Authority and Submission

NHOP School of Pray - How to Pray for Government, session 7 of 12 NHOP.ca

Transcript

right hi everybody uh welcome for this is session seven of our series on how to pray for government today we're going to look at Authority and submission and uh I want you to just keep in mind that this is don't think of this one as a standalone session this one is going to tie very closely with our session on res resistance and rebellion and um this is we're going to look at a a principle that is true throughout scripture um acknowledging that there are caveats there are exceptions to this rule which we will unpack in that rebellion and resistance session so keep these in mind these are true these are good it's it's a rule which means you know 95 98% of the time

this is how we walk um and so it's important to keep this in mind because I think a lot of times in the church we see people clamoring for that exception to get to walk in in resistance or Rebellion um but this is the rule this is kind of the pattern that's set for us in scripture so let's start right from the beginning in Genesis 1 God or God kind of sets a pattern for how we are to walk in in authority and where that comes down is in in Genesis 1 uh 26-28 there's this statement of why and how he created man and he says in verse 26 let us make man in our image after our likeness and right there you have a glimpse into the Trinity you have one God and three persons Consulting

together let us make man in our image and let them have dominion okay so there's this idea of authority over the fish of the sea the birds of the heavens livestock of the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth verse 28 God blessed them and said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the Sea and the birds of the heavens and and so on and so right right in the beginning in chapter one of Genesis God's creating man and one of the purposes he created us for was to have authority to partner with him in expressing his Rule and Reign on the earth and uh there's other purposes with that he created us to know

him make man in our image and the idea there so that he could walk with us and and know us um character to reflect his nature being made in his likeness um and the this thing this idea of authority expressing his authority on the earth is an expression of function he he created us with a purpose um a function on this Earth and that's that's a big part of it to walk in his authority um and forth to reproduce to multiply and the idea to impart life to others and so all of these purposes here's the reason I mentioned those four all of them flow out of the first one which is relationship we only you know we only do the character thing well we only express Godly character when we're walking in

right relationship with him when we're you know Second Corinthians 3 when we Gaze on him we Behold Him we become like him and so that happens there the reproduction reproducing we only really impart life to others as we are being filled as we're receiving life ourselves but this function thing is a big one we only walk in his authority as we walk in right relationship with him and we see that in Adam and Eve as they walked in right relationship with God um the the Earth responded well all the indications are the Earth responded well to Adam and Eve and uh you know you get the impression that work wasn't you know work was before the curse work came before the fall so it tells me that work was

probably more of a pleasure and a delight in that whatever it is they put their hands to in tending and keeping the garden there was a healthy response it worked it it uh it bore fruit it was it was productive but at the fall When sin came into the picture when that right relationship with God was broken work became hard and we see that in in the curse that was that was uh um spoken to Adam in the aftermath of the of the Fall lord said because you've eaten of the tree that I told you not to eat of cursed is the ground because of you in pain you will eat of it all the days of your life thorns and thistles it'll bring forth for you and you'll eat the plants of the field by the sweat of

your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground so the idea is with those things being stated what's imp there is that none of those things were true beforehand so all these things that make work hard made it hard for Adam made it difficult for Adam to to walk in the in the Dominion that he had over the land and how he was tending and keeping it that all that all went away with this with this curse so you know we can kind of take the opposite to have been true before the fall and we see that what broke that what made that hard for him was the broken relationship with God they stepped outside the one boundary God gave them which damaged the relationship and as an effect of that

their ability to walk in the full I guess you could say power but the benefits of the of the authority and and seeing the outworking of that readily on the earth that was broken as well and so that's an important thing for us to take from this is from that right from Genesis 1 we were designed to be expressions of God's Rule and Reign on the earth to walk in his authority but that only happens it only happened for Adam and Eve as they walked in right relationship with God as they were submitted to God when they sinned they ceased submitting to God and said NOP we're going to do it my way instead and so we only walk in the authority of God in the authority God's given us as

we remain submitted to him okay so that's kind of the first example looking right at the beginning at Adam and Eve here's another example in the word for us from Roman numeral 2 this is from Jesus our chief example right part of his coming uh as a man Paul says was to was to succeed where Adam fell short he was the second Adam he came to succeed at what Adam failed to do the first time around and and a big part of that is this idea of walking in the authority of God so when when it came to demonstrating the power and authority of God Jesus consistently did it from a posture of submission always in relationship with his father submitted to his father okay so I've got one

