Christians And Government - [Romans 13:1-7]

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Today we're going to be taking a look regarding government and Christians. Let me read.
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This comes from a book called 100 Reasons You Love the Government. I'm not going to read all 100 reasons you love the government.
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But I thought I would share with you some of these 100 reasons that appears to be from a non -Christian's perspective of why we should love our government.
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And most of these are not the kindest words for our government.
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But, number 100 says, you like waiting in line at the DMV.
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We should love our government for that reason. 99 says, you like watching 10 guys stand around a pothole.
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We've all seen that. 88 says, you like to spend other people's money.
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That's why we should love the government. Number 30 says, you think breathing should be taxed.
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25, you get a license plate that says, Gov, not God. Number 15 says, you believe the decline in the quality of public education is due to a shortage of public schools.
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Build more. Number 12 says, you look forward to going through airport security.
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And I'm sure those at the Shepherds Conference coming back from LAX were experiencing that just recently.
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You support more regulations because people just can't take care of themselves. We need more and more regulations.
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Number eight says, you'd like to be paid for not doing much. Number seven, you wish some were,
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I'm sorry, you wish you were some sort of dictator. Why you should love government.
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Number six, you believe bureaucracy creates efficiency. Number four, you write to your congressman complaining that you haven't seen a homeland security vehicle on your street.
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You can buy this book nonetheless, so if you are interested in getting all of them, you can purchase this.
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I got it when it was free. Number two says, you do not like to work hard.
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And number nine, a little closer to home says, you hope religion is outlawed one day.
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That's a man's centered view of why we should love our government. But let me see, or let us look at what the pages of scripture say we should be like.
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So with that said, what comes to your mind when I say April 15th? Smiles?
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Enjoyment? How about when you hear names like John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Deval Patrick, Barack Obama, and there's some guy by the name of Scott Brown.
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And no, I'm not talking about myself. We're talking about the senator, Scott Brown.
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When was the last time you felt it was an act of worship to write your check for taxes, to pay sales tax, or the ever -increasing gas tax?
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When was that an act of worship for you, if ever? Ask yourself this question.
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Do you believe you are to submit to the governmental authorities, no matter how cruel or unjust they may appear to be?
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This evening, we're gonna discuss four reasons why you, as a Christian, are commanded to submit to your government authorities.
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This includes local, state, and national authorities, even if you do not like what they do.
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If you are a Christian here tonight, you are included in this command given to us by God.
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The four reasons, again, for those who are note takers, four reasons I'll be discussing are this. First, we'll see that God establishes all government.
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God establishes all government. Second, God is resisted when we resist the government
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He has established. Three, God actually grants government the right to punish those who resist.
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Four, God's authority for the Christian is to be obeyed out of one's own conscience.
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The text we'll be looking at today is found, actually, in Romans 13. So, turn, please, to Romans 13.
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We'll be reading verses 1 through 7. Romans 13, 1 through 7.
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A great passage talking about our relationship as Christians to government.
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Let me read Romans 13, 1 through 7. Paul says in the book of Romans, please let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
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Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed.
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And those who resist will incur judgment, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
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Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is
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God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.
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For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out
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God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection not only to avoid
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God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes.
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For your authorities are ministers of God, attending to the very thing.
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Pay all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.
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How many of you, again, feel it a ministry to be able to write your taxes to the government?
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In order to grasp the text this evening, its full impact, it's important to understand the historical context here of what
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Paul was writing to the church at Rome about. Understanding that Paul's message today is just as relevant for you and I as it was back then.
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This portion of Scripture, this passage that we just read, is actually in what's called a parenthetical section.
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It means the text that I just read and its adjacent texts are essentially enclosed in parenthesis.
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Paul was writing, and in a process of writing, a thought came to his mind, and he started writing something else.
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It's a larger section that has parenthesis wrapped around it, in essence. This parenthetical section starts in Romans 12, and it actually concludes in chapter 15.
