Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.
To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,
connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.
If you call Riverbend home, you know that we are kind of on the
tail end of a season called 21 Days of Prayer and fasting.
Officially that gets over. That ends tomorrow night,
Saturday at at 6:00. And I've already been asked.
The question is for those that are meeting on Friday night,
does that mean that the 21 days of prayer fast ends tonight?
Here's how I prayed about it. I prayed about it and here's the
answer That's between you and Jesus.
All right, So if you feel guilty for eating ice cream tonight
before tomorrow at 6:00, that's between you and Jesus Sunday
morning. If you're tuning in with us, I
know that you have, I know that you have faithfully kind of
navigated that 21 days of prayer and fasting.
And, and if you're new to riverbed, you may, you may be
asking what in the world is, is the 21 days of prayer and
fasting all about? It's really where we take a
segment of time. We really start off the year.
We want to start off 2026 fully devoted to our relationship with
God. And, and what that means is, is
we not only want to spend a lot of intentional time praying to
God and talking with God, but we also want to remove things that
numb us, dumb us and distract us from our relationship with God.
So for for for some in our church, you have fasted from
food completely for a set amount of of time.
For others, you, you fasted from a meal and instead of if it was
lunch, instead of eating lunch, you spend your lunch break kind
of diving into the word of God, reading scripture and and
praying. For others, it may be a social
media fast where you recognize that there are certain times you
almost have this kind of like daily rhythm to where there's
certain times that you find yourself just scrolling on
social media. So over these 21 days, you've
chosen to set social media to the side and keep that time
earmarked in your day to instead of scrolling, you spend time
talking with God in prayer and journaling and and diving into
his word. For others, it's a it's a set
food or food group. I know that I announced last
week that I have been fasting from kale.
I will continue that fast. I just want to go on record.
I'm going to continue that fast on throughout 2026 and a really
good chance on into 2027 as well.
But we have seen God do some awesome things, haven't we?
You know, it is not an accident and it's certainly not a
coincidence that here celebration Sunday or
celebration Friday night, we're able to celebrate the new life
and the Holy Spirit movement in the life of of Amanda and, and
Mike. And one of the things that we
always know is when the Holy Spirit moves in a life, it's
never contained just to that life right there.
There's, there's a, there's a radiating effect, there's a
ripple effect. There's, there's, there's a
domino effect to where when the Holy Spirit moves in a life,
then he begins to move in the lives of those that are close to
those lives. So we're not only proud of, but
we're excited for just this movement of the Holy Spirit and
Amanda and Mike and, and many, many others.
And if you've been with us over the last several weeks, we've
been able to share some stories through video of, of how God has
answered prayers through previous 21 days of prayer and
fasting seasons. And I can't wait to hear some of
the stories that you have to share about how he, he's
answering those prayers. Or maybe for you, it's you
haven't necessarily see God answer a prayer over these 21
days. Maybe for you it's just been
more of a, a time of planting seeds, planting spiritual seeds.
And here's what I would tell you is if you haven't seen God
answer a specific prayer that you have been praying over these
21 days, don't get discouraged. Don't get discouraged at all
because we're not working on our timeline.
We're working on God's timeline. He's working on his timeline and
this time of planting spiritual seeds through prayer and getting
to know Him and experiencing more in his Word is absolutely
invaluable. So can't wait to see everything
that God is going to be doing out of this past season.
If you're new to Riverbend, we haven't had the chance to meet
yet. My name is Ben.
Get to serve as the lead pastor here.
We're so glad that you chose to be with us and you have come.
We're in week five of a series called Live Well, Live Well.
Let me kind of, if you're new to Riverbend, new to the series,
let me kind of give you the overall main truth or what we
call the big idea of this series.
And this will kind of get you in the right framework, put you on
the right tracks to be able to travel with us and journey with
us as we go through this. Passage tonight and our time.
Together, here it is. If you're taking notes with this
is the big idea to live well is to live God's way, firm in
faith, steady in trials, and anchored in hope.
To live well is to live God's way and how God defines it is
we're going to be firm in our faith, steady in trials and and
anchored in hope. And I think here's the thing
about like a new year, whenever that calendar flips from 2025 to
2026, you know, if we call them intentions or we call them new
habits or resolutions, typically all of those can be encompassed
with the phrase of hey, I just want to experience, I want to
live well. I think every single one of us
in the room or online, every single one of us, we want to
live well. Here's the problem with that is
life. Life with its complications and
its complexities, with its with its heart breaks, with its
hardships, with its ups and it's downs.
Life doesn't always make it that easy, right?
Life doesn't always make it easy for us to to live well.