passage listed for you here a few verses from John five where Jesus said my father is working until now and I am working so the idea there is that I am working I am partnering with my father in what he's doing verse 20 for the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing okay so relationship The Father loves the son I'm in this loving relationship with the father and he shows me what he is doing and then verse 36 The Works that the father has given me to accomplish this is Jesus talking right the works the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the father has sent me he's saying the works

that I'm doing are the works father has given me to-do he didn't go about making his own to-do list he didn't come up with his own ideas of how to demonstrate power how to teach how to he took his cues from the father The Works he did were the works the father gave him to do and I've got a number of other passages there from The Book of John that show how Jesus acted in Authority in submission to the father that's where the source of his authority came from and acts 2:22 Peter preaching about about him he said men of isra Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested to you by God with Mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him so even though Jesus was the

second person of the Trinity he was God himself God In the Flesh the signs and wonders and works that he did were still God working through him he didn't do it of his own accord or Power Authority it was the father through the Holy Spirit working through him so even in the person of Jesus we see this thing of authority The Authority he walked in came from his relationship with the father um a couple other examples here uh number one there Jesus first miracle was also an act of submission and it was actually an act of submission to his Earthly mother if you remember John 2 you know they're at a wedding the wine runs up and Mary says to Jesus hey Jesus they're all out of wine maybe with a win

who knows and jesus' answer Isom what does that have to do with me my hour hasn't come yet he's like Mom it's not time yet I'm not supposed to do anything about this and then Mary turns to the servants and says do whatever he tells you and in this it's interesting it's there's there's some interesting layers to this to to meditate on Jesus only did what the father told him to do and here Mary told him you know Mary implied you should do something about this and Jesus said no and my my thinking is that he's like no the father hasn't revealed that to me to do it and yet he winds up doing it and so what that tells me is because it's equally true he only did what the

father told him to do but here he seems to be doing what his mother told him to do it it seems to me like The Father revealed this to Mary or or maybe made an allowance for Mary and her boldness in asking her faith and Jesus was then given the green light to do this like he did this in that first miracle there's an act of Jesus submitting to a fully human human being which is pretty wild to think about so we see that his submission to the father his submission to his mother and in and we could also see in the cross the Great greatest demonstration of his authority in defeating sin and the grave It All Happened through submission if you remember in the Garden of

Gethsemane he asked the father if there's any way we can do it any other way we can do this let's go a different route but not as I will but as you will and again father if I if I cannot pass unless I drink it then your will be done and so even in going to the cross again the Pinnacle of the demonstration of his authority where he's going to complete victory over sin in the grave that was done through an act of submission and uh and then even we'll say this third so this came before the cross but he's speaking about later it's talking about judgment and even in judgment he pointed to a clear partnership between him and his father he said in John 5:22 the

father judges no one but has given all judgment to the son and has given him authority to execute judgment okay so Jesus said the father has given all judgment to me he's entrusted it to me this is you know I think Hebrews gets at this when it talks about Jesus as the mediator between God and man he's the only one who can rightly judge because he knows what it's like to live as one of us he's he can he's the only mediator between God and man um but later in John 8 Jesus said this you guys judge according to the flesh but I judge no one even if I do judge my judgment is true for it's not I alone who judge but I am the father who sent me he's saying even though the father has entrusted all

judgment to me I judge along with the father I don't just go off and do it on my own accord I and the father who sent me judge together so even when Authority is given to him in this matter of judgment he still does it in concert with his father like submission he will not be drawn out of submission to his father like we if I was in that spot my my response might be thanks God I'll take it from here um but Jesus remains in submission to the father even when the father clearly delegates something to him and this is kind of the pattern I want us to see uh now to go kind of a a contrasting way here when we look at Jesus Temptation in the wilderness with Satan in Matthew 4 um

one of the attempts one of The Temptations that Satan threw at him was if you fall down and worship me I'll give you all these kingdoms showing them the kingdoms of the world I'll give you all these kingdoms if you just Bow Down and Worship me and the idea behind it is he's like if you'll just submit to me I'll give you these things without the cross I'll let you skip that really hard part and get it kind of you know get it kind of easy this way and Jesus refused and rejected that that offer and the Crux of the matter in all that is who is Jesus submitted to he refused to submit to Satan because it would have been forfeiting his forfeiting his Destiny as

the Son of God to to make atonement for the sins of the world he would have been saying no to that for the sake of an easier route and submitting to a different Master which Jesus knew is a horrible move because that Master is not at all good and benevolent like the father so but even in that Temptation we see this thing of the the Crux of where Jesus gets the authority over the kingdoms of the earth comes down to who is he submitted to and he could have got it for free basically but selling a soul in and to put it that way but he remain submitted to the father and it cost him everything but he is now given the name above every other name including Satan's and at his name

