July 15th Mid-week Bible Study, "Kingdom vs Country!"

it's a blessing to be here once again as we study god's word uh in our bible study uh as we actually conclude our series dealing with deconstruct uh christianity uh let us go to god in the word of prayer and then we'll begin holy and righteous father we're thankful for your opportunity and giving us the opportunity to study your word we pray father that you may bless us with enlightenment and bring us closer to a deeper understanding of your word in your name we pray amen so tonight as we uh conclude our series tonight i want to i want to look at our relationship with jesus christ and i want to look at our relationship uh with the country in which we live in so i want to be very clear when i use the word country i don't want to have an americanized view when we approach the scriptures uh many times we end up looking at the word of god based upon the country we live in and our personal experiences uh i i understand that not everybody is from america uh there are people who live all over the world from australia to india to china uh from south america from just all over the world there are people who experience different laws uh they have different experiences in the country that they live in but when i use the word country i'm talking about the 21st century world we live in today and so what i want to do is i want to look at from the scriptures the world we live in today and then i want to look at our relationship with jesus christ i want to look at our relationship with jesus christ there are many individuals somebody said brother williams why are we studying this why are we having this this view uh looking at our christianity because a lot of people that are living in the world today and they are struggling because they're trying to serve god but live in their community and many times your community does not reflect the law of god and so i want to begin looking at philippians chapter 3 and we'll begin at verse 20. i'm reading from the king james version and the bible says for our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the savior the lord jesus christ i want to read verse 20 also from a different version i want to look at it from the niv the bible says in verse 20 but our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there the lord jesus christ uh i'm also uh going to read this uh from the new living translation which says but we are citizens of heaven where the lord jesus christ lives and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior the bible lets us know that if you are a christian uh if you're a christian then you have died and been born again the phrase even the idea of being born again is a starting of new so if anybody gives their life to jesus christ they are starting anew but when you get baptized and you become born again uh that old man dies and you end up being translated to a different law a different way of living and you submit yourself under different authority this needs to be clear if you are a christian if you're a christian then that means you have been moved to a different uh uh uh uh under different authority your way of living has changed because now you're under a new law and your family has changed i want to i want you to view all of the things that change when you become a christian people that you had no connection to are now your brothers and sisters um the authority now you're referring to jesus as your king notice the verbiage we use jesus is our king he is our lord he is our savior in order for you to become a christian you are now submitting yourself under a new authority if you're not a christian then jesus christ is not your king jesus christ is not your lord and savior you don't have a personal relationship with jesus christ but if you're born again now i have a personal relationship with a new authority i live under a new law and i'm a part of a new family and i now have higher expectations and i have new goals it completely rewires you to become a christian it completely rewires you and puts you on a whole new track with a new destination because jesus says in my father's house all of a sudden before i was a christian i was focused on carnal things but now that i'm a cr but now that i'm a christian i'm now focused on a house and a new destination with new hope with with new family members to dwell not in the temporary now i eagerly await now i have a hunger for something eternal my palate has changed do you know that when you become a christian your eyes should change your your tastes should change the stuff that you have a taste for there are some people who are struggling their christianity because you got baptized but you still hunger and thirst after wickedness you don't hunger and thirst after righteousness you still hunger and thirst after uh wickedness and you're struggling because you have not fully submitted under the will of god because certain things have not changed and so in order to become a disciple of jesus christ and to walk after christ is to hunger and thirst after the things of christ and so the bible lets us know in philippians chapter 3 in verse 20 that our citizenship is in heaven now if you're a citizen of heaven then that means if you're a christian that means you're not a citizen anywhere else if you're a citizen of heaven that means you're not a citizen anywhere else that means you if you're a christian you you are only going to submit under one law that's it if you're a christian you're only going to submit under one law and that is the law of jesus christ that's it now uh let us look further in verse 21 who shall change our vowel body back in the king