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We love Thee, the Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. He will follow the steps of Jesus' will, there they go on and on. If they lead through the temple, holy, reaching the world. For it holds the Lord and the Holy Spirit, being the Lord. The Lord, Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. He will follow the steps of Jesus' will, there they go. On the last battle. Then at last, when on high, he sees the star journey done. He builds his fences of Jesus' head that is grown. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. He builds the steps of Jesus' will, there they go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. The Prince of Jesus, back in the path we go. the changes that we had to make at the last minute there. Also there's the Navajo reservation soul winning trip there's a small town soul winning trip to Hunter Creek and don't forget to pray for expectant ladies. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning going back to Friday if there's anything from Friday to report. And was there a group that went out Saturday I think on Saturday one there and that was outside the group right yeah didn't brother Edwin end up head up the group on Saturday did anyone go with brother Edwin Tom he's not here either so I don't know what they did it if they accomplished if they got anyone saved or not but I'll ask them later what about today I think for the group six that's six all right well great keep up the great work soul winning and we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go get into the preaching tonight Wonderful piece. Song number one hundred and thirteen. Song number thirteen. Another piece. Sing it out. Far away in the depths of my spirit's back Was the melody sweetened and sung It's the last of my strings that I'm ceasingly lost For my soul, again, is there before These pieces, wonderful pieces I can't hold my father above Speak over my spirit forever my name In venomous blues above What a treasure I have in this wonderful piece There deep in the heart of my soul So secure that no power can hide it away While the years of eternity go on These pieces, wonderful pieces I can't hold my father above Speak over my spirit forever my name In venomous blues above I'm resting tonight in this wonderful piece Resting sweetly in Jesus' control For I'm kept from all danger by night and by day And His glory is flooding my soul These pieces, wonderful pieces I can't hold my father above Speak over my spirit forever my name In venomous blues above And He feeds when I rise to that city of peace Where the honor of peace I shall sing Let the strength of the song mix the red song And we'll sing in a heavenly kingdom shall be These pieces, wonderful pieces I can't hold my father above Speak over my spirit forever my name In venomous blues above I'll restore you here without comfort or rest Washing out around that big a town Make Jesus your friend, bear the shadows no dark Oh, except the sweet piece goes so by These pieces, wonderful pieces I can't hold my father above Speak over my spirit forever my name In venomous blues above We'll read the whole chapter There arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams And giveth thee a sign or a wonder And the sign or the wonder come to pass Whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known And let us serve them Thou shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet Or that dreamer of dreams For the Lord your God proveth you To know whether ye love the Lord your God With all your heart and with all your soul Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him And keep his commandments and obey his voice And ye shall serve them and cleave unto them And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams Shall be put to death because he has spoken To turn you away from the Lord your God Which brought you out of the land of Egypt And redeemed you out of the house of bondage To thrust thee out of the way Which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in So shall thou put the evil away from the midst of thee If thy brother, the son of thy mother Or thy son or thy daughter Or the wife of thy bosom Or thy friend which is as thy own soul enticedly secretly Saying let us go and serve other gods Which thou hast not known Thou nor thy fathers Namely of the gods of the people which are around about you Nigh unto thee or far off from thee From one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth Thou shalt not consent unto him Nor hearken unto him Neither shall I pity him Neither shall thou spare Neither shall thou conceal him But thou shalt surely kill him Thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death And afterwards the hand of all the people And thou shalt stone him with stones that he died Because he has sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God Which brought thee out of the land of Egypt From the house of bondage And all Israel shall hear and fear And shall do no more any such wickedness as this among you If thou shalt hears say in one of the cities Which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there Saying certain men, the children of Belial Are gone out from among you And have withdrawn the inhabitants of their cities Saying let us go and serve other gods which he hath not known Then shall thou inquire and make search And ask diligently and behold if it be truth And the thing certain that such abominations brought among you Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of the city With the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly And all that is therein And the cattle thereof with the edge of the sword And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it Into the midst of the street thereof And shalt burn with fire the city And all the spoil thereof, every whit For the Lord thy God and it shall be in heat forever And it shall not be built again And there shall cleave not of the curse theme to thy hand That the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger And show thee mercy and have compassion upon thee And multiply thee as he has sworn unto thy fathers When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God To keep all his commandments which I commanded thee this day To do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God Brother Albert, can you pray for us? Father God, thank you for this church and thank you for this evening. We ask that you please bless this evening's service and please fill our brethren, the deacon, with the Holy Spirit to help preach and teach us with your word and edify our lives. In Jesus' mighty name we thank you. Amen. Amen. So we'll be back in Deuteronomy 13 a little bit later in the sermon but if you want to go over to Acts 23 I did want to cover something tonight that I really didn't have time for this last Thursday when we were going through the chapter. Just kind of ran out of time but very quickly in Acts 23 if you remember that's where Paul is being brought before the council that the Romans have got the Jews together those that were trying to kill him in the previous chapter and then there's that conspiracy that's made you know the chief captain has to take Paul away again from the Jews because Paul gets them all worked up over the issue of him being a Pharisee so then they again retreat from the Jews but then there's that conspiracy that's made those 40 men take a vow not to eat or drink until they've slain Paul and then Paul's sister's son comes to Paul makes him aware of the conspiracy who in turn tells the chief captain who then in turn gets his two centurions and assembles a small army to send Paul away and it says in verse 23 of Acts 23 and he called unto him two centurions saying make ready 200 soldiers to go to Caesarea and horsemen three inch score in ten spearmen 200 at the third hour of the night and provide the beast so on and so forth but really what I want to look at here is in verse 25 where he sits down this chief officer and he writes a letter the chief captain unto Claudius Licius so he's kind of explaining what's going on what's taking place, why there's this big to do why all these heavily armed men are showing up with this one guy okay and it says in verse 25 and he wrote a letter after this manner Claudius Licius under the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting this man was taken of the Jews