every knee will bow and every tongue confess and that comes from him being submitted to the father so even Jesus Christ second person of the Trinity fully God fully man even his demonstration his his example to us is that Authority is received and exercised by remaining in submission to the one who has authority over you and uh the third example I'll point to is Jesus and the Centurion okay it's a really well-known passage in this conversation Matthew 8 verses 8 to10 there's a centurion who's got someone who's sick um and he's asking Jesus to heal this person and the Centurion you know Jesus says sure I'll come and the Centurion replies Lord I'm not worthy to have you

come under my roof but just say the word and my servant will be healed for I too am a man under Authority with soldiers under me and I say to one go and he goes and to another come and he comes and when Jesus heard this he marveled and said to the other ones following him I have not seen Faith like this in all of Israel and uh but note the connection this Centurion made he said Jesus I get how this works because I like you am a man under Authority he didn't say I'm a man of authority I have authority I possess Authority he's saying what he's acknowledging is my authority over my servants and soldiers is derived from the one above me I'm under him he delegated or gave me

Authority and that's the authority I operate in and he said I know it's the same with you you're under Authority so that when you say go someone goes when you say be healed someone's healed and again it's the same principle even a Roman Centurion got it that Authority is not taken it's not stolen it's not grasped it's delegated it's given that's the best kind of authority to walk in if we have to seize Authority the problem becomes you can't actually walk in that Authority because now you're spending all your time and energy protecting it if you look at the history of Judah and Northern Israel so the Kingdom of Israel that split around 9:30 BC 10 tribes to the North in Israel

Judah Benjamin most of the Levites to the south in Judah if you look at their histories uh they both had approximately 20 Kings uh Judah had 20 Israel had 19 but in Judah those 20 kings were spaced out over 350 years approximately and in Northern Israel those 19 Kings were spread out over only 210 so you've got almost double the life expectancy of a kingship of a of a reign in Judah compared to Northern Israel why was that in Northern Israel there were multiple assassinations over the years multiple assassinations and most of the time when there was an assassination another one followed fairly quickly in one case uh zimy he you know assassinates his uh his

predecessor I forget his name now Reigns one week he gets seven days on the throne and he's gone he's done away with and another example later a king assassinates predecessor and he's gone a month later like this just happened over and over and over again if you take authority by force you are now the one that has to defend that Authority whereas in Judah where that Authority was passed down generation to generation protected by the the davidic Covenant God's God's promise that one of the line of David will will always sit on the throne um where that protection was in place they didn't have to fight and defend to there was one or two assassinations but it was never someone

seizing power and the the the power moving to another lineage you know in the one case it was the King was really really bad really really bad for the nation and a couple servants took it on themselves to end that King's life and let power transfer to their son which isn't a great move anyways but the I hope you can see the difference Northern Israel there was this it was like King of the mountain it was this continual fight for control and for power and when someone got to the time of the M the top of the mountain now they're worried about defending that top of the mountain um and that's kind of the way it is Authority true Authority isn't taken it's not seized it's given it's

delegated and when that's the case if I receive Authority from one above me the one above me is the one defending my sphere I don't have to defend it myself and that's kind of the idea here it's actually a healthier way to walk in authority is when you're submitted to the one who delegates Authority it's a healthier way it makes everything more prosperous for you makes your job easier you've got covering you've got protection uh you're not fighting to keep what you what you stole and so this is the pattern that's laid out for us we even see it I won't dive into it but 1 Corinthians 14 as Paul's talking about spiritual gifts talking specifically about prophecy he's saying look I know

you all want to prophesy you all want to say what's on your mind or what you think you're receiving from the Lord but it's got to be done in order and in subjection to the authorities over you like he's saying two or three of you can prophesy but let's not have everyone lining up and saying what they think God's saying because there has to be order there has to be response this has to be done well and he says and he says says um at one point if you reject um I've I've lost the passage there but anyways he he says if you think I'm off base in this you shouldn't be acknowledging the church um this is the way the church is to operate we operate under Authority submitting one

to another out of reverence for Christ he says in another place and uh and this is how we're supposed to operate in submission to those over us not all having to get our bit out we got to do things in order and that order comes from being submitted to the one above you um it's not because that person's better than you it's because that's how we're supposed to relate to to each other and and the the cool thing about all this is if you go to First Peter 5 in First Peter 5 Peter addresses the elders the Shepherds the overseers and the younger ones in the church and he he says this he tells the older ones first you got to do your fulfill your role in the fur of the Lord okay um not lording

