Prophets and Kings

NHOP School of Pray - How to Pray for Government, session 6 of 12 NHOP.ca

Transcript

hi everybody it's Chris bber and Brad fidler here for week number six uh we're going to be uh digging in deeply I'm looking forward to this so much profits and Kings uh it's going to be a great good Deep dive this is actually our second attempt at it um for some reason our recording didn't work on our school day on last Thursday so we're shooting it again and I'm hoping that we will have the same intensity as as the first time so anyway take it away Brad right yeah hey everybody H glad we could uh be taking this in with us uh we're going to start today uh if you got your Bibles turn to First Kings 22 um 2 Chronicles 18 has the same account but uh we'll look at the first

King's account here and I just want to start with a story that kind of uh paints a picture for us of Earthly governments doing what they do and the Lord on his throne and and how they how they maybe not compare kast but how they how they operate and function at the same time and then we'll we'll kind of go go on from there but um uh to paint the picture First Kings 22 you have Ahab who's probably the worst King in Israel's history had done more evil than all the kings before him it say of him married you know brought Jezebel into the into the picture in in Israel and so on and then you have King Jehoshaphat the king of Judah who's a good King and yet funny thing is he's always

trying to make peace and be buddy buddy with Northern Israel and actually gets himself into trouble over that but uh what's Happening Here is Ahab goes to Jehoshaphat and says uh says this this city ramoth Gilead it belongs to us but it's under the control of Syria and he says to Jehoshaphat will you go with me to battle at Routh Gilead and Jehoshaphat says to him I am as you are my people as your people my horses as your war horses verse 5 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel inquire first for the word of the Lord then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about 400 and says to them shall I go to battle against ramoth Gilead or shall I refrain and they said go up the Lord

will give it into the hand of the king but Jehoshaphat said is there a Prophet of the lord we can inquire of so here's ahab's 400 prophets of Baal and ashra and whoever else and jehos Hat's going let let's get a prophet of the Lord in here and the king of Israel said to him uh there's one guy we can ask mcka the son of imla but I hate him because he never prophesies good concerning me but evil and Jehoshaphat said oh don't let the king say so so the king of Israel summoned an officer and said bring quickly mcka the son of imla and now I want you to catch this okay here's here's the scene that's kind of painted okay verse 10 the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were

sitting on their Thrones arrayed in their robes at the threshing floor at the entrance of the Gate of Samaria and all the prophets were prophesying before them okay so we've got these two kings on Two Thrones just outside of town at the gate sitting on their Thrones and you have this whole Court of prophets 400 prophets prophesying before them okay so just kind of keep that mental image in your mind and as they prophesying this one guy zedekiah uh he made made horns of iron for himself and said thus says the Lord with these you'll push the syrians until they're destroyed and so they're getting into the prophetic symbolism and all this stuff they're they're going wild with

their prophesying and all the prophets are prophesying and saying go up to Rath Gilead and Triumph the Lord will give it into your hand and verse 13 the messenger went to summon Mah said to him look all the prophets are in agreement their words are favorable to the king let your word be like theirs and speak favorably and Micha said well as the Lord lives whatever he says to me that's what I'll speak and when he had come to the king the king said to him mcka shall we go to Routh Gilead to battle or shall we refrain and he answered yeah sure go ahead the Lord will give it into the hand of the king but the king said to him how many times do I have to make you

swear that you'll speak nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord mcka said it's like he said all right you want it here it is I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no Shepherd and the Lord said these have no master Let each return to his home in peace and Ahab looked at Jehoshaphat and said didn't I tell you he wouldn't prophesy good concerning me but evil and mcka said hear the word of the Lord and uh here's where we're going to get the the second picture Okay so keep in mind what we've already pictured Ahab and Jehoshaphat on their Thrones the prophets prophesying in front of them and he said I Mah said I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the

hosts of Heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left so we have two Earthly Kings with their Court you know prophesying before them and you've got the Lord of hosts on his throne and all the hosts of Heaven attending to him we have two different Throne Room scenes here okay and uh and the Lord said well and let's just sum it up from here the Lord says who's going to go and in tou Ahab into going into battle so he can die and uh you know this is an example we've talked about this before this is an example of God Ra he raises up Kings and he deposes of kings and here's a story where he's going to depose of Ahab but uh the thing I just I just wanted to paint that

