The Requirement Of Authority

The goal of God is to prepare us for eternal life, not life here on this earth.

It would be hate for God to exist and Jesus to come only to make our lives easier in this world.

Therefore, we need an authority structure that governs how we live in preparation for what we were created for.

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org.

Let's pray together.

Lord, when we say that uh all I have needed, thy hand is provided.

What we're saying is that we don't live by the fruit of our own labor.

We don't look to our hand for provision.

We work hard because God made men and women to work hard, but we don't work desperately.

We don't work like everything depends upon you.

And we sure do not infuse our children with that cancer of self-reliance.

Everything we have comes from you, God.

Everything we have now, and everything we're gonna get comes from you.

So it's just gonna multiply our capacity to worship you, to enjoy you, to bless you, to say to our friends when we roll up in that King Ranch, fully loaded truck, and they go, Man, nice truck.

I know God's been so good to me, I can't even fathom it.

It's really humbling.

And that's not the prosperity gospel.

That's all I have needed, thy hand has provided.

And so, Lord, we're not gonna back away from that.

We're just gonna look to your hand.

And so, Holy Spirit, lead us into the text this morning.

Cause us to think in keeping with the Bible and live as a reflection of the sufficiency of God.

This is our prayer, God.

We prayed in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You could have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it to Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

I want to talk to you this morning about the requirement of authority.

The requirement of authority.

Uh and that'll make sense in just a minute because the text talks about how God has ordained that authority figures exist in our culture, in our world.

Now, let me also say this is that we live in a day and age where we're not big on authority.

Matter of fact, it it's very popular to attack authority, tear down authority.

I see this bumper sticker everywhere, resist or join the resistance.

And I just want to I just want to warn you as your pastor, uh, that's not a good idea.

I know it sounds good, it sounds hip, that we're gonna join the revolution or whatever.

Uh, and in the end, I just got two words for that.

Good luck.

Uh but when I say the requirement of authority, let me just make an introductory statement that hopefully will help us better understand the Bible.

Uh, the goal of God is to prepare us for eternal life, not life here on this earth.

It would be hate for God to exist and Jesus to come only to make our lives easier in this world.

Therefore, we need an authority structure that governs how we live in preparation for what we were created for.

Let me say that again.

Because everything God is, says, and does is not about, hey, I want you to be better in this life.

Matter of fact, the Bible says if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we're to be pity above all men.

And so it's not like the Bible doesn't say don't enjoy yourself.

No, no, no.

The Bible says the exact opposite.

It says, enjoy yourself in this world.

Enjoy everything God's provided.

I mean, uh just just uh enjoy the hound out of it.

But don't get short-sighted and think this is all there is.

Because then there'll be a horizontal dimension to your life and never a vertical.

Okay?

Let me demonstrate.

Our kids, both of our girls went to Mother's Day Out, a Mother's Day out program, I don't know if you're familiar with that.

It's basically a break for moms.

And so uh ours were Tuesday, Thursday kids.

My wife just said, I want to meet Tuesday, Thursday, socialize, be around other kids and everything.

And because it's Mother's Day out, and I was traveling, preaching all over at the time, my wife typically took them.

She wanted to take them, drop them off.

She had a rhythm.

They got that.

Every once in a while, she would say, Hey, can you take the girls in the morning?

I'm eating someone for breakfast or something.

I was like, sure.

I remember the first time I took Madison, our oldest, to Mother's Day out.

It was emotionally traumatizing, okay?

It was great.

We were singing Johnny Cash songs on the way.

We get there, I pull into the parking lot, and I look back and she's trembling in her car seat.

And I said, Babe, what's going on?

I pull back, I open the door, she crawls out and just clings to me, starts tearing at my clothes.

I'm walking to the parking lot with her little backpack, and I'm like, this is not enjoyable.

And we walk in the building, sweet ladies go, Oh, hey, good to see you.

Hey, Madison.

I get to the door and I have to pry her off.

Now, by the way, as I'm walking in, there are women sprinting past me.

They pull their kids off of my velcro, heave them over the half door, and they're like, hey, hey, my motion's middle of Madeline's, let's go.

And I'm like, baby, is that it's okay?

Is it okay?

Do these people hurt you?

Has anything ever happened?

