Controversial Jesus: Jesus and Politics | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Today we are kicking off a brand new series called Controversial Jesus, in which we're we're actually diving into incredibly important conversations that often create great debate or at least disagreement among even well intended followers of Jesus.

And what we want to do is just simply go to the scriptures and go in our theme.

What would Jesus say on this?

And how do we understand following Jesus today in the world that we find ourselves in?

And so today we're going to be looking at Jesus and politics.

I know.

The thing that, you know, really ruined your last family, you know, right?

Like everything was going great until uncle or aunt or mom or dad or brother or sister.

And isn't that interesting, especially I've watched recently, but this has been for a long time, that friendships have been divided over this, family has been divided over this, coworkers have been divided over this.

And often you either sh begin just a shouting match or you just retreat in silence.

And so we want to really wrestle with this together as we live in a deeply polarized world.

I remember a study that showed that in the 1950s, if you asked parents the question, who do you not want your kid to come home with?

And the answer was racially motivated, deeply tragic reality of our world.

Today it's politically.

It has to do with red or blue, progressive or conservative, Democratic or Republican.

And so let's turn to the scriptures and what does Jesus have to say?

And to guide our time, I want just three questions for us to wrestle with.

The first one is was Jesus political?

We don't often think of him politically, and when you look at the followers of Jesus, you go, like, it's hard to know.

Some are very apolitical and some are deeply political and everywhere in between.

Was Jesus himself actually political?

And then after we answer that, are Jesus' followers to be engaged politically?

Like, like, are we actually supposed to be involved in this political arena that we see and find ourselves in?

And if so, if the answer is in some ways yes, how are followers of Jesus to be engaged politically in this incredibly divisive times?

So let's begin with the first question.

Are it was Jesus political?

And to help us answer that first, I want to just give you the religious political landscape of Jesus' day.

Now, what's important to remember is that in the ancient day there was not a separation of church and state.

We naturally do that because of our cultural background.

But but all empires and nations and cities, religion and spirituality was meshed.

Rome was no different.

In fact, you had the worship of Caesar that was implemented all across the Roman Empire.

And when we think about the religious landscape and the political landscape, if you're somewhat familiar with the ancient world, you go, of course, the Roman Empire, and they were in power and Jerusalem and specifically the people of Israel were subjugated under the rule of Rome, and they had these puppet kingdoms set up all around their empire.

But the thing that I think we can overlook sometimes is realizing when we're hearing some of these spiritual leaders that both for not just Rome, but Judaism, politics, and religion was enmeshed.

And so you had the Pharisees.

And if you think about the Pharisees, their goal was to reinstate the Israel back into being the superpower, the kingdom of God, and they believed that a pure Israel was going to bring that about.

And so they were very focused on rules and regulation.

Today we would call them the Conservative Party in their day.

And then you had the Sadducees, and the Sadducees said, Well, how do we have power?

We're not getting rid of Rome, so let's start to work with Rome.

And one way to remember between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and this is cheesy, but the Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead, and so they are sad, you see.

I told you it was corny.

I told you it was corny.

And and if in our day we would call them maybe the liberal party, the progressive party of, you know, we're how do we advance with Rome?

But both of these parties made up what was known as the Great Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court.

This would be the court, the very court, uh that would eventually uh sentence Jesus to death.

Uh then there were two other parties we don't talk enough about or a lot about.

The Essenes, they were the separatists.

They said, you know what, we're gonna take our ball and go home.

Uh and so we're gonna separate from society, we're not gonna engage, we're gonna create our own communities that are gonna do our own thing.

It's a holy huddle.

And then the zealots, and the zealots were these extremists that are looking at, okay, how do we begin to take power back?

And uh, if uh if it means um terrorist activity, if it means overthrowing the government and coup, we're all in of that.

Now, all of these parties, all four of these, had this idea of a messiah.

And all of them are looking and hoping for this messiah to come in some way that had been long awaited, uh long prophesied to restore Israel.

And Messiah, the word literally means anointed one.

