Because I Said So | Pastor Chris Kouba

Good morning.

It is good to see all of you here today.

My name is Chris Kuba.

Let me add my word of greeting to David's earlier.

I have the privilege of being the lead pastor here at United City.

And it is so great to be in worship today.

What an incredible morning it already has been.

If you didn't get a chance to see and you are maybe new here to United City, or maybe you've been following along in emails, that was Amos.

He was here in the house.

Amos is our new worship pastor, and we are so grateful to have he and Rachel and their four kids being a part of our church.

And we're just excited to see them.

I hope that you will give them a welcome as you get to meet them.

This is just a plug.

If you want to be involved in worship and production ministry, maybe give them at least a week in the office before you maybe hit them up, but but certainly uh reach out.

We for sure would love to have you join and be a part of what God is doing in our worship and production ministry.

And it has uh definitely been pretty exciting to see all that is taking place.

Um, I also just want to, before we get going today, just kind of follow up a little bit on what David was talking about, on just some of the exciting things taking place in our church related to the area of missions.

You know, we definitely have a lot of things going on, particularly in ways that you can serve.

You're gonna hear about this.

In fact, next month, we have a serve day that's gonna take place.

We're joining with a lot of other churches all across the city of Houston for an event called One Day Houston, which is basically a way for us to be able to bless our city.

And so you're gonna hear about that.

We've got opportunities like Kids Hope that are kind of ongoing and many other things that you can do here locally.

But we have a desire and a heart and a wish and a prayer that God would allow us in the next five years to send 500 people on a mission trip of some kind.

500 people to go on a mission trip.

And what that means is that you're like buying a plane ticket or you're driving out of the Houston metro area to go somewhere.

We've got 25 uh primarily high school students that are being heading out to Colorado in a couple of weeks.

Uh, we've got six going to Peru next week, got the prayer time going on tonight for that.

We've got 10, I think, going to Fort Worth.

We've got one of our church plants there, we've got 10 that are going to Las Vegas.

You can still sign up for those.

But in order for us to be able to see 500 unique people go on a mission trip in the next five years, I want to go ahead and give you a heads up.

It might mean you need to go.

Like it might mean that you actually need to go on a mission trip, right?

And you're like, well, I've never been on a mission trip.

We'll train you, like we'll help you, we'll come alongside of you.

We're not just gonna throw you out there with no help whatsoever.

But I'm telling you this: whenever you get on a plane or whenever you get in a car and you go serve people that are far away from here, what always God does is you get more out of it than the people that you help.

And you come back and your hearts are changed so that you can be better missionaries across the street.

And at the end of the day, we want to cross every divide, the ones across the street, but also those ones that may be thinking, oh, mission trips is something good that other people do.

That's not what I do.

Please hear me.

We want to see 500 of you in the next five years at least go on a mission trip.

And by God's grace and glory, we hope that is going to happen.

Turn to your Bibles, if you would, to Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

We went a little bit out of order.

We're gonna go back and pick up a passage that we skipped last week when Pat spoke.

If you didn't hear it last week, you need to go back and hear it.

It was one an incredible message uh and one that is so timely no matter when you hear it.

Um, but Romans chapter 13 is where we're gonna be, and I want to take this opportunity to give a word of greeting to all of the men and the women at all of our correctional facilities.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Uh, it is so good to be able to bring this message to you.

Let's give it up for them and celebrate.

God's moving in our church in a pretty big way.

We had 61 people in growth track today, between Spanish and English, which was absolutely amazing in every way.

Many of you are probably a part of that.

We had uh seven that completed their growth track today, which is exciting.

Uh, we also, though, are offering growth track in Spanish and in English, which is pretty cool.

We had last week, we kicked that off, and it's just amazing how God has been doing some pretty cool stuff in the life of our church just on the English side.

And then we started a Spanish congregation a couple of months ago.

Last week we baptized nine.

And let me show you a really cool picture, though, of what's taking place now in our correctional facility ministry.

