Church. Let me tell you.
Thank you for a few things.
One, thank you for your prayers on John Wright's behalf.
Heather's husband,
she's our executive administrator here for the church in the Maywood Center.
After his triple bypass surgery, he was in ICU
a lot longer than what they were hoping. But he's home.
He's doing well.
And he wanted me specifically to tell you.
Thank you.
I think his words were, if I get them right,
tell the church thank you for their prayers
and for being the church, as the church is supposed to be,
just in life expressing care to him.
So that's one. So thank you.
But thank you also for your generosity.
I was reminded again this week of the incredible generosity
that that we as a church have exhibited to people that we will never meet
in the context of our leaders and our church planters and our church
planting work in, Guatemala and Cuba and even in the mission work
we're going to do in Mexico at the at all next week.
I got some,
responses from our pastors in Guatemala
telling us you thank you.
For your generous support of them.
They said one pastor said,
tell tell flip side.
Thank you.
Because it is reassuring to know that we'll be able to buy
food for our families.
But you think on one hand.
Oh, that's horrible. On one hand, that's fantastic.
So thank you.
And we have seven pastors that are planting churches,
not just holding service, but doing the physical work of, of
of pouring concrete and holding services in the open until they get a roof
over themselves and just incredible men and women doing incredible work.
So thank you on behalf of them.
And then I got an email from our lead church planter
with our network that that we, trained and support O'Neill in Cuba.
And he said that things in Cuba obviously are, are,
are, are really, really, really dire.
And in Cuba, it's gotten so bad that they truly have
no idea where the next morsel is going to come from.
But they, as churches, have decided that they will care
for the people in their community before they care for themselves.
And they said it is. There's just miracles.
They don't know how to spend where food just shows up.
Nobody has food, but food just shows up that they can feed
the hungry there in real, tangible ways.
And as a result of that, people are coming to faith.
Just like what is going on.
There's got to be a God that's doing this and getting baptized in.
And so,
he also
told me, he said that most in Cuba are really,
really scared right now,
because many of them have families in America
that are in fear of deportation for one reason or another.
And the way they've left Cuba
is they've sold all their earthly belongings, traveled to Nicaragua,
and then got, to Mexico and paid coyotes to get them,
across.
Because if you stay in Cuba, they're going to perish
and send so, so many of them are just like,
if they get deported, there's nothing, there's nothing for them to go back to.
And so there's a whole bunch of fear,
and no resources.
But they know that there's this little church in America,
that is with them in prayers and with them and finances
and is providing whatever we can to help them.
And they send their thanks.
And there are amazing men and women there
who, under this incredibly
oppressive governmental regime
that would love to see the church
eradicated, is working kingdom stuff
so that the island of Cuba can come to faith.
Just incredible people.
And so thank you and thank you for your generosity, for the work
that we're going to do in Mexico, this whole next week,
real tangible ways for people
using their spiritual gifts of service in serving
some people in destitute poverty, where we go and have ministered for years
and building houses and ministering through the spirit there.
So thank you very much for your generosity there.
And towards that end, in advance of your generosity,
I told the first service,
I'll tell you, because I want to leave you out of the blessing
that, I'm asking this church to dig a little bit deeper again
in generosity, to the tune of $7,000 more
so we can complete the work that I think God has called us to do there this year.
And so I invite you to be a part of that blessing with us.
And just by way of
housekeeping, again, I just want to let you know where we're headed today.
We're going to be in Romans 13.
But the two weeks after this palm Sunday and Easter Sunday,
I'm going to pause Romans for a moment and we're going to look at Palm Sunday.
And, and I'm going to show you in the Bible
how hundreds of years before Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we call
Paul Sunday Triumphal entry, that it was prophesied to the very day,
and Jesus, a statement on the Mount of Olives before
he went into Jerusalem in this Palm Sunday triumphal entry, was in reference
to a prophecy that was hundreds of years before, and the people just missed it.
It was so plain and they just missed it.
And it's it's an incredible passage of Scripture
that I want to explain to you next week as we look at Palm Sunday
and then Easter Sunday, the celebration.
