{"id":19161,"date":"2016-07-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-bible-and-voting-part-1\/"},"modified":"2016-07-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-03T05:00:00","slug":"the-bible-and-voting-part-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-bible-and-voting-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bible and Voting – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[65],"series_event":[466],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19161","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-proverbs","series_event-the-bible-and-voting-2016","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Bible and Voting - Part 1","sermon_date":"20160703","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3716,"sermon_slides":3736,"sermon_mp3":3720,"sermon_id":"73161015285","series_or_event":466,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":65,"chapter_and_verse":"14:34","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Bible and Voting \u2013 Part 1\n\n7-3-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Proverbs 14:34\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Independence Day\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 19 and verse 14.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is The Bible and Voting \u2013 Part 1.\u00a0 Every 4th<\/sup> of July rolls around and I typically do a message on something related to America, patriotism, the culture, and I\u2019m always frustrated when I get to those sermons myself because I say the problems with America are so severe I don\u2019t really know what one sermon is going to do to correct bad thinking in people.\n\nWell, fortuitously, by providence, we finished the book of 2 Timothy last week.\u00a0 I\u2019m always worried about let\u2019s get back into The Book because we\u2019re going to lose continuity, but we actually finished 2 Timothy, which is sort of a milestone in and of itself whenever we finish a book in this church; it\u2019s kind of something that stands out in your mind.\u00a0 So that sort of frees me up, doesn\u2019t it, before we charge into the next book, to really stop for just a moment and talk about the United States of America and I see this series maybe going two weeks, maybe going three, a mini-series if you will, entitled The Bible and Voting.\n\nThat\u2019s sort of an explosive combination, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 The Bible and politics!\u00a0 So let me, before we get into it let me give you some preliminary remarks.\u00a0 When we talk about voting and the Christian\u2019s responsibility to vote I look at this as what I would call a stewardship issue.\u00a0 Paul, in 1 Corinthians 4:2 says this: \u201cIn this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 A steward is not an owner but a manager.\u00a0 We are God\u2019s stewards of blessings He\u2019s given us; we have the three T\u2019s, Time, Talent and Treasure, that we are to manage on His behalf.\u00a0 One day He will ask us what we did with those things but can I add something else to your list?\u00a0 Your own government.\u00a0 Because of the way America is set up we are actually responsible for the direction, to a large extent, of our own government because of the freedoms that we have.\n\n\u201cAt the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when he was asked or queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation\u201d, and this was recorded \u201c(in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland\u2019s delegates to the Constitutional Convention) a lady asked Dr. Benjamin Franklin: \u2018Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Franklin responded, \u2018A republic if you can keep it.\u2019\u201d [The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787,<\/em> ed. Max Farrand, vol. 3, appendix A, p. 85 (1911, reprinted 1934).].\n\nIt\u2019s a very fascinating exchange that went on there between the great Dr. Benjamin Franklin and a questioner because he basically says in this exchange, you have the government but now it\u2019s on your shoulders.\u00a0 You\u2019re responsible for it and whether it lasts or endures Franklin said it\u2019s up to you, \u201cif you\u201d not we or they, but \u201cif\u00a0 you can keep it.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s sort of the origin, if\u00a0 you will, of America.\n\nWe live in a country today where evil seems to be able to come and go almost as it pleases.\u00a0 We can blame different things for it but at some point we have to, as God\u2019s people, begin to look in the mirror and ask ourselves what have we allowed to happen, because the statistics regarding Christian engagement in civic affairs are very, very depressing.\u00a0\u00a0 You take, for example, something as simple as voting.\u00a0 The statistics reveal that half of all people that name the name of Christ are even registered to vote.\u00a0 Of those that are registered you can reduce that number further by about fifty percent in terms of who actually show up and vote.\u00a0\u00a0 And of the people that name the name of Christ that actually vote, sadly what they look at is not the Word of God, they look at (many times) what tax bracket am I going to be in?\u00a0 Is my office going to get this new government contract which will guarantee my employment?\u00a0 They\u2019re looking at some issue from a personal level outside of the Bible.\n\nAnd what I\u2019m trying to get at in this series is these things ought not to be so.\u00a0 The Bible, as I\u2019ll be sharing with you, gives us some very specific principles that we are to look for in terms of voting.\u00a0 I do not find myself voting in election after election because I\u2019m trying to bring in the Kingdom, by the way.\u00a0 I\u2019m a premillennialist, which basically means that Jesus will set up the Kingdom on His own, thank you very much.\u00a0\u00a0 But in the interim I am called to be a steward; I see voting in that sense.\n\nLet me take you to another issue, number two, and these are just some introductory thoughts, voting is a biblical issue.\u00a0 To me it is not a party affiliation issue.\u00a0 I am constantly asking myself in any election, whether it\u2019s for dog catcher or President of the United States, which of these candidates better reflects a fixed set of principles that I believe in\u00a0 The Bible actually claims, as we studied in 2 Timothy, to equip us for how many good works?\u00a0 Every good work.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:17, \u201cso that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d]\n\nI believe that the Bible itself can equip the Christian for the ballot box, 2 Peter 1:3-4 indicates that in the promises of God we have everything we need for matters of faith and practice, which would include voting and how we look at the world of politics.