Rendering to Caesar His Just Due | Pastor Stephen Bohr

[Music] hello everyone happy sabbath it's so nice to see you here today we're going to start off the service by song service and the first song is 462 blessed assurance jesus is mine number 462 [Music] blessed assurance jesus is mine oh what a poor taste of glory divine air of salvation purchase of god lord of his spirit washed in his blood this is my story this is my song praising my savior this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long perfect submission perfect delight visions of rapture now burst on my side angels descending [Music] whispers of love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long perfect submission all is at rest i am my savior [Music] lost in his love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day lord this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day love [Music] the next song is 248 oh how i love jesus number 248. [Music] it is like music in my ear the sweetest name on [Music] earth i love jesus how i love jesus because he force loved me it tells me of a savior's love who died to set me free it tells me of his precious blood the sinner's perfectly oh i love jesus [Music] because he first loved me it tells the one whose loving heart can feel my deepest woe [Music] oh how i love jesus how i love jesus because he first loved me [Music] our next song is 156 o sacred head now wounded number 156 [Music] oh sacred [Music] is [Music] is [Music] was all for skin mine mine was the transgression not the deadly pain [Music] thy place [Music] what language [Music] for this [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] our next song is 608 faith is the victory 608. [Music] encounter along the hills of light he christian shoulders rise and press the bottle there the night shall the glowing skies against the fallen vows below let all our strength be hard faith is the victory we know that overcomes the world faith is the victory faith victory all glorious victory that overcomes the world on every hand of all we find [Music] salvation tell me [Music] [Music] our shout out faith is the victory faith is the victory oh glorious the world to him that overcomes the flow white raiment shall begin before the angels he shall know his name confessed in heaven then onward from the hills of light our hearts with love will [Music] faith is the victory faith is the victory oh glorious victory that overcomes the word now it's our time for our opening song let's stand up as we sing 6 47 mind eyes have seen the glory number 647 let's all stand up my nights have seen the glory of the coming of the lord he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored he has loosed the faithful lightning of his terrible swiss sword his truth is marching on [Music] glory glory hallelujah [Music] hallelujah glory glory hallelujah his truth is marching on he has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat he is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat oh be swift my soul to answer him did you balance my feet our god is marching on glory glory halloween glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah his truth is marching on in the beauty of the lilies christ was born across the sea with the glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me as he died to make that holy little slip to make me [Music] glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah [Music] thank you you may be seated and happy sabbath good morning and happy sabbath you know that's pretty good but it's a bit anemic so let's try it again good morning and happy sabbath oh now that there's life in the hills we we love that um i learned in junior high school a statement to air is human to forgive is divine i got a call from pastor gover this morning about 6 30 and he asked me to forgive him for calling me so early and i said no i'm awake i'm steady it's good and then he gave me a host of responsibilities for this morning that he would normally do but is unable to and we'll talk about that and so i'm standing in for him no doubt i will make some errors and so i'm going to be human this morning but i am going to call out the higher angels in the congregation to be divine and forgive are we all right all right very good okay so um first of all i want to let you know that pastor gover is at the hospital with his wife julianne and i can't tell exactly what time it is 10 to 11. okay so she should be out of surgery by now she's having surgery this morning he said i could let you know that she's having her gallbladder removed as you know she's been in severe pain for quite a while and so we're hoping that that will remedy the situation i recall in nursing school one of the hallmarks of cholecystitis or gallbladder disease was that you feel like you're dying but you're not and so she's had some pretty rough weeks and we're just praying that the lord will help ameliorate some of the pain and suffering she has and that she'll heal up and be back with us soon let's pray for that pastor would like to thank you for your prayers and for your support and well wishes and he said and please tell the ladies that he thanks him for all the food that they've been bringing to the house he's been enjoying it he and lucas all right now um let's see we have an introduction to make this morning i would like to introduce to you david and sophia farr who are going to be baptized this morning and so um i'd like for them to stand all right and then um i can bring them up to the front of the church here and we're we've gone through if you'll come up and just come by me here uh we've gone through uh the official examination and i already have that i have that already yeah just right here and face the congregation it's fine yeah right there that's good uh we've gone through the official examination and so there is there's a shorter one we're going to do this morning because we've gone through the longer one already and so if you'll just bear with me i'll get my information out here we'll go through it and uh and we can pending baptism we can vote them in as members are you okay with that very good okay so here we go you're ready okay do you accept jesus christ as your personal savior and lord and do you desire to live your life in a saving relationship with him yes do you accept the teachings of the bible as expressed in the statement of fundamental beliefs of the seventh-day adventist church and do you pledge by god's grace to live your life in harmony with these teachings yes do you desire to be baptized as a public expression of your belief in jesus christ to be accepted into the fellowship of the seventh-day adventist church and to support the church and its mission as a faithful steward by your personal influence tithes and offerings and life of service yes yes all right very good then we'll oh well pending their baptism is there a motion that this young folk be accepted into our church okay it's been moved is there a second second all in favor raise your right hand all right all opposed same sign there are none opposing it's carried god bless you thank you welcome thank you welcome all right all right all right so i think we got through that successfully let's go on with the with the next i have announcements i think that comes next yes oh before i do announcements gil and nubia oliveira are they here okay let's stand now for the church to know last week we had a second reading and we voted them in as members but they weren't here and so you didn't get to see their faces so if you look over here on the oregon side about halfway back you'll see gill and nubia and we want to welcome you to the fellowship here at fresno central god bless you as you seek to serve him amen all right now we'll get to the announcements and they're they're like two pages of them but i it's because i i'm getting old and i put them in big print so i could see them all right so have no fear we'll get through them quickly okay so i told you about suleian she's at the hospital and and we want to remember in prayer pastor and lucas cosman remains in the hospital and is healing he is up and walking around and i just got a text from him just a moment ago uh thank you melvin uh a friend of mine dr louis jackson was just in my room to tell me that i'm being discharged to home today amen all right so we can praise the lord that once again our prayers have been answered pastor poineru and elena continue healing from the covet infection sarkis kenoblien is in the hospital with pneumonia nathan and gareth are ill with coven 19 but their fevers have abated and so we can be thankful for that ginny who is nathan's fiancee was in a car accident she's banged and bruised up a bit but she's okay and so we can thank the lord that he has spared her and of course queenie is home from armenia and uh we can be thankful that the lord has heard our prayers on her safe journey pastor melnachuk and nellie his wife both have coveted 19. he was released from the hospital it says last night so i'm assuming that was last night anyway he was released from the hospital