How to be Happy, Loving Authority

Y'all remember COVID? That was last year we thought, but it's still around so we'll pray for that. Okay, let's pray. You all want to stand? Why don't you all stand and we'll join together in prayer.

Dear Lord, we come to you now and we are thankful Lord for gathering us here and we thank you Lord that we can call on you and Lord we can also exhort one another and we can praise you and there's so many things we can do and we're here to do all of them that we can here in this morning and And so I pray for my brother Jeremy as he exhorts us to Love your kingdom and hate Unrighteousness hate wickedness. I pray that you would anoint him anoint our ears as we hear We also just pray for all of Tina Conco Lord and I pray that you would draw her to repentance I pray for David and Cheryl and I pray that you'd comfort them. I pray Lord that Lord you would just give Give her a hatred for sin and Somehow work miracles and let her see these miracles and speak to her today As well as so many others Lord that have been deceived by sin.

We just our hearts break We know so many so many that are so close to us father. We just pray that Somehow revival would come and I pray that your kingdom would be built. I pray for this all-nations Bible translation Project Lord that is being spoken about tonight I pray God that our meeting would be pleasing but even more that the people going out into the harvest You would anoint them you would send them you would call more laborers Lord that it would be your work Lord we pray for cam and the rebuilding up at Detroit that you would direct that give safety and direction and what the love Of Jesus shine through those of us that go I pray God for I Thank you Lord for this Stanley Warfel's wife and her extended family.

Thank you Lord. There's repentance. Thank you Lord that prayers are coming to fruition so many years down the road.

I just pray that you would save these souls and build your kingdom Lord and the Bowers family give comfort Lord on the anniversary of Their daughters and wife and mother death. I just pray God that you would give comfort and peace during this time and For Charlie pray that you'd call him to repentance Just touch him today and and Kristen's extended her mom's extended family Lord. I pray that you would be at work and just diffuse these situations Whatever they are and and Lord for health among us and we just pray for the Erickson family and the kovat father We know we're a Nation that's still reeling from the effects of this.

I pray God that you'd grant healing there and wisdom The Lord once again, we just commit this service to you commit Jeremy to you as he shares Exhorts us help us Lord to go home different help our fellowship afterward to be Building to you up building to your kingdom and to each other. We just commit our time in Jesus to you in Jesus name. Amen God bless you, brother You can be seated.

Well greetings in the name of Jesus. Yes, that is my goal to Exhort you this morning We need that we need to be exhorted the scripture says a Peter The Apostle Peter that walked with Jesus word here this morning. He would do that He would exhort us and and we can read his words.

We can read Paul's words We can read James words. We can read Jude's words and Peter would tell us to gird up the loins of our mind Think about that gird up the loins There's somehow some kind of thing in our mind that we can gird up we can we can shore up we can strengthen and that's What we need to do. We need to be reminded Peter said I will not cease to continually to remind you of these things until my temple is taken off and So that's what we need to do is be girded up.

We sing a song this morning his truth forever Stands secure. Amen. We can believe that we can we can We can live that we can come here in faith sing that song from our hearts and meet his truth forever stands secure.

I Was up at Western Interloch a couple of months ago And one of the owner's sons there read me this quote and it really bothered me and it's bothered me for the last couple of months And it's exactly what we we do need to gird up our minds about let me read you this quote And then I'm gonna read a couple other quotes here But this is what the coat said by the way, this quote was on from my understanding. It was on the Oregon Department of Education's website Okay, so it's an official website of our state that we live in here and this quote said this the concept of mathematics being purely objective is Unequivocally false now, let me explain what the word objective means Objective means not influenced by feelings or opinions So what are they saying here the concept the idea that mathematics is not affected by feelings is unequivocally false In other words math now is relative Math now is relative and then they go on to say and upholding the idea that there is always a right and a wrong answer perpetuate objectivity as well as open conflict Once again objectivity is not influenced by personal feelings or opinions Now sadly, you know, it's not sad. I'm glad for it.

We have a community here. We come here weekly We talk about truth we talk about things being not relative being static and we think that way, right? But that's not what the culture around us is doing. I just heard recently somebody was in college seven years ago and they they were Going to English class and they were talking about English and reading English books And they said they just went back to college and now he said it's changed in seven years now They're talking about do you see this here in this English? This is this is a racial slam here.