it over people kind of as Jesus would have said but doing this in the fear of the Lord You're serving them you're not ruling over them and the younger ones he says remain submitted to the older ones and then he says this in verse five clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another that's the that's the point the way the church is is supposed to be set up the way this is all lined up is we're all supposed to clothe ourselves with humility towards one another if you're in a position of overseeing and influence and Authority you're not supposed to Lord it over the ones that you that you're over you're supposed to serve them if anyone wants to be first among you he must be last if

you want to be the greatest you must be the lowest right that's what Jesus said and that's how it's supposed to play out here so for if you are not in a position of authority you're not in a position of leadership in the church your job is still to remain submitted to the ones over you even if you think you could do it better than them even if you think they suck now this isn't touching on things of abuse and things like that those that needs to be dealt with but in everyday life one to one if you're not in a role of leadership you're supposed to remain submitted to the ones in leadership and leaders for us I would say this is even more of a trap we need to be absolutely certain that we're

walking and living in the posture of a servant towards the ones we lead not looking for what we get out of them but how we can serve them you know the Ephesians 5 gifts are for the equipping of the Saints it's not for us to stay on platforms we're actually supposed to be equipping them to do the work of the ministry getting under them lifting them up equipping them so they can walk in in what God created them to do we're supposed to all be clothed in humility towards one another whether we're in leadership or not we're all supposed to serve one another that's the point it's this this General um posture this General lifestyle of having a humble submitted heart and that's that may

sound really wrong today because our culture going back 50 years we're all about questioning and challenging Authority that's what the culture tells us to do be suspicious of authority question push back resist retaliate against but the Bible tells us actually the expectation is that we remain submitted to and humble before one another okay so just in closing as we looked at before we're to acknowledge the government's Authority as god-given okay Romans 13 Titus 3 1 Peter 2 we're to recognize that they operate in Authority that is god-given okay God God rubber stamps or green lights governmental Authority on the earth doesn't mean he approves of everything

they do but he has given them Authority and we're to relate to those governments in a general posture of obedience respect and honor you know Paul and Peter make that abundantly clear in those three passages and as we remain in a posture of humility before those governing officials and show them honor doors open for the church to have influence and for the gospel to to enter in we see that in Acts 16 and uh we see it in Acts 26 just in in how Paul speaks to and deals with magistrates and governors and other leaders and in Philippians 4:22 a very interesting comment as he signing off on his letter he says say hello to the house of Caesar for me and right in that little

statement is this glimpse into the gospel has made its way into even the household of Caesar um you know whatever specifically he's mentioning if that's the family of Caesar if that's servants in his household you know or something broader we don't know but the fact is the gospel was creeping closer and closer to Caesar through an instrument Paul who was committed to remaining subject to these governing authorities even though they even though his his preaching of the Gospel got him in trouble with them and even though one of them Nero was going to have his head he still remained in a posture of submission there and through that doors of influence opened to him okay the

pathway and here's the kind of the concluding statement here the pathway to Greater influence or welfare you know you remember Jeremiah 29:7 seek the peace or the welfare of the city where you are because in its peace you will have peace the pathway to Greater influence and bringing greater welfare greater peace greater blessing to the cities and Country where we live is to remain submitted to the god-given authorities in our lives sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear but that's that is what the scripture tells us is we you know we as we remain submitted to not only to leaders in the church but even to governmental authorities I think there's something about The Way We Walk

in submission to them builds trust builds credibility in us for God to entrust us with more to him who little you know if if you're faithful and little that's what I'm trying to go if you're faithful and little you will be entrusted with more and as we learn to walk in submission to authorities I think we build credibility and trust with God that he can entrust us with authority of our own because we're learning this principle of remaining in submission to the one above us so again I want you to keep this one and hold it in tension with rebellion and resistance and this is the challenge for us as the church is to really wrestle with how we're supposed to carry these

things but I want to tell you this is the this is the pattern this is the rule in scripture this is more often than not far more often than not when it comes to dealing with authority and authority figures we're to remain in submission to them and God can entrust with with authority those who've demonstrated an ability to remain in submission okay so that's what I got for you today thanks for joining I pray that I pray that you're able to have Grace to walk in submission and to have discernment and wisdom to know how we do that and when are the points that we actually do have to draw a line in the sand but God bless you and keep you and we'll see you next

