 Good morning and welcome to class. Thank you Lubega, Jeffina, John Paul and Zalutoli for joining class this morning. We'll begin. We'll continue our study on Romans chapter 12. So we'll start studying verses 9 following. So before we do that, can one of you please lead us in prayer please? Yes, Jeffina. Thank you. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to understand Him on Jesus. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the class you're about to have. May we learn more about you, more about who we are in your Jesus. But I just pray that every truth that we learn will just apply it in our life and it will be planted in our heart that we will see the harvest of the word in our life, Jesus. We believe that you're faithful to your words. Let every word that we learn stay in our mind. Help us to live this life in much more better way. My classmates worry I have to come. We give you all the glory and honor in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jeffina. We lost you in between. I don't know whether my internet connection was bad or the others as well didn't. Here, Jeffina, but anyways, thank you. Okay, so we began studying Chapter 12 on Monday and Chapter 12, Paul is writing to the church at Rome more about practical ways of living their Christian life. And so he's telling the believers that, you know, he begins by saying that they have to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, which is holy, pleasing and acceptable to God, which is their spiritual sacrifice, spiritual worship unto the Lord. And then he goes on to talk about how they need to renew their minds and also about, you know, how they can serve in the body of Christ. So he says that, you know, even as each one of them have been given one or more functions in the body of Christ, they also have the specific gifts to fulfill that function. God's given them specific gifts to fulfill that function. And every believer has been given the grace of God and the gifts that they require to serve and fulfill that function that God has called them to. So it was his nine following. The focus is more on relationship with others in the body of Christ. What, how do we relate to others outside the body of Christ and also within the body of Christ. So he's basically talking about the relationship aspect with people outside and inside the body of Christ. Okay, so we look at verses nine following. So can somebody read verses nine to verse 16, please. Can somebody read verses nine to verse 16. Am I audible faster? Yes. Yeah, Romans chapter 12, right? Yes. Yeah, verses nine to 16. Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Amen. Thank you, Jafina. So what's nine Paul says, you know, let love be the thought hypocrisy of poor what is evil cling to what is good. So he's saying first of all, you know, of the, of all the virtues first of all Paul addresses is love. And he says, you know, we need to be genuine in our love, which means don't pretend to love people be genuine in your love to others, you know, and your love must be heartfelt. It must be genuine care and genuine help that you want to offer people. West End, he says be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in order giving preference to one another. So says the way we express kindness and genuine love is by giving preference to one another. So in ministry, you know, we think that, you know, if God uses us mightily, or, you know, we're very gifted in a specific function that God has called us to we have immense grace, the grace of God just is overpowering us empowering us, you know, and, you know, when God is using us mightily, we feel entitled. We feel, you know, we need to be given preference. So if there are, you know, if we are good at worship, and if there are two or three other worship leaders, then you feel entitled that you need to be given that, you know, the responsibility to be the worship pastor, the worship leader, or for that specific conference, or, you know, for that specific program that you're having in church, a conference, you have to, you know, lead the worship on all the days. So you feel entitled to that. Or, you know, if you are a preacher, and you're, you know, very powerful, anointed preacher, charismatic, and people just, you know, you have the charisma and you and people just, you know, easily are just so caught up with your preaching and your teaching. And it's so powerful, your teaching and preaching is so anointed by God. You feel that, you know, you should be given the preferences over other people, over other pastors, over other ministers, when it comes to, you know, special conferences or meetings, or whatever, because you are, you know, greatly anointed or you're a better preacher. So Paul is saying, hey, you know, we need to come to a place where, you know, in honor where we're giving preference to others, which means we're giving a chance to others that, and that should be our attitude. Our attitude is not that we be prominent, we be seen, but we give a place to others as well. Okay. In verse 11 he says, not lagging in diligence, but being fervent in spirit and serving the Lord. Be diligent means not being sluggish or lethargic or slow, you know, lazy, idle, sluggish or inactive. But, you know, he's saying, be fervent in the spirit, that means be on fire, you know, be full of fire, be fellas, be enthusiastic, be passionate and not lacking in zeal. Okay, so that is how we need to serve the Lord, not being, you know, slow and lethargic and sluggish and lazy or inactive, but just being fervent and excited and enthusiastic and passionate in what God has called us to do. And then in verse 12 he says rejoicing in hope, patience and tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. So he's saying rejoice in hope, because he's always spoken about, you know, hope of the glory that we will receive, the future hope, you know, that all of creation will be redeemed. We also, even though we are partly enjoying the fruit of eternal life, we would experience in fullness and we have that hope in the future. So he's talked