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You You You You Good morning, everyone. Welcome to first works baptist church. Let's all find our seats As you find your seats, go ahead grab a song book turn to song number 423 joy to the world Song number 423 as our first song. Let's all stand together for this first song if you're able Song number 423 joy to the world All together nice and strong on that first verse Joy to the world the Lord has come let earth receive her King Let Every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing Joy to the world the Savior rains let men their songs employ While fields and floods rocks hills and plains repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy repeat repeat the sounding joy No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground His blessings flow Far as the curse is found far as the curse is found far as far as the curse is found He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nation's The glories of his righteousness And wonders of his love and wonders of his love and wonders Wonders of his love Amen wonderful singing let's start off our service with a word of prayer Dear Lord God Heavenly Father We just thank you for allowing us to come here to your house this morning Lord And we thank you for allowing us to have a church like this where we can fellowship with like-minded brethren and we can Have a pastor Lord who preaches your word rightly and divides the word of truth correctly And I ask that you please just bless every aspect of this service this morning Lord I ask that you please bless the singing and please fill past from here with your spirit as he preaches your word unto us Give us your spirit also Lord in the congregation that we may leave here at a fine in Jesus name. We pray amen You may be seated Please turn to song number 427 Song number 427 we three kings of orient are Song number 427 all together nice and strong on that first verse we three kings of orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar field and fountain moor and Mountain following yonder star. Oh Star of wonder star of night star with royal beauty bright Westward leading still Proceeding guide us to thy perfect line Born a king on Bethlehem's plain To crown him again King forever Seizing never over us all to rain Star of wonder star of night Beauty bright Westward leading still Proceeding guide us to thy perfect line Frankincense to offer have I Incense owns a deity night prayer and Praising all men raising worship him God on high Oh Star of wonder star of night Beauty bright Westward leading still Proceeding guide us to thy perfect line Murr is mine it's bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering bloom Sorrowing sighing bleeding dying sealed in the stone Star of wonder star of night star with royal beauty bright Westward leading still Proceeding guide us to thy perfect line Glorious now behold him arise King and God and sacrifice Hallelujah hallelujah peals through the earth and skies Oh Westward leading still proceeding guide us to thy perfect All right, great singing thank you for being here this morning Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song which will be 433 away in a manger if you want to get that ready in your song books If you did not get a bulletin go in and raise your hand One of the ushers can get one for you some important information on there of course our Sunday morning services at 1030 Sunday evening is at 5 p.m. And Then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock and we are currently going through the book of second Samuel So I want to encourage you to be here on Thursday evenings for that Bible study You see the so many times and teams the list of expecting mothers and the important reminders there If you can make sure you read that and abide by it today is the December birthday breakfast We're gonna celebrating the birthdays in the month of December. And so whose birthday is in December? Got one right over here one right there one right there for the Maury. Thank you. All right anybody else? Brother Ulysses birthday is also I'll say it for him. He's not here right now, but hits his birthday anybody else Did I miss anybody? All right, let's sing. Happy birthday to everyone in the month of December Ready happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday. God bless you Happy birthday to you All right Happy birthday to you all Of course this Saturday, December 10th. We have the Christmas caroling you can go on the website fwbcla.org For more information about that We'll be meeting here at the building and we'll have some refreshments right before we go out First works Christmas program is on Saturday, December 17th You are welcome to invite your family and friends to that and I know the kids have been working hard but the Maury and the Christmas team have been doing a great job over the last couple of months and so Looking forward to a great program Christmas service. It will be on Sunday, December 25th, and we are gonna have services back-to-back So essentially we're gonna start at 1030. We'll have some some Christmas lunch and then shortly thereafter, we'll have another service and we'll fellowship thereafter and so It'll just be back-to-back on that day And then the following week would be the New Year's Day service on the first of course No food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee Make sure you're not loitering in the foyer Fellowship Hall during the preaching service and then of course quiet time this afternoon from 3 p.m. To 4 15 throughout the whole building and Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service All right, and that is it. Let's go to see our next songs 433 away in a manger song number 433 Oh Song number 433 away in a manger Altogether nice and strong on that first verse Away in a manger no crib for a bed the little Lord Jesus Laid down his sweet head The stars in the sky Look down where he lay the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay the cattle are lowing the baby Awaits but little Lord Jesus no crying He makes I love the Lord Jesus look down from the sky and Stay by my cradle till morning is nigh Be near me Lord Jesus Close by me forever And love me I pray bless all the dear children in thy tender care and Take us to heaven to live with thee there Amen wonderful seeing at this time the ushers will come forth to collect the offering and you can turn in your Bibles to 1st Peter chapter number 2 You You You You First Peter chapter 2 the Bible reads Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and Hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby If so be you've tasted that the Lord is gracious to him coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men But chosen of God and precious He also has lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious He that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious but to them which be Disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same has made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of Offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient run to also they were appointed but ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him with called you out of darkness and was marvelous light Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy Dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul Having a conversation honest among the Gentiles and whereas they speak against you as evildoers They may buy your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation submit yourselves to every ordinance a man for the Lord's sake where there be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto Him that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as Free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness But as the servants of God honor all men love the Brotherhood fear God honor the king Servants be subject to your own masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward But this is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully Or what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently But if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently This is acceptable with God for even here unto where you call because Christ also suffered for us Leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again, but he's when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him the judges Righteously whose own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live in a righteousness By whose stripes you were healed for years for you were a sheep going astray But are now returned under the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls, let's pray to Lord God I thank you for this opportunity to gather here for the preaching of your word Just ask that you would meet with us here now this morning Please just bless pastor me here with the Holy Spirit And please just help us to receive your word with all readiness of mine help us to be better Christians and in Jesus name we pray Amen Amen, okay. We're in 1st Peter chapter number 2 this morning and look down at your Bibles in verse number 13 It says here submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king as Supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do Well for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put the silence to ignorance of foolish men Listen to this in verse 16 as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness But as the servants of God and it's how does the sermon this morning is the alternative to God-given authority the alternative To God-given authority, you know sometimes our God-given authority can seem pretty bad or maybe there's some certain qualities or aspects or Just you know characteristics of our authorities that we may not appreciate or