james version who shall change our vowel body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself so one of the things that we realize is not only are we going to desire to go after christ but we're also desiring an understanding by the promise of jesus christ that he's going to change our body to be like him this is a complete and total transformation the next scripture that i want you to look at is ephesians chapter two 2 in ephesians chapter 2 and beginning at verse 19. the bible lets us know uh in ephesians chapter 2 and verse 19. now therefore you are no more strangers or foreigners but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of god um matter of fact i want to look at verse 16. i want to kind of go back so that you can understand the flow the bible is on verse 16 and that he might reconcile both unto god in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby so the bible lets us know that jesus christ jesus christ has come and he has reconciled us verse 16. he has reconciled us so so then when you go down a little further he says now you are no longer foreigners you are no longer aliens do you know that if you're not a baptized believer and you have not obeyed the gospel of our lord jesus christ you are a foreigner and you are an alien can i take a side note this has nothing to do with my lesson that's why if you're a christian you have to be very careful of who you marry because in the eyes of god if somebody has not obeyed the gospel of our lord and jesus christ they are considered a foreigner and they are considered an alien from the commonwealth of the kingdom of god and so if i'm going to walk with somebody i want to walk with somebody who is also a citizen so that when i receive the benefits of the kingdom you can receive the benefits of the king i don't want just one of us receiving the benefits that's why the church and our fellowship and all of our relationships are so extremely important because we are no longer foreigners we are no longer aliens we are now fellow citizens of the household of god there are benefits that come with that there are benefits that come with being a child of god so in verse 19 you are but fellow citizens with the saints and the household of god and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone the bible lets us know that jesus did all of this in one church that's one of the things that we emphasize that there is only one church there's only one church and so the reconciliation between god and man took place in the church that's why we preach the church that's why we tell people you need to be a part of church there are some people who say ah listen i just want a relationship with jesus christ i don't want a relationship with his church you cannot have a relationship with me and ignore my body it all comes together and so one of the things you realize is church will stretch you church will pull you church church will will do some things that make you question do you really want this relationship but here's the understanding wherever jesus is is where i have to be so even if we we don't get along we don't have to learn how to get along because i want to be where jesus is and don't ever let anybody run you out of the church don't let don't let don't let anybody ever pull you away from your rights in the kingdom of god my blessings are in the church and so you got you sometimes you'll have people who will be at the church building and cause you to run away from the church i need you to understand what i just said there are some people who are regularly attending at the church building and they're causing such havoc that they'll cause you to run away from the one body where christ is just because somebody gets in their car and comes to an address doesn't mean that they're a part of the church don't let anybody ever run you out of the true body of christ and so here's here's my understanding as i'm studying the word of god and i'm having this understanding i'm a citizen wait a minute i'm a citizen of heaven right now as a baptized believer i am a citizen of heaven jesus right now is preparing my home for eternity i realize right now i am preparing to live in immortality i am not just a mortal being there is life after this and if you're a christian you believe in life after this and so that's why at funerals our tears are different from those that are foreigners and aliens because our tears many times you'll hear some people say listen i'll see you soon you can only talk like that if you're a christian listen i'm it's okay i'm gonna see you soon if you believe that the person uh was a child of god and they passed away christians we cry differently i'm crying because i miss you but also i know enough of the word of god to know that you just died but you're a citizen of the kingdom of god and i understand by the promise and as a citizen when you die in this world he translates you into immortality into the eternal and so i understand that as a christian we live under the law of grace so there are certain laws that we live by uh one of the laws of of the christian of a christian citizen is this um if you do me wrong i don't seek vengeance people who are not christians don't understand that law because they don't they're not a citizen they're not a citizen of the kingdom of heaven so when they say uh when we talk about turning the other cheek you have those who are not christians i can't do that i understand you're not a citizen and matter of fact you may not even have to because you're not required to because you don't live as a citizen in the kingdom of heaven now if you want to go to heaven and you want to be a citizen you're going