and should have been killed with them then came in with an army and rescued him having understood that he was a roman when I have known the cause therefore they accused him I brought him forth into their council whom I perceived to be accused of their questions of their law but to have done but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds and it was told me that the Jews laid weight for the man I sent straight weight to thee and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him fair well so he just kind of briefly explains the situation we'll come back here a little bit later to bookmark Acts 23 and you can see how Claudius here is being a little self-serving he's not exactly telling the whole truth he's kind of making sure he stays out of hot water if he caught that but then they send him on the morrow with the horsemen they go there and Paul ends up at the inn there in Herod's judgment hall ready to have this meeting once again so what you see throughout the book of Romans is Paul is constantly falling into the hands of the Romans like he's being rescued by the Romans they're taking him into custody and you see that there is a civil government that's been established and I want to talk a little bit tonight about civil authorities and things of that nature just talk about God's judicial system now this isn't going to be an exhaustive sermon on God's system of judgment that's a very long sermon that's a series of sermons really but we do see that God kind of has the way that he does things and then there's the way things are being done in this world and while there's some overlap obviously we don't have a perfect system like God has laid out in the Old Testament God's, you know, the law of the Lord is perfect God's ways are perfect we won't really understand how perfect God's system is until Christ is here to enact it because it's going to take God himself in order to make that happen and then we'll begin to understand what it is to have a perfect government because it'll be resting upon his shoulders and he'll be ruling and reigning with a rod of iron but if you would go back to Deuteronomy 13 again keep something in Acts 23 in Deuteronomy 13 we kind of get a glimpse of at least one aspect of God's judicial system where God enacts the death penalty of course this is just one instance the death penalty is prescribed for many other things you know, adultery, witchcraft you know, murder of course amongst other things okay and if you look there in Deuteronomy 13 verse 6 it says if thy brother oh and sodomy by the way don't let me forget that one you know being a homo you get punished it's punishable by death I don't want you guys to think I'm going soft up here Deuteronomy 13 verse 6 it says if thy brother the son of thy mother or thy son or thy daughter or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul enticed thee secretly saying let us go and serve with the gods which thou hast not known nor thy father so he's saying if anybody tries to tempt you to go and serve another god here's what you need to do okay you know and that's a that's a pretty heavy list you know if your own children come to you if your best friend in the whole world comes to you you know it doesn't matter who it is you know if it's the your spouse if anybody comes and tries to pull you away from serving God here's how I want it handled okay he said in verse 8 thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him neither shall thine eye pity him you're not going to go well you know I know we're not supposed to do that that's a really bad idea you know don't tell anybody else about that you know let's keep that keep that to yourself right he's saying that thou shalt surely kill him and then notice thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hands of all the people now obviously that's a that's a very severe punishment you know for wanting to go worship another god but honestly you know it's something that it is commanded in scripture and really if people really love God with all their heart mind soul and strength this would have been a lot you know perhaps a little bit easier for them obviously it's a terrible thing to have your children or your spouse or your friends or your neighbors you know want to go worship false gods you know we would feel bad but you know we're not to pity them our love for God would override you know our our pity that we might have for these people we would love God more than any of these other relations okay we need to love God more than father and mother all these other relations but notice he's saying here thou shalt surely kill him thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hands of all the people so it wasn't just something you know you're sitting in your living room back in old testament israel and you know your wife comes in says you know i really feel like we're going to be you want to go do some bail worship and then you just suddenly rise up and just slay her right in the living room and then tell everybody what took place okay his hand your hand being first upon such an individual whoever that is you know is you arresting them this would be like a citizens arrest so to speak and there you would obviously be bringing them forward to the elders of the city there would be a you know somewhat of a trial there might be even other witnesses you know and then it says and then the hands of all the people you know you're going to be first to put them to death you're going to cast the first stone and then everybody else is going to get up so that that there's you know there's a consent right everybody's going to agree that this person deserved to be put to death okay so there is a civic there's an order to this this isn't just something it's just not chaos where people are just grabbing people saying oh they they want to worship bail there is you could see that there's a kind of a system here right now some people will turn to that and say see this is why you know that in God's system there are no officers there's no law enforcement okay because they'll turn to a passage like this but this is being really specific about you know a certain sin right going and worshipping other gods he's saying in that instance you know you're going to grab that person and say we're going to take care of this right now right you're not going to you know report that to the proper authorities that's something that you and your zeal if you're going to take care of that person that's something that you and your zeal even should just be compelled to do okay now that's one aspect of God's judicial system that sometimes people turn to this and say well see right there thine hand shall be first upon him you know you're the one we are the ones that are supposed to be making these arrests throughout the you know in God's perfect system okay but we'll see here in a minute you know that God has other ideas like you know there's he God has officers and other people appointed judges that you know we're not the ones that make final decisions okay we're not we are not judge jury and executioner as individuals all right if you would go over to numbers 35 numbers 35 numbers 35 you know their aspect of God's judicial system is the fact that you know you would be given a trial you know you would you would have an opportunity to you know be found out whether or not something happened or didn't in the instance of murder here right in numbers chapter 35 of course I'm sure we're all really familiar with the cities of refuge you know kind of looking around I think everybody in the crowd tonight has probably heard quite a bit about it has probably read it up for them on their cells but basically when they're going into land God prescribed that there be a certain number of cities within a certain distance you know certain areas so that if something happened if there was somebody who committed manslaughter they would have an opportunity to flee to that city of refuge and then you know they would be safe from the avenger of blood right say you know we go out you know me and brother Fabian go out to the woods and then you know we're you know we're chopping wood that's the illustration use uses you know we're chopping down some trees and the axe head flies off my you know my axe and then sinks itself deep into brother Fabian skull what a tragedy right you know and he dies and that would be a tragedy come on can he if I can't get an amen on