So we're going to pause Romans after today, and we'll come back to it
after Easter.
But I'm really excited about this next two,
two Sundays to get into Palm Sunday and Easter.
And just to help us with this, Tricia mentioned
on the announcement video, we've got a devotional system.
There are 13 chapters through Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John that deal with the crucifixion and the resurrection.
And starting tomorrow, there's 13 days before Easter.
And so I want to invite you into immersing yourself
in the account of the crucifixion and the resurrection
through joining us every day, reading one chapter.
There's three chapters in Matthew three and Mark three in Luke and four, and John
that deal with the crucifixion, the resurrection.
I want to invite you to immerse yourself in that story from tomorrow
leading up to Easter. Follow along on our socials.
I think it'll be on our on our website so you know what chapter we're in as
we go through that.
But don't miss that opportunity.
I want you to dive into it.
And here's one of the reasons why.
In the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
there are 89 total chapters,
and of those 89 chapters,
only four chapters deal with the first 30 years of Jesus's life.
Do you
realize that four out of 89 deal with the first 30 years?
That means 85 of the 89 chapters in the Gospels
deal with the last three and a half years of his life,
and of that, 29
chapters deal with just the last week.
And so when you look at what God wants to communicate,
what he wants his people to center down to, to focus on
is not just the life of Jesus.
It's this week of the triumphal entry, the week leading up to that
and through that, to the to the crucifixion of the resurrection.
That's the majority of what God has to tell us
in His Word about Jesus.
And so if God went through so much focused attention on that week,
it behooves us
to dive into that week and immerse ourselves in it.
You understand? I'm saying.
And so follow along with us through this
devotional series of reading a chapter of A day starting tomorrow.
Don't miss that.
2/5 of the book of Matthew
is dedicated to the crucifixion and resurrection.
3/5 of the book of Mark is dedicated to that.
One third of the Book of Luke is dedicated to that, and one
half of the Gospel of John is dedicated to that.
God wants us to pay attention to it,
so don't miss it.
Chapter 13.
In Romans.
As I looked at this chapter,
I thought, oh my goodness, this this is one of those, man.
It's it's,
it it really is instructions on how to live right in a world
that's left what's right.
Just let that sink in a little bit.
How to live right in a world that's left.
What's right, Paul?
In, in in writing the letter to the Romans,
he spent the first two and a half chapters.
Chapters one, two and most three talking about the wrath of God because of our sin.
And then the last part of chapter three through chapter eight,
he talked about the grace of God.
And it looks God's grace looks beautiful against the backdrop of sin.
And then in verses 910, 11,
he, kind of unpacks for us,
the plan of God
through his through God's people and including us in it.
And then chapters 12 through 16,
he unpacks the will of God.
And in chapter 12 he says, the will of God is that
we were transformed by the renewing of our minds.
And part of the will of God is that we don't take vengeance,
but we leave room for God to do what God does.
And so at the end of 12, we're told to change our minds
and let God have space to do what God does.
Don't take it into our own hands.
And so the natural question after that is, well, what do you do
when you're in those situations, scenarios and systems that are unjust?
What's our response?
He just got up and said, change your mind.
How you think about this stuff.
Don't take matters into your own hands.
Well then, Paul, what do I do when I'm in a situation
scenario and system that is horrible.
And so he writes chapter 13.
Chapter 13 is a chapter that we have to wrestle with.
And we eventually, if we're going to be apprentices
after Jesus, have to submit to it's
the Word of God written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
And I don't understand it,
but I believe it.
And as we unpack it, you might not understand it either.
But if we're going to be apprentices of Jesus, we have to submit to it,
believe it, and obey it.
And so let me just I'm going to read the chapter.
It's not long. Let me just read the chapter.
Then we'll go back and unpack it.
So is what chapter 13, verse one 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 resists
what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?
Then do what is good, and you'll receive his approval.
For if 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 and avenger, who carries out
God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
Therefore, one must be in subjection
not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.
For because of this you also pay taxes,
for the authorities are ministers of God.