And she no, Daddy, don't leave me, don't leave me.

And the woman's standing there, oh, she's gonna be okay.

You can go.

And I'm like, listen, you do anything to my kid, I'll come up here and shank you in the neck.

And I'm like, baby, yeah, I'll come in, man.

She turns, I hand the backpack.

I am so dysregulated.

I go to the lobby and I'm just kind of like, oh, I gotta wait and see if this thing calms down.

Some mom walks by me, she goes, first time drop off.

And I'm like, don't go there with me.

And she said this, which was incredibly helpful.

She goes, hey, listen, they realize it's only temporary, it's not home, and somebody's coming for them.

And I said, Pin, please! I said, give me a pen.

Sound familiar?

They realize it's only temporary, it's not home, and somebody's coming for them.

The Bible realizes, hey, this is only temporary.

It's not home.

And somebody's coming for you.

And so the Bible gets us ready.

The Bible, again, it doesn't say, oh, this is terrible.

No, enjoy yourself.

Enjoy yourself.

But but don't get so short-sighted because the Bible's written to get us ready to enjoy life for eternity, okay?

Romans chapter 13, the requirement of authority.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 13, verse 1, let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

Romans 13:1

For there's no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resist what God has appointed.

And those who resist will incur judgment.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who's in authority?

Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.

For he's God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

But because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

Pay to all what is owed them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, and respect to whom respect is owed.

Honor to whom honor is owed.

What do you mean when I say the requirement of authority?

There's four points that the text makes this morning I want to just point to.

The first one is simply this that authority figures are God's design.

Authority figures are God's design.

Now keep in mind that the last section, the chapter before, or Romans chapter 12, the last section of that, it ends by talking about not avenging yourself or repaying evil for evil.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

He says, leave room for the wrath of God.

And then chapter 13, what God is saying is that authority figures are the medium through which I exercise my wrath on an evil culture or people that do wrong.

But just, just, let's just, we'll get to that in just a minute.

Let me just back up and say authority figures are God's design because God has ordained authority figures, and central to their role and responsibility is to punish evil.

Let me say that again.

When I say God, authority figures are God's design, this thing ends previously by saying, hey, leave room for the wrath of God.

Do not avenge yourself, do not repay evil for evil, because if you do that, then you have a vigilante culture, and just the guy who's got the AR-15 or the whatever, the latest, greatest assault rifle, that person gets to be in charge.

Because God says in Romans 13, hey, I have kind of ordained authority as an expression of my design for the way the world works.

And by the way, this is not a New Testament phenomenon.

This is started way back in the Old Testament.

Let me just read to you from Daniel chapter 4.

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 4, verse 17 says this the sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones.

Daniel 4:17

Hear this part.

To the end that the living may know that the Most High, that's God, rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will, and sets over it the lowliest of men.

Now hear that last half of that verse again.

He says, To the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

Now, now, by the way, in your setting right now around all kind of political stripe of people, okay?

Thing I love about the body of Christ is it is politically diverse.

In this room, we got libertarians, we got independents, we got Democrats, we got Republicans.

So this is how you read this verse.

If you're a Republican and you're talking about the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will, the Republicans go, that's right, Donald Trump is God's man for the job.

But if you're a Democrat, you read the last part and sets over it the lowliest of men.

That's just the way it goes, okay?

That's just the way you think about it.

Some of you are like, I'm barking at my Bible right now.

But it's but here's the thing.

I'm just saying, here's the point.

And by the way, don't roll up on me with your political thing, okay?

We're not into politics.

We don't preach politics here.

We don't uh we don't endorse or we don't say.

I just say this vote.

Okay?

It is your civic duty and responsibility, because if you don't vote, you can't complain about what you get.

We should stand for the benediction right now, huh?

I would, but the visitors would be disappointed.

So let's continue.

Uh but yeah, without here's the thing.

Without governing authorities, you live in a world of vigilating justice where it's just about everyone's avenging themselves and no one can be held accountable because there is no law.

So let me just lay this kind of a capstone cornerstone in the text.

Authority figures are God's design.

Secondly, authority requires that there be a consequence.

Authority, the existence of authority, demands, requires that there be a consequence.

It's verse 2, 3, and 4.

Hear it again.