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Pretty large section. These four chapters, 12 through 15, are mainly where Paul gives advice and counsel to Christian believers.
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Again, this is for believers who are new creatures in Christ, and he wants believers in the church at Rome to know these clear, practical teachings under the persecution of Rome.
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Chapters 1 through 11 of Romans covers how Christians are justified by God, by grace, through faith alone.
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Great, great chapters. The first 11 chapters cover the gospel message.
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If Paul only wanted to share the gospel message with us, he would have ended there at chapter 11.
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No, Paul wanted to give us godly advice, and the Christians at Rome, godly advice, so that we could live as aliens, pilgrims, foreigners, and strangers in this strange world.
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Some more liberal theologians unjustly argue chapters 12 through 16 of the
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Book of Romans were inserted at a later time and do not even belong in the Bible.
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There is no evidence for that at all. But they don't like what it has to say.
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So if you don't like what something has to say, you remove it, just like the Jefferson Bible. If one studies the
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Book of Romans and Paul's other writings throughout the Scriptures in depth, you will see just how these chapters fit into Paul's message to the church at Rome and even our lives today.
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After the great justification section of this letter, again, laid out in chapters 1 through 11,
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Paul uses chapter 12 to discuss how Christian relationships here on earth change because of our personal and private relationship with Jesus Christ.
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These new relationships impact how we interact with other believers, with non -believers, and even our enemies.
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Paul next launches into chapter 13 by telling Christians how you should respond to your government.
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He goes from personal relationships to more general relationships of the
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Christian and its ruling government. In this section of the text we'll focus today, let me summarize the book really quick,
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Romans again, we see the great justification of God through faith by grace in chapters 1 through 11.
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Chapter 12, we have a right relationship with others in Christ, brothers and sisters, other believers.
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Chapter 12 also, we have a right relationship with non -believers and even our enemies. And in chapter 13, we are to submit to God's ruling authorities.
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Some historic background on what was going on when Paul wrote this letter in the church of Rome may be surprising to some.
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Unlike many messages that we have today, which are there to lift us up and to make us feel good,
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Paul is writing to a group of people that are being persecuted all the time. Here while Paul is writing the book of Romans, he was on his third missionary journey from Corinth.
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He wrote to the Christian church at Rome. Scripture makes it clear that Paul was not the one who started the church himself, but he had a desire to go to Rome.
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Paul was writing this letter in anticipation of his future visit. And in Acts, we see that Paul's desire to one day make it to Rome came to fruition.
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We can read in the book of Acts also that Paul made it to Rome not in maybe the way that he ever imagined he would make it to Rome, but he was taken there when he appealed to Caesar.
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All the while, the Jews were trying to kill him. Paul wrote this letter to the church when
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Nero, many of you know this name, he was also called Caesar. He was one of the many
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Caesars ruled and governed the Roman Empire. Remember, Nero was the supreme ruler over all of what he controlled.
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He was worshipped as a god by the Romans. Let me give you a few things history tells us about this great man called
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Nero. Roman citizens and not Christians alone are quoted at saying that this was the dark days of the empire, some of the darkest days.
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Nero had his stepbrother killed when he was 14, who was to be the ruler of Rome by birthright.
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Later, he had his mother murdered because she wanted to co -rule with him.
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And also, his first and second wives were killed for not submitting and being obedient to his rule.
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During Nero's rule, Christians were blamed and persecuted for an enormous fire which destroyed much of Rome, which history tells us that Nero himself started that fire out of selfish desires and to get back at Christians.
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Historians also report that for entertainment purposes, Nero would take
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Christians, dip them in hot tar, tie them to stakes, and light them on fire as torches for his festivals and his many orgies.
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Paul is writing to this group of people, telling them to obey their government.
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Lastly, Nero is known for taking Christians at times, tying them up, sewing them in animal skins, and throwing them to wild dogs to watch them be devoured and torn apart alive for entertainment.