My goodness, attending to this very thing paid to all what is owed them.
Taxes, to whom taxes are owed.
Revenue to whom revenue was owed.
Respect to whom respect is owed and honored.
To whom honor is owed.
Oh, no one anything except to love each other
for the love, For the one who loves another.
Has fulfilled the law for the commandments you shall not commit adultery.
You shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet.
And any other commandment
are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
Therefore loves the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this, you know the time
that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep,
for salvation is
nearer to us now than when we first believed.
The night is far gone, the day is in hand.
So let us cast off the works of darkness.
And put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness,
not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy,
but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision
for the flesh to gratify desires.
That's chapter 13.
It ends on what feels like a pretty spiritual note
put off the works of darkness, don't
gratify the natural desires of lust and all that stuff.
It sounds pretty spiritual, but it starts with something
that doesn't sound spiritual, right?
It is the Word of God
written
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
It is spiritual in nature.
We have to understand this.
That you cannot follow Jesus
without submitting to the authority over you.
To understand.
You guys like I don't.
I'm not sure.
I mean, I want to say yes because I'm in church
and you ask the question as if this answer is yes, but.
You cannot follow Jesus
without submitting to the authority over you.
Let every person be subject
to the governing authorities,
for there's no authority except from God,
and those that exist have been what
they've been put there.
By whom?
Therefore,
whoever resists
the authorities resist
what God has appointed,
and those who resist will incur judgment
not just from God, but from the authorities.
For rulers
are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
At least that's the way it should be.
Would you have no fear of the one who's in authority?
Then do what's good and you'll receive his approval,
for he is God's servant, literally minister
for your good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid,
for he does not bear the sword in vain.
The real physical consequences,
for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out
God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
Therefore,
man what one must be in subjection,
not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.
For because of this,
April 15th.
For the authorities are ministers of God.
Can you imagine ministers
attending to this very thing to pay to all what is owed to them?
You owe taxes. You got to pay them
revenue from revenues owed.
Respect to him. Respect his own honors.
Honor is owed since the Word of God written under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit.
When the Bible says,
let every person that's me and you be subject to governing
authorities, that word subject
is in two connotations one, it's a military word
that means you fall in line according to your rank.
A private does not give instruction to a sergeant.
A sergeant does not give instruction to a general.
You fall in line according to your rank and in this consciousness
military contest, you and I are lesser rank than the author.
The civil and governmental authorities.
What Paul saying
so fall in line.
Can I get an amen?
Can I get a amen?
That's not begrudging. Okay.
In in in the nonmilitary world,
it means literally a voluntary attitude of giving in
a voluntary attitude of giving in
of cooperating with,
of carrying an undue burden.
See anybody give testimony
of the fact that government is an undue burden.
Amen.
And you gotta get Amen for that.
And he says submit.
Fall in line under
because there's no authority except from God.
And those in authority have been put there.
By God.
We we we gotta get this
submission to authority
has always been part of the biblical agenda.
The biblical plan.
When when Jesus.
Walked the earth.
He walked the earth under Roman authority.
Rome was the governing authority.
And the Romans made a law that they could command
any citizen or citizen,
Roman or Jew,
that a Roman soldier could command of that person
to carry their military equipment up to one mile.
Doesn't matter what your agenda is done, no matter what you have planned.
They say, carry my gear. You gotta carry them out.
Jesus came.
That was a very oppressive law.
It was very intrusive.
It wasn't fair.
And Jesus said, in light of that, don't carry it one mile.
Carry it to.
Be subject to the unjust authorities.
Right. Had.
There's no authority except from God
and those whose disobedience instituted by God.
Submission has always been part of God's standard.
Ephesians six children submit to and obey your parents.
We don't have a problem
with that Bible verse, do we can of get an Amen for that one.
Parents.
Hey man, you need to preach that a little bit more.
We have a problem with that submission.
Hebrews 13 congregation
submit to and obey your pastors and.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Don't laugh at us. I'm joking.
That is right.
Some of you're like, okay, whatever.