Verse 2, therefore, whoever resists the authorities resist what God has appointed.

And those who resist will incur judgment.

The problem in America is that people that resist don't incur judgment.

And I know it sounds cool and hip, but like, okay, we're just such an understanding therapeutic culture.

You are laying the foundation for your destruction as a culture.

Those who resist incur judgment.

Verse 3, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who's in authority?

Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.

For he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

If you're in any form of authority, like if you're a parent, if you're a policeman, if you're a teacher, you should introduce yourself to your students and just say, by the way, I'm a servant of God and avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

You can call me Mr.

Robertson.

That would just set the tone on the first day of school.

But instead, you're like, hey kids, I'm Mr.

Robertson.

I want you to like me.

No, just drop this on.

By the way, I'm an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

I just think that establishes the tone.

When I say authority figures require that there be a consequence, just start with verse 2.

In the very beginning of verse 2, look at what he says.

He says, Whoever resists the authorities, resists what God has appointed.

Hear that phrase, resist what God has appointed.

Always keep the big picture in mind.

When you disobey authority figures, starting with your parents, when you disobey authority figures in your life, you're disobeying God.

And God thinks a lot of himself and of his ideas.

Let me say that again.

When you and I disobey authority figures in our life, we bring chaos to what God designed to be order.

And when you do that, what you're saying is you're not just disobeying the authority figures, you're disobeying God.

And God thinks a lot of himself and his ideas.

As a matter of fact, one of the most cruelest forms of punishment God can inflict upon you is to give you over to your own ideas.

And I know it sounds great.

People are like, what's wrong with that?

I'm a self-made man.

You do not want to live in a world where it all depends on you.

No one has the right to tell you no and you get whatever you want.

You're just ruled by your ideas.

I tell men this all the time.

Really, I tell women this in marriage counseling.

The difference between a boy and a man, here's how you can tell if you're married to a boy or if you're married to a man.

And some of you are like, I'm 58 years old.

We can still be boys at 58.

Amen?

That was all of our wives going, yes, yes, you can.

Here's how you know if you're married to a boy or a man, ladies.

A boy is ruled by his appetites.

A man is ruled by his understanding.

A boy sees a new deer rifle.

He's like, I tell you what, I'm getting that thing.

You're like, it's$985.

I don't care.

I work hard.

I deserve that.

A man is ruled by his understanding and says, I want a new deer rifle, but I also wants to go on vacation and my kids need new shoes.

So I'm gonna say no to myself and yes to my responsibility.

That's the difference between a boy and a man.

That's just free.

Now, when it when it comes to authority, and I say authority requires that there that there be a consequence, we live in a culture that kind of says, hey, isn't getting your way?

Isn't that what we're all supposed to be about?

I would point you to Romans chapter 1, where it's a form of punishment and judgment.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Three times you see this phrase, and he gave them over, and he gave them over, and he gave them over.

It's God.

People persisted in sin, and God gave them over to this sinful lifestyle that they wanted.

So whatever you persist in, God will give you over to.

Let me say that again.

Whatever you and I persist in, God will give you over too.

So if you're engaged in sinful behavior right now and nobody knows, one thing you will notice about yourself is it becomes easier to do that.

And pretty soon you're like, well, I prayed and told asked God to take the desire away, and He didn't, so I guess this is okay.

No, no, no, it's not okay.

It's judgment.

God is giving you over because that's what you want.

And so whatever you persist in, he gives you over to.

Not as a form of agreement, you know what, you're you work hard, you deserve this.

No, no, no.

It's a form of judgment.

And so basically, when I say that, hey, uh authority requires that there be a consequence, it's real simple.

The equation in the Bible is this you do good, you get their approval.

You do bad, you get their punishment.

These authority figures.

The problem is that we don't punish evil as we should in this country, and that's gonna come back in bodies.

That always sounds kind of cool, and uh, aren't we being loving and understanding?

The problem with our country is that we're asking those in authority to bear the sword in vain.

What do I mean?

We to assume a position without the authority to punish those who do wrong.

And now we've gone so far as allowing these people to punish, mock, and harass those in authority.

I remember it's a month or two months ago I saw a video of cops walking down the street in New York, and people are coming up and pouring buckets of water on them and mocking them.

And it's like, oh, look, look, look at it.