This is a picture right here of the Ramsey Unit.

Let's give the absolute, let's celebrate this.

So, what's cool is there's Pastor Eliel, our Spanish pastor.

He is there baptizing there uh at the Ramsey Unit because we've now started not only doing our services in English at some of the correctional facilities, we're now doing them in Spanish as well, which is just pretty cool.

Uh, and you see there though, you see uh Hector William, who is right there uh with the black sleeves, the white shirt there.

Uh, he is one of our key volunteers in our Spanish ministry here at United City.

And here's what's pretty cool last Sunday, three of his kids were baptized here at United City at the 930 service.

And now here he is helping and serving with this.

So we don't know, we don't know what God's going to do.

We just know this.

Every time we keep saying yes to whatever he asks us to do, he typically does way more than we could have ever thought.

Uh, and so in light of that, we just want to have a chance to celebrate that because it's pretty cool to see how God is moving.

Uh, if you are an Enneagram, any Enneagram people in here, you're like all an Enneagram, you know what number you are.

Raise your hand, Enneagram people, okay?

All right.

If for those of you who don't raise your hand and didn't know what Enneagram number are, I promise you, there's other people around you who know what number you already are, right?

They've probably told you what number that you are because they they think and they speak in this Enneagram code.

Uh I am an Enneagram eight, okay?

An Enneagram eight for those of you that are out there, which basically means that I am a challenger, all right?

What that means is that if I'm ever told something that I'm supposed to do, uh told something that I am supposed to go and follow after, I immediately question it and try to figure out how to not do it, all right?

Like I'm just a challenger at every point, which you can imagine being my parents was a very difficult thing, right?

Because I challenge them all the time.

Anytime they would tell me to do something, my almost natural response was always, well, why?

Why should I do that?

Why, you know?

Now the question in and of itself isn't a bad question, but a lot of times it's not relevant.

Because here's the thing a lot of times I was using the word why as a way to delay the fact that I really don't want to say no, but I know you're gonna get mad if I say no, so if I say why, I can I don't want to say yes rather.

I want to say no, and so if I say why, I can delay this a little bit and not have to do it.

Or maybe it was along the way where I would basically think, well, I don't really want to do this at all.

I think you're wrong in the in what you're asking me to do.

And so therefore, why was a strategy to basically challenge them as to what it is that they were saying.

And my parents are pretty good about this, they didn't resort to this uh all the time.

It wasn't like their default thing when I would ask why that they would just go to this response.

They would sometimes engage with me, and if it was a good question asked in a good way at a good time, they would explain to me the why behind what they're asking me to do.

But there would be many times because I would not take what they said at face value, and I would be challenging them and challenging them and challenging them in complete frustration, in complete desperation, in complete exhaustion, they would simply say, Because I said so, that's why.

Now, if you're an eight, that is not what you want to hear, all right?

But in my house, I knew what that meant.

Because I said so meant the conversation was over.

Because my dad made it super clear that it didn't really matter what you thought about this at the end of the day, because I said so means this is what you're going to do.

Even if I have information that is vital for them to understand and vital for them to see in order to make a better decision as to what they're asking me.

Even if I disagree completely with what it is that they're asking me to do and think that they are in every way wrong, or even if I can do what they're asking me to do in a different way and on a different timeline, right?

Because I said so means the conversation is over.

Because my dad made it super clear to me growing up, especially if my mom was to say it.

Because I said so, you don't have to agree with it, you don't have to like it, you don't even have to understand it, but you have to submit to it because that's your authority.

Let me just go ahead and give you a heads up.

If you're anything like me today, this message is gonna bother you big time.

You're gonna immediately want to figure out how you can push up against it, you're gonna immediately want to figure out what are the exceptions, you're gonna immediately want to say why this doesn't apply to you.

And you're gonna challenge what we're gonna talk about today.

And I just want to encourage you, don't do that.

Don't do that, don't be like me.

Instead, what I want you to do is to allow one of our core values to take place.