we can be thankful for that we want to remember in prayer uh the miriam the mother of mariam you know i've gone blank here but you know marion's mom you know her okay uh she continues to need prayer she heals from her stroke um gill a friend of the concepcion family is in the hospital and very ill with a covid infection charlotte carla and chris jones granddaughter is very ill we want to remember her the baby in prayer pete nicholas is having severe hip pain and we want to remember him in prayer and then we want to remember those who are affected or potentially affected by the fires that are raging here in the west and for those in the south and on the east coast who have been affected by the disasters and upheaval there then we want to remember these families the cervantes the critzers the issa's the griers the goveas the inahosas the jones the kenobians the lewis the montez family and the poineros they're each having their challenges as we've gone through some of them and the following persons scott bear mary de leon helen excel deborah holland jeanette and brian lewis earl myers we want to pray for dan cerns who's our new conference president here in central california conference we want to keep him in prayer for our children and our families for our young folks who have started school on this new term we want to remember our pathfinder club and we want to also by way of announcement state that the men's ministry is beginning again uh the first sunday of every month the next one will be september 12th at 9 00 am is that correct pastor okay all men are invited normally it will be the first sunday of each month uh pastor you can contact pastor gary jensen for more details all right now the servant of the lord says when every other voice is hushed and in quietness we wait before him the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of god let's kneel as we pray there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain our father and our god we come this morning thankful for the opportunity to come into your house of worship for all people on this your holy sabbath day we're thankful for life and for health and for sound mind where we can leave our business from the past week and come and rest in the assurance knowing that you love us and that you have a future for us that you will watch over us and take care of us that you know our hearts desires even before we ask that you will take our prayers and the holy spirit through moanings and groanings will present them before the throne of grace as we come and ask your favor we asked first father that you would forgive us for anything said or done or thought that would be in rebellion against you for anything that is not in alignment or for anything that is contrary to the principles of your kingdom both things that we may have done or things that we fail to do we ask forgiveness for them we ask for cleansing as well and we ask that you would give us a heart of flesh taking out the stony heart so that your law can be impressed upon our hearts and then our behaviors will flow out of a heart of love we come father and we bow before you asking you to be merciful to those who have special needs we have taken time this morning to list out the persons and the families and some of the situations not to inform you but father to inform each other so that we understand the urgency of the times in which we live because we know you know all things and through you all things are possible and so we present these cases to you whether physical or emotional or financial or familial whatever the situation is we bring it and we leave it in front of your throne because we know there is help and healing that comes from you father we ask that you would remember this church as it serves as a beacon light of salvation in this community empower us to reach out to others we ask that you would bless our leadership our pastor and his family we ask for a special blessing father on the leaders of this great nation as you have instituted order for our well-being help them to make correct decisions we ask father that you would send the holy spirit into this place today so that hearts and minds can be impressed so that we can become more of what you would have us to be so that our lives would reflect the image of christ to others because when he is lifted up you have told us that all are drawn to him we ask a blessing on the speaker of this hour pastor boar we ask that you would put your words in his mouth we ask father that we will leave this place changed from when we came and that it will put us one step closer to the kingdom of glory we pray plead and beg for these things in the name of jesus and the congregation said amen [Music] at this time i would like to call the deacons forward to receive our tithes and offerings let's pray father now we have come to a time in this service where we all participate and we ask a blessing on the offerings and the tithes that will be returned today we ask that you will bless those who give and those who have not to give we ask that you would take our offerings and that you would bless them and break them and multiply them so that your work on earth can be finished and we can spend time then with you we pray this in jesus name amen [Music] it appears next on my schedule here that we're going to have a baptism and eliza you're going to lead out in the song is that at the end of the song okay so we're waiting now for the baptismal candidates to appear in the pool with pastor boer and after that eliza will lead us in a chorus and then gil ruiz will give us a children's story after that so we'll call the children up after the song okay good morning church this morning is a high day we have two individuals that we're going to be baptizing into christ and as members of the seventh-day adventist church i had not met them before this morning david and sophia far have actually been watching many programs online including programs by secrets unsealed and i received an email from david stating that he and his wife wanted to be baptized and so we started an online conversation and i also spoke with david personally and [Music] we scheduled the baptism for this morning so it's a real pleasure for me to be able to baptize these dear souls into christ and into the seventh-day adventist church and so at this time i want to invite david and sophia to come into the baptistery so these are david and sophia i know that they were already welcome into the fellowship of the seventh-day adventist church but i want to ask again how many of you joyfully will say welcome as members of fresno central church praise the lord everybody's happy today praise god so first of all i'm going to baptize david and then i'm going to baptize sophia and i just want to mention that david's parents are here would you please stand david's parents so pleased to have you with us and um is there anyone else here that knows you or just basically your parents i will um mel melvin and i got to know each other melvin melvin got acquainted with them this morning so we're going to ask melvin to stand in support all right so we'll be baptizing david first not yet david it's a real pleasure i was about to say sorry it's my first time that's what you call being anxious david i have no doubts as i've corresponded with you and spoken with you personally that you love jesus christ amen with all your heart and you want to obey his word and you want to be a witness for him absolutely and because i know that that is the conviction of your heart and because as a minister of the gospel jesus has commanded us to baptize those who believe in jesus i now baptize you in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit amen amen did you hear that sight will be a little easier to baptize sophia you know i had not corresponded with sophia basically everything i knew about her was secondhand from david but the report was very very good and so we're so glad that you're here as well uh to have this wonderful experience of baptism and i know that you love the lord you've spoken with melvin and melvin i knows that you are truly committed to jesus christ as your savior and your lord and your deepest desire right now is to be baptized into christ and into his church and because of this because of your profession in christ and because you want to become a member of god's remnant church for these last days i now baptize you in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit amen so he says he wants to kiss the bride perfectly allowable you know at present central church uh now and then we have baptisms they're glorious occasions i look forward to them so if there's anyone here who has not been baptized and uh is contemplating the possibility i would ask that you would talk to pastor gover or to melvin one of the elders of the church and express your desire to prepare for baptism it's a glorious experience let's have a word of prayer as we end father in heaven we thank you for these two precious souls that have joined jesus christ as savior and lord and his church in these last days i