I'm like, you don't want to live in the in the in that world where authority figures are asked to bear the sword in vain because the Bible says this very clearly.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who's in authority?

Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

Have you ever noticed no one's afraid of law anymore?

A cop pulls somebody over and they got their camera phone going.

Yeah, go ahead.

I'm gonna sue you for this.

We should sue people that sue with no with no just cause.

You get away, you'd stop all that nonsense.

But now we're so litigious because we're trying to catch.

You got people in positions of authority who bear the sword in vain.

They're afraid to do their job because they're gonna get sued.

And here's what here's where we're headed as a culture.

This is free, okay?

Where we're headed as a culture is no one's gonna want to be in a position of authority because they can't afford the insurance.

While a bunch of 20-somethings without jobs who live in their mom's basement are talking about resist, rise up.

When those people like that get in charge, they don't know what to do.

They can't even keep a job.

And you're like, what's wrong with that?

Again, the problem is we don't punish evil as we should.

We've got to ask ourselves, do you really want to live in a country that is void of authority and responsibility?

Because without both of those, then you create an unwillingness and a dependence.

It's also known as a welfare state.

And then a presidential candidate comes along and builds this platform around these things, and it's called socialism.

And by the way, I you well, you said this is not a political church.

It's not, it's not.

But but but we're not afraid to tell the truth.

I had a 20-something come see me uh a couple weeks ago and and and just telling me, he said, Well, you know, uh, can we talk politics?

Because I said, We can talk about anything you want.

And so he said, Well, I just want you to know that I'm uh I'm an ardent, uh I'm a Bernie bro, is what he said.

I'm Bernie bro.

And I was like, what is that?

Oh, I'm a supporter of Bernie Sanders.

Oh, okay.

So tell me about that.

And he said, Yeah, I mean, free healthcare, free college.

And I just shaking my head laughing.

And I said, This never going to happen.

I said, because you have a fixed resource, and and if there's only this much there and y'all are promising this much, who's gonna pay the difference?

He goes, I don't know, they'll figure it out.

And so he just goes on and on.

I said, Well, tell me what you do.

Where do you work?

He goes, I don't work, I live with my parents.

How old are you?

I'm 24.

Now I'm not getting I'm not against living with your parents.

You live with your parents, great, but but you should not depend on your parents.

You you should be contributing.

And I said, So basically, you're all for and so I just watched the clock.

There's a clock on the wall behind the chairs in my office.

For 26 minutes, this man extolled the virtues of socialism and how, yeah, I mean, we need to let artists, and then he said, you know, uh, whatever, Ocasio Cortez.

You know, I mean, she's right.

We need to let people give people time to do art, and then I'm just like, I'm losing my peripheral vision.

And I just said, can I just say one word in response to all this?

He goes, just all you got one word?

I said, just one word.

He goes, okay, what is it?

I said, Venezuela.

And this person said, out of his 24-year-old mouth, what's Venezuela got to do with socialism?

Did you have a civics class in high school?

Yeah, I just I just kind of coasted through high school.

I just, I, I, I just did the what I did the the least amount of homework I had to just to pass.

C's get degrees.

Okay, wonderful.

Uh so uh I said, I just tell you what, you go home tonight and you Google, and if socialism has ever worked in any country in the history of the world, I'll give you a thousand dollars.

Because this other candidate was the guy who's gonna give a thousand dollars a month to everybody.

I said, I'll be the first, I'll give you your first thousand dollar uh monthly installment.

And I said, by the way, when people rob you of the dignity of contribution, you should not trust them.

He said, What does that mean?

I said, You God made you to rule over creation and subdue it, to get up every day and exert yourself, to love one woman, to raise godly children, and to be a man.

Well, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, I'm a man.

Ah, you're a male, you're of the male species.

This is why you should not come see me for counseling.

I'm not a good person.

I said, here's the thing: a man handles his business.

A man doesn't go to his mom and say, I need gas money.

Not at this age.

And so we chatted a little bit more, and he said, Well, you're you're you're you're kind of stubborn.

I said, There's another word for that, I'm just right.

And I said, but I'm telling you, I said, seriously, you go search, because it sounds great, okay?

Cicero said this in 80 BC.

He said, Those who know not their history are destined to repeat it.

