The Politics of the Kingdom – Engaging as Christians in a Divided World

Speaker A00:00:00

Hey, just look around today. News feeds, social media, family dinners even, and even in church pews. It's all about politics.And when we look at it, the truth is, for many of us, we're in separate camps. And I don't know about you, but I feel torn. I'm just not sure which side to choose. And bigger than that, how do I reconcile that with my faith?And what if Jesus isn't found waving any flag but his own kingdom's banner? What do you think about that? Which leads me to this question.How do we live as faithful citizens of heaven while navigating earthly kingdoms that pull us apart? That's another tough question, right? Which leads me to today's listener question. I got this question in. I said, I've got to do a show about this.And this was their question. Ralph, I love my country, but I'm exhausted by all the anger and division. I'm gonna pause for a second. I hear that loud and clear.Here's the rest of their question. Ralph, how should a Christian engage in politics without losing peace or compromising faith? Now, that's a deep question, isn't it?Have you asked yourself this same question? I've asked myself that same question after I got it. And the answer is complicated, isn't it? Because the problem is this.And this is why I do this show. It's all about culture and faith. Well, culture tells us this. Culture says, pick a side, Ralph. Pick a camp. Which side you going to be on?Red, blue, whatever that looks like. Republican, Democrat, I don't know where you're at in the world, whatever those parties are in your hometown, that's what culture says. Pick a side.It also says, win the argument, you got to win the debate, you got to win the discussion. And it says, power equals progress. That's what culture's telling us. But here's the problem. God's word tells us something almost completely different.God's word tells us to be ambassadors of reconciliation. Now, that's a term you don't hear in the common press much anymore. You don't hear that in culture, do you? God's word tells us to walk humbly.God's word tells us to lead with love and listen. God's word also tells us to be the peacemakers. What a huge contrast.So the question today is, how can we influence the culture without being consumed by it? That's my question for today, and that's what I'm going to talk about on today's show.

Speaker B00:02:13

Feeling lost in today's headlines, Seeking God's Truth for our chaotic culture. Welcome to Truth Unveiled with Ralph. We'll cut through the noise guiding you to biblical discernment for your faith, your finances, and your life.Now here's Ralph Estep Jr.

Speaker A00:02:32

Hello there. Welcome to Truth Unveiled with Ralph. I'm Ralph. I'm an accountant. I'm a business coach, I'm a media host. But bigger than all those things, I'm a Christian at heart.And I wanted to start there because you got to understand where my heart is. Because today is going to be a lot about talking about heart and that question. Today I faced that very question myself.And as you think about it, we're trying to balance two things. We're really trying to balance the earthly systems.Those are the things that are created by and managed by man, the political parties, the government, all those type of things. We're really trying to balance that with eternal truths, those truths created by God. And that's the struggle, isn't it?Listen, I'm 53 years old and I've seen it so many times in my life already where people misplace trust in government. They thought government was the answer. I see it in my accounting life where people trust in the markets.And the problem is when you live in that culture, when you live in that set of realities, for you, it all leads to fear. The other day I was on Facebook and someone had asked this question on Facebook, why do we choose to live in a state of fear?And it's funny how as I was scrolling through it caught my attention somebody in one of my Facebook groups that I know pretty well. And I thought for a second, now that's the question, isn't it? Because God's truth tells us to trust in God, because that's where we find peace.But we're living in two kingdoms, aren't we? And it made me question this. Where is my first allegiance? In the United States, we do a thing called the Pledge of Allegiance.What is our first allegiance? It made me question this, and you're probably questioning this right now. Is it in the world or is it in Christ? Where's your first allegiance?Is it in the world or is it in Christ? And that's a thought provoking question, isn't it? And I love what John Stott said. We found this quote for today's show.And he says, when the church gets too cozy with power, it loses its prophet's voice. And I thought about that for a second. I said, has the church gotten too cozy with power? Has it really lost its prophet's voice?Which leads me to the big question of the day. How do we find that right balance? How do we measure? And how do we live in earthly and eternal at the same time?I think the answer is found in Scripture. So let's start there. Let's get right into our Bible today, because, man, we got to get into the Word and really see what God's speaking to us.Let's start with the book of Romans, chapter 13, verse 1. This is going to be our anchor verse as we get started. Again, Romans 13:1.Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. Now, we could stop right there. We could say, okay, great.Scripture's telling us, if the government's in charge, God has ordained them, God has established them. That sounds good, doesn't it? There's a problem there, isn't there? What if the government that you're living in acts against Scripture?What if the very things that government is telling you are, okay, they're acceptable? What do you do then? Because, yes, we can accept that God established them, but has it been corrupted? Think about the pressing issues of today.I'm just going to list a couple. Abortion, transgender, faith. I mean, these are all the talking points that are in culture right now.How do we reconcile that if it contradicts our faith? God is saying that I've ordained these people. I've put them in a position. But how do we reconcile that if it contradicts our faith?You might be saying, ralph, wait a second. I thought you said the answer was in Scripture. Yeah, it leads to more questions, doesn't it? Let's get a little deeper into God's Word.Let's go to 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Again, 1st Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1and 2. You notice I always give you the Bible verse a couple times. Because here's what I want you to do.When you're done listening to me, go get back in the Bible. Go read that for yourself. My grandfather used to always say, seek your own salvation. I don't want you to trust what I'm saying to you.I want you to trust me. Don't misunderstand me, but I want you to trust and verify.Ronald Reagan, the President, United States, used to say that all the time, trust, but verify. And that's why I give you these Bible verses, because I want you to go verify what I'm saying. Again, First Timothy, chapter two, verses one and two.I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all People for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. There's another anchor, right? It starts with prayers. I can. I can get into that. I can do that. How about you? Can you pray for your leaders?Well, sure, we can do that, but the problem remains. What if those very leaders are acting contrary to the truth of faith? If they're working against Scripture, then what do you do?Now you're thinking, Ralph. Okay. Now, you've given me two Bible verses and you've given me more questions than when we started. Yes, I'm right here along the ride with you.More questions. Let's look to Jesus himself, the capstone of our faith, right? Let's just assume that we are here as Christians. That's the capstone.Let's look at the Book of Matthew, chapter 22, verse 21. Very common piece of Scripture where Jesus is talking to his disciples and he used a coin as an example. Again, that's Matthew 22, verse 21.He said, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. There's a start, right? We're getting to an answer, finally. You're like, ralph, that's fantastic. You've finally given me an answer.And that's easy for taxes, right? I spend a lot of time in tax work. It's the government's money. Look at the coin. This is what Jesus said to his disciples. Look at the coin.Whose face is on the coin? Well, Caesar's face is. Then Jesus said, fine, render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God, what is God? What is that telling us?We'll follow the law. Sure, we can follow the law in general, but we arrive at another problem, don't we? We still have a huge issue, don't we?What if government says to do something that we know is completely against God? Then what? Now you're thinking, Ralph, man, you're playing a game today. It's like a maze. It's a puzzle. It's a jigsaw puzzle. Yes, it is.It's complicated. But here's where I think the answer is found. Let's look at the Book of Philippians, chapter 3, verse 20. Again, Philippians 3. 20.I believe this is the answer. But our citizenship is in heaven. And I just want to park there for a second because this is very important for today.Our citizenship is in heaven, and it goes on. And we eagerly await a savior from there. Where is he coming from? From heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that kind of gets us to closure, doesn't it?Because it's telling us where our home is now. Our eternal home is now clear. We know where we're going to end up. I've heard it said a lot of times that our earthly body is kind of like a tent.It's kind of a vacation, if you will. Some people might not say it's a very good vacation. I think life is beautiful. So I know where I'm going.I know where my citizenship, my long term citizenship is. Think about when you go away to college.If you were a student that went away to college, when you went away to college, your college always says, well, what's your