about the hope of the glory that we will receive, that we will see, that we will experience, that we are experiencing partially in part and also, you know, the hope of creation being restored and all of that he's spoken about it, but he's saying, you know, rejoice in that hope, which means he's saying, hey, now I know you are going through tribulation because, you know, the church at home was facing a lot of difficulties, persecutions, tribulations. It was, it was more than just, you know, what we can think of and how Nero was persecuting the Christians, you know, how he was treating them, how he was what he was making of them. So he's saying, you know, even in that situation, be patient. You know, why is he saying be patient because there is hope, you know, there is an eternal hope that we have. And so, because of the eternal hope that you have, and the hope that you have now in the present, rejoice. And he's saying, even as you go to this hardships, you know, rejoice in the hope that you have, and also be consistent in prayer. That is what is going to take you through patiently in tribulation and rejoicing in the hope because prayer is something that would open our spiritual eyes to the things that God has for us in store for us, and the peace and the covering and the grace and the strength that we would receive through prayer. Okay. He was 13 he says distributing to the needs of the saints given given to hospitality. So he says bless others, give to the needs of others, be generous and kind. Okay. And then was 14 bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse. So he says don't retaliate when people persecute you because the church at Rome was going through persecutions and accusations. And so he's saying don't retaliate, you know, when people persecute you, bless them. And just like the Lord Jesus taught us to pray and to bless our persecutors in Matthew chapter four was 44 he says, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Okay. So that is what Jesus has taught us. He's taught us to love our enemies to bless those who curse us and do good to those who hate us. So he's saying don't retaliate, bless and do not curse because they're very in that situation, you know, which is very, very difficult for the church at Rome, the Christians. So that is why Paul is writing to them. And also in this present situation which we are in, you know, or we'll find ourselves soon in where we will face persecutions and difficulties and hardships, you know, we are called to bless those who persecute us and not curse them. Okay, verse 15 says rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Okay. So it means that, you know, basically be part of every aspect of people's lives, which means he's saying, you know, he, he's told us in verse nine, like, you know, love people genuinely, you know, don't be, you know, without hypocrisy, but genuine love, you know, love others with the heart that this, you know, love must be heartfelt. And the way you care and help people what he's talking about in verse nine, he's saying here that, you know, be so much part of people's life that the way you care for them and you help them, you know, means that you are part of every area of their life. So when they rejoice, rejoice with them. When they weep, you weep with them and they mourn, you mourn with them with sorrowful, you know, you help them out, encourage them, strengthen them and build them up. Okay. Verse 16 says, be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. So he says be willing to associate and think with people of different levels, you know, at times we will have to relate with people who are in higher level places of high influential authority, the rich, the intellectual, you know, so, you know, when we relate with them, you relate with them in their level, you know, and sometimes you're called to relate with people was simple, lowly, the poor, you know, we need to learn to relate to them in their situation or in their level. So as God's people, he says we need to work and we need to learn to relate with people at all levels of all status of society of all spheres of all places of position or levels that people are in society. And he says this is how we can fulfill the command to be of the same mind toward one another. And it's a simple command, you know, what is the command is to be considered to the feelings of others, you know, instead of waiting for on them to be considered towards your feelings, you need to be considered towards their feelings. So when we do that, so we fulfill the command of being of the same mind toward one another. Okay, if you look at this verse, how it's rendered in the ESV, the English standard version, it says live in harmony with one another, to not be hotly but associate with the lowly, never be wise in your own site. So in this verse in verse 16, you know, there are three injunctions here. Okay, three orders or rules or sanctions. The first one is be of the same mind. Means he says, be of one mind, live in harmony, get along with one another. And he says be of a humble mind, which means don't be high minded, be willing to associate with the lowly. And then he says be of a true mind, which means he has a proper opinion of yourself. You know, when we don't have a proper opinion of ourselves, we begin to think that we are wise in our own ways. And you know, we can become self deceived. Okay, so Paul is basically addressing an issue here of how we think, you know, he's talked about a renewed mind. And so he's think saying that we need to think out of that renewed mind. So a renewed mind is able to think this be of the same mind in unity and harmony with one another. A renewed mind is a humble mind and a renewed mind is a true mind, which is able to think thoughts that are true, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is noble, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, what have God said, think about such things. So, you know, so he's saying, you know, a renewed mind is able to think through thoughts and have a true mind. Okay, so he's talked