Civilians submit to the
authorities over you of civil government and rule.
Romans 13.
Young ones, submit and obey your elders.
First Peter five right.
Why? Why is submission such a big deal?
If any authority over that?
What?
Whoever's under the over authority has to submit
athletes to your coaches.
You don't get to talk back.
Like it doesn't work.
Yeah.
Uncatchable kids become unemployable adults.
Shut up and do what you're told.
Students submit to your teachers.
Submit to the principal.
And the school board should just do.
Don't go home because you gotta fit it in and upset
and complain to your mom or dad.
So they complain to the teacher.
Complain to the principal, complain to the school board.
Your job as a student is to submit to your teachers.
Submit to the rules.
This has always been a part of God's agenda. Why?
Because we cannot learn submission to a God
we cannot see until we learn submission to the people.
We can see.
Amen.
This is why this is so important.
Not in one arena, but in every arena.
And this arena is probably the most difficult
for American Christians.
Because we see ourselves as American Christians,
not Christians who live in America.
And the problem is, when we have
wrapped our Bible in our flag.
So when there are policies and agendas
given to us and imposed upon us by people that we don't respect and don't think
deserve honor, our American Christianity tells us to revolt
and to boycott and to lobby and to storm the Capitol.
Nobody.
That every person being willing
submission to the government authorities for there's no authority except from God.
And those who exist have been instituted by God.
Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed,
and those who resist will incur judgment.
And this ain't an easy passage.
It's not an easy passage.
It's the same thing that is all through Scripture.
First Timothy two.
First of all, then
I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings
be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions.
Pray for them.
That we may
we may lead peaceful and quiet life,
godly and dignified in every way.
This is good and it's pleasing in the sight of God
our Savior, who desires all people to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth, live peaceful and quiet lives.
Not lives of boycott
and parades
and storming capitals.
This has always been God's standard
because until we learn submission to those we can't see, we will never learn.
Submission.
Full submission to the one we cannot.
Listen, I want us to understand this.
Wow. Where is the role of civil disobedience?
Because there is a role.
There is a time for civil disobedience.
Make no mistake about it.
It's just not usually
for what we would choose to be
civilly disobedient.
It's easy for us to get up in arms for the things that make us uncomfortable
and seem like it's just not fair.
But but the point, the point is, is.
Being
a good Christian means being a good citizen,
until being a good citizen makes you a bad Christian.
Make no mistake about it, being a good Christian means being a good citizen.
Submit to the authorities that are over you until being a good citizen
makes you a bad Christian.
And there is a time, perhaps,
when being a good citizen would make you a bad Christian.
And in those times you resist,
and those times you disobey.
In acts five,
chapter two, chapter five, verse 29, Peter and the apostles answered
the governing authorities, we must obey God rather than you.
There is a time, but the context of that is after
Peter had been preaching Jesus in the open and they said, you cannot do that.
And he continued to preach Jesus.
It wasn't about taxes, it wasn't about policy.
And in continuing to preach, he was arrested.
And upon his release, they warned him, don't do it again.
And he said,
if that is your law that I cannot preach Jesus, I have to obey God rather than men.
That's the context of civil disobedience.
When obeying the law
makes me transgress clear Scripture, but it better be clear
there is a time for civil disobedience.
It's the midwives
in the Old Testament, in Exodus,
that the command of the president, Pharaoh
was to kill the Hebrew baby boys, and the midwives feared
God more than Pharaoh and would not kill the baby boys, save them.
That's how Moses came to be civil disobedience.
They knew that to obey the law would be to condemn the Scripture.
God's heart.
There is a time,
but only when it transgresses clear Scripture.
When the Christians in the first central, actually
the fifth or ninth century, we're told you may not hold public services.
They still health services.
They did it in the catacombs in Rome.
They didn't shut their doors.
So there is a time
when it transgresses a clear scripture,
but only when it transgresses clear Scripture.
It's Daniel three.
When the king of Babylon said, I'm
going to build the statue and you have to bow to me.
And three young teenage boys said, we will not bow to you.