permanent home? Well, that was your parents house probably, right? Well think about this in the same way.Our permanent home is heaven with a savior, but when you're away at college, you got a temporary home, right? Well think about that in the same terms. I think it's a good analogy. Our governments are those temporary homes. See, we're not in heaven here on earth.If you doubt that, let me tell you right now, this is not heaven. Be very clear about that. So now what? So ask yourself this.How do we respond to a culture and government which stands opposed to the truth found in the word of God? Yeah, that's a tough place to be, isn't it? What's the answer? Let's start by laying out some truths.See, I think we have to start with some truths that you and I can agree on right now, as we start this discussion, we got to accept these things. And then we're going to get a little deeper in each one of these.But I just want to hit these at the top level and then we're going to go a little deeper. First thing, we got to accept this is a truth. We are citizens of two kingdoms. There's our earthly kingdom, because guess what? We're here.Physically, we're here. Like right now. You're seeing me, I'm on earth. We're citizens of that and we're citizens of heaven at the same time.Because what is the scripture telling us? Our home is in heaven. First truth, we got to accept that. Second truth. God's word calls us to pray for our leaders.Now it's real easy to demonize them, isn't it? That person I'm diametrically opposed to. Ralph, you asked me to pray for them. I'm not the one telling you to pray for them.God's telling you to pray for them. It's easy to demonize them and it's harder to pray for them, isn't it? That's our second truth. God calls us to pray for our leaders.Third, truth integrity matters more than ideology. And I'm going to dig into that a little bit because that's going to be contrary to what a lot of people think. Well, we got to accept that as a truth.Integrity matters more than ideology. Here's another truth. We talked about the church being a little too political lately, didn't we? We had that quote from that felt the beginning.The church's power lies in witness, not winning. See, there's a difference. And I might get into that a little bit today. The difference between witness and winning.The church's power lies in witness, not winning. And my final truth for today, and this is a truth that you can rest yourself in.The ultimate hope for all of us rest in Christ's kingdom, not political systems. And that's something we can anchor ourselves. You want to find an anchor to today's discussion? Right there it is. Our ultimate hope is in Christ.Not in a government, not in a leader, not in a political party, not in anything in culture. It's in Christ. So let me pause for a second, ask you this before we go on any farther. Are you willing to accept these truths?Because we can't move forward without some basic ground rules, Kind of like when you play football. I played football when I was a kid. There were rules. There were sidelines. There was a time, there was a referee.There were certain things that you did. We had to accept those. You couldn't go out onto the football field with hand grenades and say, we're going to play football today.So we got to accept these truths. If you're ready to move forward, let's start with this two kingdoms. I mentioned this a few minutes ago. The earthly government serves a purpose.We have to have that it's for societal order. Without that, we would live in disorder. It'd be chaos. It'd be mayhem in the streets. That's one purpose of government.Another purpose of government is protection because there are people who don't like us. There are other countries who want to kill us and hurt us. That's just a fact. And governments help give us protection.Here's something a lot of people don't think about. Government and society gives us utility so we can have water, so we can have light, so we can have all the. What I'll call creature comforts.Let me just tell you right? If you're listening to my voice right now, accept one thing for certain. You Live in a comfortable place. You live with a roof over your home.I'm assuming if you listen to my voice, you've got electric, you've got Internet, You've got some way of communicating with the outside world. So we can thank culture and we can thank government for that. Government gives us a basic set of rules, what I'll call the baseline rules of conduct.You can't go around whacking people. You can't go, you know, stabbing and shooting people. You got to be a good person in society. We hear that term, am I a good person? I'll give you that.That's not a Christian. That's not a Christian statement. That's an earthly government statement. But it gives us those things.So there's two kingdoms we're living in, but here's the bigger one, and that's God's kingdom. That's our true home. And in that kingdom, that's where we find eternal truth. The things that the Bible speaks about that we have to embrace as truth.The other thing we found there is our