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

believed. The night is far spent, the day at hand. Let us therefore cast off works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but be ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Amen. The title of the sermon this evening is realms of authority, realms of authority. Look at verse number one again where the Bible reads, 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 in Romans chapter number 13 the Bible gives us a really strong principle here that the powers that are set up in this world are ordained of God. Now this is a very general principle that God is illustrating. Obviously in some cases there is going to be government so there's going to be people that are in charge that it's not that God truly wants this person to be the leader but he's allowing them to be in leadership for his purposes. You know a perfect example would be the Antichrist. Obviously God doesn't really want the Antichrist to be ruling and reigning but he's allowing him to fulfill his ultimate purposes and we're gonna see different governments and different agencies that rise to power throughout history or even currently that it's not that God's necessarily pleased with that individual or pleased with that regime but he's allowing them to exist. And generally speaking government as a whole is a good concept. Jesus Christ is going to establish a government on this earth in the millennial reign. He's not going to abolish government he's just going to be a righteous government and so what we see here is that the powers that be they're ordained of God. God is allowing the powers to exist and it says in verse number two whosoever therefore resisted the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. So according the Bible the purpose of government or the purpose of these higher powers is for the punishment of evil doers. Now one person might ask this question do I have to obey the powers that are over me no matter what? Well ultimately what we see is there's going to be a hierarchy of power above you and it's going to continually have a higher power until it gets to the point of God himself. And ultimately you would never violate the highest power you would never violate the rules of the ordinance of the highest power. So as long as the underlying powers underneath that highest power are never out of line then you would have to obey. Now if they tell you to do something above or go beyond what the highest power would have you do that's when it's reasonable to say you know what I'm gonna obey God rather than men. But as long as human government or the human authoritarians that are in your life are telling you to do things and they're within the boundaries of that higher power you obey just like at your job. At your job you're gonna have potentially a CEO you may have managers you make have regional managers or district manager you're supposed to do what your district manager says. The only exception would be if it's somehow in violation of company policy in violation of what the CEO has already authorized. This is similar to how God has established our government. And the first realm that I want to talk about is government specifically. I believe there's three you know major realms of our lives that we could talk about this evening. There's plenty others but I want to focus on government, church, and family. Okay and I want to talk about these three realms. Let's talk about government for a moment okay. And really government has some legitimate offices has some legitimate job duties. One of those is the punishment of evildoers. Look at verse 3. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of the power? Do that which is good and thou shall have praise of the same. For he 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 for he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Now don't take this phrase too liberally okay when he says he's the minister of God. Notice it's not saying every government official that's ever existed is a minister of God okay. What it is saying though is the guy that's punishing evil, the guy that's the revenger and the executor of God's wrath, he specifically is a minister of God. Now another thing you have to understand is just because he's a minister of God doesn't even mean he's saved. Sometimes God will use unsaved people to execute judgment against anyone. You know he'll raise up an evil nation to consume another evil nation and that'll be their judgment. That doesn't mean they are saved it's just that's who God chose that's the servant of God. You know Nebuchadnezzar is described as being a servant of God but I don't believe Nebuchadnezzar was saved. If you read Isaiah chapter number 14 it talks about the king of Babylon and it says that hell is going to meet him at his death. So I don't think if hell's meeting you at your death you're saved okay that's just my personal opinion all right. Maybe you have a different opinion but the Bible makes it clear once you go to hell there's no coming back anyways all right. But I'm just saying the king of Babylon being Nebuchadnezzar there that is my personal opinion all right. Now go if you would to Exodus chapter 18 Exodus chapter number 18. Government has a legitimate role that legitimate role is the punishment of evil doers and so therefore we are supposed to respect that legitimate office or authority of government. Does that mean that everything a government would do is legitimate. No you know if you were to ask me how much you know how many things is the U.S. government do that you agree with about less than one percent probably. But that doesn't mean it's zero percent. You know there are certain things that our government does and certain roles that they're supposed to play in that are biblical and you know that are righteous it's just they do a whole bunch of other stuff that's not very good okay. And if you look at the founding of our nation you know it's a lot closer to what they're supposed to look like and it's just continually waxed worse and worse over the centuries over the decades and we are at the point that we're at now. But the Bible says in Exodus chapter number 18 it gives us some information here about Moses whenever they were kind of going to establish their nation. It says in verse number 13 and it came to pass on the moral that Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. And when Moses father-in-law saw all that he did to the people he said what is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why saidest thou thyself alone? And all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening. And Moses said unto his father-in-law because the people come unto me to inquire of God when they have a matter they come unto me and I judge between one and another and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. And Moses father-in-law said unto him the thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee for this thing is too heavy for thee. Thou are not able to perform it thyself alone hearken now unto my voice I will give thee counsel and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people to Godward that thou mayest bring the causes unto God and thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tens and let them judge the people at all seasons and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee but every small matter they shall judge. So shall it be easier for thyself and they shall bear the burden with thee. Now we have a portion of scripture here where we're being instructed Moses and them are coming out of the wilderness and they're now their own independent nation they're no longer under the rule of the Egyptians they now have their own rules they have their own laws and these laws are given to them by God himself but someone has to enforce those laws someone has to actually regulate their civility has to actually decide between problems and as a society today you know our system is a little bit so it's very similar to what they have and we have to understand is this portion of scripture is really in regards to their civility okay if I have a problem with someone in this world you know we don't have one court to go to in America you know it's not like we just have a Supreme Court we have what we have local courts and then we have we have a county courts and then we have state courts and then we have federal courts in fact I looked up in the state you have a county and municipal courts you have special and family housing courts you have a Superior Court and then you have an you have a state Supreme Court okay then you can go beyond that you go to federal federal you have US District Courts you have special courts you have the US Court of Appeals and you have a Supreme Court you say why do you have all that because we have 350 million people okay and if you have 350 million people trying to bring all of their matters to one particular judge or one particular