Allow the Bible to speak.

Allow the Bible today to maybe even be one of those situations where it stops on your toes and it hurts.

Because what you're gonna hear today is hard to hear.

We've been a series of messages called kingdom culture, where we've been looking at this whole idea that there's this kingdom of this world, the world that we all live in, and it's all going in one direction, and it's just gathering whoever it can to go with it.

But the Bible tells us is that we have this kingdom of God that we've been called to, that we've been saved to, and the kingdom of God is antithetical to the things of this world.

And it says that we're not to just do what everybody else does, but we're to be different.

The key theme text of this entire series is Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

Romans 12:1

I want to read them to you again.

It says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We said a few weeks ago in kingdom culture, you look, think, and act different.

And what we've learned over the last few weeks is how that begins to play itself out.

How do we not look like everybody else, but how do we look differently?

And we've learned that that happens one in our relationships with insiders, those in the church, how we relate to them.

Let us love be genuine, was Romans 12, 9.

But we also saw that we are to bless those who persecute us.

We're learning how to deal with those who are on the outside, those who could be called enemies of God.

This morning, what we're gonna learn in Romans chapter 13 is how we are to submit and how we are to respond to authority.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Here's the principle that I want to give to you of this passage in Romans 13 today.

In kingdom culture, you submit to authority.

In kingdom culture, you submit to authority.

What we're gonna look and what we're gonna see is a couple of things.

One, we're gonna see who it is that establishes government and authority in our lives.

We're gonna see what the role of the authority is supposed to do, and then finally, what we're gonna see is how we, as believers, are to relate and respond to the authority that is placed over us.

Let's begin reading in Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse 1.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

It says, 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.

Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resist what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Let's look at this.

First of all, let every person, the very first words of verse one implies this there is no exceptions, and you are not that exception.

It means here that all of us are called to do this task that are believers in Jesus.

It says there to be subject to, the idea of being subject to carries this idea that I'm not just to do what I'm told, but I'm supposed to do it.

We used to tell our kids this when they were younger.

You need to say yes, ma'am, and no man with a happy heart.

Our implication in saying that was this the word be subject to doesn't just mean I do what I'm supposed to do, but I do it recognizing with an attitude and a posture, knowing that God has placed authority that is over me and He's designed it in such a way where I am to be subject to that authority.

Now I get it, I get it.

Today is not gonna be a day I'm gonna get a lot of amens, all right?

Today is not gonna be a day you're here, like, man, this is awesome.

Preach it, you go.

Instead, what's gonna happen is what I'm gonna talk about is gonna feel like fingernails on a chalkboard to you.

And to all of us who have an individualistic mindset, which basically says this the most important thing in life is that I get to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and how I want to do it.

And because that is what we are told to be the case, this flies in the face of everything that we are comfortable with.

It's especially hard whenever you see the words the government.

Because there may be some government that's out there that I even vote for.

So whenever you hear things like our president or or our governor or our congressman or whatever the person is in authority, your assumption may be to immediately say, Well, well, this can't apply to me because I my government's not following after God, or my government's not doing things that God says are important for them to do.

So therefore, that must be the exception.

Let me just give you a little context as to who this was written to, under what circumstances.

Here's who was in charge at that time uh when Paul wrote this.

Caligula was the Caesar of the day, the king of the day.

And here were some of his accomplishments.

He had his mother and brother killed to make sure they didn't ever challenge his right to the throne.

He openly committed incest with three of his sisters.

He frequently would cross-dress out in public.

He had the deities of the heads of deities removed and replaced them with a bust of his own.

This would be like Trump or Biden superimposing their face on every religious symbol in our country.

During the gladiator games, he would often take random people out of the crowd and throw them into the ring just to entertain himself.

He's a bad dude.

After Caligula, you had Claudius, who wasn't as crazy as Caligula, but he was just as cruel.

Then after that, it gets handed over to Nero.