\u00a0 [2 Peter 1:3-4, \u201cseeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. [4] For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the<\/em> divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.\u201d]\n\nThe fact of the matter is the Bible is inspired by God.\u00a0 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us this, it tells us that every word, \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God\u2026\u201d the Bible is not primarily a political document but you\u2019ll notice, and I\u2019ll be sharing with you in this series, the Bible brushes on political issues.\u00a0 When the Bible brushes on political issues that directly affect the culture it\u2019s just as inspired as when it deals with those things as it is when it deals with salvation, the Trinity, heaven, hell, angels, demons or any other spiritual subject.\n\nAnd what the Bible reveals to us is a fixed set of principles; these principles, sadly, are not in the thinking of the modern man; they\u2019re really not, to a large extent, even in the thinking of the modern Christian.\u00a0 Yet, as I\u2019ll be sharing with you, these principles are extremely important to God and in all matters we have to begin to think the way God thinks on certain subjects that He has commented on.\u00a0 I really, at the end of the day, do not consider myself a Republican or a Democrat; I\u2019m registered with one of the parties, but when people ask me my party affiliation I call myself a Christ-ocrat.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking not so much at people as I am looking at the Bible and trying to figure out is candidate X or candidate Y or Z, or issue A, B and C, in line with scriptural principles or not?\n\nWhat I\u2019m going to be giving to you, this is not Fox News, I\u2019m not going to be giving you polls. I\u2019m not going to be giving you personalities.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to be giving you parties.\u00a0 I\u2019m not\u00a0 going to be giving you slogans.\u00a0 In this miniseries I\u2019m going to be revealing to you, as God has revealed them to us, a fixed spiritual gift of principles.\n\nNumber 3, the third preliminary remark is voting is not a perfection issue.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got news for you\u2014Jesus is not on the ballot this year; He wasn\u2019t on the ballot last year either.\u00a0 A lot of people spend their time waiting for the perfect candidate to show up.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is you\u2019re not going to have perfection until Jesus rules the world from David\u2019s throne in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 In the interim we live in a fallen world; we have people that we must pick from.\u00a0 I\u2019m not just talking about Presidency, I\u2019m talking about state, local as well.\u00a0 And we, as fallen human beings living in a fallen world, must pick, not for perfection but which side is closer to what we want because many times we\u2019re not given the perfect candidate, we won\u2019t be given the perfect candidate until Jesus is running the world.\n\nSo what we are dealing with here is a set of principles that I\u2019m going to share with you that you can apply in any election.\u00a0 I see this as a time of equipping. I\u2019m not going to be telling you who to vote for,\u00a0 I can\u2019t do that, IRS regulations wouldn\u2019t allow that anyway, and even if they did I wouldn\u2019t want to do it. I don\u2019t consider it my place.\n\nWhat I am interested in though, as the pastor-teacher of Sugar Land Bible Church is going back to the Scripture and showing you principles that can shape your worldview.\u00a0 Now how you apply those principles is between you and God. So here we go:\n\nPrinciples: you can see why I have to do this in several sermons.\u00a0 Number 1, Economic issues.\u00a0 We may not even cover those today.\u00a0 Number 2, Social issues.\u00a0 Number 3, Foreign affairs issues.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have these ranked in a particular order, these are just things that the Bible speaks of and I decided to deal with these in there three broad categories.\u00a0 As\u00a0 you\u2019ll see as we get into this you\u2019ll say wow, this subject here deserves a whole sermon, and it does.\u00a0 Each issue that we\u2019re going to be covering deserves a whole sermon; I can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 What I\u2019m seeking to do in this miniseries is to give you more of a comprehensive approach; I won\u2019t be able to say everything that needs to be said about every issue but you\u2019ll have, by the end of the series, a broad paradigm to look at, to draw from, when you make decisions as a steward of the manifold blessings that we have, you have, we all have been given.\n\nEconomic issues, I have ten.\u00a0 Social issues I have eight.\u00a0 Foreign Affairs issues I have four.\u00a0 I may not be able to cover every single issue but these, to me, are the main things that God has disclosed Himself on that should educate the Christian population in terms of voting.\n\nEconomic issues, they are, let\u2019s get started: Number 1\u2026 and these are phrased as a series of questions that can be asked of any candidate for any office.\u00a0 Number 1, does the candidate believe\u00a0 in the ownership of private property?\u00a0 That\u2019s why I had you open up to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 19 and verse 14 because what you\u2019ll discover with the Bible is that it is a pro private property book.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 19:14 says this to the ancient Israelites: \u201cYou shall not move your neighbor's boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess.\u201d\n\nDon\u2019t cheat on the ancient boundary marker, don\u2019t make it look like your property is bigger at the expense of your neighbor.\u00a0 That is a pro private property statement.\u00a0 And as\u00a0 you study the Ten Commandments what you\u2019ll discover is they are seeking to protect something.\u00a0 For example, when God says don\u2019t murder He\u2019s trying to protect the sanctity of life.\u00a0 When He says don\u2019t lie He is trying to protect the sanctity of truth.\u00a0 And there are two of the Ten Commandments that are seeking to protect the sanctity of private property rights, one of them is \u201cThou shalt not steal,\u201d Exodus 20:15.\u00a0 The last commandment, number 10, is \u201cThou shalt not covet.