(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. Okay, go ahead and keep your place there in Romans 13. So Romans 13 is a short chapter, but it's a sort of famous chapter in the Bible. Many people quote Romans 13. Many things are taught out of Romans 13. Many things are misapplied out of Romans 13. Romans 13 is, as you can see, it's talking about government and kings and things like this in our life and the higher powers. And a lot of people use Romans 13 to say that, you know, you should do what the government says no matter what. And especially the first part of Romans 13. So what I want to do tonight is just kind of just dig down into what the Bible actually says and see what Romans 13 is actually talking about because what the Bible says is true. So let's find out what it says. In Romans 13, in verse number one, the Bible starts out and 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. So you notice that it says unto the higher powers. It doesn't say the highest power. It says that there are higher powers. So what are, you know, what are the higher powers in your life is what we need to know to understand this verse. What this verse is talking about is obeying the authority in your life. All right, now you have, now it doesn't matter how great of a man you are, how high up you are, every person in their life is under some sort of authority. All right, and you know, I've often said, you know, throughout my career and explaining things to people that that either work for me or work with me that 90% of your success is knowing who your customer is. I've said that many times and what I really mean by that statement is if you can thoroughly understand who you work for, you're going to be successful in this position. It's when people get outside of the realms of who they work for and they either are not obeying who they work for or they're working for somebody else or they're getting outside of their bounds of their higher powers is when they start getting themselves in trouble in the work in the workplace. So I just want you to notice that the Bible says here that there are higher powers and we need to know what those are. We'll get into that in a little bit more detail here in a little bit. But what it's basically talking about is everybody, no matter who you are, has higher powers in their life. You know, everybody has the higher power of God in their life. You know, if you're in a church, you know, you're underneath a pastor. You know, the pastor has the authority in this church. I am underneath the pastor of this church. You are underneath the pastor in the matters of this church, okay? Children, you're under the authority of your parents. You are also under the authority of a higher power than your parents, which is God. We talked about this in the sermon on raising small children and raising older children. Wives, you are under the authority of your husband and also under the authority of God, okay? So everybody has this hierarchy of powers in your life. That's what the Bible is talking about. Look at verse number two. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they shall resist, they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. I want you to remember that statement, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have the praise of the same. So it's saying if you do what is good, you will have the praise of these rulers. So you're supposed to do that which is good, but not the evil, okay? For he is the minister of God to thee for good, meaning the ruler. But if thou doeth, if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So government is to do good, and their purpose is to execute wrath upon evil. That's what the Bible is saying here, okay? God ordained human government. That's what the Bible is explaining. But the government has rules. They have jurisdiction just like you have jurisdiction in areas of your life. Turn to 1st Peter chapter 2. 1st Peter chapter 2. Let's look at another verse that talks about government and being submissive to rulers, and see what it says. In 1st Peter chapter 2, look at verse 13. And the Bible says, submit yourself 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 what? For the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. So what I'm trying to get you to understand here is really two points, is what the Bible is teaching. There are higher powers in your life. There are ordained higher powers in your life. There's a structure of man-made power that is ordained by God. And number two, this governmental power is created by God to punish evil. That is what it's for. Okay? But notice what it says. You are to be subjected to the higher powers. Here's how it works. If your husband tells you something to do, or tells you an order, and it goes against a higher power, that is not his jurisdiction. He is outside of his jurisdiction. You are to obey the higher powers. So if the government, what's above the government? You know, your boss at work is not above the government. God is above the government. So if the government gives commands or tells the people to do something that goes against the Word of God, God is the highest power. He's at the top of that chain. That is the highest power. That's the highest power that we are supposed to be subjection to. The Bible here is teaching that God has ordained government. The authority of man has a scope or a jurisdiction. God doesn't. That's the difference. God doesn't have a jurisdiction. He has jurisdiction over everything. Okay? Men, women, we all have jurisdictions in our lives. Either we have authority above us. You know, I think about all the authority in my life. I have, you know, you think, oh I'm the leader of this satellite church. I am under a lot of authority in my life. I mean, I am under the authority of a pastor of this church. I go to work and I am under the authority of my boss, my boss's boss, my boss's boss's boss, and my boss's boss's boss's boss. I mean, these are all people that, these are all people, literally physical people, that come to me and tell me things. I'm talking to these four people that I work for all the time. And I work for them. I am under their authority. And if I don't understand that, things aren't going to go well for me. But if they give me a command or an