And when we say it gets handed over to Nero, what that actually means is that Nero's mom killed Claudius in his sleep so that her son Nero could take over.

Nero hated Christians.

He often made them a scapegoat for everything.

He would throw parties and he would burn Christians and use them as literal torches at the parties.

It only worsens from there.

And this is the context that says, be subject to the governing authorities.

This is crazy stuff.

You gotta understand something, okay?

If you think about how bad things may feel for us, it was way worse whenever this was written, which means you can't do this by just willing yourself to do it.

Instead, you have to have a transformed mind, Romans chapter 12, verse 2, to see what God's will is, his good, acceptable, and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

Please understand the quality of the government or your opinion of it should not determine your obedience to submit to it.

Pastor, you may be saying, Well, are you saying here that God is the one who got our president elected?

Are you saying that God is the one who got our governor elected?

Are you saying God is the one who got our congressman elected?

And I was saying, don't blame God for that.

That's us.

We did that.

We went through an election process and we got what it is that we chose.

And so therefore, we can't blame God if we think we messed up.

That being said, we must also not be naive because every single person that is in the position of authority in your life, according to Romans chapter 13, it is saying that it is God who put that person in that position, and it is God who bestows upon them the authority that they have in your life.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

Man, that's hard to hear.

Here's what this means.

This means if you really want to boil it down, our problem, our issue isn't with the policies or the platform or the or the or the the decisions that come from our president or somebody else in authority.

When it comes down to it, our tension and our issue is ultimately with God's sovereignty.

Because if God's in charge and God is the one who did this, then ultimately what this means is that we are supposed to submit to him and submit to his authority.

This is the same thing, not just with the authority to the government, but also the authority of every authority of your life, whether this be at work, whether this be at school, whether this be at church, whether this be in any other context, in your home, we need to understand something.

It is God who places that authority in your life.

And so ultimately, your problem isn't with your boss, isn't with your pastor, isn't with your teacher, isn't with the principal, isn't with the president.

Your problem is with God.

And you've got to be able to go and talk to Him about the issues that you have.

And so what it says here is that we have to recognize God has given us a God ordain and God set up structure for our good.

This is important for us to hear.

Let me tell you why.

Because if you don't this if you don't agree with your authority, you are not responsible for fixing it.

You are only responsible for submitting to it.

The challenger in me can't stand this passage, right?

Because at the end of the day, I don't want this to be the case.

My motivation to obey my authority is because when I disobey the authority, I disobey God.

In kingdom culture, you submit to authority.

So then, what then is the purpose of authority?

What is it they're supposed to do?

Look at verses three and four.

It says, Therefore, rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

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 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.

Right now, if we had fire alarms that if we had a fire here at United City, fire alarms would go off, we'd have emergency fire doors that would come down, uh, we might have sprinklers and stuff like that that would go off.

It would immediately alert the uh umbull fire department, and we would have within just a few minutes the umble fire department would drive on paved roads that were put in by the government come here, they would hook up to water water hoses, uh, to fire hydrants that were installed by the government that have water that come to them, and they would assess and then they would deal with the situation.

Heaven forbid, if there was some sort of uh situation that took place and we were all unsafe in some way, we could call 911, and within a few minutes the umble police department would show up here, they would assess the situation, and they would take over and they would begin to do their due diligence.

We would drive on roads with sirens that would be played with police cards that the government bought and the government put in place, and they would have the authority in that moment to be able to help us.

Please hear me.

It is easy to bag on the government.

But thank God for the government.

Thank God that we just have a situation to where our safety is gonna be taken care of and thought through before we came here today.

This is what the government does.

They're here and they exist for our good.

Now, don't get me wrong, okay?

In a couple of weeks, I'm gonna be going with my 15-year-old daughter to the DMV to go and get her permit, and I'm probably gonna question what I just said, right?

It's not gonna feel like they're here for my good.

It feels like they're here for my patience, right?

It feels like they're here to make me mad, right?

But you gotta understand something.

If you didn't have the government that was here, it'd be complete and utter chaos.