that I don't know brother I don't know what you've done these people can't even amen that losing dear brother Fabian would be a tragedy amen amen I'll say it for you amen it would be a tragedy at least I care you know I care brother but you know if that happened there might be somebody in brother Fabian's family that wants to take revenge on me they want to avenge his blood but did I murder brother Fabian no it was obviously was an accident you know it was manslaughter it was something that you know I didn't intend I didn't lie and wait as the Bible puts it to slay brother Fabian it wasn't like hey let's go out in the woods or he went out to cleave wood and I'm like waiting behind the tree and then got him right so in that instance I would be able to flee to one of these cities of refuge and then you know it would be inquired of the elders they would kind of look at the evidence they would look at what's taking place and they would say you know what this was this was done in innocence this wasn't first degree murder this was manslaughter this he wasn't plot he didn't hate you know I didn't hate brother Fabian in times past I wonder about some of you but you know I didn't I didn't I'm not like plotting against him right and then I would have to stay in that city of refuge so it's not that I'm without consequence you know there would be no consequences it's you know I would have to stay in that city until the death of the high priest you know so if the high priest just got started you know it might be a while that I have to hang out there so I'm kind of on a house arrest so to speak so this is another aspect of God's you know God's judicial system he wants to make sure there's no innocent blood being shed in the land but notice you know I'm being given an opportunity to make my case right and it's not just everyone's just grabbing each other and executing judgment okay there's certain people that are appointed to pass judgment in these cities of refuge the high priest and others again this isn't going to be exhaustive you know this is but it is something I want to touch on go to Deuteronomy chapter number 16 Deuteronomy chapter number 16 and Deuteronomy chapter number 16 we'll see that God does in fact appoint officers people there are people that are called officers in the scripture you have judges and officers now in Deuteronomy 13 where we read you know the person who's being tempted to go worship another god they kind of act as the officer don't they they immediately lay hands on that person take them to the proper authorities and then when it's found out yeah this is what happened they're not only the officer they're actually the executioner you know you're going to be the first one to slay them you know because you're you know it would take a lot you have to be pretty convinced of what happened in order to kill you know even your next of kin okay excuse me but if you look at Deuteronomy chapter 16 let's let's back up to verse 17 every man well verse 18 judges and officers shall thou make make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout the tribes and they shall judge the people with judgment so who's going to judge the people with judgment oh the judges yeah there are judges but notice there's judges and officers now what do officers do well just think of the word officiate right what is what is somebody who's officiating something do they make things make sure that things are done in a proper order they make sure that people you know are where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there because obviously you know the judge he's the one that's just doling out the punishment he's just listening to the case listening to the facts at hand and then consulting the word of God and prescribing the appropriate punishment right whereas you know the officer would probably be more one who's just making sure that that judgment is carried out making sure that the proper parties are there so you can kind of see where we get a set you know our legal system from in a sense the way we kind of set up things they don't we have officers today they're called police officers we have law enforcement and you know often and you know hopefully this doesn't get me kicked out of the new IFB and labeled some kind of a bootlicker or something like that but you know I'm just going to the Bible tonight you know and you know the Bible does seem to me teach that there are certain individuals who are supposed to help officiate you know the the the the the the punishment of evil doers there's there's supposed to be people in place but to make sure that justice is carried out you can't just expect one judge or a judge here and there to be able to do all of this you know they're having all these cases brought to them think about when you know Moses was told to appoint you know other people to help you know figure out the more so he didn't take everything upon himself remember in Jethro his father-in-law came to him and said you know you take much too much upon you appoint other men that are full of the Holy Spirit to look at these you know these lesser matters and then you'll take care of the heavier ones right instead of having just one man do all the judging you know they broke that up but obviously you know I if you're a judge you can't also be sitting there listening to all the cases that are coming through your court and going out and you know and getting all the appropriate individuals that need in order to have the court case you understand I'm saying the judge has kind of already got his hands full you can't play both parts you have to have people that can go out and make sure that you know you have a court date that they're going to be there you know they're going to issue the bench warrant they're going to go out and make sure that you know the witnesses show up that the you know the guilty parties are those that are on trial show up so on and so forth so I believe that there is some evidence here for judges and officers we can't just turn to Deuteronomy 13 and say aha see it's where do all the arresting where are the officers it's just the common people you know that's a real specific instance isn't it you know where and God's more concerned you know with your love for him and your zeal to worship him and not to have your heart turned away into other gods than he is you know making sure that the proper people are arresting other people right if you follow what I'm saying in Deuteronomy 13 it's more about hey I don't care who it is if they want you to go worship other gods other than me who have brought you out of the land of Egypt you need to lay hands on them and then take them to court take them to the judge and then you are going to be the first one to cast a stone whereas in these other instances you know might be more of you know someone's found out they're guilty of something you know and then these officers are maybe appointed to go and take people in and you know and help the judge in that way okay or make sure that justice is carried out maybe after the judgment is given you know you have to have people are going to follow up and make sure that you know the fines are paid and that even if you know death is the sentence that that's carried out as well or make sure that you know in some way restitution is made someone has to carry that out you know in the common person you know that you know the average guy the guy who got wronged you know he's going to be busy you know work in the field he's going to be busy tending to the cattle he's going to be busy just trying to make a living you can't also take upon him you know all these other civic duties all the time right you have to appoint people in order to take care of these things you know so and that's my opinion I believe that's what it's referring to there and when it says those officers that there were people that were going to help the judge make sure that judgment is carried out now let's go to the first Corinthians six and let's let's look at you know some things in the New Testament when it comes to you know how we should regard you know you know the law today like what are some things we should and shouldn't be doing as Christians when it comes to the law if you look there in first Corinthians chapter number six he says in verse one dare any of you having a matter against another go to before go to law before the unjust and not before the Saints do you not know that the