That's why you and I, we have to have God's definition.
Because here's where I will tell you, just because you have or
may be facing hardships, just because you have or may be
facing heartbreak, just because you're going through some ups
and downs, or just because you've encountered some
complications and complexities of life, it doesn't mean that
you can't live well. I think that in order for us to
live well, however, we've got to get on board and we've got to
adopt God's definition of what it means for us to live well.
Living well is not the absence of problems.
It's not the absence of storms. It's being able to successfully
navigate those problems and grow through those storms.
And that can only happen with our connection with God, with a,
with a personal relationship with him.
Speaking of complexities, does anybody else with us?
You may be in the room or or online anybody else struggling
with how to navigate the current political climate, you may say.
Oh, we just jumped in the deep end, didn't we?
Anybody like struggling with that?
I mean, not to like set off triggers, but anybody struggle
with how as a follower of Jesus, we, we, we, we're to, we're
called to navigate to, to think about, to maybe engage or not
engage with things like Venezuela or Greenland.
Maybe last week you kind of tuned into the, the happenings
in Davos with the World Economic Forum and the, and the shifting
global alliances. What about the, the sky high
tensions in, in Minneapolis, the death of Alex Peretti, Somali
daycares, ICE, immigration, government policies.
That's already on top of I, I believe already a super, super
tense and polarized political environment within our country.
It it seems that nobody's neutral politically, right?
It seems like there there's not much of A middle.
You're either like 1000% for or 1000% against.
And as a follower of Jesus, anybody, anybody's just kind of
sit back and go, hey, how am I called to navigate this?
Like where do I get the answer to that?
I'll I'll tell you this. Thank God that the answer to
that question is not found on Facebook.
It's not found on social media, reels, cable news, or our
favorite podcaster. The answer to that question is
found in the same place that that the answers to all of our
questions are found in. And that's in that's in God's
Word. And if you've been with us over
these past several weeks, you know that we've been kind of
diving into and walking through a small book towards the end of
your Bible called First Peter. And we're going to do the same
in our time together this evening.
And it I want to invite you to find if you have a Bible with
you, if it's a physical copy, awesome.
If it's a digital copy, awesome. I want you to find First Peter
Chapter 2, chapter 2 with us and we're going to be picking it up
in verse 13. If you don't have a Bible with
you, then no worries. The the passage is actually
printed at the top of your note sheet that you received on your
way in and it's going to be on the screen for me.
I I just full transparency, I just, I just think there's just
something powerful and there's just something special and
there's just something that that is extra connective when I'm
able to read God's word kind of like on my own and in my and my
own Bible. But that's just that's just me.
I want to I want to show you I want to show you how Peter
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit really calls us to
be able to navigate what is our posture as followers of Jesus.
What is our posture to be towards authority, towards
government, towards navigating all of this and is found
starting off first Peter chapter 2 in verse 13.
Peter writes this Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human
institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to
governors sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise
those who do good. For this is the will of God,
that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of
foolish people. Live as people who are free, not
using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants
of God. Honor everyone.
Love the brotherhood. Fear, God.
Honor. The Emperor.
So here's what we're going to do.
We're going to take this passage and kind of divide it in half.
And what I want to do in the, in the first half is I want us to
look at what is the overall essence of authority, because I
want you to see that God's word never tells us that authority
is, is bad. As a matter of fact, as a matter
of fact, authority is not bad. Authority is given to us by God.
And before we dive into kind of the four basic understandings,
the, the essential understandings of authority, you
and I, we have to be very clear on a central fact.
And if you're taking notes with us here, it is you and I, every
single one of us. We exist up underneath, up
underneath. 2 layers of authority, 2 layers of
authority. Heavenly.
And earthly. Heavenly and earthly, our
heavenly authority is God. He is our ultimate authority.
No one is higher than God. No one's word matters more than
God. He is our ultimate authority.
But then we also, every single one of us in this room.
You're young, you're old, you're in between, you're you're new to
church. Maybe you grew up in church.
Every single one of us, we all live up underneath earthly
authority. You see you, you may be a you
may be a student that still lives at at home and your
earthly authority or or or or your parents or or your family.
You may be in the in the full time workforce and your earthly
authority is is your supervisor or or your bosses as citizens,
as citizens of of the United States of America.
Our earthly authority is is government figures and and
government agencies. We all live under earthly
authority, but that's not the only authority.
We all live up underneath 2 layers of authority, earthly and
heavenly. So with that in mind, I wanted
us to look at how the 2 are actually intertwined, how the
two layers of authority for every single one of us, they're
intricately intertwined. Here's the first one for taking
notes with us. God establishes every authority.