like But you know, they seem pretty bad until we compare them to the its alternative. Okay, so we compare them to its inferior Alternative and then we recognize well, we didn't have it as bad as we thought we did, you know as Christians We should always be characterized by Advocate for and obey authority. And in fact, this should always be our default setting as Christians Okay that we ultimately as Christians for the most part want to obey authority we want to promote authority and we want to be people who are characterized by promoting and Advocating for that God-given authority now, why is that? Well for two reasons Number one is so that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life without hindrances to our service to God You see the reason we would want to obey any type of authority is because we want to have the Liberty To be able to serve God without any hindrances without any roadblocks Without people stopping us from doing so and then of course number two so that men can be saved. Okay? We want people to be saved. We know that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance We know that God wants all men to be saved and that is his will and So we want to make sure that we obey authorities so that we can have continue to have that privilege by God Now, let me say this is that you know, if we're not careful Christians can because of the fact that we're such in a horrible state in our country in our nation There's so many bad leaders out there We can have such a bad taste in our mouth because of leadership that we just have a tendency to just buck all Authority we just rebel against all authority and it's getting to a point where Christians today are even questioning the Bible or You know, they have a tendency to just kind of have a rebellious nature towards Christianity towards churches towards the Word of God and these are people who claim to be Christian now Obviously, we don't know everyone on social media if they're saved. I would say that the vast majority are probably not But there's people who you know claim the name of Christ they claim to believe the Word of God They claim to believe in Jesus They say Jesus is King they say all these things and they give lip service to biblical doctrines but then you know They also say things they question the Word of God or they don't necessarily question the Word of God, but they promote other You know apocryphal books that are completely contrary to God's Word and in doing so undermine God's Word Okay, and so, you know We can get to a point as Christians Where the authority gets so bad that people feel like they just need to question everything question every single authority that's out there and not necessarily Obey authority now, obviously there's times when God given authority Forfeits their right to lead right, you know, they forfeit their right to lead When they demand obedience That crosses the line and would cause us to sin You understand for example if our nation ever gets to a point where they just outlaw sowing the outlaw biblical preaching They outlaw meeting in church right congregating together. Well, they've crossed the line Okay at that point we say we rather obey God than man and you can jump in the lake of fire You can throw us in jail if you want, but don't try to tread on our Religious liberties and what God tells us to do, you know When you try to cross that line tell us tell us to disobey God at that point We disobey you because you essentially have forfeited your right to lead you understand So there are times in a nation there are times in a church There are times in a home where maybe a leader can forfeit their right to lead By seeking to lead in a way that's contrary to God's Word Okay, now you're in 1st Peter go with me if you would to go to 1st Peter chapter 4 Let me read to you a couple verses here in 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse number 1 Says I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions And giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God And our Savior who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth now A lot of Christians don't like to mention verses like this, but these verses exist in the Bible my friends. Okay now obviously We don't have kings in the United States of America. Amen, and you know we actually have something worse actually, you know But nevertheless we don't have kings But the principle still applies that we ought to pray for all men pray for all those that are in authority And I don't think this means what a lot of people have taught me in times past You know oh we need to pray for a Biden to get saved or something like that in my personal opinion He can't get saved. Okay. I think that guy is a flaming reprobate who hates the Lord He hates the Word of God. You know I prayed that he would just stay out of our business That's my prayer. I prayed that those who are in authority and governmental authority Just leave us alone as Christians, and you know you can corrupt this world as much as you want That's on you, but I'm gonna seek to be a light in this world, and so just leave our church alone Leave me alone. Don't try to hinder my preaching. Don't try to hinder our soul winning us serving God Let us lead a quiet and peaceable life so we can serve the Lord, okay But let's talk about some alternatives to God-given authority because again We can easily just complain about all the authorities that God has given to us in our life Maybe because they lack some some sort of quality They are a hindrance to us, but here's the thing is that sometimes you can't change that so we have to look at the alternative and When we compare our current authority with its all inferior alternative you kind of realize man I guess we don't have it as bad, okay So it's it's more of a what's your perspective type of a thing? Let's let's look at a couple things here first and foremost. Let's look at the alternative to governmental authority Because you know the reality is this is that yes, you know we live in a nation that has a terrible leader Who terrible leaders okay that are involved in a lot of corruption and They're obviously very wicked when you compare it to God's Word But here's the thing is that you know not to speak lightly of our government The United States of America is still better than what a lot of other nations have The alternative you understand like the alternative would be like communism And you know what as bad as Biden is as bad as you know Governor Newsom is and they're really wicked. You know they're they actually look pretty good in comparison to communist, China, okay? Now I know that they try to act like they're communist China in California But the reality is this you know what we have here is better than what they have in Cambodia It's better than the way they have in Venezuela, right? It's better than what they have in Cuba and all these other areas that just have really corrupt governments and obviously our government Is seeking to get to that point, but we're not there, okay? And so we need to make sure that we appreciate what we have here because at the end of the day We can still go out and preach the gospel here without hindrance now obviously if The law said you can no longer preach God's Word you can't preach the gospel We're still gonna do it, and it's gonna be very difficult right They're gonna throw us in jail or who knows what can happen thereafter, but you know what we're not at that point yet You know we after the service groups are gonna go out and preach the gospel We still have the liberty to go whatever city we want to and have our invitations and preach God's Word We're live on YouTube right now. You know preaching to whoever wants to listen to the Word of God We're not meeting in some underground church Right in you know Laos communist Laos Because we don't want to get in trouble with the law we preach freely amen And we can believe freely and obviously there's people who call what we believe hate speech and whatever all this nonsense But who cares we can do it freely we still live in a country where these things are permissible And so you know as much as America is going down the toilet fast And going to hell in a handbasket. It's not going as fast as the other nations Okay, some of these other nations have already been flushed in my opinion Understand we're still in that spiral, but we haven't reached the pipe yet you understand Now look at 1st Peter chapter 4 You said what are you are you saying that we should just obey our government even when they Institute unbiblical laws No, obviously not because you know that would cause us to transgress God's laws that would cause us to violate God's Principles what I'm saying is you know as Christians. We should obviously seek to just be obedient Servants in our community obedient servants in our country by not breaking the law Right we shouldn't be labeled as criminals as Christians understand in fact look at 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 14 It says if you'd be reproached for the name of Christ Happy are you what does it mean to be reproached? It's a word that people don't commonly use today to be reproached is to be reviled to be hated When people speak evil of you when people mock you they hate you They lie about you because of the fact that you are a Christian you're being reproached For the name of Christ he says here happy are ye now That is the complete opposite message of what a lot of churches teach right? You know if you're if you are being persecuted because you're preaching against whatever you know oh you're being a bad testimony Well yeah, you're being a bad testimony to those who don't know God's Word But you're being a great testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ Because you're you know that pleases God