And this is white supremacy and and Everything everything in our society is turning around in a short amount of time So this idea that truth is relative and it's creeping in and we may think oh, but we're we're not We're insulated from that, you know, we're we're Anabaptist people true. Truth is not going to be relative Well, let's talk about that a little bit this morning. Let's see how much sometimes these things Come into our lives Here's another quote so that quote actually was on the Oregon's Department of Education and they were quoting from a website called equitable math and On that same website.

It says white supremacy culture shows us in math classrooms when the focus is on the right answer So if you see this the target here is there's no rights. There's no wrongs anymore. It's relative In the same website, it says they're calling for teachers to avoid ideas that reinforce paternalism Paternal is father.

They're saying we need to stop enforcing the idea of a father That is terrible. I Want to read you one other thing I was reading a book somebody gave me and this is a quote out of that book and it goes It's actually a little story Val rust an award-winning educating professional at the UCLA Was a pioneer in a field of comparative education and spent his time mentoring students from around the world His students praised him for his compassion and integrity but in a graduate level class on dissertation preparation He became the target of student protests. He was criticized for the political Implications of what he deemed to be proper punctuation It's a follow me he's teaching a class and he's saying we need to have proper punctuation put your period here put your comma here, right Insisting that the students follow the Chicago manual of style for formatting their papers This eventually resulted in radical students entering his classroom and among other things accusing him of racial micro aggressions that have been directed at our I can't even say this word Epistemologies our intellectual rigor and to a misconstruction of the methodical genealogies that we have shared with the class In all this neither the administration nor his colleagues defended Russ Even when the Dean announced that Russ would not be allowed to teach for a year This was not enough for the radicals the school pressured him to resign and the administration pannered to the students nothing was said about the unaware unwarranted displays of Narcissistic victimhood, but a committee was formed to discuss the matter its final report stated Recently a group of our students have encouraged Courageously challenged us to reflect on how to enact our mission in our own community.

We owe these students a debt of thanks Let's let's break that down in other words We're going to now oust a long-standing teacher because he is saying there are proper punctuation We can't have proper things anymore. We can't have right and wrong we can't say that a period should go here because that is saying that those are right in a wrong now many of our Of the of the church that's out there in this world would hear these things and say we've got to take America back again Let's go vote right well That's not right But what the focus of the sermon is not at all in that way the focus of this certain sermon is To evaluate what's going on in our society and in our culture around us and beware lest it come in among us So that the title of my sermon is how to be happy You may think to yourself how in the world does that go along with what you just read right the subtitle is learning to love Authority how many of you get excited and you know a big smile comes on your face when you get you know that little thing from the local government saying you know You owe these taxes Or you see that little speed limit sign that says you can't go any faster than this and you want to get somewhere or Maybe some of you younger people how many you get excited when your dad says no you can't wear that That's not going to happen in our home Does it make you happy or? How many of you men that have a job and when your boss says no? We're not going to do it that way, and that's not the way you thought it You go you thought it should go this way how many of you say that makes me happy? Probably not right No because you know what what's dangerous about our culture around right now listen to these words we celebrate self-expression Is that not the case? Think about social media think about Facebook think about Instagram think about all these the Twitter all of these things What is it at a core when we analyze it? It's celebrating self-expression What are the Anabaptist people about? The Anabaptist people are about unity humility not about self-expression about Individualism right, but that's what this culture is telling us to do And that's what I'm afraid without us knowing it the devil is like a roaring lion He will come in subtly you know like I heard it said if dandelions sold for ten thousand dollars Well how many of you like dandelions? You want to get them out of your your lawn right you want to kill them But if they sold for ten thousand dollars all of a sudden everybody would want to have a lawn of dandelions right that shows you how we are affected by our culture and so without us realizing it we are being drawn into a self culture self-esteem Individually celebrate diversity right variety, and that's not what the Anabaptist people have been known for Anabaptist have been known for being a plain people for saying you know what we're not going to stick out among each other We're going to we're going to unify and we're going to fight this battle so Peter tells us to gird up the loins of our mind as obedient children as Obedient children so this morning Roger said he's gonna rebuke us. Oh, no.

He said he's gonna encourage us or exhort us there You go. I found the right word. You know the rebuke is in there To write in the same line, but he's going to exhort us And that's what Peter says gird up.