God establishes every authority, the earthly authority that you
and I, that we live up under, that has been established by
God, that's been established by God.
If you're if you're new to church, I want to give you a
statement that you may not have known.
Did you know that when Jesus, who's the Son of God himself,
when Jesus came into this world and walked this earth, did you
know that Jesus lived up underneath human authority?
Historically, in Jesus's day, that region of the world and
that culture, they were, they were conquered and they were
ruled over by the Roman Empire. And if you know anything about
history and the Roman Empire, you know that the people that
they conquered and ruled over, they absolutely hated their
Roman overlords. So much so that you remember how
Jesus called 12 Guys to follow him.
And these these 12 disciples or, or or apostles, they became
Jesus closest friends and, and he poured into them for three, 3
1/2 years. And then after Jesus died and
resurrected from the dead and ascended back to heaven, it was
these 12 guys that took the gospel all over the known world.
One of those 12 guys is a guy by the name of Simon.
And the Bible doesn't tell us a whole lot about Simon, but this
is what the Bible does tell us. Simon was a part of a group
called the Zealots. The Zealots, if you're, if
you're not familiar with who the Zealots were, they were an anti
government faction in ancient Judea that would regularly plot,
plan and execute assassinations against Roman government
officials and Roman soldiers. And guess what?
They were good at it. So they were an anti government
group. We, we would call them today in
our in our 2026 vernacular, they were domestic terrorists.
Simon was a part of a domestic terrorist group.
That's how hated the Romans were.
Also, don't forget that. Remember when Jesus, right
before he's he's crucified, remember who he's standing in
front of? A guy by the name of Pontius
Pilate who was a governor appointed by Caesar himself.
He was a Roman governor. And when, when he's when he's
questioning Jesus, I love this exchange between Jesus and
Pilate. To where Jesus looks at Pilate,
he goes, hey, you wouldn't have authority unless it was given to
you by my father. In other words, right there in
that statement, Jesus is saying, hey, I see your position and my
father put you there, but you wouldn't be.
Anywhere, if it wasn't for my Heavenly Father.
Right there in that statement, at that small exchange, that
brief exchange between Pontius Pilate and Jesus, Jesus is
acknowledging those two layers of authority, that heavenly
authority and that earthly authority.
And it was Pontius Pilate that that gave the go ahead for the
Jews to crucify and to murder Jesus on a cross.
Think about this for a moment. God was intentional about
establishing the earthly authority over His own Son that
would lead to His own Son's execution.
And if God was so intentional about that, never forget and
never think that the authority that He has placed over your
life and my life is accidental or coincidental.
It is not the authority that He places over us.
Our earthly authority that He places over us He uses to bring
about His purposes for us. So God establishes every earthly
authority. God is not shocked by.
Election returns God is not shocked by.
Political movements at all. God ultimately establishes every
authority. That's true in your home, that's
true in your workplace, that's true in your nation and in your
state and your county and your city.
God establishes every authority. But with that in mind, I think
that we. Have to be very clear on this
second understanding about authority.
God is flawless. People are fallen.
God is flawless. That means that at all points
and times, God is right, God is true, and God is good.
Humans, we are fallen. The Bible is very, very clear
that all have sinned and fall well short of the perfect
standard of God. So what do you think happens
when you have a collection of fallen men and fallen women
coming together to making decisions and policies?
You're going to have some mistakes that happen, right?
You have in marriage, you have a fallen man and a fallen woman
coming together in marriage and they have kids and you still
have a fallen man and a fallen woman that are parenting now a
fallen child in in the workplace, your supervisors and
your managers, no matter how gracious or generous or merciful
or even well liked they may be, they're still fallen.
And that means that they will always, they will always, at
some point in time, they will let us down because they're not
flawless, They're human. They're fallen government.
Same way there is no such thing as a perfect government system
the moment. That we plug people into any
system. It becomes flawed.
God is flawless.
People are fallen. And yet, with that in mind,
check out what Peter tells us to do with that.
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every fallen human
institution, whether it be the emperor as supreme or to
governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to
praise those who do good. So what does that tell us about
the essential basics of authority if you're taking notes
with us #3 is what Peter's trying to convey to us.
I honor God by honoring authority.
You see, there is an intrinsic, inseparable link in tie between
me honoring my earthly authority and me honoring my heavenly
authority. The closer I am to my heavenly
authority, the closer that I will be obedient to His way, His
will, and His words. And he's very clear in His words
that in His word that I am to honor my earthly authority.
I honor God by honoring my earthly authority.