when you preach God's Word and not everyone in this world is gonna Accept what we teach from the Word of God and in fact. They're gonna hate what you teach from God's Word They're gonna hate what you believe They're gonna speak evil of those things because of the fact that the course of this world is completely contrary to God's Word, okay? So we should never seek to please this world we want to win this world But never seek to please it this world is wicked, okay? So the Bible tells us we should be happy when we're approached Why should we be happy when we're approached for Christ's sake it's because of the fact that it's confirmation that what we're doing is right if You have no hate if no one is is is you know mocking you if the whole world is pleased with you The unsaved the Satanists like you the LGBTQ like you if everyone in this world likes you then you're not a good Christian right You're lame Christian at that Because of the fact that the Bible says that when you were approached It's because you're living right because yay all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution Not might not it's a possibility. He says you will suffer persecution if you're living godly So what is the alternative to that well if you're not suffering persecution means you're not living godly But It says here if you be reproachful the name of Christ happy are you? For the spirit of glory and of God resteth on you upon you on their part. He's evil spoken of but on your part He is glorified Well listen to this verse 15 Well let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody and other Men's matters. He says if you know suffering is part of life Especially if you're a Christian you're gonna suffer for the cause of Christ if you're living godly But you better never suffer as a murderer Better never suffer as an evildoer as a thief as an extortioner. You should never suffer as a criminal Why because the default setting for every Christian is that we're law-abiding citizens This is what it means to obey governments. This means we're obeying them in a sense that we're not committing crimes And you know what as wicked as the United States is you know murder is still a crime You know theft is still a crime and obviously you can point to things like well, then you know abortion or whatever Yeah, I get that okay But in general you can't just go and murder someone out on the street and it'd be okay or something just shoot someone And it's it's just fine You know murder is still considered by our nation as a crime and the Bible is telling us we should be law-abiding citizens We should never be characterized by people or as people That Glorion or think it's okay to partake in criminal activity right and here's the thing with this with this generation is that because of social media because of You know Hollywood and because of the movies you know violence has become very permissible to Christians for some reason Where it's just like you know they take this self-defense thing so far that it's just like the almost glory They almost hope someone breaks into their home, so they can shoot them or something like that You guys know what I'm talking about too You know obviously you know we have the right to defend our families and defend our spouses and defend our children But we ought to pray to God that that and we're never placed in that position though to take someone else's life Because that's still called you know taking someone else's life You know, but you know I guarantee you this Christians out there. They're just waiting for that opportunity They just want someone to just break in because they got their themselves a new gun Or whatever and they're just hoping someone just comes in so they can just blast them away. You know I don't have that desire He said you own guns. I have one gun and It's somewhere in my house. No. I'm just kidding. You know I know where it's at And someone bought it for me years ago when I lived in Long Beach Because someone you know there's there's a police chase and some guy had basically Crashed his vehicle because he was being chased by the police and he got out of his car and he ran and he ran to someone's house, and he stabbed a bunch of people and It was right down the street from us, and you know it was just a horrible ordeal So everyone in the neighborhood was just like oh, man. We all need to get guns which I'm all for you know But I've never used it. I mean we use it at the gun range. That's about it, but even since then I've never used it, and you know what I never want to use it. I just be honest with you You know I appreciate guns, and I think they're great, but I don't you know daydream about You know concealed carrying hoping that someone will run up on me because you know because they want that smoke or something like that I Don't hope for that at all because I don't glory and taking another man's life even if it is for self-defense You know our desire should be that we we want to stray away from that we don't want that We're Christians are supposed to be marked by by being peaceable Understand and the same thing with fighting You know we should never desire to just all man I hope this guy just says something to me because I'm gonna knock him out or something you know that's not necessarily a godly perspective or a godly attitude you know Obviously we understand that we have to defend our families if it ever comes to that situation You know we should step up and and defend our families and yes knock someone out if they're trying to violate our spouses our children We understand that but you know what let me just say this is that most likely if you're just living a godly life It's just never gonna happen She's never gonna happen. You know it almost happened to me one time, but even then it still didn't happen You know and at the end of the day the horses are prepared against the day about I know that's everyone every gun Owners favorite verse to use, but if the verse doesn't finish You know is you know horses are prepared against the day of battle, but what but safety is of the Lord And a lot of people want to use it to say oh, man We have to be prepared by having guns by knowing how to fight, and I'm all for that But that's not what the verse is teaching actually The verse is teaching as people prepare horses against the day of battle because that's what they're depending on But we depend upon the safety of the Lord Understand and so yeah, you know we should be law-abiding citizens Should not suffer as evildoers Look at go to Romans chapter 13 and Then we're gonna go to Isaiah chapter 3 Romans chapter 13 You shouldn't suffer as an evildoer shouldn't suffer as a thief as an extortioner You know you shouldn't be a criminal. We should abide by these laws and and and not be involved in criminal activity at all Look at Romans 13 verse number 1 It says let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power But of God the powers that be are ordained of God now power is another word another way of saying authority and Essentially what he's saying is that we need to be subject Submissive to the higher powers now obviously the highest power in the land get this is not the Constitution Although it's a pretty powerful document, but let me say this it's losing its power Not because it doesn't have power, but because people are stripping it of its power and seeking to remove it But it's okay because there's a document that's actually more powerful than the Constitution and that is God's Word Okay, which is the highest power in the land in the world in the universe, okay? and So we see here tear you have God's Word and of course in the United States of America you have the Constitution and Then you have powers that come thereafter and the Bob is telling us to be subject unto them because God is ordained for them To be over us he says in verse number two Whosoever therefore resist that the power resist at the ordinance of God, and then they resist shall receive to themselves damnation Now this doesn't mean that if you disobey the authority that God has put in place that you're gonna go to hell Because that's what we think of like damnation damnation here in its context is referring to just punishment so God's purpose for Government is not to you know Tax us and and Rob us and tell us to get vaccinated and impose all these stupid laws According to Romans chapter 13 the purpose of the government is to punish evildoers punish criminals Look what it says in verse 3 for rulers are not a terror to good works But today they are a terror to good works. You do good and you're punished for it He Says rulers are not a terror to good works But to the evil wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and that's how I praise it the Same for he referring to that power is the 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 So what's the implication here? The implication is that governmental authority the purpose of governmental authority is to praise us when we do good and To punish people when they do bad you say what do you mean like with the ticket? you don't give a ticket with the sword a Sword is for executing which is not considered murder in the Bible Okay It's for people who deserve the death penalty So when people commit capital crimes that the Bible says are worthy of death The Bible says that the government should be the one instituting that You understand so sodomites pedophiles murderers kidnappers Those who commit bestiality according to the Bible these people are worthy of death This doesn't mean that we as a church or anybody else should go out and be a vigilante when no one's Batman here. Okay? Batman didn't respect authority. All right, you know, I was teaching that who should be doing this the government should okay and It says here that They should be praising those