to have to die and be born again and then you have to submit yourself under new authority one of the other laws that we have uh in the kingdom of of heaven is that whatever increase that you have you you give your offering unto the lord there's some people said no i don't believe in that i'm gonna keep my money i understand you're not a citizen you're not a citizen now here's the thing um if you're if you're a citizen you understand that everything that you have is because of the father and so you're actually never really giving to god uh you're you're only giving part back to god because everything you have is because of god so whatever your offering is uh uh is is not paying god back it's it's oh it's being obedient to the law of god of basically saying god we thank you and we appreciate you for everything that you're doing that's that's one of the rules and that's one of the laws of being in the kingdom of god and so one of the things that we do is if you hurt me i i'm going to forgive you somebody said oh no did you did you know what they did no i can't do that hey i love jesus and all that i understand you're not a citizen because if you're a citizen you can't you can't break the law so if you're going to be a good citizen of the kingdom of heaven now we we have some outlaws in the kingdom of heaven they're christians but they outlaws they have warrants there are there are some christians they they've been baptized they have their baptismal certificate on the wall uh but they're they they have warrants out on them because they're doing whatever they want to do they are christians but they're acting as if they live in another country so we understand the law of grace and we understand what it means to submit ourselves under a different ruler your your citizenship is in heaven the next scripture that i want to i want us to go to i want us to transition i want us to transition uh because even though i'm a citizen of heaven i don't live in heaven right now i i live in the united states and so uh while living here in the united states the united states has its own constitution now i live under the law of grace i live under the law of grace but the world that i live in and the country that i live in my president is president trump my president is president trump and in this country where i live in there's a congress uh there's uh there are we have senators we have representatives we have mayors that's the structure of the country that i live in i didn't choose it i didn't orchestrate it i was not an architect of it when i was born all of these things were set in place now the world that i live in and the country that i live in was structured by men they were structured by men the laws that are on the books they are not um they're not bible they're not bible if you're a christian you understand that the constitution is not bible so don't treat it like bible and don't read the constitution as if it is bible because it's not the constitution and the laws that are on the books they've been made by men uh from their perspective and their view so let us look at romans chapter 13 and verse 1. i'm going to read from the king james version and then i'm going to read from the new living translation the bible lets us know in verse 1 of the king james version let every soul let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of god the powers that be are ordained of god uh i'm gonna read verse one in the the new living translation the bible says everyone must submit to governing authorities for all authority comes from god and those in positions of authority have been placed there by god so here is my understanding i am a christian my citizenship is in heaven i adhere only to the law of grace under jesus christ that's it but within christianity christianity and the law of grace my king jesus christ tells me through his word that while i'm living in the country that i'm living in that i must submit to the authorities that are in this country that's that's what the law of grace and of the kingdom of god tells me that i only adhere to christ's law but within christ's law the law of christ says that i whatever country that i'm in i have to submit to that law of the country that i'm in right uh the bible didn't say some of us the bible lets us know every one of us so here's what i understand if you are a christian you have to be law abiding if you're going to be a good christian breaking the law of your country goes against the law of god stay with me i know many of you may be struggling with this i'm only reading to you what the word of god says here we are in verse 2. i'm going to read from the king james version and then i'm going to read from the new living verse 2. actually let me read verse 2 and verse 3. whosoever therefore resisteth the power resistance the ordinance of god and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil will thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and you shall have praise of the same let's look at this uh in the new living translation verse 3 for the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right but in those who are doing wrong would you like to live without fear of the authorities do what is right and they will honor you so here's what the bible lets us know the reason why president trump has authority hear me what i'm saying the reason why president trump has authority is because god allows it now i don't know uh it has nothing to do with how strong he is how intelligent he is what school he went to what deals he has made in his life i know this and i'm not just talking about the president of the united states i'm talking about all authority i'm