picture start from there is like we have Earthly governments Earthly Thrones doing what they do you know having their will having their agenda and then we have the Lord Seated on his throne and his will that's Sovereign over the scheming and rebellion of the of the Earthly Kings so letter D of Roman numeral one the story demonstrates two things for us human Kings tend to insist on doing what they want and sometimes it's out of deliberate Rebellion against God we see that in the first six verses of Psalm 2 but Ahab hears the word of the Lord you know hears the contrary word from the prophet of the Lord and says I don't care I'm going into battle anyways and what he does is he tells

Jehoshaphat you stay in your kingly robes all dress up like any old Soldier and uh which is funny that Jehoshaphat went along with that Jehoshaphat somehow gets spared even though the syrians were looking for the king and Ahab dies randomly in battle isn't that interesting uh the you know in last week with h with Craig and he said something really really interesting that that Society or rather meant government moves out Upstream uh from society so that which is coming from the culture affects government and here you see this this Prophet these 400 prophetic say that they were the prophetic voice of the culture not necessarily of the Lord and it's affecting government and so we see

this here this ground swell of the prophetic and then when the real word of the Lord comes he goes oh that that real word of the Lord Lord it never says anything positive to me it doesn't tickle my ears it doesn't give me the Comfort I want instead it's speaking the truth but it doesn't like the truth and that so perhaps maybe that prophetic voice in our society of culture could be culture could be media all these things and and our government responds to it this is why it's so important that we as Believers are engaging and speaking into it into our government encoura ing praying uh engaging building relationships P pastors building relationships then and the MP says I

don't want to hear maybe your MP's like this I don't want to hear from those guys keep because they keep telling me the truth and I I don't necessarily want to hear the truth so anyway go ahead Brad yeah it's good so yeah we get we see human Kings encouraged by their the voices they listen to doing what they want but the second thing God is Sovereign over the ring over the rebellion and he even uses it for his purposes couple passages for you there to to look at about that so having that those pictures in that picture in mind of these kind of these two planes of of governmental Authority uh Roman numeral 2 the church and prophetic witness so to to remind us some of the things we

started with the beginning of the series the New Testament calls us as Believers calls us strangers and Exiles on on the earth in Hebrews 11 especially first couple chapters of First Peter that that theme is really strong we're strangers here we're Exiles on the earth and it tells us that our citizenship is now in the Kingdom of Heaven we talked about that right uh but more than just citizens of that Kingdom we are its ambassadors on the earth Paul talks about that in 2 Corinthians 5 calling us ambassadors of reconciliation which is not primarily helping people get along and bring reconciliation in interpersonal relationships so that's though that's part of it the primary effect of what

he's saying in second Corinthians 5 is that we're here as ambassadors to Foster reconciliation between God and man it's about bringing other people into the Kingdom so we're ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth Paul refers to himself in Ephesians 620 as an ambassador of the Gospel in Chains he's in jail because of his work as an ambassador of the kingdom of heaven so that's kind of what we're called to be ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven here and now um an ambassador you know Miriam Webster you can look up any any definition on this but yeah couple definitions they had an official Envoy or an authorized representative or messenger which sounds an awful lot like

a prophet right especially Old Testament prophets were messengers of God and it wasn't so much that they were foretelling the future or bringing significant messages the the significance was they were a representative speaking on behalf of God they were the voice of God to the people of that generation and so in a similar way we are messengers authorized representatives of the kingdom of God in the Earth today that's that's kind of in general that's our primary function and so as ambassadors we need to remain clear about which kingdom we represent and speak for uh I remember hearing this I I can't remember where I couldn't Source it um as we were look looking this up

but I remember seeing something about in the Roman Empire their ambassadors that they would send to different cities you know territories On The Fringe of the Empire uh they would they would typically leave them there for a short period of time maybe a couple years at most or something like that and the reason why is they needed to make sure that their Ambassador still had still had the interests of Rome at first place in their heart and mind the longer they spent in one of these outposts one of these you know distant cities or or lands they would become more sympathetic and empathetic to the people in the culture where they were and they could lose touch with the kingdom they're