I wrote it like this. I think that there are two
things when it comes to honoring authority that we struggle with.
One is internally 1's kind of on the inside of us and the others
externally, like there's certain battles that we kind of face,
certain dilemmas that we face kind of in our mind.
When I struggle to honor my earthly authority in my mind and
internally, it's really important for me to come back
and understand, hey, it is God that placed them in my life for
this time, for this stage, for this season, to bring about His
purposes in and through me. He was very, very intentional.
There's no earthly authority that is over me that is
accidental or coincidental when it comes to externally.
This is where it gets really, really hairy for a lot of
people. What do we do with the statement
that Peter makes for the Lord's sake?
That's kind of a weird statement for Peter to write about
authority, right? This is what Peter.
Was basically getting at did you know?
Did you know that as a follower of Jesus that you and I that we
are walking advertisements and walking billboards for Jesus
himself? We are representatives of him
at. All points in time.
We are representing Jesus so externally when we struggle to
honor authority, we need to come back and we need to understand
that, hey, listen, this is an opportunity for me.
Whether you're a student in the home that that is struggling to
be obedient to, to to your parents.
Hey, listen, this isn't so much about my parents.
This is about me showing them Jesus or whether you're in the
workforce and you sit there and go, hey, listen, this isn't so
much about the job or so much about being liked or, or
interoffice politics. It's really about showing my Co
workers Jesus or even as a citizen of the United States.
It's really about showing people Jesus.
What are we demonstrating to people about Jesus?
You see, I honor God by honoring authority, but Peter goes on and
he addresses something that it is an inevitability.
Check out what I mean in first Peter back in first Peter 215,
he says for this is the will of God.
That's a strong statement. By the way.
This is the will of God. He is speaking on on behalf of
God. This is the will of God.
This is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to
silence the ignorance of foolish people.
What is the basic understanding of authority that Peter's
getting at here? Check this out.
Number four. I respect authority.
God handles the critics. Those are the roles.
I'm called as a follower of Jesus to respect authority, and
I know that he will handle the critics.
Can I just put something out there, Say it as bluntly as I
know how. There is a lot of ignorance in
the world. A lot.
If you don't believe me, maybe you forgot because you're
fasting from social media. There's a lot of ignorance in
the world. There's a lot of ignorance that
we're surrounded. By.
There's a lot of. Ignorance in the world, right?
You may say, OK, well tell me something I don't, I don't know.
Do you, do you know what what that means?
There's a lot of ignorance in the world.
You know what that means for us as followers of Jesus.
It means that if you strive to follow the Word, the will, and
the ways of God, you will be misunderstood, you will be
mislabeled, and you will be called out as something that
you. Probably really are not, and
possibly even cancelled out by an unbelieving world and
culture. I'll go so far to say it like
this. The life.
Of Jesus himself showcases for us that when you follow the Word
and the will and the ways of of God, you will be labeled as too
liberal for conservatives and too conservative for liberals.
Don't believe me? Look at the teachings of Jesus,
how he called out the liberal attitudes towards sin in his
culture. And yet, who was it that
crucified Jesus on the cross? It wasn't the most liberal in
his culture. It was the most conservative in
his culture yet. Jesus answered to a higher
authority, and in answering to that higher authority, He still
respected His earthly authority. You and I, we are called, we are
called to respect the earthly authority that God places over
us. And God will handle the critics.
Let me say it like this. Never allow or stop allowing the
ignorance of other people to keep you from being obedient to
God. Stop allowing the ignorance of
other people to keep you from being obedient to God.
You respect authority. You're obedient to God.
Here's what here's what the ignorance of people can do.
The ignorance of people, they can throw you into the
proverbial fire, but the protection of God can sustain
you in the fire and he can sustain you to where you even
walk out of that fire, not even smelling like.
Smoke. You be obedient to the Word, the
will, and the ways of God, and you allow God to handle the
critics in the way that only He knows is right and sees fit.
So with those four basic understandings of what authority
really is in every single one of our lives, before we pivot to
the second-half of our time together, I want you to look at
this main truth, and this is in your notes as well.
Earthly authority may change. You can even write will change,
but God's word remains the same. Earthly authority may change.
It will change as a matter of fact, that as we grow and as we
age, our earthly authority, it changes.
So if you're if you're a kid, you're a student, you won't
always be a kid. You won't always be a student.
You you won't always live in your parents home.
And some of your parents are like, Amen, you know, write that
down. Won't always live in my home.
Is that that earthly authority will shift.
Elections and political movements will 'cause our
government authorities to shift. But here's the thing with all
the things that shift, there's one thing that doesn't, and that
is the truthfulness of God's Word.