It says there that we are to submit to the government as well and recognize the fact that they have been given a right to be an enforcer to give us protection and justice.

You see, the government is given the right to bear the sword, and sadly, the issue of taking life can sometimes require the taking of it.

This is why our military and our police officers carry guns.

They're executing.

Justice.

Their job is to protect us.

Their job is to wage war as it is needed to defend and protect our borders, to establish rule and justice.

Now I know the tension you're feeling.

I can feel it.

Immediately when you see a passage like this, and immediately when you read it in God's word, your immediate thought is, okay, well, what are the exceptions?

Instead of first asking, how can I do what God's asking me to do?

We're going to deal with the exceptions in a moment, but I want to keep going because it shows you how we're supposed to respond.

Look at verses five through seven.

It says, one person esteems one day.

Excuse me, verse five, it says, Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

For the same reason 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, honor to whom honor is owed.

In kingdom culture, you not only submit to authority in action, but you also submit, excuse me, in attitude, but you also submit to them in action.

It's kind of simple.

You pay your taxes.

You give to the government what is theirs.

Jesus spoke about this.

Religious leaders tried to trap them, and they basically said, Hey, are we supposed to give our money to Caesar if we're following after you?

And what does Jesus say?

Pay to Caesar what is Caesar's.

So you not only pay your taxes, but you also give them your honor, it says there, and your respect.

This doesn't mean that you can't criticize authority.

There are plenty of examples where those in authority deserve and warrant great criticism.

But even in our criticism of the authority, we still should uphold honor and we still should uphold respect.

Why?

Because the Bible says that they are ministers on our behalf, whether they realize it themselves or not.

Let's do something here real quick.

I want us to actually apply this.

If you are employed by the government in any way, if you are a first responder, if you are a in law enforcement, if you are in the military, if you are a social worker, if you're a teacher, if you're an administrator, if you're a coach, if you in some way get a check as a result of the government in some capacity, would you stand up and let us have a chance to honor you right now?

Like right now.

There you go.

There you go.

Yep.

Praise God for all of you who stood up.

I know you may get a paycheck that clears with a different name, but I would simply tell you this: I believe God gave you your job.

I believe God has you and given you the authority that He has for our good.

We are better off as a community because of your God-given role, because of your God-given service.

And I hope and I pray that you, as you go to work tomorrow, go recognizing you're working for the Lord.

You are literally appointed by God to do what it is that you do so that you can help us as a community be able to have the freedoms not only that we have, but also the ability to have a safe, thriving community here in Northeast Houston.

And we thank you for that in every way.

Let's shift for a second.

Because there are exceptions.

You've been thinking about them.

You've been wondering if yours is one of them.

Let's talk this through because the Bible actually gives quite a few examples of exceptions, and it says that there are certain times whenever your allegiance to God may be in direct uh conflict with your allegiance to the authority that God has placed over you.

What are you supposed to do when that happens?

One example is Daniel chapter 3.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

It tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the day, comes out and he says that all people are supposed to bow their knee in worship to this golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar.

And it says there that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego decline to bow the knee to this golden image.

And they said that if you don't do this, then you're gonna be thrown into a fiery furnace.

And they said, Look, we will not bow our knee to this idol.

And if it means that we have to go into the fiery furnace, we will do it.

And we believe that God can save us from the fiery furnace, but if he doesn't, I'm not giving in.

I'm not doing it.

Daniel chapter Daniel chapter 6, it tells the story of Daniel and how he was in that day, King Darius was the king of that time.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

And he basically made this decree that said that no one is allowed to pray to any other God or any other king or any other person except to me.

And Daniel's like, nope, that's not how it works.

And so what does Daniel go and do?

Daniel still goes and he bows and he begins to pray.

I love it.

He not only prays, he prays in the window so that everyone can see that he was doing.

And guess what?

He counted the cost, and they said that the punishment for doing this was the fact that you were gonna get thrown into the lion's den.

Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter 5, it says that Peter and John, they basically were preaching in Jesus' name.

Acts 4 · chapter mention Acts 5 · chapter mention

They were telling everyone about the story of the gospel and how Jesus had changed their life, and then all of a sudden the Sanhedrin comes along and they say, Hey, you're not allowed to talk about Jesus anymore.

You're not allowed to speak about him and speak his name.

And Acts 5 29 is a key verse.

He says, We must obey God rather than man.

We can't help but talk about Jesus.

It's just who we are, it's just what we do.

What does this show us if there's ever a situation where there is a conflict between my allegiance to God and my allegiance to the authority that God has placed over me of the world, there is no discussion.

My allegiance is always to God.

That being said, we must ensure that our obedience to God is out of our respect and our honor and submission to Him, not to make us stink and defy the government.

You see, for some of you, what you want is to defy the authority that is over you without any consequences.

And I would simply tell you this everyone in the scriptures counts the cost and said it's worth it.

You see, some of you, here's the reality, it's probably gonna be the case more and more as we continue to move forward in a post-Christian culture.

It's gonna cost you to stand up for Jesus.

There's gonna be things you're gonna be asked to do along the way, and you're gonna be put in that situation, and you're gonna have to all of a sudden do something against the authority.

And here's what I would tell you endure the consequences.

Be willing to be maligned.

God has never promised us not to be persecuted, He instead promises to be with us when we're persecuted.

And so, therefore, we can't take our convictions and just basically say, Well, I gotta keep my job as though somehow God's broke.

And he can't provide for you.

Instead, we've got to be serious about this and understand that we are to submit to the governing authorities that are all around us and know that even in times when civil disobedience is necessary, it must be done in order to show our submissiveness to God, not our defiance of the authority.

Let me give you a few closing points of application.

Number one, vote your values.

Vote your values.

In our situation here in America, this is a very, very key privilege we've got.

We can speak into authority through voting.

I'm gonna put uh a screen up here.

If you are not registered to vote, you're new to the area or something like that, don't assume that you are, you need to register in the next few weeks in order to participate in the next election that's coming up here in May.

Uh, you've got right here, you can just take your phone out, get your camera, and it will immediately take you to that website, and you can literally file an application to register to vote.

I think it is vitally important that we are actively involved in the voting process.

I actually believe it is part of our Christian duty and responsibility to engage in voting, not just voting, but for voting our values, because I believe it is one of the ways that we can love our neighbor as ourself.

It's by being actively involved.

Did you realize an area I had a meeting this past week with a couple of school board candidates, coming up an election in May, you're gonna learn here, you're gonna hear about it, particularly those of you in Umble ISD.

Did you know that the school board elections are largely determined by about two to three thousand total voters in the midst of a massive area of Umble ISD that has 46,000 plus students alone?

Folks, we can't just put our head in our sand and then complain on Facebook.

We can't.

We gotta be involved.

Like you gotta go vote.

You gotta inconvenience whatever you gotta do, and you gotta vote, and not just vote, but be informed voters who vote our values.

Second point of application.

Engage in God's calling.

Engage in God's calling.

What this means is that everything from your school PTA to the school board to political office, view God as your boss and your place of service, your opportunity to be servants of God.

We need believers to feel the high calling of being firefighters.

We need to raise up out of our church people who are passionate about Jesus who feel called to the holy, high calling of being in law enforcement.

We want to celebrate those in our military, not just because they defend our freedoms, but we want to celebrate those who are called into the military because we believe they're doing God's work.

They're in God's position for them.

We want to be a people who allow folks to even get into the messy, brutal, ugly form of politics and be a part of the process to legislate and for them to know United City Church and the people of this church have their back and love them and support them.

Because we need more godly politicians.

We need people in our church who catch the high holy calling of teaching in a public school, who go into those schools and teach math and who teach government and who coach, but more importantly, bear the name, the image, and the likeness of Jesus to all of their students.