Saints will judge the world that the world be judged by you that you are worthy to are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters we saying you know are you going to law before the unjust he's talking about suing your brother in Christ okay we don't want to be people that are going before the unjust and not before the Saints you know there's some things that just need to be handled in house when it comes to you know doing when we you know obviously some things need to be just turned over the proper authorities okay but there's some things where it's it's a matter of just going you know to sue or something like that going to law judging over these smaller matters right as he says are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters so there's some things that you know we as brethren should just be able to work out between us we don't need to involve the the authorities you know if you you damage my property in some way or I do some work for you and you refuse to pay me that's something that we would take care of in house you know that's kind of what the Bible is teaching okay we shouldn't be you know taking all these things before the Lord you say well I don't know what you mean if a guy backs out on paying me in church if a brother in Christ you know robs me in that way I shouldn't do anything about it well I mean look at verse seven he says now therefore there's utterly fault among you because you go to law with another why you not rather take wrong why you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded you know to be frauded means to be robbed to be defrauded of that money that's owed you you know we shouldn't be taking brethren to court and one of the reasons why is because that you know people in the the the the legal system today are not believers they're unsaved they don't have the Spirit of God they're certainly not using this book you know the great thing about in the Old Testament with God is that the the great thing about in the Old Testament with God's system is that those judges and those officers would have been following this book they would have been enforcing good laws okay you know it's not so much the problem so much today isn't the legal system you know the people that are in it so much as you know the laws that they're enforcing you know obviously there are wicked people in positions of power but you know what's worse than that often is the laws that they're actually enforcing so he's saying here verse 9 know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor idolaters nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind so on and so forth verse 11 and such were some of you now you know that's that's in the context of the entire chapter he's saying these are the type of people that you're going to be going to law before you're going to be going before the effeminate you're going to be going before the fornicators the idolaters the adulterers that's who's going to be passing judgment on you you know today we go out we want to sue a brother in Christ you know we're going to have some you know wicked adulterer passing judgment on us you know they're going to be the ones that are deciding how things are going to go they're not going to be ruling with you know the spirit in the spirit of God so we should just suffer ourselves to be fraud and let me just say this you know the people that I've known that have sued you know other that have sued Christians you know often have turned out to be reprobate I'm not saying in every instance you know there's been even pastors you know that we know and associate with lately that have been have had people taking them to court over frivolous things you know and wouldn't you know it those people turned out they weren't even brethren you know they're wicked ungodly people you know we should rather suffer ourselves to be fraud so we should not be so unloving and so unforgiving towards our brethren that we're going to take them to court okay now obviously that's something we would handle you know if you know if somebody in you know did something to another brother you know in this church as far as not paying them you know we'll go back to the example of brother Fabian because he's just a dead ringer right now you know I've already already I've already called him out or whatever right let's say he had brother Elmer do some work for him right brother Elmer's in that line of work he does a lot of remodeling he says hey I want you to come over to my place and you know do some remodeling work and then brother Fabian stiffs him I mean maybe that's why you didn't get that amen earlier I don't know maybe I'm kidding of course right you know instead of brother Elmer suing brother Fabian what he would do is he would come to the church and say hey we have an issue here you know then we would take care of it and if brother Fabian didn't want to get it right you know he's trespassed against his brother you know we'd come with him a couple witnesses hey you know here's the bill here's the work where's the receipt of proof of payment it's not there you need to make this right he refuses then we go before the church here's what happened everybody brother Fabian stiffed brother Elmer there's no proof of sale we'd bring the evidence and we'd say you know what brother Fabian get out right and he would be until he got that right he wouldn't be allowed back we would take care of that in house now obviously more severe crimes would be turned over to local authorities you know because a lot of times you know at that point we wouldn't even be turning over a brother you know we've even had thank God not in this church in Tucson but you know we've had other people in Tempe you know creep in unawares ungodly men you know that turned out to be even reprobate and reprobates you know pedophiles you know praise the Lord that you know none of our children were attacked in the church they were kicked out you know but then some other Baptist church just threw their arms wide open and said oh come on in you know and but you know what we did is we turned that over to local authorities because at that point you're not dealing with the brother you know when somebody's you know praying on children when somebody's a reprobate you know we're not you know they they're ungodly people should go get judged by ungodly people and we like let the world sort that all out now if you would go over to Romans chapter number 13 because I know there's you know a lot of people that might disagree with what I'm saying or they might you know accuse me of you know of holding holding the the thin blue line or something like that that I'm just you know just some kind of a bootlicker or whatever okay but the fact is is that you know God does have a judicial system put in place and it does appear to me that there are people that are called to be officers okay now that's not to say that I'm you know for everything that police do okay and I'm certainly not for a lot of the laws that they enforce you know often from time to time you'll have people ask me and others you know what do you think about somebody going into law enforcement you know and I would I would never discourage somebody from doing I certainly don't think it's sinful but here's the thing if you go into law enforcement there's a very good likely you know a very good chance that you're going to be called upon and enforce a law that isn't good for example if you're a member of the Chandler police department you're probably going to interact with faithful word baptist church at some point because apparently in Chandler Arizona they have nothing better to do than go around and harass soul winners okay in places like Phoenix you know they've got a little bit more more on their hands okay because there's actual crime I don't know what it is with Chandler they're just so affluent you know and and I guess it's where all the more you know or whatever but you know it's certain you know you could find yourself in a position as a Christian as a as a police officer if you're Christian to you know run off soul winners off some property you know and then you're going to have to make a decision you know there might be other things that you that would conflict with what you believe biblically so if people are going to go into law enforcement that's something they have to consider you know not to mention the fact that it's an incredibly dangerous job you know the only