That's why we continue to come back to God's Word because this
is just as true and applicable to us now as it was the moment
that it was written and read by its original audience.
God's Word teaches us that the Bible is living and active.
It's sharper than any 2 edged sword.
So it matters. It's authoritative.
It speaks to everything that we may be going through in our
lives. So with that said, what does the
Bible tell us in terms of how we are to navigate our current
authority issues or our current government crises?
Glad you asked. 4 things #1 taking notes with us.
My submission to authority, it isn't based on my agreement
without authority. You see, there's a lot of people
that think that, hey, listen, if I submit to the authority that
is placed over me, that means that I agree with that
authority. Know it doesn't you, you, you
don't have to agree. Let me give you something that
may be earth shattering. I don't have to agree with.
I don't have to even like, and I don't have to have voted for my
earthly authority in order to submit to them.
You don't have to. My submission to authority isn't
based on my agreement with that authority.
What is it based on? It's based on my obedience to
God. It's based on the fact that I
know that God's ways are higher than my ways and God's
understanding is far deeper than my understanding.
And the authority that he has placed over me for this time in
history, for this season, for this stage is for my purpose.
It's never accidental. It's never coincidental, and I
have a choice to make. Am I going to submit to the
earthly authority on the basis that I know that my heavenly
authority has placed that earthly authority there?
Or am I going to rely on my feelings and go, I don't like
them, so I'm not going to submit to them?
The Bible teaches that our submission to authority isn't
based on our agreement with that authority.
He goes on. Check this out if you're if
you're taking notes with us. My identity.
This also means my identity isn't in party or politics.
It's in the finished work of Jesus.
My identity isn't wrapped up in a political party and it isn't
wrapped up in politics. If you've been at Riverbend for
any amount of time, you've probably heard me tell the story
about all through middle school, all through high school, and
even the beginning of college. If you had asked me what my plan
was, my plan was that I wanted to go to law school.
I wanted to practice law. I want to practice criminal
defense because I watched a lot of Matlock as a kid wear serious
sucker suits all the time, I guess.
And I wanted to go into politics.
I decided not to go into politics and instead become a
pastor. Man, I avoided the whole
political scene. Didn't.
I now I, I and I, I hate politics.
I, I hate what politics does to people.
I hate the polarized climate of politics.
I, I, I listen, I, I get all the talking points on both sides.
I really, really do. I just hate what it does to
people. But did you know that as a
follower of Jesus, your identity isn't primarily wrapped up in a
political party? It's not wrapped up in a
political platform. It's wrapped up in the finished
work of Jesus. That means that if you and I, as
followers of Jesus, if if we were to have a, a symbol or a
mascot represent us, what is most true is it's not going to
be a donkey and it's not going to be an elephant.
It's going to be a cross and it's going to be an empty tomb.
Listen, I'm not saying do not mishear me saying that as a
follower of Jesus, we should avoid politics.
We shouldn't engage in politics. We shouldn't even, we shouldn't
even like run for political office.
I think that that would be #1 I think it would be foolish and #2
I think that it would make us far less effective in the
mission and the purpose that God has us here for.
Yes, to, to, to all those things.
But hear me very, very closely. If your political alliances and
your political, what you align with politically in terms of a
party's platform ever causes you to look differently at people to
love less than you, my friend, you've got the cart before the
horse. You see, what Jesus has done for
us on the cross is he has set us free.
He set us free from our identity being wrapped up in party and
and in politics. You you can, you can look and
you can go. Yeah, I believe that based on
the Word of God, that is right. And I believe based on the Word
of God, that is wrong. And I believe based on the Word
of God, that is a good decision. And based on the Word of God, I
believe that that is an evil decision.
But it's not based on my alliance and being tied to a
political party's platform. It's based off of the word of
God because my primary identity is not wrapped up in a political
party or a political movement. It's wrapped up in the finished
work of Jesus. Do you know, like, let me get
you to think about like politics and political parties, maybe in
a different way. I'm starting to believe that,
that all politics and political parties, it's really about who
could build the best sandcastle. When in reality, did you know
that Jesus doesn't save us to build better sand castles, He
actually frees us from the sandbox.
There's a huge, huge difference there.
Huge difference. My ultimate identity is not
wrapped up in party or politics. It's worked up in the finished
work of Jesus. He has set me free.
That word freedom, it is a beautiful, beautiful word and it
is a beautiful concept and a beautiful truth.
But unfortunately, so many times it's so misunderstood.
Here's what I mean. Check this out.
Number three, My freedom isn't doing.
The freedom that God gives me now is a follower of him.
