Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Orders That Be

A lot of good things taking place; it's an exciting day that we're living in. Getting word from Africa-just great things going on in the churches-we have only one problem; we have so many people that are wanting to join up with us over there that we just have to keep telling pastors, "No, I'm sorry. We can't help you right now." They're hungry for oversight, they're hungry for doctrine. So, we're going to be meeting and trying to share some doctrine with them, but building relationships takes some time; it involves giving of yourselves and we don't want to just throw crumbs at people, we want to have some relationships. Be prayerful, we're really seeking the wisdom of God, wanting to be directed to the right men-exciting things. I'm looking forward to going. We're heading over in a few weeks, ourselves. Just looking for Father's wisdom-the churches are growing; they're growing in maturity, they're growing in number, and a lot of great things are taking place. Opportunities: there's a man in Tanzania, he's just begging us to come under the oversight. He has 70 churches that he wants us to take over for him and oversee his ministry. I told Tony to just tell him at this time we can't even take care of the kids we've got. Be prayerful and we'll just see what God's wisdom might avail.

How many of you got to share the Lord with somebody in the last week? Let me see your hands. Praise God! The Lord's coming back real soon. We need to labor while it's day; the night's coming, the Scripture says, when no man can work. So, just take that opportunity, sow seeds in every area possible, and the Scripture says when we go forth weeping bearing precious seed we shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing in sheaves with us. Amen? The Word doesn't return void, and we're so thankful for that.

Let's turn to the book of Thessalonians again real quickly. We've been kind of bouncing around, hitting on specific areas of need in the fellowship. We haven't been teaching a series as we normally do, and I want to take one more shot at a couple of things that I think are very pertinent to the hour that we're in. Be prayerful also, as you probably saw, we have the rig set out here. We're going to be leaving right after service. A door that's kind of opening-and if you'd pray about it-As you know, I didn't race at all last year, the end of the year. It's been almost a year since we've been out racing. And as we were out west I went to one of the races just to attend, and as I was going to the chapel on Sunday morning, I just felt impressed to talk to the head of Racers for Christ-it's a huge organization through the NHRA-and had remembered that they had a new leader, and he was a gentleman that had approached us about three years ago at the U.S. Nationals. He said, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" And I said, "Yes." We were passing out literature and ministering. He said, "I'm really struggling with something in my ministry right now, and I'd like some counsel." He had read some of the books on the Holy Pastor and a few of the different books that we had written. So, I shared with him quite at length and heard from him later that Father had really spoken to him and changed his life. We'll, he's now the head of the NHRA ministry. So, we were in Pomona, at the Winternationals out on vacation in Tahoe, we flew down just to see the race while we were on vacation down there and went to church Sunday morning. Afterwards talked to him-His name's Smiley, and he is kind of smiley too-and I said, "I don't know if you remember me or not. I talked to you...." He said, "Are you kidding me? Of course! That changed my life. And besides I'd heard from Renee over in the IHRA and she said how you guys had effected the whole movement over there." He said, "So, I've been keeping my eye on you." And he kind of laughed.

I said, "Well, you know, what would you think about us"- That particular morning in chapel there had about 400 people of so-I said, "What would you think about us getting our books into everybody's hands here at the race track, starting with all of the chapel and then all of the racers?" At some events you're talking as much as 700-800 cars with five people per car that are represented there, minimum. And he said, "Man, everything you can bring us we'll put in people's hands." So, that's where we're going, for the first meeting with him this Sunday. So, be prayerful. We're praying about whether to stay over Sunday, even if we're winning or not. Usually, if you lose, you're headed home early. I still don't know. So, if I'm gone on Sunday it doesn't mean we're winning, but we probably are. Be prayerful, it's just a whole other field that we haven't been involved in yet, and we'll just see what Father has. As you know, last year He told us to stay home, and we just want to be wherever Father is. I was not planning on going out a lot this year, and I just really felt impressed to contact him and when it seemed that door was opening we'll walk through it and see what's happening.