reason I would ever say maybe that's not for you is because I just care about that person's safety and well-being you know I just care about you know people not getting you know I want them to come home from their job you know it's an incredibly dangerous job you know and you're dealing with quite frankly the scum of the earth quite often or you're just going through very horrific tragic things you know where it's it's not even bad people doing the wrong thing it's it's not even bad people doing bad things it's just you're there you're called upon to go handle some traumatic event that's taking place you know some child has died or something it's it's horrific I mean I don't I'm not going to sign up for that but you know if there's other people out there that want to that's their choice you know in a sense and I'm you know I'm kind of grateful that there are other people that want to do it because that's not certainly something I would ever want to do okay you know now that that's not to say that there aren't of course bad cops bad lawyers I don't know if there's any good lawyers I'm just kidding you know bad judges all that kind of thing that that is a corrupt system to some degree obviously you know the punishments that we prescribe today are not biblical they're cruel and unusual right prison is not you know you'll see that in Egypt yeah prisons in the Bible when Joseph's down in prison in Egypt we have some ungodly nation you know punishing people by putting them in a jail cell locking them up like an animal but you don't see that in God's system it's usually a fine they or they go they're they're put they're indentured servitude to work off debt or the death penalty but you'll never see God commanding people to lock other people up for years at a time for decades at a time you'll never see probation you'll never see God saying hey hold something over somebody's head for the rest of their life you know like today if you're a felon you know there's a lot of rights that are just taken from you it's on your record you have to report that everywhere you go anytime you apply for a job that's not God's system that's man's system so I'm not don't think I'm getting up here tonight and just praising you know our law enforcement or our judicial system it is incredibly flawed it's full of ungodly people it's full of unsaved people but I do believe that even in God's system there is such a thing as officers you know people that were there to help that system work to make sure that people need to be there I'm not I don't really believe that there weren't you wouldn't call them cops back then but there were definitely people who it was their responsibility to make sure that you know judgment was carried out they officiated it right you know in certain instances the people too they got involved I understand that as well but look at Romans chapter number 13 Romans chapter number 13 verse 1 let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God but the powers that be are ordained of God and you know a lot of people might not like this but this is what the Bible says that we ought to be subject unto the higher powers and those higher powers are talking about civil authorities and I think sometimes that Christians and even people within the new IFB they get this idea that somehow we're you know we're uh anarchists or something or that we're just so anti-establishment that you know we're against every ordinance of man that somehow you know because we're saved or we're Christians that we are we've just been getting licensed to just disregard the laws of man you know I don't believe that the Bible's real clear that you know we need to be subject unto the higher powers and they'll say we have the highest powers God yeah when when the government starts forcing us to do things that God disapproves of yes then it's time to rebel then it's time to disobey okay I'm scratching my head and having a real hard time thinking about the last time I had some civil authority come to me and ask me to break a commandment you know I don't think that's never happened in my life you know what what totalitarian regime totalitarian regime are you referring to you know because it's not in the United States this isn't you know Nazi Germany or something like that okay you know the powers that we have in place in this country obviously are flawed obviously there's corruption you know it's a far cry from you know what some people are trying to paint it out to be you know and this there's this you know there's this anti-cop sentiment I think sometimes in some churches with some people and you know I'm I'm I'm not really let me just say I'm not really for it to be honest okay I understand the sentiment but honestly it's not really something that I'm gonna that's not my hobby horse that's not the the line I'm trying to tow here you know you see these you see people that they make their life about this right they want to just go out and film police and question them and grill them it's like as if that job isn't hard enough then to have some guy you know sticking a camera in your face and and trying to get you to you know do something and whatever just grilling who knows what I'm talking about I see these guys that are just out there you know and just trying to call them out or they want to roll the window down this far and just you know talk to them through that the crack in the window and then but they're making a YouTube video about it you can see why they're doing it it's not really because they're so concerned about everyone's civil rights it's because they just they just want to give cops a hard time and get a bunch of views right because people eat that stuff up you know and I know this is kind of my opinion but this is my opinion okay and I'm welcome to have it but you know every time I've ever gotten pulled over yes it's happened you know you know oh like raise a hand who's ever been pulled over I'm just kidding don't everyone oh two hands are up wow okay yeah I believe it I've seen you drive but um I'm not one to talk okay I I had a pretty bad one once you know I looked up I was doing 85 I looked up it was 55 went from 85 or went from 75 to 55 I looked up I saw 50 I saw the highway patrolman I saw 55 I looked down I saw 85 and then I saw blue lights you know but you know what I didn't do in that instance is you know roll the window down this far and say I don't answer questions because I what I what I just did was reckless endangerment you know that's on the books and I didn't know that until he wrote me the ticket you know I rolled the window down you know do you have a weapon on you yes sir it's on my hip you don't touch yours I won't touch mine you know and he said here's your ticket you know you have to appear before this judge up in Flagstaff and I said oh I can't just mail that in he said no sir I could actually haul you off to jail right now and impound this vehicle because what you just did is called reckless endangerment so he was actually being pretty cool now why do you think he was being cool with me because I was being cool with him yes sir no sir license registration I'm sorry you know and because he had me dead to rights you know what am I going to argue that well I'm saved you know God you know Jesus is my king I only answer to one and one authority that's God how do you think that's going to go you know I'm going to get a free ride down to the courthouse you know anyway so you know obviously there's bad cops that's because cops are people you know there's bad cops there's good cops look there's bad Christians there's good Christians right you know Christians do bad things sometimes too they just paint all Christians as you know bad people there's bad cops there's bad laws are really what the problem is and the Bible is real clear here in Romans 13 that we are to be subject unto the higher powers now obviously you know the powers that are named be of God look at verse 3 for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil so that's how things should be going you know our civil authority they have one job to be a terror to evil right not to good so yeah sometimes we do have problems where the you know Chandler the police department is trying to you know stop our soul winning they're not they're not being they're now they're being a terror to good works and in that instance you know I'm going to give them a hard time and I'm going to tell them you know