We're going to talk about Government and politics today. Which is a subject that makes a lot of people nauseated. That word politician just, it does not conjure the best images, does it? Heard a story one time of a A Hebrew, pardon me, you know, Hebrew rabbi, Jewish rabbi. A Hindu priest And a politician who were in a car together, and their car broke down.
And so it's late at night, they got a place to stay, and so they find a farmhouse. They knock on the door and the farmer comes to the door. And the hidden hidden priest Jewish rabbi Politician says, Do you have anywhere for us to sleep tonight? The old farmer said, Well, I got three beds, but the problem is, two of them is upstairs in this bedroom, one is out in the barn.
So, two of y'all are going to stay upstairs, but one of y'all got to stay in the barn. And the Hindu priest said, you know what? I'll take one from the team. I'll go stay in the barn.
So the Hindu priest goes to the barn. And the Jewish rabbi and the politician go upstairs. Short time later, there's a knock at the door. Politician opens the door. The Hindu priest is standing there and says, I'm sorry, I can't sleep in that barn.
Why? Because there's a cow there, and cows are sacred to our religion. I can't sleep in the barn.
So the Jewish rabbi said, well, that's fine. I'll go sleep in the barn. And so the Hindu priest and the politician are upstairs in the bedroom. The Jewish rabbi is out in the barn. A little while later, there's a knock at the bedroom door.
They open it up, and the Jewish rabbi is standing there and said, I can't sleep in that barn. Or why? Because there's a pig out there. We consider pigs to be nasty and dirty and filthy in my religion. I can't stay out there.
So politicians said, fine, I'll go stay out there.
So the politician goes out into the barn. The Hindu priest and the rabbi are upstairs. And suddenly, there's a knock at the door, and they open the door, and the cow and the pig are standing there.
Well Paul addresses this issue of government and politics in Romans 13.
So we've been going through the book of Romans, and now we're at Romans 13. And here's what's happening: Christianity is starting to take a little bit of heat from the Roman government. Christians are accused of rebellion. That they they're accused of proclaiming a different emperor. Not Caesar.
Jesus. And so leaders like the Apostle Paul and even Peter, we see this in 1 Peter 2, are now teaching that to be a good Christian. means you are a good citizen of whatever country you belong to. Christians don't go to the city hall and firebomb the place. Christians don't drag out elected leaders and beat them.
To be a good Christian Means you are a good citizen in whatever country you're in. And the New Testament is very clear. We honor our political leader, no matter who that political leader happens to be. And I get beat up on both sides of this. Those of y'all in my church who Who proudly fly the don't tread on me flag.
You churn your own butter. You got a 50-gallon barrel of pork and beans buried in your backyard with a nuclear zombie apocalypse. And you listen to a country boy can't survive on a continuous loop, y'all say to me. I didn't have to listen to that, Obama. He wasn't even born here.
He was born in Kenya. And I don't have to pay attention to Joe Biden. That guy had dementia. And he stole the election. I don't have to listen to him.
And I get it from you left-wingers.
Well, I don't like the orange man. Orange man mean. He's bad. I get it from both sides here. And you're telling me, Chad, I'm supposed to submit to that kind of government?
I'm supposed to submit to the Obamas and the Clintons and the Trumps of the world?
Well, let me remind you who Paul is talking about here. He's saying to the people of God That you are to submit to and honor this government who's in place right now. Incidentally, the same government who in about seven years will decapitate the Apostle Paul and start persecuting the church.
So, don't say to me, Paul doesn't understand the kind of system we're in. Paul is in a worse system than that, and he still told the people of God: you be good citizens. And so I want you to look at Romans 13.1. Paul said, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you'll have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good.
But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject not only because of wrath, but for your conscience's sake. Because of this, you also pay taxes. For they, government leaders, are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render, therefore, to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor.
To whom honor.
Now, very quickly, why honor The government, as followers of Jesus Christ who are born-again believers, why are we to honor our government? Let me give you three reasons. Number one, because government is a gift from God. You may not realize that, but it's God's gift. Have you noticed three times in this passage, government is called God's minister.
If you do a deep dive in that word, it's a positive word. Government is here. For your good. It's God's minister. In fact, you see that here in verse 4.
For he is God's minister to you for good. Bible makes this very clear. Bad government is better than no government at all. The Bible has a big aversion to anarchy. And if you want to get a glimpse of what the entire world would be like if there was no government, look at Somalia in the 1990s or Haiti with these gangs and warlords kind of doing their thing where the weak and the innocent are under the whims of the powerful and the violent.