2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, you'll remember last session we were in 2 Timothy, Chapter 3, and we were talking about children being disobedient to parents and identifying the spirit that was behind it and the emphasis that the apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit was putting on it, in light of the last days. Timothy said, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. [and then he tells us what the atmosphere is going to be:] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents ...[The list continues]" (2 Timothy 3:1-2). And we were trying to put our fingers on the pulse and say, how are we being affected by this? We've talked so many times, we're in the world but we're not of it. Righteous Lot was vexed. Now, isn't it interesting, God calls him righteous and calls him vexed at the same time. How many of you know that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus? Let me see your hands. That's what the Word declares. Amen? How many of you feel vexed sometimes? Isn't it nasty here? What a nasty world we're living in. And you say, "Yeah, all of the pornography on the Internet and the homosexual movement." I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about pride and arrogance and the love of pleasure, the vaunting of ourselves; it talks about those who are proud and boasters. We're just living in an environment that Paul spoke of and said it's the worship of the creature more than the Creator. We're contending with that spirit.

In 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, a passage that we're all very familiar with, it's talking about the rapture of the church-of which we don't hear much teaching on anymore in most churches. Most churches don't talk about the rapture because they like it here too much. They're prospering, they're partying, they're having a good time, and the Scripture calls the rapture of the church "The blessed hope." That's what we're looking for. This isn't our home. Amen? We're pilgrims; this is not our home! I'm thankful for that. He's gone to prepare a place for us. And if He's gone to prepare a place for us, He'll come again and receive us unto Himself that where He is there we may be also. Are you living in the heavenlies, or are you just kind of burdened down with the things here? Are you bummed out with how it's going here, or are you rejoicing what's been prepared for you there and that it's coming soon, praise God! Amen? Hey, man, it's going to change. Guess what? The rich man is the one that's going to be tormented there and those of us that have been having our wounds licked will be rich in heaven, praise God! So, here we are a people living in this generation of earth dwellers, of creature worshipers; and in the midst of all of that, we're contending for God's righteousness and wanting to herald the kingdom of God, but we're in a day where they're calling good evil and evil good.

I got a call today from Lance Miller, the new head of Carlisle productions, Corvettes at Carlisle-all of the car shows. They just bought a new convention center in the city there and now they have a lot of indoor space. He called me and said, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news." And I said, "What's that? I'm a bearer of Good News." Amen? He said, "We're not going to allow you to do the children's ministry this year." He said, "There were too many complaints from parents last year." I said, "Really?" And he said, "Yeah." I said, "Well, that doesn't surprise me." And he was a little surprised at me saying that. I said, "You know, when the gospel is presented properly it's very offensive, so it doesn't surprise me at all that people were offended. Actually, it just shows we did a good job, praise God!" I said, "I don't have any trouble with that at all." I said, "What about the chapel services?" He said, "I haven't heard anything but good reports about the chapel service." I said, "Well, maybe we're not offending enough people; I don't know." But I thought it was interesting that the only complaints were parents about their poor little children hearing the gospel and being intimidated. And we're living in a society where parents are so fearful in trying to guard their children, wanting them to live in this perfect world. This is not a perfect world. Amen? Even the earth itself is reeling like a drunk man waiting the day of redemption, the Bible says. Everything around us is winding down because Jesus is coming.

In the midst of all of this here, we are a people saying, "This thing is going to end soon." It's going to end under the judgment of God. I was thinking of a new tract that I was going to hand out at the car show that would have pictures of all of our cars and say, "The first one that comes can have this car free...after the rapture." And then proceed to tell them, "When I'm gone you can take everything you want, it's all yours, but you're only going to have if for a few days because it's going to burn up." Amen? Because God's going to judge this earth with fire just like He judged it with water in the days of Noah. Are we making that message clear to people? People are living like they're going to live forever. People are living like nothing is going to change, that we have solutions to everything and science has found the aging gene. Hopefully, they think they've found eternal life, but at least you can live for three or four or five hundred years old. What would a guy 500 look like? Well, come out and watch our softball team. (That's cold, isn't it? I shouldn't make fun of those old guys.)