character. Our character doesn't come from government. It doesn't come from a constitution. It doesn't come from a political party.It comes from our belief in God, our faith in Christ. That's why this government works, actually, if you think about it. Because without that, the government wouldn't work either.If we had no value for human life, if we had no value for the respect of others, your government wouldn't work. We've seen that happen so many times in history. Where does that come from? It comes from that place of character, from Christ. We get wisdom from God.I did a show a couple weeks ago about AI and how AI can give us knowledge, but it can never give us wisdom. So we have to accept that. That our earthly home, our earthly citizenship gives us wisdom.And as I talked about a week or two ago, it gives us justice. And we gotta make a choice right now. I'm gonna encourage you to make a choice.We gotta choose not to confuse national loyalty with spiritual identity. So many people get hung up on this. I've seen it so many times. People will say, oh, you gotta honor your country. Yes, I agree with that.Wherever you're listening to me right now, whatever country you're in, honor your country. Respect its rules, respect its order. But I'm also going to challenge you to stand up when it's against God's truth.And that's not a popular thing to say. Now, I'm not telling you to go riot. To be very clear, I'm not endorsing violence by any stretch. We'll talk a little about how you do that.But it's your obligation, dare I say, to stand up when your country is against God's truth. And remember, your identity is not rooted in that country. It's rooted in biblical truth. So stand for what is right.You might be saying, okay, Ralph, how do I do that? Well, here's one simple thing you can do. Vote for candidates who are following truth. We gotta start there. We gotta decide not to participate in evil.If your government is doing evil things, you don't have to participate in that. That's where you can stand. That's where you can take that stand. So it starts there.Next thing we gotta think about, right from Scripture, we gotta pray for our leaders. And that's a tough thing to do, isn't it? They just had the Presidential Award for Charlie Kirk the other day, and his widow gave a great speech.And she said, one of the things that Charlie always did is he prayed for his leaders. Now, I'm going to tell you right now, Charlie prayed for people he didn't agree with. We're all challenged to do that, aren't we?And it's hard when they're dead set against what we believe in, isn't it? But God still commands us to do that. Now, you might be saying, okay, Ralph, God's got this mixed up. God must be on a. He doesn't understand it, Ralph.Why would he ask us to pray for our leaders even when they are dead set against what Christ himself stands for? Here's why with that prayer, maybe soften their heart.There are leaders right now in charge of countries who are prayed for and their hearts have changed. I've seen it in my own lifetime. See, that's part of the why here. They also may come to see the truth.Your prayers for that leader that you're diametrically opposed to may very well lead them to truth. Every night when I pray, you know what I pray about? I say, lord, I pray for my leaders.I pray that you will help them to make wise and morally correct decisions. I pray for the leaders that I do not like. I pray for the leaders that I would never have voted for.I pray for the leaders who are diametrically opposed to the gospel because that's what it means to stand for justice. Because you know what that prayer does? It reminds them ultimately who's in control. See, when you pray for a leader, you're also reaffirming that.You're saying, God, I get it, yeah. He might be such and such. He's a congressman, he's a senator, he's a councilman, whatever that is. President of the United States.But, God, I know you're still in control. And this is hard because the truth is, many times criticism can be and feel righteous. But, Ralph, you don't get it. That person said this.That is diametrically opposed to Christ. Yes, it is. You may very well be and feel righteous. You're righteous in what you're saying. But let me ask you, does that criticism transform them?Does that constant state of screaming at them and tell them how they're wrong, does it do anything to transform them? But what if the prayers of the faithful could intercede in changing their behavior? That's what we're talking about here.Because that's where the power is. See, it's easy to stand on the sideline. We see this all. All over culture. We see this all over social media. It's easy to throw insults.It's easy to pick up stuff and throw bottles and throw dirt and throw criticism. They say shade, throw shade at them. It's real easy to put those.Those terroristic posts online and talk bad about this one and talk bad about this one. Cancel them, do all those things. But it's a true effort to pray for your enemies, isn't it? That's where the rubber meets the road, as they say.Because