All about election
- Details
- Published: Sunday, 04 March 2018 21:32
- Written by James Dean
You didn't really think I would try to tackle the doctrine of election in a short email did you? I don't think I could be that concise so if that's what you were hoping to find have a listen to these two sermons that I preached at BEC in October on Romans chapter 9:
I'm clearly not going to tell you who to vote for but rather wanted to encourage you as Christians to recognise the importance of understanding what is going on and, particularly as we approach the next week, to think about and ask questions of our politicians from a Christian worldview.
So first things first... if you're not registered to vote, do so now. You can register simply and quickly via this online link: gov.uk/register-to-vote. This has to be done by Monday 22 May for you to be able to vote in this coming election.
In Buckingham we once again have the situation of having none of the major parties represented in our constituency. Our sitting MP, John Bercow has already confirmedhe has agreed to stand again as Speaker of the House of Commons for another term. But that doesn't mean we can't and shouldn't still hold our politicians to account for their leadership so if you're able to attend any hustings in the area do take the opportunity to press them on their views.
I've also been challenged recently to start writing to John Bercow again. Having written a few times in the past and - to be fair - received letters back, I'd decided that continuing this was pointless since he doesn't actually speak or vote on the matters I was writing about. But he needs to know that there are Christians in this area who care about him enough to pray for him and who want to share the gospel with him. So I plan to once again take up my pen!
However, I've also been reminded that what this country needs is not just better politicians and better laws. Those things would be good but they will inevitably only last a short while. No, what this country really needs - what it desperately needs - is revival, hearts of men and women changed for eternity by God; that is the only thing that would make a permanent difference to what we're seeing happen in the UK, indeed the world.
So let's pray that God would move in a powerful way but let's also pray, as we are commanded, for our leaders that they would lead well and rule over us with grace and wisdom:
(1 Timothy 2:1-3)
May he glorify his name as we seek his face at this election time!
In his strength,
James