court no one would ever have anything decided it already is a broken system it already takes a couple years to have them decide anything and so right here we have a million people and they have one judge Moses that's not going to work that's not going to be a functioning society and not only is Moses there to regulate civil matters he's also their spiritual leader at the same time he's both okay and so he needs other people to help regulate their society otherwise it's going to be impossible how do you judge between someone who stole or who someone who killed or someone who committed adultery or all the different problems that go on in the world you know there's no temptation taking you but such as common to man there's no new thing under the Sun hey there was adultery back then hey there was theft back then there was people lying back then they had to have a system to accommodate these problems and so we see Moses appointing judges appointing judges do what judge the matters that are going on in their society just like our society has now obviously you could live in a country where their judicial system doesn't really model ours you know it could be a bad court system or it could be more of a king or dictator and these type of things but you have to understand that this is their system for their nation now I can't just take this and import this and every institution that I want the most applicable you know way to interpret this passage is for government itself right if you're going to have a society and you're going to have a government set up you got to have this type of a justice system where you have these type of judges otherwise people are just not going to get their voices heard they're not going to have things regulated but I can't necessarily say this is the system for my family you know and I don't think any of you have like millions of family you know you don't have like millions of children you're not going to set up this judges system even in a church this is not your like model of exactly how a church is supposed to look you have other passages that actually deal with how a church is structured but you could take this principle of delegation and apply it to all manner of life circumstance right maybe we have a soul winning marathon and we have a hundred people show up well it makes sense to delegate those tasks and you could use this as a model of delegation and say hey we should have a couple different soul winning leaders and they could break up into teams of 20 or 10 people or whatever that way it's more organized and you can do things in a more productive way obviously if a church grew to a point where it's running thousands it's going to need other people to help with some of that authority structure but this is not necessarily exactly how it's supposed to be these are just principles laid out and again if I were to make the most applicable or take the best application and the most primary application this is for human government this is how they're supposed to run and how they're supposed to rule and reign things or maybe a company or a CEO you know this is even though this is a business it's not a secular business it's still the house of God and has his own authority structure so let's say let's keep thinking about government for a moment they have to deal with civil duties go go into Matthew chapter number five Matthew chapter five look someone has to enforce Leviticus 2013 you know I mean you got to have someone do that and you know it used to be the civil government it used to be in America that the righteous government would do that and I'm not saying our government was perfectly righteous but they at least believe that one they at least believe that murderers should be put to death and they least believe that there were certain capital punishments in this world that needed to be you know executed upon and unfortunately our society's deteriorated to the point Democrats are pushing new legislation saying there's no such thing as a death penalty more they can't put anybody to death and that's a shame because there's plenty of evil people there's plenty of evil that needs to be put out of our society and you know I'm surprised that they don't want anybody put to death I'm surprised that they're the ones that will be pushing this agenda I know why it's because they're guilty probably of stuff that's worthy of being put to death but Matthew chapter number five look at verse 25 agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison so we see Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter number five talking about matters of civility saying if I had a problem with someone I need to make sure to try and agree with them quickly otherwise they're gonna take me to an officer they're gonna have some officer come that sounds like America the police officer comes picks you up takes you to jail and then you stand before the judge and then the judge could throw you into prison isn't that exactly our society works and you know you go to other countries it's still pretty much the same they'll call whatever their police is and Jamaica it's funny because it's not 911 it's 119 but you know what it's still a police officer and you'll still haul you off to prison and you'll still stand before a judge you know fortunately in America you're considered innocent until proven guilty some courts you're like guilty until proven innocent you know I don't want to be in that type of a court you know I don't want to be in that kind of a justice system but virtually speaking this is how human governments exist you go to most countries they're gonna have a court they're gonna have a judge they're gonna have these things I'm not saying that it's fair I'm not saying that it's righteous I'm not gonna say that it's exactly how God you know ordained it what I am saying is that's pretty much what we see people doing isn't it and that's how a government should operate it should have these functions it shouldn't have officers and judges and these courts and stuff I'm not saying prisons necessarily a righteous punishment but it is something that Jesus said is a threat to you and whether or not it's exactly how God ordained it is still a legitimate thing that could happen to you that's why it's important to agree with people and now the realm of government is to what to punish evildoers we see it here we see it you know at Jethro they're judging matters we see the law giving you all the punishments we see in Romans chapter number 13 go view to Matt Matthew 22 Matthew 22 so here's a question should I pay taxes well you know it's you know that question didn't arise with you guys it was even in Jesus day that question was asked well let's see what Jesus had to say you know he actually answered this question Matthew 22 look at verse 17 tell us therefore what thinkest thou is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not so saying should we pay taxes to Caesar you know well what does he say but Jesus perceived their wickedness and said why tempt ye me hypocrites show me the tribute money and they brought unto him a penny and he saith unto them whose is this image and superscription they say and I'm Caesars then sayeth he unto them render therefore in the Caesar the things which are Caesars and unto God the things that are God's so Jesus is pointing out to them hey this money actually has Caesars emblem on it it has a superscription as his picture on it you know how could he say it's not Caesars to some degree right and he's saying look we need to pay what we owe to them and he he makes it clear in another passage he's saying hey look we're free okay we don't technically have to pay taxes but we don't want to offend them we want we live in this society and it's his money let's pay him whatever tribute that he did that he's owed go with back to Romans chapter 13 we'll see the exact same thing you know some people get so mad about our country that they'll say that you shouldn't even pay taxes and there will be called a tax protester and look I'm not saying I agree with how much were taxed I'm not saying I agree with how they spend our tax money but what I am saying is that Jesus paid taxes and you know you say well I can't pay taxes because what they do with it well you know the same money that Jesus paid to the Romans they used to crucify people like Jesus do you think Jesus agrees with that you think he agrees with the way they're spending that money no but he still paid them that do because that was what he owed okay and we see here in Romans chapter 13 verse number 5 wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake so saying you don't want to just obey the government just not to escape punishment but also just to have a good conscience towards man and towards God he says in verse 6 for for this cause pay 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 custom fear to fear honor to whom honor so the Bible actually teaches that government's