ask lord that you will keep them faithful to you bless all of those who are watching online and also all of those who are present here who have not yet been baptized i ask that your holy spirit will convict their hearts and that they will make that glorious decision thank you father for having been with us in this service and we pray this in the precious and powerful name of jesus amen so in response let's all turn to number 318 and sync together the first verse is the micron let's sing 318 the first verse wider than snow lord jesus i love to be perfectly home i want thee forever to [Music] be whiter than snow whiter than snow yes [Music] all right it's almost time for the children's story but i just want to tell the adults a little story before the children's story quickly i told you i was going to make some errors and i and i found one all right so i'm i am human i just want to tell you about um a little bit about david and sophia uh this is what david told me he had a bigger story but i had to condense it down it's it's it's a fabulous story but david grew up seventh-day adventists as a child and wandered away from the church through a process he met sophia who was she says a catholic but not practicing we understand how that works in the process he wanted to study and he began engaging himself in bible study in the process she learned about the sabbath and it was an eye-opening experience for her uh so they they watched together the days of noah and if you haven't seen that video you you you should it's it's an excellent one but by watching that four part series they were introduced to pastor boer because he presents in that series and uh so then they went on to find pastor boar on secrets unsealed and youtube and then amazing facts in three abn and other ministries uh that confirmed for them that they were on the right road and they decided they wanted to get baptized and so the rest of the story you heard from pastor boer so keep your lights shining you never know how it's going to be off and for those who have young folk in the home just because they wander a bit doesn't mean that they're outside the realm of safety the lord knows how to bring them back all right so at this time we're going to have our children's story and then music or do we want to do music first children's story first okay all right so the young folks out there if their children come and gather here at the front and uh gil has a a children's story for you so come on down [Music] to your little kids and and our children jesus uh before his ministry he uh he had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and after he was hungered and did you know that the devil went to him and and told him if you're god's son let me see you throw yourself down to these rocks he took him to this big tall building and he tempted jesus and if after jesus was hungry and he said to him if you're hungry let me see you make these rocks into bread but jesus was thinking to himself you know i am hungry i could do this and do you think that jesus could do this yeah he could and so that question's always been what are you gonna do jesus are you gonna do what the devil tells you to do or are you gonna do what god sent you to do and so that question has been asked throughout time and through the history of the bible in genesis in 32 and 30 jacob was going home after he had been gone for a long time and his brother esau had said in his heart that he was going to kill uh jacob so on his way home after so many years away jacob was very scared he was afraid and the night before he was going to go home somebody had told him that his brother was coming with 400 soldiers and so jacob was scared and he had sent his family before him and he stayed by himself by a fire and he prayed and that night an angel came to him and uh him and the angel wrestled because the angel wanted to leave in the morning but jacob didn't want him to leave why because he was so afraid and the angel told him let me go but see jacob didn't want to be alone because he had to face his brother and so in the morning the angel he touched jacob's hip and he said let me go and jacob stood up and he said can you read you can read right here read that what did he say i have seen god face to face and lived and lived genesis 23 30. he said i see god's face face to face and i live i'm sure i could see my brother now and he went to visit his brother and you know what his brother did his brother hugged them and they wept together and he said come home we missed you and so that's that question's always been in our hearts when we're decided we come to a crossroad what are you gonna do and a lot of times when satan will come and he will tempt us and he we know the right thing to do and that question has been asked throughout history when moses god asked moses he said to moses i want you to go back and tell pharaoh and talk to him and you see moses had left egypt because he was afraid and he had went away and he didn't want to go back to egypt why do you think he didn't want to go back to egypt because he was afraid and in egypt they wanted to kill moses and so he didn't want to go back and he told god i can't go back i'm afraid i'm i mean i can't even talk what do you want me to say and god told him what do you think god told moses to tell pharaoh let my people go that's for you pharaoh and i could see moses shaking in his boots let my people go and pharaoh said no but that question was asked to moses what you're going to do moses you could stay where you're at and let god send somebody else but see god was with moses again uh moses had a uh he had a man that uh worked with him his name was joshua and joshua went with moses out of egypt and he followed moses but moses didn't go into the promised land but joshua did and they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and in that wilderness a lot of people perished but joshua came into the promised land because god had promised joshua that they were going to have all this land and so when they went there all the people were thinking why did we come here and people were off and about doing all their their things and worshiping other gods so joshua said you know what i'm going to tell all of you would do what you're going to do worship god or worship other gods but he said this is what i'm going to do because that question was to joshua joshua what are you going to do everybody's doing what they want and what do you think joshua said can you read that but as for me and my house he will serve we will serve the lord joshua 24 15. that's for you and so that question has been asked over and over again a lot of times when when mom and daddy aren't around we're gonna have to decide what we're gonna do and and and we're asking ourselves that voice in our heads what are you gonna do just like that question was asked to jesus and again in the in uh in the book of daniel there was three little boys or three young men i'm not sure how old they were but they said there were three hebrew boys and uh there is a law that was passed out that said that when the music played music ding ding and uh when the music played that everybody had to bow down and worship the golden statue and if you didn't you're gonna throw be thrown into a furnace as you know when your mom turns on the oven it gets pretty hot huh in the kitchen well think of that a thousand times hotter and uh and so the hebrew boys they were afraid but they were not gonna worship that idol and so when the music played the whole world bowed down on their knees except for those boys what do you think those boys did they just stood there yes they stood up stand up stand up they stood up when everybody bow down go ahead stand up stand up and what do you think they said you want to read them o king we will not serve thy gods daniel 3 18. here you go and so that question was asked those three boys what are you gonna do and they stood up when everybody bowed down and again that question was asked to queen esther now esther was a hebrew girl and she had almost won a beauty pageant and she went to this pageant and the king picked her and the king had said in law that if if if i don't call you you cannot come to me you can only come to me if i call you and esther's uncle had told her that the king had signed a law that all the hebrews were to be killed and he had tricked her he had tricked the king to sign this law and esther's uncle told esther esther did you know that we're all going to die on this certain day even you the queen you got to go talk to your husband the king and and she said no if i go i will prob i don't know what's gonna happen to me but i'll probably get locked up in jail my sister might want one [Laughter] and so esther was so afraid and that question was asked her esther what are you gonna do if you go you could probably wind up in jail esther if you go you could probably get killed what are you gonna do esther and her uncle was telling you have to go esther this is why you're here this is why you want the beauty pageant and what did esther say she stood up and said if