Election Winner Announced...What Should Happen Next?

Former President Donald Trump has won the 2024 presidential election. So how do we as the church respond when these transitions happen? I pray that the Lord would cause you to see with eyes of the Spirit. This is a message for God's church that we might be focused on our mission ahead and keep all things in proper perspective. First and foremost, though, I don't usually comment on politics or things like this, I think it's important in this season to at least give some biblical perspective to the political atmosphere in which we find ourselves. Now, here's the reality. We want everyone to be a Christian. I remember someone asked me one time, they said, David, do you want a Christian nation? I said, I don't want just a Christian nation, I want a Christian world. What I mean by that is there's no soul that I don't want to be saved. The second consideration that we should have is that every Christian should demonstrate their Christianity in every aspect of their lives. There is no compartmentalizing this. Now, as believers, we may be tempted sometimes to say, well, I don't wanna take my Christianity into the workplace, or I don't wanna take my Christianity into schoolwork, or I don't wanna take my Christianity into politics. But every Christian should allow their Christianity, should allow their faith to impact every aspect of their life, politics included. So therefore, Christians should use politics and political tools as a means of kingdom advancement. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that we'll always be presented with the best options or that we're always going to have the most ideal circumstances, but remember this, Incremental progress is not compromise, especially if the only other option is certain decline. Many times Christians sit these things out because they say, well, I'm looking for perfection. Well, you're not going to find perfection. Anything that a human hand touches will always be flawed. And so we as Christians must realize that there are spiritual dynamics at play, even in the political sphere. Think about the fact that your interaction with society as a Christian, your interaction with the world, your interaction with the school systems, your interaction with whatever God has called you to do in this world counts technically as a political act. Why? Because you are using the influence that God gave you to affect society and change. And so the reality is we cannot avoid politics. Now, this doesn't mean that politics needs to become the center of the gospel message. And that is one of my concerns. I feel like, in some sense, we've had somewhat of a hybrid on both sides. There's this hybrid that's been created where we fused a political message with the gospel message, and it's become kind of this confusing mixture of messaging. And again, while we acknowledge that politics can be used as a helpful tool and that we should use that tool to the best of our ability, we must remember that political power isn't the ultimate power. The ultimate power belongs to Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father. The ultimate power belongs to the church. The nations, not just this nation, the nations of the world belong to the church. The nations of the world are to be discipled. The nations of the world are to be won over to Christ. So coming from this higher perspective, we can begin to cut through a lot of the noise that has divided much of the body of Christ. Now I will say this, There are certain points where there should be division, because in many instances, people who claim to believe the Bible are backing some demonic, unbiblical ideologies and policies. And I don't understand that ever. But I pray that we would all conform our thinking to the word. So how do we respond now? Number one, we need to pray. That is, pray for the leader. Here's the reality. You may not like this. You may be a little bit upset, some of you. Maybe you're a bit offended at this truth, but I'm gonna tell you what the Bible says. You need to pray for Donald Trump. As a Christian, it is your duty to pray for the president. It is your duty to pray for the leadership. It is your duty not just to even pray for the national leadership, but local leadership, church leadership. Romans 13:1 says, let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. So God is the one who positions leaders. God is the one who sets leaders like pieces on a chessboard. God ultimately is in control. He can use whoever he wants, whenever he wants, however He wants, in whatever position that He wants. And we as believers have to recognize that ultimately God is in control. And in recognizing that, we have total peace, no matter what we find ourselves in, in terms of circumstances with what leaders are appointed. In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, we read, 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. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. So, because everyone is flawed, everyone needs prayer. Pray for correction of any and all corruption. Pray for humbling where there is pride. Pray for righteousness where there is sin. Pray for truth where there is deception. Pray for favor in their efforts that bring us closer to biblical principles and pray for God to stop any advancement that moves us away from biblical principles. The Bible is the foundation. The Bible is our plumb line. The Bible is the way in which we measure all things. Pray for God's will to be done through this leadership. Pray for God to establish the kingdom, though we might not see how that can happen, some might not see. And here's the reality. These points, by the way, I have on this message, these are the same points that I'm speaking now that I had prepared no matter who won the election. Because we have to realize that in this season, there is so much noise around these things. There is so much emotion invested in these things. And as God's people, we need to ground ourselves, be level-headed, stand on the word, and pray for your leadership. Proverbs 21:1 says, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it, Whithersoever he will. In other words, God