a legitimate institution they should be paid their taxes and not just to escape punishment but also to have a good conscience towards man look we need roads you know I like roads and I like the fact that we have public utilities like water I like the fact that we have a sewer line I mean who's that you know unless you work for the plumbing company you never laid a sewer line you know I'm sure that wasn't a fun job and they plan the city they allow us to have a place to live you know they protect our borders through military they have legitimate functions as far as punishment of evildoers and so they should be paid a certain amount of money now obviously if you have the opportunity to tell them you know what you should get less money because you're wasting it that's that's also something that could be mentioned all right but what I am saying is that we could never get to the point where we're just saying zero even in God's society they still had to pay tribute they still had to pay money when they would do a census they still had other ways of collecting money and funds for the common good of their society now go if you would to first Timothy chapter number three so we've kind of talked about government and the realm of authority that government has what would be wicked though is for government to go outside of their realm of authority I don't know like trampling on human rights trampling on the fact that you know God has given us certain liberties and certain functions and things that we should be able to decide like having children you see government's constantly trampling on people's right to have children on being fruitful multiplying when you see that Exodus chapter number one Pharaoh throws the men children into the river we see Herod killing children of two years of age and younger and you know what we see in today's society governments like the Chinese government restricting parents from having more than one child you know how are you gonna have how are you gonna be multiplying when you can only have one that's subtraction if you have two people and one child that's division you know that's not multiplication and you know it's wicked to kill babies and have all the birth control and all the government regulation look that's outside of their realm of authority and we see people like the handmaidens or the the midwives of Egypt not even obeying the king not killing the children because they feared God and so there is going to be times in which the government may try to go outside of their realm of authority and you don't have to obey that the Bible makes it clear that they should stay within their realm of authority and I should obey the higher power if God's telling me to be fruitful multiply I'm going to be fruitful multiply I don't care what the government says the government can stay in their lane the government can do what God has ordained them to do and you know what God is not going to bless the government that goes outside their realm of authority God is not going to bless all the extra stuff that they do mandating people to go to public education you know there's certain countries where you can't even homeschool your children you're forced to put them in some communist or some kind of a government agenda based education system and you know what that's wrong that's not biblical that's not something the Bible says that the parents are supposed to teach the children that the parents are supposed to educate their children and you know what it's wrong when governments start to go outside of the realm of authority and even in America I could go on and on and on and on all the ways that they're going outside of their realm of authority you know I believe that the public education system should be completely defunded you know it's funny like virtually the only real good function of our government is like the police or like basically law enforcement and that's the only thing they wanted to fund and I basically wanted to fund virtually everything else and and keep you know law and order or keep the legitimacy of these people who are supposed to enforce the law hey without a police officer who's gonna enforce the law who's gonna actually execute who's gonna be the minister of God you know it doesn't make any sense you got to have someone to enforce the law you got to still have the officer of the court you still got to have the judges but obviously that's all broken and that's a different sermon okay but what's the point the point is that the government has some legitimate authority and they need to stick to that legitimate authority well other institutions have legitimate authority like a church we are in first Timothy chapter number three look at verse number 15 but if I Terry long thou mayest know how thou oughtest behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth so the church also has a realm of authority now let me ask you this the government's realm of authority was to put people to death was to punish evil doers is that the church's responsibility no that's not for us to go around and decide someone's worthy of death and just executing our own judgment upon these people look that's a matter in realm of authority for the government so they have their space and then we have our space is it okay for the government to tell us what church we have to go to and to tell us what we should preach on Sunday morning and Sunday night you know no that's not their realm of authority they have a sphere of influence and the church has its own sphere of influence and notice we're supposed to behave ourselves in the house of God there's certain rules for how church is supposed to operate now in government you know that's going to be subject to their own design you know way that they govern themselves with a king or a public or a communist party whatever they have there is their system but God tells us exactly I wants the church to run there's not like multiple ways or you just figure it out on your own now it tells specifically who's supposed to be in charge let me show you look what it says in verse number four one that rules well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house how so you take care of the Church of God so it's saying this person is the one that's supposed to take chair care of the Church of God he's supposed to be the ruler which one is it in verse one it says this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop so a bishop is supposed to be the person in charge or ruling the house of God he is the legitimate authority in a church you're supposed to have a bishop in charge you're supposed to have a bishop taking care of the church and then you have later down here verse number eight likewise must the deacons be grave not double-tongued and then it gives some qualifications of the deacon look what it says verse 10 and let these also first be proved then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless now the word deacon is synonymous with the word servant okay now what sense would it make to say the servant is in charge the deacon is the one that's supposed to serve now a deacon in your Bible is only mentioned a few times and it's very limited to the qualifications of them if you look at Acts chapter number six we're not going to go through for sake of time that is probably the most applicable passage of Scripture describe what a deacon is really doing he's serving tables he's ministering on the people he's helping people the deacon is not in charge though and you know there's so many churches where the deacons are in charge of the church the deacons are the ones ruling the church but that's not what the Bible says the Bible says that the bishop is ruling in the house of God the bishop is the one caring for the people in the house of God and you know what it makes me sick when you see churches where the pastor's hands are tied behind his back and he can't lead because he has to ask the deacons if it's okay for him to do anything and then the deacons are the ones in charge and the deacons you know what I've been in churches where the deacons it becomes like a political thing you know they they vote and then they campaign and they have like posters for like you know I'm I'm campaigning for the deacon of the of the church this this year whatever and it just becomes like basically the presidential election again you know is when they start bringing in divinian voting voting machines then it's gonna be really sketchy all right say we're gonna count all the time you know look the authority of a church should not be granted to the servant the authority of the church should not be granted to the sheep it should be granted to the pastor just like the authority in a house is not granted to the children it's not granted to the wife it's granted to the man of the house that's why I gave us this qualifications saying hey if the man doesn't know how to rule his children how can he rule in the house of God it's so the