Throw us in the furnace if you want to.
We're willing to die in the furnace.
God might save us, might not.
Doesn't matter.
But to bow to
you means I transgress Scripture.
And being a good citizen, make me a bad Christian.
I'm not going to do it.
I had nothing to do with, with like with, with taxes and the
you know what the deal had to do with the worship of Christ.
Same thing.
Daniel six
and when, when when Daniel was told, you can't,
you can't do this faith thing anymore in public.
Daniel went to his room, opened up the window so everybody could
see him, and prayed as he normally did, and was thrown in the lion's den.
There's a time
for resistance, but only when it transgresses
the clear teaching of Scripture.
When to be a good citizen.
Don't make me a bad Christian.
I will be a good Christian.
Follow me.
So far it's spirit.
We got to be very careful.
He is God's servant.
If you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.
This hearkens back to Genesis nine six.
If a man sheds man's blood by man, his blood will be shed.
Its capital punishment.
And it's in Scripture.
And Paul says, listen, there's real consequences for disobedience.
So if you're going to be disobeying it, it better be worth it.
The only thing worth it is to uphold God's Word.
For he is the servant of God, an avenger
who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
Therefore, one must be in subjection
not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for conscience.
Say, for because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities
are ministers of God, according to this very thing, ministers of God.
Minister Biden.
Deacon Trump is
that word, Minister, that Paul uses
is the Greek word dac and neo, which means deacon.
It's the same word as church leaders.
That's how Paul interprets
God's authority given to man, that they are ministers. Now
to be obeyed.
Is this hard for us?
Yeah.
I guarantee you,
this teaching does not reflect the attitude
and the actions of our country in the past decade or so.
Am I right?
And we're told in Timothy to lead peaceful, quiet lives. Why?
Because God wants people to come to him. There is enough.
There is little that's more repulsive than political right.
Agendas.
That get so wrapped up
in their patriotism they forget about the person of Christ
and that wrap their Bibles in their flag.
And the problem is, so much so that Christians have looked
have not looked any different than non-Christians when it comes
to the political world these days.
Because of this, you pay taxes.
What a great.
What a great chapter to study.
Right at the beginning of April, the.
Said when
Paul, when Jesus talked about submitting to the authorities,
he was living under the rule of Herod.
Understand Herod was the one
who commanded all the baby boys
in Bethlehem area two years and under to be killed.
And Jesus said.
You still have the authorities.
Not in killing babies.
That would be contrary to the word.
But he didn't say lobby and
boycott and protest and.
Garner online support by your posts.
When Paul wrote this to the Christians in Rome, writing for those Roman
Christians and Hebrew Christians, he said, you are of a different citizenry now,
the one who was in charge in Roman Paul wrote this, that all leaders
are instituted by God and have God's wrath like it was under Caesar.
Nero.
Caesar Nero was so was such a despot
that he would take Christians and have them arrested and tie them on stakes,
douse him in oil and light them on fire so he could look at his gardens
at night.
And Paul says, be subject to authority
because they are there by God's choosing.
Sometimes God puts people in authority for blessing,
and sometimes God puts people in authority to bring judgment.
But they're there nonetheless.
Can you imagine,
Paul, under that?
Nero was the one who would have Paul arrested and beheaded.
And Paul still said.
Submit.
This is hard.
Look at submission.
Submission is mean surrender
to a sovereign God,
and we don't get to understand
in his sovereignty why he chooses some in leadership and not others.
We just get to submit.
We have to be very careful
not to wrap our Bible in our flag.
We have to be very careful.
We are in a wonderful position in America,
this democratic republic, to vote, and we need to vote
biblically, please,
whenever that time comes to vote.
But we have to understand that our job as Christians in
America is not to establish a Christian nation.
Our job is to establish the Kingdom of God,
and the kingdom of God is different than a quote unquote Christian nation.
We think if we get the right people in the right places
who believe the right things, that the nation will become Christianized.
That's not how it works.
We have to be very careful
not to settle for a kingdom polity, thinking that
if the policies are just, people will be just.