can decide what he does with the heart of the king, with the heart of the leader. Number 2, don't rely on man. In Psalm 118:7-9, we read, yes, the Lord is for me, he will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Now, we are thankful when the candidates we pray for win. We are thankful when we see kingdom advancement, where there could have been total decline. We are thankful for even incremental progress, especially when that is instead of going the opposite direction. But while we rejoice, while we thank God, while we are celebrating, we have to remember ultimately our trust is in the Lord. Ultimately, we have to remember that men are just men, women are just women, people are just people. I think far too much faith is placed in people. So while you can prefer a candidate, you must never worship one. Well, you can, push for a certain policy platform. You must never trust in the system of man. We, as the body of Christ, must rise above that sort of idolatry, and instead recognize that these are not demigods. These are chess pieces in the hands of the only one true God. And we, the church, are the ultimate authority in the earth because Jesus said so. All authority in heaven and on earth is given to him. And where are we seated? We're seated in heavenly places with him. So keep this proper perspective. Though we celebrate when we see an advancement, though we celebrate when we see the lesser of two evils winning, we have to remember that ultimately our trust is in Jesus. Make sure that your preference doesn't become idolatry. Men are fallible. Men make mistakes. Men run on emotion. Same is true of women. People, they go based on their own preferences. Sometimes they can be swayed. Sometimes they can change their minds. God never changes. So only God is all-wise. Only God is all-powerful. Only God can see the future. Only God makes perfect plans. We can use politicians for our purposes. And this is where I wanna make sure we, as the body of Christ, have this correct. Whenever you see the church standing behind a candidate, obviously we wanna make sure we're picking the candidates that most align with biblical principles, because none of them completely align. And often the choice is between sometimes biblical versus anti-biblical. And so I think the choice is quite clear then. But we have to remember this, and this is what I want you to keep in mind. We must never allow politicians to use the church. The church should use politicians. We must never allow a political party to use the church. The church must use political parties. Psalm 146:1-6 says this, praise the Lord. Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don't put your confidence in powerful people. There is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, And everything in them. He keeps every promise. Only the Lord keeps every promise. Only the Lord can fulfill everything He has said He would do. Only the Lord has the ultimate power to move things in His favor without anyone being able to stop Him. Only the Lord has the big picture, and therefore our faith is only in the Lord. So, so far, I presented to you the idea that you must pray for leaders. I presented to you the idea that we mustn't idolize the people that we select to represent us in political systems. And now that I've addressed some mindsets, I want to give you action items. I want to tell you what now we as the church need to do, not just pray, that is an action in the Spirit. I'm talking about an action in this physical world. We don't just make sure that we have the right mindset in terms of not idolizing people. You ought to adjust that attitude if that's your attitude. And if that in any way offended you, then you're likely needing to make some adjustments because that's biblical truth. So these are mindsets I'm dealing with. These are spiritual realities I'm dealing with. I wanna give you practical means of action in just a moment. But first, if you're enjoying this content and you think others need to hear it, make sure you leave a like on the stream. And that actually helps to give us traction so that other people can see it. And also, let's stay connected. I don't think it's an accident that you and I were connected today. So make sure that you subscribe to the channel, and when you do, click that notification bell so that you don't miss any of the content. So you pray for your leaders, that's biblical. You don't put your trust in man, that's biblical. Number 3, you have to win souls and expand the kingdom. You guys, we have work to do. Trump won, but we still have work to do. If Kamala Harris had won, we would still have work to do. If the election was delayed, we would still have work to do. If we descended into utter chaos and ended up having to implement martial law, we would still have work to do. Amen. If America ceased to exist as a nation, if any nation ceased to exist, we would still have work to do. What is that work before us? It's the winning of souls and the expanding of the kingdom. Again, I'm all for using political tools when it's necessary. I'm not against that, but that shouldn't become the central message. I love it when conservative agendas are advanced in America. That's of course what we want as Christians. However, we must remember to not lose focus. We must remember that the gospel is still the message. Jesus is still the answer. The church has been given a mandate to make disciples of the nations. Everything else is secondary. Everything else is a tool at our disposal. Everything else can be leveraged by practical means, of course, but don't forget the gospel. In Mark 16:15-16, we read, he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. We have to stay focused on our citizenship. Yes, we are citizens of the nations in which we live, but ultimately our citizenship that supersedes all those citizenships is our heavenly citizenship. 