time thanks Brad well we had to re-shoot this uh um this video because we had some technical problems and so what it's done is brought us to I'm actually shooting this the day after the American election so this is kind of interesting because we have a a point of view we can think that was a a pretty robust election s season I can't believe how long their seasons are they're over a year maybe two years in the making it's it's long and so uh you're either ecstatic or you're not you're either thrilled that Trump got in or you're disappointed that uh uh you know or you're you're either thrilled or disappointed um so it's really interesting so uh it it it would have

been interesting to see how uh we would be reacting had uh camela Harris got gotten in and just see what kind of attitude we'd have today I'm pretty happy to tell you the truth am you know I uh Trump is very pro Israel I'm and that's really important to me and we also saw a lot of things that were anyway I won't get into it but um but what kind of response would we have had if uh if it were the other way around and that's what I want to talk to about the importance of response because too often um yes you know our leaders are important yes it's very very important you know I shared before in regards to Prime Minister Trudeau when he first came in um you know my my

Facebook was not very honoring my Facebook account was uh my my son Isaiah would say Dad you're really chirpy that was the language you're chirpy that means and the chirpy wasn't a nice chirp it was I was not saying good things and I was showing my disdain uh and then Holy Spirit started to really convict me on that because we're supposed to be carrying our leaders in a significant way in a much better way and we see this in the Bible you know you really don't see the Apostle Paul whining and complaining about their leaders about the Caesars you don't in fact you know he gets beat up he gets put in prison the Angels keep rescuing him which is phenomenal but his main posture was okay

my rights have been violated I want to appeal to Caesar so he knew that there were Tools in his toolbox that he could use and he was going to use them you know we have tools in our toolbox you know our form of government that we can use elections are one of those tools and you know there's a big debate on whether Christians should Vote or not well when I look at the Apostle Paul's using his Tools in his toolbox to be able to to appeal for what was right for him as a citizen we can use the tools for us and in our society that's elections those are that's our democracy and so we can use these tools and when they don't turn out the way we want well then we have we can go a

different way you know I like to look at elections they'll tell you what the temperature of the city of of the nation is right and so right now we see in the US there's a temperature and there's a temperature that wants to move towards more freedom uh that is not going to stand up for uh you know the crushing of freedom of speech that's why you have Elon Musk in there and uh and actually buying Twitter and uh leaving one of the few places that actually had free speech and among other things and I won't get into the the politics of of of the American election but it's really interesting it was very entertaining and now what are we going to watch right and uh and so we

get back to Canada and same thing but the posture is is how are we carrying this how are we car caring with our leaders are we using the right tools you know some of our tools are writing letters when we see something that's that's not righteous no we're seeing sort of things just this morning I was listening to something from a couple of our MP friends and they were talking about digital ID and how this is getting snuck in and behind without without any parliamentary oversight so this is a concern and I'll talk about how we can get around that we can we can deal with this and work with this and from a place of honor and but we still being using the tools that that we need and so God

gives us tools and we can use tools and so so uh with that you know I want to talk about about us what's the biblical ramification so Paul the Apostle Paul you don't see him um ever slagging or or revolting against any any of the the leaders of the day right goes into jail comes out for for preaching the gospel comes out and we're going to talk next week on when you're allowed to do this so I'm going to talk about you know we're going to get to when we're allowed to resist and when we're allowed to to rebel and um but today we're going to talk about submission in authority of our leaders in government you know Brad was just speaking on on local Church stuff and so

that's that's really reflective so this is what I find really interesting I find those that are that are are not necessarily submitted to anybody they don't send to be they don't tend to be submitted to anybody and uh I'm I'm submitted I have people in my life that I submit to I've got about six or seven men in uh around me that I submit to uh just as we walk together I have a board of directors where I'm submitted I have a local church to whom I'm submitted to I go to that local church I submit myself to the leaders of that place because I believe you know even though I'm in a Ministry I need to be connected to the local church and so I'm connected and I submit myself

to leaders and I let them speak into me and speak into me when uh um and encourage me and also give direction same with Brad you know Brad and I we've been walking together for um you know since 1997 he was just 14 I was 37 and uh we've been walking together um and in now our relationship was a bit of a fatherson relationship and that was sometimes it's a brother to the brother and sometimes there are times that he speaks into me as a father right right because and and that's the where the submission comes from but back to government you know I I like to look at Daniel and if we look at Daniel in the life of Daniel you we look at how he postured himself first off in Daniel

