I welcome any reader of course, but this letter is originally for the precious body of believers of Grace Bible Church of Bakersfield.

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Grace Bible Church of Bakersfield,

We have done our best to shepherd our own hearts concerning this year’s presidential election. We did a conference on Christian Nationalism earlier in the year to be reminded that Christ is the ultimate King and that the Church will not bring in the kingdom; Christ will. We have been studying the future kingdom of Christ on earth on Sunday evenings to be encouraged for the future. We have consistently maintained a gospel-centered focus being reminded that our primary function on this earth is to be a witness for Christ and the gospel.

Yet, we still live in this world, and all of us feel the tremendous burden of the potential consequences of this election. As others have mentioned, every election feels like the most important one. I believe the case could be made that this election certainly has a different and unique feel to it as the opposing sides are categorically and morally opposite one another. Our nation has felt the horrific effects of lack of accountability for crime, historic open borders letting countless millions of non-citizens including innumerable wicked men into the country, making every state a border state. We have felt the tightness of economic policies designed specifically not to create freedom and relief but dependence on an ever-swelling government. We have observed a nation that once could be characterized as Judeo-Christian in ethic now abandon all sense of accountability to God, mocking God as Maker, mocking the Creator of male and female. We have observed a world going to war partly as a result of weakness in a once-strong executive branch seemingly incapable of defending the weak. And certainly, we have no leg to stand on nationally to expect God to be merciful when the United States is the most murderous nation in the history of humanity, slaughtering babies by the tens of millions. Yet we love our nation, we proudly called ourselves Americans and are called by God who invented nationalism to be loyal, good citizens.

I have spoken individually to many of you and have heard both your confident faith in Christ yet combined with sorrow and some anxiety about what our nation and world could look like in the next few years. I write this to you purposefully prior to the results of the election but to be delivered to you after the election, whether final results are in or not. I want to give to you several admonitions to shepherd your own hearts through the coming years, whether God grants a bit of relief through a president who comes closer to understanding the biblical mandate of government to protect the innocent, or whether God allows a president who may serve as the instrument of evil to further demand that government control and overstep be a god to be worshiped.

Obey 1 Timothy 2 Like Never Before

Christians are called in 1 Timothy 2:1–2 to pray “for kings and all who are in authority.” And the purpose is very practical: “so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” As evil as so many of our elected officials are, Romans 13 tells us that they are placed by God in His mysterious providential plan. And consider this about every ruler on earth:

“Sheol from beneath trembles excitedly over you to meet you when you come; It wakens for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will all answer and say to you, ‘Even you have been made weak as we, you have become like us’” (Isaiah 14:9–10).

Every leader will be equalized in death and will meet God to receive judgment. Pray for the salvation of lost leaders and pray to be protected from their wickedness. Pray for the wisdom and courage of more righteous leaders and for their influence to be felt in by God’s grace.

Find Comfort in the Direction of 1 Thessalonians 4:9–12

Paul gives tremendously practical counsel in 1 Thessalonians 4:9–12. I can summarize his counsel into three parts:

1. Love one another with an ever-excelling love (vv.9–10). In the midst of a failing society and culture, Christians are to actively strengthen our bonds with one another in serving, in gathering, in helping, in praying, and in praising.
2. Lead a Quiet Life (v.11). Paul defines a quiet life as attending to your own business and working with your hands. To more broadly apply this, Paul is simply saying to go about your Christian life with as much simplicity as you can. In context, the very next passage gives tremendous future hope as Paul teaches on the coming resurrection and rapture event, at the end of which he writes, “Therefore, comfort one another with these words” (v.18).
3. Live Holy Lives (v.12). Paul says to “walk properly toward outsiders.” In 1 Peter, Peter makes the case that the proper response to persecution and hardship is to be holy because God is holy. Holiness is the sober response to difficult times. In holiness you find sweet communion with the Lord as you leave behind silly inane selfishness. Husbands truly love your wives; wives truly submit to your husbands; slaves truly obey your earthly masters; church members truly devote yourselves to gospel service. If ever there was a time to have tender deep personal times of prayer and the Word with the Lord, the hour has come. The time is now. Be holy.

Redouble Your Gospel Efforts

Regardless of who is president for the next four years, our greatest challenge as a church is not to change society with policy, but to see hearts changed through the gospel of Christ. While some of you have various degrees of ability, interest, and resources to temporal differences such as getting involved in the political process, all of us have a calling to be spiritual light and salt in the world. I for one, am never content to just coast on the wonderful things the Lord has done in the past at Grace Bible Church. I am ever praying for God to do more through us. There are some tangible ways you can redouble your gospel efforts:

• Set a goal to invite a certain number of people to church in 2025. You bring them and the gospel will catch them! Make this a regular focus of prayer and see if the Lord doesn’t help you meet that goal! Keep the baptistry wet. Keep the elders busy. Keep the ushers busy. Keep the sanctuary full.
• Eliminate wasted time. Look at your calendar and eliminate some wasted time which could be used for gospel endeavors, serving in the church, or being better light and salt with your family. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5 to make the best use of the time because the days are evil. Time is short. Discipleship is needed. Souls are dying.
• Elevate your giving to the gospel ministry. GBC can only do whatever ministry is funded. In a time in which everything in us makes us lean toward frugality and hanging onto money, the lost cry for the opposite. If ever there was a time to sacrificially give even more than you are now, this is the moment. You are already a generous church, faithfully contributing to Joyful Generosity, for example. But Jesus said to pray for more harvesters to execute the spread of the gospel. I for one want to be part of a church with an ever-expanding footprint for the sake of the gospel.
• Gather as often as possible. I know there are many challenges to spending 2, 3, or even 4 different times during your week to gather with God’s people. But we need each other more than ever before. In the coming days and years, Christianity will become more and more hated and despised by the world. The antidote to this is our gathering. Make a mid-week small group or ministry service a priority. Audition for the choir with Pastor Darren. Faithfully attend men’s and women’s events as a priority. Make Sunday a Lord’s day, not a Lord’s morning. More than ever before we need to see each other’s faces continually. Embrace one another. Pray with one another. Gather with one another.
• Worship with your family at home. Men, more than ever before it is time to be diligent to gather your family for prayer, reading of the Scriptures, and worship in song in your homes. Whether you have lots of small children or your children are grown, the home is the final safe place for Christians in this world besides the gathered church. Let your home truly be a home filled with prayer and the Word.

I cannot predict what the Lord will do in our nation, but I can predict what He will do in His redemptive plan. The Lord Jesus, the King of all the kings, promised, “I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Let us press on with greater excellence in our glorious mission and faith! The darker the world becomes, the greater our light must shine!