Here we are, a people living in the midst of all of this environment of creature worship, of the pursuit of Utopianism, of individual rights and exaltation; and in the midst of all of that, it says that just prior to the coming of the Lord there's going to be this pushing of the man of sin. The spirit of iniquity is already at work, Paul says here in this second chapter of Thessalonians, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now [restrains] will [restrain], until he be taken out of the way." Now, I'm not going to teach on that tonight, I am just wanting to make reference. Here's where we are, the spirit of iniquity. We know in the Greek it means, "The spirit or philosophy of lawlessness," or "Every man doing what's right in his own eyes," excessive emphasis of individualism, my rights, self exaltation-is going to be the primary spirit that we're contending with in these last days. Only one thing is holding this at bay: the church. Now, that tells me something: Only he that now letteth will let or he that restrains will restrain. It's the headship of Jesus in His church that's holding this philosophy back. Let me ask you a question: How vexed are we? How orderly are we in our lives? How are we in restraining the spirit of lawlessness by the order in our family, our children obeying their parents, wives submitting to their husbands, husbands pursuing their head Jesus Christ and following the oversight of God's gifts to the community of believers, the church? What we are wanting you to ask tonight is how do we measure up as a restraining force by keeping divine order in our lives? It's not only that we are going to keep it in letter. We can't be like the little guy that I gave you the illustration of, who's sitting down on the outside but standing up on the inside. How many of you find yourselves periodically sitting down on the outside and standing up on the inside? Let me see your hands. I do.

How many of you hate being told what to do? Now, I usually don't mind somebody asking me to do something, but I don't always like somebody telling me what to do. You'll find out if you hang around me-it's something I've developed, it's a habit because I know how I respond. I never tell anybody what to do; I always ask somebody, "Would you mind...? Could you please...?" It's just something that I've developed over the years because of my tendency toward rebellion. Just knowing that-to us in the natural, even those of us that want to be submissive, those of us that want to move in order-just being told what to do, the natural man just has a tendency to dislike that. Well, get over it. Amen? Because, very frankly, God has set up a kingdom that is very orderly, that has authority, that carries with it commandments-not suggestions-that are to be followed. And not every one of them has to be explained, clarified, justified; and not every brick has to be wrapped in velvet. We talk about the velvet bricks. I had to send a letter to someone just the other day, and there was absolutely no velvet to be found anywhere. It was all brick. Because, frankly, sometimes to try to say anything-here's basically what I told this person: "I don't want the message to get lost in the words." Sometimes you can talk so much, people don't understand what you're saying. Get to the point. What am I saying? Men, as the heads of your house, you don't have to be diplomats; you're lords, but you're loving fathers. Amen? See, I'm not talking about being harsh. We don't need to be harsh, but we need to give directives, orders. We need to give direction, set course; bring correction, instruction, reproof. And we're living in a society that wants people to justify everything to them. We're living in a society that, any more, we look down upon authority. We mock authority, because authority has-especially the news media is constantly wanting to expose the authority for what it is, corruption and human nature. We call it clay feet. We all have clay feet. But you're going to see in Romans 13 tonight, as we talk about this, we're not talking about the success or even the character of the individual, we're talking about the role. We're talking about order and the ability to recognize authority for what it is, the representation of God. When you've encounter authority, you've encountered God.

Let's turn over to Romans 13 and look at this for just a moment, and see how this works in our society and ask ourselves the question, are we being vexed? Are we a people that despise authority? We know it is right and we're grudgingly following the course, but every opportunity we have we hold it in disdain, we mock it, we try to get around it, we question it. The spirit of lawlessness that's vexing the world today is vexing us as a church. We should not only obey authority, we should delight in authority. Now, what I'm going to talk about tonight also is that not all authority is equal. Now, they think they are, but the homeowners don't have the same authority as the Constitution. Amen? They would say it's superior, but we have to recognize it for what it is. And we're going to see that all authority is ordained of God, but not all authority is of the same magnitude in the strata of this thing that we call the Kingdom of God. The real question at hand is how do you respond to it? How do you see it? Romans 13 says, "Let every soul [You think that includes you? Every soul.] be subject..." That word subject in the Greek means, "The putting of oneself under habitually." Not, you're forced under; you put yourself under. To be subject means, "I choose to be under, to be in my place. I choose not to vaunt myself, to exalt myself. I choose not to break rank." Now, that, of course, is speaking of children in their role of obeying their parents, it's speaking of wives in subjection to their husbands.