who do good They should actually be protecting those who do good Right and I'll give you an example of this believe it or not in El Monte when we were there There is a there's an instance when we're off soul winning and those it was getting late We're off soul winning and a police pulls up and we're thinking ourselves Oh, man They're gonna give us a hard time because we're going through the gates or whatever and they just looked at it They said hey, are you guys okay out here? We're like, yeah, I was like, all right. Keep it up he's like we just want to make sure you guys are safe and For me. I was just like thank you for doing your job That's exactly what they're supposed to be doing is protecting the soul winners And even when we were protested they did their job They literally stood out in front of our church, you know and and protected our church and stood in the way You know to protect us and took our side because that's exactly what they're supposed to do. Okay, and So we see here that That is our authority now, here's the thing is that the government doesn't Institute everything that I just said You know, I don't even know this this anywhere in the United States is the death penalty still even a thing Florida Wow, but don't they have Florida man out there? No, I'm just kidding Good Isaiah chapter 3 But they don't Institute those things they don't in fact they criticize Christians they criticize those who do good and You know, it's not necessarily the most ideal situation. However Could be a lot worse though, my friends Now, let me just say this is that You know back to Biden I Haven't heard much about from him or about him But the reality is this is that obviously we have a really bad leader It's actually embarrassing, isn't it? Like are we embarrassed as a country to have him as our leader Like he's like essentially the laughingstock of the world Everyone looks at America and laughs at us because of Biden, but let me say this it could be worse He said how? How could it possibly get isn't Biden like the bottom of the barrel? No, it's not Cuz I'm gonna say this as bad as he is at least he makes for good memes He makes for good videos, you know It's a bit entertaining. But you know what? There's a worse option. You say who's that Kamala? Yeah, what yeah because if something were to happen to Biden which it's probably gonna happen The successor would be the vice president which is Kamala Harris Now Biden has trouble formulating a sentence Kamala Harris forms a sentence and then just kind of plays Scrabble with it To you guys know what I'm talking about. It's like our country is in dire need There's a dire need in our country Country of this dire need it's just like she just basically takes the words and kind of flips them around Well, let me say this. Let's say let's just pretend for a minute That Kamala Harris You know is would be a better president than Biden. Let's just say she's articulate She has all types of good policies. Obviously. It's a fantasy world. I get it. I'm just saying pretend with me for a second Okay Let's just pretend that she would be a great leader and do great things and even improve our country by its policies Okay, it would still be a worse option He said why is that from a biblical perspective it's a worse option because she's a woman Like what? What are you sexist? No, I'm a I'm a Christianist I'm a biblicist And I know this message is not popular amongst the world today and even some Christians believe it or not Because feminism have has just infiltrated churches and the minds of women Christian women all across the country But the truth is this the reason she would be a worse of the alternative to Biden would be worse it's because of the fact that the alternative is a woman and according to the Bible whenever a woman rules over a nation or takes the place of a Position that's not designated to her the Bible's considers that a curse on the nation Look at Isaiah chapter 3 verse 1. God is judging Israel here So What does he do to judge them he says in verse number 1 for behold the Lord the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah to stay in the staff the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water the mighty man and the man of war the judge and the prophet and the prudent and the Ancient the captain of 50 and the honorable man the counselor and the cunning artificer and the eloquent orator So he's removing all of these individuals out of the land who are essentially you know Their assets to a nation He's removing them. Okay He says the first number four and I will give children to be their princes and Babes shall rule over them Now this is something that's taking place today because Biden is essentially a child Because we don't know if this is literally referring to like a toddler ruling over a nation I don't think that's that's the case. Although that has been documented throughout history that that has happened But regardless what if you have a grown man who acts like a child? That would be just as bad and in fact, it would actually be worse Because if a child a literal child is ruling over a nation you can you can see why it's like well They were making bad because this is a child but it's even worse when a grown man who's supposed to act like a grown man and You know, he has the highest seat of authority in our nation acts like a child That's considered a curse and you know what Biden is a child in his mind and the way he thinks obviously he's losing his mind He it's been documented many times in many videos where he's like shaking someone's hand and the person goes around to shake other people's hand and then he forgets that he's shaking and he Just kind of reaches out to shake his hand again You know, it's just like I already shook your hand or like Kamala has to make sure that he's not falling off the stage and or he finishes a speech and he just walks off and He just doesn't even know where he's at. I mean, these are things that a child would do Okay, and this is considered a curse So it's a curse when he removes all of these individuals who are assets to a nation from a nation And then he replaces them with the baby He replaces them with a child. So essentially America is already cursed Right, he says in verse 5 and the people shall be oppressed every one by another and everyone by his neighbor and the child shall Behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honorable but look at verse number 10 Say to the righteous this is still in the same context that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their Doings woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hand shall be given to him Verse 12 as for my people children are their oppressors listen to this and women rule over them So, what is that it's curse It's a curse when a woman rules over a man Yes, I said it when it rules over a man Even worse when a woman rules over a nation So, you know what? I Can't stand Biden, but you know, I definitely prefer him over Kamala Harris. Yes okay, and You know what? She's she might be a little more qualified than Biden as far as skills concern She can formulate a sentence. However, it doesn't matter Because even if she was the most skilled president that this country has ever Had it's still considered a curse if she becomes the president because the Bible considers that to be a major curse in the land This isn't sexist it's not misogynist if you want to label it that fine as long as you put slash biblical That's what the Bible teaches okay now a lot of people have problems with that go to judges chapter 18 Judges chapter 18 a lot of people have problems with that and they're just thinking well, you know Oh, are you're saying the women can't do anything, you know, they always pull up this this straw man. Oh You're saying that women are worthless it is that what I said First of all, I'm saying that Kamala Harris is worthless Not every woman in this world Because women are valuable. Amen And and just as we do they also have their place in this world to have their place in their homes They have they're an asset to their husband. They're an asset to a treasure asset to this world Okay, however God has ordained specific roles for both okay Now what's another alternative to a government anarchy? Which is not a good alternative So even though what we have now is pretty bad and it's it's just getting worse It's still better than the alternative which is every man doing that which is right in their own eyes We Can apply that to today But that's not that's not necessarily fulfilled today as it is in the book of Judges where literally every man did that Which is right in their own eyes Look at Judges 18 verse number 7 so what we see here is well, look at verse 7 it says then the five men departed and came to Laish and Saw the people that were therein How they dwelt careless After the manner of the Zidonians quiet and secure listen to this and there was no magistrate in the land So it's talking about these this group of people of Laish and they're just kind of chilling out. They're just careless They're just quiet and secure Just kind of living the life, you know off-grid right They're off-grid. No one's bothering them and They don't have to worry about any president They don't have to worry about any authority because it says there there's no magistrate in the land to kind of tell them what to do There's no one there to put them to shame. There's no one there to to tell them that they're what they're doing is wrong Everyone's just kind of doing their own thing and in the minds of Americans. They're like, oh, yeah, this will be great It's like no police and by the way, I'm not even for the police I'll go on and say it. You know, I don't think police according to the Bible should exist According to the Bible now I live in a nation