here's one thing I want to tell you right now. God can transform them. We can't, but God can. So I'm gonna encourage you right now.Pray for your leaders, even those you disagree with, that they will have a heart that has changed. Let's talk about integrity over ideology. I mentioned a little earlier. We're gonna talk about what that looks like.And I just want you to take a mental picture. Think of the politicians who are chasing that political influence. Truth is, most politicians, that's what they're doing. What's their end goal?Self promotion, of course. They want to get elected to that office. They want to be the leader. They want to be in charge. They want to be the man, or the woman, for that matter.They're chasing that. They're chasing influence. They want to be that influencer. They want to be the person that everybody else looks up to. I'm the influencer.I'm the senator. I'm the congressman. I'm whatever that person. I'm the assemblyman. What? Doesn't matter. Governor. Pick a name. It doesn't matter to me. Local sheriff.I don't care. Cheap Omnibudsman whatever that looks like. They want that invoice. They want that power, right? That's what they're seeking. They're seeking power.But let me ask you this question. What about their personal holiness? See, now we're fixing to get real, as my grandfather would say. We're fixing to get real now, aren't we?Where's their heart? The Bible says judge a tree by its fruit. Where's their fruit? And see, here's something I want to say.Influence without character corrupts the witness. I just tore down a lot of politicians, didn't I? Where's their fruit?Because that influence, that power, whatever that is, that elected, whatever that looks like without character, without standing for something, completely corrupts their witness. Because we have to ask ourselves, what do they stand for? Are they the leader of a political party? Great. You're the best Republican out there.You're the best Democrat out there. You're the best liberal out there. Pick a name. I don't really care. What about eternity? Because we made an assumption at the beginning.We said we live as two citizens. Well, if we're going to live in two citizenships, guess what? We better be worried about that, right?And it's so easy to get lost in the pursuit of ideology, to lose your integrity. Think of how so many disgraced leaders we've seen fall from grace, as they say, because they lost their core, they lost their character.They're caught chasing ideology, and they lost their soul. So now I ask you a tough question. I've had to ask myself this very question. Where's your ideology grounded? Is it here or is eternal?I don't expect you to answer that question right now. But you better be praying about that, because it's easy to get stuck in ideology. I'm guilty of that as well.But don't lose sight of your witness, because that's what happens when you lose your integrity, when you lose your character. Yeah, you might win points here, you might get influence here. You might get power here. You may get elected to an office here.But don't forget, this is your temporary home. There's an eternal resting place. And you're going to violate all the rules of that to get to where you want to be.Here they call it selling out your soul to the devil. Right? Let's talk about witness, because that's what it leads us right to. What did I say about the church?The church needs to be a witness, not a winner all the time. Think of the early church. Just picture yourself the early church. Jesus set up the Disciples. Truth is, the disciples were the renegades, right?They were people that no one would have expected. Fishermen and tax collectors. And I'm going to say something kind of bold. But they were not the highfalutin people of society, were they?Jesus chose common people like you and like me. And if we're being honest with ourselves, they had no ability to win against the government.The Roman soldiers were going to destroy them and they'd proven it. They had no way of winning against the government. What could they win, though? They could demonstrate. Fancy word for that is they could be a witness.And if you're a Christian right now, guess what they did. They changed the world. Not by elections, not by any political party. They were an example.You're a Christian today because of the early church's example. Just think about that power of the early church. They didn't need to win. They didn't need to whip Rome. They didn't do any of those things.They just needed to witness. So let me ask you a really difficult question. What kind of example does your life show like Ralph. Wait a minute. You cut me on that one.Yeah, just like cut me, too. But I think this is one of the things that we can learn as we talk about how to live in these two worlds. What kind of example does our life show?That's tough. Self reflection. Because think about the unity of the early church. The leaders were like, wait a minute, these renegades, what are they going to do?They confounded the leaders of the day. The leaders were amazed at the