This last week has been a trying week as far as all the events that have happened in our country, the death of Charlie Kirk, the assassination. But this morning I want us to just remember the message that Charlie brought, and it was more than a political message.
And I listened to his wife give about a 20 minute or 15 minute talk yesterday, and the main portion of her message to people was Charlie’s faith, and Charlie’s love for the Lord, and how Charlie, it’s very interesting, the question that he asked right before he was shot was from a Mormon young man who wanted to know why Charlie thought there was a difference, or I forget exactly the wording of it, but what was Charlie’s belief that was different from the Mormon belief? And Charlie gave him the gospel. Charlie was not afraid of giving the gospel. He shared the gospel with people, all people that he met. His wife said, the most important thing in his life was the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we come this morning, we come to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. The God, the creator of the universe, the one who has given us eternal life, the one who gives us opportunities each day to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish.
And in looking back, one of the things that Erica Kirk said that struck me, she said that in speaking to the people that were so enthralled and wanted Charlie dead, she said, you don’t know what you’ve done. And by that, she meant you don’t know what you’ve started. On my phone this morning, I was looking at different pictures from around the world.
Did you know that all the pictures I’ve gotten from England have been showing Muslim flags in the last months? They’ve been showing Muslim flags and Muslims. The picture that came from England yesterday was millions of British people holding British flags in honor of Charlie Kirk. There was a picture of some native dancers on one of the islands doing their dances for some tourists.
They took out the various Hamas flags and ISIS flags and Muslim flags and ripped them and threw them on the floor. This is to be a tremendous opportunity for Christians to share the gospel. And we have to look and ask God to give us the opportunity to share with people the truth. It’s more than politics. It’s the truth and the reality of the God who created all things and desires to redeem us and bring us out of our rebellion and sin into this marvelous relationship with Him. As Charlie Kirk’s wife said, the minute that Charlie Kirk died, he was in the presence of Jesus.
Every one of us should understand that is our ultimate destination. This world is not our home. As the song says, we’re just a passing through. My treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue. This morning I’d like to read Psalm 11. Psalm 11 is the Psalm of David. It’s a Psalm that David wrote where he expresses his trust in the Lord. Not in this world, not in men, not in possessions, but in the Lord. In the Lord put I my trust.
“How say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain. For lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is the holy temple. The Lord’s throne is in the heaven. His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked in Him that loveth violence, His soul hateth. Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire, brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord provideth righteousness, His countenance doth behold the upright.” Psalm 11
David understood. The wicked were always trying to destroy David. It began with Saul, the king of Israel, trying to destroy David, throwing spears at him.
Trying to get his army to go out and find David, that he might shoot him with a bow and arrow and kill him. The Philistines were always trying to destroy David. The Amalekites, trying to destroy David.
The unrighteous of this world always attempt to destroy the godly. But the thing is, our hope and rest lies in the Lord and they cannot destroy the heavens. They can’t destroy our God. As David says in his psalm, His throne is in heaven and His foundation, His temple is there. He rests there and our trust is there. People today look at the nation of Israel and many people are becoming anti-Semitic, even in the church.
We need to wake up as Christians and understand how important it is to support Israel. I was listening to two little excerpts that Charlie gave about how important Israel was to him and why it was important to him. The first one was, he was talking about the first time he ever went to Israel.
When he gave these two talks, he had only been to Israel twice. I don’t know if he had been there since. But he was supposed to go there later on this fall or early winter and meet with Benjamin Netanyahu and others in Israel.
But he said, the first time I went to Israel, how was I, who am a Christian, could not love Israel? I walked where my Savior walked. I cried where my Savior cried. I saw where Abraham and Isaac and Jacob lived.
I saw the promises of God being fulfilled. And you tell me I should not love the land that God loves? And the people that God cherishes? And then he gave another little talk about the next time he was in Israel and he was taking a cab and he was going out to Hebron. We never made it to Hebron.
Hebron is a dangerous place to go to. Hebron is where Abraham and Sarah are buried, where Isaac and Rebekah are buried, where Jacob and Leah are buried, and yet the Muslims have built a mosque at their burial site. If you go to Hebron today, you have to be careful where you go.
As Charlie said, I was going down to Hebron and it gave me a perfect picture of what is really the case in Israel and who we should really support. As we were driving down there, there was all of a sudden a sign and it was in Hebrew and Arabic and he said I could not read either Hebrew or Arabic. And there was a red arrow going to the right and a red arrow going to the left and another colored arrow that did not give warning going straight ahead.
I asked my cab driver, what is the significance of this sign? What does it say? What does it mean? He said, you go to the right, you are dead. That is a Palestinian village. They will kill Westerners, Jews and Christians.
Charlie said, but do you realize in Israel today there are Muslims in the Knesset? There are Muslims that can go freely walking around Israel without fear of being killed. But you get close to the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and you have to be careful where you go because as a Jew you will be killed. As a Christian you will be killed.
As a Westerner you will be killed. Do you see evil and good? I think it is amazing too what has been happening. The number of people that have been getting fired because they have been gloating over Charlie Kirk’s death.
Not by conservative organizations but by liberal ones. Who is looking at you and watching you and watching your life? If God would call you home today, what would people say about your life? I listened to a message by Jack Hibbs. In that message Jack made something that each one of us never thinks about.
He said, you know Charlie got up, this would have been the day after Charlie died that Jack held a special remembrance service at Jack’s church out in California. He said, yesterday morning Charlie got up, brushed his teeth, took a shower, got dressed, hugged and kissed his wife goodbye and his children, not knowing he would never come home again. But Charlie was prepared for whatever happened that day because he was walking with Jesus.
It makes you stop and think, how am I approaching my day today? And who am I influencing for the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Let’s just go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Holy Father as you come before you, Lord you see the hearts of the righteous, the wicked desire to destroy them. But vengeance is yours and you see the wicked man’s heart and his rebellion not just against your righteous people but it’s ultimately against you. Lord may we seek to walk in your power and look and call upon your help and direction and realize that you are the one that knows all that is going on. Lord I pray that you just be with Erica Kirk and their two children. Just continue to give her tremendous strength in the face of this trial that she’s going to be facing.
Be with the Turning Point group of students and their radio program and may they continue to touch lives and instill in people biblical values based upon the faith that Charlie had in Jesus Christ and that he wanted those values promoted because of that. Lord help not, may you prevent those that would bring deception and false gospels and try to get those implanted in the organization. I pray that that would be prevented. I pray that the focus would remain upon righteousness and holiness in government and that we serve you even as Christians in all areas that we work in life. Lord I pray now that you just be with a lot of hurting people around our nation today and around the world. Help people to realize the brevity of life, the importance that one person can make in standing for truth.
And Lord that you would just continue to work in hearts and lives. This we ask in Jesus name. Amen.