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. citizens of the heavenly realm. We are children of the Most High God. In Romans 1:16, we read, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. We still have a message to preach. Souls are still hanging in the balance. There are still people who need Jesus. Yes, we can celebrate, but we still have work to do. Yes, we can rejoice, but let's get back to soul-winning. Look, this has been a long election season, especially here in America. If you're watching this from another nation, you probably are seeing news from what's happening in America. Even living here, it's much more noisy. So many opinions about so many things, so much emotion, so much tension, so much division, and I get it. But we need to stay focused. We need to rise above the noise and come out declaring a clear message. Jesus saves. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. And whosoever believeth in him shall not perish. They'll have everlasting life. That is the message we declare. That is our focus. We as the church must pray for one thing, Matthew 6:10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Satan doesn't take a break. Satan doesn't stop to party. Satan doesn't stop to shake hands with all the demons in his rank. He stays focused. Satan doesn't get off message. We shouldn't get off message. Satan is still working to take souls. And the gospel is still the only message that has power. We expand the kingdom of God through the winning of souls ultimately. And as more souls are won, we get more believers. As we get more believers, we get more people who adhere to scripture. So I'm talking about addressing the heart, the core issue. Yes, those other tools are helpful, But the real solution is the gospel, because the real problem is, and will always be, man's rebellion, namely sin, wrongdoing, enmity with God. The gospel must go forward. So stay focused. Yes, we rejoice, but stay focused. Now, number 4, we have to stay united. Now here, I really want you to hear me clearly, because I'm about to walk into a minefield right now. And as I walk through this minefield, I wanna be careful, not because I'm afraid of offending people, not because I'm worried about people's opinions. I wanna be careful because I'm trying to reach the body of Christ. This is a message for the body of Christ that I pray the church receives. Whenever we come into an election season, like the one we're in, or the one that technically is now over, you're gonna find that there are believers that will take one of 3 positions. Now in the United States, just to give context to those of you who are watching from other nations, we have different political parties. They're not necessarily extensions of the government. They're private political parties that— are supposed to represent the will of the people. And of course, they advance and get votes that eventually do give them government positions. But in the United States, whenever we have an election like this, a general election, you have some Christians who will vote Democrat. Now, I already know, I can already hear it. How can they be a Christian and vote Democrat? Let me explain. We have some Christians who vote Republican. Now I can already hear it. I know, how can they be a Christian and vote Republican? Allow me to explain it. The third option is that people sit it out and they say, let's just sit this one out because both positions are just horrendous, or both positions are just ungodly. And I understand that's angering too, because how could they just sit this out When so much hangs in the balance? I'll explain. This causes a lot of confusion because you hear some Christian leaders saying, you gotta vote for Kamala Harris. You hear the majority of Christian leaders saying, you've gotta vote for Donald Trump. You hear a very small percentage of Christians saying, you gotta sit this one out because both parties are ungodly. And that can create confusion, that can create angst, that can create worry. And it can create division where we begin to demonize one another for what we voted for. Now, let me tell you just in full disclosure, because I wanna be honest with you. I don't wanna play this in a way where it seems like I'm just trying to appease everybody. If you were to ask me, I vote conservative Republican consistently. And if you ask my opinion based on what I see in scripture, is the party which is most aligned with biblical values. Having said that, I can understand why someone would take the position of, I'm gonna sit this out, or even Democrat. Now I know, because if you're like me, you're saying, what about things like abortion, which obviously is unbiblical? What about things like the transgender ideology, which obviously, I'll just say it, is demonic? What about things like the LGBTQ agenda? Obviously, There are many different things we can point to in the Democrat Party that are directly anti-Christ. Likewise, there are many things we can point to in the Republican Party that are anti-biblical, though maybe not as dramatic. So I believe that as Christians, most Christians just want to do and vote according to what they see as biblical. Now, do I believe Christians who vote Democrat, at least this election cycle, are mistaken? No. Yes, absolutely. I think they're mistaken. I think they got that wrong. I think maybe they weren't seeing from the right perspective. I think they were given bad information because you gotta remember the way that social media works is all of us are being given different feeds. What I see on my social media feed is completely different than what you see in yours, even so much as to suppress certain bits of information. And so there's a lot of confusion about even where these people stand. Both sides constantly accusing each other of not having any stances when they're both actually quite clear on where they stand. So I think there's a lot of misinformation out there. I think there's a lot of confusion, and we have to give grace to one another when we get it wrong. I'm not saying we have to accept those things that I listed as absolutely unbiblical. I'm saying that many of our brothers and sisters disagree with us because they have not been given right information, because they don't know what the scripture says on certain issues. Yes, some know what the Bible says, but are stubbornly refusing anyway. That's a different person. I'm not talking about that. What I am saying is that we have to be able to give grace