i perish i perish esther 4 16. that's for you and so throughout history in the bible that question has been asked over and over and over again and jesus when he was being tempted by the devil and the devil came to him again and he tempted him one more time and jesus stood up and he told the devil he said i'll let mom read this one worship the lord your god and serve him only matthew 4 verse 10. this is for you and so you never have to be afraid when god is with you and so when the devil comes and he tries to tempt you to do bad things you can stand up and do the right thing thank you [Music] take off the left [Music] [Music] yes is [Music] crown [Music] foreign me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] hmm so i'm next thank you for that beautiful special music you know the bible says that we're going to play harps in heaven but i think that maybe we might play the violin too at any rate stringed instruments so thank you for that music which prepares our soul for the study of the word what we want to do is first of all have a word of prayer then we'll get right into our study for this morning the title is rendering to caesar his just do let's pray father in heaven as we come before your throne we do so with humility realizing that our wisdom is so limited compared with your infinite wisdom and so we plead that you will be with us through the ministry of your holy spirit give us clarity of thought open hearts and help us lord not only to be exemplary citizens but also to be exemplary christians thank you for the privilege of prayer and for answering us for we ask it in the precious and most powerful name of jesus amen we are presently live living in dangerous and tumultuous times in these united states of america there is an influential group as probably many of you know that are attempting to cancel the founding principles of the united states of america statues of the founders have been torn down freedom of speech has been abridged political correctness has reached alarming levels and there are dangers to religious liberty lurking in the shadows ellen white predicted over 130 years ago that the united states congress would someday repudiate every principle of its constitution and adopt papal principles in these united states this makes it necessary for us as seventh-day adventists to review once again the two foundational principles upon which the united states of america was built those two principles are called first of all republicanism it has nothing to do with the republican party it has to do with the fact that this is a republic a representative government of the people by the people and for the people in other words civil liberty because we have representatives that are elected that do the will of the people the second principle is protestantism it's the idea that the state can only guarantee religious liberty to its citizens now in order for there to be this idea of civil and religious liberty you have to believe in the separation of church and state there can be no civil or religious liberty when church and state are joined together so basically republicanism and protestantism means if you reduce it to the lowest common denominator it means separation of church and state the civil power doing its work and the church doing its work separately from the civil power james madison who is called the founder or the father of the constitution of the united states of america 46 years after the declaration of independence 35 years after the adoption of the constitution and 31 years after the adoption of the bill of rights wrote a very interesting statement where he said that the united states was teaching the world two great truths i want to read that statement it's in a letter that he wrote to edward livingston on july 10 1822 this is what he wrote we are teaching the world the great truth that governments that's a state by the way that governments do better without kings and nobles than with them that's the first principle that is republicanism no king that mandates everything from up down but a government where the people hold their leaders accountable because they elect them so once again we are teaching the world the great truth that governments do better without kings and nobles than with them and now he's going to speak about the second principle the merit will be doubled by the fact that religion flourishes in greater purity without then with the aid of government so basically the united states was teaching the world two principles the first principle is that citizens do better without kings and nobles and the church does better without the help of the state rather than with the help of the state ellen white agreed in the book the great controversy page 441 she wrote this remarkable statement where three times in different words she emphasizes the importance of the separation of church and state the separation of the civil power from the religious power she's speaking about the exiles that fled to the united states of america she's speaking about the pilgrims and she wrote this among the christian exiles who first fled to america and sought now listen carefully why they came and sought an asylum from royal oppression was that republicanism no what was royal oppression an oppressive state right so once again among the christian exiles first fled to america and sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance that's the church so royal royal oppression had to do with a dictatorial state and priestly intolerant intolerance had to do with the dictatorial church so she continues saying among the christian exiles who first fled to america and sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance were many who determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty there you have the first time that ellen white emphasizes this point separation of church and state civil and religious liberty she continues their views found place in the declaration of independence which sets forth the great truth that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the constitution guarantees to the people the right of notice self-government that's republicanism providing that representatives elected by the popular vote shall enact and administer the laws that is republicanism once again then she speaks about the second principle freedom of religious faith was also granted every man being permitted to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience so notice first of all she says that that the pilgrims fled here to escape royal intolerance oppression and priestly intolerance then she says that the chur the country was founded on the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty then she refers to the constitution guaranteeing self-government and freedom of religious faith once again the two ideas and finally she ends by stating republicanism and protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation and now comes the key portion of the statement these principles are the secret of its power and prosperity it's not wall street it's not the riches it's not the breadth of territory it's not the military that is the secret of the power and prosperity of the united states she says these two principles which are based on the idea of separation of church and state are the secret of the power and prosperity of the united states of america now the big question is do the ideas of the founders the constitution and ellen white have a biblical foundation does the bible teach that both church and state have their reason to exist but must remain separate you know the founders said yes the constitution says yes ellen white says yes but the question is does the bible say yes go with me to matthew 22 verses 15 through 17. matthew 22 15 through 17. it says there then the pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle him in his talk in other words they wanted to put jesus between a rock and a hard place and they sent to him their disciples with the herodians saying and now they express their hypocrisy teacher we know that you are true and teach the way of god in truth nor do you care about anyone for you do not regard the person of men in other words you don't make a distinction between one person and another as far as nationality etc and then they say tell us therefore what do you think is it lawful to pay taxes to caesar or not good question now if jesus answered yes he was in trouble and he if he answered no he was in trouble too notice ellen white in signs of the times december 12 1900 wrote this the spies expected christ to answer the question by a simple yes or no if he told them it was lawful to pay tribute to caesar he would lose popular favor because the jews didn't like to pay taxes so if jesus said yes ah no this guy we don't like this guy but now what about the other side if he said that tribute was unlawful they hope to deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor in other words he said don't pay taxes he rome would have been against him if he did say and if he said do pay taxes he would have had his followers say