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So ask yourself these two questions as we go through our text tonight. Do you think that it's easier for Christians today to obey our government?
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Or would it have been easier in Paul's day to obey that government? How would you have reacted to Paul's letter had you been a part of the church in Rome at this time of Nero's rule?
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Scripture actually teaches that God establishes different types of authority and we see that God has established the home, including marriage, in Genesis 2, 18 through 25.
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We see that God establishes the church in Acts 2. And we see in Genesis 9 that God establishes government.
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Scripture tells us that the first human government was established right after the flood in Genesis 9, when
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Noah was commanded to obey and follow God's rules for overseeing plants, animals, people, etc.
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We must remember that no one human government is perfect. We don't love our government for its means of being perfect.
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Man himself is an imperfect creature. So anything ruled by man or the authority by man will suffer due to original sin.
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The ultimate example of a righteous government is seen in the scriptures when
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Christ returns in Revelation 20 and rules as King of Kings.
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The text we're going to be looking at this evening in Romans 13, 1 through 7, outlines how you are not only to submit to the government out of fear and punishment nor out of your own selfish desires, but you are commanded to submit to government out of your own conscience.
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By not obeying this command, you are rightfully sinning in the eyes of a thrice holy
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God. So let me get to point one. Do you believe all government is established by God?
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Do you believe all government is established by God? Do you believe
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God is sovereign over governments, no matter how cruel they may look or be?
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Look with me at the first verse in Romans 13. I think you'll have the answer to the question. It says,
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Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority, no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
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No need to turn there, but let me read real quick from Acts 17, verses 24 through 26. The God who made the world and everything in it, being
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Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything.
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Since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
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Does God create and is he sovereign over all government?
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It's clear from these texts that God has established and maintains every government that has ever existed and ever will exist until Christ's return.
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Let's see why it's important that God established government in the first place. Why do we need a government? Can't we just do it ourselves?
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What's government even for? Government is needed because man is sinful and has sinful desires.
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Lusts of the flesh. Paul doesn't state in our text that a given form of government is any better or worse than any others.
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Some of us would say communism is bad. Capitalism is bad.
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Republics are bad. Socialism is bad and everything else is bad. Yet God has established all of them.
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And Paul nowhere in his text says we should only obey a given type or group of government.
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The best government we can see laid in our scriptures again is a monarchy ruled by Jesus Christ. Secondly, God uses sinful governments as a means to an end for his glory, as we even saw in the text today that Brian read.
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But think back with Egypt. God's people were ruled by Pharaoh. God hardened
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Pharaoh's heart. Think of Babylon. The Jews were taken captive when they were conquered.
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Persia, you had Esther who became queen of that nation, a Jew. Assyria used to punish the
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Israelites and Rome. Rome eventually got fed up with the Jewish people being so disobedient.
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It finally took action and conquered the city twice. 70
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AD was only one of two times it was attacked and leveled. God appoints and God institutes government for his glory and for his purposes alone.
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No text makes this clearer than what we just read in Romans chapter 13 verse 1.
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It again says, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God.
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And those that exist have been instituted by God. Be aware that no government exists outside of God's will, even those believed or seen by us as evil.
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God may not approve of what those appointed to office do, but it doesn't change the fact that he himself has appointed that office to rule over Christians.
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Think of God's ordination of marriage or the church. Both of these are also institutions God has ordained, and yet neither of those are perfect either because of sin.
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Paul says here in the text, may surprise many of you in verse 4, Paul says here in our text that government leaders are ministers of God.
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Leaders are ministers of God. Our government leaders are ministers of God. Here we see that government leaders are said to be ministers.
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Do you think your government leaders, your local, your state and your national? Do you think of them as ministers of God?
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Do you think that people such as Hitler, Stalin and other dictators as God's ministers? Romans 3 .14
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says, for he, government, is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he, government, does not bear the sword in vain.
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For he, government, is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out wrath,
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God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13 .4. When you think of ministers of God, you may think of pastors, missionaries, shepherds, but God calls the government, those in government, his ministers.