My freedom isn't doing and doing whatever I want is living for
the One who saved my life. It's not about doing whatever I
want. I don't know if you've noticed
this or not. If you've been at Riverbend for
any amount of time throughout this series, there's been a,
there's been a verse that's been printed at the bottom of your
bulletin notes every single week of your note sheet.
And I don't. I don't know if you've noticed
this or not. But it's this verse, it's it's
first Peter 216 live as people who are free, not using your
freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.
What does that? Mean.
What does that mean that that's actually been like kind of the
key verse of this entire series. Live as people who are free, not
using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants
of God. It means that as believers in.
In God, as followers of Jesus, we draw a stark distinction
between what it means to live free and what it means to live
with license. Let me give you kind of a.
Breakdown of the difference of the two living in freedom.
Living in freedom is the ability to live as God designed within
his good boundaries that are good for us.
But if I view that freedom as almost license or a permission
to live however I want to, license is using freedom as an
excuse to do whatever I want. Regardless of wisdom, truth, or
consequences, freedom lives underneath God's authority.
License rejects and rebels against God's authority.
Freedom leads to life, peace, and purpose.
License turns grace into permission.
Freedom is the power to do whatever is right.
License is an excuse. To do whatever I want.
If you view the freedom that you have been given as a follower of
Jesus, If you view it as a license to do whatever you want
to. You, my friend, have a complete
misunderstanding of grace and a complete misunderstanding of
freedom. Think of it this way.
Freedom is like a prisoner that has been set free from prison
and chooses to use his freedom to serve a good good king.
License is like a prisoner being set free from prison and
choosing to use that freedom to return.
To a life of crime. You see, you and I, we have been
set free for a purpose and that purpose is to live the life that
God created us to live and intends for us to live.
Freedom isn't to be used to do whatever I want, it is to be
used for God's purposes. Last, how do we use our freedom?
We thrown a lot at us in terms of first Peter chapter chapter
2. How do you and I as followers of
Jesus that are seeking the wisdom and the counsel and the
goddess of the Holy Spirit in our lives, how do we live
subject to our heavenly authority while at the same time
subject to our earthly authority?
I love how Peter lays out verse 17.
He lays it out. Very, very clear.
I need it very clear for me. I need it very simplistic for
me. And I'm so glad that the Holy
Spirit inspired Peter to write it this way.
This is kind of my daily conduct or the what we need to adopt as
a daily commitment. And it is waking up and
committing ourselves to these four things.
Number 1, he says honor everyone.
Honor as. In Look at every single person
that you run across in life, whether in real life or
virtually, as a person of value, as a person that God created in
his own image, a person with a soul, a person that.
God loves honor everyone. As in everyone.
The people like you, the people not like you.
The people who like you. The people that don't like you.
The people who think and vote and believe like you.
The people who don't think, who don't believe, and who don't
vote like you. Everyone, as in everyone.
Honor everyone. He doesn't stop there.
He goes Honor everyone and then love the brotherhood.
What does love the Brotherhood mean?
Love as in placing the needs of someone else above my own.
Brotherhood as in fellow followers of Jesus in the local
church, Riverbend, and in the global church.
If that means that, that the brotherhood is made-up of men
and women and kids and students from not only all over
Gainesville, all over Hall County, all over Georgia, the
United States, but all over the world.
That's the global church. The brotherhood.
What, what it means to love the brotherhood.
It means that we don't just go to church together.
We're like family. We're like family.
And then he goes #3 fear God, fear God.
Understanding this simply means, let me kind of put it down brass
tacks. It means that I take seriously
who he is and what he says. I take very seriously who God is
and what he says. And I recognize him as my
ultimate authority. This is where this is where it
can get really tricky for us because did you know that
there's sometimes that for me to fear God is to go against my
earthly authority? We see an example of this.
Playing out in Acts chapter 5. Where Peter and the disciples
are telling the people in Jerusalem about Jesus and they
get called in by their earthly authorities and they get
chastised. They get verbally spanked and
then they get flogged, which is worse than being verbally
spanked. That's being like beaten with
sticks. And they're told, stop telling
people about Jesus and Peter and the apostles, They, they, they
stand up. And I believe that they
respectfully respond to their earthly authority and go, hey,
listen, we can either follow God or we can follow you.
And we've got to follow God. So what happens when there's a
point in time to where we feel? Like our earthly authority is
contradicting our heavenly authority.
Let me give you at least two things that we need to do if you
find yourself in that dilemma to where you feel that your earthly
authority is contradicting your heavenly authority.
Number one, spend a lot of time in prayer.