supposed to be representing and in the same way we need to we need to uh remain rooted and grounded connected to the kingdom and the King that we speak for and represent uh just briefly we got it here I we can see Colossians 2 in this light verses 6 to10 just a few of the verses here Paul says therefore as you've received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him and he says remaining rooted and grounded in him verse eight see to it that no one takes you captive by Philosophy by empty deceit uh according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ he's saying stay locked in to Jesus right in him the whole fullness of deity

dwells bodily and you have been filled in him who is the head of all Rule and Authority we see that connection there stay rooted and grounded in him not diluted by philosophies by Deceit by human Traditions you know all the things we hear from the culture around us all the time stay rooted and grounded in Christ instead because in him you've been filled and guess what he's actually the head of all Rule and Authority Chris you want to jump in there you know so the whole thing of philosophies or let's use it a now word that we use today narratives you know we are we get pinned into these narratives and many times we act just like the world acts and we're not supposed to be

acting like the world acts so when things go sideways we're not supposed to be freaking out we're not supposed to be all a TW all all a fluster um when when elections don't go our way or the way we were praying and then we get all upset um we saw that in 2016 when prime minister Trudeau came in the first time and uh you know many were praying fasting and praying I mean they were having it at the national House of Prayer and then he came in and we were be the church had became a delusioned they were like oh my God what has happened to the point that many stopped praying they didn't know what to do because they thought they had it in the bag they thought oh yeah surely if we

pray and fast enough and do our traditional stuff we show the rip was dropped and then we all started to pray instead of praying the whole time like we're supposed to right all the way through praying for our leaders instead we we we piled on the wall and then didn't get the result and as a result like even here at National House of Prayer it really suffered when Trudeau came in we uh people stopped coming they didn't want to pray for him they loved praying for Harper but they didn't want to pray for him that's because we're rooted in Tradition that's because we're rooted in philosophies if we had been rooted in Christ we would continue to pray right we would understand that

Christ is the authority that Christ is the head I'm not going to freak out because Christ is the head I'm still he has a plan I'm going to come into alignment and I'll actually tell you something even though we've we've had many many pieces of legislation come into our society uh that were really like maid for example we've seen these things I'll tell you something the Prime Minister has provoked our nation to pray like we've never prayed before and that is a good way maybe in a bit of a maob way but it's a good thing because many of us didn't don't usually pay attention to our leaders until we had an election then we kind of pile on instead of being those consistent holders and carriers

and keeping our assignments very much think of think of the parable of tal I just want to drop this into your hearts think think of the parable of the talents and your prayer life I'm just going to say that read that and ask the Lord what that means and and are you are those talents those assignments that he's given you are you are you carrying them correctly I want to encourage you to ask the Lord if you're carrying him the correctly because this is this is really really important that we we understand that that Christ is in control don't freak out if it doesn't go our way because he's up to something and I can tell you something after nine years of Trudeau there's way more prayer

going off in our our country than ever before there are prayer stream streams everywhere and and and I just love the fact that this is happening and God is doing something mightily and I think that we're seeing these moves of God not because of our government but because we're praying and because we're praying they're engaging in so many areas of society that we are being Salt and Light go ahead Brad cool good so as ambassadors this idea of we are ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven a foreign country it's it's important to notice if you think about it throughout the Bible this is letter B here on on page two throughout the Bible the people of God in Exile so think

think from Abraham to Moses and even really till Joshua think Abraham to Joshua and then think from the Babylonian exile through to the end of the Bible through the New Testament Church um we're always called to be faithful Witnesses of God and his ways and sometimes sometimes we see people elevated into positions of political influence uh we can think of Joseph think of Daniel you could think of Esther in there as well but we never see in these periods of Exile which again the New Testament refers to us as strangers and Exiles in this land we never see them given absolute political power or even the Lion Share of political power right so we have Believers in our country today

who are called to the political sphere we you know we know a number of of MPS who are believers who are who are faithful and obedient to the Lord um but the promise the promise isn't that we're going to take over governments that's not the that's not the the structure that we're or the model were given in in the Bible now we we pray for that we love to see and we work towards bringing the influence the Salt and Light of the Kingdom but the in every place including government including the halls of government but we don't we don't look primarily to the idea of Christians running the government that's not really something that's that's um outlined or promised or

