe some of

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you feel like that this election season. Maybe some of you have got your guy or you've got

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your girl and you know who you're going to vote for and you know they're going to make

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everything better. Well, hold tight. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. But I can guarantee

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you what would make things better is that if we would seek God as individuals, if we

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would seek God as a country, what we need in this country is we need good leadership

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in all areas of our country. We need men and women of God who are going to promote what

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is good, who are going to punish that that is evil, who are going to pursue peace, who

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are going to provide for the poor and the needy, who are going to protect the people

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of the land. These are things that are important to God. And Lord willing, maybe we get a man

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or maybe we get a woman who's going to live by those qualities that are beautiful qualities.

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But that's not what we see in our world today. So we are in a mess, brothers and sisters

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in Christ. We are in a mess as a country and we are in a mess as a world. And it's because

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we have not been living for God. Now we can look at all the evil people in the world in

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our country, but maybe some days we just need to look in the mirror. Maybe there are some

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things about ourselves that need to change. Maybe we're part of the problem. Maybe if

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we as brothers and sisters in Christ would start living as children of God should live,

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maybe we could make a change. We can start by asking God to help make a change in our

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life. We can allow God to make a change in our life so we can start maybe making a change

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in the life of our spouse or the life of our children and maybe making a change in the

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life of those that we work with and maybe even making a change in the life of those

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that we worship with. That if God would begin to work in our life, that maybe God could

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use that to begin to work in the life of others, maybe we need to start with ourselves. That's

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a good place to start. Maybe instead of thinking, boy, he's going to fix the problem or she's

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going to fix the problem, maybe we need to say, God, I pray that you'd reveal to me the

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things in my heart that shouldn't be there. God, that if there's going to be a change

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in this world, that you'd let it start with me, dear Lord. And we pray for good leaders.

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We do. We want to. We want to pray for those who are in authority. But maybe we need to

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start asking God to look at our own hearts. Maybe we need to start asking for God's will.

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Maybe our prayer doesn't need to be, God, let this man or let this woman be president.

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Maybe our prayer needs to be, God, let your will be done. Let the person that you want

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to be in there be in there. Maybe God puts a good leader in there for our good. Maybe

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God puts a bad leader in there because that's what we deserve. But nonetheless, we pray

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that God's will be done. We pray for God's grace. We pray that God will restore this

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land. But what we cannot do is trust in a man more than we trust in God. Trust in a

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woman more than we trust in God. Israel committed that very sin. And God said, the problem is

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that they have rejected me. Spoiler alert, if you hadn't read the rest of the Bible,

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the rest of their history after this was miserable. You know why? Because they didn't have but

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a handful of decent kings, a handful. They had lots of kings and queens, but they was

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all as rotten as they could be. They were as evil as they could possibly be. And God

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told them, if you continue reading this passage, and Samuel, you can do that this week, God

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said, okay, Samuel, you tell the people this. You tell the people that they can demand a

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king, and I'll give them their king, but they better know what they're asking for. And I'm

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summing it up, but here's what God said. He said, if you get a king, he's going to rule

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over you and be able to do anything he wants to you. That's basically what he says. He'll

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be able to take your children and send them to war. Well, we see that with our leaders

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today, don't we? He'll be able to take your land if he wants to. He'll be able to take

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almost everything you got should he choose to take it. So if you ask for a king, you

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better realize that the one you're giving this power to is going to hold a lot of power,

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and you better make sure that you know what you're asking for. Now, for a leader to hold

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a lot of power is not a bad thing as long as they're a good leader, but how many times

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have you seen somebody that's got a lot of power end up being a good person? Power corrupts,

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and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And that's what happens in our world. Even some

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good men and women that start off going to do the right thing, it's amazing how fast

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things change. You get a little bit of power, you get a little bit of money, and all of

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a sudden things go downhill real fast. And God told his people, look, you better be aware

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because this person you're asking for, they're fixing to have a lot of power over you. And

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there are very, very few people in this world that are wise enough to wield that kind of

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power. Very few. And that's a problem because power in the hand of a fool is like a stick

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of dynamite. A dynamite can be used to blow away mountains and make roadways and do great

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things, but dynamite in the wrong hands can be used to destroy everybody around it. And

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that's kind of like what power is. Boy, you could use power to do a lot of good, but how

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many times do we see that in our world today? Not often enough. So what we need is not to

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seek some man or some woman to be our savior, because I'll tell you this today. Our savior

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is not seated at the Resolute Desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Our savior is seated

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at the right hand of God, and his name is Jesus Christ. And until we seek him, and until

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we call on him, and until we begin to live for him, our world is in a mess and it's going

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to get in a lot worse mess. And we need to remember that. This Tuesday as we go vote,

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whenever we hear who the winner is, Tuesday night or three months down the road when everybody's

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arguing about it, we need to remember that we need to seek God, and we need to seek the

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goodness of God, and we need to seek the will of God, and we need to seek to follow the

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commands of God, and we need to trust that God is our God, and we need to trust him more

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than we trust a man or more than we trust a woman. So let us be prayerful this week

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as we prepare for this election. Let us pray for those who are running. Let us pray for

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those who are in power. Let us pray for our country. Let us pray for peace after the election.