Those are two of the areas where we're most out of order in our society today. You know, kids, as we've talked about, kids are worshipped, they're running things. I heard a psychologist today talking about how to deal with a child that's throwing a tantrum. They said, "They're wanting to have a power struggle and they're in the process of this thing, they're wanting to establish this as the demarcation line; so just ignore them, don't feed into their power play." That's not what the Scripture says. The Scripture says, "Beat the foolishness out of them." Now, here we are in a day where people say, "Well, that doesn't sound right. You're going to warp their poor little personalities, and they should be able to express themselves, and it's not right for big people to beat up little people." Well, who are you going to beat up if you're not beating up somebody littler than you? If you're not doing the beating, you're getting beat. No, that's not our message. So, we see how far things have gone. In our society, when I was a kid growing up-no, I'm not one of the older ones on the team; I'm the old one on the team. I hate that-when I was growing up, authority was recognized to the place where, even though everybody didn't keep the law all the time, everybody honored and realized that it was right. So, when you went to school and you disobeyed, the teachers would whup you. And if you got whipped at school, guess what? When you got home, Dad said, "If they have to whip you at school, you're getting whipped when you get home." Did you know, in society, if you were out somewhere and stuff was going on and some kid was out of control, whoever was an adult would grab them and take care of them. Responsible adults; positions of authority. Obey. Kids today just thumb their nose at authority, at adults.

Have you been out in society and had some little kid treat you like dirt? I told you what I did at the store that one time. That kid was sitting there and he was saying, "Dumb Daddy." He's yelling and screaming at his dad. I'm standing there; we were in Home Depot-so, nobody was there to help us of course-I was looking through the shelves, and so this kid has this wooden dowel and calling him an idiot and I hate you. I'm standing there, minding my own business. I'm looking and this kid hits me! That's the wrong move. So, I just reached over, took the dowel, and went pop, right on his head. POP! Handed it back to him. Looked at the dad and said, "You're next, Jack." I didn't say that, but he knew what I was thinking. And that kid looked at me, looked back at his dad and said, "Dumb Dad." And Dad pushed him off down the aisle. Sickening what's going on, this spirit. In our military today, they've got unions! People objecting! "Let's protest, we had to march too much today." I don't want to get off on that. It's just stupid. Why? "Because you can't tell me what to do." And that spirit, whether we want to believe it or not, is vexing every one of our lives.

Now, watch what the Scripture says: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God..." Now what's that mean? That God approves of all authority? God approved of Idi Amin who was killing all those people and eating them there in Uganda, and God approved of Mao and his slaughter of the millions and millions of the Chinese, and God approved of the Holocaust? That's not what that's saying. This is basically saying to us, God is the author of government, of order, of authority. He goes on and tells us why in this passage. What he says is, if you resist you're going to receive judgment, because, "whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." Verse 2. I want you to see the magnitude of what's being said here. Children obey your parents, wives be subject to your husbands. It's not about whether you agree with your mom and dad. It's not about whether you want to support your husband in this decision he's making. It's about divine order. It's about, "To resist the power is to resist God." Now, the good news is this. If you read the Scriptures you'll understand that there's always an appeal, especially in the kingdom of God. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Okay, so when the parents begin to move outside biblical principles, they begin to expect of you things that are not scriptural, there is an appeal. And that appeal is in the Lord and it's to the church, to the spiritual authority. There is domestic authority, there is kingdom authority. All domestic believers are within the kingdom sphere. You can't be a Christian and just you and your family live out over here. The body is not one member, but many. Amen? "I don't submit to anybody. I'm in charge of my family." No. You are a priest over your family, you are the head of your family, you are the one that brings them to authority, to Christ, to that community structure, to where there's protection for you and them. You see, to be able to have appeal-"Children obey your parents [what?] in the Lord"-for the children to be able to have an appeal and go to mom and dad and say, "I hear what you're saying, but that's not what you had taught us in the past, and it doesn't seem to be what everybody else in the community is being taught; I want to be obedient; are you sure? Could you go and check with our deacon and find out?" And you begin to get that.

Now, why would somebody do that? It is to safeguard divine order. It's to preserve their life. And get this; this is where people have trouble many times: It's to preserve the life of the authority. It's to make sure that they're in order, because it doesn't stop with you. Amen? Because the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. Now, that's an interesting statement. And where all of us get into this ego problem, "Nobody's going to tell me what to do, bless God! I have...." The head of Christ is God. Christ is God! Jesus is God. God is triune, God is co-equal. Husbands and wives are not co-equal. Children and parents are not co-equal. The Godhead is absolutely co-equal, but the second person of the trinity, to show God's wisdom, structure, subordinates as it pertains to observable administration. It's very difficult to talk about the trinity, to talk about things that are, as we've talked about so often, infinite in their essence. We can't comprehend it. But it's an example, it shows us how order works, that even one who is in every way equal chooses to be under. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be called equal with God but at the same time He subordinated Himself. Amen? Is that mind in you? Many of us see ourselves as superior when, in fact, we're not. Here's one who's absolutely at liberty to be called the ultimate authority and chooses to be under for your good, for an example to us.