we're not going to follow him anymore so jesus knew what they were doing and so in verse 18 21 of the same chapter matthew chapter 22 we find these words but jesus perceived the with their wickedness and said why do you test me you hypocrites show me the tax money so they brought him a denarius which was equivalent to a dollar it was the common currency of the day was actually the salary for one day's work and he said to them whose image in other words whose face and inscription whose name is this they said to him caesars and he said to them render therefore to caesar the things that are caesar's and to god the things that are god's did jesus recognize the existence of two kingdoms of course he did he recognized that caesar has a kingdom we have obligations to him and he recognized that god has a kingdom and we have obligations towards him and by the way it is an obligation because the word render here where it says render to caesar when it ceases unto god when his gods the word render is an imperative in greek those of you do you remember what an imperative is it is a command it is a mandate so jesus is saying you have to render to caesar what is his and you have to render to god what is god's so jesus recognized the existence of two kingdoms in the roman empire the secular kingdom of caesar and the religious kingdom of god now jesus confirmed this in a private interview with pilate go with me to john chapter 18 and verse 36 john 18 and verse 36 once again jesus is going to emphasize that there are two kingdoms and his kingdom is not from here the kingdom here is under the control of the individual who is elected or the individual who takes over the throne as in the case of the times of jesus so in john chapter 18 and verse 36 jesus says to pilate my kingdom is not of this world how many kingdoms did jesus recognize to my kingdom and the kingdom of the world my kingdom is not of this world he continues if my kingdom were of this world what would his servants do my servants would fight so is there a kingdom where individuals fight does jesus does jesus really preside that kingdom no my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world my servants would fight so that i should not be delivered to the jews but now my kingdom is not from here so there's a here kingdom and there's their kingdom in other words we have the state of rome and we have christ spiritual kingdom which is the church of course the crucial question is this what do we owe the kingdom of this world and what do we owe god's kingdom in the study today we're going to look at only one side of the coin in future sermons if i get invited to speak at fresno central church i know that probably i will i'm going to deal with the other side of the coin but today what we're going to talk about is what the duty of church members is to the state what we owe to the government as christians what we owe to the state in his inaugural address on january 20 1961 john f kennedy challenged the citizens of the united states with the memorable words that probably most of you have heard before and so my fellow americans ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country now we know what the country owes christians and everybody actually and that is safety and religious liberty that's what the government owes christians and non-christians you have the right to worship or not to worship according to the dictates of your conscience but what do citizens owe the state you know we know what the state owes us which is protection safety as well as full religious liberty but what do we owe the state we're going to examine in our study this morning romans chapter 13 romans chapter 13. the first thing that i want us to notice is that this chapter is addressed to the christian church at rome in other words this chapter is not directed towards secular people toward atheists towards people who don't believe in god this chapter is written specifically to the church of rome the council is primarily for christians notice romans chapter 1 verse 7 where we find this specific detail romans 1 and verse 7. the apostle paul wrote to all who are in rome beloved of god called to be saints is he writing to christians yes or no absolutely to all who are in rome beloved of god called to be saints grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord jesus christ now we're going to find that in romans 13 the emphasis falls on what christians owe the state the passage does not address what the state owes christians in the roman empire now there's a very important detail and that is that at this point the hebrew theocracy had come to an end with the stoning of stephen this is the reason why the apostle paul says that there are two kingdoms we're going to find that the apostle paul clearly says that there are two kingdoms and that christians must not only be subject to the kingdom of god they must also be subject to the civil rulers now let's read the passage first of all and after we have read the passage we're going to do a verse by verse study you say why is this important ellen white wrote the god's people at the end of time are going to be taken before rulers before courts and before kings to get reused to say you folks are violating the bible because the bible says that we're supposed to be subject to the civil authorities and you're disobeying the sunday law so we're going to have to be able to explain this passage that this passage uh does not tell us that we're supposed to obey everything that the civil power enacts now let's read beginning with verse one and try and meditate upon the words let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from god and the authorities that exist are appointed by god therefore whoever resists the authority that means the government resists the ordinance of god and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves for rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil do you want to be unafraid of the authority in other words do you want to not fear the government do what is good and you will have praise from the same for he that is the civil ruler is god's minister to you for good but if you do evil be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is god's minister an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil therefore you must be subject notice we must be subject to the civil power not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake for because of this you also pay taxes for they are god's ministers attending continually to this very thing render therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due customs to whom customs fear to whom fear honor to whom honor oh no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you should not bear false witness you shall not covet and if there is any other commandment are all summed up in this saying namely you shall love your neighbor as yourself love does no harm to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfillment of the law and do this knowing the time that now is high time to awake out of sleep for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed the night is far spent and the day is at hand therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light let us walk properly as in the day not in revelry and drunkenness not in lewdness and lust not in strife and envy but put on the lord jesus christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts so that's the passage that we're going to take a look at we're going to do it verse by verse so let's go to verse one remember we're discussing our responsibility towards the government our responsibility towards the state that's the central thought of romans chapter 13. you know later on we can deal with the issue of what the state owes to us so let's begin at verse 1. let every soul the word soul means person because you know that the person is the soul right adam became a living soul or a living person so paul is saying let every person be subject to the governing authorities now actually in greek it says to the higher authorities so you say now wait a minute is the government the higher authorities yes the government is the higher authority but it's not the highest authority we're going to find in our study because the civil power is subject to god uh it is that does not have unlimited power so let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority it's the same word authorities there is no authority except from god and the authorities that exist are appointed by god so let me ask you if god appoints the higher authorities is god above the higher authorities of course he is so so the government is the higher authorities but god is the highest authority because he's the one that places civil rulers to rule there because the authority of the civil rulers is from god and they are appointed by god and exist by the ordinance of god as we will find the civil powers are subject and accountable to god's ultimate authority this is the reason why in the book of revelation we're told that god will hold the civil powers accountable for what they