talking about the mayor in your city i'm talking about the governor i'm talking about the president in your other particular i live in america but regardless of wherever you're listening uh from the president or the chancellor or or whatever authority in your country the reason why they have that power is only because god allows them to have that power that's it somebody says but i don't like we're not asking your opinion or what you like and what you don't like what we're saying is i understand spiritually and you don't even know you don't even know my political views because it's irrelevant when i'm when i'm here preaching the gospel my my political views are irrelevant because i'm a citizen of of heaven i'm for christ i may have certain beliefs and certain feelings about certain things but i'm for christ so here's what i understand president trump regardless of what you think about him or not he is accomplishing what god wants him to accomplish and if god does not want him to be there anymore there is nothing you can do about it it's like nebuchadnezzar uh when god wanted him to sit down he sat down if god wanted to raise a nation if you're familiar with the old testament if god wanted to raise a nation there was nothing that israel could do about it the babylonian empire is coming the persians are coming and god has raised them up and they're coming to overtake there's nothing you can do about it there's nothing you can do about it so i realized that those are in power so here's what i understand about power power is only given by god this it's not giving by voting uh brother williams do you believe in voting yes i believe you should go out and vote i believe you should exercise the rights of your country but what i understand while voting that even though i'm making my selection god will can work through me and god can work through you by voting and if god wants something to happen he'll put something in your heart he'll put something on my heart and you can choose to be obedient or not and so if we all decided to rise up and defy god and we all voted for the same thing and then we turned around and somebody else got in power and you say oh it's rigged only god can give power christians you can get angry but you shouldn't be outraged because when you see something happening and don't make sense after you see an election and something don't make sense you ought to sometimes back up and say okay god i see what you're doing i see what you're doing i see i see what's happening right now is it a coincidence that the coronavirus and social injustice and the election are all happening in the uh do you know why there are there's a great push for us to get back into the economy uh and everybody to get back to work and we want to just get back to how it because the longer that we sit under the coronavirus power exchanges hands because um somebody says hey listen i need i need business and income to flow so that i can stay in my position and i can maintain my power the problem with this is if the money stops and the world starts changing that means power changes hands what i'm trying to tell you right now is god is doing something god is doing something and you may not like it but whoever has power after this is only because god allowed and sometimes god will allow a pharaoh to sit on the throne so that god can accomplish his will while he's on that throne so so one of the things that we realize is that as a christian i have to obey the laws of the land it's just what it is if i want to be a good christian i'm not talking about just american laws whether you live in canada you can live in mexico whether you live in peru uh whether you live in trinidad uh you can live in hong kong uh you you can live wherever you want to live wherever wherever you do live you have to if you're a good christian good christians who who honor god obey the laws of the land the bible lets us know uh in verse 4 [Music] for he is the minister of god to thee for good uh i need to understand not that not that the person that's in authority look at verse four not that the person that's in authority is good i want to make that very clear the person in authority he's not saying the good he's saying for he is the minister of god basically saying is god is using the person in power to produce something that's good the person in that seat can be wicked the person in that seat can be evil but god will bring some things together and usher about his will if you think that people can live their life without submitting to god you are mistaken the authorities are god's servants for your good in the new living translation in verse four but if you are doing wrong of course you should be afraid so here's the here's the thing that eddie kane jr told you two wrongs don't make a two wrongs don't make a right god will deal with anybody who is unjust and not right but but when god comes to to send his judgment you can't be doing wrong at the same time as they are doing wrong god can remove somebody quick but then god has to remove you too because you have become a terror in your community he says they are god's servants sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong so you must submit to them not only to avoid punishment but to also keep a clear conscience do what is right so somebody says brother williams how how does all of this line up how does all of this line up uh so so here's here's what i understand uh to obey god to to obey god is the same uh is obeying your parents the bible lets us know uh in ephesians 6 1. the bible lets us know children children obey your parents in the lord children obey your parents in the lord for this is