The Bible says you don't want that. God has actually given us government for a good thing. Government is a gift from God. Second reason we honor government. We honor government because rebellion against government is rebellion against God.
Look at verse 2. Therefore, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
Now, we're going to circle back to this in just a second, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this. But people always ask me, I ask you a good question. All right, Ted, you say rebellion against government is rebellion against God. What about our country, the American Revolution? The American Revolution was not about we want to throw off government for anarchy.
The founding fathers believed in Romans 13. They believed in submitting to the government. The question is which government? The government here representing the people on the continental United States or representing some far-off government 3,500 miles away. The question was not: do we submit to government?
They agreed we submit to government. The question was: which government do we submit to? Does that make sense?
Alright. Third reason.
Now, so we honor government, number one, because it's a gift from God. Number two, we honor government because rebellion against government is rebellion against God. And then, number three, we honor government because government restrains evil. That is the primary purpose of government. Not social programs, not to force LGBT agendas on people.
No, we honor government because government is here to restrain evil. Look at verse 3. For rulers are not a terror to good works. But the evil Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Then do what's good.
Because look at this, verse 4. Government is God's minister to you for good, but if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
So watch this. Do you know Satan is called the God little G of this world? Satan wants nothing more than to devastate planet Earth. He wants evil and anarchy just to sweep through the whole place. And God, in His goodness, has given us, I want you to see this.
God has given us in His goodness four lines of defense to hold evil back from taking over the world. Does it make sense? Four lines of defense that God has given the human race to keep evil from totally taking over the world. Those four lines of defense are, number one, the law of God written on our consciences, the moral conscience. Could you imagine if there was no moral conscience at all?
Could you imagine that? God has given us an intrinsic sense of right or wrong, and that's the first line of defense against evil. Second line of defense is family. That's why Satan is destroying our family. It's a line of defense.
If he can destroy the family, he can take over the world. Third line of defense, we see this right here, is government. Government. And the fourth line of defense is the church. We are the last line of defense.
And according to 2 Thessalonians 2:7 through 12, one day, The church is going to be taken from planet Earth. And when this last line of defense is gone, evil is just going to take over like a flood.
Okay? Those are the four lines of defense. And so the Apostle Paul says, look, verse 4. It's very clear that the government is here to keep evil back. And how do they do it?
He says in verse 4. Government wields a sword.
Okay, listen to me. Swords were not for spanking people. Swords are for executing people. You may not like this, but Paul in Romans 13 and the Bible is pro-death penalty. You say to me, Chad, but I thought you're pro-life when it comes to politics.
That's inconsistent. How can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty at the same time? It's very simple. Innocent babies should be protected by the government. People who murder people should be executed by the government.
I don't understand the inconsistency. There's no inconsistency there. It's very clear. Innocent babies should be protected by the government. People who've murdered people should be killed by the government.
Do you think sometimes people would make things a little bit too complicated in the body of Christ? And so Paul is very clear on this. The government is here to help stave off evil.
Now, when I say that the government's job is to protect and defend, you gotta understand, the government is not omnipresent. I look, this is Chad right now, okay? This is kind of the Word of God, and this is kind of Chad. I'm gonna give you some free advice here, okay? I don't know in these coming dark days.
If I would If I would expect and trust the government to do all the defending against for me and my family. Do you understand where I'm coming on this thing? As things get more and more difficult, government's not God. Government's not omnipresent. And there's a reason why the night before Jesus Christ was crucified, he said to his disciples: fellas, if you ain't got a sword, I'd suggest you go buy a sword.
Not for offensive purposes, but for defensive purposes.
Okay. And as a pastor, I actually really respect this guy. I really do respect him. But a few years ago, he did this article about: you know, is it right for Christians to bear arms? And he said, somebody asked me.
He said to they asked me, Pastor? Hypothetical situation. You got a gun. And you walk up on a man. That's physically assaulting your wife.
He's raping your wife. W w would you shoot him? And he said, Dumb. He said, that's a struggle. The pastor said, Hi.
I'd be torn. I don't know if I could shoot the guy or not. You say, well, Chad, what's the right answer? The right answer is you empty the clip. That's the right answer, okay?
Because we are not here to take out vengeance. But we are allowed by scripture to defend, particularly those who are defenseless and they need our.
So, you with me on that? All right, whatever. And after you empty it, you reload and empty it again. All right, so look at this. I'm joking.
We'll cut that part out for the TV.
