Welcome to the Excel Stillmore podcast. I'm your host, Chris Emerson, and I'm thrilled to introduce once again a great sponsor for the program, Tyler Kane, a close friend and fellow believer. He serves as the senior loan officer at statewide mortgage, based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Statewide mortgage is a company founded by a brother in Christ.

Tyler brings 20 years of expertise to the table, making him a trusted advisor for numerous families navigating the complexities of the mortgage industry.

Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, considering refinancing,

or dreaming about future homeownership goals, Tyler and his team stand ready to assist you

every step of the way. For more information, you can find a link to their website in our show

notes or feel free to reach out directly to Tyler at 813-3-380-8487. And on his behalf and mine, thanks for listening.

Hey, welcome and thanks for listening in today. So it feels timely to talk to you about the

relationship between Christians and government and politics for at least a couple of reasons.

We are barely over a week removed from an assassination attempt, the first one on a president,

present or former, since 1981. And then, of course, on the heels of that was this massive

Republican national convention, and soon the Democrats will have their convention,

and then we'll steamroll our way to this enormous election in just a few months.

In all of this, tensions rise. In all of this, chasms between groups generally deepen, and yet

amongst all of it are Christians. And these become our moments to shine.

The more tense and tight the races get, the more animated people become on social media,

the darker things are, the more crucial it is for the light of Christ to live and shine

and bring vision and clarity and peace to all of

those situations. And we, you and me, we are that light in this world. The sun has set for a time,

but the moon reflects his light on the earth until he comes around again. And that's who we are. So if it's all right with you,

I want to share a little bit of background on how this lesson came together. I did preach a form of

it just a couple of weeks ago, and then just kind of package up a few things for you that I know

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