and and we have so you know if you come back here again you'll be trespassing well we'll be back next week and we're going to knock every door in this in this place and you can go ahead and arrest us go ahead and arrest a Baptist preacher go ahead and arrest a Christian for preaching the gospel you know I'll make them do that you know and look and I'm not saying you have to do that okay if you're at you know let me just clarify if you're out soul winning and the cops are called it's it's up to you I'm not going to think any more or less of you and let me emphasize I'm not going to think any more of you either I'm not going to think oh you know you took such a righteous stand against you know some officer got yourself arrest or something that I'm not going to think oh what a what a great Christian you must be or something I'm just going to say hey that was your decision you know because I'm not going to exalt one and put down another some people don't want to go through that you know we'll come back later we'll send another team so we can plead ignorance you know we'll just find some other group of soul winners who don't know what happened and say hey go back to these apartment buildings right because they're like oh okay you know and the same thing happens again weren't you here last week no you know and we'll just make these cops tell everybody in the church and by then it'll be knocked okay so you know I'm not saying everybody has to obviously I'm in a position where if I get arrested for soul winning I'll probably get a raise and I probably won't I'm just kidding right but it's not like I'm if I call my boss you know my pastor Anderson say hey I was out soul winning this cop was trying to stop us and I told him we weren't going to stop that we'd be back next week I went back and I got arrested he'd be like attaboy right but also you know we don't we the policy is we don't really you know if they call the church we don't engage with them we just ignore them they want to call and ask questions and we've had detectives and officers call the church and try to follow up on things where we were soul winning you know in some restricted neighborhood or whatever you know we just ignore it just totally ignore it a lot of times those same cops probably might not even want to be doing they just got some superior they just have to follow through because that's that's procedure they're like they're probably they're probably you know leaving a message on the church phone when I hope these people don't call us back because they you know you know you know that that hot case comes across their desk you know the folder gets gets put on there like we got we need you to go down there to that that faithful word baptist church we got people out with bibles wandering through the neighborhood that's why I always laugh when I'm out soul winning like in these rough neighborhoods where someone will threaten to call the cops like what are you going to tell them someone came to your door with a bible and tried to tell you about Jesus you know I'm sure there's going to be a lot of patrol cars that are just slammed on the brakes and you know jerking the wheel throwing on the lights you know let's get down there and catch these soul winners I mean unless you're in Chandler you know if you're a Chandler cop that probably is the case you're going to lock them up and get them and get to that address quick but you know God does want us to be obedient to the civil authorities just a fact as long as they are not infringing upon our ability to serve God if they're not asking us to commit sin because obviously as it says the powers of be that are ordained of or are ordained of God God is the highest power you know we will appeal to the highest authority if we need to but rulers are to be a terror to not to good works but to evil he says in verse 4 he is a minister of God to thee for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is a minister of God to execute the wrath upon him that doeth evil verse 5 wherefore he must needs be subject not for wrath only but also for conscience sake for this cause pay he tribute you know should we pay taxes as Christians yes but would our taxes go here there they'd pay for this they pay for that that's on them that's on them you know they ask Peter you know doth your master pay tribute or not and Jesus you know told Peter go catch that fish take out the gold out of his mouth and go pay your taxes right he says go give them render unto Caesar his render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's unto God that which is God's you know we've got other battles to fight because this you know this is really the root of the problem of this of people who are really just anti-establishment is that they're going to end up getting caught up in things that really don't matter like why do I need to audit the police when I know Jesus is going to come back and we'll have a perfect system like I'll let him do all the auditing you know I'll let him worry about that in the meanwhile you know I'll do the nine over right nine you're fine ten you're mine those are words to live by continue to serve God rather than get caught up in okay just be subject pay tribute render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute interaction with the police and you know it's it's over I've done something wrong or just looking into something you know I am going to be respectful and I'm going to say yes sir no sir because I want to get them off then you know feed their ego and move on with your life you know what I mean you know I've been pulled over even in the church van you know we had like a tag that we didn't get on there or something it wasn't anything major wasn't coming back from Nogales with a you know a van load I wasn't you know it wasn't like moonlighting as a coyote or anything you know but it was just like some minor thing and I got pulled over on the way to soul winning up here and I thought man I'm getting pulled over for this and you know I don't want to be late for soul winning what do you think went through my head well I'm going to tell this cop off so I can get in my way no and the guy came up and he was a sheriff and let me tell you some of the Pima County sheriffs are really nice people the sheriffs usually are a little bit more easier to work with than city police so this is a sheriff and I mean at the end of it he's like alright well god bless you have a good day super nice guy and just you know nothing came of it you say what happened nothing he said here's you know here's get it fixed you know get your tag or whatever you know I'd rather just get him off my back fear to whom fear honor to whom honor and just move on to owe no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law so we need to be subject you know that's what the Bible says there you know there is the importance of law and order now what's what's you know what spurred all this well acts twenty three where we were you don't have to go there go to first timothy chapter number two because I'm going to drive these points home because I know there's people out there that would disagree and there's people that are going to you know say no you know these laws we shouldn't be obeying this and it's like a it's a thing for them right they're just going to be against speed limits right and they're going to have a bad attitude towards police who enforce speed limits you know well speed limits it's you know are you for or against them it doesn't really matter because they're there it's like you can't get pulled over I don't believe in speed limits it's like well you're about to you know or you're going to really believe in them when you when you go really fast and get in a wreck and you get hurt or you kill somebody you know then you'll probably go speed limits aren't such a bad thing after all right you know speed limits I believe the national speed limit was fifty five it was introduced by Richard Nixon in the seventies okay is that right yeah are you sure this time okay use my fact checker anyway but you know I know it's true because I looked it up but I did my own fact checking this time right you know what's interesting is that there was like four I think it was like four something million fatalities when they were enacted and then a year later there was some oh oh oh aren't speed limits so wicked you know what an infringement on our right to just be reckless and