Vote With Conviction, Lead With Love

0:00 Welcome to the Ignite with Barry McGuire podcast. How would you like to have the time of your life for the rest of your life? How would you like to defeat fear effortlessly, knowing for sure God is hearing and answering your prayers and directing your steps and making everything work for good? This is exciting. Here's the question. How would you like to ignite your life? Stay tuned. Hi everybody, welcome back to Ignite. Well, it is election time again, okay? And like everybody else, I can tell you, vote. You know, you have to vote, Christians. Why are so many Christians not voting? I don't, it doesn't even make sense.

0:42 You complain about what's going on in this world. We're heading right for hell. I mean, the stuff that's going on is demonic. I mean, the thing. We're coming unglued, and it's because of our election officials allowing it, endorsing it in some cases, because we've elected those officials. And maybe you think elections are dirty, or I don't want to get, I don't want to, these people are going to get elected, whether you vote for them or not. You know, I just saw it statistic, and it really sparks my heart right now. The last statistic I saw is 100 million believers will not vote this election time, including 32 million that are regular church attenders.

1:25 I mean, God, this was going vague. It's crazy. Do you know that Christians would vote were wondering, how can we lose an election? How can that person can't possibly be elected? You know what I'm talking about. You have more than one in your own areas. They're an idiot. And they're saying the most stupid things that are so wrong for everybody and we're electing them. I mean, how's that possible? We can win every election. I mean, you probably hear this over and over, but we can win every election easily. In every state, we could win every election if Chris has just voted. So, yeah, I want to say vote, right?

2:09 If you haven't voted, have you studied American history at all? you know, it's not, you have to dig a little bit, but do you know the founders, and you know most of their names, and a lot of their names you don't know. You should read, and you should find out what happened to them. You know they put their fortunes, their estates, their families on the line, and you know most of them were killed. Beheaded, stabbed, shot, had their wives shot in front of them. They died for freedom, for the freedom we have to vote. We're the only nation in the world, has this kind of freedom. Our Constitution is the longest living document, government document in the world. I mean, God did this for us.

2:52 And that's why John Adams, the famous John Adams, he was our second president after George Washington, and he helped frame the Constitution. And he said, you know, this Constitution is only made for a moral and religious people. And he says, if it's not that, Good luck. Well, we're no longer a moral and religious people. Whose fault is that? Whose fault is that? It's our fault. We've left the world. We've just gone silent. You realize less than 1% of us are intentionally sharing our faith every day? I just got that from George Barna. It's unbelievable.

3:32 We just have, we don't care if they're going to hell. And apparently we don't care how they vote. I mean, there's a dichotomy in all that. We're surrounded by people who are lost and somehow we just don't care. And so we've stopped doing that, and we've allowed the blind to lead the blind. That's literally what it is. And here's the thing. They're not evil. They're just lost, okay? I'm going to come back to that in a minute. Remember Ben Franklin? This name is quite famous now. But he was asked after they settled everything, was it a republic or a democracy? And he says, a republic.

4:13 if you can keep it. Oh, we haven't done a very good job of that. So you need to vote carefully. Vote for the best candidates. And oh, for some of those that are so religious, you do vote, but I'm not gonna vote for anybody that's against this or in favor of this or whatever. They gotta fit your menu or you're not gonna vote for them. Folks, we're way beyond that. you're gonna find very few politicians that match your menu, okay? And if you don't decide you're just not gonna vote in that category, somebody else is gonna be elected in that category, and it's gonna be somebody, probably a lot worse than the person that you didn't wanna vote for.

4:59 So it's not just voting for Christians, it's voting for non-Christians, but what you have to vote, the lesser of the evils, I gotta tell you, it's the lesser of the evils. You look and say, they're doing what? Well, this guy's a little bit, oh, I didn't know. He's not, what is he doing that for? I can't vote for anybody like that. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. You have to. There's a lot of politicians going up to the top of our government. I voted for, I don't agree with a whole lot they say. Yeah. But I look at the alternative and there's no contest. You follow what I'm saying? Pastors, why are you not preaching this from your pulpits? I don't get it. Oh, I don't want to get involved in politics. I just preached the word of God. Well, you're probably not even preaching the word of God.