\u201d\u00a0 Coveting would be that desire to have something that belongs to somebody else; that nicer house, nicer mansion and what have you.\n\nThe fact of the matter is private property is what the United States of America was founded on.\u00a0 In fact, don\u2019t take my word for it, notice the words of John Adams, American\u2019s second President, notice what he says here: \u201c\u201cThe moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If \u2018Thou Shalt Not Covet,\u2019 and \u2018Thou Shalt Not Steal\u2019 were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.\u201d\u00a0 [John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America<\/em>, 3 vols., American Constitutional and Legal History, ed. Leonard W. Levy (London: Dilly, 1787; reprint, NY: Da Capo, 1971), 3:217]\n\nMr. or Mrs. Candidate, you want me to vote for you?\u00a0 The first question I have for you is what do\u00a0 you believe about private property?\u00a0 What\u2019s your view of it.\u00a0 Do you hold a biblical view of the sacredness of private property or do you look at property of individuals as something that can be siphoned away, taxes away, regulated away,\u00a0 under the banner of some kind of social justice theory or some kind of idea to pursue a higher good.\n\nThe antithesis of the United States Constitution is the Communist Manifesto; it\u2019s just a pamphlet, this manifesto.\u00a0 And it\u2019s amazing how this little pamphlet has caused so much trouble throughout the earth; how many lives have been shed because of this little pamphlet that Karl Marx wrote back in 1848.\u00a0 In the pamphlet he gives the ten objectives of what we would call Marxism or Communism when it takes over a country.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of academia, they\u2019re toppled many governments and they always do the same thing, once they topple the government.\u00a0 Number 1 is on the list, is abolish private property.\u00a0 We have a problem with that\u2026 the Bible!\u00a0 And there is a reason why, when Marxist\u2019s take over a society or a system the first thing they want to put on the chopping block is the Bible.\u00a0 The first thing they want to put under the thumb of persecution is the church because the church is teaching, the Bible is teaching (perhaps your average Christian doesn\u2019t know this), Marxists know it, the Bible is teaching something the opposite of Marxism, right at the first level this ownership of private property.\n\nThe second question, let\u2019s go to Genesis 8:21, will the candidate allow people to pursue their economic self-interest?\u00a0\u00a0 This is what God said about human nature right after the flood in what\u2019s called the Noahic Covenant, something I\u2019ll be mentioning several times.\u00a0 It says this: \u201cThe Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, \u201cI will never again curse the ground on account of man,\u201d and look at this clause here, \u201cfor the intent of man\u2019s heart is evil from his youth<\/u>\u2026.\u201d\n\nThe book of Jeremiah, chapter 17 and verse 9 says this: \u201cThe heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?\u201d\u00a0 If the Bible teaches anything it teaches the inherent depravity and the inherent sinfulness of man.\u00a0 Of course the Bible teaches that because it offers the salvation of Jesus Christ as a cure; if we didn\u2019t have the problem of depravity in our fallen state and the sin nature the cure of Jesus Christ would not be necessary.\n\nYou say well this is all interesting theology, but what does it have to do with voting?\u00a0 Everything!\u00a0 People, because of their fallen condition will work hard at something; they will\u00a0 unleash their natural talents if they are allowed to benefit from their labors.\u00a0 Unless somebody has been touched miraculously by the Spirit of God they have no desire, they have no ambition, they have no propensity to work for something, that we would call the common good, higher than themselves.\u00a0 Adam Smith, the great economist, called this the \u201cinvisible hand.\u201d\u00a0 What is the \u201cinvisible hand\u201d?\u00a0 The invisible hand is the industry and the creativity and the economic productivity that is naturally unleashed in a culture when people can understand that they themselves are going to benefit from what they have produced.\u00a0\u00a0 To take away profit incentive is to, in essence, kill the goose that lays he golden egg.\n\nThere is a reason why you cannot point to a single example of a successful Marxist economy in the world.\u00a0 The people have no ambition, they have no incentive.\u00a0 I remember as a very young college student, my mind filled with ideas on how the world ought to work and I remember taking a trip into East Germany (this was before the Berlin Wall fell), when I was playing basketball for the University of Redland, summer of 1988, I remember going into East Berlin, communist area, I remember going to a restaurant sitting there, and sitting there, and sitting there, and sitting there; it\u2019s a little different than in America, usually someone just comes right over and takes my order.\u00a0 Usually I have a plethora of many items to pick from.\u00a0 The people that were running that restaurant could care less whether I was in the room or not. Why is that?\u00a0 The state controls the profit, whether they make a lot of profit that day or no profit that day is really of no consequence, they\u2019re paid the same way regardless.\n\nAnd how different it is traveling from East Berlin to West Berlin; how the level of productivity picks up, how the level of creativity picks up, how the level of energy picks up, how industry picks up.\u00a0 What\u2019s the reason?\u00a0 Marxism is built on (this is why it doesn\u2019t work)\u00a0 the wrong assumption of human nature; it starts at the wrong place.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t start with what the Bible reveals about man; people do not naturally work hard for the community; they work hard for themselves.\u00a0 It\u2019s built into our inherit depravity.\u00a0 If you want to pull the natural gifts out of somebody, which we all have, the profit incentive has to be there.\n\nAnd this is why, and Curtis Bowers covered this when he was with us a few months ago, socialism will always lead to Marxism because people will not work hard for the benefit of the community and the Marxists come along and they say you won\u2019t hard, well now we\u2019re going to force you to, through slave labor, the threat of force, and so forth.\n\nThis is a lesson that I believe God taught the United States of America going back to the Jamestown Colony, all the way back in 1623.