Well, I imagine that most of us could resonate with at least some, if not all, of what Sister Rachel Green was expressing earlier. We're at the end of, and we mentioned this on Sunday even a little bit, but at the end of a fairly intense election cycle, we were praying and On Sunday, tried to direct our hearts and minds towards some eternal truths that would help our perspective and give us some stability. And now it's over. The anticipation for what may or may not have happened, it's like it is every four years, it's done. And you kind of wonder how in the world did we get zonked in and sucked in for that long? And then all of a sudden, here we are. It would be nice, wouldn't it? I mean, I think we would all love to grow and to get to the point to where... we could fervently, consistently, enduringly seek after the Lord with a sense of desperation. At times where we don't feel as desperate, it was just a natural thing. And I really do think, I don't wanna minimize the fact that that's something that we ought to be seeking after, but I also think that is gonna be one of the blessings of being in heaven. That intensity will never ever wax or wane. We won't have to wait for the next emergency or tragedy or what could be upsetting or whatever. We will have our hearts tuned toward appropriate and consistent seeking of God's face and fellowship. in a way that is outside of our circumstances. And so I'm looking forward to that. But all that being said, as I've tried to think about us coming together tonight and what we might say, we could have spent some time on patience and it would have been well spent. I want us to think tonight about three appropriate responses to the election. Three appropriate responses to the election. So on Sunday we were thinking about four things we needed to remember yesterday. and they all had to do with God and His character and what we know about Him. And in light of that, what we know about us. And so today, tonight for a few minutes, I want us to think about. In light of the results. What would be an appropriate response? You could get more than this, but I think these three. Will. Be helpful. Number one. Out of First Thessalonians Chapter 5. First Thessalonians Chapter 5. Verse 18. This is a very general command. You're very familiar with it. First Thessalonians Chapter 5 verse 18. In everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." First appropriate response that we ought to have to what happened last night is we ought to be giving thanks to God. We said on Sunday that really it's the Lord who raises leaders up. It's the Lord who takes them down. It's the Lord who sustains them. It's the Lord who removes them and so forth and so on. We also know that God has a good purpose in all that He allows to come to pass and all that He brings to pass on behalf of His people. But the other thing I think we ought to keep in mind and the other thing I think is worth saying is it's always appropriate to give thanks. And it's appropriate to give thanks when God gives you something you wanted. Sometimes, you know, we can think about wants and desires, and while we shouldn't be ruled by our desires, at the same time, we shouldn't pretend like we don't have any. We do. We did have a desire for last night. Many, if most of us, wondered if that desire was just going to be squelched, but it wasn't. I will also say this. I think our desire for the outcome of last night was not just for selfish reasons. I think that as you look at the platforms and the directions of both parties and you try to align one with what might come closest to The semblance of a pursuit of righteousness or at least not a complete plunge into. Godless immorality. I don't think we have to pretend like we didn't have a desire one way or the other. I think it was. Clear. And the Lord answered. All those prayers that went up I know you do too, but I long to live in a country where folks aren't trying to pretend like transgender is normal. I long to live in a country that is exalted by righteousness, and you do too. And we shouldn't feel bashful about that. Now, we're not going to start holding political rallies in here and trying to get everybody out and all that kind of thing. God mercifully answered a lot of prayers last night. We ought to give thanks. We ought to give thanks. In Luke 17, we get this little short narrative. It's another one that you're familiar with. Luke chapter 17. It says in verse 12 about Jesus that as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice he glorified God and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks." And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. You see, the reality is and the phrase here is to give glory to God. But when you give thanks to God, you're giving glory to God for his goodness. You're giving glory to God for his favor. And really, in the context here of what's being talked about, you're giving glory to God for his mercy. You know, God doesn't have to be merciful. I mean, just the very nature of mercy that is. to be pitiful or to be unnecessarily kind and compassionate towards someone. It's not anything that's due or owed or anything like that. And so when the Lord hears our cry, when the Lord knows and we know that we've had deep concerns and anxieties distresses over potential outcomes and what that could mean for us, for our kids, for our grandkids, for our nation. And when he proves himself to be merciful, let's not forget about that in two days. There have been months, I know this is the case, there have been months and months of praying leading up to last night. Let's not let the thanksgivings taper off after a day and a half. God has been kind. God has been merciful. And we should not. Forget that quickly. Then last passage on this one in Colossians chapter three. In Colossians 3, we have this section that is talking about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. The kinds of things you would be doing as you're filled with the Spirit. And in Colossians 3.17, it says, And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." Man, what a challenging, challenging verse. Whatever you do, that is, the words that are coming out of your mouth, that is, the deeds, the actions, the behaviors that you're engaged in, do all of them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, you need to recognize, I need to recognize that our words and our actions are representative of the one who's bought us, who's called us. We call ourselves Christians. Little Christ, reflections of what Christ is. Whatever you do, do all those things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ doing what? How? giving thanks to God. And the father by him. Now we're talking about, you know, three appropriate responses to the election, but