In their minds, it's a savior, a liberator, Israel's final king.

And so when we read Christ, it's just simply the Greek translation of Messiah, the Hebrew word.

So Christ and Messiah are the exact same words that mean the same thing: anointed one.

And and that was in their day a deeply, deeply political word.

We so often look at it as just simply a spiritual word.

This was a deeply political word of a king who would come.

In fact, uh, this happened in John chapter 6 after the feeding of the 5,000.

John 6 · chapter mention

Jesus notes this, perceiving then that they were about to come and take him now by force and make him king.

That was on the hearts of the people when Jesus showed up on the scene.

We long for a Messiah to be our king.

Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

And the question was Jesus political?

And if I can just encourage you to listen to a sermon that's not mine, um, Tim Keller, actually, I didn't know he titled this before studying for this, has a title, Jesus and Politics.

It's really good.

Um and his answer is Jesus was intentionally ambiguous.

Yes and no.

Yes, politically, no.

He would never give a straight answer because the messiahship of what he brought was a kingdom not of this world, not brought about by the ways of this world.

And so, was Jesus political?

I'm gonna still Tim Keller, yes and no.

And then the question then for us, then, is how are followers of Jesus then to engage, or are Jesus followers to engage politically?

And where I want to draw our attention to is the Sermon on the Mount.

And we're actually gonna spend the next six weeks studying this teachings of Jesus.

We spent the summer through the Beatitudes.

Jesus talks about who's actually blessed.

It's amazing.

Like you already are blessed.

That's the kingdom ethic.

It's not somehow you get to be blessed, it's like you already are blessed.

Live into who you already are.

That's the Beatitudes.

And he says, Blessed are the poor, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the persecuted.

Upside down from the political realm, blessed are the powerful, blessed are those in position, blessed are those, you know, who can make things happen and are affluent.

And the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus' manifesto of how citizens of the kingdom of heaven are to live on earth.

You want to know what Jesus is calling us to be today as the church on some of the biggest issues, subjects, and arenas?

Let's go back to his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount.

If you have your Bible, would you open up to Matthew chapter 5, verse 17?

Matthew 5:17

Matthew chapter 5, verse 17.

Matthew 5:17

Just directly right after the Sermon on the Mount.

In fact, I want to do something with you.

Um, different traditions have done this through the ages.

Um and we we have more of a casual tradition.

And I the reading of scripture, often the church stood in honor of it.

And could we just read this all together at the same time?

And then we'll continue on.

Would you mind standing up with me through this?

It's on the screen behind me.

It says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world.

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead, they put it on the stand, and it gives life to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they see your good deeds, and glorify your Father in heaven.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished.

Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not answer.

This is the word of God.

You may be seated.

Are Jesus followers to be engaged politically?

And if so, how?

I want to answer the first question.

Are Jesus followers to be engaged politically?

We read it right there.

You're the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world, the you are.

Jesus ordained you for world service.

He didn't just ordain, think about this, he didn't just ordain pastors and priests and missionaries.

Imagine, remember, who were his disciples at this moment?

Unschooled ordinary fishermen.

That's why when they stood before the Sanhedrin after Jesus, they were astonished.

Because they noted that they had been with Jesus and these unschooled ordinary fishermen who were able to stand up in that arena.

You have been ordained for world service.

I just want you to notice and break this down.

You are the very salt and light of the world.

If you are taking notes, just write that down.

I want you to notice first that the you here is plural.

Y'all, if you're from a different part of the country.

Y'all.

And that strikes to us because we live in such an individualistic society and world, and it's all about my autonomy, and it's about the communal nature of the call of all of us.

That we all are called together.

That's what the body, the church, this is what we are to be about.

Then it says, you are.

Not ought to, should be, could be, but you presently are.

I love how uh one theologian says it that Jesus blesses us with his high view of us.

Like when he looks at you and says, You are the salt and you are the light.

He blesses you with his high view.

And then notice the definite article, the salt.

