A New Beginning presents a great book from Pastor Greg Laurie called Hope for America. Yes, we're in a political season right now.
We need to vote. We should be informed on the issues as Americans and as Christians, but we should also recognize the ultimate hope for our nation is turning back to God. So I talk about this and a lot more in a book I've written called Hope for America.
And I want to send it to you for your gift of any size. Get your copy at harvest.org. A New Beginning presents a great book from Pastor Greg Laurie called Hope for America. Yes, we're in a political season right now. We need to vote. We should be informed on the issues as Americans and as Christians, but we should also recognize the ultimate hope for our nation is turning back to God. So I talk about this and a lot more in a book I've written called Hope for America. And I want to send it to you for your gift of any size.
Get your copy at harvest.org. Hey, everybody. Greg Laurie here with some thoughts about Christians and politics. I was recently asked to go to a Trump rally in Coachella in California, and I agreed, and I was asked to do a prayer there, which I'm always happy to do.
You know, here's the bottom line. My job as a follower of Jesus and specifically as a pastor is to represent Christ, and I understand that when I go into any setting, I'm there as a representative of the kingdom of God, and my primary objective is to point people to Christ. Now, sometimes people will say, well, Christians shouldn't get involved in politics.
Now, where would you get that idea? Oh, but there's a separation of church and state. I mean, just to answer that briefly, that was in a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to a particular person who asked about this.
It was not in any of the documents, the founding documents of our nation, and the objective of Jefferson in writing on that particular topic was to keep the government out of the church, not to keep the church out of government. We as Christians must permeate. We must saturate our culture. Our job is to shine as bright lights and function as salt. Jesus said, you're the light of the world. You're the salt of the earth. We show our light through good works and the things that we do to help others in preaching the gospel, and we are salt by stopping the spread of evil, because that's what salt did back in biblical times.
It would rub it in the meat so it would not rot. So that's where voting comes in. That's where speaking out in issues comes in.
Christians must be involved in every aspect of American life. So I went to this event and I did this prayer. By the way, if I was asked by the Harris campaign to come to one of their events and do a prayer, I would gladly accept that. You give me a microphone and an opportunity to speak, I'd be happy to do that. But here's what I said before I did my opening prayer to the folks that were gathered. Hello. How many of you are proud to be an American today?
Raise your hand up. I thought so. How many of you fly an American flag outside of your house? I do too. Some of you fly really big American flags on your trucks.
I've seen it. You know, there are those that would try to marginalize us who are Christians and call us Christian nationalists. And I consider myself a Christian patriot.
And I'm proud of that. President George Washington said, and he said it to me personally, that's how old I am. No, President Washington said, quote, to the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the most distinguished character of Christian, end quote. So here's what we believe. We're not trying to impose our faith on anybody else. We want the same first amendment rights that all Americans have to stand boldly for our faith and say what is true.
We're not trying to push that on anyone, but we do want to share it. Jesus called us to be both salt and light. So we're like, Jesus said, let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. So we as believers want to be light, helping our neighbors like the folks suffering from the effects of hurricane, the hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida, Hurricane Helene and also in the state of Florida.
So we want to shine our light. But then Jesus said we are to be salt. And salt was a preservative in biblical times.
It stopped the meat from rotting. And in the same way, we speak out against what is wrong in addition to speaking up for what is right. And that is where voting comes in. And I read recently that there are 50 million, excuse me, 90 million evangelicals who are eligible to vote in this country, but 40 million of them do not vote. So I am urging everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ to vote and to vote biblically in this election. No election in my lifetime is as consequential as this one.
So we all need to engage. Now, let me say this. I will pray for whoever is elected to be the next president of the United States.
But let me add something else. I have had the privilege of being in the White House when President Trump was our president. He welcomed me and other pastors and evangelical leaders to pray for the nation, to pray for him, even in the Oval Office. So he has been a true friend to the Christian community. And we thank him for that. And then following that, this is the prayer I shared with them. And we all concluded together by praying the Lord's Prayer.
Check it out. So my job, and I'm glad I have it, is to lead us all in prayer right now. So let's all bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, America was your idea before it was the idea of any man. This land has been a refuge for those yearning for freedom. And it is arisen to be the most powerful and wealthy country in history. And it's been a blessing to the world. Lord, you've blessed America. And we all have benefited from that blessing.
So God, give us the privilege to pass on the America we have known for future generations. We pray for your blessing on this nation, for your mercy on this nation. And we pray for all leaders that you will guide and direct them, whatever their politics. But we pray especially for our friend today, President Donald Trump. We thank you for protecting his life from two assassination attempts. You put your angels around him.
You put a hedge of protection around him. Now give him wisdom. May he be closer to you than he has ever been before. And may that be true of all of us, Lord. And so we pray that you will bless America. We entrust our future, our families into your hands. Why don't we all close now by praying the Lord's prayer together.
Let's pray it now. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. God bless you all. Hey, everybody.
Thanks for listening to my podcast. Before you go, I wanted to let you know about the important work we're doing here at Harvest. You know, we've had the same goal these last 50 years, which is simply this. We want to know God and we want to make Him known. And we do that in a lot of ways. Documentary films, animation, radio, television, large-scale evangelistic events, and more. If you want to be a part of what we're doing to fulfill the great commission, you can support us with whatever you can give at harvest.org slash donate. Again, that's harvest.org slash donate. And thanks so much.