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He is sovereign over them. Ministers of God here is used in our text three different times in this short passage.
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Paul wants to emphasize and stress that we understand that God uses these ministers.
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Even Nero. Because governmental leaders are ministers of God, you must respect the office.
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That does not mean that you must agree with what those in office say or do, but we must personally respect the office itself.
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And those holding that office, we should pray for. God gives government for the purpose of bringing order and preventing chaos is another reason why we have government.
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Look at verse three of Romans 13, and you'll see the reason God gave man government and the reason we are to obey the ministers of God put over us.
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For rulers are not a terror, it says, to good conduct, but to bad.
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Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority to do what is good and you will receive his approval?
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Romans 13 .3. Let me ask you this question. How long could you survive in a state of anarchy?
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Would you prefer anarchy over what we have today? Could we survive in anarchy?
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Government from a high level is designed to protect its citizens, and in most cases, it accomplishes this role.
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When it doesn't, we see revolutions. We see civil unrest.
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We see civil wars. But government is there to protect its citizens. Any government is better than no government.
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Think of things such as Occupy Wall Street or what happened in Japan or Haiti during the various disasters when there was no government in control at various times.
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Think back even to Louisiana, New Orleans with the flooding where they had murdering, rape, theft, various things going on when there was no government in control.
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Government protects the innocent from those that would cause harm. Think of the persecution
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Christians would face today if not for God's restraining hand upon its people and its government.
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Even Paul's protection from the Jewish mob in the book of Acts leading him to Rome was for his own protection.
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So government is designed to fulfill two roles. Two specific roles, and that is it protects the life of the people and it protects the property of its people.
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That is really what government is designed to do from a very high level. Does our government today fulfill this role?
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Does every government pretty much fulfill this role? It's clear from our text that God establishes all government and he is sovereign over not only government today but has been ruling over all governments past, present, and future.
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We have an election coming up. God is in control and he is sovereign over who will win the election for our government.
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We as Christians must obey this government or be prepared to face the consequences
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God provides in the pages of scripture. Secondly, did you know that you resist
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God when you resist government? Did you know that you are actually resisting God when you resist your government?
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Look with me at verse 2 of Romans 13. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resist what
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God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment.
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Knowing that, do you feel it wise to resist government? That's not to say that we as Christian individuals do not have a voice in our own government.
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We are not to remain silent but we're not to resist or oppose it because God brought it about.
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Because God ordained government, you must not resist it, you must not disrespect it, and you must not disobey it.
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With one exception that we'll look at later, I think you all know what that is. Do you want an example of what
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God thinks of those who oppose his sovereign authority? I won't read it now but study as Pastor Mike had read earlier, when
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Moses was confronted by Korah, they were swallowed up as God's ministers for disobedience.
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Some of you may remember Pastor Mike again speaking on this scripture, talking about God's ordained rulers and authorities and yet this is also a discussion around our government.
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You are to submit to government. That word that many people hate today, the
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Greek word for submit relates to a soldier's absolute obedience to its superior officer.
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It is one who lines up, stands at attention and awaits orders. That is what we were supposed to do to our government.
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The word submit here is used differently than what it has been in the past. Back in Paul's day, it included respect and obedience, not just obedience as it is believed today.
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For the Greek student, the verb here is a passive imperative, making our submission an ongoing command and not an option or an opinion that suits our own likings.
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Remember submission does not mean or command silence. We are to express ourselves when the state goes against the word of God, such as with homosexual marriage, abortion and many of the other areas where the government is getting into Christian living and doctrine.
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In 1 Samuel 24 -6, David is seen calling the wicked King Saul the
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Lord's anointed. He demanded that Saul not be killed because David honored
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Saul's position of authority even while Saul sought to kill him. You are not to resist government, but as a
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Christian, you are to submit to it. Let me read another verse for you quickly about Christians and why we are to submit to our government.