He said, just tell me where socialism has worked, anywhere in the world.

Anywhere.

All right, I'll be back with my thousand dollars.

That was about 10 days ago.

He hadn't showed up yet.

And as he's walking out, I walked out with him onto the portico that I couldn't help myself.

He said, Well, uh, can I come see you again?

I said, Yeah.

And in the meantime, make America great again.

And he went crazy.

Now, now listen, all my Democratic brethren here, don't shake your head at me.

I'm not endorsing Trump.

I just like gus from lonesome dove.

I like to kick a pig every once in a while.

That's all.

He put his hands on the head, he goes, Are you kidding me?

I said, Amen.

Men don't stand like that either.

That's another thing men don't do.

And he said, I don't know why, but I love you.

And I said, I love you too.

And I ain't I ain't got a preference.

Well, I don't know why.

I love you too.

I think you're dead wrong on something.

See, we gotta we gotta recapture this in our country.

You gotta be able to disagree with people and not hate them.

You don't have to attack them.

I said, now, hey, did you write down some things I said?

Because that could be life-changing.

Did you write down what I said?

I said, not a word.

Not a word.

Now, why do I tell you all this?

Because authority requires that there be a consequence.

We as a country are headed to a place where the consequence is going to be of the fact that we have no authority.

We have authority figures who bear the sword in vain.

So the next time a cop pulls you over, thank him for doing his job.

Just say, hey, you didn't do anything.

Wrong.

I'm the one that broke the law.

I'm not filming you.

You're right.

I'm wrong.

I deserve the ticket.

I mean, something like to say to them, I don't have a leg to stand up.

Sorry, is there any good reason why you were speeding?

My wife was talking, and the sound of her voice makes me anxious, and so I sped it up.

Mother women, they get you out of every ticket.

Come up with something, I'm married too.

Here, here's a warning.

My wife's like, ribble me, rim me.

Hey, just saying.

Now, here's the third thing that the Bible says, okay?

If you thought the last one was crazy, this was you're gonna snap an artery and bleed out.

Authority requires subjection.

Authority requires subjection.

And look at look at verse five.

Therefore, one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

Uh what do I mean?

Therefore means I'm fixing to say something that's based on what I just said.

And what he just said was, for he, the authority figure, is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Therefore, or in light of this, a person must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

Now, when I say authority requires subjection, therefore, now, because this is true, then it requires something of us.

And what does it require?

Subjection, which is, stay with me.

I know some of you are like, are you kidding me?

This is 2020.

That's so patriarchal and bread.

Just pick your word.

Uh, it's a beautiful word, okay?

Uh, you don't see subjection in our culture because we stop punishing evil.

And you say, Well, what do you mean?

When you stop punishing evil, you remove the need for law, and you remove the need for law, you cannot have order.

Uh, let me show you this somewhere else in the Bible.

In Matthew chapter 24, the disciples come to Jesus.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

He's on Mount Olivet, he's sitting down teaching, and they said, Tell us, what will be the signs of your coming in the end of the age?

And Jesus starts talking in about verse 3, and he says, Oh, you'll hear wars and rumors of wars, nation will rise up against nation, you'll be handed up to people, you'll be delivered over to be persecuted.

And then in Matthew 24, he gets to verse 12 and he says, This, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

You ever look around our culture as a Christian and you think, I'm doing the right thing?

See, the problem with our culture nowadays, we got a thousand rules for those who keep the rules, and we got no rules for those who break the rules.

But you ever look around our culture and just think, what's the use?

I mean, just evil is just prevailing, and I'm doing the wrong, the right thing over here, and no one seems to notice.

That's what Jesus talks about when he says, the love of many will grow cold.

Why does it grow cold?

Because lawlessness will be increased.

Now, what I want you to notice this morning is what the text actually says.

It does not say that lawbreaking will increase, that crime will rise.

No, no.

It's the Greek word lawlessness, it's the Greek word anemia, and it means the condition of without law.

The condition of without law.

And Jesus says you are headed to a time where you have no law because you had authority figures who you put them in positions of authority and they and they bear the sword in vain.

There's a man named George Soros who spends millions, if not billions, of dollars to get district attorneys appointed in key cities who will not enforce the law.