It's actually emphatic in the Greek.

The salt of the earth, the light.

Not a light and not a salt, but definitively.

Jesus says, You have use to this world.

What does salt and light do?

Well, salt flavors and preserves and purifies.

Light reveals and grows and brings life.

Now notice this.

I think this is the larger point underneath what Jesus is saying.

Salt and light do not exist for itself.

Salt is for food.

You add salt to it.

Disciples, followers of Jesus, are for this world.

And think about the expanse of nature.

The call has no boundaries to the world.

He's making these comments in an obscure part of Palestine in a region of Galilee on a hill.

Twelve disciples, several hundred followers.

In a way, a way part of the Roman Empire.

And it doesn't stop him from expanding their vision and their scope for the entire world.

You are created, and I am created, to be of use for this world.

And the question then is how can we be salt and light if we have no contact with society?

How can we be salt and light if we if we're not actually engaged in the world around us, in the society around us?

To go back to Tim Keller, he's an author, pastor was recently passed away, incredible theologian.

He wrote this.

It was an article in the New York Times.

He was a pastor in downtown Manhattan for years and years and years.

He said, Christians cannot pretend that they transcend politics and simply preach the gospel.

Those who avoid all political discussions and engagement are essentially casting a vote for the social status quo.

American churches in the early 19th century that did not speak out against slavery because that was what we would now call getting political, were actually supporting slavery by doing so.

To not be political is to be political.

You, by the way, friend, Jesus has ordained you for world service.

We are to be salt and light in our society.

Now he closes this with an interesting phrase, salt and light, and then he says this in the same way, let your light so shine before others, what?

That they may see your help me out.

Good deeds.

Like the good works and deeds of your life and our life of the church.

The world is actually supposed to see those, our actions and what we're doing.

And what do they do?

They glorify the Father in heaven.

Now here's what's interesting.

That Greek word good, there is not just good in content, there's a word for that.

It's the Greek word kalos.

And it literally means uh pertaining to being attractive in outward appearance.

Beautiful.

Your attractive, beautiful works.

Meaning, how we do what we do is just as important as what we do.

How we hold things and the way we go about it is just as important to what we do.

In fact, one commentator wrote this: thus, the way commands are done is almost as important as the simple fact that they are done.

Like the way we do things, the way we step on and into society, the way we engage the needs of our world, the way we show up, the way we talk, all of those are just as important as what we do.

And we gotta hold both of those in attention.

Was Jesus political?

Yes and no.

Are followers in Jesus to be politically engaged?

Well, we're to be salt and light in our society.

And politics is an important framework of how we bring about good to our neighbor.

And so, yes, in some ways we have to be.

Well, how are followers of Jesus then to engage politically?

I want you to give you just three more observations from the text.

First, give Jesus your ultimate allegiance.

First, give Jesus your ultimate allegiance.

I want us to remember this, okay, friends.

Jesus ordained you for world service.

Now give him your ultimate allegiance.

He wrote, Do not think I've come to abolish the law or the prophets and the way he was living life.

He was, you know, eaten with tax collectors and sinners.

He was healing on the Sabbath, and the teachers of the law are like, you're an anarchist.

No.

In fact, I didn't come to abolish it, I came to fulfill it.

Jesus came and lived the perfect requirement, fulfilling all 613 laws of the Hebrew scripture.

And he is the fulfillment of the Torah.

The word Torah is uh where we get the word law here.

And that word actually means to point or direct, meaning it's pointing to someone, and there's this messianic hope, this someone who would come and restore and bring restoration and freedom in life.

And he says, I am that fulfillment of everything that the scriptures have written about.

I'm here.

The long-awaited one is here.

Would you give Jesus your ultimate allegiance, not political party, ideology, or just how we feel about things in the moment, or what's culturally relevant?

And he write, uh he's a theologian, historian, says this.

We want a religious leader, not a king.

We want someone to save our souls, not rule our world.

Or if we want a king, someone to take charge of our world, what we want is someone to implement the policies we already embrace, just as Jesus' contemporaries did.