patterned for us in in scripture I don't think and if we think back to what Craig was talking about last week um the thought of the you know the church running the government may be enticing but that's not the most effective model of lasting change that's that directed radical topown change that may may look like it's bearing a lot of fruit in the immediate but it doesn't have lasting impact what we want to see is more that ground swell that talked about that that incremental organic change um righteous laws are a good thing but they don't make the nation righteous we as as Christians know should know better than anyone that no one is made righteous by the law right righteous laws help

restrain sinful Behavior but they don't make us righteous and I like this quote from uh Martin Luther King Jr where he said it may be true that the law can't make a man love me you know a neighbor love me but it can restrain him from lynching me and he said I think that's pretty important also right obviously it is so while the law may not change the hearts of men it does change the habits of men so we want to see righteous laws come in to change some of the habits of of men in our nation but righteous laws are not the goal they're not the end what we want to see is lasting change at the Heart level which only comes through the church being Salt and Light in our

streets communities business places uh and and so on so whether we have a righteous government or not the only way our nation will turn in a lasting way is by that widespread change of heart that's the incremental organic change Craig was talking about you wantan to go ahead Chris yeah yeah case in point let's look at Saudi Arabia I've said this many times before you know Saudi Arabia it's illegal to be homosexual in Saudi Arabia it's it it's legal to own pornography and be on pornography in Saudi Arabia it's illegal to have sex outside of marriage in Saudi Arabia it's illegal to uh there's they have so many other laws and many people say would say well that's that's a lot of righteous

laws but is Saudi Arabia righteous no no it's the blood of Jesus that makes us righteous it's even though they have these laws right and uh but it doesn't make them righteous Society hasn't changed it's the it's it's the blood of Jesus it's the gospel it's the kingdom of God that brings lasting change lasting change and we had stepen Harper and we had you know eight years eight nine years of Stephen Harper almost 10 years and there was good governance there but do you remember what kind of change it left because obviously soon as Trudeau came in Switched we had something else and who knows what we happen in the next election so so those things that'll be shaken can be shaken

our hope is in the kingdom of God our hope is in the Lord and it's our hope that Grassroots Faith Mustard Seed size of the Kingdom that grows across our society that's the kingdom The Mustard Seed side that is size The Mustard Seed size Kingdom that's growing on your street that's where it needs to be on your street Street to your neighbors to your families to your co-workers and in your local church yeah so in general just just a reminder we're supposed to be we're not primarily supposed to be Kings um having political power we're primarily supposed to be prophets a prophetic witness of the kingdom of God in the Nations provinces and cities we live in so and the function of Prophecy

that's consistent through both the Old and New Testaments is this idea of provoking and calling people to love the Lord and walk in his ways so we provoke people to love the Lord by being living proof of the blessing that comes from living life fully submitted to God which was Israel's call and is Israel's call to be a light to the Gentiles if you read especially Deuteronomy and you look at Deuteronomy 28 um you know Moses kind of sums everything up by going look if you obey the voice of the Lord the first 14 verses look at all these blessings that will come on you and the point of of that was so that all the nations around them which were involved in all

sorts of demon worship that they would see the blessing of God on the people of Israel and go they must have the one true God we need to follow them that's the point it's so that the nations would be blessed the nations would come to the knowledge of God by seeing the favor of God on people who live in obedience to God and then the second the second part of that chapter 28 is but if you walk away from him here's all the curses that will come and so the church we're grafted into that same purpose and calling we're to be a living demonstration to the people around us the culture around us of the blessing of God that comes from walking submitted and obedience to him so our

lives are to be a provocation to the culture around us but then also we call them we verbally communicate we preach exhort appeal and so on the truth and values and principles of the kingdom of God to unbelievers including people in power the trick is we like to focus on the second one which is really powerless if we don't have the first one the first one is what proves the truth of of what we're saying and so we need to carry both of those as a prophetic witness in the Earth today our lives provoking and our words provoking people to to come to the kingdom amen and so pastors I want to say this intercessors those of you there this is why it's important that you connect with your members of