So in those cities, you can rob people, thieves do the math and they say, hey, if I rob somebody and I get caught, they're not gonna press charges because the jails are full, and they're not gonna arrest me because I'm I'm not uh a high-level crime.

And so he's using his money to create lawlessness.

And people sit around and applaud this man.

It's just crazy.

And I'm just like, what are are are are what what in the world?

What Jesus says, again, authority requires subjection.

And because the lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

This condition of without law.

And this is where we're headed as a nation if we don't sober up, stand up, and speak up.

And you do that starting at the ballot box.

Now, by the way, without subjection, you have two consequences.

One's external and one's internal.

The external consequence is God's wrath.

That's what the Bible says right there.

Verse 5.

Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

That's the internal.

The external consequence is God's wrath.

What do you mean, God's wrath?

God's wrath is his unchanging, fixed displeasure with sin.

You say, Well, I don't I don't like that.

I'm not down with that.

My God's a God of love.

Then how do you explain the cross?

If you take away the wrath of God, you have no explanation for the cross.

You just don't.

You don't.

But the internal consequence is the conscience.

It's that, is it's the question, is my conscience clean before God and man?

Now the Bible says, hey, again, verse 5, therefore, one must be in subjection.

Because if we're not, you're going to experience an external consequence and an internal consequence.

And that's not the way God set it up.

God did not set it up where we're so dysregulated emotionally, we have to self-medicate with a little glass of Merlot every night.

Just to take the edge off.

Why don't you ask yourself, why is the edge always there?

Why do I never seem to be at peace with myself and my life?

Why am I not content in my relationships?

Why do I not spend more time around people who bring a measure of the peace of God to bear on my life?

Last thing the text says is simply this: that authority requires responsibility.

Authority requires responsibility because Paul knew that like us, people back then, they balked at the whole word subjection.

Subjection, are you kidding me?

It's just 2020.

And then Paul says, let me point out some ways you're already living in subjection.

I'm not asking you to do something you've never done before.

I'm asking you to honor those in positions of authority over you.

Look at verse 6.

For because of this, subjection, you also pay taxes.

For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

Pay to 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.

Here's the first part again.

For because of this, this reality of subjection, you also pay taxes.

I don't know if anyone in this room pays taxes.

But I pay taxes.

And last year for ministers, they took away something that we had that, because I got my tax bill from my accountant.

I was like, what?

What are you doing?

He goes, Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, they took away this, blah, blah, blah.

And so you got to pay more this year.

I did not like that.

I said, is there anything I can do?

And my accountant said, not a thing.

You just have to take it.

Hmm.

Mmm.

I felt the burn on that.

And I said, Are you kidding me?

I said, and he said, Yeah, I mean, they make changes every year to the tax code.

And he said, Are you okay?

I said, Yeah, yeah, I'm okay.

I said, if somebody's doing something wrong, they'll pay in the end.

And he goes, What do you mean by that?

Oh, they'll pay.

I don't have to judge.

God's gonna pay that.

And we got in this great conversation about people and corporations that cheated.

I said, Oh, some of the worst, like insurance companies, that they take advantage of people, they take all their money, and then they go, Oh, we don't cover that, so we're not gonna pay that, and your grandma can just die because we're not gonna cover that treatment.

Whoa! He goes, What do you do, Neil?

I mean, you're a man of the.

I tell you what, you do.

You say to those people in love, hey, you better vacation a lot in this world because of the next world, it won't be good for you.

Matter of fact, I will go to a lot of places that are cold because you're headed to a place that's hot.

And he said on the phone, No, seriously, I said, No, seriously.

And you should say, you should say it in love.

God hates Leviticus chapter 2.

Leviticus 2 · chapter mention

You're gonna go way back in the Old Testament?

Leviticus chapter 2 about verse 13, it says, God says, I hate a dishonest scale.

Leviticus 2 · chapter mention

If I take, take, take premiums, and then I come up with ways to deny coverage, that's a dishonest scale.

And when I was talking to my socialist friend, he said, universal health care.

I said, it's a great idea, but it's a hard reality to get enforced.

When I said the insurance companies have two powerful lobbies, they'll never let that go through.

He goes, What about that?

I said, Oh, they'll get punished.

He goes, I mean, are you gonna like start a petition or something?