to one another for where we are in our maturity, in our faith. And so the enemy wants nothing more than to divide the body of Christ over political issues. Here's the concern. Neither the Democrat Party nor the Republican Party are completely innocent. Both of them do some horrendous things. Now you may be able to say one does things more horrible than the other, and I would agree with that, but you at least have to appreciate the conundrum that people find themselves in, especially with all of that misinformation going out there, especially with emotions running so high and tension running so high. and misunderstandings on certain points of communication. It is meant to be confusing. That's what the propaganda machine is pushing out through mainstream media. That's what the enemy is pushing out because he wants to cause confusion so there is division. Where there is confusion, there is always division. And so again, I'm not condoning the Democrat Party. I'm not condoning the position that you should sit out the elections. I don't believe either one are correct. I believe that the best option, not the ideal option, we're not voting for Jesus here, but I believe that the best and most ideal, most ideal, not completely, would be Republican conservative platforms. Again, this is where many of the body of Christ disagree. So here's how we work through this as the body of Christ. Galatians 3:27-28. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free, male or female, Democrat or Republican, Independent or Green Party, Libertarian or unaffiliated. We're all one in Christ. That's our identity. And so here's the solution. We must unite on biblical principles. Now I wanna challenge all of us. We all need to adjust our views according to the scripture. If you don't know what the scripture says on a certain issue, stop getting your information from superficial teachings and propaganda machines. Go to the Bible. Look at what the scripture says, and then begin to adjust your opinions from there. If we can agree on scripture, then there can be unity. Psalm 133:1 says, how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. Ephesians 4:3, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. I have friends who are completely sold out MAGA, like the MAGA hats and the banners and everything. I also have friends who are deeply disturbed by the results of this election, both of them Christian. And again, I understand. I understand it from my perspective. How can you even side with things like the transgender thing? And then they'll say things also I don't wanna say, 'cause some of them are a little crude. How could you stand with a man who did X, Y, and Z? And both make good points. Yeah. And so, because both systems are so flawed, because both systems are corrupt, you have to appreciate that there is a lot of confusion on these subjects. So I'm not saying agree with people who are off on these things. I'm saying, give them a little grace. I'm a little troubled by some of the preachers who are out there saying that the Democrat-Republican thing is a salvation issue. I think it's a discernment issue for sure, I wouldn't say it's a salvation issue because salvation is by grace through faith. Everything else is a matter of maturity and correcting it according to the Scripture and sanctification and renewing the mind. But we receive salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. So this is what I'm saying. How are we supposed to help our brothers and sisters if we're demonizing them? How are we supposed to guide them if we're separating from them? And so this is where I challenge you as the body of Christ to be united, to be understanding, to give grace. I told you where I stand. I told you what I believe. I presented to you the various different positions that are out there. We can give grace as to maybe why they have some of the reasoning that they do. I believe they're wrong, but at least we give grace because of the confusing environment, because of a lot of the misinformation that's out there, and because of the fact that There's a biblical deficiency in our society. We gotta pray for one another. And that's the only way we're going to move forward as the church. Don't let the enemy use this to divide you. Don't let the enemy use this to cause you to separate from fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't let the enemy use this to cause you to have enmity with family members who you otherwise would not have that with. Be careful, be level-headed, Be Spirit-led, stand on truth. Yes, absolutely. I'm right there with you. I told you where I stand very clearly, I might add. But at the same time, we need to make sure that we are being patient with one another, patient with each other's sanctification, patient with each other's growth. So I say this to all my brothers and sisters in Christ. We all serve Jesus, and we all need to learn to adjust our lives to the word, our thinking to the word, our politics to the word. And as we all grow together, as we all learn together, the body of Christ must give grace to one another. Father, I pray your people would do it. Lord, give them eyes to see and ears to hear. Bring unity, I pray, to your true body. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. Amen. Well, thank you so much for listening to this message. If you appreciate what God is doing through this ministry, then I wanna encourage you right now to become a monthly ministry partner by going to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Look, the election's behind us. Well, the news, I'm sure, will drag it on for ratings and commercial advertising and all that. But as it stands now, it's pretty much over. It's pretty much official. Let's move forward now. So I invite you, brothers and sisters in Christ, let's get to work. We got great opportunity ahead of us. Let's not miss this window. Go and partner right now, davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Become a monthly ministry supporter. Again, davidhernandezministries.com/partner. You can partner for as little as $15 a month. One more time, davidhernandezministries.com/partner. I so appreciate your support. God bless you.