parliament not to do it politically and many pastors when I ask pastors have you talk to your MP or your MLA or your mayor and they go why do I want to do that I said it's simple because you want to tell them the stories of what God is doing in your congregation that's what you want to tell them you want to tell them those testimonies of what God is doing because they have no idea most politicians think churches for Christmas and Easter weddings and funerals and you know and and some old people that get to sing there once in a while that's not what it is so for us to build relationships with me members of parliament to tell them testimonies to tell them what God is doing and can you

imagine if every Church showed up and then we'll just say say can you imagine if 20 churches in a writing went to to its MP or MLA and just shared what God was doing the impact it would have on that writing just think of it because then because right now I'll tell you something in 20 2005 when the gay marriage came into Canada and would became law you know when you st you spoke to the average MP if you spoke to the average not the Christian ones but the ones that kind of understand non- churchgoing they thought there was consent by the church for gay marriage that's what they thought they thought this was they had the consensus you know why because they talked to the United Church

of Canada that and they based their their whole reasoning for accepting it was because what we talked to the church that's what they said we talked to them and they said it was a good idea and they weren't really speaking now there are some United Church pastors out there that love the Lord with all their heart their hearts I I know that but for for a denomination we know where they stand right and it was because the church for the most part was not engaging and sharing really what was on their heart and what the word said and the testimonies of what God was doing so it is important for us to build those relationships with our members and have coffee and pastors I want to say that

it's not that you are in that MP's constituency it's that that MP is in your constitu and see and it's up to you to care for them as if they were part of your congregation go ahead Brad good yeah so Roman numeral 3 here the challenge for us so uh one of the major challenges for prophets in the bible is this this challenge of humility and submission because something that's interesting is outside of Moses and Samuel who were two prophets who led Israel um it's interesting to note they did so as judges not as kings neither of them were Kings they were clearly seen as the leader but they weren't Kings um but out out outside of them you know there are no instances of God

supplanting a king with a prophet we think of Joseph uh very strong prophetic gift especially in interpreting dreams but he served under Pharaoh he was given an awful lot of power in the land of Egypt but he never supplanted Pharaoh he made in submission to him Daniel the same thing same prophetic gift um but he served Kings of Babylon uh Kings of the mes Kings of the Persians uh he served he remained in a servant role he again he was given an awful lot of influence a lot of clout a lot of power but he still remained in service to the king uh Nathan I think of Nathan when David sinned with B Sheba and Uriah and that whole thing Nathan confronts David about

his sin but remained subject to him the challenge is how do you how do you speak to and in some cases confront someone and not get hotti about it not get lifted up in your soul thinking that you're above them this is the challenge how do you confront or or correct someone while remaining submitted to them and here's the thing that's the the thing the the the calling we're given that's the situ ation we're in we're to be prophetic witness but there's three passages three new testament passages you've probably been waiting for these waiting for us to quote these in this in this series uh first one's from Romans 13 you've probably heard it let every person be

subject to the governing authorities for there is no Authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those resist will incur judgment therefore we must be in subjection not only to avoid God's Wrath but also for the sake of conscience so we're to be a prophetic witness in the world in the culture and before government but we're to remain submitted to them we're to remain in a posture of humility and submission to them uh Titus 3 first couple verses Paul says remind them remind the Believers telling Tim or telling Titus giving them instructions remind them to be submissive to rulers

and authorities to be obedient to be ready for every good work to speak evil of no one to avoid quarreling to be gentle to show perfect courtesy toward all people and then first Peter 2 again we mentioned earlier how Peter in those first couple chapters of that of that first letter refers to us as Exiles and and strangers in this world he says be subject for the Lord's sake to every Human Institution whether be to the Emperor as supreme or to Governors sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover

up for evil but living as Servants of God honor everyone love the Brotherhood fear God honor the emperor pretty clear pretty pretty concise the way he's that up but uh I think sometimes we see the church using the excuse because we're the people of God we shouldn't have to be subject to some of these things and sometimes using our freedom in that way as a cover up for evil as a cover up for um for rebellion and we're going to talk we're going to take a session and look at rebellion and resistance and when is that okay but for the the most part it's not for the most part God calls us to be a prophetic witness to those in power praying for them and being a prophetic