\u00a0 Let me read to you an excerpt from the Governor of that colony, William Bradford.\u00a0 This is recorded in a book called Mayflower, A Story of Courage, Community and War, <\/em>page 165.\u00a0 He says: \u201cAdam Smith, the great economist, called this the \u2018invisible hand.\u2019 For the last two planting seasons the pilgrims had grown crops communally; the approach first used at Jamestown and other English settlements.\u201d\u00a0 They were following more of a communal system, whatever you produce goes into a common pot for the common good.\u00a0 \u201cBut as the disastrous harvest of the previous fall had shown, something drastic needed to be done due to increase in the annual yield.\u00a0 In April\u201d this is Governor Bradford, \u201chad decided that each household should be assigned its own plot to cultivate, with the understanding that each family kept whatever it grew. The change in attitude was stunning. Families were now willing to work much harder than they had ever worked before. \u00a0In previous years, the men had tended the fields while the women tended the children at home.\u201d\u00a0 Governor Bradford writes this: \u201c\u2018The women now went willingly into the field,\u2019 Bradford wrote, \u201cand took their little ones with them to set corn.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 This writer comments, \u2018The Pilgrims had stumbled on the power of capitalism. Although the fortunes of the colony still teetered precariously in the years ahead, the inhabitants never again starved.\u201d\u00a0 [Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War<\/em><\/a> (New York: Penguin Books, 2007, paperback edition]\n\nI believe that what God led those early pilgrims to do, which is the foundation of our whole system here in America, was not just providential protection but to the right economic system.\u00a0 You have to build your economic system on what Scripture itself reveals concerning the depravity of man.\n\nEver wonder why Marxists hate America so much?\u00a0 Why the hatred?\u00a0 Because America itself is a successful experiment; when all of their other experiments around the world have yielded meager results.\u00a0 My answer as a Biblicist is you started at the wrong place, Mr. and Mrs. Marxist; you didn\u2019t start with the revealed Word of God and what God Himself says about human nature.\u00a0 I want to know this from somebody that wants my vote: what do you believe about this.\n\nThe third question I would ask: Does the candidate have a proper definition of compassion.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is, we are fallen and in our fallen state, going now if you could to Genesis 3:17-19, God said this immediately after the fall.\u00a0 \u201cThen to Adam He said, \u2018Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, \u2018You shall not eat from it\u2019; Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.\u00a0 [18] Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; [19] By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.\u2019\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s the deal with the fall: everyone has to work to support themselves.\u00a0 Prior to the fall men and women, man and woman could work as they willed, following their own interests, wherever those would take them.\u00a0 But it\u2019s completely different after the fall; now man must work by the sweat of his brow, he must work for survival.\u00a0 And how this basic teaching is reaffirmed over and over again in the New Testament.\u00a0 You recall the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, \u201c\u2026 if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to\u201d what? \u201ceat, either.\u201d\u00a0 Do you like eating?\u00a0 Yes I do, in fact, eating is one of the things in my life I really excel at.\u00a0 The Bible says then go to work.\n\n1 Timothy 5:8 says, \u201cBut if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.\u201d\u00a0 Pretty strong language, would you not agree?\n\nYou say well, Andy, don\u2019t you care about the poor?\u00a0 Of course I care about the poor, so does God.\u00a0 In the Old Testament there were three harvests, first fruits, general harvest and the gleanings.\u00a0 Let\u2019s focus for a minute on the gleanings.\u00a0 Leviticus 19:9-10, \u201cNow when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. [10] \u2018Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.\u201d\u00a0 God always looked out for the poor.\u00a0 But it\u2019s interesting how God provided for the poor; He told the Jews in the land of Israel not to harvest everything in the general harvest but to leave some of the crop unharvested for the benefit of who?\u00a0 For the poor.\u00a0 And the poor came and took that final harvest and what is called \u201cthe gleanings.\u201d\n\nAnd God always had His eye on the poor, He looked out for the poor, the poor were special to God.\u00a0 In fact, if you know your Bible well you know that it\u2019s at the gleanings that Ruth met Boaz, which continued the Messianic line.\u00a0 The poor have always been meaningful and significant to God.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice how God gave the poor dignity; there was no such thing as a handout.\u00a0 They were given dignity to work and harvest just like everyone else.\u00a0 The doctrine of socialism, the doctrine of Marxism says this: \u201cI do not work to support myself, it says you work and I eat.\u00a0 This is the great siren song of socialism.\u00a0 This is why the doctrine of socialism is so appealing to the natural man because here\u2019s what it offers: an escape from the fall and escape from the curse.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason why youth today in mass are now voting (to a large extent) for a socialistic candidate for President, with his promises of free this and free that.\u00a0 Why is that message so attractive?\u00a0 It\u2019s a way out from the curse.\u00a0 The problem is, there is no way out from the curse; the curse is the curse.\u00a0 Every man must work to support himself.\n\nThe problem, as Margaret Thatcher said, is with socialism you eventually run out of opium, which she defined as other people\u2019s money.\u00a0 It always looks so good on paper whenever it\u2019s presented.\u00a0 But you have to understand that that economic doctrine itself is an attack on what the Creator said, going all the way back to Genesis 3.\u00a0 I want to know from a candidate: do you understand this or not.\u00a0 The function of a candidate or a political office is not to give people perpetual handouts; it is to create the environment where people can pursue labor and work.