October 2024

Dear Second Family,

October is Reformation Month. It was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany, which officially began the Protestant Reformation. One of the five essential beliefs of the Protestant Reformation was that the supreme authority for the Christian faith is God’s Word, the Bible. Likewise, the authority of scripture is one of our most sacred beliefs here at Second Baptist Church. 

I begin with all of that to preface what I am about to say. I know many of us (if not all of us) are thinking a lot about the upcoming election in November, and rightfully so. There are many hopes, many anxieties, and many frustrations on all sides of the political spectrum. As Christians who hold to the absolute authority of God’s Word, we should all continuously look to His Word for guidance, especially in times like these.  

And so, I want to encourage you with some scripture and challenge you to pray in accordance with it. Proverbs 21:1-2 says this: 

"The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes. Every man's way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts."

This passage teaches that God sees the hearts of all mankind and knows our deepest thoughts and desires. But it also teaches that God has the ability to change the hearts of even the mightiest of people on the earth.

In our country, we have what I believe is the greatest form of government that sinful man can attain. And our founders saw fit to ensure that the kings of our nation were the people of the nation. So it is the voters who are the rulers of the nation. It is the voters who determine what happens in November. But it is the voters whose hearts are in the hand of God. Therefore, it is the voters for whom we need to pray. 

I want to encourage you to know that God is indeed in control and to remind you that He often works through the prayers of His people. If you believe Proverbs 21:1-2, then I want to invite you to spend these next weeks praying for God to change the hearts and minds of voters in our country. Not that they would merely vote for a person, but that they would be convicted of truth (which we know is found in scripture) and turn away from foolish and worldly ideologies. That they would know and embrace the sanctity of human life. That they would embrace the creation order of the male and female genders. That they would embrace the right and responsibility of parents to raise their own children. That they would embrace the need to punish the wicked. That they would embrace the right and responsibility to publicly and freely worship God. 

These are all biblical principles. And perhaps the person in the White House can make a difference about some of these things. But there is only one Person who can change the hearts of man. So let us all pray that He does change hearts and minds. And then let us rest in the fact that He is in control.

Sincerely,

Pastor Brian