the reality is Thanksgiving. is something that ought to be a regular thing. And by regular, I mean something that ought to be happening multiple times daily in the life of the Christian. It's really a discipline. And Thanksgiving's coming up, so I'm sure we'll talk about it at some point in the near future. But you'll notice in this passage in verse 17, this is just talking about run of the mill, walking in the Spirit. Not when big things happen, but just walking in the Spirit. We're living our lives according to the Word of God, and we're giving thanks to God by Christ. Now, let me just throw this one in there, because it's one that we ought not to forget. This giving thanks to God by Christ. I think it's worth us making the application that were it not for the fact that Jesus Christ was our mediator who's interceding for us to the Father, we would have no reason to believe that last night we received mercy from God. Any mercy, any grace that we receive from God the Father comes directly through the Son and the work that He's done on our behalf and the mediating that He continues to do on our behalf. And so an appropriate response is to give things. to give things now. Let me just also make sure when I say that. It's good for us to. Give thanks, you know more than once for a particular event, you know, especially a bigger event. But it doesn't mean that our giving thanks is limited to, you know, every morning at 630. I'm going to make sure that I thank God for the results of the 2024 election and I'm going to try to do that for the next few months. No, it's just giving thanks. It's giving thanks to God because He continues to give you good gifts every single day. He continues to provide for you every day. He continues to be merciful every day. We do give thanks, you know, more than once for bigger events, but it's an attitude that is cultivated. And so appropriate response, number one, we've asked for something. God has mercifully granted it. We ought to be giving thanks. All right, number two, Number two, as far as appropriate responses. Look in 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2. First response is give thanks. The second response that would be appropriate is keep praying. Keep praying. 1 Timothy 2 verse 1, I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Here in this passage, particularly in verse 2, This is not the only place, but particularly in verse 2, we're exhorted to continue to pray, to make sure that we are praying present tense. And in verse 2, it's praying for kings that are in authority. We ought to continue to be praying for our civil government. That ought to be something that we're doing on a regular basis. We ought to be doing that. I mean, we should have We've been doing that for the last four years. We ought to be doing that before the transfer of powers in January. But this ought to be something that we are continually doing. Why? Why is it that we pray for those who are in authority? Well, number one, we do that because we're commanded by God to do so. We're commanded by God to do so. As Sister Rachel mentioned earlier, she mentioned the passage 1 Peter 5-7. God invites us to cast our anxieties on Him because He cares for us. You see, we can become overwhelmed, or like we said, we can become anxious. We live under fallen men as leaders and as authorities, and there's going to be distresses that come along with that. As we said on Sunday, The option that we do not have, if we're trying to be lights in a dark world, in a perverse and crooked generation, the option we do not have is to complain and fuss about it. but the option that God's given us is to cast those cares on Him, to pray, to pray that God would work in the hearts and lives of our leaders, to pray that He'd give them wisdom, to pray that He would give them courage, to pray that He would bless them to exalt righteousness, that the nation might be blessed. So, one, because God's told us to. Number two, there's a way that we cast our cares upon Him Number three, as far as why it is that we're called to do this, in 1 Timothy 2.2, he says that we're to pray for those in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. There's nothing wrong with praying that the Lord would bless us to be able to lead a quiet and peaceable life. That is just a life that is not being micromanaged or there aren't overbearing government regulations or interventions. There's nothing wrong with that. That we would be able to lead that in all godliness and all honesty. In Jeremiah 29, verse 7, Jeremiah tells the people as they're going into Babylon, pray for the city. Pray for the welfare of the city. And I'm summarizing here. That in the city's prosperity, you might prosper also. He says, you pray this for your own personal welfare. For your own blessing. This is where God has you. This is who God has over you. and so that God might bless you, you pray for them. It's not the only reason, but it's certainly one of the reasons. And then 3 out of 1 Timothy 2. Verse 3, it says, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I think the clearer translation would be who would have all kinds of men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Why is it that we ought to be praying for those in civil government? Well, we ought to be praying so that they might come to the knowledge of the truth. Do you imagine what a witness it would be of the mercy and the glory of God for an individual who is an authority, who is living a wicked and a godless life to just turn? And all of a sudden, rather than promoting wickedness and debased immorality, they began to become an instrument of righteousness? That would be incredible, wouldn't it? Now, nobody would say, man, Lewis must have been praying. They would say, praise God. Praise God. And so we ought to be praying. That's an appropriate response. We ought to be praying for our leaders, for those that we currently have, for those who are going to be coming and filling those roles when the transfer of power happens. So number one, give thanks. Number two, pray. And then last, This may sound kind of strange, but it goes in line with some of what Sister Rachel was saying. Number three, the appropriate response is, remember the Lord. Remember the Lord. Go to Deuteronomy 8 and it will hopefully be clear what I mean. Deuteronomy 8. Now, this is what Moses is saying to Israel as they get to the very end of their wilderness wanderings and they're getting ready to go into the promised land. And this is one of the words, one of the things that Moses says. I want to start in verse 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God and not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I command thee this day, lest when thou hast eaten and are full and has built goodly houses