witness to them but staying in humility and subjection to them it's this it's this tricky place we have to be in and it requires us to be humble it requires humility on our part to be able to speak to someone with no with no cynicism or judgmentalism or self-righteous but to do it in pure humility that's the challenge that's the thing he's looking for from us as the church not proud because we know God and we're speaking for him but from a posture of humility that's a that's a major challenge for us we see this in Paul's life you know he didn't criticize or speak roughly to Roman governors but he used his opportunities to appeal for their salvation right we see in those last six

or seven chapters of Acts um he's not lashing out you know there's times he quotes here he cites his citizenship to get out of tricky situations but he doesn't angrily yell for his rights at leaders but instead he appeals to them he's he's looking for their salvation acts 26: 28 29 we see that he's appealing for salvation not not demanding personal rights and freedoms and in fact there's a you know we got a little example there in Acts 23 one time where he does speak harshly and rashly to the the high priest and he's struck and then he's when he's corrected he says I'm sorry I didn't know that was the high priest where it's written you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your

people there's like a a response of repentance there's a response of I'm sorry I was out of line um which is which is interesting to see um in such a high emotionally charged situation where he's on trial where he's you know he's being attacked he's being threatened whatever and he does let out he responds with repentance takes it back that's kind of the example we see there yeah one of the things that I I really love about the Apostle Paul you don't see him forming any worship protests or or or you know uh uh storming any kind of place in fact his posture is really interesting in Philippians 4:20 this this little tiny verse and if you're you wrapping up the the the the book and he

says oh yeah by the way and say hello to the house of Caesar and so so here there's enough influence that's coming the kingdom is actually impacting the house of Caesar because of they're preaching the gospel now some say that they might be relatives but one commentary says that the as our servants are workers in the house of Caesar but nevertheless you see the kingdom growing inside that place and it's going to have impact because you see this having impact in fact tiberious actually was confounded with Christians he didn't understand them because they loved Roman citizens more than the Caesar loved Roman citizens and that was the impact and that caused a change and that's how

the kingdom works it's this this inside out from the ground inside impacting so these these servants inside the house is actually affecting what goes on at the very head of the nation M so yeah exactly and that's the kind of church that's the kind of change we want to see that we want to subscribe to so in conclusion to kind of wrap this all up put a bow on it it's a reminder a the church's role is to be ambassadors or prophetic Witnesses of the kingdom of God in our society today by communicating the kingdom by communicating in the ways of the kingdom and that's that humility thing that's we never I'll say this I I can't think of a passage of scripture that permits us to

put the fruit of the spirit on the Shelf in order to say something we want to say we have to be constantly producing fruit of the spirit in our lives we have to be living and walking in Sermon on the Mount Matthew 56 and 7 um we never get to stray from those that's how we're called to live and that's how we're to govern our speech is through those those sorts of principles we speak the truth in love and I think sometimes we like to just say that I've heard it said you know speaking the truth is loving we don't get off that easily we have to be able to communicate it from a posture of humility and submission and a heart that actually loves and cares for the ones

we're speaking to as Chris has said many many times you know in in prayer we pray for we pray for the Prime Minister we pray for our MPS as though they're family members we pray from that posture because that affects how we pray for them we pray for their success and not for their failure when we see them that way and I think we need to speak to them the same way also speak in a way that doesn't want to see them fall doesn't want to see them fail because like Jeremiah said in in the peace in the welfare of the city and Nation we live in that's where our our our welfare will be found as well so we we communicate the ways values and principles of the Kingdom we communicate it in the ways of

the kingdom and we live lives of obedience that demonstrate the evidence of what we're saying the truth of the evidence of what we're saying okay so it's it's the importance of the fruit I actually was contemplating and meditating this last I actually said this last night in a meeting I Wasing preaching in and it it occurred to me that the fruit of the spirit that you carry love joy peace patience you know all of that fruit that fruit is there to as as nutrition to those around you that that's there for a blessing to those around you that will actually care for those so peace and joy and love and patience and longsuffering all of that will that will actually