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In 1 Timothy 2, 1 -2, it says, First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and for all and for who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way, 1
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Timothy 2, 1 -2. You may be asking yourself, how can
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I submit to my government? How can I do that? What's some of the practical things I can do? You can pray for your government. You can submit through petition with your government.
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You can submit with thanksgiving for your government. And in these verses, we are commanded to submit to kings, to all authority on behalf of all men, including those in government.
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So why does Timothy say we are to submit? He lists actually four reasons in that text, and they are for one, a tranquil life, two, for a quiet life, three, for a godly life and four, for a dignified life.
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That's why we're to submit. We're to submit as Christ submitted to the
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Father. So we first looked at the fact that God establishes in His sovereign over all government.
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From the beginning of time, He will until Christ's ultimate rule. Secondly, we saw that when you as a
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Christian resist our government or any government for that matter, you in turn are resisting
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God Himself. Look with me at the third of our four points we'll look at tonight.
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The third one, do you know that God gives government the right to punish those who disobey?
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God gives the right to punish those who disobey. Were you aware that God grants
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His ministers, government, the right to punish? Look with me as I read Romans 13, verses two through four, and let's see what the
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Word of God says. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resist what
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God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
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Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive
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His approval, for He is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid.
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For He does not bear the sword in vain, for He is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out
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God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Those who disobey
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God's ministers face temporal wrath, and in some cases, eternal judgment from God.
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Government is given the right to inflict capital punishment. That's for another sermon, but if you'd like some references, you can look at Genesis 9, 6,
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Matthew 26, 52, and Acts 25, 11. It's interesting, in this text, in Romans, the word sword is used and not scepter.
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This means government is given not only power of authority, but it is given the power of death to those who disobey.
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The sword was a symbol in the Scriptures for death and judgment. It is an instrument of death, where a scepter, in turn, was more of a ruler, authority, but death was not included.
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If you disobey, you must be willing to suffer the consequences. Remember Daniel and his three friends, each willing to submit, even if it meant unjust death, in their opinions and in God's.
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They knew it was for God's glory alone that he would fulfill his will, even if they went to the furnace and never came out.
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Are you beginning to believe that God has established all government, no matter how cruel it may be? Is it clear in your mind that when you resist
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God, when you resist his ministers, we are indirectly resisting
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God's authority that he has given over us? We briefly looked at God's right given to government to punish those who do not obey, which may include capital punishment, as we saw.
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Now, look with me at the last point found in verse five. Did you know that God's authority is to be obeyed out of your conscience?
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God's authority is to be obeyed out of your conscience. Obedience to the government should not come out of fear, but it is to be obeyed out of conscience.
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You are to obey out of love, out of obligation, and out of submission for those in rule.
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Look again at verse five of Romans 13, and it says, therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid
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God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Let me also read from 1
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Peter chapter two, verses 12 through 15 says this, keep your conduct among the
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Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify
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God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the
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Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil, and to praise those who do good.
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For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
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You are commanded to submit to the authorities God has put over you. And if you do not obey the government out of fear of punishment, such as tickets or jail time, but you as a
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Christian must obey out of what your conscience tells you, is what I'm doing right in God's eyes.
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Am I obeying the authorities the way God commands me to obey them? And yet because of Adam, when he ate from the tree of good and evil, each of us now knows right from wrong.
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And the Bible says we are without excuse. Our conscience is the way of God telling us something that we're not doing right.
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Just because we are citizens of heaven does not exclude us from obeying the earthly government. We have to do whatever or wherever we travel.
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If you've ever traveled to another place, there may be different laws. Try traveling to London and driving on the other side of the road.
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You will go to jail or worse, kill somebody. So tonight, we covered four points
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Paul gave us with regard to Christian perspective towards government. The first was that God establishes all government.
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Secondly, we saw that when you are resisting government, you are also resisting God's authority.
