 Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Unfiltered. Pastor David, welcome. Thank you, John. Tomorrow night on Wednesday evening service, you'll be teaching at a Romans 13. Romans 13 commands us to obey government in some senses. With all these mandates that we have or will be coming out or that we've had regarding the mask and lockdowns and how do we as Christians reconcile something so outlandish like that but yet be an obedience to God's word. Well, you know the bottom line, obviously in scripture is that God created government with the intent for it to continue to maintain order in a society and government is intended to protect and reinforce values, protect people from harm and reinforce values. Now, originally obviously with Adam and Eve, there was no need for quote unquote human government in that they were governed by God and God is their commander-in-chief and all of that. So there was no crime or anything to be concerned about but because the Lord had established within the first nine chapters, the building blocks of what would one day be what is called the civilization or society. You know, he established marriage and the family, he established human government and the church and these are things that you find in the Genesis, in the book of Genesis in the first nine chapters. And so in anticipation of the need for man to be regulated by rules and order, he established government. And so government is intended to provide for the welfare of the people. And so laws are made to restrict behaviors that will harm others and also to promote the human tranquility for peace. That's what governments intended to do and the problem that we find in all civilizations over all time is the problem of human nature. Human nature being what it is needs regulation because we are prone to evil. That's why we have rules and that's why we have laws because when you have a nation filled with laws, it's an evidence that you also have a nation that is filled with law breakers with evil or wrong. And so we're gonna be looking at Romans 13. It's not gonna be the most in-depth study that we've ever had or could have because there are entire volumes that have been written on the place of man under God and under human government. I'm just gonna touch on it a little bit but I'm gonna just wanna show that we as Christians are to reveal the faith that we have that were under God and His command in a way by being in subjection to those who have been placed over us in authority. So the Christians should be the number one citizen, the best citizen. But obviously there are times when laws are written up that do not promote the welfare but actually the harm. So you have people making mandates to get a shot or mandates to wear a mask or mandates to stay home or mandates not to go to a funeral or to enjoy a wedding or to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas or a birthday celebration. And there are things that were mandated here that have since they were first mandated have been proven to be just an overreach by the government. So we'll be looking at some of that tomorrow. That's not the whole study but we'll definitely look at in touch upon that a bit as to why that is, how does that work in the Christian life? If I'm a Christian and they tell me get a shot or you're gonna get fired, do I get the shot? If I'm a Christian and I'm told you cannot congregate but it's okay to go to a tattoo parlor or to be in a riot. It's okay for that because people in riots and protests they don't get sick but if you go to a church service and begin to sing, you will and then you're a bad person. Well, I think Christians need to really reflect on that and we'll touch on that a bit tomorrow. I hope to bring a little reason into the insanity that we live in here in the United States. When you have an entire month that has been designated transgender month, this is insanity. How do we, as Christians, how do we deal with these kinds of things and how do we respond to these kinds of things and shall we bow our knee to Caesar or do we bow our knees to God? So we'll be looking at that tomorrow. Amen. Well, it's a good opportunity to invite your friends and family to come out and join us and to take a look at these things because some of the things today are just, it's crazy. Reverse. So we do want to invite you guys to come out. Service starts at 7 p.m. tomorrow evening. Come join us for a time of worship, studying God's word and fellowship. So we look forward to seeing you. Pastor David, thank you so much for spending time with us. We look forward to seeing you and God bless you.