and dwelt therein and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein the fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of Flint, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee and might prove thee or test thee to do thee good in thy latter end. And thou say in thine heart, my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shall remember the Lord thy God, for it is he who giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swear unto thy fathers as it is to this day." Now, let me stop there. This is really an incredible passage. And the reason it's an incredible passage is because what he's saying to these people is that you're getting ready to go in and inherit the blessing. I mean, Joshua's language or it's the language of God to Joshua is go and inherit the land that I'm giving you. OK. And Moses says, when you taste the goodness of God, one of your tendencies is going to be to forget all about them. Now, if you look at from verses 11 to 19, it's unthinkable that they would forget some of these things. Your heart will be lifted up and you will forget, verse 14, the God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. How could they ever forget that? They were there for 400 years. They were miserable. Pharaoh was just getting harder and harder and harder. Then they get out into the wilderness and there's no water and the Lord brings water out of a rock. How could they forget that? Well, God specifically says, don't forget it. God rains manna every day to feed them. And He says, don't forget that. How could you forget a miraculous event like that? He sends serpents that bite them and then they make the hole and those who look upon it are healed. How could they forget that? Well, one of the things that Deuteronomy lets us know is that it is just as difficult for us to respond well to blessings as it is to respond to trials. It is just as difficult for us to respond to blessings as it is to trials. Sometimes in trials, we can become hardened through suffering and we can become accusatory toward God. Many times in blessings, We forget that we ever needed God to begin with. We're fine. We're self sufficient. I mean, he tells us he tells them that and by extension tells us that in verse 17, lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. Well. As it applies to last night. More than likely. over the next four years, the economy's gonna get better. It might not, but more than likely it will. More than likely, much of the immorality, not all of it, but much of it, that has been promoted and propagated won't be. Not all of it, but a lot of it. And we need to make sure that whenever things get easier for us, if that's what happens, that we don't fool ourselves into thinking we did this. We don't need God. Now, none of us are gonna say we did this. I mean, we know we're not the ones doing it. But all of us will be tempted to lighten up a little bit, to coast a little bit, to rearrange priorities a little bit, You know, the truth is God uses trials and blessings both, and this passage talks about that, to prove us or to test us. The problem with us so many times is that we just can't handle God's blessings very well. God uses our responses to both blessings and trials to reveal a couple of things. Number one, If things get easier. Who are you going to exalt and prioritize? Who are you going to exalt? And prioritize? Who are you going to trust? Who you going to obey? Where will you seek refuge and relief? Well, in hard times, we're on our face before God. In easy times, we tend to be more self sufficient. The warning that Deuteronomy 8 gives us is, remember the Lord, or on the negative, it is do not forget God whenever things get good or whenever things get easy. And so, specifically, what might that look like? Well, usually growing in self-sufficiency and growing complacent in prayer happen at the same time. So most of the time we don't think, man, I'm feeling self-sufficient today. But when we notice that our prayer life begins to wane, and it begins to become dull, and there's no urgency, we're growing more and more self-sufficient. In this particular instance, as we're thinking about last night, what might it look like for us to forget the Lord our God? Well, one way is to begin to believe that due to a particular candidate or political party being in power, from now on, we can just coast for the next four years. That's what we needed. That's what we needed. Another way is treasuring God's material blessings over God's presence and fellowship. You know, God's presence and his fellowship is worth far more than the material blessings that he gives. There are folks in Nicaragua and India and Siberia and Africa. Who have almost none of the material blessings that we have? Who enjoy the presence and fellowship of God? And then last valuing this is very similar, but. valuing comfort and ease over faithfulness and growth in God's kingdom. You know, the truth is God really has given us an opportunity here. God has given us an opportunity. Brother Daniel prayed it. The fact that we can come together and we can worship publicly without any harm, without anyone trying to oppose that. I mean, that's a blessing. It's an opportunity to be able to freely come and worship The Lord our God together. Now the question is. How are we going to handle? A privilege like that? How are we going to handle a blessing like that? We live in a country, thankfully, where you can have as much access to God's Word as you want. That has not been criminalized yet. I don't know if it ever will, but. How are you going to handle that blessing? We have all kinds of freedoms and liberties. How are you going to handle those blessings to the glory of God and the furtherance of His kingdom? And so, three appropriate responses to last night. Number one, give thanks. Number two, keep praying. And number three, don't forget the Lord. Remember God. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful. Father, we are thankful that You have heard our prayers. We are thankful that you have blessed us with who we think to be the man who will give us the freedoms and promote the things that would lead to righteousness, at least more than the other. Yet, Father, we do not put our trust in him. We do not believe that all our woes are gone. Father, this is your world. This is your kingdom. You raise men up and you remove them. You replace them. You use them for your purposes. And so, Father, I pray that we would remember that. And I pray that we would rejoice in your goodness and mercy to us. I pray that we would continue to pray for those that you put into power, that your will might be done. And I pray, Father, we would not forget you in times of prosperity. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.