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Third, be warned that God has granted government the right to punish for disobedience. And lastly, we saw that we are to obey as Christians out of fear of punishment.
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We are to obey as Christians out of conscience. So you may ask, I don't like that.
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What are some arguments that people might have against this saying, I don't have to obey my government? Let me give you some of the more common arguments against this text.
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People have said first, Paul was just ignorant of Roman government when he wrote this text.
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And yet anyone know that he was a Roman citizen? Very well knew his rule, his laws that were governed.
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How much Paul actually knew about his own government and his rights with that government.
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Secondly, something that you're only to submit to godly rulers. The scripture says only godly rulers, but the
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Bible doesn't qualify that. Did Christ, while he was here on earth during his ministry, only submit to those rulers that were godly?
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Third, some argue that this text is, well, only a historical command which cannot be applied today.
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Again, there's nothing in our section of text that would tell us that. The command is given in scripture.
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It is an imperative, continuously ongoing. We are to submit and obey our government.
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Fourth, some say a person cannot use only a single portion of scripture as a proof text.
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It's typical. I find one piece of scripture. I pull it out and I say, this is what it says.
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And there's no other scripture references to that. That's what's called proof texting. But I'll say, as I read other portions of scripture, it's clear from the pages that god has given government and god has commanded us to obey government.
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I agree that we should not use a single portion of text as a proof text, but yet there are multiple texts.
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This is just the main proof text for it. Those are the four arguments.
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I would suggest, if you desire, study how Christ submitted to the government while he was on earth.
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He had the power and the authority to change and even destroy the governments that were currently in place.
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He did not. Never do we see Christ disobeying the government, even to his own death on a cross.
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John 19, 8 through 10, 8 through 11. Christ also did not teach his disciples to picket, to strike, to not pay their taxes, or to disobey government in any way or fashion.
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Paul himself, who is the author of this letter to Romans, was put on trial, was beaten, was whipped, was jailed, and stoned and put in stocks, and in some of those instances by the government that was ruling over him.
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Not once did he disobey the government authorities. And he was willing to die if found guilty of breaking civil law.
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So now you may be asking, what about this exception you talked about? What is this great exception?
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I'd like to have an exception, because if I have an exception, I have an excuse to get out of obeying the government. So let me give it to you.
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The only exception we have is when the government commands us to disobey what the scripture tells us.
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That is the only time we are allowed to do that. The only exception given by God for disobedience to his ordained governments, let's read in Acts 4 .19,
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I'll read that quickly. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.
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And in Acts 5 .29, but Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men.
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You are allowed the loophole that you have to disobey government only when it asks you to go directly against what is taught in the pages of scripture and nothing else.
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Just as government has only two ultimate functions to protect life and property, the
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Christian has two functions to its government. Do you know what those are?
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We are to pay our taxes and we are to submit to our government. The Christian's ultimate authority is the triune
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God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The scriptures are our authority in the
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Bible, which God has revealed in his word. So let me ask you again, do you feel blessed when you write that check to the
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IRS on April 15th? Are you supporting God's servants?
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Protection of your life and property comes at a cost and we must pay that cost, both in obedience and monetarily.
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You should desire to pray for your government officials, those who may not be saved. We would pray for salvation first, but we pray that they would be used all for the glory of God and him alone.
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Let's pray. Lord, we thank you and praise you one more time for a time that we can look in your word.
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As we looked at Romans 13, 1 through 7, Lord, it's not the easiest passage to ingest and to enjoy and to like as so often we struggle with the things that our government does.
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And yet, Lord, we are so much better than many other nations. We thank you that we have been raised in a nation that we can praise you, glorify you, and worship you without fear or trembling, that the government will come marching through those doors with guns in hand.
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Lord, we thank you for your word today. We thank you for those who came out. We continue to pray for those who are traveling back from the
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Shepherds Conference. And Lord, we pray for Josh McDonald as he would get better from illness.
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Lord, we love you and we thank you again for this time that we've had. In your precious name, we pray.