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Titus 3, 1, 2, remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. James 3 13, if you're taking notes, write that down. If you're wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. Even Paul, who as an apostle, had genuine authority in the church, but he didn't always push it on them. He didn't exhort his authority. Although in Christ he said in Philemon 1, 8 through 9, I can be bold and order you to do what you need to do, but I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. In other words, love your neighbor, love your fellow Christians, show love to the pastor in your church. Before I start enumerating more things that are under your authority in Christ, we must acknowledge first and foremost that you and I are born-again believers under Christ's authority. Well, the reason I bring that up is if a person is not a born-again believer, everything that we're talking about today, everything that's preached from the pulpit, it's all folly. It's all silly. If the people are not born again, the fact that they're just warming the pew in church doesn't make them a Christian. So it's important that you submit your life to Christ, that you ask forgiveness for your sins, that you invite Jesus into your heart for eternity. And then there's also the level of the baptism of the believer. The uh water baptism is important, but not essential. I find it interesting. I heard, I think it was Billy Graham that said that if water baptism was essential to salvation, Jesus would have had to have a canteen on the cross to water baptize the man who showed faith in him on the cross next to him. So, yes, baptism is an outward sign of an inward change, but it's important for us to by faith believe that Jesus is our Lord and our Savior. And then there's the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which gives you the speaking in tongues and all kinds of extra blessings as far as being able to hear from the Holy Spirit with directions. You need to be able to use that power appropriately to help other people. We're to love God above all, love our neighbor as ourselves. First Timothy 6, 15 says, God is blessed and only ruler, the King of Kings, and He's the Lord of Lords. From Luke chapter 4, verse 18. If that if you're not familiar with that one, you should write that one down because that applies to you, that applies to your pastor, that applies to all born-again believers. Luke 4, verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He's anointed me to bring good news to the poor. Now, when I talk about goodness to the poor, we're not talking just about people who are financially poor. Yes, they would be included in this, but the primary case of being poor in this situation, as far as my opinion, is the people who are poor in spirit, people who don't have a love for God, people who don't understand God, they're poor poor in their experience of God. And by we by us bringing to them the love of God through the good news of the gospel, we're erasing their poor situation and making them wealthy under the blessing of the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to bring the good news to the poor. He's sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, and the blind will see, and the press will be set free. What does that mean? Well, to me, when I talk about captives being released, it's just not people getting out of jail, it's people getting out of the jail of drug addiction or alcoholism. The blind will see, not just the people who are physically blind and have no sight and use a white cane. I'm talking about the people who are blind and don't see the word of God for the reality that it is in their life. And the oppressed. There's people all over the world. One of the things on my radio programs that I have a short little line that runs by uh uh that says, while you're listening to Country Gospel or Sunrise, make sure that you pray for the people who are persecuted, the persecuted Christians around the world. There are people that are suffering badly for proclaiming their faith in Christ. Here in America where I live, the only persecution we get is when we speak up and said, wait a minute, this or that's not according to the Bible or God's word. The believer's life is one of total dependence on God, as modeled in the by the Son of Man, Jesus. Jesus said, Luke 22, 42, Father, if you're willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done and not mine. So when you're oppressed, when you're suffering, it's okay to ask God to take it from you. And Jesus said in John 5 30, I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, know my own will. It's important for us, just like Jesus, to ask the Holy Spirit, is this according to God's will? Am I doing this the right way, according to honoring the Father, honoring Jesus, honoring you, the Holy Spirit? It's important for us to stay in line with what uh God has planned for our lives and not shove our own agenda in there and do things badly.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

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