So you understand, Paul's very clear. Paul says the government is here as a gift. I know we don't. I've heard I don't agree with a lot of what our government does. There are some administrations I will agree with more than others.
I've just given you a general statement. If you're going to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't be this rebellious person into anarchy that wants to burn down the system. That's not. You don't have that freedom as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. A good Christian is also a good citizen.
Now there is an exception to what I just told you. There is an exception. to obeying the government. Or your parents, or any other authority God has put in your life. Did you know there is an exception to that?
Jot this verse down. It's found in Acts 5.29. And incidentally, this is in the context of the government telling the church to do something the church knows is wrong. The early church said this: we must obey. God.
Rather than man.
So listen to me. Actually, there's two exceptions to this. First exception is this: when the government tells us to do something that God forbids, You don't do it. You do understand that, right? If the government says this, But the word of God says that.
Who do you go with? God. We must obey God rather than man. That's the first exception. Where the government tells us to do something that God forbids, you don't do it.
Second exception is this: when the government forbids you to do something that God commands you to do, you disregard the government. Are you with me?
So like we've got missionaries who are serving. faithfully in Muslim Islamic countries. They are trying to be the best citizens they can be because that Islamic country is watching them. But when the Islamic country says, it is against our law for you to share the gospel. They still shared the gospel because when God's commands and the commands of the government collide, you go with God.
Let me give you another hypothetical. It would never happen, but I'll give it to you. When the government says to the church, Shut down and don't meet. Is that Well you still meet? 'Cause the Bible says do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
So But whatever.
So you you obey the government. You'd be a good citizen. Until the government says, I know God tells you to do this, but you're not going to do it. You obey God. Or the government says, I know God says you can't do this, but we're telling you to do this.
Other than that, You respect and you obey government. And can you say something? You can even say to the government, I know what you're saying. But the Word of God says this, so I'm going to do what the Word of God says. Do you know you can even do that in a respectful way?
If you look at Daniel. And Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego in the Bible, they violated what the government told them to do or what the government forbid them to do. They did it, but it's interesting, they did it in a very respectful manner. And so, um, all right.
Now, I've got a few minutes. I want to do a deep dive into something. Let's go back into this in just a second. I said that. That one of the reasons we respect government is that when you rebel against government, You're rebelling against God.
I want you to jot this down. There's a little truism. I'm starting to learn in my own life. Rebellion opens the door to Satan. Respect opens the door to success.
Rebellion opens the door to Satan, to demonic influences. And respect opens the door to success. And that's really what Paul is kind of saying there in verse 2. I don't know if you're noticing this. Are y'all noticing?
An increase in rebellion. In these last days. Is it just me or am I? Jesus says in Matthew 24:12, in the last days, lawlessness will abound. That word is a nomia, which means no rules.
In the last days, you can't tell me what to do. You can't tell my kid what to do. You tell my kid what to do, I'll get down and I'll jerk a knot in you, and we'll get a meeting with the principal, but you don't tell my kid what to do. Jesus says in the last days Lawlessness, onomia will abound. 2 Timothy 3:1 through 8, Paul says, In the last days, people will be rebellious to their parents, rebellious to authority.
And I'm seeing it take place. Let me give you an example. I wanna keep denominations out of this, 'cause I'm tired of getting in trouble with Yeah.
So It used to be. We could talk about Older In the church based on gender, we could point back to families and we'd say, Well, look, God has order in the family relationship. The husbands are the spiritual leaders, the wives submit to their leadership, and the kids submit to mom and dad. That's very innocuous, isn't it? Do you know you can't even say that today among evangelicals?
No, no, no. I don't believe that men are the leaders of the family. We are to mutually submit to one another. That's ognomia. No law, no rule, no order.
That's the last days. We see it in kids' ministry, we see it in youth ministry, we're seeing it everywhere. In the last days, there is this spirit of rebellion. I act surprised, I shouldn't be surprised because Jesus and Paul themselves both said in the last days this would happen.
So, what is the big deal about having this rebellious spirit?
Now let me do a quick timeout and remind you what I just told you. As your leader, if I ever tell you to do something that goes against the word of God, you don't listen to me. If I ever tell you to violate scripture, you don't listen to me. This goes for me, government leaders, parents, so you do understand I'm giving you that caveat. I'm a cult leader saying, let's all drink the Kool-Aid, okay?
But um I don't think we have to worry about that in the American church. Let me tell you about Saul. Saul was a humble Gentleman, I love Saul in his early days. But then Saul rebels against God's authority. Suddenly, I don't have to listen to God.