about this in the opening was in the, it was two of this chapter, but he's talking about this again. So we're looking at the backward view and the forward view. Okay. So in relationship to six and three says for anyone who thinks himself to be something when he's not, when he's nothing he deceives him self. Okay, so, like we said, a true mind is someone who has a proper opinion of themselves and if you don't have a proper opinion of yourselves, you think highly than you ought to think about yourself. You know, you come to a place of self deception or you become self deceived and self deception is a very dangerous place to be in because self deception leads to ride. You know, we know that Lucifer was filled with pride. We read about this in for Timothy chapter three was six. And it says, you know, how did pride enter Lucifer? It was because it was true self deception. He thought of himself more highly than he should have thought about himself as we did in Isaiah chapter 14 versus 13 and 14. So, you know, when we are drawn away by our own desires, you know, we can we become self deceived. That's what we read in James chapter one versus 14 and 16. You know, and Lucifer, you know, what was his desire, he desired to be something that he was not or he desired for something that belonged only to God, you know, only worship was only to God he desired that to be worshipped. And so he became self deceived that he could have it. And that brought him to a place of pride and pride brought his downfall. Okay, so it's very important for us, you know, to be of a true mind, which goes back to having a renewed mind, because if we don't have a true mind, we become wise in our own selves, we become self deceived. Okay, was 17. We didn't read was 17 right. Okay. Any, any questions so far to was 16. Any questions. I just have a little question then it says, we with those movies. What does it basically mean. When those who are mourning or grieving for their loved ones, you know, we stand along with them, we comfort them, we console them, we be part of their mourning and weeping. So sometimes when, you know, people lose their loved ones and we are very close to them, we also, you know, feel their broken as we feel their grief. Also could be when people are going through brokenness and pain. And, you know, a morning or, you know, going through loss, you know, we just stand beside them, we stand along with them, we feel their pain, their burden, we carry their pain and burden, and we minister to them, we encourage them, we strengthen them and we offer whatever help we can in that time of mourning and loss and, you know, in their brokenness and in that pain. Thank you. Any other questions. Okay, if not, if can somebody read versus 17 till the end of the chapter was 21 please Roman chapter 12 versus 17 to 21 can somebody read that please promise. Verse 17 the pain no one evil for evil have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible as much as depends on you live peaceably with all men. Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to Lord for it is written vengeance is mine. I will really says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemies hungry feed him. If his thirsty give him a drink for in so doing, you will heap holes of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good in. Thank you, Rosalind. So was 17. Paul says repay no one evil for evil have regard for good things in the sight of all men. So it says, you know, we must be careful to do things that are good in the sight of all men. So whether it's believers or non believers. He says when when when anyone looks at us, they must see that, you know, what we are doing is we're doing things that are good. And no one should point an accusing finger towards us. And we need to be blameless in the sight of those in the church, the believers and those outside the church. So it says whatever you do, do it in a way that is beyond reproach. Was a pain if it's possible as much as it depends on you live peaceably with all men. So he's saying, you know, as much as it depends on you live peaceably with all men, which means he's saying that hey, I understand. You know, it implies that hey, I understand that, you know, there can be some situations where having a peaceful and harmonious relationship with people may not be possible. And, you know, sometimes in some human relationships, things might be difficult. And things can go outside of control. We can't control people's attitudes, wills, emotions, mindsets, their behavior. But he's saying that as far as it's possible, how much ever you can do, you know, live peace peacefully with all men. But, you know, there are times when even when we want to live peacefully with all people, they want to fight with us. They want to argue with us and accuse us. Well, at those times, what do we do? You know, we are not responsible for people's actions, their reactions, their, you know, their immaturity or their inability to handle difficult situations. But even in those two situations, we just, you know, choose peace. If we either don't retaliate, we don't argue, we don't answer back, we don't accuse, we just let go. Okay. And he's saying, you know, why should you live peacefully? How can you let go? Because he knows the situation that the people in Rome are, you know, the way they're being treated, the way they've been persecuted, the way they've been burned, the way they've been beaten and, you know, made of sport off. You know, it's difficult for them to not retaliate. It's difficult for them to live peacefully with the, you know, the Roman citizens, the unbelievers. But, you know, how can, you know, we live peacefully as far as it's possible? And so he goes on to say, you know, don't avenge yourself, but rather give place to Roth for the citizen vengeance, his mind, I will replace as the Lord. So he is quickly saying that, you know, why should you live, try to your best to live peacefully, even if situations do not allow you to be peaceful. He's saying, you know, he basically is quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 