And that they would see that we believe, while I hope that we as a church call out many, many church leaders that help make the church go forward in a big, big way.

Please hear me.

You that are on the front lines are my heroes.

Because I believe it is God who has placed you in that high holy calling.

Can you imagine what it could look like prayerfully?

A United City Church, so we could look up and in a year or in two years the number of people that just stood up would triple.

Or you could see that God may want to call you into those places that are not easy and you most likely won't get paid well, but it is God's high holy calling.

What does it look like for you?

For some of you, when you get that email that says you need somebody to be the homeroom mom for your fourth grade kid's teacher, oh, this is the worst.

Maybe that's the beginning of what God wants you to do, though, to serve.

View it as a high holy calling.

For some of you, what this means is that when you get that email that's begging for coaches, because no one will coach the third-grade basketball team that your kids signed up for, is it possible that God wants you to sign up for that so that you can use that as your place of service to impact a bunch of families that need to know Jesus?

What if we viewed these positions of authority differently and engaged?

God, what do you want me to do?

Look at this, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17.

Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will be giving, have to give an account.

Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Third point of application is this.

Number three, honor God's authority.

Honor God's authority.

I want to make sure I say everything I'm about to say with clarity.

Let me make it clear.

Blasting someone on social media isn't giving honor and respect.

Criticism has turned into a sport where keyboard cowboys sit behind their computers and they fire off emails and they fire off Facebook and post social media posts, or they fire off all this stuff to newsletters or groups of friends.

And I would tell you, as somebody who is in a position of authority, 99.9%, you do not yet know all of the information.

You don't know all the facts.

You can be mad and you can disagree.

But don't make it personal.

And don't make it cutting.

I'm not on social media a lot for a lot of reasons.

A lot of it is because of what it does for my own soul.

But can I tell you a lot of the reason is because I'm absolutely embarrassed by what some of our church post.

It just disgusts me.

I can't tell you how many times I've had to call teachers or administrators or principals in this community to encourage them because I know they're getting beat up by Christians.

All for stuff that they don't know all the stuff, the details about.

Look, we gotta speak, we gotta call evil evil.

We gotta make sure that we pursue righteousness and we gotta make sure that we stand up for what we believe.

But please, for the sake of God, can we not lose our witness in the process?

I promise you.

We gotta wake up.

You think our kids are gonna be better than we are?

They're watching the way that you speak and the way that you respond and the way that you give honor and respect, or perhaps the way that you don't.

Let it be a situation to where our kids don't have to be taught directly from us, but instead they just see mom and dad.

Man, they definitely didn't agree with some of the things that they did.

They definitely don't agree with some of the things they stand for, but man, they always spoke highly of them.

Let it be said of us that we honor those that are in authority over us.

Please not, please hear me.

No one's getting saved by your political rant.

It makes you look dumb and the divide even greater.

Instead, we are called to cross every divide, and our mission is to reach all people, including the people who radically oppose what we believe.

Let me give you the last one.

1 Timothy chapter 2.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

Look at what it says.

First of all, then I urge you that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Final point of application is this pray for those in authority.

Pray for those in authority.

We are called to pray for our leaders.

Our leaders aren't going to be perfect.

They'll often be worthy of our criticism and make decisions that we may not agree with.

They may at times even do things in direct violation of what we would do.

It can cause us frustration and it can cause us tension.

But it may it never be said that our criticism was louder and more fervent than our prayers.

I believe the issue that we have in our churches today is not the fact that those who are in government or those who are in authority over us are not doing what it is that we want them to do.

I believe the greatest issue in our churches is the fact that we are not seeking and asking God what He wants us to do in constant prayer.

Let it be said of the people of United City.

Man, I love having those people work for me.

I love having those people in my class.

I love having those people in my city.

Those people, they don't always agree, but they are always high in their respect and in their honor.

They are always praying and asking how they can help in any way possible.

Let it be said of us that we are a praying people who pray more and worry less, who hit our knees before we hit our keyboards, who are serious about God's high, holy calling, not only as to those who serve, but to those who serve them.