But if Christians don't get Jesus right, what chance is there that other people much bother with him?

There's this moment where Jesus is being confronted by some religious leaders in this area of like, how do you navigate the tension of an oppressive Roman rule and being, you know, like a faithful Jewish person, a leader.

And so they brought to him, like, you know, this question, should we pay our taxes?

And then Jesus does something brilliant, and he says this, he says, Bring to me a denare.

He says, Whose image is on the denare?

Caesar's.

And this line, you're probably familiar with it.

He says, So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to what God and to God what is God's.

Now, here's what's so uh brilliant about this and what Jesus is saying.

The image stamped on that coin is Caesar's, and so you give it back to him.

The image stamped on every single human being on the planet is the image of God.

And so you never give ultimate allegiance to any authority outside of God, of like, my image is your image, and so I'm gonna give back to God what is yours.

I am yours.

And so, give to Jesus ultimate allegiance.

Just a few thoughts here.

America, by the way, is not the promised land.

This goes for both conservative and progressive.

It's not like we're one day going to have a utopian society if we can just get it right.

More education, more technology, less religion.

That's the answer.

And it's not the promised land if somehow we get back to something.

By the way, Jesus is not aligned with a political party.

There is no single Christian policy or party, period.

Jesus is not a Democrat.

Jesus is not a Republican.

He's not an independent.

He's not a Green Party.

Whatever party you are.

Both have things that are deeply true and deeply flawed.

In fact, when you study, and as we will, we'll study the life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, there's times where as the church we should sound deeply liberal when it comes to racial justice, caring for the poor, and deeply conservative when it comes to sexual ethic and sanctity of life.

It doesn't land neatly in any camp.

And friends, the return of Jesus, not the return of American values, is our hope.

If we want to step in and engage politically, first we got to give Jesus our ultimate allegiance.

You alone have the say.

Secondly, develop a gospel worldview.

A worldview is simply this the lens by which you see and understand navigate life.

I had a joke, I'll save it.

Ask me later.

There was this conversation in their day because I said earlier, there's 613 laws.

And then there was this uh idea of the Mishnah.

This was how do we then expand on that and make sure we're following all of this to put it in, you know, if we were to put it in a book today, it filled up about 800 pages.

It's just scribes writing down their ideas of how to interpret to live out those laws.

And then on top of that was a Talmud of like commentary on the writings of the scribes on the law.

Now, here's what's interesting Jesus discarded the teaching of man, all those hanging and the laws, it was so minute and the minutiae and all of that.

And he elevated the word of God.

And in that conversation, there, because it was just overloaded for them, the rabbis would have this conversation between the light and the heavy, the important commands and the not important commands.

Which one do you really have to ask?

That's why when Jesus asked, which is the greatest command, that was a conversation they had a lot.

Which one do they all fall under?

And here he's saying, the light and the heavy, when it comes to God's word, not the extra biblical stuff, not the traditions of man.

When it comes to God's word, his word is authoritative.

I like how uh Ted Turner said this.

He said, Today, uh most people are not driven by a well-understood, articulate, philosophical worldview.

More typically, people express their life philosophy in what we'd call street philosophy, which is held intuitively, unexamined, but that powerfully captures the gist of one's perspective on reality.

And friends, we have to be people of God's word and people who are saying, our master is Jesus and we're going to follow his way.

And so we have to understand and begin to say, you get the final say, and develop a gospel world view.

If we believe what you like in the Bible, you don't really believe the Bible, you believe in yourself.

If you just believe what you like in the Bible, well, I like this, but I don't like that.

I like this part, but I don't know.

You don't actually believe in the Bible or in Jesus' words.

Let's just let's just take everything else, just Jesus' word.

You believe in yourself.

Yeah, there's a great book.

If you I I highly encourage this, it's called Compassion and Conviction.

It's one of the best books on how we as Jesus followers are to engage politically.

Um I'm not asking you to agree with it.