right so how you obey your parents is how you're supposed to live in the country as a christian so if my if my father tells me as a child if my father tells me to wash the dishes then i have to obey if i'm gonna be if i'm gonna be a child of god then i have to obey my parents i have to obey my father and i'm gonna go and wash the dishes somebody says well what is washing the dishes washing the dishes does not violate the law of god so didn't do it my father says hey uh son you need to you need to clean up your room and you need to go vacuum as a child if my father gives me a command i look at the command and the command does not violate the law of grace so if he asks me to do something and it doesn't violate i need to submit to my and i need to go and i need to go vacuum and i need to go clean and go put up my clothes uh uh my my father gives me another command he says son i need you to go outside and i need you to go cut the grass i may not like it i don't feel like doing it but because he is of authority and what my father is asking me to do does not violate the law of god i go cut the grass fourth my father says hey son what i want you to do is i want you uh i want you to lie for me and i want you to i want you to tell them i want you i want you to tell them that daddy's not here daddy i love you uh but i'm not lying for you boy do what i tell you to do and go tell them that i'm not here i understand that but the scripture tells me children obey your parents in the lord so now i'm struggling because i have my father i have my earthly father here and i have jesus christ here i have my earthly father here and i have jesus christ here and jesus is on the right and my father is here the problem is my father is asking me to do something that violates jesus christ i'm gonna have to defy you father i'm gonna i'm gonna have to reject you and i have to take whatever punishment or we're gonna have to deal with it we're gonna have to do whatever we need to do but but you're making me choose in this relationship that i have with you you're making me choose should i obey you or should i obey jesus christ and i'll never i'll never choose you over jesus christ and i'ma disobey disobeying your parents so that you can obey god is okay it's biblical i'm gonna give you another example i'll give you another example uh she says i'm married i'm married and my husband is my head my husband is my head and i'm married and so uh my husband comes and says baby we need to sell the house uh we need to sell the car and and i want to get into the business of of pickles and i want to sell pickles so i'm gonna sell a house i'm gonna sell a car and we're gonna invest in pickles okay okay okay uh the bible doesn't tell you to be naive or anything like that but this is just an example so don't shut me off uh before i finish uh what he's asking his wife to do does not violate the law of god should they sit down and talk about it yeah should they pray about it yeah can she give her opinion of course does she have a say-so in the marriage yes she's a part of the marriage she's not a child this is a different example she's not a child but but the husband is the head and so she says my husband wants to do something he really is trying to lead our family that way and and i don't want to do it you may not want to do it because it may be a stupid idea but it's not sinful so if you're going to support his dreams and you're going to support what he's trying to do you're not sinning by doing it because what he's asking you to do is not biblically wrong you don't need to repent he says uh he's he says he says baby uh uh he he tells his wife he says donald uh what i want to do is i i want to move up north because i want to i got this new shoveling snow job i want to shovel snow for a living and the only way we do that we move up north so we want i want to move you may not want to move you may not want to move and you do you have to say so yes uh and should y'all pray about it you don't talk about it yes no but if you did it you don't have to you don't have to repent because what your husband is asking you to do is not sinful it's not wrong so the bible says for the wife to submit in the lord submit don't miss his part submit in the lord so if he's asking for you to do something and he comes up with ideas oh that's a stupid but if it's not sinful why fight why why why uh uh why break up the relationship if it's not sinful it's not sinful you may need some wisdom you need to you know maybe take some business classes or whatever the case may be help to support it but it's not wrong if your husband comes to you and says baby i want to i want to add another woman into the relationship i want to add another woman into the relationship um for some sister this is not hard but for some who have contemplated it or whatever the case may be uh you're looking and you're saying okay i got jesus on this hand uh and then i have my husband on his hand and he's telling me his fantasy and he tells me that this is what he wants and i want to please my husband and the bible tells me that my body belongs to him and i want to please my husband but my body belongs to him in the lord my body belongs to him in the lord in in the in the lord my body belongs to him uh not outside of the lord but but in the lord and so and then but also um my life belongs to christ so um i can give myself to you and it's okay in our marriage because in the law of grace christ allows me to give myself to you in the lord but what you're asking me to do violates christ and so now you have me choosing do i please you and disobey christ and so the answer to that question is i will never ever