chapter 2 we see him come on the scene and U and Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and he's so frustrated with the dream and nobody can introd interpret it so he throws at this thing that if nobody interprets it all the interpreters are going to die so that's basically so either do this it's do or die for Nebuchadnezzar right but it's not Nebuchadnezzar he's just dishing out the death and uh and so the Lord gives Daniel a dream and I want to read this out of uh Daniel 2 it's this is actually it's such a great passage on our posture on how we car government this particular page just read this it's so good because it gives us it gives us um an infrastructure on how to carry government so listen to

this praise be the the name of God forever and ever wisdom and power are his and how often have we prayed for wisdom with leaders we have that's that's the main thing we pray for wisdom Revelation wisdom that they know and listen to this wisdom and power his he changes the times and Seasons he sets up Kings and deposes them he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the Discerning he reveals deep and hidden things he knows what lies in the Darkness and Light dwells within him I thank and praise you oh god of my fathers you have given me wisdom and power you have made known to me what we asked for you have made known to us the dream of the king and so he's able to go in and

interpret the king and as a result of this he comes in first thing he asks he says okay I I have the I have the the the goods I have the interpret interpretation tell the king don't kill everybody I just love that merciful heart don't King you know he could have saved it he could have been the king of the castle he could have wiped out everything he could have been the main line to communication to the king if it was for Ratings he would get all the ratings if it was media and Daniel says no spare them make sure they're there make sure don't kill them and then the k then the king does this it says then the the king uh later in in chapter 2 verse 48 the king placed Daniel in a high

position and lavished many gifts gifts on him he made made him ruler over the entire province of B Babylon and placed him in charge of the wise men moreover at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach mesach and Abednego administers over the province of Babylon Babylon while Daniel himself remained in the Royal Court so here Daniel has this place of honor he has this place of authority he is submitted he has submitted to the king he comes in and he's there's this posture that he's came and not only that but he's willing to share and he goes hey I got some Kingdom guys here Shadrach Meshach bring them on they're wise and he has influence with the King you know so

often we I I I I say this often because when I was working in in on the political side of things and I was the manager of the of the uh constituency office where we were where we lived in Durham um I would often times you know our Our member was a Believer and uh and I would also Al oftentimes reach out to to pastors and say hey do you want a meeting with the the member and they would always be kind of like why would I want that and I would say so you can tell them tell the Member of Parliament or mppa in this case or MLA depending on part of the country you are in that what the Lord is doing in your congregation share some of the great things that you're doing share some of

the things and some there were some churches that were just wonderful there was one church that in in our just down the street from where we are they were fantastic on human trafficking they were such a support and such a light and they had many women and men that were trafficked in their congregation what a great testimony you know and and uh so we she would be able to share those stories with the premere on on those things you know of the relevance of church remember back in Co days when they thought Church wasn't relevant or wasn't it wasn't uh you know wasn't really what we wasn't really what's the word we used uh essential it's non-essential and actually the church

was very essential and we learned that in a big way but the the governments don't know that right they know Christmas is for Easter and Christmas rather uh uh churches are for Easter and Christmas and weddings and funerals and you know maybe a service but they have no idea what actually goes on with the life of a church it's why it's important that you you share with your MPS once a year should be meeting with your Member of Parliament and sharing prayer groups go in there meet with your Member of Parliament your MLA your mayor just tell them you're praying and to build relationships you hear me say this all the time it's really important so you see so Daniel he he he goes into this

one place he's with one king he builds a relationship and uh and he has favor you know and then you see him again you see this this thing happened with him in um in Daniel 6 you know something happens right something happens Daniel's thrown into the lion den and this is with a different King and Daniel's reputation goes with him from from his reputation of Honor his reputation of being wise his reputation of carrying wisdom and power from on high it comes with him from Nebuchadnezzar to Darius and a conspiracy happens and tries to take out Daniel right we get a lot of conspiracies we're fearful conspiracies we see them all the time we see the scheme of the enemy coming in to take

out we see this all the time you know even last night uh I was listening to commentary on the on the election the American election and they said had Cala come in um and won the election this is a commentary it's not my comment it's just a commentary uh was from daily wire and they said had had Cala been president that she would have gone off after the pro-life movement in a a very hard way and putting them in jail they said that could be there I don't know if that's hibery or not but that could be there there's these conspiracies right and we see this all the time that the enemy doesn't like when we're standing from right for righteousness and they they uh they come against her so this