Spend a lot of time in prayer and and pray something like
this. God, I want you to go into the
deep places of me and I want you to search me out.
I want you to search out any impure motives.
I want you to search out any misunderstandings, any skewed.
Perspectives. And I want you to not just
search those things out, I want you to rise those to the
surface, raise them to the surface in my life so that I can
lay those at your feet. And I can ask that you deal with
those things that that that's really a prayer for, for, for
purity. God, I want to be pure.
I want to make sure that I am in alliance with I am in full
alignment with your heart and with your word.
Second thing, after we spend a lot of time in prayer and a lot
of people skip over this. After spend a lot of time in
prayer, seek out the wise and godly counsel.
Of someone that you know that is close to God and basically just
say, hey, listen, this is the situation that I as I see it.
What's your take on it? And all that is, is admitting
that none of us have a 360° view of of our own lives and
perspectives. It's bringing somebody else into
our lives to have our best benefit, our best interest at
heart that we know love us and love Jesus and want what's best
for us. And they giving them permission
to point out our blind spots and say, listen, if I'm wrong in
this, would you point that out to me?
Will you tell me where where I'm kind of flawed.
I want to run something by you and I want you to I want you to
punch some holes into it as God's word would punch holes
into it. There may very well be points
and times to where our earthly authority contradicts our
heavenly authority. And in that point in time, guess
what? We've got to make the decision.
Hey, listen, I respect my earthly authority, but
ultimately I've got to fear my God because when I die, I'm not
standing in front of any man to give an account for my life.
I'm staying in front of a holy God, giving an account for my
life. Fear God.
Fourth thing that he tells us, honor the emperor.
Honor the emperor. I can't help but think that
Peter's original readers, they probably like whoever was
standing up and kind of reading it to that house church the
first time that they got Peter's letter, they're probably like,
OK. This is how.
Peter ends this passage. Honor everyone, love the
brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.
I I think I think Peter had a typo here.
Honor the Emperor. Here's why.
Historically, if you know anything about the Roman Empire
at this stage of Peter's life, do you know who the Roman
Emperor was? It's a guy by the name of Nero.
You can look this up. You can actually Google it.
Google. Was Nero emperor Nero?
Was he a nut job? The answer is yes.
You don't even need AI. The answer is yes.
Nero was crazy. Nero, Let me give you kind of a
a brief snapshot of Nero. Nero was so crazy and he hated
Christians. He hated followers of Jesus so
much that he would round up Christians, he would impale them
on poles, place those poles in his garden, and then cover those
Christians, those impaled Christians, with tar and pitch
and light them on fire to light up his garden parties.
That was Nero. Oh, by the way, Nero was the
one. He was the emperor that was
responsible for the death and the execution of the Apostle
Paul. And guess who else?
Peter. And yet, what do we see Peter
writing here? Honor the emperor.
Because I like him? No, because I voted for him.
No, because I agree with him. No, because God's not surprised
that Nero is in his earthly position of authority.
And I've got to trust that God's God knows what he's doing.
You know, I think that. We would be.
Shocked if we woke up every single morning and we began our
day. Pour yourself a cup of coffee.
If you're not a coffee drinker, start becoming a coffee drinker.
Pour yourself a cup of coffee and pray Something like this.
God, today, I want today to be marked by you.
Helping me to honor everyone doesn't mean that I necessarily
like them. They like me.
I agree with them, they agree with me.
Your word tells me to honor everyone.
I want to see people the way that you see people.
God, today I want today to be marked by my unique love for
other believers, for other followers of Jesus.
God, today would you help me to fear you as my ultimate
authority. God, as I go to work, I am
working unto you. As I, as I go to school, I am, I
am a student unto you. I'm, I'm working as unto you.
As I'm in my home. I'm, I'm submitting to, I'm
obedient to my parents as as if I was obedient unto you.
God, I want to fear you above any and everything else.
And God, I want to pray specifically for those in
authority over me. God, I know that you placed them
there for at least this time stage and season of my life to
bring about your purposes in my life.
I know that they're fallen and they need you as much as I need
you. So I want to pray for them.
I think if we started our day, that's why I love, I love first
Peter 217 because he brings it so far down on the bottom shelf
for us, doesn't he? He was like, listen, these four
things, a couple words, period, A couple words, period, a couple
words, period. I think that if we started our
day, I think that we would be shocked at just how our view of
people would really change. We wouldn't view them through
the lens of politics. We wouldn't view people as
issues or. Or problems?
We view people as the way that God views people.
I think we'd be shocked how we started to see people.
I think we'd also be shocked at how close we grew to God and
that intimacy, that daily walk with him.