where the police are a thing and you know what? Because I pay their salary. I'm gonna use their services for sure So I live in this thing, you know Jesus Christ was not necessarily for the Roman government, but you know, he he lived among them and You know, he won centurions to himself and and so forth. And so, you know, I live in in modern-day Rome Okay, and so and and here's the thing is that as much as I'm against the institution of the police, you know Not all police are reprobates here There's a lot of good policemen out there that you know, even some who are Christians But obviously there's a lot of corrupt police out there as well. Okay, and I'm not about there's like blue lives matter either I'm not about blue lives matter. I'm not about black lives matter I'm about like Christ's life matters. Okay? Christian lives all souls matter to the Lord. Okay. I don't care about You know what color you are or what cultural background you came from. I think that's nonsense I think you know people have done a good job to bring that back to cause division between people You know, I grew up with a lot of Mexicans and I'm not Mexican and But my previous generation, you know because we came I'm Guatemalan, you know, Guatemalans hated Mexicans and vice versa It was like a major thing contention between two is like Guatemalan Salvadorians and Mexicans They just hated each other and I grew up like not understanding what that was And so I grew up with a bunch of Mexicans and I love Mexicans and it's just like, you know I can't hang out with Guatemalans cuz I don't know any Guatemalans So, you know, I'm here with Mexicans and I didn't really understand that whole issue And so, you know, we I grew up with black people Cambodians, you know all types of races and then it didn't it didn't seem like it was like a big thing a big deal People would make jokes about races and it was it was fine because no one cared No one was like sensitive about jokes about races. Okay, you know but all of a sudden Within the last couple of years because of George Soros and all these other idiots because of the Jews bringing back racism You know now this like battle continues on again. And so I don't even know how I got off on that but it's needed So there's no magistrate in the land ladies just dwelling carers. They're just like, you know, peace and their flower power or whatever here He says there's no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything You know, they could do whatever they want. They could commit crimes They can just live however they want No one's gonna tell them any different and they were far from the Zaydonians had no business with any man. Look at verse 26 and The children of Dan went their way and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him he turned and went back into his house and it took the things which Micah had made and the priests which he had and came to Laish until people that were quiet and secure and they smote them with the edge of the sword and Burn the city with fire and there was no deliver Because it was far from Zaydon and they had no business with any man And it was in the valley that lieth and Beth Rehab and they built the city and dwelt there in so yeah Flower power is all good and dandy until you need the power of the authority to defend you right and I'm not in a campaign even though I'm not necessary for the institution that this this this thing called the police I understand that this is where we live, but I'm not in a campaign to defund the police either We got to fund the police because the people who say that the loudest are the ones who are calling the police later on You know the the those in Laish are for defunding the police and then they needed the police here When Dan was just kind of taking them over So what do we see here? We see that the purpose of the magistrates is to kind of put them to shame but also protect them when they needed it understand So the alternative to governmental authority is either you have just worse authority you have communism you have Kamala Harris Or you have anarchy You say well Then are you saying that we're just supposed to be happy with what we have I'm saying that we should just operate as best as we can with what we have And and don't put yourself in a box where it's just like are you saying that we should all become Republicans? No Are you saying we all should become Democrats? No, well, that's impossible. You got to be one or the other No, it's you don't have to do that. You can just be a Christian Turn with me if you would to go to Hebrews chapter 13 the alternative to governmental authority is worse authority its anarchy and It's it's wicked. So just appreciate what we have now. Okay, and And and stop focusing on that battle and get into the Lord's battle start fighting the Lord's Wars the Lord's battles And what I've noticed is the less you spend time thinking about those things the happy you are the less stress you live How about the alternative to pastoral authority? Let's talk about that for a second for a minute for the remainder of the service You know cuz sometimes people complain about their pastor Or they complain of just having why does your church have a pastor? I think everyone should be prophets and everyone should preach and everyone should do you know all you know We all should kind of just you know, make the decision of what we're gonna do We should we should all just be the leaders at this church. That's a recipe for disaster And here's the thing. A lot of people say well, you know, I don't listen to man. I just follow Jesus You know Whereas the Apostle Paul said, you know be followers of me Even as I am of Christ right and even he said have we not power to lead about a sister a Wife as well as other apostles as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas, you know, Jesus Christ is not against earthly authority Let me tell you why because he actually ordained or earthly authority. I Mean he ordained twelve apostles More so than that seventy thereafter and these apostles ended up becoming essentially the foundation for the New Testament churches And they ordained elders in those churches. What's another it's a leader in a church He didn't create house churches Now don't don't get this mistaken because I'm not referring to someone just meeting in their house because they don't have a building Okay, that's not a church house or a house church. I'm not referring to well, you know, we have a pastor But he meets in his house because he doesn't have a building That's not what we're talking about. The house church movement is a movement where there's no leaders everyone is essentially like the pastor and Everyone comes up with their own interpretation of what you know They bring to the table their interpretation of a certain scripture or something like that, but it's nonsense It's just people who hate authorities what it is They don't want to tie they don't want to join themselves to a church because they don't want to be under an authority And so look if you hate my authority and you don't like the way I run things. Hey, it could be a lot worse You Could be in a house church where you don't learn any Bible You don't get any good preaching and then you get a scripture with like ten different interpretations about salvation And you know what yeah, obviously there's churches out there that have weak leaders Right. There's independent fundamental Baptist churches out there churches just in general that have weak leaders But hold on a second if he's kind of doing his job and he's preaching the gospel The church is growing and he's preaching through God's Word. That's still better than the alternative He said what is the alternative? Well, how about an unqualified pastor? That's the alternative to biblical authority Pastoral authority now, I had you turn to Hebrews chapter 13, but go to go to first Timothy chapter 3 actually I'll reach you from Hebrews 13 verse 7 Verse 17 says obey them to have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as They must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you the Bible says So the alternative to biblical authority pastoral authority is just having someone who just chooses just come chooses to be a pastor I'm just gonna start a church No one sends me out I'm just gonna do go do it and and you know, just kind of do my own thing. That's worse Look what the Bible says in verse 1. This is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop He desires a good work This is essentially referring to the fact that if someone wants to be a pastor You don't need like some light from heaven to shine upon you to let you know that that's gonna happen Bruce Bruce I've called you into this work, you know, it's just like kind of drugs as that guy doing, you know It says desire and I do believe that God, you know cultivates a desire within certain individuals He can cultivate a desire because the Bible tells us that you know, he'll give us the desires of our heart If we delight ourselves in the Lord He'll he'll begin to change our desires and then we have a desire to want to be a pastor We have a desire to want to preach God's Word. We have a desire to want to like lead people And help people, you know grow spiritually I think that's a legitimate desire and he's saying there look if you desire that, you know, that's a good thing to desire That's a good Wholesome godly desire and then he begins to lay out the qualifications of a pastor He said verse number two a bishop that must be blameless doesn't say sinless but blameless The husband of one wife so automatically if you've been divorced you can't be a pastor Because if you've been divorced and you're remarried then basically that would make you the husband of another wife Two okay, but here you have to be the husband of