exact same way the bishop is the leader just like the man is the leader of the home and when you get out of whack when you don't understand this realm of authority it gets really screwed up now I want to go to a few places quickly okay go to Acts chapter 1 I want to talk about the offices of a church we have a bishop we have a deacon okay that's the offices of the Bible lays out now there is a few other things that we could look at where there's some offices but they're not always applicable or they they're kind of done away with one of those offices would be an apostle okay now obviously if you go to a Pentecostal Church they'll call everybody an apostle but that's not true okay an apostle is someone that saw the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ the Bible makes that clear they're a witness of his resurrection the apostles were granted special giftings where they could speak in a foreign language without having studied it they were able to drink a deadly thing and wouldn't harm them they could just lay hands on someone they would just immediately recover in fact we have stories where Peter's shadow is just healing people you know this doesn't happen today I don't care how many Benny Hinn videos you've watched it's fake okay it's not real these people are not apostles but an apostle is an office okay and I'll prove that to you look at Acts chapter 1 verse 20 for it is written the book of Psalms let his habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein and his bishopric let another take so it's talking about Judas and it's talking about how his bishopric or his position was going to be replaced by Matthias later but go if you would back to Psalms 109 and we're gonna see this quoted in the book of Psalms where it talks about his bishopric and we'll see in Psalms chapter 109 verse number 8 the Bible reads let his days be few and let another take his notice this word office so an office is a position it's something that someone has the title of and it's a it's it's what they do it's who they are as far as their function it's a position that they hold so position could be an apostle a position could be a bishop a position could be a deacon because we say that's the office the office the office go if you would to Romans chapter number 11 I'll show you this again Romans chapter number 11 but there's going to be a difference between a position or an office and a role and a duty okay you could have something be a role and it's not really a office but you could also have something that's an office and not necessarily a role and you can also have it being both okay so we want to kind of understand these concepts and I'll show you this clearly but Romans chapter number 11 look at verse number 13 the Bible says for I speak to you Gentiles and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I magnify mine office so notice he says that being an apostle is an office the problem is that all the apostles have passed away so we don't have apostles anymore today no one if someone tells you they saw Jesus Christ resurrected they're crazy okay step step back from them and say like I'm not interested you know you know I don't think you did okay buddy go to Ephesians chapter 4 now go to Ephesians chapter 4 so when we understand how the church is laid out the Bible makes it clear we have pastors and deacons we have pastors and deacons obviously if we lived in you know the times of the New Testament being written we could also have an office of an apostle okay and so they're going to hold that office but today we don't have any of those now Ephesians 4 brings up another list of people okay and another list of what I would call you know roles and offices look what it says in verse number 11 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers now when you give this list here you can't just say that all these are necessarily an office because where in the Bible does it say I have the title teacher you know that's not really a thing necessarily you do have a pastor you do have an apostle you also have deacons deacons aren't even mentioned here so is this an exhaustive list of all the offices in a church no it's not really addressing offices it's really addressing just roles that people play okay someone could be in the role of an apostle someone could be in a role of a prophet someone could be in the role of an evangelist or a pastor or a teacher and obviously a word could be both right if I'm a pastor that could be my office but it could also be my role right pastoring people doing this being an apostle that's an office and a role but some of these could just be really just literally a role right if you're just a teacher what does that look like maybe just going to church and you know the person that's getting up to preach that evening is just a normal layperson and they're just teaching the Bible that's a teacher okay and they're fulfilling the role of a teacher but we're not gonna like have an official role like you are teacher of pure words Baptist Church here is your name badge as teacher here's another thing evangelist you know every person that saved is an evangelist you're all supposed to have that role you're all supposed to go out and evangelize you're all supposed to go out and preach the gospel you're all supposed to be a witness but that doesn't mean you hold the office of an evangelist okay is that kind of making sense so we have to understand the certain offices that would exist inside of a church so that we can understand the authority structure now what is the authority structure that's been given a pastor and a deacon so who has the authority the pastor who else that's it okay there's not this other secret role that you know no now when it comes to within a church obviously a pastor is going to have other people helping him fulfill the work of the ministry and he's going to appoint people to certain roles and their realm of authority is going to be limited to that role just like if we say hey we're going to have so-and-so be our piano player you know what their realm of authority is the 66 keys over there okay that's their realm of authority it's not to do other things it's not to go and exercise other authority or someone's a soul winning leader what's their realm of authority it's to be the soul winning leader and so we're going to appoint people hey you appoint someone as the teacher they get up and they're going to teach a sermon their realm of authority is that time to preach a sermon but you know it's not going to extend other things this isn't some official role that the Bible is given look the pastor is the one that's in charge the pastor is the one that's commanding and leading and making all the decisions and everyone else is going to be subject to the appointment of the pastor whatever the pastor deems and says hey this is your lane this is where you're supposed to go then that is your role go to Acts chapter 20 let me prove this even further go to Acts chapter number 20 the pastor is the one that's supposed to be ruling in the house of God now we see in Acts chapter number 20 look at verse 28 take heed therefore unto yourselves and while the flock over which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers so he's talking to certain people and to prove this who he's talking to look at verse 17 and from my elitist he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church now elder is synonymous with the word bishop it's also synonymous with the word pastor these three things would be synonymous in the New Testament and so he's calling all the elders all of the pastors all the bishops and he's saying you guys are the overseers who else is in charge who else was called to the meeting of oversight no one it was the elders that were the ones that are called the overseers because they are the ones with the authority they're the ones that are in charge go to first Peter chapter number five go to first Peter chapter five now we have to understand about a church though it's not like a corporation okay it's not like a secular business it's different and the Gentiles they exercise authority differently than Christ wants us to exercise authority okay and this is a very important distinguishment when someone's in charge in the house of God they're not supposed to go beyond their realm of authority a pastor still has boundaries and limitations to his authority okay and we see in first Peter chapter 5 talking to the elders look at verse 1 the elders which are among you I exhort who I'm also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also partake of the glory that shall be revealed feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over God's heritage but being in samples to the flock so known as the elders they're the ones in charge and they're not supposed to do it against their will they're supposed to willingly do it and they're not supposed to do it because they're greedy of money or they're taking some