witness of these people. They marveled at their unity. It was their unity in Christ, not any political party.They weren't Republicans, they weren't Democrats, they were Christians. I must say something a little bit strong right now. I dare say they weren't any church denomination.Ralph's going to get in trouble here, but I'm going to say something kind of bold. They weren't Baptist, they weren't Methodists, they weren't Catholics, they weren't Protestants. They were Christians. That was their unity.I get so sick and tired of people taking camps. Well, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Methodist, I'm a Presbyterian, I'm a this, I'm a that. Guess what? You know what you are at your core? You're a Christian.You better start living like it. Because we can learn from that. And our focus needs to be on our eternal hope.Wouldn't I say the biggest takeaway from this, the big hug from God, is this eternal hope. Because, listen, political winds are fleeting in my own lifetime. I've seen parties come. I've seen parties go. I've seen leaders come.I've seen leaders go. I've seen big ideas completely grow up and completely fail and sizzle out. But here's the truth. Jesus is forever and ever.And that's a kingdom that evolves forever. I want you to remember something. Every system will fail. Every political system is going to fail. Every government will eventually fail.And I'm not speaking bad against governments. Don't take me the wrong way. Systems fail, but his reign, the reign of Christ will not fail. That is a truth.You can take that to the bank and put it on deposit. Because once you've gotten to that point of personal salvation, that's a truth. So let me ask you this. Where is your hope found?See, mine's not found in any political party or affiliation. Yes, I believe in a political party. I support them because I believe they stand for what's right.But mine is found in the internal truth of Jesus Christ. And I stand firm in that. Let's get back to our contrast today. Culture versus God's truth. See, the world thrives in outrage. Choose the opposing sides.Let's battle. Let's pick a party. Let's be angry with each other. Let's be mad at each other. I can't believe they said that. Oh, I can't believe.The outrage is ridiculous. Go on social media for two minutes and you will find whatever side you want of outrage. But that's not what God is calling us to do.God's calling us to peace. God's calling us to truth. God's calling us to unity. God's calling us to stand with character, with integrity, not some ideology.Because culture elevates leaders to idols. Think about rock stars. Those leaders, they're rock stars, earthly gods, if you will. They are put on a pedestal. Everybody worships at their feet.But what does scripture call them? When I reread this, I said, this is amazing. I never really picked this up before. Scripture calls them servants under God.Think about that for a second. Under God. God's servants and given power only by God. That's what the scripture tells me.They are leaders because God has given them the ability to be leaders. Now we can ask ourselves, why in the world would God put this person in charge? And I'm not picking on any party right now.I'm just saying in general, we talked about allegiance earlier. Society demands allegiance. Allegiance to a cause, allegiance to a party, allegiance to a government. And I'm not telling you.Don't have allegiance to your government. I'm not saying that at all. But the gospel demands something even more powerful, and that's surrender. Yes, allegiance or surrender. That's the choice.So now I'm giving you more questions and answers. So what do we do? We start by speaking truth with grace. It's okay to speak truth.I hear people say all the time, well, I'm not going to judge that person because then I'll be judged by the same thing. It's okay if you're speaking truth. It's scripturally backed truth.It's okay to speak truth because the world needs to hear truth more now than any time ever in our history. The world needs to hear truth. It needs to hear biblical truth. And there's so many people working against that. It's okay to oppose wrong.It's okay to stand against that which is wrong in the light of the Christian gospel. Now there's a way to do it. I'm not condoning violence. Don't misunderstand me. There's a way to oppose what is wrong. But don't forget about grace.Yeah, don't forget about grace. Because let me ask you this question. Where would you be without grace? I'd be lost. Because I don't deserve any of the things I have.Only by grace am I saved. Not by my own works, not by anything I could possibly do. So start there. Don't let anger hijack your witness. I've seen that happen so many times.People get so angry that they lose their witness. You probably heard about that. If you've been in church circles for any length of time, somebody blows up, what's the first thing people say?Oh, that person lost their witness. Because the world is watching how you react. Listen, the world is watching how we as Christians react.The world is