35, where he's saying, you know, don't, you know, where it's written vengeance, God says vengeance is mine, I will repay. So, you know, he's saying, Paul is saying, don't take revenge. Don't try to get justice done for yourself, but leave it to God. Let God vindicate you, you know, give your case to God, rest your case with God. So even when we are wrongfully treated or oppressed, you know, we must look to God and be assured that he will, you know, execute righteousness and justice on our behalf. That is what even Jesus did, right? He did not retaliate. He did not fight back, you know, he just let go and he looked up to the for God's wrath and his vengeance or his justice to be done in his case. Okay, so, you know, we have to live beyond reproach. Okay, that's what even Christ did. Okay, so instead of fighting our case, instead of, you know, getting justice for ourselves, we need to just leave the justice and righteousness for God to bring about righteousness and justice in our case. Instead, what we need to do is we need to focus on what God has called us to do, and that is to bless people, which is very difficult for us to do. But Paul has already laid the basis. He's already laid the foundation for what he's, for all the difficult things he's asking them to do. And he's saying that, hey, if you have a renewed mind, this is what you will do. If you are willing to offer your bodies as a living sacrifices, living sacrifice daily as a worship to God, this is what you will do. You will live peacefully even if it's not possible. You will not take revenge or vengeance or you'll not fight your case. You'll leave it to God even when you are in a position you can do it. You leave it to God, why? Because, you know, you already are in a place where you are offered up your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing and acceptable to God. This is your acceptable or pleasing worship to God. This is how you will behave. And then he says, renewed mind, this is how you will behave. So, you know, Paul is actually, if you look at his, the way he writes, very smart, very intelligent. The way he's so structured in his writing and his, his arguments and the way he brings in his arguments and tries, gives a strong basis in the foundation so that nobody can, you know, retaliate and question. Back because he's all just, you know, strongly based and strongly founded and then he builds on that. He says that so even in you, we look at it, you know, it's, it's difficult. And, you know, when we, we get, we should keep quiet and how long should we keep quiet, how long should we, you know, put up with all of these things. But if we ask people who are offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, as a worship to God, and we're living out of a renewed mind, you know, this is what we should be doing. This should be our lifestyle, our culture, and this is how we should live. Okay. And Psalm 103 verse six says, the Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Okay. So the Lord will bring about righteousness. He will bring about justice for those who are oppressed. Okay. Verse 20 says, therefore, if your enemies hungry feed him, if he's thirsty, give him a drink for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head. Okay. So in verse 20, he's saying, since you have rested your case with God, you've, you know, giving your case to God and saying, God, you bring about justice, you bring about righteousness in my case. Then when you rest your case with God, now, you know, do good to those who are harming you, you know, and he says, feed them if they thirsty, give them a drink, you know, and then he is basically quoting here from Proverbs chapter 25 verses 21 and 22 where he says, if your enemies hungry, feed him if he's thirsty, give him a drink for in so doing, will heap coals of fire on his head. But, you know, Paul leaves out the last part in this verse in which is in Proverbs, he said, and the Lord will reward you. So, you know, he leaves out this part, which is there in the Old Testament, because you know, this is what something he already has addressed in verse 19, which means when you rest your case with God, God will reward you by executing justice or bringing about righteousness on your behalf or in your case. And then he ends this whole chapter, you know, verse 21, he says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So he's saying, you know, this should be like a default response, you know, a response that is automatic, that is something that is routine, that is part of just a culture, a lifestyle as a kingdom citizens. And, you know, as people who are living with a renewed mind, people who are offered their bodies to living sacrifice, he says, you know, do not be overcome by evil, which means don't let evil defeat you. Okay, so evil refers to anything that is worthless, that is harmful, injurious, that is depraved. You know, he says, don't let any such things subdue you or overpile you, you know, or bring you under its control or its influence. Okay, instead, he says, when faced with anything that is evil, which is worthless, which is harmful, injurious, you know, is depraved, you have to conquer it. And how do you conquer it with good. So when someone is hurtful, you know, he's basically a renewed mind will think how we can bless them and not just think but do it. Okay. And when someone is unfair, a renewed mind will think how you can show them mercy and kindness and not just think about it, but also do it. Okay, so we see how beautifully he lays the foundation in the first two verses in chapter 12 about Christian living and then how he builds on it, because all of what he's saying later on in verses nine, following verse two, verse 21 is extremely challenging and difficult for the church at home, but he's saying, you know, do this because of who you are, you are people who have offered your body's living sacrifice, that's your worship to God, and as a renewed mind. And when you do that, automatically, this will become your culture, your lifestyle as Kingdom citizens. Okay. So