kind of a bribe or they're taking advantage of people no they're doing it legitimately they're being you know paid potentially a reasonable you know amount of money they're not going above and beyond they're not going for you know filthy lucre or something like that or taking money that they don't deserve or they haven't earned and we see very clearly though they're not supposed to be Lords either now what's what's a Lord a Lord is someone whom you serve if someone is your Lord you serve them but you know God wants it to where the pastor even though he's in charge he actually serves the congregation he actually ministers under the congregation he's not going around trying to get everyone to serve him he is trying to serve everyone but obviously when it comes when the rubber meets the road and someone has to make a decision he's the one making decisions he's the one exercising the authority and you know I feel like a husband should follow a similar model where a husband while technically having full authority in the household he should make decisions not necessarily what he wants but what is fan what's good for his family will be beneficial for them elevating their wants and desires above his own and you know a pastor a pastor that's after God's own heart is one who's gonna elevate the needs of the people and he's gonna elevate their desires and he's gonna be there to serve them not just his own desires not his own carnal lust not the things that he wants but the things of a part of the people that is a righteous pastor go over to Luke chapter twenty two Luke chapter number twenty two I want to show you another verse here Luke chapter number twenty two so when you say well I just can't wait to be an authority at church I hope that's because you want to serve people I hope it's not because you just want to boss people around because look the church you know leadership is not an opportunity to boss people around is an opportunity to serve people it's an opportunity to minister to people to esteem other better than yourself it's not to put yourself on a pedestal and have everybody bow down to you but rather it's for you to lift other people up it's for you to build other people up it's for you to encourage other people and minister and love on them Luke chapter twenty two look at verse twenty four and there was also strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest you know people like to argue about how great they are and it didn't start with us either the disciples you know these are some of the best guys on the planet think about this they are some of the greatest guys yet they're arguing about how great each that I'm the greatest you know I just want to let you guys know you know I'm Peter I'm the rock okay and then John's like I'm the disciple in whom Jesus loved okay Judas is over there like I know I'm not the best right but we know that we see they're arguing right verse 25 he said to them the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors but ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that does serve so notice the guy that's in charge is supposed to be the greatest servant he's supposed to the guy ministering to everybody that's the real identity of a leader in the house of God is that what we see in America our leaders you know we think about the government man they they want to lay down and give grapes fed to them right now obviously theoretically they're supposed to be ministers to they're supposed to be servants too and they call themselves public servants but man it doesn't seem like they're doing very much serving it seems like they're being served a lot doesn't it and not with papers that's what they should get served but but here's the thing a pastor is one to minister a pastor is one to love the congregation and and to you know so let me just make this plain if you're in a position of leadership there's going to be a burden there's going to be a burden associated with leadership and at the end of the day you know what that's good that's not anything bad you know the purpose of a pastor is to come alongside his congregation and to bear their burdens is to try and help them and minister to them and love them and when they go through something difficult he's there to minister under them and he's there to love on them and he's there to cry with them and he's there to rejoice with them and he's there so you can have somebody to go to and say hey I'm dealing with this problem you know pastor Shelley what should I do or you know do you have any Bible verses for encouragement you know I don't want people to have an idea that they can't approach their pastor with the problems that they deal with if you can't approach your pastor who can you go to you know and you say oh man the pastor's burden well great you know I wouldn't want to be a pastor I have no burdens because then it sounds like I'm not ministering to anybody you know it's great to have burden it's great to have things that you're doing because then it's an evidence of the fact that you're serving and loving other people and you're ministering unto other people and you know I've had lots of people all the time people call me all the time wanting me to help them with advice or help them with their problems or their struggles you know I'm not perfect sometimes I don't get back to people immediately sometimes I'm able to you know depending on what kind of questions they have I may not even want to answer them because the Bible says avoid foolish questions but here's the thing I try to do my best even be gracious and try to help people and try to love people and you know nobody's gonna always agree agree with me it's okay you know if I teach something and you don't agree you can agree just quietly you can be wrong okay it's okay but you know you know you don't have to come and educate me on what the Bible says I'm good all right you can always ask me a question and I'll try to show you why I believe the things that I do and I'm not perfect I can I can be educated on certain topics but we're talking about core principles you know I'm not gonna change on those things and if I preach a whole sermon on the topic you know listen to the sermon if you really want to know how I feel that's where I leave it right but I try to help people and I try to minister them and you know people should have confidence that if they come and tell their pastor something it's gonna stay with the pastor you know it's not gonna be shared with other people you know I don't share people's private personal information with anyone you know I don't go around and try to say things to other people I'm not gonna go and blow all your problems off to somebody else and try to just say that and you shouldn't either you know if you're in a position of leadership or you're talking to people you don't want people to lose confidence and being able to come to you and asking them for help or to be able to carry that burden you know then it becomes gossip it becomes tale-bearing it becomes you know all kinds of other issues you know a pastor should be someone that you can come to and share their personal problems with and you know what it doesn't bother me it doesn't it doesn't give me any kind of obviously it's a burden I'm not saying it's not what I am saying is that's what I want I'd rather you have a comfortable a good place to go to than to have no one to go to then to turn to the wrong person or trunk to the wrong advice or to think oh man no one knows what I'm going through look there's no temptation taking you but such as common a man now go view with the first remember the first Corinthians chapter 5 but let me say this if you come to me and you ask me for advice I'll make it clear right now I'm not going to tell you what to do the wrong role of a pastor is a dictator that goes around and micromanages everybody's life and some people they'll come to me with problems and they want me to police people's lives they want me to go around and and follow everybody around and say that's not right and did you do this did you hear this urban you know like you need to hear this again look it's not my job to go around and Lord over anybody in the house of God to go around and be your personal boss and boss you around look I'm responsible to make sure the church activities go well hey I'm I'm supposed to make sure that the music and the preaching and the bites are on and all that kind of stuff is being taken care of but outside of that I don't rule over you I don't judge your life and tell you exactly what to do and where to go and how look you have your own life and I have my own life if you want my advice I'll give it to you oh and people come to me they say hey where should I move you know to where should I live what should I you know who should I marry this person I do this I'm not gonna be like marry this person there's your house you know here's your car put on a put on this color shirt you know no that's silly