one wife You said what do I do if I have a desire to be a pastor, but I'm divorced Well, you go to God's Word and you see that you're not qualified and you say well I guess there's another area that I can serve God in this doesn't have to be the only way Let me tell you what you don't do. Well, you're misinterpreting this Count with me if you would one Two two is different than one Says the husband of one wife Vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach he has to be able to teach God's Word Know What the Bible says about the essentials and even go down deep not given to wine. No striker Listen to this not greedy a filthy lucre What does that mean? You know, he's just pocketing some of the tithe money or something He's doing the job of a pastor. So just so he can have job security his only motivation to be a pastor is that he's getting paid because he wants to buy a yacht or he wants to buy a Beamer or whatever He's greedy a filthy lucre. And by the way, when it says filthy lucre think of lucrative things that are lucrative, right? Filthy is essentially referring to the fact that he's into dishonest gain He's gonna get money, but he's gonna get it dishonestly. This is your essentially your Your what's the phrase I'm looking for here? prosperity preachers Okay But patient not a brawler Not covetous so you can't be like physically fighting everyone all the time, you know, just losing his temper Wanted to fight church members or whatever One that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity. So this is an important part right here in other words his wife's supposed to be following him and His children should respect him and you know what? He should rule his house. Well in the sense of doesn't mean this should supposed to be perfect Does it mean his wife has to be perfect it means that if those things get out of hand He's able to kind of bring him into subjection You know, he corrects his children not corrects his wife, but you know I mean like I'm not saying you discipline your wife or something like that But you discipline your children and if your wife gets off kilter, you're able to just lead your wife out of that Understand it's not your wife's kind of just doing her own thing You have to rule your house well Your children have to be in so and by the way it says children So what what's the implication there has to be more than one? child, okay Now, let me just say this is that all of this should be something that all men strive for as Christians What the Bible is telling us here is that these this is that base level the qualifications for a pastor Okay, you at least have to have this down. He says for if a man know not how to rule his own house How should he take care of the Church of God? It's like if you can't even like lead your wife if your wife doesn't even want to like come to church with you How do you expect to just be a pastor of a church where you have to help people with their marital problems? As you're failing in yours, okay, so you can't do that You have to make sure you in order to take care of the Church of God. You got to take care of your own house Verse six not a novice. What is a novice a beginner someone who doesn't who someone who's been saved for only a short period of time Let's be lifted up with pride. He falls a condemnation of the devil. That's why we don't lay hands suddenly on any man This is why young man cannot be pastors right off the bat because of the fact that they can be lifted up with pride It's why the Bible refers to pastors as elders someone who's elderly not only Physically, but even more so spiritually They're mature And he says moreover He must have a good report of them which are without lest he falls her approach in the snare of the devil Now you say well, how does that match up with what the Bible says that we're gonna be reproached for Christ's sake Well, I believe this is referring to the fact that you're just not like involved in criminal activity outside of the church walls You have a good report like you have a clean record Like, you know, you don't have like a warrant out for your arrest or something like that Like I'm preaching I mean obviously like the other like was a couple months ago. I was like served in the middle of a church service Some lavender wearing dude just came came into the church service with papers and just like threw him on my on the pulpit And then I just I just screamed his head off, you know, he's like get out But what was he doing it for for biblical preaching? It's not because like, you know, I committed, you know, I don't know extortion or arson or something for some criminal act Okay. Now they consider a criminal because they hate the Bible When it says that you must have a good report of them which are without essentially have a clean record Doesn't mean you can't like parking tickets or something But you definitely shouldn't have like a warrant out for your arrest because of tax evasion or something Kent Hovind, you know Anyways, so we see here go with me if you would to 1st Corinthians 14 You see here that the alternative to have in biblical authority Pastoral authority is having an unqualified pastor so, you know better to have me who might yell at you every once in a while and Step on your toes about your specific sins every once in a while then having an unqualified pastor where God cannot bless that congregation You can't bless that authority Because they didn't go through the proper channels an unqualified pastor is essentially someone who expects you to do what he did not do He expects for you to follow him even though he didn't follow a man to become a pastor But he wants you to do it Every pastor who's behind the pulpit a legitimate pastor has followed and served another man Because that's the pattern that is how God has ordained for it to be You're supposed to be a servant before you are a leader. The greatest leaders were first the greatest servants Just serving their pastor serving their church just happy doing that and then God promotes them What's another alternative to pastoral authority? Well, let me say this women pastors. You know, you're getting on women a lot. Well, you know, I Think women are wonderful. I'm married to one My mom is a woman But You know, sometimes there's people out there and you know what the ladies in our church agree with this by the way, okay, I think They delve into areas they shouldn't be involved in You know and and and being a woman pastor is like one of them. This is like a very common thing nowadays Got your Joyce Myers or whatever and all this other nonsense and they just completely ignore clear scriptures That condemn having a female pastor Now earlier this week I had posted a meme, you know, cuz I have a ministry of Mean making I just like, you know something I do just to kind of relax, you know Get home from a long day's work and I kick up my feet and I just make memes and repost memes It's a little something I do on the side And one of them was like what I was like when a woman says that she's a pastor It was like John Cena just like laughing right? It was just just you know, just It wasn't my best work, you know But I got the job done and The vast majority of the followers they loved it. It was hilarious, but this one person Who just happens to be a pastor by the way, supposedly? so called Was extremely upset Like to think that serving God is based upon your gender and Here's the first thing that came to my mind According to her the only way to serve God is by being a pastor There's no other way right because you know, she's a pastor she claims to be a pastor and then you know, you know, it's one of those things we're like where people say something that's so blatantly clear in the Bible that it's just like Just Go to the Bible app and you highlight all the verses and just copy and paste them and then it just just ignores it Now let's read a couple of these verses, okay Look at 1st Corinthians 14 Let's look at verse 33. It says for God is not the author of confusion But of peace and all as in all the churches of the Saints so the context here is that God is not for confusion and Then he goes right into verse 34. Let your women keep silence in the churches Now the King James puts this very well in Spanish. It actually says like like I Think it says something to the extent of like let your women shut up in the church or something Or have your woman shut up in the church This is the Gomez that we're talking about But it means the same thing Now people misunderstand this Because when I preach this and I pull out this verse, you know the the feminists The Christian feminists will say Oh according to you. We just can't say anything in church But that's not what the Bible is teaching here It's not like as soon as you come through these doors, you're just mute. It's like don't you dare say a word? you Can't sing you can't greet each other. You can't don't you you can breathe But that's like it It's not what the Bible saying here because in context verse number 31 and 32 is talking about prophesying which is preaching So he says let your woman keep silence in the churches. He's saying don't let women preach in church Now believe it or not. Women are allowed to preach Did you know that? You say how so because God has commanded all of us to preach the gospel to every creature So a bunch of ladies this afternoon are gonna be going out there knocking on doors Preach open their mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel preaching God's Word And in fact, you know the Bible says that the aged women should teach the younger essentially like preach to them Like hey love your husband's be a keeper at home You know Titus chapter 2 just kind of teaching them. That's a form of prophesying. That's a form of preaching What the Bible forbids is for a woman