Let's go into our minds this morning, and let's think about Do we love authority do we love the things that God is instituted because? God is a god of authority I Mean from start to finish of this book. It's about authority from the very first chapter God gives some laws. He says you may not eat you may eat What is the devil's first thing? He says yeah half God said right? He questioned authority right that's the slogan yeah, but he didn't mean it He what do you mean? He knows if you eat of it.

You'll be like him You'll be like a god you know and he doesn't want that you see that immediate question authority He doesn't mean it for your good. He means it for your bad. He doesn't want you to become a like a god So we are witnessing in our society an all-out war against truth now if you analyze this Truth when it's warred against is actually a war against authority Think about it if one plus one is two.

There's nothing you can do to change that you have to conform to one plus one What's interesting about this whole thing is even though they say math is relative. I don't think that would work so well for the IRS Can you imagine sending back your tax return with that in on there? You know I've decided that year one plus one is not my one plus one, so I'm not paying my taxes this year They know deep down that this is not really gonna pan out But what is really on attack at the end of the day is authority Authority attack as being they want you to question and this attack I I know it's been on since day one, but it's really been on attack Since the last hundred hundred fifty years, we'll talk about that some So the idea of anarchy I never looked up this word before but anarchy means Okay, anarchy means a government that says you know what we don't need authority. We know We can just we can just all follow our heart and do what we feel is best, and we'll all get along right We'll all get along and we don't need laws.

We don't need barriers Now how many of you feel that sometimes in your heart? I don't I don't want a law I just I think we could all get along. You know this idealistic idea well How does that work We imagine that throwing off restraints will equal freedom if left left alone we could peacefully coexist But the problem is from one person's viewpoint. It's all it is right to love your neighbor and from another it's right to eat them You get that that's the truth the problem with opinions is how do we ever Combine that how do we ever get to a place? Well? That's why we need God.

That's why we need truth The Bible talks about a time when everybody did what was right in his own eyes But the devil wants us to believe that boundaries and laws are a curse how many of you feel that I mean when you're told no Does that make you happy? It makes you feel like it's it makes you feel like it is a curse We don't love it, but what does the Bible say the Bible says this in Psalm 119? Great peace have they which love thy law You did you get that what it said? If you love God's authority structure, what do you get? What is the promise peace? That's not what the devil tells us right. That's not what our heart tells us Boundaries don't create peace They create restraint they create unhappiness Discouragement, but no God says when you fall in love with his authority in his way you will have peace Listen to this in Proverbs where there's no vision that people perish, but he that keepeth the law can anybody Finish it he that keepeth the law happy You remember what I said at the beginning this how to be happy See you can be happy true happiness in fact. You know what we think that we're getting happier You know social medias come out Facebook technology all these things to serve us iPhones selfies What are some other names do you see this chart this is 1973 this is 2015 this says at the top general happiness Survey in the US are we getting happier I Would say right if I were to imagine where this lines going right now in the 2020.

It's really dropping off We are going down in society as a happy society Because we are throwing out truth. We are throwing out God himself Okay, and so in 2nd Timothy it says That in the last days if you want to turn their 2nd Timothy chapter 3 in the last days This is gonna happen they tell Paul tells us what's gonna happen Verse 1 in the last days perilous dangerous Grievous, whatever word you want to put there But bad times shall come and the first thing for men shall be lovers of what? self Would you say that that is a reflection of where we're at? Am I just dreaming things to think that we have become a society that loves itself That's what we become Notice a little bit later in verse 7 what it says they love their own says now jump down to verse 7 He can go through a whole list and then it says ever learning and Never able to come to the knowledge of the truth are we not there? We're throwing out truth left and right punctuation anymore is relative math is relative everything's relative men and women and your gender and everything is now relative and We're ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge truth There's not that proved that we have absolute truth and people can't come to it because of a block in their mind In fact Roman says that God will give them over to strong delusion because of the things that they have done But we know that God is not this way it says God is not the author of confusion This is right when he gets done telling us how to run a church meeting He gets done talking about women what you should do and how the prophets should speak and how the songs Should go and all these things and even give some laws like don't don't prophesy more than two or three and then he says for God Is not the author of confusion but of peace See when we are in God's authority and do it God's way we have peace. That's what the scripture teaches us But Jude tells us that in his time even in his day people were creeping into the church creeping in unaware subtly Like a snake and what were they teaching they were despising Dominions They were speaking evil of governments They were despising government as Peter says self-willed and not afraid to speak evil of dignity This all tells me that in their day people were creeping in and tearing down authority They were despising governments Dominions and they were tearing them down even angels weren't willing to speak against the devil Can you imagine Michael? He's arguing and he's fighting against with the devil for the body of Moses And he says I won't even speak to him I will not rail against him because he's in some kind of authority structure See that shows me very clearly that God has authority and even the angels understand that authority structure So I want to talk about this morning.