that was chapter 12 for us. Any questions on chapter 12. No questions. Okay, if there are no questions, then we'll move on to chapter 13. Okay, so can think chapter 13 has 14 verses, I think. So can we begin reading chapter 13, please. So each of you can maybe read four or five verses. So can we begin reading chapter 13 Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13 verse one to five, 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. They forever resist the authority, resist the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not adhered to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid for he does not fear this work in vain. For he is God's minister and Avenger to execute right on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject not only because of right, but also for conscience sake. Thank you, Zerotholi. Can somebody read verses 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, please. 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. For 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 shall not bear false witnesses, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this same, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love doesn't harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of it. Amen. Thank you, Subashish. Can somebody read verses 11 to verse 14, please. Do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now a salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, 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 rungerness, not in lividness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. Amen. Thank you, John Paul. So in chapter 13, who do you think Paul is talking about? What is the main point of discussion? What who is he writing about? Any thoughts? You can unmute your mics and speak or you can even type in the chat. So who is Paul talking about in chapter 13? Referring to in chapter 13. The discussion is about what? Yes, thank you, Paul. Good to hear your voice. Thank you. Yes, so in Romans chapter 13, you know, basically has to do with how to relate to the civic government or civic or the government authorities. Other than first Peter chapter 2, this is the primary place in the New Testament where there is teaching on civic authorities. I think Paul writes to Timothy as well. You know, there is a little mention about government that he talks about there to Timothy when he writes to Timothy. So we know that Paul is writing to the believers at Rome and Rome was ruled by the Roman Empire who was in control. And the Roman emperors were ungodly people and they were very, very terrible. They were known for their treacherous acts, inhuman treacherous acts. And, you know, Nero was in power when Paul was writing this letter and he was an extremely wicked man. And he was so much against the Christians and so harsh, so inhuman towards them that he even used them as torches to light his garden. And he also used them as entertainment, making a sport of them, throwing them in the arena where, you know, they'll have this ravenous peace, hungry lions and, you know, animals come and make us, and it was like a sporting game for the people to enjoy. And we see that, you know, eventually even Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman Empire around AD 17, okay. So the Roman government were not kind people, they're not godly, they were not fair, they were not just. So for Paul to write these words to believers at Rome is quite astounding. It's not Paul writing, it is the words of God, it's the Holy Spirit imparting to Paul. And hence, you know, even as we study it today and we read it today, we need to take it very seriously and we have to apply it in our own day and time. So verse one, he says, 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. So he says, you know, submit to the civic authorities and, you know, no questions asked, you know. So can we submit to a good government, if it's a bad government, we don't submit to them. What if the leader is inhuman, you know, treacherous, rude, so we don't submit to him. So no questions asked, he says, you know, submit to or be subject to the governing authorities. And he says, for there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. And so the view that Paul brings to us is that, you know, those in governing authorities are appointed by God. And I think this was something that Church at Rome could be quite shocked to hear or read when, you know, when his letter was being read that, hey, you know, how can you say Nero was somebody who was appointed by God. But that's what the Holy Spirit reveals to Paul and that's what he's writing. In verse two, he says, therefore, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinances of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. So here he's becoming a little more, you know, firm in what he's saying. He's saying that, you know, those of you who resist the ordinance of God, ordinance means the institution of God. Because in verse four and verse six, he noticed how he refers to the civic authorities or the government. He calls them as God's ministers. This is something again would be very shocking for the believers at Rome that he's calling those in civic authorities, calling those in government, in authority, in position. He's calling them as ministers of God. So Paul mentions to us that the civic government are appointed by God, which is something which is too much for the Church at Rome to take. And then he says it's an institution of God. And then he says that they are God's ministers. Okay. So Paul is basically saying that they are instruments in God's hands. So he's saying regardless of the form of government, whether it is a monarchy or whether it is democratic or whether it is a dictatorship kind of a government, you know, whatever kind of government, no qualifiers, you know, he mentions no qualifiers here. And he says, and it's also wrong for us to put qualifiers. He says whatever form of government is there in place, we need to view them as appointed by God, you know, they are the institution