5:41 Most of you fall in that category. These friendly, make you feel good sermons. Anyway, you don't want to get involved. Where are your church members going to go for information? Would you tell me that? If you don't share good information about the political issues of your day in your church, where else are they gonna go? Where, tell me where. I mean, there are some polls and things that can help, but to hear a godly voice giving direction, I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, I don't care what you are. You vote, your conscience, you vote the Holy Spirit, you vote what God is telling you to vote, that's the thing. And just vote.

6:22 It's so incredible, but it's way beyond that. It's every day. Is that just election day? It's every day. Boy, do we love to hate the politicians that are doing the wrong things? Oh my goodness. Do we ever? I hear it in church circles all the time, that person, this, that person, this. Well, do you pray for them? Pray for them. Yeah, do you pray for them? No, I don't pray for them. Well, you know, they're lost too. And God wants to reach them. Do you, can you imagine, there's like 70% of Americans say they're Christian.

7:04 Only about 20% go to church, but 70%. But somewhere in between, there's a whole lot of folks. If we started praying, literally for our politicians, you know, prayer changes things. It really does. And we need to pray for our country. There's so many scriptures. Look them up. Just do a Bible study. Start scanning and looking for scriptures to talk about how we should support our government and support our leaders and pray for our government. Get involved. There's one I just want to read you, just one in particular. I may have just lost it. I don't know. Let me see. It's 2 Timothy. I think it's right here. Hold on.

7:46 Oh my goodness. Well, best laid plans. The point is, it says, you need to pray for your leaders, whether they be good or bad, but pray for your leaders so it'll go well for your country. We need to pray for our country. Pray for our leaders in urgent prayer. It's not a one-day-a-year election thing. It's praying. It's understanding we're in this battle every day. There's decisions being made in state houses, legislators, in the Senate, in the Congress, every day that need God's inspiration. I spoke, I think I even did a podcast on it. I spoke at the Association of Christian Lawmakers.

8:29 And I gotta tell you, it was one of the best events I've gone to. I mean, they were legislatures, if you will. They're congressmen, senators, governors, what have you. that were very intentional with their faith. I mean, that's all they talked about. They weren't talking politics. They were talking God. And I was having great fellowship with them. But when I got up in front of them, I said, let me just tell you, you're not Christian lawmakers. That got their attention. I like to find ways, how do you get everybody's attention? Okay, now I can talk to you. I said, you're not Christian lawmakers because Christian is not an adjective.

9:10 It's not. A Christian is what you are. And you're going into the darkest houses in America, particularly those of you in Washington, and you're fighting the battles for God. But in the fighting of those battles, your anger can rise up and you can see the people on the other side of those battles as being your enemies. And I hear the stories and I see the anger happening. And I know the damage is being done to people on the other side of those issues that make them hate God all the more because we're hating. Folks, we can't do that.

9:52 We can't do that. People in your lives, the kids on the protest lines, they're lost, you understand that? They're lost, they're not evil, they're lost. We were lost, but by the grace of God, we'd still be lost. But somebody got to us. They're gonna stay lost unless somebody tells them Jesus loves them. That's political, that is. How's that political? Because if you win them to the Lord, you don't have to tell them how to vote, God will tell them how to vote. One of the most famous names, if I mention it to you right now, you would know his name instantly. He's been in politics in Washington for a long time. A long time. And I have voted for him and I love him to death.

10:34 But he and I got into a discussion. I was talking about his evangelistic arm and the influence he has. And he started pushing back, oh, I fight these battles so you can do what you do. I said, there's no doing what I do. It's doing what God does. Your job is to win these people. And he got mad at me and he actually started yelling at me in a formal banquet. He was so exercised, I would dare say he was convicted because he'd been fighting that battle so long. He became, it's a battle. It becomes his God. People get caught up in these issues of you know, human trafficking, abortion, whatever, and get to the point where they're so militant, they're not thinking about saving souls, they're thinking about winning that issue.