saying, oh, look at those Christian folks over there. What do they stand for? Think about the early church, what they stand for. They weren't fighting anybody. They stood for what Christ had taught them.So here's something practical. Before you post anything online, it's easy to be a keyboard terrorist these days.And I use that word intentionally because there's a bunch of knuckleheads out there online posting all kinds of garbage. Before you post anything online, I'm gonna encourage you to do something. Pray for the people you disagree with.If you feel compelled to make a criticism of somebody else before you even hit enter on your keyboard, pray for that person. Ask God for wisdom. Ask him how he can change their hearts. Ask him for constructive ideas. Be a witness for truth and listen to miss what they say.When the Pharisees confronted the woman who was caught in adultery, what did Jesus say? Classic Jesus. Oh, yeah, she's guilty of adultery. That's true. But here's what I want you folks to do. They're getting ready to pick up the stone.He who was without sin took up the first stone. What happened? One by one, they walked away. See, it starts there. Sharpen your own holiness first. See, it starts at home.You say, well, Ralph, I can't change the government. No, you can't. But you can change your home. You can model kingdom leadership in your own home.How you treat your wife, how you treat your husband, how you treat your kids, how you treat their neighbors, how you treat the people you work with, how you treat the community around you. That's where it starts. Model that behavior. Be like the early church. And hey, maybe you feel called to step up to elected office. I've done that.I've been a councilman for a local town. I didn't like where things were going, so what did I do? I put my name on the ballot and I got elected and I stood for what I believed in.That doesn't work for everybody. So find out how you can stand up and be a voice for truth. Like I said earlier, vote with conviction.Understand what these people you are voting for stand for. But then worship with humility. Because here's a personal pet peeve. It just drives me crazy. If you don't vote, you got no right to complain.I honestly believe that voting is an absolute thing that you must do. If you're not going to vote, then shut up. I don't want to hear you. Because that's the one thing that you have in most countries.Now, I'm going to take a. I'm going to say, in America and other countries that have democracy or whatever you want to call it, representative government, you have a right to vote. If you're not doing that, then you're a fool. You say, well, Ralph, it doesn't make any sense for me to vote because that person's going to win.But guess what? Vote with your conscience, then you gotta participate. That's crucial. And we talked today about getting your own house in order.Well, it all starts with something even bigger than that. It starts with your own relationship with Christ. Do you know Jesus as your personal savior?Maybe today you're saying, ralph, dude, I've been trusting in earthly systems for peace. I've been trusting in the government. I've been trusting all those things. But Man, I've never surrendered it to Christ.Well, right now I want to invite you to something higher. You're looking for the answer. Here's the answer for today. Jesus Christ is the only king who will never fail. Hear me on that.He's the only leader who died to save you. Jesus Christ went to the cross for you. Did you deserve it? Did he deserve that? No. Do you deserve his grace? No. But you get it, don't you?You can surrender to him today. You can change your life right now and step into unshakable kingdom of God right now. If you want to do that, I want to encourage you right now.Pray this prayer with me right where you are. It doesn't matter. Where you are is called the prayer of salvation. You can be a child of God right at this moment.All you got to do is pray along with you right now.Lord Jesus, the Word says that if I confess with my mouth that you are Lord, and I believe with my heart that God raised you from the dead, I will be saved. So today, Lord, I confess to you. I confess you as my Lord and Savior. I believe you died for my sins and rose again.And I turn right now from my old ways, Lord, to things that weren't working. My belief in systems and structures. And I invite you into my heart and into my life. I ask you to be my personal savior.I thank you for forgiving me when I didn't deserve it. I thank you for saving me when I didn't earn it. And I thank you for giving me eternal life by giving me your life. And I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.Well, if you prayed that prayer, I want to do one thing right now. I want to welcome you to the family of God.Because I truly believe that celebrations all over heaven are going on right now because another person has been saved. You are now a blessed child of God. I say amen to that. So now you're asking Ralph. Okay, I've done what you said.Now, how do I put the things we've