I pay my taxes.

I I don't I'm not a criminal.

I mean, I speed every now and then, but I'm not like an actual criminal, right?

Right, you know, and and and I I vote for the most part.

And here's here's the sad, scary thing.

You can be a good citizen, you can obey all the rules, you can make really good grades, and your teachers and your parents and the government can all be really happy with you, yet you can still die and spend eternity apart from Christ.

Because the one thing that God wants most, you're not giving to Him.

And that's you.

You see, Caesar's image is stamped on our coins.

God's image is stamped on your heart.

And ultimately, one day you're gonna have to stand before Him and give an account of your life and ask, have you turned the authority over to Him?

Matthew chapter 28, verse 19 says, And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28:19

Are you ready for that day?

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes all across this room?

I'm gonna ask that no one be moving and shuffling around.

In just a moment, we're gonna all stand up.

Time of invitation.

I'm gonna ask you just to be still where you are.

Give me a few more minutes.

Do you know Jesus?

Do you have a relationship with him?

The only way you're gonna be ready to face God on that day is to put your faith and your trust in his sacrifice on the cross for your sins.

When you turn from your sins, believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, and you receive him as your Lord and Savior, you can be saved.

Would you do that right now?

Just pray this prayer, dear God, I give you what you want most, and that's me.

I give you my life, I give you my sins, I give you my heart.

I believe you sent your son Jesus to die on the cross, that he rose from the dead, and right now I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins, to come and live inside of me.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Would you look up here?

I want you to see if you just prayed that prayer.

I want you to look on the sides.

I want you to look up in the front.

Find the person that's nearest to you, and in just a moment, we're all gonna stand up and I'm gonna ask you to do something bold.

I'm gonna ask you to step out from where you're seated.

I'm gonna ask you to come forward and tell one of these people here in front that you've given your life to Jesus today.

You just prayed that prayer with me.

Others of you need to join United City.

You feel like this is where God is leading you at church.

It's gonna preach the hard things, and it's so much easier just to skip it and move on and see if you didn't notice.

I'm telling you, we're committed to teaching the whole council of God, we're committed to trying to raise up disciples who are gonna raise up disciples who are gonna raise up disciples who are gonna reach the community for Jesus.

God needs you to be a part of that movement and that mission with us, but you lead the way today.

You just come to the person that's nearest to you and join the United States today.

Others do we need to be baptized like these ones that we saw today.

If you need to if you follow Jesus and give your life to him, but you've never followed through in believers of baptism.

Come and let us baptize you schedule that for a later date.

Maybe some of you need prayer.

Maybe you've got a need going on, maybe you've got a burden that you're carrying, maybe you've got something that we can come alongside of you and pray with and for you every week.

We want this altar to be a place where we as a team can come alongside and pray for you.

I'm gonna ask you to stand, and as you stand, our team is here and up front.

They are ready to receive you.

You come as God is leading you to respond.

Come on.

What an incredible message.

Hey, if you made a decision today to give your life to Jesus, we'd love to know about it.

We'd love to celebrate with you, we'd even love to pray with you.

And so if you made that decision, would you text next to 55498?

And someone from our team would love to follow up with you.

In the meantime, I would love to pray with you even right now as God continues to do things in your heart moving.

And so, Jesus, we love you so much.

We say thank you for the truth of your word.

Thank you for still showing up in people's lives and still doing all of what you can do.

Jesus, I pray that you continue to heal hearts and heal lives.

Uh, bring peace to mind.

Jesus, once you can just do it all that you can do it.

United City fans, this has been an incredible service.

It's been so fun worshiping with you.

Hey, to stay in the know on everything going on in the life of our church.

We'd love for you to follow us on Instagram and on Facebook to stay up to date on everything happening.

And we'd love to see you, either in person or online, right back here next week.

Services are at 9.30 and 11.

We hope you have a fantastic week and we'll see you soon.