choose anybody over christ i'm gonna have to disobey you but you're supposed to be my wife yes in the lord in the lord i'm your i'm your wife in the lord so as long as what you the the bible talks about those where your spouse is an unbeliever and as long as they're willing first corinthians chapter seven as long as your spouse is willing to dwell with you uh then stay married then stay married with us what the bible is saying there is if if he's okay or if your if your wife is okay if your husband is okay with you living under the law of grace and living by the law of god and he's okay with that and is willing to live that lifestyle with you even though he or she is not a christian didn't dwell uh duh some people said no i can't live this lifestyle i'm not trying to do all that you you go to worship too much you pray until i i don't like that i'm sorry you don't like it but i'm going to worship if you are a wife you don't ever skip worship service because your husband doesn't want you to go because you have chosen man over god it is sinful to choose man over god my husband don't like me going because he said i'm going to listen i am required to worship now i'm not saying you probably at the church house uh you know all day long and forever in life and whatever case may be but worship is never an option so you you might not like someone i have to serve i don't want you getting in no ministry i'm sorry i serve god over man i'm sorry i serve i serve christ over man i i should never choose man over christ in the lord it's it's it's in the lord can i give you another example give you another example uh the united states uh supreme court ruled that homosexuality uh is okay okay and they said that uh that you're supposed to uh welcome that and you need to be okay with that and that they say that it's natural if you're a christian it's you're a christian you cannot accept homosexuality which is man and still be okay with christ they don't go together whether uh lesbianism homosexuality all other forms of is a violation of jesus christ so as much as i love you i love christ more and i have to reject your behavior i'll love the person and reject your behavior because to accept your behavior i'm violating christ uh can i say this real quick every church that closes their eyes to homosexuality and and that behavior is a violation against christ right is right and wrong is wrong if the united states says listen everybody has to pay taxes that's not a violation of the law of grace so as a christian you should pay taxes you should pay taxes jesus said it like this give to caesar what it seizes and give to god what is god jesus paid taxes uh they questioned jesus they came to jesus and questioned jesus said no no get it out the fish mouth but but give to caesar whatever sees us and then we'll give to god whatever god so under in christianity one of the things we realize is the constitution as long as it aligns with the law of grace i obey very quickly i want you to turn i want to make this point this will be your last scripture we go to uh turn to acts chapter five in acts chapter five and verse 29 in acts chapter nine uh acts chapter five and verse 29 the bible says this then peter if you have the opportunity to read the whole text um peter and uh and the other apostles uh were questioned and they were told uh not to teach christ they were told not to teach christ the government the city officials the government told the apostles i need you to change your sermons and change your speech so what you have in acts chapter 5 is you have you have the man of god who is trying to do what christ has tell him to told him to do and then you have the government the country that they're living in telling them you need to stop doing something so now you have this christian who is trying to obey god but at the same time the law in the country that they live in are now uh butting heads so somebody says brother williams what do you do when where you live whether it be your relationship your spouse whether it be with your children whether it be at your job sometimes your job will ask you to do things that violate your religion that violate your your relationship with jesus christ notice what he says in verse 29. then peter and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey god rather than man we are that's the answer whenever somebody says well what do we do whenever you're in a situation and and you're in the middle of two laws you always choose god the the time that it is okay to be disobedient and to resist is when a law goes against the law of grace i want to talk about george floyd for just a moment the reason why we we're trying to get everybody to be in christ and be a part of the kingdom of god is because if the police officer had the spirit of christ in him he would have lifted up his knee because i cannot do this to a fellow citizen i i even though i'm going to exercise authority and protect the community but i don't do unnecessarily unnecessary harm to anybody because the spirit of christ is in me and if you're my brother and i'm your brother i can still adhere to the law without violating you or hurting you are killing you matter of fact for for those who claimed christianity you you cannot be a christian and sleep with your slaves and sell them as if they're cattle somebody says you understand the world at that time it was okay to have slaves i understand the country that you were living in it was okay to go down to the corner and go by uh two two black men and a little girl it was okay to shove off some money and put them on chains and put them on back of the wagon and it was okay to do that in the world you