order that goes against the Bible, that does not apply to me. You see? That's how it works. This is, this is why, you know, this whole like working moms versus stay-at-home moms argument in this country is just completely ridiculous to me. Because if you have any idea how much freer a stay-at-home mom is than some working mother, I mean, it's crazy. I mean, she is under the authority of only her husband. Think of the, the working, the working mom. She's under the authority of her boss, her boss's boss, her boss's boss's boss's boss's boss's boss, and then her husband as well. I mean, it's, it's, she's much less free than the stay-at-home mom who's just under the authority of her husband and she has her children under her authority. So it's a much better life for her. It's, it, that's the, that's the structure, by the way, for women that is ordained in the Bible. It actually makes sense. You won't see in the Bible God ordaining some other man to come and give your wife orders in the, in the home or whatever. You know, I mean, it would be outside of my scope as the satellite leader of this church to come and try to do things outside of this church. I can't tell you what to do in your home. I can't come to your house and order your wife around. That's outside of my jurisdiction. You see? So the government can also get out of scope. Now do you think that our government today is out of scope? Probably just a little bit. They're there to punish evil. That's it. Think about how far out of scope the government in the United States is. I mean, when you think about the Constitution in the United States, the Constitution was basically written and everything that was not in the Constitution was supposed to be left up to local governments, to states, to local governments. And instead, you know, the, our government, our federal government today has taken control of education, has taken control of healthcare, has taken control of just almost everything. And they're trying to take control of more and more things. So how do you handle this as a Christian? You know, when you look down at, at Romans chapter 13, the Bible is telling you, you know, hey, as far as things that don't supersede the Bible or don't contradict the Bible, you know, you should obey what the government says. That's what the Bible says. And when you get a government that's so far out of scope and is trying to tell you to do things and all this, well, I mean, first of all, you're just not obligated to obey things that go against the Bible. That's the, that's the bottom line. But my advice on this is, is this. When you get a government that's trying to dictate every part of your life, my advice for you to avoid as much of this as possible is to just take nothing from them. Take nothing from them. Think about if I provided brother Frank a free house that I gave him and it was my house and I let brother Frank just stay in it. Don't you think that that would give me a lot of authority over brother Frank's life? Maybe I could tell him when I want the lights turned off, how much water I want him to use. You know, brother Frank, I think you just have to take a two-minute shower from now on. I only want, you know, I could dictate pretty much every aspect of his life within that house. This is one of the reasons that we push homeschooling so much in this church. Because we want that independence for ourselves. We don't want, guess what? If you put your kids in public school, that government program gets to decide what to teach your kids. And there's nothing you can do about it. It's a federal machine. You can't change, it's designed so you can't change it. So don't participate in it. And then you don't have to deal with that. If you go to that public school, they can tell you what kind of shots that your kids need to have. They can dictate all those things or you can't, because brother Frank, if you don't do what I say, I'm gonna take away your free house. See? I got him. So to avoid this, take nothing from them. When the whole health care thing happened a few years ago, this is gonna be such a huge government power grab on people. Because when the government is paying for all of your health care, now all of a sudden they can tell you what's healthy and what's not. You know, they can tell you what to eat, what to drink, how to live your life, what's a healthy lifestyle, what's not. Maybe they could say, you know what, we think that it's dangerous to have firearms in your home. And you know, this is where this stuff could go. Take nothing from them, folks. Take nothing from them. Now, be independent. It's possible to still, with an overreaching government today, to be independent. And I believe that our government is overreaching in many, many, many, many, many ways today. Okay? Now, that being said, I want to talk a little bit this morning as far as government authority over your life, as far as people that peg the needle too far in the wrong direction. Okay? Don't go too far with these things. For your own personal life, get off of all the government whatever. Don't take anything from them and do things yourself the way the Bible says that you should do things. It's possible today. Okay? It's possible to homeschool your kids. It's possible to make your own medical decisions. It's possible today. It's not against the law. Okay? People are doing it. Now, an example of someone who takes things too far is this. We need no government, these people. The anarchists today, they're out there. You know, the extreme libertarians. You know, I would probably, if I was political, I'd probably consider myself, you know, a Christian libertarian. But there's people that take these things too far. Look, God has ordained human government. That is what Romans 13 is talking about. In Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, in these books of the Bible, God not only ordained human government, but he gave us the exact details on how to implement it. Down to the details of every rule on how to manage people. You know, just because our government doesn't do any of those things and then goes and does a bunch of extra things, doesn't mean that, you know, God didn't ordain human government. You know, there's these anarchists out there that say we should have no government at all. Most of the time