did to god's people because they overstepped their bounds of authority so that shows that god ultimately is the highest authority because the bible tells us that he will punish the kings of the earth that persecuted god's people six times in this passage it's emphasized that god established the civil rulers to ruler in to rule in civil affairs for example the expression no authority except from god is used in verse 1. the expression the authorities that exist are appointed by god is also in verse 1. the expression the authorities ruled by the ordinance of god is found in verse 2. and three times in verses 4 and 6 you have the statement that the civil rulers are god's minister now don't misunderstand that's not talking about god's preacher okay the word minister it comes from the word diaconos where we get the word deacon from it should be better translated servant that's why we call them civil what we call them civil servant who do they serve well unfortunately these days mostly themselves but the ideal is that when we elect the civil servants the purpose is for them to serve the people not to serve themselves go with me for a moment stay there in romans chapter 13 and let's go to daniel chapter 2 verses 37 and 38 to see who is it that places kings to rule because romans 13 6 times says it's god who doesn't it says there's no authority except from god the authorities are appointed by god the authorities ruled by the ordinance of god and three times we're told that they are god's minister daniel chapter 2 verses 37 and 38 read as follows here daniel is speaking to nebuchadnezzar you our king are a king of kings for the god of heaven has given you a kingdom power strength and glory who gave it to nebuchadnezzar god verse 38 and wherever the children of men dwell or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all you are this head of gold so who placed nebuchadnezzar to rule daniel 2 says it was god now nebuchadnezzar was supposed to care for the physical safety of everyone but uh you know for those three religious guys he became a menace and did not protect their lives but anyway we'll get back to that a little bit later on let's go to verse 2. romans 13 and verse 2. therefore whoever who is paul writing to uh so the whoever refers to christians right primarily so whoever resists the authority now what does that mean mean resist the authority i checked in several bible versions the new international version translates he who rebels against the authority the uh the cev translate he who opposes the civil power the living bible he who refuses to obey the civil power and the new century version he who is against the government so basically it's saying to us whoever does not obey the civil power what does he really resist resists the ordinance of god so in other words they're going to have to give an account not only to the civil power but to whom but to the lord and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves so in verse 2 the apostle paul is telling us that whichever member opposes the authority or disobeys this legitimate power of the civil power is disobeying the ordinance of god and they will be bring judgment upon themselves we're going to notice that it's not judgment from god it's actually judgment from the civil power now let's go to verse 3. for rulers magistrates are a terror to good works are not a terror to good works but to what but to evil so who is the civil power against those who do good no the civil power is against those who do evil so it says for rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil in other words those who don't obey the laws of the government or the civil laws and then paul says to the romans to believers do you want to be unafraid of the authority in other words do you want to not fear the civil power how can we do that do what is good and you that is believers will have praise from the same have you ever seen the government indict someone for honoring their parents or for saving lives or for being faithful to their marriage vows no as long as you abide by the civil laws which is according to the ordinance of god you receive praise from the civil power not judgment or punishment from the civil power let's go to verse 4 for he that is the civil magistrate the civil ruler is god's minister remember the word minister is not talking about a preacher in church it's talking about a servant a civil servant it's translated servant many times in the new testament for he is god's ministers minister to you once again he's speaking to believers for good so is the civil power good according to paul is the civil power good yes the civil power is good but now notice he says to the believers but if you do evil in other words if you violate the legitimate civil laws of the state if you do evil be what be afraid for he that is the civil magistrate does not bear the sword in vain what does a civil magistrate have he has the sword what does he have the sword for he has the sword to punish those who do not obey legitimate civil laws now how does the state use the sword well it can use the sword by imposing fines yes or no of course it can use the sword by confiscating people's goods true it can use the sword by incarcerating people it can in some states it can even use the sword to execute the death penalty correct absolutely that's how the state uses the sword the state uses a sword against those who break civil laws legitimate civil laws so once again verse 4 says for he the civil magistrate is god's servant to you that is to believers for good but if you do evil be afraid for the civil power does not bear the sword in vain for he is god's minister or god's servant an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices what evil does the state pronounce wrath upon those who practice evil in society absolutely is it correct for the civil power to do that absolutely god has mandated that according to verse 4. now listen up there's going to be a transition now up to this point paul has encouraged christians to do what is good and to shun evil so that the state will not execute punishment in other words you're supposed to be a law-abiding citizen so that you don't fall under the wrath of the state but now paul is going to give christians a higher standard than the standard that exists for society in general let's go to verse 5. therefore you that is believers must be subject so it is a is it an option for us to submit to the legitimate laws of the civil power absolutely not paul says you must be subject and now he states this not only because of wrath what does he mean by not only because of wrath well you're supposed to obey the civil laws not only because if you do you're going to be externally punished by civil by civil laws but now he gives an additional reason for christians but also for what for conscience sake so the common ordinary citizen citizen in rome obeys the civil laws to not fall under the wrath of the civil power should christians also con obey the civil laws for that reason absolutely but christians have a higher reason what reason is that he says not only should must you be subject because of wrath that is because the government might punish you but also for conscious sake what did he mean by that well like secular people even atheists christians must obey legitimate civil laws however christians live by a higher standard they obey civil laws not only because of fear of punishment but because god speaks to their conscience for the christian listen carefully now for the christian civil laws are also moral laws did you get that for the christian civil laws are also what moral laws for the government's civil laws are merely civil laws the secular power can only legislate civility not morality the christian obeys the civil laws not only because of civil penalties for example christians do not kill for two reasons first of all because if a christian should disobey that law and kill someone that person would fall under the wrath of the civil power the person would be incarcerated in some states even executed so christians first of all obey the commandment you shall not kill because they don't want to fall under the wrath of the civil power however we find that christians obey the civil laws that protect other individuals because christians are supposed to love their neighbor you know it's interesting to examine that word uh that is used here conscience the exegetical dictionary of the new testament defines that word conscience as the inner authority that recognizes the necessity of obedience once again the inner authority that recognizes the necessity of obedience so basically there's an external authority that demands obedience and there's also an internal authority the external authority is the state they say you obey or else you get punished the inner authority says you obey because you love god and you love your neighbor now let me give you an example and of course this example does not take place at least as far as i know very commonly when i come to a stoplight as a christian and the stoplight is red i should what i should