That's not how it works.
Our hope is not in a person, in a house.
Our hope is in the person of Christ.
Paid taxes to whom taxes are owed.
Went. Went.
When Paul wrote this, I don't know if how familiar with the tax system in Rome.
You think ours is convoluted and bad.
There was.
There was for everybody in Rome under the Roman authority.
There was a tribute.
Which is a was a 1 to 3% tax on all
everything you own, every thing you own,
not just income, everything you own.
There was a 1 to 3% tax on it.
If you owned it, you paid taxes on it.
Right off the bat.
There was a poll tax.
The poll tax was a tax on just on having the freedom,
the opportunity to breathe Roman air.
You were taxed on the air that you breathe
for man, for the time you're 16 till you're 60 women
from the time you're 14 till you're 60.
There was a tax on being able to breathe Roman air.
Can you imagine?
There was a wheel tax.
Anything you own that has a wheel you pay
taxes on and the tax code went up.
Depending on how many wheels there were,
the more wheels, the more tax
there was a produce tax a 10th of everything
you produce a 10th of it right off the bat goes to government.
There was a fish tax, a 10th of every fish that you caught,
every 10th, every first of ten fishes went to the government.
There was inheritance tax.
Anything that was passed on to you from anybody else, 5% right off the top,
there was an import
export tax on anything that left or came
in, not just like from business, like anything,
those who collected taxes on behalf of Rome
were given the authority to not just cut the responsibility, collect what
Rome said, but the, the the authority to go beyond that and collect
how much more taxes you wanted to add on to it, to,
to pad their own pockets.
It was incredibly unjust,
incredibly oppressive.
That was Rome.
That's that's what's in place when Paul's writing this.
It's estimated that in Rome,
half of the population of Rome were slaves.
Some estimates for every Roman citizen there were three slaves.
And Paul says he doesn't say revolt.
He didn't say hold parades and boycotts and lobby.
This is unjust.
He didn't say.
What's he say?
I'm sorry.
Maybe you haven't heard a thing I've said so far
that every person be subject to the governance.
Or what does he say?
Is this hard? Yes.
Thank you.
But this is our problem.
We see ourselves as American Christians,
and as long as we're patriots
before we're apprentices,
we're going to struggle with this.
Pay taxes.
You know, if if Jesus paid it all, I can pay
my taxes.
Nowhere in Scripture do we see the instruction, nor
the example of church boycotts, lobbying, threats to overthrow the government.
But I don't see it anywhere.
I mean, Jesus is the one who said, listen,
if they ask you to do this and it's unfair, go the extra mile for them.
Have I spent enough time on
the first seven verses?
No one.
Oh no one anything except a love each other for the love
for, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments.
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.
You shall not covet any other commandment.
It's all summed up in this one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Listen it.
It's it's real simple. Here.
Love is the only debt that grows the more you pay it.
He says your taxes pay it, sooner you pay it.
You done, your honor. Give the person are sinners.
They're not like you're.
The love is the only debt that grows the more you pay it.
Love is the only debt that you will never fully pay off.
And the more you pay the love debt, the more that love grows.
You understand? I'm saying
when you're talking about
when he says, oh, knowing anything except two to love one another, he's
not talking about borrowing and lending like a lot of people use this.
First.
You should never, ever, ever, you know, get into a borrower lender situation.
There's there's caveats to that.
Proverbs 22 seven.
It says the borrower always be slave to the lender.
And so they're like it don't say don't do what it should say.
Be very careful,
because if you borrow, you're going to be a slave to the one you borrowed from.
So so have some wisdom to this.
But in Matthew five.
In Luke six, Jesus talks about borrowing and lending in the sermon on the Mount.
And he doesn't say, don't do it.
He just says, listen, if you're going to get into that situation
as a Christian and as a Christian, you're going to lend.
A Christian lender cannot charge interest from a fellow Christian.
To be wise about this.
The he makes provision for lending as long as is done in wisdom
and not at exorbitant debt for greed, not needs.
The point of this whole thing is the debt of love.