nourish those around you that's how effective it is and that's what we need to be carrying we not going to be angry Christians I mean when when well there is nothing worse than than when I'm angry it's just no good and and and when I'm SP what is that what good is that right but when I come with peace Joy I'm going to share with this and be and then we'll we'll wrap it up you know I used to work in in finance and uh and and they would say to me they they my co-workers hated it when I went on vacation and I said why they said well when you're not here it's not peaceful he says when you come in you you push out chaos and so I said to them you know why that is and they'd

say why because Jesus lives here right it's supposed to be peaceful around you and then I would share with them you know you can have this pieace too right you don't have to worry when I leave you can have this peace all the time and that was how we carried it so you are purveyors of the Prince of Peace you carry the Prince of Peace it's supposed to be peaceful where you go and when you're engaging with those in Authority they need to sense that peace yeah yeah so we're supposed to be th those ambassadors of the Kingdom bringing the peace and the fruit demonstrating the effects of the Kingdom there I would say this remember First Kings 22 okay that story that picture we painted at the

beginning here remember that and here's why we have Kings we have governments on their Thrones um making their plans enacting their Wills but God is on his throne Sovereign over their plans and so the question is which Council are we seeking to be part of if you if you go to Jeremiah 23 18 to 22 I'm not going to read it but um there's this word where you know Jeremiah battled these false prophets who kept you know the Lord was warning the nation you're backlin you're you're you're in sin turn well actually it was actually to a point where it was too late for turning he said the Babylonians are coming you need to surrender to them so that things will go well for you all these other prophets

are going no no no peace peace peace we've got the temple we're going to be fine and uh the Lord says you know through Jeremiah in 23 there he says if you had stood in my counsel and heard my words I would have given you a word that would change the nation is essentially what he said if you're if which Council are we standing standing in are we seeking to be is our primary goal to be part of this Council and to be part of the um an influencing voice here or is our primary concern about standing in this Council and hearing what he's having to say and saying what he has to say um because that's where true influence will come for the for the body it's tempting for us to try to grasp Pol

IAL Authority and think that's how we're going to change things um but even if we grab it even if we were to get control to get power here that Kingdom can still be shaken Chris mentioned earlier you know we had nine years of of a prime minister who was an outspoken believer and that kingdom was upended if we want to say it that way in 2015 and we had a government come in that didn't share the same values as the majority of the church in in North America and even though we had those nine you know good years that Kingdom didn't last right it it was overturned it was shaken and so we need to keep our eyes on which Throne cannot be shaken and we we want to remain our value to be a to be in that

Council to be hearing what's said in those rooms in those Halls and to be echoing those voices not necessarily what's going on here this is secondary this is primary and uh with that we'd say just we'll just throw this in here we' say Beware of the more militant and extreme expressions of Christian nationalism because there's danger in equating a political party or expression with the kingdom of God the kingdom of God will not change if our preferred political party gets in power it will not the kingdom of God will not invade based on an election ction it comes from the church being the church being Salt and Light being a prophetic witness being a faithful witness that's where

and being that Mustard Seed of the Kingdom that's growing and growing and growing and growing in every place where we walk every place where where our feet go and so yeah this is just an appeal to remember we're not supposed to be political Kings primarily we're supposed to be prophets we're supposed to be a prophetic witness in the Earth today that's our that's our and in all of our interactions with government and those in Authority would say remember the pattern Jesus established for us to follow this's just a few things he could have come to be served but he came to serve he could have raised his voice he could have de he could have drawn in crowds he could

have got himself the biggest platform but he came in meekness he could have overthrown governments but he submitted to them he paid taxes he he he never gave the Jewish people an excuse to rebel and revolt against Rome though he could have and he could have saved himself but he submitted to death and just to summarize that the cross it was the symbol of Shame and defeat but it was Jesus means of Victory and the cross is still the way we overcome today we don't overcome by overthrowing and taking Power by by achieving greater power we over overcome by the way of the Cross we overcome by by denying ourselves taking up our cross and following him we overcome by the

word of the Lamb or the blood of the Lamb the word of Our Testimony and not loving Our Lives even unto death and so in all these things in being a prophetic witness remain in humility keep carrying the cross stay low but be faithful be persistent and keep bearing that fruit of the spirit as we go Chris final words yes that's very good Brad so we'll see you next week we're already at past the halfway point now week seven is coming up so we'll see you next week I'm Chris bber this is Brad Fiddler bye for now [Music]