Let's talk about the four spheres Let's learn to love these fears and let's learn not to have to I Think we need to be very careful. The world wants to bully us They want to push us into a corner and say keep your ideas and your old-school thinking to yourselves And we all feel that you know, we feel that when we read that verse We're like, yeah, I don't want to say that up in front of everybody because you know, it's not popular anymore It's not popular to teach us about women. It's not popular to teach us about Husbands and wives it's not popular to teach about the church having authority So we'll just skirt around that, you know, that's not right The truth will set us free Jesus says so we need to rebuke we need to exhort We need to talk about the things that God that means a lot to God.

So Let's first talk. I'll put way up here. The first authority overall is God But how do we find God and how do we read about his authority and hear about his authority? Well, we do it through his word The Bible tells us very clearly in Psalms that he has magnified his word Can anybody repeat that? How does it go that has magnified thy word? Above thy name you thought about that that God has a name but he says my words even above that He holds his word pretty high.

It says that he has purified his words. It's silver tried and fire Jesus tells us that we should not just eat bread and live by that alone. But what? but by Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Mm-hmm Please turn to Isaiah 66 I'm gonna put right here What the main way I think that we? That we find God's authority and his law is through his word And you know, I think we have grown so accustomed to having the Bible in our hand that we have we have lost You remember what Glenn preached last week, you know They saw the mighty miracles of God and all that stuff and and then they came out and they started murmuring Like it wasn't a day and they already I mean they just watched a whole ocean open up and they walk through and then they're already murmuring We do that right we grow hardened we forget and so we forget sometimes God's Word is right here among us I Want you to jump to verse 2 Well, no verse 1 thus saith the Lord 66 of Isaiah.

The heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool Where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest stop there? God is saying I'm looking for a place to rest. Where do I go? Where can I abide? I've made everything notice what he says in verse 2 for all those things have my hand made and all those things have been Saith the Lord but to this man will I look even to him that is poor and a contrite broken spirit and tremble if at my word Do you tremble at God's Word? When brother Roger read us all those verses about what Jesus taught about money.

Do we go home and tremble? Do we go home and think like this is serious like Woe to the rich like this is a serious thing Or do we go home and go? Doesn't that doesn't really matter like that's just a different interpretation When that when the Word of God is is preached do we tremble at it or have we grown accustomed? you know you imagine Israel and they got this temple or this tabernacle and this flame coming out the top and you know and And some visitor comes in. What is that? And all that's just gone right yeah, he's always here have we become that way with God's Word The order we tremble because God says he'll be and dwell with those who tremble at his Word That's how much God wants us to see his Word so John Jesus says that were sanctified through the thy truth. How does it go after that anybody repeat it sanctify them through thy truth? Thy word is true So God's Word is our authority.

It's truth. It sanctifies us. We're supposed to tremble at it Jesus Christ himself was said I Am the Word and he said all authority of which we're talking about right now has been given to me So we have Jesus Christ all of his words the things brother Roger read a couple weeks ago with his words about money We have all of the written words down in this book and We should tremble at it because it is an authority in our life, and it is being attacked This society is attacking The Word of God Okay now the next thing I want to talk about is we'll just put this down like this all these spears So the next thing I want to say is you know you might get this pious idea that like Yeah, it's the Word of God.