\u00a0 I do not define compassion by how many people receive public assistance.\u00a0 I define it by how many people no longer need it.\n\nMr. or Mrs. Candidate for office, do you understand that?\n\nThe fourth question, number four, does the candidate recognize that charity is the proper role of the church rather than the government?\u00a0 I\u2019m not against charity, we all have needed charity, some need charity even as I speak.\u00a0 But the fact of the matter is when God set up the institution of human government in the Noahic Covenant He set up two different spheres.\u00a0 You have the sphere of government on one end of the stick and later on in biblical history you have the sphere of the church\u2014different spheres with different priorities and responsibilities.\u00a0 The function of government as I will be showing you a little bit later, Romans 13:1-7, other verses, Genesis 9:6, is to restrain evil through the threat of force.\n\n[Romans 13:1-7, \u201cEvery person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. [2] Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. [3] For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; [4] for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. [5] Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience\u2019 sake. [6] For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers<\/em> are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. [7]<\/a> Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due;<\/em> custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 9:6, \u201cWhoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.\u201d]\n\nThe function of the church in addition to fulfilling the great commission is this whole work of charity.\u00a0 You see, a few generations ago American\u2019s understood this; they don\u2019t today because the rolls have been changed.\u00a0 The book of James, chapter 1 and verse 27 puts it this way to the church, \u201cPure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 What do widows and orphans have in common?\u00a0 They\u2019re both vulnerable.\u00a0 And James says that\u2019s within the sphere of the church to deal with that issue.\n\nIf you don\u2019t believe me read 1 Timothy 5:3-8 and you will see very clearly the Apostle Paul\u2019s instructions to the church regarding widows.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 3:5-8, \u201c (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), [6] and<\/em> not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. [7] And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church,<\/em> so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. \u00a0[8]8 Deacons likewise must be<\/em> men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain.\u201d]\n\nThe first thing Paul says is the widow is to be cared for by her own family.\u00a0 But what if that is not available?\u00a0 Then it becomes the responsibility of the church.\u00a0 But you see, what has happened is these clear lines of delineation that the Bible reveals have been mixed; they\u2019re been intermingled.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, 1 Samuel 8:10-18, I want to show you what happens when roles get reversed.\n\nIt says this: \u201cSo Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who had asked of him a king. [11] He said, \u2018This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you:\u201d the nation of Israel wanted to be like everybody else, we want a king.\u00a0 God, through Samuel said all right, here\u2019s what you\u2019re asking for that you haven\u2019t counted on, \u201cThis will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them<\/em> for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots.\u201d\u00a0 Your sons will become His sons, in other words. [12] \u201cHe will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some<\/em> to do his plowing and to reap his harvest\u201d not your harvest anymore, it\u2019s \u201chis harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. [14] He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. [14] He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them<\/em> to his servants. [15] He will take a tenth\u201d now this is almost a relief to us because we\u2019re taxed far beyond a tenth, but it says this: \u201cHe will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. [16] He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them<\/em> for his work. [17] He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. [18] Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.\u201d\n\nIt was not the will of God at this time for the nation of Israel to have a king; they wanted him anyway, and God, through Samuel says look, here\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen because you are outside the will of God.\u00a0 You can have your apparatus, you can have your bureaucracy but what you don\u2019t understand is the price tag or the cost that will be imposed on you because you did not do things God\u2019s way.\u00a0 There is a price always to be paid when we confuse the spheres of influence that God has created.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is charity was never given to the state; you can\u2019t find a shred of Scripture anywhere to support that.\u00a0 Charity is given to the work of God\u2019s people.\u00a0 And what happens when the roles get confused?\u00a0 According to one study it\u2019s estimated that the poor, today in America because of all of these bureaucracies, receive less than 20% of social welfare expenditures.\u00a0 Well, where did the 80% go?\u00a0 Absorbed by administration, fraud and waste.\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly what God said through Samuel in the passage that I just quoted.\n\nThe fact of the matter is, most of the money that goes to pay for these bureaucracies which are supposedly there to help the poor never really gets to the poor.\u00a0 It goes for salaries, retirement accounts, overhead.\u00a0 And the church is crowded out of an arena that that God gave to the church.\u00a0 I want an answer Mr. and Mrs. Candidate\u2014who provides charity?\n\nNumber 5, does the candidate understand that the family unit is the basic building block of a healthy society.\u00a0 When you study the Bible you see very clear instructions for the family.\u00a0 If you were to go home today and read Ephesians 5:22, all the way through chapter 6 verse 4 you would get a description of the divine blueprint of the family.\u00a0 What\u2019s the husband to do?\u00a0 What\u2019s the wife to do?\u00a0 What are the parents to do?\u00a0 What are the children to do?\u00a0 What\u2019s to be the interaction between them?