were there but if you're a christian if you're a christian that's a conflict because how i treat you raping is a sin raping is a sin so even if the country you're living in is okay with that as a christian you say we can't live like that because it violates the law of god the world that you're living in could say hey listen go get high go get high and go live it up and go you know what go be free go get drunk do you know it is not against the law in america to get drunk do you know that that's why you have a bar matter of fact why in a pandemic would you open up bars why was that important but in the world that we live in hey getting drunk is not against the law as a christian it is it's sinful you have to matter of fact somebody says i just drink when i'm in my house i don't bother nobody and i just kind of turn it up but if you get tipsy in your house and you get a little drunk a lot of drunk midway drunk whatever it is you have to repent for that and if you don't repent for that that sin is not removed you gotta repent for drinking and getting drunk but as an american citizen you unless you're driving you can get drunk in your house and that's not against the law but if you're a christian and do the same thing you have to repent if you're a democrat or you're a republican there are certain democrats that believe that certain things are okay if you're you can be a christian and you can be a democrat but if you're a christian and you're a democrat you can't agree with everything they teach it's it's possible to be a christian and a republican it's possible now i want to make this very clear the democratic party and the republican party in america the democratic party and the republican party are not christian i want to make that very clear when we need to stop acting in the church we need to stop acting like one other is christian they're not christian our loyalty i know sometimes we say i pledge allegiance to the flag as a christian my allegiance is only to jesus christ and as long as i'm in whatever country that i'm in i will obey and adhere to the laws in the lord but my allegiance is not to the country that i'm living in as a christian my allegiance because i'm a citizen of heaven i'm not a citizen of the world but as i'm in the world i will abide and i will obey and i will do what is right but if there is anything in my country that violates the law of grace i stand up against it and i rebuke it i cannot follow it somebody says you're breaking the law i rather obey god than man when you know that something is right you stand up and you don't just submit because you can end up having peace on earth and end up having war in heaven and then you won't understand why god is not blessing you because you're saying well god i obey my husband because he told me this is what he wanted me to do and i'm trying to be a good wife you you should never be a great wife and a disobedient christian because if you are a great wife or a great husband my wife want me to do it so you know i'm gonna do i'm that's what this is what she wanted me to do so you know she said she don't she said she don't really like church no more so we just stopped going because that's what she wanted to do man you are in danger you are in danger it is biblically okay to disobey your parents and biblically okay to disobey your husband or your wife if what they're asking you to do violates christ now here's the thing not because you don't like it so you better make sure you study your bible and make sure that what they're asking actually violates the word of god so you don't have to be a student of the word of god to even know what god says versus what they're asking you to do because sometimes what they're asking you to do is not wrong that if they're asking you to come home early they don't violate the law of grace and there's no scripture that says that you have to be at worship for 15 hours on sunday you out all day because you don't want to go home no if you said hey after serving i want you to come home go home as long as it doesn't violate the law the law of grace the political culture that's going on right now in america is condemning some of our saints some of you are treating the republican party like they're christian some of you are treating the democratic party as if jesus started it these are all powers that be that man have created and came up with names and made people choose but if you're a christian our loyalty our devotion and our commitment is to the law of god to the law of jesus christ not to the constitution of the united states don't fall in love with the constitution of the united states and then claim to light you you treat the you treat the bible as if it's a self-help book but you you want to live and die off the constitution somebody said i'll die for this country not the country die and be born again for jesus christ not the country you live in if my country asks me to serve then i'm gonna go serve but my my heart my heart my loyalty my passion is in christ not for a flag there's some people say hey listen uh you know we we i work for the government that's some people say you know i work for the police department somebody says i'm a firefighter and somebody says i'm a lawyer somebody says you know i'm a judge and we do some people say hey i'm a community worker i don't care what your profession is your loyalty your allegiance is to christianity and the law of christ not the job the country the community or the city you live in even in america sometimes you say hey i'm from arkansas somebody saw i'm i'm from l.a i'm from cali i'm from new york hey listen all that's cool you know you can have pride from