I'm just gonna go study the Word of God It's just me and God and we're gonna we're gonna figure out God's will and a lot of people do that But the scripture itself says that no No Prophecy of the scripture is a private Interpretation you know what that means God has set up some others spheres of authority that sphere of authority is called the church No scripture is a private Interpretation you can't I mean you need the church you need your brothers and sisters I Know that Jesus was perfect, and I know that he didn't have any children or he never got married But I remember years ago somebody else who wasn't Jesus called me and he said That he said he was set free from sin, and I said really great I said do you have you ever had gotten married? No have you ever have you ever had any children? No well see These these things that God has these fears have been ordained of God to work some things out of us to show us our imperfections To refine us so when we come to the church here God wants to show us some problems in our life and Show us how How we are independent how we are rebellious in ways So let's talk about the sphere of the church and see what some of the Apostles said about that Peter said Sorry he this is whoever wrote Hebrews. He said obey them that have So the church has some ruling to do and Then he tells you that are under that whoever that is to submit yourselves for they watch for your souls so the church is supposed to have some kind of rule and People are to submit to that right am I just crazy for reading that or is that right? It says they will give an account for your souls that they may do with joy and not with grief Okay, first Timothy 5 17 Let the elders that rule Be well counted of double honor first Thessalonians 5 12 and we beseech you brethren to know them Which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you first Peter 5 1 the elders which are among a Exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that should be revealed Feed the flock of God which is among you taking the over sight Not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind likewise you younger Submit unto the elder So what I see here is that God has ordained a sphere of influence called the church We're commanded to Willingly submit to it willingly allow those above us brother mark to Rule over us right is that what the scripture says does that bring us happiness when we think about it? Because great peace which they have the love thy law and nothing shall offend him and happy as he that loves the law So what I'm saying is if this is God's design We should love it. We should you remember Joseph how he acted when he went when things didn't go, right? when he got thrown into the pit and then he went along and got He did what's right with Potiphar's wife and got thrown into prison the whole while through he trusted God, right? And he said you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good That is a great price before God He loves to see people who get under authority and even if the authority does something wrong They still submit as to God loves a member Jonathan How he walked his life, you know here here he should have been second in command, right? He should have been the next leader after Saul and God said no, we're gonna have David be the leader What did he do fight against God? No, he said I'll be second to you David He quickly found the guy that should have been the second or that the next leader Quickly saw that God's will was not for that and he found his place.

So the church is the first The second I'm going to put is the family and in the family we have two sub Subgroups here. I'm gonna put on wife husband and Children so I Could preach a whole sermon on the people in authority, but that's not what it's about. It's under authority this morning So we're loving to be under authority.

So these two In the family, we're gonna talk about first of all, let's talk about the wife in Ephesians chapter 5 We read that the husband is the head of the wife So what God teaches from his truth is that let's actually turn to a first Corinthians chapter 11 And we'll see this right laid out Somebody read 1st Corinthians 11 verse 3 for me Okay, so we see here What we're talking about the wife here there is an authority structure right first was who can say with the top Tell me what the top Okay, what was the next one Right, okay, what was the next one and what was the last is that what is it? So this is the authority structure now, let me ask you something is Christ equal to God But is he equal to God in authority a little bit interesting See Christ is equal to God in everything but authority and he willingly It says he learned obedience by the things which he suffered he emptied himself so The way I read it is Christ willingly has put himself not equal to God in authority In fact, he said he says very clearly that I will not I will not glorify myself. I will glorify the father Now, how should it be with man? He should find his authority under Christ and how should it be a woman? She should find her authority so every one of you wearing something on your head this morning, that's the purpose You're saying I agree with God's plan of authority You're testifying to the world that you know what your whole society may say what they want, but God's way is better It's a symbol of authority You're saying I am under subjection under the man Wow You know some of these things I'm saying right now in 10 15 20 years 30 years when you guys are up here preaching you might go to jail for this Think about that Are you gonna stand here and say it even if it's being recorded and it can be listened to later? You think those things, you know? Because this doesn't sound it sounds chauvinist it sounds like not what our culture accepts today We want to come up with a way to say this is not, you know You want to apologize for it, but that's not what the Bible says. In fact, listen to what the Bible says It says in 1st Peter it says likewise you wise be in subjection to your own husbands That if any obey not the word, okay, there's that word up there on the top.

So they don't obey the husband. Here's the wife She says my man is not obeying the word If they don't obey the word they also may without the word in other words, you don't say anything you're not chiding them Be one by the conversation of the wives While they behold your chase conversation coupled with fear who's adorning I get this Let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair and of wearing of gold and putting on apparel But let it be the hidden man of the heart in which is not corruptible Even the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God a great price You know you all are up here and you're wearing your beautiful dresses, but you're not putting on jewelry. You're not braiding your hair You're not doing all those things.