Now, watch how this thing works, and I want to get into the practical parts before we run out of time tonight. To resist the power, the authority in our lives, is to resist the ordinance of God. Now, you've got to understand something. He says, verse 3, rulers are not a terror to good works. You see, most of us get our nose out of joint when authority is encountering us, and we forget that authority is not a terror to good works. You would not be being confronted if what you were doing was right. Authority is there to preserve our lives; not to hold us down, to protect us. From whom? Ourselves, from a world's system. We need to see it for what it is: it's a gift of God. Most of us see it as something we have to endure. We need to have another attitude of embracing it and being thankful that God is speaking into our lives through different gifts and people that He's placed there. "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt 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 [the power, whatever realm it is in this sphere that we were talking about] is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." "But if thou do that which is evil, [say it] be afraid." I don't think we have that in our society today, and I'm not talking about the secular, I'm talking about right here. Be afraid. Do you recognize authority? Do you truly believe that when someone in authority, a parent, one of our teachers, a deacon. Do you believe that when they speak to you, you're encountering God? "How can I be encountering God? They struggle as much as I do." Of course they do, they're just like you, flesh. Leaders are not perfect, but the one who sent them is, the one who's over them is, the one who will control them is, the one who oversees them and if they mess up will fix it, is. Do you have faith in God?

A lot of us like to say, "Oh, I've got faith in God. I trust God with my whole life." If you trust Him with your whole life, how is it that you can't trust Him with those who He put in authority to make things right? How much do you trust Him? "I trust Him as far as I can understand what's going on and do something about it." No. "...be afraid; for [they] beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Whenever I find myself in confrontation with people, I never feel compelled to have to try to win an argument or prove a point, because I am absolutely convinced that if I'm in my role, God's going to fight that battle. I don't have the power to fight it. I can't change anybody's life. I can't change anybody's mind. I can't make anybody do anything. But I'm going to tell you what the power says and I'm not going to compromise it. And you can make all of the threats you want. And you can make all of the justifications you want. And you know what? God's going to win. Amen? The sword is not borne in vain. As an authority, I don't feel that I have to try to prove anything. I don't have to try to make people do anything. I've told you what God said, God's going to vindicate it; and if you resist what I'm telling you, God's going to get you. Now I believe that. Do believe that when you relate to you kids?

Many of us are afraid of our kids. We're afraid they're going to run off and hate us. God didn't say that's what's going to happen. If you do it God's way they're going to rise up and call you blessed. Amen? "Oh, I don't know. It's a...." Don't you understand who you are? Husbands, don't you understand who you are when you're relating to your wife and to your children? You're the messenger of God to them for good. But if they do evil, they'd better be afraid because you're there representing the justice of God, the terror of the Lord. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). I tell you one thing, man, you ought to just-your kids should be so fearful to ever misrepresent something, to you to tell a lie. If there's anything that you should engrain into the life of your child when they're this big, is every liar will find their place in the lake of fire. "For lying, you go to Hell. You're going to go to Hell if you lie. The devil's going torment you forever if you lie. Tell me the truth." They need to understand there's a consequence. Amen? Consequences. Threats: "If you do that one more time, you're going to get a time-out. Daddy's very displeased with you. Don't you understand that it hurts when you hit Billy on the head with that stick? See? Look at Billy bleeding. You don't want Billy to bleed, do you? Billy's your friend and he's not going to understand." Right! Justice: Do you understand the law is for the lawless? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. What's that say? The punishment fits the crime.

Star was a biter when he was growing up...little. Not for very long, but he'd bite a couple of kids. He bit this one kid in the nursery when we were still in Herndon. I don't remember who. He bit them and Janet walked into the nursery just about the time it happened and this kid was crying. This little kid was just crying. You could see every tooth. So Janet just grabbed his arm and bit him as hard as he bit that kid. He's screaming and looking and it's almost drawing blood and he never bit anybody again. Number one, "See how it feels?" Yes. "That's what you just did to them and every time you do it you're getting it." Um, okay, I'm not doing that anymore. And we have a whole generation-generations-that have been raised with no consequences, no justice, misunderstanding. "Well, you know, we're Christians and it's grace and it's mercy." The law is for the lawless. The law says at the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established. Let it be true. Let me tell you something: If you have two or three witnesses saying your little kid's a rat, he's a rat, and you need to do something about it. "Well you don't understand; Billy's..." He's a rat. Now if you need further proof, just look internally, because it's genetics. You're a rat. We don't like dealing with this kind of stuff, it's like-how am I supposed to respond? What gives them the right to speak and to require these things? God.