I don't have to listen to the prophet. I'm going to listen to the word of God. I can do what I want to do. And it says, as a result, in 1 Samuel 15:23, Samuel comes to this formerly gentle, humble, compliant man, comes to Saul, and he says, Saul, rebellion. Is as the sin of witchcraft, demon worship.
And if you look in Hebrew, the word is as is not there in Hebrew. Do you know what Samuel says to Saul? Rebellion. Demon worship. Rebellion.
Witchcraft. And interestingly enough, a few days after he says this, A demonic spirit comes upon Saul, and he becomes demon harassed. Rebellion grants authority. to demonic powers. I've seen that.
Most of the people I've had a hard time with in my 30-something years of pastoring, most of the people who are openly demonic. They also have rebellion issues. They have submission issues. I remember there's a guy, I shouldn't share this story. I'm gonna share.
There's this guy that I'll never forget. He came to one of the churches I pastored, signed in the back row. And this is before I was Pentecostal and really got into demons. But even as a Baptist, like, this guy's demon-possessed. this horrible evil look in his eyes.
And um Afterward, I talked to him and he asked to meet with me. And I met with him that next week, and this evil, dark look is in his eyes. He had tried to commit suicide. He's a drug addict, he's all messed up. I'm going to make a very long story short.
I lived with Jesus. He got radically saved that day. Gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. He got on fire for Jesus, started evangelizing. He's on fire for the Lord.
And I made a mistake. I put him in a position of authority too quickly. And he got very cocky and very rebellious against any person who tried to speak into his life. Including me. The guy that led him to Jesus.
This rebellious spirit, this religious spirit comes over him, and nobody. Can lead him because he's the man. I got radically saved. I'm leading people to Jesus. A couple years ago, I actually went into ministry.
Incidentally. A couple years ago, I was like, I want to look this guy up. I wonder how he's doing. And I did a quick Google search. And found that a mug shot where he had gotten busted for having a meth lab.
And I looked at that mug shot, and that demonic look was right back in his eyes again.
Now, that might be an extreme example, but I'm just telling you something. Rebellion opens the door to the demonic. Success opens the door. Or pardon me, submission opens the door to success. Y'all believe that.
Again, I Some of y'all call you kids, these are little hellions running around. They may be literally hellions running around, mom and dad. If you don't teach them how to submit to your authority, they will never learn how to submit to the father's authority. And I want to show you, so I just need a negative. That rebellion opens the door to demonic Whether it be rebellion against our government, I'm going to tell you, the most demon-possessed man I'd ever met was not that guy I just told you about.
There was a guy who was, he hated the government, hated the government. He scared me. I mean, I'm like, I called the FBI on this guy this years ago. This guy's crazy. And when his whole life fell apart, we had a peek behind the scenes, and he was into open witchcraft.
Now, which came first, the chicken or the egg? I think that rebellion opened the door to all that kind of witchcraft. Chad, you're trying to scare me. Yes, I'm trying to scare you. I want you to understand this is serious stuff we're dealing with.
But here's a positive to that corollary. When you can find A Church You find a boss? You find a teacher? And you submit to that person. It's not always easy, but I'm telling you, it opens up the door for God's blessing in your life.
I've heard this before, I can't verify this, but Watchman Knee was one of my favorite Christian writers. And Watchman knee, it is said, taught his followers, Whenever you walk into a room, First, find out who is an authority. and immediately submit to that person. Y'all think I'm crazy? When I walk into the kids' ministry or the youth ministry, when I walk in there, I immediately submit to Pastor Joshu or I immediately submit to Pastor Jeff because I just believe in the power of submission.
There's power to that.
Now, let me give you some Bible. In a good one, the Bible kind of backs up what you think. And so, let me give you some Bible verses to kind of back this up, okay? Ephesians 6:1 through 3. Jot this down.
I'm not going to read it. Boss's children? Obey your parents. Honor your parents. And you know the very next thing he says?
You do that. it's going to go well for you. Rebellion opens the door to demonic. But Paul just said, submission opens the door to success. Kids, it's going to go well for you.
Let me give you another verse. Ephesians 6, 8. Paul has just told Employees, that is, slaves. You submit to your employer. I know they're not always good.
I know that they're not always kind. I know they can be very irritating. You submit to your employer. And then he says this in verse 8: remember: if you do this, the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free. Do you see what he just said right there?
Even in the workplace. You submit to that employer. God's going to honor that. Why? Rebellion opens the door to the demonic.