Just wrestle with it.

Written by three people, they started the An group.

Uh Justin Gibbonet, Michael Ware, Chris Butler, they are part of Obama's administration, deeply committed followers of Jesus.

Um African American pastor, African-American lawyer, and then Michael Ware served intricately in the uh Obama campaign.

Notice what they say about this whole idea of worldviews.

They say we allow ourselves to be indoctrinated by political, academic, and pulp cultural leaders and to surrender our convictions to avoid disassociation and criticism.

In many cases, our perspective has been thoroughly shaped or even discipled by world ideologies that we mistake are flawed ideological positions for Christian positions.

Right, left, Republican, Democrat, all the same.

The question isn't, am I a disciple?

The question is who or what am I a disciple of?

Am I a disciple of Jesus?

Am I following in his way?

Am I like really seeing what he said and going, okay, Jesus, you have the final say.

How you say and see life is the way for life.

I mean, he said it this way: I am the way, the truth, the life.

Either he's right or he's wrong.

There's no in-between.

Either he is the way, he is truth, and so his understanding and the way he defines reality is reality.

He is ultimate life, or he's a liar.

But there cannot be any middle way, and we often take the middle way.

And here's just where I land.

Anyone who can predict their death and resurrection and then pull it off, I'm gonna take their word on just about everything else.

Okay?

May we be a church that elevates biblical truths over political views.

Finally.

Okay.

Was Jesus political?

Yes and no, because he's about bringing this kingdom of heaven to earth.

Are Jesus followers to engage politically?

Well, we're called to be the salt and light of the world.

Well, how do we engage?

Give Jesus our ultimate allegiance, develop a gospel worldview, and then finally, may we practice the subversive ways of the kingdom of heaven.

Practice the subversive ways of the kingdom of heaven.

You notice that Jesus said, put into practice and teach.

By the way, I think the order mattered to Jesus.

We often teach, but don't practice in the church.

Practice and teach.

Scott Saul has also wrote a great book on this called Jesus Outside the Lines in it.

He says, because Christianity always flourishes most by uh as a life-giving minority, not as a powerful majority.

It is through subversive countercultural acts of love, justice, and service for the common good that Christianity has always gained the most ground.

Jesus started a revolution not by powering up, but by laying down his power and loving his enemies.

So let me give you three subversive ways to practice the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus-y things.

Because we want to be a Jesus-y people, yeah?

I know I've given you a lot.

You're hung in with me.

You're doing fantastic.

This is too important.

We have to think well, friends.

Okay?

We want to be a Jesus-y people.

We want to do Jesus-y things.

We want our lives shaped by him.

I've never said Jesus-y so many times either.

The first one, I got three as we land the plane.

Humility.

By the way, humility was not a character attribute that was highly esteemed.

In fact, it was looked down on in the Roman Empire.

Jesus brought this unique feature to the world as something we say is valuable.

Later on in the Sermon on the Mount, he says this: Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

Ouch and true.

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it, it will be measured to you.

Warning.

And by the way, should inform all of our social media posts.

Verse 3.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

Humility, church.

So often we want to power up to prove our rights, show why somebody's wrong and we're right.

Why we have the better, whatever.

It's so easy to see the wrongs of everyone else, isn't it?

It's so easy to call it out and it's so hard to look inward.

Why do you look at the speck?

Why do we look at the speck?

Just sitting with this, reminded of how we, the church, have fallen failed at this so many times.

Think around the area of racism, the nation's original sin, the demonic institution of slavery.

Dr.

King once quoted, Sunday, the most segregated hour in America.

Oh, it should never have been, and yet today, white pastors like myself aren't speaking out enough.

In the white church, we've all too often been complacent and as a result complicit.

I was really proud of an institution this week that came out, and if you want to see the article in Christianity today, Wheaton is actually started by uh abolitionists that were integral in uh even uh giving Abraham Lincoln advice on uh bringing freedom.

And they just released a 122-page report repenting and lamenting of the racism within.