11:24 And it can be anything. But quite frankly, we get to where we say, God, come and help me with my God. Because that's what possesses you. It gets you every energy, every ounce of money and time and investment and influence you have. You use it for that cause. And I know we need to fight for those things. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. But when they become our God. And they become our God. Jesus, you know, God, actually God said it in Revelations 2, the church's emphasis. He says, I know you go to church. I know you give sacrifices. I know all that. You know good teaching from bad, but I have this against you. I'm no longer your first love. Satan can take us with the most righteous thoughts and opinions and goals and take us to the wrong end and get so caught with things that we're not leading anybody to the Lord.

12:12 How many people are you leading to the Lord? I use a car wires company to lead people to the Lord. He blessed it. He made it large, but he didn't do it because I was just, that was my business. I'm going to grow my business. So I use as my pulpit, as my platform where I can share Jesus and I use it to lead people to Jesus. I did that. He blessed my business, right? So, um, I would just say, uh, Christians, um, It's about love. The world needs love. Our politicians need love. The isolation of people in politics. First off, all of our Christian politicians, I admire them so greatly because it is a tough role.

12:54 I've wondered if I can be a Christian and be in politics with the pressures that come on. I honestly don't know. So we need to pray for our Christians in office. Be wary also that there are some who say they're Christians in office that are not Christians. They use it as a stepping stone. So you've got to have the Holy Spirit convict you and direct you to who you're going to support. Be careful who you support. Pastors, when you're supporting people, if they're not a Christian, you can support them as a politician. But don't support them as a Christian unless they're really a Christian. Unless they embarrass you later on down the line. It's a complicated study, but the whole point of it is it's the basic thing. Move everybody every day closer to Jesus.

13:37 You know, if we all started doing that, there's 30 million. If we started doing that, we'd ignite America with Revival easily. One poll said that 80% of the unchurched have at least one Christian in their life that they trust. We already have the influence. It costs us nothing. It's up to us. It's up to you. How many people in your life do you have influence over? Ask me. I mean, tell me. How many people that are not serving the Lord, that don't know the Lord, do you have influence over? I would suggest that you make a list and intentionally start moving them every day. But that's the short list. The longer list is all the people you're gonna meet today that you don't know, you'll never see again.

14:20 But you for a moment have opportunity to move them closer, everyone closer to Jesus. That's your calling. You wanna be political? You wanna get the right elections going? Pray for our leaders. Pray for our leaders. Use our influence. You know, pray for our leaders. Pray for our leaders. Always, always, always pray for our leaders. Lift them up. Love them no matter what they do, whatever stupid thing they said yesterday. Pray for them. You know, God puts rulers in their place. That's a whole thing I don't really understand, but they're there. God put them there. And it's just to support them and love on them and correct them, of course. And there's so much correction need to be done and so much the church is doing.

15:02 That's a whole other area. But you follow me. The most important thing is love. All the world needs love. Everybody needs love. And we have the ultimate love. God's love is not just an emotion. It is salvation. When he loves us, he's salvationing us. Do you understand that? He's salvationing us. He's calling us to him, to be with him for eternity. And when we love other people, it's literally his love flowing through us to those around us and calling them to come and be part of our family. And the promise is, the promise of Scripture is when we do this, It will go good for us, meaning all of us in the body of Christ, all those who know God and Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

15:43 Wouldn't we do that? Wouldn't we honor our country and do everything we can to make our country righteous? It will go good for us. So keep the faith. Move everybody. Do you have it? Can I say it often enough? Move everybody, please. Move everybody every day closer to Jesus. God bless you. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please let us know. Subscribe now to continue receiving my podcast and add your comments to help us attract more viewers. See you next time on the Ignite with Barry McGuire podcast.