Why? because according to Peter God values more than jewelry and more than earrings a woman who has a meek and a quiet spirit It says it's a great price Great price Do you find that the case you find that? Being under subjection to your husband is it is an amazing thing to God is a great price to God It's a sacrifice that is a sweet smelling savor to him. I Mean this stuff goes on. I mean this sounds like I Mean I read this and I think this is just so against our society For after this manner an old time with the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in Subjection to their own husband even as Sarah obeyed Abram calling him Lord.

I Mean could you imagine if I came here and said okay all the ladies you need to start calling your husband's Lord this week like that just Definitely goes against what our society teaches, but if you could get anything, please get that Subjection to your husband and and ultimately what are you subjecting to here? I'm saying God what you say is proper That is what I want to do, that's what I love that Subjection we willingly put yourself under is a great price to God Ephesians why submit yourselves to your husband Colossians wife submit yourselves under your own husband Titus Be keepers at home chase discreet obedient to their own husband. This stuff is Not according to our social norms be keepers at home discreet For it is not permitted to them to speak it says let you sorry I jumped on let your women learn in silence with all Subjection let your women keep son. That was Titus Timothy.

Sorry 1st Corinthians. Let your women keep silence in the church It's for does not permit them to speak For is a shame for a woman to speak in the church. Why do we feel ashamed of these things? Why do I feel ashamed standing here preaching this to you? Why? Because the pressures of our society are telling us that these things are antiquated they're old-school.

They're no longer truth So if we're gonna take that on then let's just chuck the whole thing out and go home Because we either either God is telling us the truth or he's a liar. You can't mix the two So in the same way and you know, what's crazy about this in the military This is not a problem, right? Think about it. Okay, the military says Okay, two commanders or two generals are getting to talk You know, the private is not going to sit there and interrupt the general and be like, excuse me I have an opinion here, right? The private's gonna say I'm gonna wait and ask him, you know behind a closed door and say is this right what you're thinking like It's it's accepted in the military and it's it works, right? It's a law of wisdom that works that there's a chain of command that that when the the generals get together They they have certain things in the next guy down on his name, but or his office But you know, he he's got to respect that office and it's all it's all it's all laid out.

They know it works Okay, so I'm running out of time. So let's talk about children I Listen to this it says can you imagine sitting in? Ephesus and hearing a command given to you the epistles was written to Valley Christian Fellowship one from one of the Apostles and He's read. I'm up here reading this epistle from Paul and you heard children It's like me saying Matthew You know hezekiah Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise Colossians when that church got their letter children obey your parents and all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord The fact that that they're mentioned is an amazing thing.

The fact that children are mentioned in the book of Ephesus a book of Ephesians and the book to the Colossians And then amazing thing that they're mentioned They're expected to be sitting there and they're expected to be listening up and hearing obey your parents honor them But this is right. This is well pleasing and guess what? There's a promise with it. You'll live long Do you ever remember hearing the story of the Rechabites? Ever anybody remember that story you guys remember the story of the Rechabites? Yeah, I don't have time to really go into in-depth, but if you were to go to Jeremiah You would hear about a family and from my understanding It was when they the children of Israel were going to cross over in the promised land and and somehow Moses met them I don't remember all of how but in the end they weren't quite with the Israelites But they were living apart from them and there came a time when there were some wars going on and they came to Jerusalem As they said, you know, it's kind of dangerous out there.

So let's get somewhere where it's a little safe and though it says in Jeremiah says the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet a prophet of God that speaks the word of God and says hey go get that family the Rechabites Bring them into the temple and give them some wine to drink So he goes and gets him he brings him the temple Sets him down says drink some wine and they said we cannot drink wine Our father told us never to drink wine never to live in houses I don't remember the rest of them, but States this is what our father's command is now think about this their father was It wasn't him that told him it was their grandfather that told their father that told them this was over a 300 year period Can you imagine your grandfather 300 years ago said you know what? You guys all live in tents, okay I don't want you to live in houses and never you know, never drink wine and to this day You were still doing that you were like, you know the society around us Everybody has houses everybody's living nice But we need to live in tents and not only that then a prophet comes to you and says come in here come sit down I heard from the Lord sit down and drink wine and you would say I can't my father has told me not to That's pretty intense The prophet told them and you know what happened in that whole situation God said That's amazing He said Jeremiah go tell all the people of Israel that look at this family how they obey their father Would you not even do that, please? Would you not and he says because of that because you guys have obeyed your father. I will always have someone stand before me One of your family will always stand in my presence Can you imagine that like that shows how important? Obedience is and yet we think Obedience not a big deal. Well, God says it'll go well with you.