wherever you live in but i'm i'm a citizen of heaven and my loyalty is in heaven you can't be a christian and be racist it goes against the law of christ you you can't be a christian and and you don't want hispanics or blacks in your churches you can't be a christian i want to hear you can't be a christian and you don't want a lot of you don't want to be around another nationality you can't be a christian and hate whites that's everywhere i love jesus christ i can't stand white people you're wrong because you were supposed to die and be born again it doesn't matter what color you are because if you're in christ you're my brother and sister in christ so i cannot honor my king and hate my brother oh y'all we're gonna get to heaven but i don't want you worshiping here something's wrong something's wrong so here's what i understand and and i'll close christians we live in a monarchy christians live in a monarchy let me explain a monarchy as a christian i serve a king yeah i serve a king i serve a king my loyalty is to the king to the king uh everything that i see belongs to the king i belong to the king uh christians do not believe in voting in the kingdom so when it comes to the church and christianity we don't vote on whether or not what laws we're going to obey when it comes to the word of god the king has the final say in his full authority so your vote does not matter in christianity sometimes we bring a democratic mentality into a church setting and it doesn't fit we live in a monarchy we do not live christianity is not a democratic community it is a it is a monarchy there is an absolute authority and it is none of us it is only jesus christ that is the absolute authority so if jesus says it then there is no voting on it we do not go back and forth we do not come back and visit it to see if whether or not we will do it if jesus said it that is it either you're in the kingdom of christ or you're not but he has the absolute authority and anybody that does not follow that law has to answer and respond to jesus christ now in america in america where i live we believe that uh this is a democratic community and so we believe that your voice counts we believe that if you don't like a law you can you we can vote and amend certain laws we can change certain laws uh we can remove certain laws as a people and so in a democratic if we get enough people to agree and we we do a big enough movement we can literally change the laws of the land we change the laws of the land and that's okay because that's that's the country that i live in and and that's nice that's wonderful that we're able to do that there's some other countries that don't have that system but america we have this system and i'm not saying there's anything evil about a democratic system i just know my loyalty is not to the democratic but the monarchy so i can only obey this democratic community if my if my king says it's okay if the democratic community says in unison we want to go this way and that way violates the king that's when i reject from the community some of you need to remove yourselves from certain groups and certain cliques and certain individuals because they're making you choose your friendship is making you choose between you and jesus christ too much too many too many times you have chosen your spouse over jesus christ too many times you chose to tend to your children over jesus christ who means too many times your job had more power and authority than jesus christ in your life is it any question that jesus shut the whole world down right now and people who would normally be going to work are now having to stay at home all of a sudden you could not find any time to go to worship but now jesus has shut everything down where you're not even allowed to leave the house isn't it funny is it isn't it extremely funny i serve a king and i live in a country my citizenship is in heaven and i honor the country that i live in in the lord you never you never choose people over christ never be afraid to end any relationship where somebody is trying to make you choose them over your king we live in the kingdom of god and you need to be proud about it because there are benefits in living in the kingdom there is a crown of glory that's waiting for you if you can learn to be honorable in the kingdom of god be blessed we thank you so much for tuning in and we pray that this message has truly been a blessing to you and to your family it is individuals and families like you that allow us to spread the gospel all over the world we are so thankful for our online community we want you to like we want you to share and we want you to subscribe get this message out to your family and friends even your enemies if you would like to partner with us because it's partners that allow us to be able to do even more in the kingdom of god if you would like to partner and sow a seed into this ministry there are several platforms in which you will be able to sow that uh that seed if this message in this ministry has been a blessing to you and to your family continue to support us there are many of you that uh sow a seed many of you that have already partnered with us and we just thank you so much uh for your giving we want to thank you so much for believing in what we're trying to do north carolina church of christ we are here to heal health and restore we look forward

Channel: North Colony Church of Christ

Views: 1,403

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Church of Christ, Gospel, Acapella, North Colony Church of Christ, Willie Williams, Preaching

Id: HaKZ5Fg5UzA

Length: 58min 53sec (3533 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 15 2020