you come to me I'll say hey this here's pros and cons of that decision here's pros and cons this decision do what you want you live your life and here's what the Bible says okay here's what here's the Bible here's a couple pros and cons your decisions go for it you live your life of all the trees of the garden now may us freely eat but the one in the center don't eat that but it's not because it's my opinion cuz God said not to eat that one okay that's the type of judgment or that's the type of leadership that a pastor should be giving but you know what there's churches today where they will tell you every single aspect of your life what to do they'll even say don't get married without coming talking to me don't buy a car without coming to talk to me don't let you know don't buy these clothes don't go to that person they'll even decide who can date who in their church look that is an abuse of the power of a pastor that is not the right role of a pastor and I've seen lots of independent fundamental Baptist churches go this way it's a cult my friend that's a cult when you have a guy telling you all your own personal decisions you should be able to make whatever decision you want now obviously within church there is a person making decisions for the church and ruling over the church and that's very important but you know what it's not for me to go around and police people's personal lives now I had you turn to 1st Corinthians 5 why because here's places where the pastor is going to start exercising discipline or exercising some of authority okay look what it says in verse number 11 but I have now I'm sorry but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such in one no not to eat so if someone's coming to our church they're actively a member you know they're they're they're participating in our church program and they fall on this list then at some point the pastor has to address this problem with this person and say if you're not going to fix this we're going to have to ask you to leave the church you can't be a part of our you know fellowship you're bringing leaven in the church and you're causing damage to the cause of Christ and we are not worshipping in sincerity and truth so you need to fix that problem but here's a question what if someone was coming to our church they no longer go to our church but they fall on this list is the pastor supposed to go around and call them up and try to you know rule their life well let's keep reading for what have I to do to judge them also that are without do not you judge them that are within but them that are without God judges therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person so notice if someone's outside of these walls and they're not following these committee they're breaking these statutes it's not for me to go around and enforce those policies on that person you know people come up to me they're like so-and-so's you know in this sin or whatever but they're not coming to the church it's like what am I supposed to do about it you know okay then that means if I go around them personally I'll distance myself you know but it's not for me to do anything else if they start coming back to the church then I'll have to dress it with them and say look you got to fix this you know I'm not saying that this doesn't apply to just any brother and sister in Christ but what I am saying as me as your pastor if they're not coming to this church I'm not going to go and try and rule over all of them is it my job to call every Christian that's saved that's in these sins and rule over them or they have to actually come to my church for me to rule over them now obviously you are not a pastor okay and so if you have a person in your life that's saved and falls on this list then you exercise that in your own personal life because that's your realm of authority you know what my realm of authority is limited to this church as being a pastor you know and when people make stupid decisions outside of church let me tell you what I'm not gonna police that people do dumb stuff people say dumb stuff and they go out and make bad decisions and they sin and whatever I'm not gonna go follow them around and be like that was dumb hey this Facebook post is really bad I don't know why you put that out there you know that's really stupid you know you don't even know how to spell do you you know I'm not gonna I'm that's not my job my job is the church you know and people want me to do this all the time they'll come to me and they'd be like throw this person out of church or do this and I'm like they're not even coming how do I throw someone out of church that's not even coming here okay stop coming all right done you know it's like that doesn't even make any sense go over to Matthew chapter 18 now here's where it really starts to be a thing that people try to bring to me or they try to bring to leadership you know in a church and it's they just have a fundamental lack of understanding of what Matthew 18 is about but but Matthew 18 is a way to resolve problems within church okay between between church members it says in Matthew 18 look at verse 15 moreover thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou'st gain thy brother so you know if you have a problem with a person in church you should just try to resolve it amongst yourselves so you know someone does some damage to you someone does something wrong to you or they hurt you in some way or they offend you the best course of action is to just go to that person and try to reconcile with them that is the first course of action you know what happens if they don't though let's say you can't resolve that matter well then what does it say verse 16 but if you will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established so it's saying if you can't resolve it peaceably if it's not going anywhere then you could potentially have two brothers or sisters in Christ help you be just witnesses to observe the issue they're not judging this issue they're witness they're not deciding what's going on in this situation they're just witnessing the problem and noticing okay yeah we agree with you there is a problem here we've witnessed it we've seen the evidence or we've seen the discussion we are in agreement then if it's still not willing to hear look what it says it says and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church but if he neglect the other church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican so I have a problem with a person in the church it's obvious they're in the wrong okay and they're not willing to fix it then I could take two people with me and I say hey look you're in the wrong here's what happened and they say no and the other people are agreeing with me yeah you're in the wrong he's in the right then you could take it to the church obviously you'd probably take you to the church leadership at that point they address it bring before the church and say hey look we all are in agreement you're in the wrong okay and the person is like no then at that point you just have to say okay well then you're gonna have to go to another church okay but let me also say this this is dealing with issues that are brought into the church okay two people that are coming to the church that are at odds with one another this is not you bring in your brother-in-law that doesn't come to our church to our church for our church to judge him or to punish him or to make him feel weird you know like hey I'm gonna take you to my church buddy and then we'll get judgment like this is not a replacement for that okay this is talking about there's active problems in our church where there's two church members and they're having this serious issue you don't want to go to church if someone seriously wronged you if you can't let that go and just you know you're worshiping together and so when you get that could cause problems so they need to be addressed and now again we're talking about serious issues you know we're talking about someone doing something very major there's people they've ripped off their brother in Christ for 10,000 bucks you know they've they were doing a job for them and they they screwed up or they did something they hurt their child or they there was something major that happened and they need that issue dealt with you know or maybe let's say you get in a car accident with one of your brothers and sisters in Christ okay what would be the right course of action well first of all y'all try to figure it out if you can resolve it it's done that's the best course of action let's say you can't figure it out you know you should do you should call the police you say call the police well you know you should have something on record that is examining what happened in the scenario you know the police aren't going to come out and judge the situation as far as like he's guilty or he's innocent they're just gonna say here's the facts this person ran into this vehicle at this