of God and they are God's ministers. So sometimes as Christians in our present day and age, we can say, hey, you know, we have, we don't have a democratic kind of a government, we have a dictatorship kind of government. So I'm not going to, you know, obey or be subject or come under this government, you know, or I'm just going to follow a monarchy government because that is what this was in the Old Testament, God is king. And, you know, so I'm going to follow that kind of a government, not democratic, not a dictatorship, but we can't, you know, have our own qualifiers to whom we're going to submit to and who we are going to adhere to. But he says, irrespective of the kind of government authorities, you know, he says, we need to be subject to them, we need to submit to them. So, even as these governments have been appointed by God, they're the institution of God, they're God's ministers, as believers, what should we do? In verse one, Paul says we need to be subject to them. And in verse two, he says, don't resist them. That means don't oppose them, don't fight against them. And verse three, he says, do what is good. And verse seven, he says, render therefore to all their due money and respect and honor, which is something more difficult for the Christians. Okay, and even the Jews. Okay. So, first of all, the Jews would not be subject to the Roman government, they would resist them, fight against them. And then, you know, not even pay their taxes or respect them and honor them because they think the respect and honor is only due to God. But here Paul is saying, you know, we need to give them all their dues in terms of the taxes that we have to pay and also respect and honor. Okay. So, verse three. Okay, verse three, to verse eight, you know, he says, for rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? If you want to be unafraid of the authority, then do what is good and you will have praise from the same. For his guards minister to you for good. So he's referring to the government as guards minister. But if you do evil be afraid for he does not bear the sword and vain for if for his guards minister and Avenger to execute what on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject not only because of Roth, but also for conscience sake. So he's talked about a great deal about conscience in chapter one. Okay, so he's and also in the other chapters. And so he's talking about for conscience sake here. He says, well, because of this, you also pay taxes for they are guards ministers attending continually to this very thing. So you look at how many times he's he's again and again and again referring to them as God minister, God's ministers three times here. Okay. In, in verse four, in verse five, in, in verse four, and also in verse six. And then he says render therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due customs to whom customs here to whom fear or honor to whom honor. He says, Oh, no one accepting a love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law of fulfill the law. Okay, so even as we look at these scripture passages, you know, let's consider some questions with regard to governing authorities. So in what sense are governing authorities appointed by God. What about unjust corrupt and wicked leaders. So we can ask this question. Our wicked rulers also appointed by God are rulers who, you know, close their eyes, overlook good, you know, these evil so called evil rulers who do what is unjust rulers who persecute Christians. Are they also appointed by God, you know, now we see throughout history that they have been different kind of leaders. We've had kings rulers civic leaders, etc. You know, some good some very wicked some moderate, you know, but from scripture we understand, you know, a few things. The first thing is that God is instituted governmental authority. We studied this in the kingdom of God, if you can remember, you know, that we have all been placed under authority. Okay, and we need to recognize that, you know, we have been placed under authoritative or governmental structures in each and every area of our life, whether it's in family, whether it's in the local church, or it's in the body of Christ, or it's in the workplace or in the society. We all come under an authority, a governmental structure, and we recognize that all authority flows from God, and God has instituted authority structures through which his purposes are unfold on the earth, whether it's family, you know, we saw that there is a governmental structure that God has ordained in the family, where the husband and wife, even though they are equal in God's sight, they have equal access to word of God, the gifts, the functions, to everything, you know, the love of God, everything. But yet in God's authoritative structure of God's government in the home, we think that man is the head. So also in the church, you know, all of us are saved by grace. We're all heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, and we all have the right standing with God. All our righteous God loves us all the same, you know, but yet in the church, in God's governmental structure and authority in the church, he has placed leaders, pastors who are in charge. Okay. And so we need to submit to the government or God's authoritative structure or God's government in the local church or in the body of Christ. So also in the workplace, there is leadership. So also in our society that we live, there is a government and that is God's governmental structure of God's authority that he has placed in the workplace and in the society. So in every level, God has placed us in authority structures and each of these authority structures are from God and God has permitted these and instituted them. Okay. And through this, God is fulfilling his plan and his purpose. Okay. We'll stop here. We'll continue in the next class. Anyone has any questions? Any questions? No questions. Okay. Thank you all for joining class. Have a blessed weekend and I'll see you on Monday and we'll continue studying about Romans chapter 30. Thank you, everyone.