to be here preaching the Word of God usurping the authority of the man So the Bible says Now if you're not happy with that, then you have a problem with the Bible Because why aren't you content with what the Bible permits for you to do? Right Why aren't you just content with what the Bible says that you can do? Why are you so adamant about what you know fighting against what the Bible tells you that you can't do? The Bible says you can't be a pastor you can't be a pastor Yeah, but I could preach better than most people can most men can no you can't There's no woman in this world who could preach better than a man there I said it Why because the man is the God-given authority for the church to preach the Word of God now Are there ladies that could probably preach the gospel really? Well, absolutely And we encourage women to preach the gospel every week and and to teach their children And to teach it for the age of women to teach here We have ladies in our church who we would consider to be aged women who have been a blessing to our ladies in our church by teaching the younger They essentially validate They strengthen the points that I get from behind the pulpit One of the greatest things is when I preach something and then one of the aged women goes to the younger women who you know Got a little bit of feminism in them And I tells them what the Bible says like yeah, this is true. This is correct. You need to follow this That's what the Bible says. I mean that adds more strength to the church And by the way, isn't wouldn't you consider that to be like a great influence? He Says let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak But they are commanded to be under obedience as also sayeth the law and if they will learn anything Let him ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the church Now this is why women aren't allowed to say amen in church According to the Bible during the preaching service Okay. Oh, this is so old-fashioned. I can't believe this You know at my old church the women run up and down the aisles and they Say whatever they want, but that's not biblical my friends It's an embarrassment to a church is an embarrassment to the Word of God. It's you're just negating what the Bible says Go with him if you would to 1st Timothy chapter 2 This Is what I told the lady I told her this Well, you said what did she say? She said ignored everything? She just ignored it. Oh, this is what she said. She said that's Paul though That's not God's opinion. That's Paul's opinion and Then she she goes on to quote Paul And other portions of his epistles where he's commanded to preach I'm like, so it's okay. So you're ah You say you can't do it here even though he said it and by the way, you know in 1st Corinthians 14 He actually says if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual Let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord And you know, this is gonna be people even in the Corinthian Church You're just gonna ignore this so he follows up with this if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant Someone just wants to remain ignorant about this subject then let him be ignorant Looking for Timothy chapter 2 verse 11 let the woman learn in silence with all subjection But I suffer suffers another way of saying allow not a woman to teach Nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence Well, you know, you gotta you gotta understand the cultural context. Well, let me give you the cultural context Is we're talking about church? That's what it is. And guess what? It's the same thing today Same thing today, you know, it's unfortunate because a lot of independent fundamental Baptist. They just ignore this They allow women Sunday school teachers They allow women to come and preach behind the pulpit or they allow women to just you know, say amen in church It's not and look here's the thing we've had women come to our church who are visitors and They actually like what I say When I'm ripping on something and sometimes they're just like amen and I remember a couple times we had someone and they're just like amen amen You said what did you do? I didn't rebuke that person because they don't know And you know what? At least she's down with the preaching. You know, I mean At least she likes what's being said, you know, she just has to learn this part You know now there was another instance Okay Paul's already laughing because it was his visitor We we won this lead to the Lord and we invited her to church is that a money his lady came And I'm preaching and then you know, she's like saying amen. She didn't know any better. So it's just like whatever but then she's just like She started going wild And I'm just like should I do it I'll wait. I'll wait So I'm just I'm preaching and then she just kept at it yes, yes, yes Amen yes, hallelujah praise God, you know just up and then you got people in church. They're just kind of like You know, so now she's being a distraction to the service So, I don't know what I was preaching on but I just ended up going to first Timothy chapter 2 I Was like, let me just chase this rabbit real quick and I was like women ought to keep silencing the churches and you know It's not permitted for a woman to speak It's a shame for who it is started going off right because I because it was being a major distraction to the preaching. It's confusion It's creating confusion Because then you see a man preaching up there and it's like but this woman's preaching also By the way, that's why in church, you know, it's okay to say amen, but it's not okay for you to preach as I'm preaching We don't need like multiple sermons in the service folks. Okay We don't need one-liners all across, you know, the the service here. There's only one pastor up here There's only one preacher at a time. Okay, but you know, so it's almost as if like she was competing with me so I said this and then like she stopped and my wife was like right across from her and Then she got up. He's like did he just say what I think he said And you know my wife she's not very can she's not like a contentious person It's very, you know shy and she I think she was holding one of the baby. She's like that's what the Bible says So she got up and and Paul I think Paul had given her a Bible, right Did you give her a Bible? I think we gave her a Bible or something and then like She like threw the Bible. She was like, she threw it at my wife's feet and then she walked out and Then she came back. She's like actually I need that And it's like yeah you do need it first Corinthians 14 or sympathy chapter 2 make sure you look them up, okay Well, you know there's times and we've had it here where women say amen and you know, you know people in our service They're just kind of like looking or whatever, but I won't say anything because I know they're not trying to be Combative they're not trying to be contentious and you just need to learn But you know, if you're here now, you hear me saying this now, you know So don't don't do it. Okay, don't put me in that position because I could get wild too right calling it out Go to first Peter chapter 3 But That's the alternative and you know what you know, it's the most you know It's the most embarrassing thing is obviously the Bible says it's a shame for a woman to speak in church preach in church But you know, it's even more shameful than that is the man who actually sits there listening to it Far more shameful because anytime I've talked to anybody who tries to advocate for women preachers. They always bring up who? Deborah But Deborah You know cuz Deborah the prophet the prophetess in the book of Judges you know, she's like people are going to her and she's essentially teaching them the Word of God and But the thing is like first of all most people most ladies who have brought that to my attention Can never find that story if I ever handed them the Bible like show me where Deborah is in the Bible right now You don't even know where it's at And they don't even know the context of the story Deborah is Essentially the story that marks one of the most embarrassing shameful times in the history of Israel Because it was in the time of the judges one. Oh every man did that which is right in their own eyes and There was no male leadership. And so the alternative was Deborah Because Bay rack who is a general? Didn't have the stones To preach God's Word Like to teach people the Bible He even told Deborah like like I'll only go if you go is like what? Wrong with you. So there's nothing wrong with Deborah Like Deborah is not the problem because people were coming to Deborah to ask her the Word of God Like what I want to know is like who are the dudes who are coming up to her? Asking her about the Bible Like what do you think the Bible says about this? You know, that's embarrassing Okay, but it's not the quintessential Proof text that you should be using to prove the women should preach in church because first of all that was in a church That was the nation of Israel Second of all is when every man did that which is right in their own eyes okay, and Thirdly, she didn't put herself in that position People came to her Okay, but let me say this, you know If a man of God ever steps down or something from a church the alternative shouldn't be that a woman just takes this place The alternative should be go find another dude And if you can't find another dude shut down the church Better to shut down the church than to get a woman pastor Because then at that point you have God's curse on that church So how do you know because revelation chapter 2 gives us an example of that where Jezebel? God condemns the church at Thyatira for allowing that woman Jezebel. That's what the Bible says To teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrifice them to idols There's your one proof