No, I'm not a community organizer, I'm not starting a petition.

But when I meet those people, I just lovingly tell them, not gonna be good for you on judgment day.

Enjoy your life in this world.

Party a lot.

Because God doesn't, unlike all the other authorities, and by the way, I think it's profane that you pay your CEO$28 million a year.

And the people down the assembly line get$13 an hour.

That's injustice.

Whoo, he's gonna lay the wood to you on judgment day.

So, party.

And by the way, people don't like that.

And I'm not being glib, it's just that nobody, everybody in this world bears the sword in vain.

I got this little decorative sword.

God's got a real sword.

And he doesn't bear it in vain.

He uses it.

And so when I say authority requires responsibility, he says, hey, if you owe taxes, pay your taxes.

If you owe revenue, he said, hey, hey, pay taxes to whom taxes are owned.

Revenue, which is money to whom money is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed.

Ask yourself this question, we'll be done this morning.

Uh, do you currently owe taxes to anybody?

Do you owe money to anybody?

Do you owe respect to anybody?

Do you owe honor to anyone?

Because before I preached this, I applied to myself.

And so this past week I was kind of thinking through that, and I don't owe taxes.

April 15th is coming.

I'm sure they did away with something else.

Gotta pay more.

I don't owe money anymore.

No.

No?

I don't respect anyone.

I think I respect people.

And then I was like, Lord, do I honor anyone?

And clear as a bell, the Holy Spirit said, Yeah, your mom.

I'm 55 years old.

My mom calls me four or five times a week.

For about one minute.

It's the same conversation every time.

Hi, are you busy?

My mom's from Minnesota.

And when I see the phone sometimes, it's like, hi, are you busy?

Mom, I'm always busy.

What's up, baby?

I've always got time to take a call from a beautiful woman.

Oh, how's Marcy and the girls?

Good.

Are you staying safe in that traffic?

Good.

All right, I gotta go.

I'm like.

It's not a phone call, it's a drive-by.

Bam.

But my mom, she has to check on all me and my two brothers to make sure everyone's good.

Otherwise, she's not at peace.

And so sometimes, this is what I mean by pay honor to whom honor is due.

Sometimes I look at it and says, Mom, and I'm like, ah, I can't do that.

And I was like, Lord, but ah, here's what the Lord convicted me of this week.

You honor your mom by buying her stuff.

I know none of you do that.

Mom, I can't come this year for Thanksgiving, but how about a new couch?

Oh, yeah.

I go and I'm like, Mom, let's go to the grocery store.

You can have whatever you want.

Oh, I don't need anything.

$284 later.

We got like a wagon train of carts coming out of Brookshire brothers.

And I was like, God, I'm honoring.

He goes, No, no, that's honoring you.

All the people in your hometown, they think you're a millionaire.

Well, they're idiots.

But anyway, uh, that honors you.

I want you to honor your mom by just being inconvenienced when your mom calls every time, unless you just physically can't take the call.

Because if anybody deserves honor, my mom does.

So ask yourself, how do you honor your aging parents these days?

Because authority is about all those things.

You owe taxes to anybody, you owe money to anybody, you owe respect to anybody, you owe honor to anybody.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We'd like to teach the Bible and give you some space to think about it.

Some questions will come up on the screen.

We voice a prayer and we'll just kind of linger for a moment before we're dismissed.

Let's pray together.

God, thanks for the that the Bible is so thought-provoking.

Authority is not just about bashing people and punishing evildoers.

No, it is about punishing people that do wrong.

And that's part of the rehabilitation process.

It's not either or.

We rehab people or we punish them.

No, them experiencing the negative consequences of breaking the law helps reorient their head and heart towards keeping the law.

And so, Lord, we live in a country that is uh that is forfeiting authority.

And just like Jesus said, because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of most will grow cold.

And so, God, we want to warm our hearts around the hot fire of truth today so that our love for God doesn't grow cold in a culture that's void of authority.

And brood over us while we think about this in Jesus' name.

Because we want to raise children.

We want to raise sons and daughters that understand authority.

And that because they're under authority, they're they're men and women of authority.

And so it's kind of sexy in our culture to rebel, to break the rules, to disrespect authority.

I pray, God, you just begin to awaken young people to the beauty of God's ordained order of authority and all the requirements thereof.