God says your days will be long God It's the first commandment with a blessing the promise Children obey your parents. Okay, I have to move on And your father probably has laws I have laws I tell my children leave the phone on the counter from dinner time till after Devotions Because I see what this world is doing to us. I see how it's ruining our family time.

So I make a law and What God would find a well Sacrifice is to is to our willingly submit to your father's laws. Okay The next one I'm going to put here is workplace I better put this up here So another sphere we have a church we have the family and we have the workplace What does the Bible say about the workplace servants be obedient to them that are your masters Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling a Christian servant when he went to his job every day was supposed to have fear and trembling Colossians serpent obey all things your masters according to the flesh not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God Let your servants count their masters worthy of all double honor or all honor. Sorry Exhort servants to be obedient.

So I'm gonna say right now. I'm exhorting you workers you employees. Sorry Caleb works for me.

So that's a little bit odd, but To be obedient to your masters servants be subject to your masters exhort servants to be obedient. This is not a small thing It's an F so many of the epistles So what can we take home for that if you're an employee don't speak evil of your boss I Remember sitting in my job and my boss would sit upstairs and just clink away at the computer and I'd be doing all the tech And I remember thinking oh, he just is a lazy guy up there and Then one day I did more of that stuff and I realized oh, there's a lot more to running a business than I ever thought You don't know what it's like to be in that position Don't speak evil. Don't mock him behind his back.

Don't complain about him not giving enough pay time off or benefit You might likely don't understand. Are you not buying into this self? Gratification of society you live in a society where you can freely move on Masters and servants in the Bible days didn't have that luxury. They were told to be obedient not to complain but to tremble, right? Okay, let's go to the last fear Yeah, when I was talking to these guys when I get in the government probably all the girls are like, yeah Yeah, when I'm on the wife of all the guys like yeah, I get her, right? And the fathers are like yes speak to my children.

Okay. Yeah, that's how we honor. Thank you That's how we feel but let's Look where we are.

We're not in a place where we can be like, oh, we're not in a place. We're not in a place Every one of us is in an office somewhere. Every one of us needs to submit in some way.

What does the Bible say? Romans 13 says let every soul be subject to the higher authority Let every soul be subject to the higher authority Listen to this for there is no authority but of God The authorities that be are ordained of God That is strong if I was in Iraq, I Would have to say It says that I'm supposed to be subject and then it says this whosoever therefore resists the authority resists the ordinance of God We're saying when you resist here You're resisting and they shall receive the amnation themselves Titus says Paul tells Titus put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates Be ready to do every good work Peter says submit yourselves to every ordinance a man for the Lord's sake for this is the will of God as free Wait a minute. Do you feel like you're free? Do you get this easier to just say as free? When you are in here, you're set free You can be happy and it says here as free not using your liberty for a cloak of malicious But as the servant You can be in any one of these offices and realize Look at the old Anabaptist confessions of faith. I've looked at them in the martyrs mirror Look at what they talk about government and how they obey the government.

I encourage you see how the old Anabaptist looked at that so in conclusion When we fight against any one of these offices Any one of these fears We're fighting against God And We're giving into the lie of the devil that you would be Happy if you could be Like God yourself. What did the devil say? He says I just want to be like God, right? He didn't say he wanted to be God. He just said he wanted to be like God.

He wanted to be not have to What does the Bible say about rebellion can anybody beat that part for rebellion as that's intense Well, we harden our heart against any one of these god-revenge fears It's as the sin Of like you're a witch casting curses on people so back to that Isaiah 66 Do you tremble at his word when you read God's words you tremble at it? Because that's what even teaches us these things if we didn't have God's word. We wouldn't even know You tremble at it And you say Lord help me to love your way your way of authority Let's be a people I encourage each one here let's be a people who love God's design Who have rest who are happy because they love God's design of authority Let's joyfully submit and trust in every office God has placed us in as to the Lord but not to men and not to men And I trust as we walk more and more in God's design his peace and his joy and His happiness will rest on each one of us Thank you All right, well, thank you Jeremy for those thoughts I wonder how many of you all are Enjoying your freedom today in that sphere that We are in that Jeremy laid out Church family workplace government authority rule That's a realm of freedom how many of you are enjoying that freedom, maybe somebody has a thought We're going to something you'd like to say something you've stuck out to you from the message Something that stuck out to you from your own personal experience something that stuck out to you about what you Maybe have failed him. I'll just open it up here briefly No conviction Just blessing That's good, I guess too Thank you for turning that off Recommendation like who is this or Ling Smith or something like that? Okay All right, thank you go on anyone else And there is a piece of that But I think of great men of faith like Tindale who rebelled against the government or assignments rebelled against the church It's put out of line.