these people are going to be tied up in the, you know, legalized drugs movement and there are a bunch of potheads and things like that. But there's actually, like, people out there that have a huge movement on just getting rid of all government. And that's not biblical. There was actually a story in this beginning of this year, I think, of some famous American anarchist that moved his himself and his girlfriend to Mexico. And they moved to some town in Mexico to live the anarchist life or whatever. And he was, like, a couple months ago he was murdered. Like a cartel, like, busted into his house and, like, shot him because he was, I don't know, because he was he was probably selling drugs or something. But the point is that in a place where there's no one to punish evil, the strong will just overrule the weak, is what happens. You know, and I remember reading that news article and his girlfriend was frantically calling for help, you know, when they were, you know, being invaded and he was shot. So look, I mean, the way it goes, I mean, I hate to tell you the ending of how things are gonna go in this country, but basically the way it goes is that freedom and morality are basically directly proportional. So as one drops, the other is gonna drop with it, okay? The actual founders of the country knew this when they gave us the country. I'll read you just a quote from John Adams in 1798. He said, we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. It is holy, he said, our Constitution was made for only immoral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for, you know, inadequate to govern of any other. So the police state is gonna get worse. I hate to break it to you. It's gonna get worse. And the reason I can say that is because the police state and the government taking more and more control in the United States today, it's not the cause. It's the effect. Does that make sense? It's not the cause. The cause is the decline in morality. I mean, how many times have we seen, you know, in sermons in the last couple months where just the statistics of everything is just getting worse, the great falling away. I mean, look at the churches that are growing today. The churches that are growing today are these big churches where they stand up and nobody's saved and they're not preaching anything. They just say nothing and they have a big rock concert. Those are, that's what people want to hear today. Morality is getting worse and worse and worse and worse and so the government is going to fill that gap. You see? That's how it works and that, it's just, it's a law of nature or something. It's just gonna happen. So yes, the government's overreaching, but I'm telling you, if the police went away tomorrow, this would be an extremely dangerous place to live. I mean, I remember, you know, saying when we were in Manila last year, we would walk through the streets of Manila in the dark from wherever we were at, like the restaurant or the mall or whatever, and it's just this poor, packed city. It's the most population-dense place on the planet. Imagine that. And we would just walk through all these ghettos and alleys and you know what? There's places in Sacramento and there's places in in Fresno that I would not do that. Walk through neighborhoods at night like that, like we did. And you think that if we just got rid of all the government and all the police today, I mean, we have examples of how that goes in this country. Hurricane Katrina. I was living in Texas when that happened. Most of those people from New Orleans came to either Houston or Dallas, and I was living in Dallas at the time. And the stories that came out of that town for several weeks after that hurricane happened, when law and order drops, this is not a great place to live, let me tell you. Because the morality of the people is not there anymore, and they're not gonna police themselves. Now this is another reason, by the way, that you need to be armed. I mean, as a responsible citizen, you need to be armed. The law of veil and the veil of law and order in this country is extremely thin. And you know, we're all living in a city and everything's just available to us at all times, but it just takes one little panicked event and everything's gone, people are freaking out, and there's a lot of bad people in these cities. So you need to have, you know, a little, you know, you need to, this isn't a doomsday prepper sermon, but you need to be at least a little bit prepared to protect yourself in this country. You know, there was a, there was actually an article that was, or a study that was done several years ago that said if the power went out in the United States, I mean it was a real engineering study, if the power went out it was presented to Congress in like 2015, said if the power went out in the United States in like less than a year, 90% of the population would be dead. I mean, think about that. So the government's there, you know, for a reason, it's ordained by God to punish evil, to hold back evil, and it is doing that job, it's doing way more than that today. It's advocating a lot of evil, but to just say we can just get rid of government is not the answer either, okay. All right, so don't move to the woods, don't live in a hole, but you know, you should be armed, you should be prepared, don't crawl in a hole, that's not your duty as a Christian, okay. Be balanced, stay focused. All right, so there's this hierarchy of power in your life, there's God, and then there's the man-made powers in your life, you know, your government, your pastor, your husband, your parents, and government's main role is to deal justice against evil, to punish evildoers. Look down at verse number five, verse number five. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor. Oh no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Translation, pay your bills, don't become a tax protester. It's right here, turn to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 17, sorry, Matthew chapter 17. The funny thing about these people that are just like these, they just go off on this tax issue, look I don't like taxes, right? I mean who likes taxes? Raise their hand. But the funny thing about it is like Jesus actually addressed it, like directly, in two separate situations. He directly addressed it. Look at Matthew 17 in verse 24. Should we pay our taxes? Are we all gonna go to prison after this sermon? Here we go, let's find out. And when they were come to Capernaum, they all received tribute money, came to Peter and said, doth not your master pay tribute? So the tax collectors came to him. He said, he saith yes, and he was come into the house Jesus prevented him, saying, what thinkest thou Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, of strangers. Jesus said unto him, then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast in a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up, and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money. That take, and give it to them for me and thee. So did Jesus like it? Did Jesus like paying the tribute money? No, he said if you if they tax you, you're not free. So he didn't like it, but he said what? Lest we offend them? He said just go and get the stupid money and give it to him. Turn to Matthew 22. I mean that's a creative way of paying your taxes. I wish I could do that. Matthew 22, look at verse 15. Now the Pharisees are trying to catch Jesus. Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians saying, master, we know that thou art true and teach us the way of God and truth, liars. Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, whose image, whose is this image and superscription? And they say unto him, Caesar's. Then he said unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the thing which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God. He's like, pay the tax. Give him his stupid money back. I mean whose face is on the money that we have? It's not God. Just give him their money. Pay the tax. These people that die on this hill of taxes, I don't get it. I mean I do get it and I'm gonna tell you what it is, but it's a battle that we're clearly not called to fight. I mean talk about pegging the needle. What's interesting though, on the issue of taxes, what is interesting, you know I've seen this on several people that grow up and they go out into the workforce for the first time. I saw it with Garrett about a year and a half ago and suddenly they start getting their paychecks and they're just like, you know, because they had done their calculator and they're like, I make so much an hour. I'm gonna have this much money and then they get their paycheck and they're like, who's FICA and why do I have to pay him? I mean, what? Who is this guy? And all these other guys, these other acronyms, who are these people? It's interesting to see people come to that conclusion that they're paying so much of their money to taxes. They start realizing, you know, that it's, well look, it's one thing to notice that, you know, you become a man now and and you're working and the government basically steals your money and gives it to a bunch of bums who don't want to work. I mean, it's one thing to notice that, right? It's another thing to peg the needle and be like, I'm not paying my taxes, you know, because look, the government will kill you if you don't pay your taxes. I mean, people that are, this is why I say that, you know, the welfare system is theft because, look, I'm not willingly giving my money up. It's the fact that, you know, they're threatening me with force that I pay the tax, right? I mean, because government is the threat of force. That's what, I mean, the Bible said that in Romans 13. It said, you know, he will not use the sword in vain. I mean, the government is the sword. That's, that's the weapon that they have. So, look, it's another, it's another thing altogether, though, to completely obsess over it. You know, to, to fight the government over it. You know, it's just, it's just money. Take it all. At the end of the day, they're gonna tax me at 99%. Take it all. Take it all. Because, look, really what it turns into if you're pushing things this far, it really just turns into greed. You know, I don't, I don't like it. I don't think it's moral. I don't think that, you know, the government has a right to do it, but they're doing it, and I'm not called to fight that battle. I'm called to fight some battles, and those battles that I'm called to fight, I'll fight all the way. But it's not this one. I mean, poor Kent Hovind, you, you look him up, you look him up now on the, on the internet, and he's described, like, I looked up his, his Wikipedia page. Kent E. Hovind is an American Christian fundamentalist, even, even, Kent E. Hovind is an American Christian fundamentalist evangelist and tax protester. That's how he's known now. I mean, the man went to prison, he lost his family, he did, his wife went to prison. I mean, it, over a, over a hill that he was not called to die on. I don't get it. It's not something that we're supposed to take, take on as a fight, folks. Look down at verse number nine. Be balanced. You know, don't, just be a balanced person. Always focus on the Bible, okay, what the Bible tells you that you're supposed to be doing. Romans 13, verse 9. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, that thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Turn to Matthew 22. You should sort of be there. There's basically, Paul's talking over here about living, you know, the Christian life, and he's basically saying that there's basically two categories of commandments, okay. If you look at Matthew 22 and verse number 36, the Bible says again, it says, Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So basically, what the Bible is saying is that all the commandments fit into those two categories. That you're either, you're either following, you know, by having no other gods before you, by, you know, not creating a graven image, or any other commandment that talks about how we're supposed to act towards God by fearing the Lord. It's, it's one of those two categories, by loving God, or loving your neighbor, okay. All the commandments fit into those two categories. Romans 13, verse 11, and that knowing the time, that now it is time to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting or drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. More advice on living a balanced, focused Christian life. So look, Romans 13 is teaching us really that we need to choose our battles biblically. It's explaining, you know, what, what government is in our life, that it was ordained by God. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4. But we need to be careful that we're not, you know, taking things too far and always focusing on what God wants us to do with our lives. God wants you to do a certain thing with your life, okay. Look at, I'm gonna read for you Mark 13 verse 37. The Bible says there, it says, and what I say unto you I say unto all, watch. So look, Jesus was talking about a lot of end times events in Mark 13. It's good to notice things. It is good to not be an idiot and be prepared for bad things that could happen. Those are good things to do. He says, and what I say unto you I say unto all, watch. It's good to watch. Jesus told you to watch, to notice things. We will understand more thoroughly as Bible believing Christians what's actually happening as things get worse and worse and worse. We will understand it. We will see these things coming. We will see the nation moving in a certain direction. We will see the world moving in a certain direction. When these big world events happen, we will see it through the lens of the Bible. And we will understand in a better way other, you know, other than what people who don't believe the Bible understand. We will see it happening. Look, look at 2 Timothy 4 and verse 3. I'll give you an example. For the time will come where they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. If that is not today, I don't know when that day will be. That has got to be today. We are definitely witnessing that now. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. The churches where there is not sound doctrine and they just tell people what they want to hear about everything have thousands of people in those churches. Those people have itching ears and they're scratching those itching ears for them. I mean, I'm up here sitting here. I'm up here Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Thursday nights just yelling the word of God at you. Maybe not so much tonight, but just yelling the word of God at you and just telling you all the things that you're doing. It's a beat down sometimes. It can feel that way, but that's what the Bible says. The Bible says that we're supposed to preach these things and preach sound doctrine, but look, we are to stay on this path. All these other things will distract you because it's good to watch and notice things. It's another thing to start chasing these squirrels. You see what I'm saying? I mean, you'll see Christians in your life chasing these squirrels. You're gonna see it. I mean, ultimately our calling is the same. I mean, we had some people at church a few years ago that were like, I mean, they were pegged out big time. I mean, I'm all about the Second Amendment. I mean, I love, I've been going to gun shows with my dad since I was like this tall, and I mean, I love guns and I love more guns and the Second Amendment. Love it. But, you know, when you start talking about like taking up arms against the government and, you know, all this stuff and, you know, I'm sitting here listening to two guys talk about taking up arms against the government who had never fired a gun before in their life. And I'm just like, are you serious? What in the world? I'm just talking about maybe going to a sportsman's warehouse later, you know, not starting a war, you know. So, I mean, look, I mean, there's people out there that have got the needle pegged, all right. So our calling is the same. Preach the word. Be instant. In season. Out of season. Repeat. Reprove. Rebuke. Exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. That's what we are supposed to do. He said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's our stand. That's our bigger picture, okay. Now, when they tell us that you can't open a Bible and preach the word to somebody, that's my stand. That's when I'll go to jail. That's where I'll take a stand. When the government tells me something, you know, when they say that we're gonna force, you know, your family to do this certain, they're gonna, we're gonna force you to put your kids in this school, that's where I take a stand. Because that's against the Bible. But we're not at that that hill right now in this country, okay. But there are stands. But it's not money and taxes and things that don't matter, you know. So throughout the moral slide, the falling away, you know, our call is to go out and preach the gospel to people. I mean, there's still, I mean, as bad as it gets all the way up to the end, there's still people that are gonna need to be saved. And how are they gonna get saved? I mean, seriously, think about it. How can you preach the gospel when you're living in a bunker? You can't. How many, how many Christians are doing that? Are going out and they're like, I gotta live in a hole, you know. It's stupid. There's no man know what the day or the hour. I mean, you go live in a hole. I mean, and you won't be able to preach the gospel to anybody, because how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? You. So that's the bottom line. We just need to stay focused. Government is ordained to punish evil and we understand we are watching this happen. We are watching an overstepping government. We are watching a moral decline. We are watching a government get more and more powerful in our country. But we're watching and we're noticing. I'm noticing, aren't you? So we can watch, but always keep focused on where we're supposed to be, okay? Which is, we're just preaching the Word of God, all right? Let's bow our heads and pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for tonight. We thank you for the Word. We thank you for Romans 13, Lord, and just this instruction that you've given us. Lord, we thank you for your ordination of government, even though, you know, our government doesn't follow the Bible or the rules that you set forth in the Bible at all. Lord, we thank you for just keeping us focused and just help us in this room understand that while we can watch these things happen, we have to understand, you know, what our calling always is, Lord, and to not get too wrapped up with all these things that are happening around us. We love you, Lord. We thank you for tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. you