I'm not going to get off on this right now, but as you get into Corinthians, I want to tell you young ladies one thing. We have the women's lip movement-and it's not as overt as it used to be; it's actually already accomplished it's task, the disorder that we have in our society today- I do want to state this: The Bible does not say that males are superior to females, it says husbands are over their wives. Ladies, if you don't want any man telling you what to do, don't get married. It's that simple; but, once you sign that contract you've got a role to fulfill. There's an order and you can't break it. And if you're going to have children, then guess what? You've got to oversee them. "Well, it's so hard. I've got to-they just take so much time." Yes, they do. You're the one that had them. They're going to suck the life right out of you, and it's a blessing...when you see them raised up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, because there's another generation to go on and propagate the gospel. Amen? But you're going to get worn out. And you're going to cry. And you're going to be heartbroken. And you're going to think, "Dear God, what made me think I should replicate my self on this planet?" And that's what we're all dealing with.

So, to handle this in the kingdom, God set this structure. He says that these authorities are ministers to good, but fear if you do evil. When that authority approaches you-ecclesiastical authority, the church; domestic authority, the husband, the parent-they do not bear the sword in vain, they are the ministers of God. This is what I want you to see. So, the question I'm asking us this evening is, do you acknowledge them as a messenger of God, a gift to you from God to help keep you pure, to help strengthen you, to help you from dying the eternal death, to bring vengeance upon you, justice, judgment so that you don't have eternal damnation? That's their role. This is what they're doing. So, to encounter authority is to encounter God. How well is it being done? How are we responding to it? Are you doing it cheerfully? Are you doing it in faith and understanding this is the wisdom of God? Did you know that there is a law of sowing and reaping, some of you young people? I would encourage you-now it's not 100% foolproof, we all know that-but I would encourage you to find order now as a young person and submit, and you're going to sow some good seed that's going to get you some submissive kids. And if you're a knucklehead, guess what you're going to get? And if you're full of pride and haughty and wanting to resist everything, guess what you're going to produce? And even if it isn't just a genetic, it is a spiritual principle, also, that creates the sowing and reaping aspect.

Turn over to Corinthians for just a second and let me show you something. We have a few minutes left here, as we're looking at authority. Now, we're talking about protecting the order by being willing to recognize that there is no ultimate authority on the earth. The ultimate authority of the home is not the father. The ultimate authority of the church is not the pastor. Jesus is the head of His church. Amen? And He's the Lord of your life and every believer in your house. When you have believing children, you are not their Lord, Jesus is. You are a steward over God's possession. You are the administrator, you are the authority of that house, but you're not Lord. Jesus is Lord. And they can always appeal to Lord. Your word is final when it agrees with God's word, and if it doesn't, guess what? You're going to be changing. And sometimes you're going to be humbled before your kids, because kids will come and say, "What about this and what about that?" And you're going to go, "You just do what I say." And they're going to bring it to the church and the church is going to go, "No, that's not scriptural; what you're saying is not scriptural." And you're going to have to go back and apologize to your kids and say, "Man, I didn't...." That's why it's always good to get counsel first. And you look at some of these things in this divine order that God is working for our protection-why?-because it protects you, the child; it protects you, the parent. This Word and Jesus' lordship protect us as parents and overseers of a community.

Chapter 11 of Corinthians: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. [Paul sets the order there. Paul's not saying, "Follow me, I know the way and I know the truth and my visions and my revelations and this is the way to do it." Paul says, "Follow me as I follow Christ." Children, obey your parents in the Lord. We see this order, and Paul says, "Follow me even as I follow Christ."] Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. 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. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. [What's that basically saying there? If you're not the head of your house, you're dishonoring Jesus. If you're letting your wife get around you and manipulate and your kids are out of order, you're dishonoring Jesus. You're a shame to Him. It's a mockery in the eternal realm, in the spirit realm. Devils are laughing and angels are blushing, because we're no different than the world's system. And as you read this and you begin to see the order that spoken to by the Holy Spirit.] But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head..." This is talking, of course, about the relationship of husbands and wives and how they relate to one another.