Of how it could start out one way and then acknowledge that it had been a place that those people of color were not welcome.

In fact, at times it was actively hostile.

And it they wrote, our goal is to remind our readers and ourselves of ease and ourselves uh of how easily our fallen world can shape each of us into its mold.

Where we just gotta have the humility and look instead of outside of all the stuff that's going wrong and why the world's going to hell in a handbasket and all this sort of stuff, and just go, this is the area where we're broken.

And we've lost our credibility to an outside world because we're shouting matches but not dealing and hearing and responding like Jesus.

If you want more reading in this area, some great books, Reading While Black, Esau McCaulay, Insider, Outsider, Brian Lauritz, The Color of Compromise by Jamar Tearsby.

It was great resources.

The first practice of subversion, humility.

The second, discernment.

Discernment.

Jesus said, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves.

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Discernment.

Messaging, by the way, has always been the enemy's primary tactic and powerful tool.

Back in the garden, he said, you know, did God really say?

And always trying to twist words?

He did it with Jesus in the wilderness.

And the goal is to engage or enrage.

May we be well informed and don't fall for the rhetoric.

I wish I had time to dive more into this.

But Christians, we get so, like we hear one thing and react.

As followers of Jesus, we should be the most well informed on issues and dive deeply to understand what's really going on, not be okay with the oversimplified, the vague, and understand what's happening.

How do we communicate in a winsome and wise way?

Discernment, humility, discernment, and then finally love.

Finally, love.

We'll leave you here.

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment, which is the heavy commandment.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And then this next phrase, this is amazing.

Don't miss this.

And the second is like it, and the way it's constructed, it means it's inseparable from the first.

Jesus is saying, you cannot love God and then not be loving to the others around you.

Somehow we've separated those two, and I can love God, but I don't love others.

I'm good here, but I'm not here.

And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.

All the law and the prophets hang on these two commands.

What matters more to us, that we successfully put others in their place, or that we're known to love well.

The early followers of Jesus were made up of predominantly poor, slaves, lots of women who didn't have rights.

They were a marginalized, mistreated group because Jesus ministered and lifted up the marginalized and mistreated.

Rodney Stark wrote a great book, The Rise of Christianity, as a sociologist, trying to discover how did this like ragtag group, a handful of followers who have a crucified master somehow survive, let him survive, eventually topple the Roman government.

His answer.

And so when sickness came and plagues came as they often did, and everyone fleed to the countryside to get away and left family members on their own just to save their own life.

Christians moved in to serve and care, often at the cost of their own life.

Tertullian, one of the ancient church fathers, says this it's our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of our opponents.

I pray that's our brand once again.

May that be true of this church.

As last week we talked of being in the house of mercy.

I want to close just with a time of where we're going to pray.

Yesterday, if you're not on this, I mentioned it at our leadership advance, Lectio 365 is a great app, morning prayer, evening prayer.

This was, I love this.

I love how God works, right?

This was their morning prayer yesterday.

And so would you sit back, close your eyes if you're comfortable, and let me lead you into a time of reflection.

Today I'm reflecting on Paul's advice to Timothy about the powerful people he should remember to pray for.

First Timothy 2, 1 through 4.

First of all, then I urge the supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings, and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good.

And this is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Who do I regularly pray for?

Family?

Certain friends?

Maybe someone who's going through a particularly tough time?

Thinking about it, my prayer list is populated by people I know and love.

But Paul encourages me to include not only intimate acquaintances, but the influential too.

I wonder, do I judge or criticize politicians and those in powerful positions more often than I pray for them?

So would you pause and pray?

As I think about the leaders of different political parties in my nation, I notice my feelings towards them.

So just go ahead and notice your feelings.

Lord God, whatever I may think about their political positions, I lay aside my personal feelings and ask you to show me your heart for these men and women.

Paul urges me to pray for these leaders.

So I ask you, Holy Spirit, to bring to mind a particular politician who thinks differently from me.

And give me one specific way I can intercede for their good.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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