And he says, you pay that and you keep paying it
because it's the only debt that you will never completely pay off.
And we owe it to each other.
And honestly, if we think about it,
our love for others is the measure of our obedience, he says.
When you love others, you fulfill the whole are.
You want to be obedient?
Then act in loving ways towards each other.
Because when I love you, I'm not going to transgress against you.
And when I transgress against you is because I'm not showing you love.
You understand?
You understand.
Besides
this, you know the time.
Besides this.
You know the time that the hour has
come for you to wake up
from your sleep.
For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
The night is far gone.
The day is at hand.
So let us cast off the works of darkness.
And put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness,
not in sexual immorality is to join, not in quarreling and jealousy. Ha!
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh,
to gratify its nature.
As he saying, listen, some of you have slept.
Walk your way through faith.
Wake up, wake up!
We've gotten so wrapped up in the periphery.
Things of government and oversight.
Wake up.
You know the time.
It's time to wake up.
We must not sleepwalk through our walk
with Jesus. Yet.
Salvation is nearer now than ever before.
Jesus is closer to coming back today than he was yesterday.
Wake up!
It's time to get eyes wide open
and he become sober and serious about this
walk of faith.
Sleep no longer.
The night is far gone.
The day is at hand.
Don't keep hitting the snooze button on your faith. And.
Put on Christ.
Put him on.
We have to understand that
every morning you get dressed spiritually in Christ.
You don't go into battle wearing pajamas.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Wake up.
Take off your PJs.
Put on Christ.
Get sober serious about this.
He says make no provision for the flesh, to gratify a sense
that word provision, it means literally don't provide for it anymore.
Don't supply it resources anymore.
Here's what here's what he's saying.
He's saying some of us who call ourselves Christians
are sleepwalking our way through faith.
And though we're saved, and though we're forgiven eternally,
we're still feeding the resource line
of sin in our lives.
We're still keeping those resources flowing.
And he says, make no provision for cut that off.
He said, I know you like flirting with sin,
and I know you're relying on God's goodness, mercy and grace
to give you eternal forgiveness.
But it's time to wake up and to cut off the supply line and make no provision.
Cut. Don't keep feeding that sin that you're so comfortable
with that you've ignored for so long.
Make no provision.
Don't supply it with resources anymore.
I'm just going to dabble a little bit in it.
Yeah, make no supply line.
You got $2.
You can only feed one. What are the $2 going to live?
The one you feed.
Wake up.
Don't dabble in this anymore.
The Bible talks about this enemy and then the return of Christ
who says, don't be asleep.
But he shows up.
Some of us have got these supply lines that we're feeding
minds little sins, just like,
Don't feed it
so that you gratify it anymore.
Here's what he's saying.
Sin doesn't thrive without a supply line.
In my life and your life
and our lives, sin does not survive without a supply line.
And so the question we have to ask ourselves and come to terms
with in, in, in, in profound honesty is what sin am
I still resourcing?
To understand.
And when I get
more concerned or worked up about someone else's sin
than I am repentant about my own.
Sleepwalking?
Yeah.
And so, my dear friends.
Identify
what your resourcing
and how you're resourcing.
The very thing that's working against your freedom in Christ.
And make a plan to cut it off.
And that plan to cut off the supply line
begins with confession and repentance.
And when confession and repentance are in place,
then we can work the plan.
But it begins with confession
and repentance.
And so.
It's time to wake up.
And in confession and repentance,
cut off the supply line.
Because you are choosing this day
to wake up.
The alarm clock is sounding.
Don't hit the snooze button anymore.
I want you to pray with me.
Father, thank you for your word.
I thank you that it is alive and active in
willing to, and able to cut us to the very core,
and then to mend us and repair us.
Thank you for your mercy.
Thank you for your grace.
And thank you for the opportunity to repent.
And, father, as we repent,
give us all that your grace allows.
Father, there are some here this morning
that are choosing in this moment to wake up
that Holy Spirit you have convicted.
You have spoken about the sleepwalk of our lives.