I just want to share that many of these little things that we think are so innocent of, leaving your husband out of the loop, trying to take what he's administered and, "I'm just going to soften it for the children, or I'm going to move in the spirit of it." "I'm going to move in the spirit of submission. I'm going to do what I think is best here, but I'm going to represent him in it."-You don't want your husband to move in the spirit of, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." We're looking at this divine order and how vital it is for us to not bring that spirit of lawlessness into our homes. Ladies, your children are not stupid. If they're watching you try to manipulate and get around Dad and trying to get around the direction, the course of the ministry and the different things that are going on, all you're doing is breeding rebels. You're sealing your children to the fate of Timothy 3 that we were just speaking about. It's not a small thing, disobedience, broken order. It's death to self to come in and humble ourselves and willingly put ourselves under. "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers [put oneself habitually under]. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God..." (Romans 13:1-2).

Now, as we're getting ready to close, at whatever place you fit into this area of authority, are you doing it in faith, not grudgingly, but in faith; and expecting God to be glorified, expecting God to move on behalf of your obedience? Do you understand, and are you safe in your faith, to realize it doesn't stop with mom and dad? It doesn't stop with husband. It doesn't stop with deacon. It doesn't stop with pastor. Jesus is the head of His church. It's very important for us, then, individually to know the Word of God, because this is ultimately the authority. Now, it's not one for you to study the Word so that you can have debates with your parents. We study the Word of God to make ourselves familiar with the voice of God, for His sheep know His voice and another they will not follow. You see, the Bible doesn't tell you children to debate with your parents. It says go to your parents in the Lord, you humble yourself, you do not put a lamp before them and shame them. You go to them, and it's just the same thing that we tell you. Every one of you have been told this as it pertains to community oversight of the fellowship with your deacon. If you go to your deacon and you ask a question or they tell you something and you go, "That doesn't seem to fit." Then you tell them, say, "Could you go get some clarification from the pastoral staff for me on that? I'm not understanding. I know you're trying to communicate it, but I'm just not getting it. Could you see if we can get some help?" What happens? A week goes by, two weeks go by, you don't hear anything. "Have you spoken yet to them?" "Well no, I haven't got to them yet." "Could you please? This is really something important in my life." Go back, "Have you spoken yet?" Now, either they will have, or try to justify their role, but at this point you say, "Well, I want you to know that I'm going myself." You don't just go do it. See, you always keep order. You're always honoring authority. If you're my deacon and now I can't get satisfied in this thing, I'm not going to go to a pastor without you knowing it. I'm going to tell you, "I've asked you and you haven't been able to do that and I appreciate your help and I appreciate everything that you've done in my life, but I want you to know I'm going to go talk to one of the pastors. I'd like you to come." And if they don't, I'm sure they'll be invited. And it's how we keep ourselves safe. It's how we keep our deacons safe. How can I know if the deacons that God has called to function here and to assist me in the care of this flock, how am I supposed to know if they're doing the job right if they're messing up and you don't tell us? You just hold a grudge. You just don't show up to home fellowship. You just send anonymous voodoo dolls to the office with your deacon's picture. It's for the safety. Order is for safety, it is not a terror to good works.

So, as long as we're moving in obedience, as long as we're moving in order, why would we not be thankful and appreciate God's wisdom in bringing us order and structure if we're moving in the areas that are right. When you start having trouble with order, when you start having trouble with authority, start looking inside, start looking at your heart; because you're starting to get messed up, because it's only a terror to evil work, to an evil heart, to critical spirit, to vaunting of self, to self will. God puts this thing and begins to set this structure for us. We have the different orders that are there, the order that God has placed. And as Father's bringing us into this spirit of humility, of desiring order, it's going to create a safety for us in this hour that we're in. It's going to create a vulnerability. It's going to create an intimacy of every member able to be intertwined and strengthen one another. That's what our protection is going to be in these last days. But if there's that natural tendency, and it's allowed to express itself and that's in every one of us, because frankly, listen, every one of us in the natural-"No, I want it my way; you're not going to tell me what to do." But the admonition is for every one of us to habitually put ourselves under. Is that what's in your heart? That's what's going to protect you. It's going to protect your children and you cannot allow anything else to manifest itself.