text of a woman preaching in church and it's a bad example And out of all names her name is Jezebel And So, you know be happy with your pastor amen Be happy with male authority because the Bible condemns the alternative and when you have the alternative It just kind of goes to show you that it's in the down downward spiral Curses on that church or curses on that nation. Lastly is the alternative to parental and spousal authority Stop complaining about your parents Stop complaining about oh man, my parents is there's like worse alternatives to that though Stop complaining about your husband because there's there's worse alternatives to that First Peter chapter 3 And then we're gonna go to first Timothy chapter 5 First Peter chapter 3 verse 1 says likewise ye wives being subjection to your own husbands that if any obeyed not the word They also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives while they behold your chase conversation coupled with fear Who's adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting hair and wearing of gold and putting on of apparel Let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit Which is in the sight of God of great price look at first Timothy chapter number five Now What are the alternatives to this what are the alternatives to your spouse because according to the Bible in the home There's order right the one who's supposed to be in charge is the man like the Bible says that cried that Christ is the head of the man, but man is the head of the wife and Of course under them are the children. It doesn't mean one is of lesser value than the other Okay, it means that God has order in the home So in a home, the husband should always be the one who's in charge Ladies, the man should always be the one in charge men you should be the one in charge and Of course leading by example not being a dictator, but a benevolent dictator Not enforcing yourself because you're just you got to follow me and memorize Ephesians chapter 5 You ought to be a leader worth following But ladies, even if he's not you should follow him Because that's what the Bible commands of you. And in fact when your husband Doesn't meet up to those qualities. The Bible says then you're supposed to serve your husband as unto who? Christ and you know what the Lord is the perfect leader So anytime your husband is just like he's acting a fool. He's just not Qualified he's just kind of like not the best leader then God says okay turn on the default setting which is Jesus Christ And you're doing it as unto the Lord, so if you treat your husband like trash Listen to me if you treat your husband like trash God sees it as though you're treating Jesus Christ as trash Well, no, no, I'm just I'm treating my husband as trash not Jesus. I love Jesus. Oh I'm sorry. Yeah, but we got to use God's definition of that Because you're doing it as unto the Lord And the reason the Bible says that is not to put a guilt trip on you The reason he says that is to motivate you to keep serving your husband Because we all know down deep inside that Jesus Christ deserves like the best He deserves our best service. He deserves our kindest words. He deserves, you know our 100% and it's hard to give a hundred percent to a spouse who maybe not a hundred percent Therefore the Bible says do it as unto the Lord because the Lord is always worthy of reverence The Lord is always worthy of your respect the Lord is always worthy of your following Yeah, but my husband's not but it doesn't matter Because the Bible says to do it as unto the Lord and the Bible tells us that God will recompense you for that He'll reward you for that So always remember this if you choose to disobey Disrespect and not reverence your husband the Bible doesn't God doesn't see it as oh, she's not doing that to me She sees it he sees it as oh she means that towards me because that's how he views it my friends And by the way that applies to a boss too we're supposed to serve our bosses as unto the Lord Not as into deity but as unto the Lord It's like we're we're serving our boss as though we're working for the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we give him our best 100% Okay What is the alternative look at first Timothy chapter 5 verse 11 But the younger widows refused for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ They will marry having damnation because they have cast off their first faith and with all they learn to be idle Wandering about from house to house and not only idle but toddlers also and busybodies Speaking things which they ought not I will therefore that the younger women marry Bear children guide the house Give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully the sin of this for some are already turned aside after Satan Satan is the alternative The ultimate alternative to your spousal or parental authority is the consequences though Because you know you may think to yourself. Well, I know better than my parents. I know better than my husband I know way better than them, you know, I just know how to make better decisions that they do But but hold on a second. God gave you those Authorities in your life and if you choose not to follow them you choose not to obey them There's actually consequences that come of that Because authorities are meant to teach us, right? They correct us they teach us they admonish us they help us to get where we need to be But if you reject that authority, it's okay. The alternative is a consequence You know what consequences do they teach us They correct us they cause pain in our lives Well, you know, I'd rather just have the other one. I'd rather just have the god-given authority, right? Now at this stage in my life, you know, I am that authority you know, I'm the I'm the parent I'm the husband and With great responsibility or what is it with great power comes great responsibility, right? But here's the thing is that at the end of the day it's still applicable and you have to realize that you know instead of complaining about your parents and Thinking well, you don't know my parents. They're not as godly. They don't read the Bible and all this stuff Yeah, but did you know that they brought you into this world though? They've taken care of you and you know, yeah, they're not perfect, but God didn't give them to you because they're perfect You know, that was his will and he he essentially gave you your habitation He gave you the parents that you have be thankful for them and obey them and you know This the husband you have You know you chose your husband No one put a shotgun to your head and said hey, you know Did anybody have a shotgun wedding here at all? You know, I don't want to speak out of context here or something If there if there is a shotgun wedding here, you are the outlier. Okay, you're the exception to this rule but at the end of the day, you know every single one of us chose our spouse and so you need to make sure that Instead of and by the way, the alternative don't think well the alternative is maybe I could get divorced and find a new husband That's not a choice. That's not that's not even up on the table That's not an option Okay, and so, you know, I'm this morning I just want to talk about these alternatives to God given authority so that we recognize that what we have the situation Maybe as bad as you might think it is is not as bad when you compare it to its alternative It's a sermon on perspective my friends. Okay, you know this nation is pretty bad, but it can get worse if Kamala Harris takes over. I Mean for you know, if she takes over it's just you know more content sermons for me You know because then I'm like, all right, I got some sermons I can preach now and there's a lot to work with here But You know the alternative is anarchy the alternative is worse leaders the alternative to Pastoral authority is an unqualified pastor. The alternative is to have a house church. The alternative is a woman pastor The alternative to your spouse is the consequences to disobeying your spouse. All right, let's pray father We thank you so much for your word Help us Lord to obey our authorities to love our authorities Lord to pray for our authorities and And to recognize at the end of the day when we serve our authorities, we're doing it as unto Christ so it's as unto the Lord and So keep that on the forefront of our minds Lord. We would we would Say a lot less We would be less disrespectful We would be far more kind and humble When we recognize that When we serve our authorities, it's as unto the Lord sees it as unto him and he you're always worthy of our service of our Reverence Lord and I pray that you help us to do so Lord. We love you. We thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen Please turn your songbooks to song number 428 Song number 428 as our last song here. It came upon the midnight clear Song number 428 all together nice and strong on that first verse It came upon the midnight clear that glorious song of old From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold Peace on the earth good will to men from Heaven's all-gracious King The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled And still their heavenly music floats Reworld Above its sad and lonely plains they bend on hovering wing And ever O'er its babble sounds the blessed angels sing The blessed angels sing and ye beneath life's crushing load Being low Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow Look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wind O rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing For lo the days are hastening on by prophets bars foretold When with the ever circling years Of gold When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling And the whole world give back the song which now the angels sing Amen wonderful scene you are dismissed You