talked about to work today? Because this is the hard part. Here's what I'm going to encourage you to do. This is something you can do right now, right where you're at.Choose a leader or a public official that you disagree with. Think of somebody. I got a long list of these people. It's not hard for me. And I want to encourage you right now. Pray for them incessantly this week.Make that your focus of your energy. Pray for that person. Pray for those people. Pray that God would soften their heart. Pray that God would show them truth.Pray that God would help them to come to a place of redemption. But do that. Make that a focus of your energy. Second thing I'm going to encourage you to do, this one's a little harder. Honestly.You got to evaluate your media habits. Probably think I listen to Ralph. He's always talking about this media thing.That's because I truly believe that we live in fear because we put ourselves there. We surround ourselves with useless noise. Ask yourself this question about your social media. Is it feeding your fear or building your faith?It's really that simple. You're scrolling through Facebook or looking at TikTok or Reels, whatever that is, is it feeding your fear? Does it make you angry when you do it it?Or is it building your faith? Because here's the truth. There are social media sites that build faith. What I'm given right now is going to be on social media.And if you listen to what I'm saying to you, the Holy Spirit speaking through me, that will build your faith. I'm not about stoking fear here. So I'm not saying that all social media is bad, not saying that at all. But choose wisely.Is it feeding the fears that you have? Is it making you want to pick a side? Is it making you forget about your permanent home and live in your temporary home? Or is it building your faith?And if it's not building your faith, I'm going to encourage you. Replace it with something that will build your faith. Spend more time in scripture.Listen to Christian music, tune into shows like mine or podcast, whatever that is for you. Spend more time there. Spend less time in fear. Well, how about we close with a prayer together? Lord, we thank you for this message today.We thank you that you're a God of grace, Lord, and we ask you right now for humility so hard to accept that we need to be humble even in our civil engagements. Lord, give us wisdom. We know that wisdom only comes from you. And we need courage.Lord, we need courage to stand for truth in a world that is so diametrically opposed to truth in so many ways. So give us that courage. Lord, we ask for peace in our community. We ask for peace in our churches and in our governments.Lord, we ask for you to give our leaders wisdom. Give them integrity, give them compassion. Help them to not stand on ideology, but on integrity.And, Lord, we ask this in confidence, knowing that you answer and hear our prayers. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. I just want to stress this. As Christians, we're called to engage.I'm not saying you to sit on the sidelines, but engage differently. Because our hope is not in elections. It's in a resurrection that already happened. And we can choose to love deeply.We can choose to speak truthfully and. And we can choose to live faithfully because our citizenship is in heaven. And can I be honest with you?The best part of my week, every week is hearing how these conversations land in your real life.When I get a message or I get a text or an email or a message on our Facebook post or on our YouTube post, it tells me that you've heard this hard conversation and you prayed that bold prayer. Or maybe you saw God show up unexpected in your life. I want to hear from you. If today's show has hit you differently, I want to hear from you.You can find me at my website. That's truthunveiledwithralph.com. Again, truthunveiledwithralph.com. i'd love to hear your story.I'd love to share with you some resources or maybe just pray with you because this show, Truth Unveiled keeps going because of you. Talk about praying for people. Pray for me. Pray for the message of this show. Because your prayers ground me when you share this show.It brings others into understanding what we're trying to do. And your support makes it sustainable because you might say, Ralph, I'm just listening and watching. No, you're doing so much more than that.You're part of this movement. So here's what I want you to remember. We are citizens of heaven. First, let's start there. Politics are going to divide us, but Christ unites us.And our allegiance in the end belongs to a king whose kingdom will never fail. So I encourage you right now, be that person who brings peace to the noise. Be that person that brings truth to the confusion.And be that person that brings love to the divided. Keep your hearts anchored in Christ.Keep your words filled with grace, and keep that hope set on his unshakable kingdom which will last forever and ever. I want to thank you for joining me on the show today. I wish God's blessing on you, and I'll see you again next week.