conspiracy comes and and Daniel gets thrown into a Lon stem we know the story but let's let's look at Daniel's response to this and this is what's so so important because too often when we find ourselves where we're being pushed there's push back where we're being unfairly treated and unjust it happens you know and we get really re really uh upset about this and where did I put this here Daniel there it is Daniel Daniel 6:21 you know when when we we we see this and we get all upset and we go oh my rights are being violated yes they are and you know I look at I look at the at at the underground Church in China and we look at at Afghanistan and Iran and all these

places where there's all kinds of unjustness right and they're they're doing all they can and yet they're flourishing and they're growing and they're preaching the gospel but it could cost them their lives right and here when we get pushed back and we get we we get things I get it you know we went through covid we went all kinds of things churches were closed pastors were were arrested there were a lot of stuff things you know what is it uh the uh what is it that uh uh you're probably going to have to add to this David right here um a drag queen drag queen Story Time and pastors go in and people speak up and say you know what that's that's that's sexual behavior that you're you're you're

putting in front of children that's not that's not healthy at all how could that possibly be healthy and and and pastors are thrown in jail for that and so so here but so so Daniel has done nothing wrong right has lived the good he's done he's been honoring he's done this he's done King number two and he's done this and look at his posture I just love this 621 and Daniel answered oh King live forever my God sent his Angel and has shut the mouths of the Lions they have not hurt me because I found I was found innocent in his sight nor have I ever done any wrong before you oh King look at that you know Daniel could have been thrown in and he could have spouted

off and you know I don't know if I was thrown in a lion lion then I I just might call you a Nazi or something right but his posture was oh King live forever and not only that but he says and I have only honored you I have never done anything wrong before you can we say those things when we're talking about our members of parliament when they do goofy things and when they stand for goofy things yes we need to use our tools like I said in the beginning we use our tools to speak in to them and say I don't like this this is not righteous how can that be righteous and uh and so there are tools that we use letter writing is a really good tool not an email an emails it's

easy for them for the for the uh the Stafford to swipe left you know you might just slide you into a file and they might tabulate you and say okay we had uh 20 of these emails today and that but when you write a handwritten letter in most cases most offices are supposed to do this when you have handwritten letter send it to the uh to the um to Parliament you can do that for free goes to the to the Legislative Office in Parliament the Parliamentary office not legislative the Parliamentary office and the same for you know an MLA or an MPP you know send them send a letter tell them what your what you're concerned about but always tell them that you're praying always tell them with honor

always show honor doesn't matter I mean even just yesterday we were flying out here and uh there was a minister we're in Edmonton right now and they we got on plane with the with with a Ministry and uh I won't tell you who but he's in Edmonton and he was right in front of us and so I I greeted him and uh and said hello it's cordial do I believe with I agree with his policies no and in fact I had to run in with him one time before was kind of rude to tell you the truth he was kind of rude to me and uh but it's okay I still greeted him and said hello it's so good to see you Minister and we got to the plane got on the plane and we flew got here and getting off the

plane my bag got moved a little bit to behind actually just to where he was seated and uh and you know he took the he he grabbed the bag for me and I said I thank you Minister I mean just a little thing doesn't seem like a big idea he was blown away that I recognized him I think that's what Marilyn said that uh that I recognized him but this is posture of Honor that we always always car carry you know when we look at um the Apostle Paul like we started talking about Apostle Paul one my favorite verses you've probably heard me say this before but those of you who haven't heard me you'll love this and it comes out of Philippians 4:20 it's very obscure little

verse and it says you know meanwhile you know Paul has been thrown in jail many many times he's on his way to to to Rome he's he's going to appeal to Caesar there's a lot of Injustice I mean the the the church is not embraced I mean it's growing but it's hard and uh and there are people being thrown to the Lions and and uh and you know there were some really really horrible things that happened in the first century church but Paul Paul says this I'm going to paraphrase out of Philippians 4:20 he says oh yeah he's he's wrapping up the the letter and he says and by the way say hello to the house of Caesar so here Paul is had impact by preaching the gospel impact in

and influence on the house of Caesar so that uh he says say hello that there are people getting saved there are believers in that house now some say that they're they're probably servants or some say they're family members doesn't matter it's still in the house he's embedded the gospel is becoming embedded in the house of Caesar and to the point where where tiberias says at one time he says he was he he was amazed that Christians loved Romans more than Romans love Romans and that was the in influence here you see in Daniel 2 he gets favor and never once never once dishonors and so that's what I want to say to you you know that this is so important like we have an election coming up in