time and they hid here and this is what they said and then you have a document and you know that documents gonna be really beneficial for your insurance you know in some cases you actually are supposed to call the police because someone's injured or there's a problem or it's causing a problem on the road or it's causing some kind of a distraction that's how it should be solved you say when should you bring it to the church well hopefully never okay but let's say you both still are actively coming to the church and there was a serious issue and you couldn't get it resolved then you follow these principles where you get two or three brothers and sisters in Christ you say which two do I pick any any you want to know if you're qualified to judge in this matter let me prove this you go to 1st Corinthians chapter 6 let me show you who's qualified to judge one of these matters 1st Corinthians chapter number 6 the Bible we go back to 1st Corinthians look at verse number 1 the Bible reads there any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the Saints do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world and if the world should be judged by you are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters no you not that we shall judge angels how much more things that pertain to this life if then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life set them the judge who are least esteemed in the church now this is an exaggerated statement okay he's not saying pick the worst person in church every single time he's saying you know who's qualified to judge the worst person in church so it's not like well you know there are certain people in the church that are qualified to judge and others are not now he's saying everyone in church is qualified to judge in that matter you could grab the two least of the people in the church and they are qualified to judge in that matter and if they're not going to hear them then you could bring it to the whole church and the whole church would judge as a whole and as a clear-cut matter okay and then that person would have exercised you know judgment all right but the Bible is made clear you don't sue one another and you know some people take this to a weird extreme where they think every matter falls in this category not every matter falls in this category if someone shoots one of your family members you call the cops okay if someone if someone's committing a crime you call the police if you come to me and report crimes to me I will tell the police okay we're not talking about crime we're not talking about the we're talking about small civil disputes you're better off just having the least esteem than Judge Judy okay you're better off having the least esteem than going down to the civil court where it's not going to really resolve your matter and again this is the handle disputes in the church not just every single dispute that you ever have not every problem they ever gonna have it's saying when people in the church can't get along they can't let something go here is your remedy here is your solution and this is an important concept to realize we want to stay within our realm of authority it's not for me as your pastor to judge all of your problems and judge in fact Matthew 18 can be exercised without me theoretically in the sense of I don't have to be directly involved now I will be involved when it's the whole church I'm not saying that I wouldn't at that point I'm saying that I don't have to be the two or three witnesses you don't have to have anybody of a high ranking position to handle these matters no you just have to follow what the Bible says okay now go if you would to Titus chapter number two Titus chapter number two and this I have a few more things that I want to mention I also live in a longer sermon but we want to stay within our realm of authority today and the realms of authority are clearly laid out in Scripture and we don't want to go above and beyond these because then we're going to have a lot of problems and it's going to be confusing you know I don't want people to be confused on how they're supposed to handle problems and issues I want there to be a lot of clarity and you know being a pastor is not this this you know role of a civil judge it just doesn't even make sense it's not it's not my job to decide who's right and wrong and all your life circumstances you guys figure that out on your own it's for me to decide what should be preached behind the pulpit it's my decision what songs we're going to leave it's my decision you know how the chairs are going to be laid out okay but it's not for me to rule over your life and to tell you what to do in your personal life you know my authority it from God is specifically limited to the church house is specifically limited to the functions of the church now how much authority does the pastor have within that boundary well let's read first sorry Titus chapter 2 verse number 15 these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority let no man despise me so when it comes to a church matter how much authority is the pastor have all of it every single ounce it's not even a question he's the one in church and you know what the role of a pastor is to be an example you know what the role of a pastor is to preach the truth you know the role of a pastor is to rule the church outside of that he doesn't have authority I don't have any authority to come and tell you where you're gonna live what you're gonna eat what your wife's gonna do what your kids are gonna do that is for you to decide because you are the priest of your own family that's my last point we're talking about family and their authority go if you would to first Peter we're gonna look at a couple verses here first Peter look to the right in your Bible just like the pastor is a hundred percent in charge and the deacons are a hundred percent servants the husband is a hundred percent and can charge and the wife is a hundred percent a servant okay and you say well is that your opinion no that's the Bible like what it says in verse Peter chapter 3 verse 1 likewise he wise be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wise while they behold your chase conversation couple of fear who's adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair or wearing of gold or putting out of apparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible even though ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of a great price for after this man in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God ordained them or I'm sorry adorned themselves being in subjection under their own husbands even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him notice this word Lord so within a family situation the husband is completely in charge but obviously if you're going to follow a Christ like example you're not going to just be there to be served you're going to also serve those that are under you you're going to minister under those that are under you but you still have all the authority you still have all the power you know and that's the most biblical perspective look at first Peter chapter two verse nine just back up to the previous passage we also believe the priest of the believer says but you're chosen generation a royal priesthood unholy nation of the killer people that you should show for the praise of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light so we're all the priesthood we're all servants of God we're all here to minister under the Lord but then we have certain realms of authority the husband he has his realm of his family the pastor he has his realm the church the government he has his realm the punishment of evildoers right but we don't want to mix these we don't want to intermingle them we don't want to confuse them we want people to stay within their realm of authority and you know what it's not for the pastor to jump into the family and it's not for the family man to jump in the authority of the pastor either you know this isn't a congregational led church if you want a congregation led church go to virtually all the other ones but this isn't that you know we want to stay in our realm you know it's certainly not for the women to rule the church you know there's churches where the women are in charge I've been to churches we have business meetings and the women are getting up and making decisions that violates clear scripture go to 1st Corinthians chapter 14 1st Corinthians chapter number 14 I'll read for you from 1st Timothy chapter number two while you're turning there the Bible says in 1st Timothy 2 verse number 12 but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence so notice she would be going outside the realm of her authority to go and tell a man what to do to go and tell a man to do anything but you know how many women should be in charge of men zero it's sadder country we have so many women governors and leaders and now a vice president-elect you