stop the secular citizen stops at the red light why for two reasons first it's the law and secondly if the person runs the stoplight they will get a ticket the civil power will punish them are you with me so the secular as well as the christian they say oh you know i'm i'm going to respect that stoplight first of all because it's the law and secondly because i might get a ticket but christians have a higher standard and this is where this rarely happens the christian does not stop merely because it's the law or because they don't want to get a ticket for the christian the deepest reason for stopping at the red light is that he loves his neighbor and he doesn't want him to get killed have you ever thought about a red light that way oh i better stop here i'll stop because i might get a ticket there might be a policeman some around and because besides it's a law and i'm a law-abiding citizen have you ever seen anyone that says oh i'm going to stop at this stoplight because it might kill my neighbor and that would not be a loving thing so do christians have a higher standard when it comes to obeying the civil laws of the government absolutely now let's go to verse 6. romans 13 verse 6. now the apostle paul is going to say why we should pay taxes how many of you like taxes not one hand went up except for mine you know why i like taxes because i have nice paved roads and because i have a police that is able to be called when there's troubles see we need to look at taxes as an investment not as an expense why do we return the tithe let's talk about god's kingdom just for a moment why would you return the tithes well because if i don't the lord will send me to hell no why do we return the tithe well first of all because god requires it but secondly we say the tithe is going to be used to preach the gospel and reach people for the kingdom are you with me and so christians have a higher reason and incidentally when it comes to finances what we owe caesar is taxes and what we owe god is the tithe so church and state are separate and each of them have obligations for their particular leaders so once again verse 6 says for because of this in other words because the civil power preserves the civil order you that is believers also pay taxes is this similar to what jesus said render to caesar when it's caesar's absolutely so paul confirms this this is the reason why you also pay taxes so that the civil power can preserve the civil order for they are god's ministers notice once again the word diaconos they are god's servants attending continually to this very thing which means attending to preserving the civil order of society let's go to verse 7. render have we seen that word someplace before taxes and render you know it makes me think that maybe the apostle paul here is kind of knows what jesus said before him once again the word here is an imperative it's a command render therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due by the way that means a complete tax it means no cheating in our taxes taking deductions that we don't really deserve we need to be you know we need to render to caesar what is caesar's and taxes are caesar's and so it says render therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due customs to whom customs now that's not talking about uh p customary things that people do the word customs here is the customs that are imposed on imported goods it's a commercial term in other words are we supposed to pay customs if the government requires customs for goods that we bring into the united states yes once again fear the word fear he means respect it's the greek word fobeo which is used for respect and also for being afraid but here it means fear to whom fear honor to whom honor you know the apostle peter had something very similar to say notice first peter chapter 2 verses 13 to 17. first peter chapter 2 verses 13-17 peter agreed with paul and paul agreed with jesus notice what peter had to say first peter 2 13-17 submit yourselves is this a recommendation there's not a recommendation it is an imperative submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake that's interesting so when we submit to every ordinance of man we are really doing it for who's saying for the lord because the lord placed that individual there and then he states whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of whom oh for evildoers we saw that in romans chapter 13 and for the praise of them that do well is that what paul had said also praise the government will praise you if you do good yes he continues for so is the will of god that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of god honor all men love the brotherhood fear god and what and honor the king beautiful now the apostle paul says that christians not only should obey legitimate civil laws because they're afraid of punishment or simply because it's the law but they need to do it for conscience sake in other words because they love their neighbor now paul is going to emphasize that point notice verse 8 verse the apostle paul is now going to expound upon the greater reason the reason of conscience he wrote owe no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law as noted before paul is writing to church members at rome the civil power listen carefully now the civil power does not exist to persuade citizens in general to respect other people's rights because they love them did you get that i'm going to repeat it again the civil power does not exist to persuade peop uh to persuade citizens in general to respect other people's rights out of love this is the job of the minister in the pulpit who uses the sword of the spirit to plant love in the heart in this way church members will not only obey the spirit who plants love in the heart but will also obey the legitimate civil laws of the government and then it's interesting that the apostle paul tells us in romans chapter 5 and verse 5. now hope does not disappoint because notice this the love of god has been poured out into our hearts by what by the holy spirit who was given to us let me ask you this are there many atheists who render real good obedience to civil law can an atheist have affection for his parents not kill not commit adultery not steal not bear false witness and some not even covet they live in harmony with civil law so if we only do that what more do we have than the secular person the apostle paul says that god implants love in our hearts and then we do out of love for conscience sake what the law requires not only to preserve civility but in order for society to be filled with love and then the apostle paul quotes five of the last six commandments it's interesting that paul does not quote the first four commandments have you noticed that in this passage he's talking about loving your neighbor so let me ask you this does the civil power have any right to enforce the first four commandments no it has a the right to enforce the last six for civility and christians keep the last six out of what love that has been implanted in the heart by god's spirit are you with me or not you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall love your neighbor as yourself the second table of the law is the realm of authority of the civil power because it deals with interpersonal relationships in society of course the civil power as we've seen is under the absolute authority of god and then paul in verse 10 writes love does no harm to a neighbor is it possible to obey civil law and not love your neighbor but at the same time not harming your neighbor of course you you can obey the the law you shall not kill without necessarily loving your neighbor correct so paul is saying here love does no harm to a neighbor that's a higher motivation therefore love is the fulfillment of the law and then in verses 11 to 14 the apostle paul is going to tell us why what he has expounded upon in the first 10 verses is crucially important sometimes we skip verses 11 to 14 which gives really the motivation for everything that we've studied notice verse 11 and do this do what well what he's just talked about right and do this knowing what the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now our salvation talking about to believers our salvation is nearer than when we first believed in others paul is saying we're living in the last days let's notice verse 12 the night is far spent the day is at hand therefore let us he's talking about believers cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light and then he says in verse 13 and 14 let us walk properly as in the day not in revelry and drunkenness not in lewdness and lust not in strife and envy but put on the lord jesus christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts do we have a clearer picture of what romans 13 is really saying i want to end by giving you an illustration you probably are all acquainted with the story of daniel in the lion's den i first became acquainted with that story when i was a little tiny kid i learned it on my mother's knee and then of course it was it was re-emphasized in sabbath