Now, I'm going to end with this. In the community, men, if you don't keep your family under, we will; because there has to be order. And it's very important, because we're dealing with certain issues, things that we dealt with not too long ago in Young Adults, some things that we've had to deal with in discipleship training, different things. What we're dealing with that causes the most confusion in our midst is you trying to set another standard and have your family operating in the community with a different standard. It's not acceptable because every one of us has to have the same standard: Perfection, the biblical principles as the truth. Now, if there's some standard, if there's a course that we're on as a fellowship that you believe is not scriptural, then you need to follow that same procedure that we were talking about. You come to one of the pastors and you say, "I don't understand this. I don't know if I agree with this. Can you help me?" "Well, I don't know if I want to-if I go to one of the pastors, they know a lot more Word than me." Yeah, that's the point. The fact that you don't understand doesn't mean it's not right. "Well, how am I supposed to win an argument if they know more than me?" It's not about an argument. It's about the truth. Amen? So are you trying to go get the truth, or are you trying to win an argument? If you're going to win an argument, but you know you're out gunned with the truth then repent! Don't bother coming. Examine your own heart. But if you, in reality, see something, then you come and address it, and it will be brought before the multitude of counselors, and all of the pastors will discuss, and we'll listen to what your presentation is. And then ultimately I'll make a final determination on that to set a course to set whatever the principle is. And if it's not right, I'm going to answer to God. He's whipped me before, I'm sure He'll do it again. But are we doing it cheerfully? Are we moving in faith? Are we realizing that we can't all have our own standards and our own way and I'm going to get around my husband, I'm going to get around my parents? And we've got people covering with a covering that's not of God and trying to hide the sins of their friends and different things. "Don't let so-and-so know they'll bring it to the light." You ought to thank God for the children of light. Amen? They'll tell somebody in authority. If you know something that needs to be revealed, find somebody in authority. It is never gossip to take information up. It's only gossip to talk among your peers. It's not gossip to take it up. In other words, ladies, if you have some problem with your husband, talk to them, not your friend.

We've had it asked here, how come we have men's fellowship and we don't have women's fellowship? The men's fellowship is about trying to clarify to the heads of the homes the course that we're on. "Well, my husband never tells me what's going on." Well, shame on him. You ought to tell him. (Next home fellowship group meeting, "I'd never know that, because my husband..." No, don't do that really.) Tell him first. And say, "If you don't tell me, next meeting I'm going to go to my deacon." Don't do it publicly. Go to your deacon and say-now, don't go to your deacon's wife cause she'll say, "No he never tells me anything either."-go to your deacon. Isn't it hilarious that God put the people in charge that don't communicate? What's that all about? Maybe it's just to give the ladies something to talk about. I don't know. Pray, be prayerful. Tell your husband, "Help me understand," when he comes back from the meetings. Men, just let me share this with you; I want to leave you guys with this one last thing: You can't leave your wives ignorant. You can't. "Let the ladies learn in silence." There's a role of authority. We know that's been abused. It doesn't mean that women can't speak in church or teach or prophesy. It's talking about they can't usurp authority. They cannot become preeminent and usurp over their husbands. But, men, you're the covering, you're the head. You're the protection over them from the fallen angels. You're the one that since they have to learn in silence, you're the one that is the instructor. You have no business-"I don't want to talk about..." You're the shepherd. You're the course setter. Ladies, just continue to ask them, "Share with me. Where are we going?" What? Now when they say, "Look, I don't want to talk about it now." Then just let it go for now. But then you come back again and say, "Help me understand." And their job is to bring that instruction and set that course. We're out of time tonight.

Father, we thank You for Your Word and we just ask that You would take these truths and protect us against the spirit of this age. In the natural, we all know that we are self willed. We despise being told what to do. But, as Christians we've all learned to humble ourselves and to submit to your lordship and to move in those areas to try to rank under. But, Father, we're asking You to bring us to another realm. We're asking that we wouldn't just do it, [but] that we would delight in it. That by faith we would understand what it works in our midst: protection, wisdom, the multitude of counselors, that no authority's just speaking off the cuff and saying what they think. They're speaking the multitude of the counselors, that which goes on in men's fellowship, that which goes on in the pastor's conferences, the wisdom of God disseminating down through the ranks. Help us to have confidence in that and delight in it and listen to those that are over us and say, "Praise God, this is the wisdom of God speaking to me. What a privilege to be protected by divine order."

Are you delighting in it tonight? If not, then maybe we need to humble ourselves. Maybe we need to realize we've been vexed more than we thought by this world's system. Maybe we've failed to see that God is wiser than ourselves as He's established this structure. Give us ears to hear, Father, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. Hallelujah! Well, before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Do what you're told." Amen. Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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