God, this is our prayer.

We prayed in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being part of our service.

We're glad you're here.

You're always welcome.

You're sitting around some of the best people in Fort Bend County.

Uh, and we're honored that you chose to be a part of our services.

Hopefully, you've had a chance to pull in the guest cards in your row and fill it out on your way out here in just a minute.

If you'll just drop on those wooden boxes by the doors, uh, we'd love to have a record of your visit.

Uh, that's all.

We're not gonna show up unannounced at your house or anything.

Uh, we just believe you matter to God, and because of that, you matter to us, okay?

Uh, secondly, if today's the day you worship God through giving, through obedience, uh, that's where you take care of that as well.

All right.

Uh we got one thing we want to make you aware of by way of announcement.

So direct your attention to the screens, please.

People who are struggling with mental health issues are already in your faith community, whether you know it or not.

And certainly uh there are people in our neighborhoods that are struggling with mental health issues.

I think a community can support an individual with a mental illness by understanding that the mind and body are connected.

We know that when the mind is affected, the body is affected.

It's important for individuals to understand that mental illness is a medical disorder no different than diabetes and hypertension.

Gateway to Hope equips our faith community to help people with mental health struggles by offering great training and curriculum and resources.

So a lot of times people that are struggling with mental health situations, they don't, number one, recognize that they are mental health situations.

And number two, they don't know what to do or where to go.

Gateway to Hope has really been a support and then given us great starters for conversation on mental health.

We say it all the time.

It's not a new message.

Sometimes we just have to improve our methods, and Gateway to Hope helps us with a different method.

Uh before we got involved with the Gateway to Hope program, basically the only thing we knew to do with uh people when they came with us, or came to us rather, with a uh mental health issue was to offer to pray with them and maybe refer them to a counselor and hope that that was uh was a good referral.

But now we uh have a more substantive way to be able to partner with them in the healing process and and they have an opportunity to belong to groups here where they can share about their experience under the kind of the loving care and and uh educated um kind of coaching relationship or or mentoring relationship with a facilitator.

And they don't have to go someplace else outside of the familiar church community.

Um I can't say enough about this program.

It's impacted my uh spiritual growth and mental health for me as somebody with a mental illness.

Uh originally, when I was diagnosed, I considered it a weakness, but now I see it as a strength.

And I hope churches recognize the need because just like myself, I was in denial about my mental illness.

But when you have uh the churches reaching out in this wonderful program, uh it it helps build my confidence.

The mental health care system is badly broken.

A majority of individuals with mental health problems in the United States receive no treatment.

In fact, individuals in psychological distress are more likely to go to faith communities before they go to a mental health care provider or a physician.

The faith community has an incredible opportunity to be part of a true continuum of care as an open front door to that system.

Because on Tuesday, March the 31st, uh Dr.

Matthew Stanford, the guy in the suit in the video, will be here at our church uh leading in power training seminar.

Uh it starts at 9 30.

It's two hours of him teaching, uh, and then he'll have 30 minutes of QA.

It's free, and all of you that want to attend, if you're just like, hey, I'm curious, I'd love to be involved in that.

Uh if you're wondering how our church views mental illness, it's just like Lady Video said.

It's just like if you have leukemia or cancer or whatever, you go to the doctor.

Uh, it's that there's no stigma around that here in this church.

Uh, we don't throw a Bible verse at you and say, hey, let's pray and you try harder.

Uh we want, we have a referral network.

We want to get you uh involved in and connected with, and we want to stay connected with you.

But on Tuesday, it starts at 9:30 in the morning, goes to 11:30, and then from 11:30 to 12, uh Dr.

Stanford will answer questions.

So if you have anybody in your family, friend or whatever that struggles with mental health issues, you're more than welcome to attend.

We just need you to register.

We sent you an email about the empower training.

That's what that is right there.

And so we'd like you to register.

That way we can decide what building, what room we're gonna host it in.

Uh, but again, Tuesday, uh, Thursday, um Tuesday, March 31st.

All right?

We'd like to uh conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

Stand your feet if you would, please.

Hold your hands out.

Your God is a God of authority, and He has created you to function in authority.

So depart now and be who God created you to be authoritative men and women, because you're under authority.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.