school now the story appears to contradict everything that paul says in the passage that we've just studied you know the story god placed darius as king of the kingdom of middle persia we've noticed that god places kings and god removes kings and so now the king by the influence of his counselors wrote a law that was to be strictly enforced and that is that anyone who made a petition of a god or man for a period of 30 days would be thrown into a den of lions and king darius said well you know i'm the civil ruler and these guys appear to love me a lot because they want me to make this law that people can only appeal to me how nice they are and so he writes this law it's a law that could not be changed because the law of medes and persians could not be changed after it was written everybody obeyed the law except one daniel daniel practiced civil disobedience why did daniel disobey what the apostle paul said paul said be subject to the laws of the civil power but daniel says i'm not going to obey that civil law how come because darius was overstepping the realm of his authority he was enforcing a religious restriction of daniel's right to pray correct and so daniel went to his room opened the windows and totally contradicted the law of the kingdom he prayed to god toward jerusalem of course his enemies were paying close attention so they said to the king daniel has disobeyed your civil law and so you have to enforce the penalty would it be right for the for the king to enforce the penalty was it right for him to do that well yes and no from the perspective of god no from the perspective of him and his kingdom yes and so the king loved daniel he didn't want to throw daniel in but he couldn't deliver him because the key the the law was irrevocable it could not be changed so the king had no way of saving daniel so he says to daniel i can't save you may the god whom you serve continually deliver you because i can't and so the king throws daniel into the lion's den for violating a civil law but not violating god's law who is the highest authority over the higher authority see this is an illustration of romans chapter 13. and so daniel's thrown into the lion's den the king couldn't sleep that night no musicians no banquet he had insomnia the next morning real early i'm sure probably be at sunrise or slightly before sunrise he comes running to the lion's den says daniel has the god whom you continually serve been able to deliver you from the dead of the lions there was perhaps a pause and then he hears the voice the god whom i serve has delivered me from the mouths of the lions and he was taken out of the lion's den and somebody might say but the lions were not hungry they weren't hungry the bible tells us that the 120 princes were thrown into the den and before they hit the bottom of the den the lions were having the banquet of their lives why did god deliver daniel when daniel disobeyed god's order to obey the civil authority because the civil authority overstepped its realm of authority and it's interesting that after this episode if you go to daniel 6 and verse 22 daniel 6 and verse 22 you're going to find that daniel is going to say i did not disobey god and he says to the king i did no harm to you either by disobeying the civil law notice daniel 6 22 then daniel said to the king o king live forever my god sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths so that they have not hurt me and now notice because i was found innocent before him that is before whom before god and i have done no wrong before you so is it true that in the end time when the national sunday law is proclaimed which i believe is is going to be soon is god going to protect his people god is going to protect his people will we have to practice civil disobedience yes because the civil power has overstepped its authority now you remember the story in daniel chapter 3 and this will be my my final illustration in daniel chapter 3 did the king establish a religious observance yes he raised an image and he said everybody has to worship this image he's establishing religion right did the three young men practice civil disobedience yes they did because they didn't bow so they should have been punished by god because they disobeyed civil law and god says you're supposed to obey civil law no we must obey god rather than what when men when our conscience is involved and so the bible tells us that he practiced civil disobedience and the king says you guys think that the god is god that you serve is going to be able to deliver you you see that furnace over there heated seven times worse than ever before that's where you're going to end up and what god will deliver you from my hands and they serenely answer they say we have no need to answer your king about this the god that we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace and from your hand he will deliver us but if not we still serve the true god and the deliverance was spectacular because the bible tells us that jesus himself the son of god came into this furnace and delivered his three young men and so we need to make it clear not only within the church we need to make it clear to those outside the church the dangers of using the state to enforce religion or to forbid the free exercise of religion and you know something interesting these two stories in daniel the story of the fiery furnace and and the lions then illustrate the first two clauses of the first amendment to the constitution of the united states the first amendment says congress shall make no law i'm paraphrasing that establishes religion that's what nebuchadnezzar did he established religion the second clause says or prohibiting the free exercise thereof darius forbade the free exercise of daniel to pray so the idea of the first two clauses of the first amendment of the constitution are found in these two stories in daniel the civil power cannot establish religion and the civil power cannot curtail the free exercise of religion we need to make this clear in a world where christians are wanting to take control of the government and influence the government for the government to benefit christianity the church needs to function as church and the state needs to function as state how many of you understood what we studied today it was more of a class than a sermon but we need to understand these things because soon i believe we're going to have to face situations similar to this let us pray father in heaven we thank you for having been with us and now before we sing our clothes in him and have the benediction we ask that you will take what we've studied and write it in our minds and hearts that in the times of crisis ahead when it's necessary we will be able to explain these things and many who here will come across and become your children thank you father for hearing our prayer we ask it in jesus name amen before we have our closing hymn i just have a last few announcements to make so that you won't wonder what happened to our newly baptized friends we haven't seen them for weeks i need to let you know that dave and sophia are actually from orange county california and they will will be returning home to orange county and their membership will be transferred to a church of their choice in orange county so we want to wish them well but in the meantime since you are members of the fresno central church if david and sophia if you'll come up we would like to give you your certificates of baptism and somebody dad and mom would probably like to take a picture yeah yeah we'll wait for you all right so david your certificate and sophia your certificate all right and uh we'd like to just say uh may god bless you uh this is the beginning of your journey not the end and so you'll be growing and learning and we just are thankful we're a part of that process god bless you both amen amen amen all right now i can't believe this is true but it is i have it on good authority that there are people who have come to fresno central church who want to transfer their membership here and uh they haven't been able to affect that change because they don't know who the church clerk is now i can't imagine that people don't know pam adala but there are people in the world who don't know her and so pam if you'll stand up this is pam mcdonald our church clerk and anyone who has been looking forward and i see faces that are not members here and i'm just assuming that you're part of the group that want to transfer here and if that's true okay if that's true pam will be here on the piano side of the church after if you just wait for her she'll show up there and she'll make sure your request is processed and so i would like to say the lord bless you and keep you and may the rest of your sabbath be a wonderful experience let's all stand let's all stand and sing our closing hymn 214 we have this hope 214. [Music] um is [Music] [Applause] [Music] you may be seated happy sabbath [Music] you

Channel: Fresno Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 128min 14sec (7694 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021