\u00a0 What you\u2019ll discover as\u00a0 you go through the Ten Commandments is those, many of them are designed to protect the family unit: don\u2019t commit adultery, Exodus 20:14, designed to protect the institution of marriage.\u00a0 [Exodus 20:14, \u201cYou are not to commit adultery.]\u00a0 \u201cHonor your mother and father,\u201d Exodus 20:12, designed to protect, once again, the institution of the family.\u00a0 [Exodus 20:12. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.\u201d]\n\nAnd what in the world are parents, by divine decree, supposed to be doing with their kids as they sit in front of video games hour after hour?\u00a0 What are the parents supposed to be doing according to God?\u00a0 Deuteronomy 6:6-7 lays it out as clearly as it can be laid out.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 6:6-7, \u201cThese words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. [7] You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 6:4 says, virtually the same thing.\u00a0 [Ephesians 6:4, \u201cFathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.\u201d]\n\nIt is the design of God for the family to be the primary instrument through which spiritual truth is disseminated, not only through verbal teaching but the example of mom and dad.\u00a0 That\u2019s the design of God.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get mad at me, I didn\u2019t invent the rules.\u00a0 This is what God says.\u00a0 The church can only reinforce what is happening at home.\u00a0\u00a0 You can have the greatest Sunday School teachers on planet earth; we have some very good ones here, children\u2019s ministers.\u00a0 But let me tell you something, they will not be able to make a dent into the mind of those kids if this transfer is not taking place in the home.\u00a0 A lot of Christian parents think the job can be outsourced; I\u2019ll delegate it to DVBS, I\u2019ll delegate it to a Sunday School.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is, God gave the job to you.\n\nIs there not a reason why you look at traditional churches, like our own, and you see fewer and fewer and fewer young people?\u00a0 We have violated, beloved, a pattern and a blueprint that the Creator has set up.\u00a0 She who rocks the cradle rocks the world.\u00a0 You want my vote?\u00a0 I to ask you a question: what do you believe about the role of the family?\u00a0 Are you going to pursue family friendly policies, because let me tell you something about taxation and regulation: yes, that puts a tremendous stress on the small business person, who I think deserves our sympathy.\u00a0 But let me tell you what it does to the family: it leads to downsizing, relocation of the means of production, sometimes in some remote country.\u00a0 It leads to increase of consumer prices that we all pay.\n\nAnd you know who the stress is now on?\u00a0 It\u2019s now on the family; it\u2019s now on Mr. and Mrs. America who have a God-ordained function to fulfill in the home.\u00a0 And we have a situation today, and you see this constantly, where both parents are outside the home working by necessity.\u00a0 I understand the struggles that families are under but my advice, as much as it can be followed is if at all possible financially for you, one of those parents needs to be home with those kids because God has given you a short amount of time with those children.\u00a0 He\u2019s given you a divine task to fulfill and how can you mentor children when you\u2019re absent?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure this can be done with Skype; I think this has to be done through role modeling; as the children see you, as the parent, in all sorts of circumstances and see your godly response.\n\nLet me tell you something; you tell your kids it\u2019s important to pray?\u00a0 That\u2019s one thing, mom and dad get down on their knees, on the ground, crying out to God.\u00a0 Do you know what those kids are seeing?\u00a0 Wow, this issue of prayer is a big deal, I ought to take prayer seriously in my life; look at the pattern of my parents.\u00a0 It\u2019s one thing to tell your kids to go to church; it\u2019s another thing to come to church with them and have them see\u00a0 in you an honoring of the church of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That is a lesson that cannot be taught verbally or orally; it\u2019s an example that can only be communicated that way.\u00a0 And how do you ever fulfill that mandate if it\u2019s just work, work, work, many times because of greed, other times just to survive because your government has placed\u00a0 you under so much distress and stress economically.\u00a0 You want my vote, Mr. and Mrs. Candidate for office?\u00a0 I want to know if you understand this.\u00a0 I want to know if you understand that the divine blueprint for the family, and I want to know if you\u2019re going to pursue policies that are going to protect that blueprint or go against it?\n\nNumber 6, does the candidate understand that wealth is to be retained and passed down within the family structure.\u00a0 Proverbs 13:22 says this, \u201cA good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children\u2026.]\u00a0\u00a0 Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:14 says, \u201cFor children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:14, \u201cHere for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.\u201d]\n\nLet me tell you something and I didn\u2019t think this way until I got into the Scripture, but one of the wickedest, most diabolical things that we are doing as a culture is something called the inheritance tax, where money, simply by transferring through generational lines is taxed; people have to visit, consequently, the IRS and the undertaker on the same day as the death of a parent.\u00a0 The money, to a large extent has already been taxed through income taxes; it gives the government a second bite of the apple and it goes directly against these principles of wealth being preserved within family lines.\n\nBack to our little Marxist pamphlet, did you catch number 3 there?\u00a0 Number 1 was abolition of private property.\u00a0 Number 3 is the abolishment of inheritance, because you see, in Marxism the state is God and it wants no competitors and so it pursues policies which are antithetical to the family.\n\nNumber 7, buckle your seatbelts for this one; let\u2019s go back to Genesis 8:22, does the candidate understand that the earth experiences cyclical patterns of heating and cooling.\u00a0 And of course based on the laughter you all know what I\u2019m talking about; we are being sold on something called anthropogenic global warming, \u201canthropo\u201d means man, \u201cgenic\u201d means cause, anthropogenic global warming is the idea that the earth is heating up and it\u2019s\u00a0 your fault.