Submission opens the door to success. Let me give you another one. Joseph, Genesis 39. He's been unfairly charged. Unfairly sent to prison.
He goes to prison. And he doesn't cause a riot. He doesn't say, I shouldn't be here. He submits to the warden. And you know what happens?
God elevates his status even in prison. Why? Rebellion opens the door to the demonic. But submission opens the door to success.
Okay, I got it. No, you ain't got it. Let me give you a couple more here. David. God's already promised that David, you're going to be king after Saul dies.
Saul is jealous. Saul hunts him down. Saul comes after him with his army. In fact, Saul kills 85 innocent preachers looking for David. And when David finally has the opportunity to slaughter Saul, David says, I ain't going to touch him.
That's God's anointed. God's anointed. God's hunting you down. I know. I don't know what's going on with him.
All I know is rebellion opens the door to demonic, and submission opens the door to success. I'm not even going to touch him. And when Saul finally does die. What does God do? He elevates David.
Let me give you one more example. Jesus himself.
Now keep in mind, he's 100% God. But he's 100% man. I said before, you mathematicians are like, well, that's. That's 200%. How do you explain that?
I don't know. Just accept and go on with it. He said, 100% God, 100% man.
So this is God. As a 12-year-old boy. And God is the 12-year-old boy, verse 51, it says, He returned to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph. And he was obedient to them. The God of the universe that created everything is now submissive to a peasant.
Construction worker and his wife. And it says his mother stored all these things in her heart.
So Jesus submits as a 12-year-old boy. What's the result? Verse 52. And he grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. I think there's a connection there.
Even Jesus. Submitted. And as a result, He grew. Have I made my point today, church?
Now we started out with the government, but I'm just telling you. Unless that leader tells you to do something that God forbids or forbids you to do something that God tells you to do, you honor those leaders. And so, um I just want to close by speaking maybe prophetically to a couple people today. Ma'am? You let that husband leave this family.
One of the reasons why he's not the spiritual leader is you've not released leadership to him. And you're smarter than him, I know it. You're more educated. I got it. No, no, I'm not saying that alive.
That's my family. My wife is smarter than me. She's a better communicator than me. She'd be a better leader than me. But she understands there's a divine order to God's way of doing family.
Ma'am, maybe it's time that you stop fighting your husband's leadership and start submitting and loving him and honoring him. Because Peter says this in 1 Peter 3:1 through 2: In the same way you wives must accept the authority of your husbands, then even if some refuse to obey the good news, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives. It's time for you to respect your boss. I think that's the only thing that I He's a juror.
I get it. The pastors on staff understand exactly where you're coming from. They understand. But I'm just telling you. You're going into that work with a bad attitude, and when everybody else is talking about that boss behind his back and what a jerk he is, and blah, blah, blah, and you're joining right along with them, you ain't going to win any of them to Jesus Christ.
Maybe I ought to go back to what the Word of God says. 1 Peter 2, 18, you who are slaves, you're like, that's me. Yeah, I'm a slave. I don't like being in this place, and he treats me like a slave. You who are slaves must accept the authority of your bosses with all respect.
Do what they tell you, not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. That's not me, that's the word of God. Why? Because rebellion.
opens the door to the demonic. I'm going to say it again. It doesn't say in the Bible rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. It says rebellion. Witchcraft.
But submission opens up the door to success. Ma'am? I know you don't like Trump. I know you don't like his tweets. I don't know.
You don't like his skin color, his hairstyle. I get it. I get it. But it's time to stop complaining and start praying. Because Acts 23:5 says, You will not speak evil of the ruler of your people.
Doesn't mean you have to agree with him, but they're.
Well Chad, I just can't do it. That's fine. But you're opening the door to all kinds of demonic influences in your life. And I say that to those of us who struggle with Biden and struggle with Clinton and struggle with. I guess for all of us.
We don't have to agree with them, but, buddy, that word right there says you have to respect them. Um Here's another word. Sir, ma'am?
Some of y'all raising some rebellious kids. You're teaching them it's always somebody else's fault. And maybe it's time that you gently but lovingly say to the kids, We have let you down because we've let you run around like little helians. And beginning now, we're going to teach you how to respect, how to love, how to honor those who are in authority, beginning with mom and dad. Beginning with Sunday mornings.
You're fighting us to go to church on Sunday mornings. You're fighting us because nobody else in the neighborhood goes. You're fighting us because you have to get up early. Kids, we're going to start this now. We're going to start learning respect now.