dangerous out there highways where we're separated you know these giant missiles of steel by nothing more than paint in fifty five you know seventies to fifty five miles an hour and they halved I posted that one on Facebook and I wrote good there I said it okay you say that the government shouldn't allow you should determine what breeds we should have and shouldn't have home office where I work I've literally got a pit bull and I've seen people go to the park across my house with their pit bull and let it off the chain and then electrocute it until it passes out and still bite the steel pit bull they're so sweet yeah because every person that had their child mauled to death by their pit bull you know went out and picked out okay because people are breeding them because they're so cool and then when they I was going somewhere else I was going I had another thought in mind go down to the animal shelter and say give me the man-eater give me the most violent dog you have so I can have it play with my young children they found the one that's you know just oh so sweet because those dogs they just turn they just snap one day one day they just snap and look I don't want to go on about it but you know that's just one instance that's one law that I would get behind you know well that's not very libertarian well I'm not a libertarian you know I really don't care I'm not trying to get entangled in the affairs of this life but if I see some you know politician some guy in government who wants to ban these violent worthless dog you know reprobates of the dog world I'm gonna I'm for it I say yes you know that's why these same dogs the same breed they're not even allowed on government facilities they're not allowed in military housing complexes did you know that at least the military has enough sense to say well we can't have violent dog breeds you know living amongst our personnel anyway I'm going off you know it's important to have law and order think about Paul's case right what spurred all this in Acts 23 who was it that came to that Paul was going to be just torn apart by the Jews literally who came to his rescue other Christians you know where were they then you know where was James then it was James bright idea he's like oh sorry about that Paul you know what James didn't rally the boys and go down there it was the Romans that showed up and was did the Romans show up because they're just like whoa well Paul's a Christian these are Jews and we gotta make sure that you know this godly man is protected no all they care about is law and order civility because you have to have that in a society you have to have law and order in a society in order to function the reason why we enjoy all the prosperity we do is because we have law that have never prayed for anyone in authority ever because they're just such quiet and peaceful life folks I mean from the occasional run-in with some irate apartment you know I have to say I'm living a pretty quiet and peaceful life you know I'm not you know it's some underground church you know trying to read the Bible in secret where we're all just like you know we have one Bible that we have to pass around tear out John your family gets John this week you guys get Mark come back next week we'll meet secretly in an undisclosed location we'll swap the books again you know we just can openly and freely go out and practice our religion you know and a lot of the reason that is is because we do have some semblance of a righteous godly government you know it was founded upon it was founded by you know god-fearing men I believe and you go read some of the quotes from the we're gonna read one at the end here go read some of the quotes from our founding fathers they might not have been saved necessarily but they at least maybe even if they were only paying lip service to the Bible at least they were paying lip service to the Bible and they understood that you know having good moral people makes a great society so we're told to pray for I know I gotta hurry up go on to go to first Peter chapter number two Bible says in Titus three put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers so Paul's telling Titus what to preach you know in Titus at first and second Timothy you'll see where Paul will say hey preach this right tell them this you know if you put the bread of the remembrances that should be a good minister of Jesus Christ nourish up in sound doctrine words and sound doctrine right so he's telling Titus put them what is it that he's supposed to preach to put them the people in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates to be ready to every good work to speak evil to no man to be no brawlers but gentle showing all meekness unto all men say oh Deacon's a bootlicker he's just you know he's he calls the cops sir you know I'm being gentle unto all men I'm just trying to be meek and gentle and so I can just go about my life and live a quiet peaceable life and serve God in all honesty look at first Peter chapter two verse eleven he says well let's jump down to verse thirteen submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it has to be the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of the Lord and for the praise of them that do well he's saying to submit to these rulers for so is the will of God he's saying this is God's will that you would submit to kings to governors to magistrates and obviously you know we're not living in a system that's necessarily praising those that do well you know we might read that as oh praising Christians no they're they're not what they're saying they're saying you know we're not they're they're not what they're saying there is they're not locking up innocent people you know people that are law-abiding people that aren't causing problems you know the praise there is that they're not being hauled off to jail or put in some camp somewhere okay so we should be oh we should obey authorities okay there's nothing wrong with that and in fact you know it God is an authority God has given us authority over the people in our lives and we all know that authorities are flawed people now go back to Acts 23 because you can see that even in Acts 23 it's great that Claudius shows up and saves Paul from the Jews and maintains law and order right that's all he's trying to do but you know you can see that he still is a flawed person that he's kind of still even in all this looking out for his own best interest keeping himself out of hot water because it says there in verse 26 Claudius let it uh verse 25 he wrote a letter after this manner Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix that's how you dress your superiors the most excellent right Felix sendeth greeting this man was taken of the Jews true and should have been killed of them true I came with an army true and I rescued him true having understood he was a rumen false because if you know the story he doesn't find out he's a roman until he's getting ready to torture him until they bound him right and they're getting ready to beat him and he says you know condemn you know do you condemn a roman unjustly and he says are you a roman and they find out he's a roman and they started treating him very differently but he's painting out here well I understood he was a roman so I came and rescued him he's kind of getting you understood he was a roman but that's not in the order of events you know that that's not how it happened right so you can see even though Claudius here you know is trying to maintain law and order he's still a flawed person I'm not saying that our civil authorities that the officers and the judges and everybody that's involved in our modern judicial system are the just great people they're flawed just like the rest of us and obviously some of them are way more flawed than others you know are there bad cops out there doing bad things yeah is it potentially a very corrupt system are good people gonna have a hard time in a corrupt system yep it's a fact okay you know but officer lisius here you know he was looking out for himself now I know I gotta hurry up here so I should I keep something in second or in timothy go to Hebrews chapter number 13 Hebrews chapter 13 and I'm kind of preaching this again too you know because I've noticed a trend with some people like when people are real anti-establishment that kind of makes me nervous not because I'm worried that they're gonna overthrow the government okay because