The blog that follows is drawn from my sermon preached the Sunday after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. If you’d like, you can listen to it here.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk hit me hard. He was close to me in age, stage of life, and conviction—yet he carried a confidence and courage I often long for. I believe he was killed not for politics, but for his faith and his voice. In that sense, he was a Christian martyr.
Charlie was a husband and father who tirelessly pointed people to Christ. He spoke with clarity about timeless truths: marriage as God designed it, children as a blessing, life beginning at conception, men and women fulfilling their God-given callings, the reality of male and female, the value of character over race, and the gospel as our only hope. None of this is radical or new—it’s simply biblical Christianity. But in today’s cultural climate, such truths provoke hatred. Charlie spoke them anyway.
Through his voice, millions—especially young people—heard the call to repent and believe in Jesus. And now his death confronts us with a sobering reality: following Christ faithfully, even in ordinary biblical ways, may cost us everything.
Ordered Loves: Faith, Family, and Flag
My sermon that Sunday was a simple message on ordered loves. In traditional Baptist fashion, I alliterated the points: faith, family, and flag.
For years, I thought any allegiance to place or nation was tantamount to idolatry. I told people that honoring the American flag was unspiritual. But I’ve repented of that posture. God himself places us in a particular time and location. To recognize that, and even give thanks for it, is not idolatry—it is gratitude. Deep roots do have their place, so long as they grow in Christian soil.
Sadly, part of the reason our nation has slid deeper into sin is that the Church too often ceded the public square to secularism. We confined preaching to “spiritual matters” and let others dictate what love of neighbor should look like.
A Turning Point
Yet even through tragedy, God is at work. Millions saw the gospel displayed when Erika Kirk publicly forgave her husband’s murderer. That kind of grace cannot be manufactured—it can only come from Christ. As I have often preached, the world sees Jesus through the way we live are lives.
So let’s pray. Pray that many would repent and believe the gospel. Pray that they would find a faithful church, join it, marry, raise children, and rejoice that God has planted them in this land.
And as we do, let us not shrink back. The world does not merely dislike biblical Christianity—it hates it. But our calling is clear: to love Christ above all, our families as God designed, and the nation God has placed us in, all for His glory.
My next article (and sermon) will focus on why we should also pray that our government would pursue justice in this time. Though the Lord calls on us as individuals to love and forgive our enemies, He does not call the civil magistrate to do the same.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk hit me hard. He was close to me in age, stage of life, and conviction—yet he carried a confidence and courage I often long for. I believe he was killed not for politics, but for his faith and his voice. In that sense, he was a Christian martyr.
Charlie was a husband and father who tirelessly pointed people to Christ. He spoke with clarity about timeless truths: marriage as God designed it, children as a blessing, life beginning at conception, men and women fulfilling their God-given callings, the reality of male and female, the value of character over race, and the gospel as our only hope. None of this is radical or new—it’s simply biblical Christianity. But in today’s cultural climate, such truths provoke hatred. Charlie spoke them anyway.
Through his voice, millions—especially young people—heard the call to repent and believe in Jesus. And now his death confronts us with a sobering reality: following Christ faithfully, even in ordinary biblical ways, may cost us everything.
Ordered Loves: Faith, Family, and Flag
My sermon that Sunday was a simple message on ordered loves. In traditional Baptist fashion, I alliterated the points: faith, family, and flag.
- Faith – As Christians, we must love Jesus above all else (Deut. 6:4–5; Exod. 20:3; Ps. 73:25–26; Matt. 22:35–37; Phil. 3:7–8).
- Family – From that love flows a proper love for our neighbor, beginning with our own households (Matt. 22:37–39). New life in Christ does not erase the natural family or the duties we owe them (Exod. 20:12; Eph. 6:2; 1 Tim. 5:8).
- Flag – In concentric circles, we move out to the nation. Acts 17:26 reminds us that God “made from one man every nation of mankind…having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God.” Our nation, then, is not a cosmic accident, but the Father’s gift to us.
For years, I thought any allegiance to place or nation was tantamount to idolatry. I told people that honoring the American flag was unspiritual. But I’ve repented of that posture. God himself places us in a particular time and location. To recognize that, and even give thanks for it, is not idolatry—it is gratitude. Deep roots do have their place, so long as they grow in Christian soil.
Sadly, part of the reason our nation has slid deeper into sin is that the Church too often ceded the public square to secularism. We confined preaching to “spiritual matters” and let others dictate what love of neighbor should look like.
A Turning Point
Yet even through tragedy, God is at work. Millions saw the gospel displayed when Erika Kirk publicly forgave her husband’s murderer. That kind of grace cannot be manufactured—it can only come from Christ. As I have often preached, the world sees Jesus through the way we live are lives.
So let’s pray. Pray that many would repent and believe the gospel. Pray that they would find a faithful church, join it, marry, raise children, and rejoice that God has planted them in this land.
And as we do, let us not shrink back. The world does not merely dislike biblical Christianity—it hates it. But our calling is clear: to love Christ above all, our families as God designed, and the nation God has placed us in, all for His glory.
My next article (and sermon) will focus on why we should also pray that our government would pursue justice in this time. Though the Lord calls on us as individuals to love and forgive our enemies, He does not call the civil magistrate to do the same.
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