And here's kind of how I want to end our time.
You know, I, I said, what if we prayed that prayer?
What if we prayed those prayers starting off every day?
Here's my question to you. Why wait till tomorrow?
What if we ended our time today praying those prayers to kind of
help prime that pump? I want to walk you through 4
questions. I just want you to listen to
these and kind of answer them in your, in your own mind.
First of all, has there been a specific date, time and place
that you've submitted your life to God's authority?
You know, you, you may be here to, to celebrate Amanda or, or
Mike or maybe when you walked in, you didn't even know who
Amanda and Mike were. But you see their step of
obedience and there's just been something that's tugging at you
to where you're like, you know what, I need to follow Jesus.
I need to submit my life to God's authority.
Maybe you have already submitted your life to God's authority and
you need to be obedient to him. I love the courage of Mike.
After 32 years going, you know what?
I need to be baptized. Never been baptized.
I need to be baptized. Maybe that's you.
Maybe that's your step of obedience.
Here's a second question. What earthly authority has God
placed over you? I think it's really important
that we spend a little bit of time and take it out of the out
of kind of the sermon note world and put some practical real life
feat on it. I think that nobody's going to
argue. All of us have earthly
authority. I think it's really important
that we start to think mentally catalog who's the earthly
authority that God's placed over me.
If you're a student or a kid, it's your, it's your mom, it's
your dad, it's your family, it's your teachers, it's your
coaches, it's your directors. If you're an employee, it's
your, it's your supervisor, it's your boss.
If you're an employer, you know that there's a great myth that
if you just start your own business, you don't have anybody
as a, as a boss. You know that there's that's a
myth. Who's your earthly authority?
Once you have that in mind #3 will you commit to consistently
praying for them by name? Will you commit students?
Will you commit to praying for your mom and your dad and your
family by name, your teachers, your coaches, your directors by
name, you're in the workforce. Commit to praying for your
supervisors, for your bosses by name as citizens of the of, of
the United States? Will you commit to, to praying
for President Trump and, and his administration?
You'd be like, well, I don't like him and I don't like the
way he talks to people. That's irrelevant.
Will you pray for him? We're not asking if you like
him. I'm asking if you'll pray for
him. I think that we would all agree
that he needs the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Will we consistently as the people of God, pray for the
people that God has placed over us in positions of authority?
Here's the 4th ask Will you consistently?
Will you commit to consistently praying that God would guide you
to live with purpose and freedom under the authority that He has
placed you? Will you consistently pray for
you? Because I don't know about you,
but a lot of times it's hard to live up underneath authority,
isn't it? It's hard not being the one that
always calls the shots. It's hard wrestling with some of
these issues. But would you pray that the Holy
Spirit would do a work in you that honors God by honoring
them? So here's what I want to do.
I want to pray over us. As soon as we pray, I'm going to
invite us to stand. And I love the song that that
our band's going to lead us into.
It reminds us of who our ultimate authority really is as
our heavenly Father, All Hail King Jesus.
But this is a time to where with that in mind, All hail King
Jesus God, I honor you by honoring my earthly authority.
I just want to invite you if, if you will, to, to come down and
pray by name for the earthly authority that God has placed
over you. If you're with us online, then
you can do that wherever you may be in your living room or at
your kitchen table. But I want to pray over us.
And then I want to invite, I want to invite us into a sacred
moment to where we pray for those that God has placed over
us. Pray with me, God.
We love you and we thank you for who you are for God, you being
our ultimate authority. God, there's no one higher than
you. God, you are always good, You
are always right, you are always true, You are always for us.
God, You desire more for us. God, you are a good and perfect
Heavenly Father, yet you are King and God.
With that mindset of who you are, God, we also acknowledge
the fact that you have strategically placed and
established the earthly authority that we have over us.
God, sometimes it's really hard for us to wrap our minds around
and, and, and to honor and to submit to that earthly
authority. Sometimes we may not like that
earthly authority. Sometimes we may not feel like
it, but God, would you remind us that we honor you by honoring
them. And God, we just want to take
this moment as we praise your name, God, to also lift up by
name the authority figures in our lives.
God, we understand that you are flawless, but all of us,
including our earthly authorities, they are flawed.
And God, we need you so desperately and we need your
guidance in our lives so desperately, and so do they.
So the most loving thing that we can do for the people, for the
men, the women, and the government agencies and the
civil servants that you have placed around us and over us, is
to lift them up by name and continually to do so.
God, I pray that you would break down any walls of hesitation and
any walls of pride. And it's in Jesus name that we
pray. Amen.
Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.
To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,
connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.