Canada could be any day could be in October who knows there's all kinds of things that could we could be waiting on on you know on certain things it could fall at any time because you've got unrest within the Liberal Party these are some of my my thoughts you know you've got unrest you've got 40 there that are not quite happy they could they could break away and vote against the government to make their point because they they want a new leader right you've got the block looking for an excuse because they've already said that they were looking for a way if we're if the if the government was going to wasn't going to walk with them and give them what they wanted they were going to vote

against the government in emotion and even now right now there this just this past week just this past week um Christia Freeland well actually Marcy Ian the women uh the minister of women's Affairs and children um she brought forth a ways and means motion that potentially closes anybody any nonprofits they lose the nonprofit profit status of any organization that doesn't believe that isn't pro-abortion I'm not even going to talk about pro-life because they' moved away from being pro-life they're now pro-abortion they want you to sacrifice at that Idol of being pro-abortion and and so they brought this up and so what it means a ways and means motion is connected to the budget

that means there's no debate required and it's a confidence motion so it' be very interesting to see what happens in this confident motion and they're doing it primarily as a wedge issue to say to say to society see look at those conservatives they're pro-life they they they don't want um they don't want uh uh you know uh a woman's right to choose they want all that so that that's what they're doing they're creating this thing and instead of the pro-choice but pro-choice is now becoming pro-abortion and uh and it's just a wtge issue it's just a game it's just part of the political game but you know something could happen in that I don't know what could happen in there but because it's a

because it's a uh a non-confidence motion uh or a confidence motion the government could call fall and so we're watching we're praying but we're always watching and praying that's the whole point not waiting for an election you know I had even yesterday a couple of American Ministry has reached out to me I hope you guys are praying it's like yeah dude we've been praying for years right that's our posture we're praying all the time even now I I I said this I had another Ministry we needed we need a prayer strategy for the Canadian election we have a prayer strategy it's pray every day pray all the time it's it's like this you know I also get this all the time I hear this there's people

ask when is when is um Canada Canada doesn't have this and we Canada needs this thing and it's called The National Day of Prayer Canada needs a National Day of Prayer well I want to say this every day is the National Day of Prayer in Canada every day because if we're just going to leave it to one time a year that's just crazy because if you don't think it's crazy enough in our society and you're not praying like what are you doing it's important that we engage and we engage and tie and we engage with a heart of Honor we honor one another we you know we see this in James I can get into this Brad touched it but even James 4 it's talking about how we honor and walk with

each other and had that even some of our prayers don't get answered because we're quarreling all the time that's just phenomenal and so so it's it's so we carry a culture of Honor we submit to each other we submit to one another we submit to our leadership in local church we submit to our leadership in our prayer teams we just walking and and yielding to one another James 3 has this component of yielding to Authority God loves this when we do this that we love and honor it's not about sub you know uh not we're not saying submit to abuse we're not saying that Brad touch that either but in healthy relationships there's this give and take and listening and yielding and that's what's really

help it healthy and so the same thing with government so we have tools in the tool boox and we're going to use the tools when we need them but we're going to do it from a place of honor we're going to do it from a place of respect we're going to do it from a place not carrying offense right the same thing you know a lot of times people get hurt at church because they're offended or they're offended with one another you know recently we just came through the days of a um the Hebrew season of Feasts started off with the feasts of trumpets or Russ sh and ends with the day of yam kapor so there's these 10 days of uh of this actually a little further because then

he goes the Feast of Tabernacles but between the Feast of trumpets and the Feast of of Y rather of yam kapor there's these 10 days and they're called 10 days of a and they're wonderful and there there a basically a Runway to the to yam kapor for the Jewish people where they would take the 10 days and be reflective and and to make all the relationships good and that's what was their their postures making the relationships good and this sounds like a good thing but you know here in Christianity the Apostle Paul says don't carry offenses so it's not a matter of waiting for a season of the year right which is wonderful season I love the feasts but it's important that we deal

with stuff right away that we don't carry it for a year or two years or or forever I don't know how many people that I I meet in the prayer movement that are not connected to local churches that are not connected to anybody because of offense so we need to be dealing with offense right away so that we can get this working and this working the relationship this way and this way so anyway I just want to encourage you um yeah when we're submitted to government we have tools use the tools but do it from a place of honor do it from a place of respect and next week we're going to talk about when it's lawful to rebel and to resist anyway I'm Chris byrick the director of the

national House of Prayer we'll see you next week bye for now [Music] [Music]