There's so many people who have Looked at their goal. Their goal was to be obedient to the level of authority above and they Just couldn't because they had such a relationship with God And I think that This is all a man. This is all the pathway of peace right here.

What we see on that board But above and beyond all that Is you've got to nailing down that relationship with God and say yes to Him and no to the world to be able to have that work So it's the strongest level is knowing his word yourself in your heart and knowing his Holy Spirit Being like Stephen and being able to stand up against the rulers and authorities and allowing the Holy Spirit to be with you Yeah, amen. That's why right up at the top is God and His Word, and it's just about always the way He works is by people down here obeying the family, wife and husband, children, parents, workplace and so forth. Just about always you say, I wonder what God's will is? Okay, well look at these things.

But there are a few exceptions. There are a few times when God says, do you really fear Me and are you willing to obey God rather than men? You know, there's those exception times that we have to know God in order to know when I'm in that exception because if you try to step out of that exception and think you're in an exception when you're really not, God says, I'm sorry, I told you what to do and you didn't obey. Now you're in trouble both with your earthly authority and with God.

You ain't gonna win. That's gonna be bad news. Right.

Right. And it's kind of by the time you get to that place where you've lived your life in objecting, rebelling, twisting against all authority, and then you're faced with government telling you to do something that you really shouldn't do, you can't win. If you do what the government tells you to do at that point, you're rebelling against God.

But if you say, oh, now's my chance to say I must obey God rather than men, well, that's not gonna work either because you've already proven yourself to be a rebel. I mean, so now what are you gonna do? Though now's the time to set the groundwork through submission so that if the time ever comes you need to obey God rather than men, you've got a right to do it. Earn that right through submission.

Good, good point. Somebody else. Yes, Brother Neil.

Amen. That's good. Thank you, Brother Neil.

Amen. Thank you. You all look like you have some thoughts.

I think you guys do too. You say what? Stand up. You know, what would this story look like? It's a preview for a voice for a better day.

What would it look like today if you read this chapter? If you read the end of this chapter, all of a sudden, you know, Nebuchadnezzar, he's also changing the tune of the song, right? Now, all of a sudden, he's saying, anybody who speaks against this God, you know, they're going to be cut into pieces, they're all going to be made of dunghill, because there is no good God that can deliver an athlete from that. You know, even, and you go to current history, even though the inside God and the Godless people are willing to admit that there's something different. You know, the story of, like, where did the bee get its wisdom? You need to stop and think about that.

Why have you met? There has to be a God. Yep, it's a good illustration. The three Hebrew children, you know, if they hadn't been submissive all the way up to that point, they would have never been in that place.

You know, among the rulers of the land, they were held pretty high because they had submitted up until that point and been respectful. And now, they had a right. They'd earned that right before God, before men, to stay standing when everybody else was bowing.

And God used them. Great illustration. Anybody else? I thought you were going to say you can't read the Word of God on certain lifestyles.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Amen. Well, anything else? Timmy, do you have a song ready for us in a little bit? Okay. Anybody else have anything you'd like to say? Let's do this.

Usually we sing first, pray second, we're dismissed. Let's do the opposite. Let's stand.

We're going to pray. Brother Neil, would you lead us in just a second before we stand, though? I'm going to have you pray for us and dismissal, and then we'll have the song in closing. And then we're going to have to make a decision where we're going for lunch, which we're going to first choice is going to be the part.

But it's got to be open. It's not open. We'll have to choose somewhere else.

So let's we'll let you know. I guess let's just put it that way. But let's go ahead and stand right now.

Brother Neil, if you'd lead us in prayer. And then if you have a song ready to sing after that. Timothy will lead us in song.