And we realize that the alarms going off and it's time to wake up.
So hear our prayers right now,
friends, I want to invite you in this moment
to choose to answer the alarm and wake up.
And would you, in this moment,
avail yourself to both confession and repentance?
To say, father, I'm sorry for my sin.
I'm sorry that I have kept the supplying
supply line open.
I have dabbled,
and I've swum in the deep end of sin
for far too long.
I continue to feed that dog in my life
and I want freedom from it.
And so I confess it to you.
Would you just be honest with God right now?
God, I'm sorry.
I confess it to you and then repent.
Say, God, I,
I will do whatever I can do in my power to go
the other way, to run from it, to cut off the supply line.
Give me resources I don't yet have.
I may be free.
Father, would you call us to wake up?
Would we respond and wake up?
Would we choose to cut off the supply line to sin in our lives?
That we would choose that life no more,
that we would realize?
Jesus, you are closer today than you've ever been before,
that you would cause us to live sober and alert,
lives.
That we'd wake up.
Friends, in this moment, just with your.
Just in this moment of prayer, this moment of between us and God.
I'm going to ask you to do this.
If that's your prayer, if that's your desire,
I want I'm choosing to wake up.
I don't want to sleep one way through this.
I need to cut the supply line.
I want to pray over you specifically.
Would you just simply shift, slip your hand up and keep it up?
I want to be able to pray over you and I want you to receive this.
Thank you, thank you good.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Good. Keep them up.
Like just is you and God. But I want you to receive this. Good.
Thank you, thank you.
Good. There you go. Good
good good good.
There. Thank you. Good.
Thank you. Good good good good.
These are commitments.
This is this is biblical and unlisted.
Just just as an act of reset.
Thank you.
As an after we just receive this for a moment
with your hand up to God, just receive this.
Thank you
father.
These you thank you
that your word says that your eyes are range to and fro about the.
Or to see those hearts
who are fully yours, that you may fully and strongly support them.
These hands, these in this moment
are saying, father, I want to wake up and I want to cut the supply line.
Father, would you do that in them and through them?
Let them walk in a way
that is consistent with the calling that you have placed on their lives.
Would you empower them and and do them with your Holy Spirit,
that it would come on them and be in them to enable them to walk
in ways that they've never previously been able to walk because of the
the gift of your spirit, because of your mercy and your grace,
that they
not relying on their own ability, but they would rely on your presence
in their lives.
And that in this moment you would in them break their supply line,
that they have kept open of sin in their lives,
that you would remove that, that you would break that you,
that you would set them free in this moment,
I pray they receive this
in faith by your mercy and grace, and in these that you would do this
powerful, strong work in personal and profound
and intimate ways.
That we would live lives that are wide awake
slaves.
No more.
You put your hands down.
And, father, thank you that you've heard
our prayers, that you see our heart,
that you are faithful
so we can be faithful.
I pray all these things in your name, Jesus.
Amen.
This a man.
I'm so proud of you.
So proud of you.
This is my ask.
I would I would love David. What?
I mean, we would love to be able to just to say, hey, let's just pray.
Personally, I was first I praying
with someone down here in the corner, just personally like some personal stuff.
It it's just good to do that.
And so just let us, let us know how we can walk with you through this.
We want to be able to do that.
But I also want to encourage you, those little cards that you have there,
but you just take those out and fill those out
and turn those into a little bucket.
Those are those start here
booth or somewhere just so we can we can know, look, we're with you.
We're in this. We want to resource you,
communicate it.
It's not love you.
You've been so good to go through 13 chapters so far.
We got a few more to go, but we're going to pause it
now and get into Palm Sunday and Easter.
Some animal scripture is going to your minds.
It's going to go in the world. Never seen that before.
It's beautiful.
But make sure that you're with this.
Read these devotions every day leading up to that.
Good. Yeah, I love you.
I'm proud of you is a freaking good church.
Yeah,
he's got two weeks now to put the hammer down and invite your huddle.
Palm Sunday and Easter. You got it.
And I. Let's sing. Thank you. Jeff.