they're not you know your your your little bunker is not gonna with who can withstand the beast my friend the power of the American military they're not really worried about how well I don't care how trained you are with the ar-15 or how many armor piercing rounds you have they'll blow you up you won't even hear it coming there'll be some guy and some you know a thousand miles away in some booth like flying a drone you're gone that's it so that's not why they make me nervous like oh they might actually accomplish something it's because people that often are anti-establishment is because they're rebellious in their heart they're rebellious against any authority and news flash I'm an authority you know are you in Hebrews 13 where did I have you go Hebrews 13 let me get over there you know so when I see people that are rebellious I'm kind of like well they're rebellious against this authority and that authority and that authority it's like I wonder if it's just a matter of time until they rebel against me and I have seen this I have seen people who are just really anti-establishment you know be rebellious against even godly authority inside against godly authority because it's just something that's in their hearts not saying it can't be fixed I'm just saying it should be look at verse 7 remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God so those that are speaking the word of God unto you are people that have rule you know we are to rule in the house of God Paul told Timothy to rule the house of God well right verse 17 obey thou you know I bless verse 24 salute all them that have the rule over you you know he's not saying you know when I walk in you got to you know reporting for duty sir you know salute is like salutation like being able to at least say hello you know which doesn't take much it really doesn't to just you know fake a smile and say hi how you doing you know good evening you know believe me I know people that have done it but we are you know so when I see people who are real anti-establishment people who are just against all these authorities I'm kind of like well I'm an authority so is it just a matter of time till you turn on me you know and the other thing is when we get into this anti-establishment thing and just we're just all against you know civil authorities and just you know trying to stand up for all these rights and things like and look I'm glad we have the Constitution I'm glad we have the rights that we do and I'm glad there's other people out there that are fighting that battle but that's not the battle I'm called to it's not the Bible says in 2 Timothy 2 no man that warth entangled himself with the affairs of this life you know why do I want to get more involved in politics because I don't want to get entangled in affairs of this life you know God God is the one who sets up a king and takes it down God you know the heart of the prince is in the hand of the Lord as a river he turneth it whithersoever he willeth like God to God it's just another government and rulers they're just another thing that he can manipulate you know and if we end up with a wicked government well it's because we have a wicked bunch of people you know we deserve this country deserves the leadership that it has it's just a fact you know we need to say oh we got all these wicked leaders in place because we've got a country full of wicked people the reflection of the of the people and mass oh we've got a bunch of corrupt greedy covetous you know liars in places of authority well that's because we have a country full of a bunch of greedy covetous people that are corrupt you know that's we get what we you know we get what we deserve you know and here's the thing you know people sometimes they really get really gun ho about you know trying to bring us back to our you know the beliefs of our founding fathers and all that and I and I get it it's well intentioned but let me remind you in closing of what one of our founding fathers John Adams the second president of the United States said about this he said we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion he's saying there's no government that is capable that has enough power to contend with human passion that is unbridled by morality and religion meaning when people stop being religious when they cast off morality when they cast off religion when they get away from the word of God I don't care what government you put in place it's not going to work it doesn't it cannot contend with the passion in man's heart unbridled passions okay he said our constitution was made only for a moral and religious purpose and that's what he said he said it was made only for a moral and religious people this is the second president of the United States who said this it was made only for a moral and religious and look I could have printed off pages of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and others other founding fathers who said very similar things they were saying hey our government was founded on Christian principles it's made to govern a Christian nation so on and so forth he's saying our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other you know and I don't know if you notice but we are our country does not consist of a moral and religious people I know there's a lot of Christians out there but there's not a lot of God fearing people anymore there's a lot of people that have just they don't know the Bible they don't care about the things of God that's where we're at so I'm not going to make my whole life about trying to turn the tide in politics or something like that the Bible says where the Spirit of Lord is there is liberty so if I walk in the Spirit if I'm full of the Holy Ghost I'm going to have liberty in my life and I'll be able to serve God I'm not going to get entangled in the affairs of this life but I'm also not going to run to the other extreme and just say well all government's bad and that we shouldn't have anything to do with it at all like we shouldn't obey it obviously it's wicked it's corrupt it's because it's a reflection of the people but the fact is we still have rules that we have to live by we still have to be subject to these magistrates we still have to obey them that are in authority so you know that's my message tonight you know is you know I saw it in Acts 23 it was kind of interesting you have Paul being rescued by a heathen government right because having law and order is important okay and God is a God of law and order God has his own judicial system but it's foolish for us to sit here and think that the world is going to reflect what we see in the Bible they might have some principles they might be able to lift some things from it they might have to be able to put you know take some things from the Bible and put into practice but you know there it's not till Jesus comes when we get to see this fully carried out a perfect system and even then at the end of a thousand years Satan's loose for a little while and man rebels all over again it's just all out world war again so it just goes to show you that man even under the best conditions because of his heart because of his sinful nature is just prone to rebel against authority even an authority as perfect as Christ let's go ahead and close the word of prayer dear Lord again thank you for Lord the fact that we do live in a country where we enjoy so much freedom Lord the freedom to move about freely and to speak our minds Lord and to publicly accept our beliefs Lord I pray you would continue to preserve that not so that we could Lord just say whatever we want but Lord that's so that we could preach and expound the word of God so that we could go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ Lord I pray help us to that you would preserve that in our country Lord that we continue to enjoy this freedom and Lord I pray help us Lord to search our own hearts Lord and to root out any rebellion in our hearts whether it's to authorities out in the world or maybe even authorities that are God-ordained in our lives or in our personal lives that we wouldn't be a rebellious people Lord but that we would be subject Lord that we would be meek towards all men we ask these things in Christ's name Amen Song number 389 bring them in Bring them in, bring them in Bring them in, bring them in Bring them in, bring them in Bring them in, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in Bring them, bring them in