We understand you don't like getting up early. We understand your kids, your friends sleep in late. We understand nobody else in the neighborhood goes to church. We understand that, but you got five minutes to get your tail in the backseat of that car because you're going to church today. Are you with?
Let me give you one more. I know there's bad policemen out there. Just like there are bad pastors, there's bad lawyers, there's bad accountants. But God has placed law enforcement in authority. It's time to get the chip off your shoulder.
Just start respecting. In every area of this society, Beginning with me, we've got to learn how to respect those who God has put in leadership over us because rebellion opens the door to the demonic. But listen to me: submission opens the door to success. And we're going to start this right now. Because I have let y'all down.
1 Timothy 2:1 says this. I urge First of all, is what Paul says to the church, incidentally. First thing I want the church to do, the very first thing. is to pray For those Yeah. I've let y'all down because we don't do that enough.
Now, it's going to be a little bit awkward today because we're on TV, you know, through different parts of North Carolina and everybody has their own representatives.
So I'm just going to talk about Raleigh and North Carolina, and then whatever district you're in, you do this with your representatives. But can we close out today? By doing what the Word of God says and respecting and praying for those who are in authority. Put this first picture up here. I want us to pray for...
Mayor Janet Cowell. Of Raleigh? I don't know her. I don't know her beliefs. I'm assuming since she's the mayor of Raleigh, she's probably not a right-wing conservative.
But we're going to pray for her. We're going to pray for her. Who's the next one? Tom Tillis, he voted against Trump. He's your senator.
God's placed him in authority. We're going to pray for him. Who's the next one? Dear God, Ted Buddy on a gunshot. I'm like, I understand.
I get all his Second Amendment guns, all that. I get it. One of my kind of guys. May not be your kind of guy. Isn't that right, Danny own a gun shop or something?
Whatever. I don't care. We're going to pray for them. No, I mean this. We don't do this enough.
We're going to pray for the mayor of Raleigh, who's probably a Democrat. We're going to pray for Republicans. We're going to pray for this next one. President of the United States. We look honestly And I would expect you.
To have had the same reaction. Had Joe Biden been there? Because God has placed these people over us.
So stand with me right now. And Father, before we pray, we repent. Father, we repent of bad attitudes that we've had. Father, may the Holy Ghost do his surgery on us right now. And convict us.
These aren't been bad attitudes. This has been open rebellion. We've not. Blessed and prayed for the people you've placed over us.
So we pray for Mayor Janet Cowell. We pray for our senators. We pray for our president, oh God. God give him wisdom. As pressure comes upon him, give him clarity that only comes through the Holy Spirit.
Surround him with advisors, O God, that will speak godliness into him. Father, Protect his life. Protect the lives of the mayor and the senators. Father, if they don't know Jesus, our prayer is that they will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We repent for our rebellion.
And we speak blessing over these politicians now. In the name of Jesus and for the glory of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Hey, let's go through this. Aren't you glad?
These people are not the ultimate rulers. Aren't you glad our hope does not come from Washington, D.C.? Aren't you glad that the day is going to come when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever? And the church says, even so. Come back quickly, Lord Jesus.
We're ready for you to come back. Let's praise the name of the true king, the God of hosts, right now. And worthy you were, and worthy you are, and worthy you will be forever your way. Worthy you were, worthy you are, worthy you will be forever your way. Worthy you were, worthy you are, worthy you will be forever your way.
Worthy you were, worthy you are, worthy you will be forever your way. Your name is great and greatly to be praised your name. Is great and great to be praised. Your name is great. Oh, and greatly to be praised.
Your name is great, great to be praised. And worthy you were, and worthy you are, and worthy you will be forever your way. Worthy you were, and worthy you are, and worthy you will be forever your way. Man, let's close out. I love English, saved people.
who love Jesus. And I pray that you will not lose your salvation and your love for Jesus between here. in that parking lot. May you continue to have that salvation as you fight traffic today. one Sunday.
We'll do it better next week. Think about Paul in that early church. Do you know what the Roman government said? And so you can worship whoever you want. Worship whoever you, Jesus, whoever.
As long as you worship the Emperor first. The early church said, nah, I can't do that. We have one king, and his name is Jesus. As you leave this week with all the stuff going on in the world and all the mess going on in Washington, I just want you to understand they're. Ultimately, they are not your leader.
Ultimately, you have one leader named Jesus. For the time being, we submit to their leadership. But ultimately, we belong to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. And now to him who is able to do. immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power.
That doesn't work within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
God bless you. Mm-hmm.