\u00a0 It\u2019s the fault of your business, it\u2019s the fault of your SUV.\u00a0 And one of the things that\u2019s very interesting is the vocabulary has switched in recent\u00a0 years, have you noticed that?\u00a0 They no longer call it global warming, they call it climate change, because now we can blame everything on human activity; if it\u2019s rainy it\u2019s our fault, if it\u2019s too hot it\u2019s our fault, if there\u2019s a tornado it\u2019s our fault, if there\u2019s a tsunami it\u2019s our fault.\n\nWhat does this lead to?\u00a0 Regulation after regulation, law after law crippling an already delicate economy that people are dependent upon to support their families, when sadly these regulations, I believe, have no effect, zero on climate change.\u00a0 You say well gee, Andy,\u00a0 you\u2019re pretty dogmatic on that, how do you know that\u2019s true?\u00a0 It goes right back to the Noahic Covenant, Genesis 8:22, this is what God\u2026 it\u2019s not what I\u2019m saying, this is what God said.\u00a0 When Noah and his family got out of the boat and began to repopulate the earth look at what He said, what\u2019s called the Noahic Covenant, \u201cWhile the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest,\u201d watch this, \u201cand cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night [shall not cease],\u201d and what he\u2019s saying is the earth is going to go through a natural cyclical process, not only in terms of harvest season, also in terms of summer and winter, also in terms of day and night, and right in the process he says heating and cooling or \u201ccold and heat.\u201d\n\nBeloved, we had global warming in the time of the Vikings.\u00a0 That\u2019s a little before I got my SUV, by the way.\u00a0 I could share with you many, many scientists, and I\u2019m not a scientist, but I can quote scientists who say that global warming is caused by sun spots.\u00a0 Now unless you\u2019re going to pass a law that\u2019s going to regulate the sun I\u2019m not sure the law is going to have much of an effect.\n\nPeople say well Andy, do you believe in climate change?\u00a0 Yes I do, it\u2019s called the weather.\u00a0 I believe in the weather, I believe that the earth is going to go through all kinds of cycles.\u00a0 God in the Noahic Covenant affirms that the earth will not go out of existence though, despite these cycles that He ordained until His kingdom comes.\n\nNumber 8, this one goes right along with it.\u00a0 Does the candidate embrace environmental stewardship or earth worship?\u00a0 Environmental stewardship is biblical; you can track it all the way back to Adam and Eve, Genesis 1:26-28, they were given authority over the earth; they were told to manage the earth which includes the animals, the creeping things, on God\u2019s behalf.\u00a0 We discover the exact same thing in Psalm 8:4-6.\n\n[Genesis 1:26, \u201cThen God said, \u2018Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u2019 [27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. [28] God blessed them; and God said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 8:4-6, \u201cWhat is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?\u00a0 [5] Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!\u00a0 [6] You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.\u201d]\n\nIf that\u2019s what you mean by environmentalism then sign me up.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be a steward of this planet that God has given us.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not wreck it, let\u2019s not maul it, let\u2019s not maim it.\u00a0 But you see, beloved, there\u2019s a very fine line between stewardship and worship.\u00a0 I fear that we\u2019ve crossed the line.\u00a0 The book of Romans, chapter 1 and verse 25 says this: \u201cFor they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever praised.\u201d\u00a0 The name of the game today is not earth stewardship; it\u2019s Gaia, Gaia is the belief that the earth is an actual living, breathing, thinking, entity which we must treat properly or Mother Earth will retaliate against us.\u00a0 Through what?\u00a0 Hurricanes, tsunami\u2019s, earthquakes.\u00a0 The earth has a fever, Mother Earth is what we\u2019re told.\n\nYou say well come on, people don\u2019t think like that, do they?\u00a0 You\u2019d be shocked.\u00a0 Here\u2019s one guy, an advocate, he says: \u201cAccording to the Gaia Hypothesis, we are parts of a greater whole. If we endanger her, she will dispense with us in the interest of a higher value\u2013that is, life itself.\u201d\n\n[Vaclav Havel, \u201cWhat the World Needs Now,\u201d New Age Journal<\/em> (September\/October 1994): 162; quoted in William Grigg, Freedom on the Altar<\/em> (Appleton, WI: American Opinion, 1995), 161.]\u00a0 Gaia is Mother Earth; Gaia is immortal, she is the eternal source of life, she does not need to reproduce herself because she is immortal..\n\nI thought God was immortal, not the earth.\u00a0 She is certainly the mother of us all, including Jesus (nice of them to give a little hat tip to Jesus there).\u00a0 \u201cGaia is not a tolerant mother, she is rigid and inflexible and ruthless in the destruction of whoever transgresses.\u00a0 Her unconscious objective is that of maintaining a world adapted to life. If we men hinder this objective we will be eliminated without pity.\u201d\u00a0 [James Lovelock, Orion Nature Quart 8, no. 1 (1989): 58; quoted in Coffman, Saviors of the Earth, 145]\n\nI hear all this talk about the environment, I want to know what you\u2019re talking about?\u00a0 Are you talking about stewardship or worship, because those are two different things: one is biblical, one is antithetical to the Scripture.\n\nMy favorite theologian, Danny Glover, says this:\u00a0 \u201cWhat happened in Haiti\u201d now he\u2019s referring there to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, \u201cWhat happened in Haiti could happen to anywhere in the Caribbean because all these island nations are in peril because of global warming\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Did you know that global warming is connected to the Haiti earthquake?\u00a0 In the minds of Gaia it is.\u00a0 \u201cWhen we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen,\u201d ah, it\u2019s our fault, we didn\u2019t rule the right way on global environmental regulations.\u00a0 When we see what happened in Copenhagen \u201cthis is the response, this is what happens, you know what I'm sayin\u2019?\u201d\u00a0 [www.huffingtonpost.com\/...