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But most of all, let us pray for our nation that we would be a nation that would seek

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God, that we would be a people that would stop rejecting God, that we would be a people

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that would call on God and bring God back into our schools and into our workplaces and

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into every part of our society. And then we'll see a nation that will be healed if only people

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would call out and seek the Lord. That is our hope today. Our hope is in our Savior,

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Jesus Christ, not in the President of the United States. Let's pray. Father God, we

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come to you this morning. We thank you for being good to us. But God, I pray that you'd

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forgive us as a nation, that you'd forgive us as a society, because we are rotten sometimes,

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dear Lord, most of the time. And not just those evil people that we can point our fingers

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at, dear Lord. The fact of the matter is sometimes it's us, it's ourselves. We're the ones that

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are...we're not helping society any. We're falling into the trap. Dear Lord, sometimes

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if we're honest, we want to be like the other nations. We want to live in the way of sin,

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dear Lord. We see your goodness, we see your love, we see the truth of your word. And even

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still sometimes we are just as rotten as these Israelites. We just reject you, God. We seek

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our help and our hope in something else. Dear Lord, maybe there are some in this room today

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and they're yours. And maybe they hadn't been trusting you the way they should. Maybe they

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have got caught up in all this political stuff. It's easy to do, dear Lord. We see it all

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the time. It's easy for us to get caught up in all this and debating and arguing with

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people that we love and breaking relationships and trusting in men or women to lead us. But

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God, I pray today that we put all that to the side and that today that we would start

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by looking at ourself, God. That we would repent of our sins, that if we have not been

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trusting you, that we kind of re-center our focus today. Not on presidents, but on Jesus.

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God, I pray that you would help us to do the good things that you want. That we would pursue

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good in our life and pursue righteousness, God. That we would flee from evil and repent

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of it. So God, maybe there are some today and they're yours and they've just been rejecting

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you, God. They just hadn't been trusting you like they should. I pray today, dear Lord,

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that they would humble themselves before you and repent of their sins. God, maybe there

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are some in this room and they don't know Jesus Christ. Maybe they know coming to church.

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Maybe they know a little bit of your word, but maybe they've never really trusted you.

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Maybe they're still trusting the things in the world. They're trusting their wealth or

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they're trusting their president or they're trusting a variety of things, God, but they've

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already found out and discovered that they're still just as pitiful and as hopeless as they

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were when they started. So God, today I pray that you would help them to look to something

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better, to someone better. That today they would look to Jesus Christ, God. That they

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would repent of their sinfulness. That they wouldn't try to find hope or deliverance in

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the world. That they would know that God, you are the same God who brought about good

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and deliverance to your people Israel and you are the same God that brings about good

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and deliverance to us today through Jesus Christ and Christ alone. So God, I pray that

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if there is one that does not know Jesus today, that even now if you're working on them, that

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they would call out to you, God, that they would pray. That they would repent. That they

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would seek you, dear Lord. God, I pray that as we have this moment of invitation in just

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a second that if anybody's made that decision to follow you today, that they would walk

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up front, dear Lord, and let us rejoice with them so that they can be followed through

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in baptism just as Jesus has commanded. Dear Lord, maybe there are some here this morning

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that need prayer. Maybe there are some that just are going to pray where they are, dear

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Lord, but I pray that if you've spoken to anybody today that they would respond. And

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I pray for our nation, dear Lord. You have been so good to us. You have blessed us and

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we thank you for those blessings. But dear Lord, we have sinned and sinned greatly as

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a nation. Our world is just in chaos, dear Lord, but our solution comes from you, God.

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And I pray, God, that we would be a people that would seek you, that you be with our

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leaders both locally and nationally, that you would just convict the hearts of those

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who lead, that you would help the ones that are doing good to do good and the ones that

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are doing evil to repent, dear Lord, that you would pour your spirit out on this land.

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God, that we would be a people that love one another and that seek to love you and to serve

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you. God, I pray that you forgive us for taking you out. And dear Lord, I pray that you'd

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be gracious and have mercy and through your spirit, God, you can work miracles, that your

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word would be promoted in our land, in our schools, in our churches, dear Lord, that

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we would not forget who you are and that we would trust you above all else. And I ask

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these things in Jesus' name, Amen.