know if that ends up happening or not I don't know but that's a shame it's a shame when you have women telling men what to do that's not biblical that's not how God ordained it and you know throughout history that wasn't even a reality even in America you know that women's suffrage you know I would like to go back to those times you know 1st Corinthians chapter number 14 look at verse 34 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 anything let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the church now that's another thing if a wife really wants to know what the Bible says who is she supposed to go to her husband it's not even the pastor's realm of authority to tell your wife what to do because you know what at the end of the day the man is the one in charge of his home the husband is the one in charge and he's the one that makes the rules but it's possible for a man to come to my church and disagree with me on doctrine and you know who the wife's supposed to agree with the husband not me if I say a and your husband says be as long as it's within the boundaries of the Bible you obey your husband you do what the husband says not the pastor because it's not the pastor's realm of authority now obviously if I'm not biblical and the husband's not biblical the wife's supposed to obey God okay so there's no way you're supposed to usurp the higher authority but at the end of the day the woman her main authority is her husband and now obviously she should go to church and she should submit to the things of the pastor inside the realm of the church but ultimately her primary leader is the man go to 1st Corinthians 11 right here just look backwards and look at chapter 11 verse number 3 but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God so notice we have a clear delineation of authority it goes God then it goes Christ then it goes man then it goes woman notice church wasn't there why because the church doesn't tell the man what to do except for in the functions of the church the pastors in control of that but you know what that's his only realm of authority I want you to get these things really clear and really understand them go if you would to Ephesians chapter number six I'm going to give you one one more thing to chew on what about children they're at the bottom of the totem pole their authority is none they're a child okay they don't get any authority their job is just to obey that's it honor thy father thy mother your heavenly father your earthly father and your earthly mother Ephesians chapter number six look at verse number one children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right hey the Bible says you obey mom and you obey dad you know what when you become a man then you no longer is that mother that direct authority but you know I still believe a son should obey his mom as much as humanly possible and should still obey and listen to that voice and not forget the law of her mother of his mother but you know what when Jesus had a conflict with his mother after being a grown man you know what he was the one in authority he's the one in charge he says woman what have I to do with thee okay so and then she submits to him and she even says to him you know do whatever he bids you okay so we see as a child you obey your mother and let me define how that it works okay if she's paying the bills she's in charge okay if you're still living under mom and dad's roof they're still in charge okay until you're the one out being the man and providing you're still in the under the leadership and authority of your mother and I still believe you should obey both your father and your mother look what it says the next verse honor thy father thy mother which is the first command with promise and now here you know it's not saying well you should stop honoring them eventually you should always honor them you should always respect them and in fact you should even financially honor them that's another aspect of first Timothy chapter number five meaning that if your parents get old and they can't work or they can't provide for themselves financially the children are supposed to provide for their parents now go over Colossians chapter 3 we'll see one more verse here and I'm gonna finish and wrap up this sermon but what's the point of the sermon point of sermon is understand the realms of authority why so we can obey the realm of authority that was under that is over us okay we want to stay within our realm of authority and then we also want to exercise the authority that's been given to us you know we want to have the clear boundaries and know where the lines are and so we can all feel comfortable living within those boundaries and exercising those authorities and not mixing them up not getting them confused and not having people you know feel like they don't know what's going on and in the church we're supposed to submit one to another you know if I appoint Brandon as the soul winning leader you know I submit to him even as the pastor if I say pick maps and we're gonna go I say Brandon where am I going you know who am I supposed to be you know going with right or you know if I appoint Brandon you know any of the men that are there they submit to his time if you go to brother Sampson soul winning time or you go to so many brother Moses so anytime he's in charge he's the one laying down the wall you know if I appoint some of the soul winning leader they're not gonna come tell the pianist what to play because that's not the realm of authority it hasn't been delegated to them it hasn't been appointed to them and so we have to understand the realms of authority that have been appointed and have been established so that you know how to operate in the house of God and if the piano player starts coming to tell you where to go soul winning you say sorry that's not your realm of authority you know if I come up to you and say hey you need to start wearing blue shoes you say sorry not your authority if I start telling your wife what to do you say not your authority pastor Shelley with all due respect no with all due respect not gonna happen you know and if someone else tells you things to do you know the piano player whoever starts coming around you say sorry that's not your realm of authority that's not what you're supposed to be doing okay Colossians chapter number three verse 20 what does the Bible say children obey your parents and all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord and if you know children either seems like wow they just got the really tough job they have to obey but here's the thing you never escape authority in your life and so it's good to teach children this lesson of being obedient and submitting to the authorities in their life because as you grow up you're always going to have an authority and you say well it sounds like the pastor doesn't have an authority over him yeah it's called the Bible if I go outside the realm of this I need to be corrected I need to I need to get in line with this because Christ is over me Christ is the head of the church okay just like Christ is the head of every man and so we all have an authority structure even Christ himself has God over him okay and so if you don't like being obedient you're not gonna like the Bible because the Bible is a lot about respecting the authorities that are in our lives and we need to understand these authorities so that we're obedient children to God let's close in prayer thank you father so much for this great Bible study where we can study all these different realms of authority that you've blessed us with and you've given us I pray that we wouldn't despise the legitimate authorities that you've given us but rather we would embrace them that we'd be obedient to them and I pray that whatever position of authority you end up giving us that we would treat it with respect that we would exercise the appropriate authority and that we would try to stay within our boundaries and I pray that we continue to bless pure words Baptist Church and everyone would be safe as they travel home in Jesus name we pray amen so our last song for the evening we're going to 300 song number 319 319 just a closer walk with thee there on the verse I am weak but thou art strong Jesus keep me from all wrong I'll be satisfied as long as I walk let me walk close to thee just a closer walk with thee granted Jesus is my plea daily walking close to thee let it be dear Lord let it be through this world of toil and snares if I falter Lord who cares who with me my burden shares none but thee dear Lord none but thee just the closer walk with thee granted Jesus is my plea daily walking close to thee let it be dear Lord let it be when my feeble life is all time for me will be no more guide me gently safely or to thy kingdom shore to thy shore just a closer walk with thee granted Jesus is my plea daily walking close to thee let it be dear Lord let it be very good singing you are dismissed this evening