\/danny-glover-haiti-earthq_n_425160.html]\n\nI\u2019m not sure I do Danny but\u2026\n\nAnd I want to introduce you to a phrase here, it\u2019s called management by crisis.\u00a0 Government, to get bigger needs a crisis.\u00a0 You watch how Hitler took control of Nazi Germany and how he created chaos; he started a fire, for example, in a famous building.\u00a0 And the masses were crying out for a solution, and the F\u00fchrer \u00a0said here\u2019s my solution and he imposed it.\u00a0 It\u2019s bottom up in that sense.\n\nI love the environment and God wants the environment protected but let me tell you something, there\u2019s a totally different agenda at work.\n\nHere\u2019s how some globalists put it: \u201cIn searching for a new enemy to unite us,\u201d we need a crisis in other words, \u201cwe came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill...\u201d \u00a0[Alexander King and Betrand Schneider, The First Global Revolution<\/em> (New York: Pantheon, 1991), 115.\u2019]\n\nAl Gore, in his book, Earth in the Balance, says, \u201c\u201cwe must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization.\u201d [Al Gore, Earth in the Balance<\/em> (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1992), 269.]\n\nManagement by crisis, former chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel: \u201cYou never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it\u2019s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.<\/em>\u201d [www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pb-YuhFWCr4]\n\nGovernment, if it has an ambition to grow and as it grows we shrink, needs a crisis.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re not going to give us a crisis we\u2019ll make one up.\u00a0 I\u2019m just trying to enhance our discernment.\u00a0 That\u2019s why everybody\u2019s talking about global warming all the time.\n\nJohn Kerry, \u201cWhen I think about the array of\u2026global threats \u2013\u2026 terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction \u2013 all challenges that know no borders \u2013 the reality is that climate change ranks right up there with every single one of them...Or think about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It doesn\u2019t keep us safe if the United States secures its nuclear arsenal, while other countries fail to prevent theirs from falling into the hands of terrorists\u2026\u201d\u00a0 [http:\/\/www.state.gov\/secretary\/remarks\/2014\/02\/221704.htm]\n\nYou see these statements constantly where they\u2019re linked terrorism, poverty, weapons of mass destruction and they\u2019re talking about climate change in the same breath.\u00a0 What is this?\u00a0 This is management by crisis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The United Nations hosts conferences all around the world; the Earth summit, Rio de Janeiro, to protect the environment; the human rights conference, 1993 to protect human rights.\u00a0 The Population conference, Cairo, 1994 to prevent starvation and poverty.\u00a0 Women\u2019s conference, Beijing, 1995 to protect women\u2019s rights. Habitat conference, Istanbul, 1996 to provide global housing; climate change conference, Copenhagen, 2009, implement climate change.\n\nAm I against helping with poverty?\u00a0 Am I against protecting women\u2019s rights?\u00a0 Of course not!\u00a0 I want you to start seeing these things with a certain level of discernment.\u00a0 These are crises sometimes hyped beyond what the facts dictate, and the carrot that is always held out as a solution is big government, or global government.\u00a0 And this is why to a large extent globalists have settled on the issue of the environment because to have global government we need to have a global problem and the climate fits the bill.\u00a0 What happens when you move into that paradigm?\u00a0 Priorities get out of order.\u00a0 We can\u2019t do domestic oil exploration because we might offend Gia.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to lay off an entire industry of loggers to protect the spotted owl.\n\nWhat is happening?\u00a0 The elevation of animal rights and plant life over human life.\u00a0 NOTHING could be further from the Word of God than those kind of priorities.\u00a0 Jesus, when talking about birds that the Father takes care of said in Matthew 6:26, \u201cAre you not worth much more than they?\u201d\u00a0 are you not much more valuable than they.\u00a0\u00a0 When he spoke of a sheep that fell into a ditch and how people would pull that sheep out and yet the Pharisees were criticizing Him for miracles that He brought forth on the Sabbath, helping a man, Jesus said, in Matthew 12:12, \u201cHow much more valuable then is a man than a sheep!\u201d\n\nMr. and Mrs. Candidate running for office, what\u2019s your view of the environment?\u00a0 Are you in the biblical category of stewardship or have you crossed the line into worship.\u00a0 And this next one is going to depress the daylights out of you so we\u2019re going to stop now.\u00a0 Let\u2019s have a word of prayer.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for truth, we\u2019re grateful for Your Word, we\u2019re grateful for how Your word aligns us with the things that you say are important.\u00a0 I pray, Father, that in this series we would not be people of party loyalty, we would be people of biblical loyalty, thinking upon\u00a0 Your truth and\u00a0 Your Word and what You have revealed and we do something that to many of us is just insignificant, yet it\u2019s a matter of stewardship, casting votes for candidates.\u00a0 And Father, if there\u2019s anyone here that does not know\u00a0 You personally and is unaware of what Jesus has done, I pray Father even as I speak the Spirit of God would convict them of their need to trust in Christ and even as I am speaking that they would trust or believe in Jesus and Jesus alone for the safekeeping of their soul, even as I am speaking Father I pray that You would do this great work of conviction so that they could be freed, not just from political misery but from the ultimate eternal spiritual misery that awaits all of us, all human beings if they don\u2019t know Christ personally.\u00a0 I pray Father that if people have a question about the plan of salvation that they would be bold and approach the leadership, approach me, create conversations, Father, at the fajita fest that follows so that no one would leave here today unaware of Your gift of eternal life and how they can receive that by faith.\u00a0 We ask, Father, that You would accomplish this great work in our midst. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name.\u00a0 and God\u2019s people said\u2026.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t