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my name is Mike papis and it’s my privilege to be here with you today not sitting in the congregation but here to share with you some thoughts about the fourth chapter of the book by Jerry Bridges called trusting God before I begin Let’s uh have a word of prayer heavenly father thank you for this day that you have made that we would rejoice in it thank you that we can be together as Brothers and Sisters in Christ thank you for the truth of your word that we can depend upon and Lord thank you for this book by Jerry Bridges who had the burden to study about the sovereignty of you Lord God and how this principle is important for us to grasp Lord if there was anything that I would say in error please correct me quickly in Jesus name amen amen well um I’ve enjoyed this book and I’ve certainly enjoyed the preaching or the teaching from others who have come before me um this morning the um the the uh the book began with a scripture chapter 4 began with the scripture 2 Chronicles 20th chapter 6th verse Oh Lord God of our fathers are you not The God Who is in heaven you rule over all the kingdoms of the nation power and might are in your hand and no one can with can withstand you as I read the chapter and the chapters leading up to it uh I thought of how the principle of the sovereignty of God uh is um captured and highlighted throughout scripture and of course one of the most um telling and sign significant of those in my opinion is the first chapter of Genesis Genesis 1:1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth the worlds were framed by the word of God there is one God and Father of us all who is over all for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth he is the god Over All Over All Nations over all people as I said um this chapter chapter 4 is uh titled God’s rule over the Nations and uh early in the chapter he highlighted a chapter uh chapter 1: 11 of Ephesians and in this quote he seemed to try to put it in his own words quote God makes all events of History all decisions of rulers Kings and parliaments and all the nations and all the actions of their governments armies and navies serve his will many of the scripture that is captured that he captured in this chapter um I’m going to refer to periodically and um it again I think reinforces what he captured in this particular quote all those that have been chosen all ruling all those that are ruling have been chosen by God for his purposes our own leaders can serve the people for an extend period of time sometimes for their entire adult life some may only serve some may only serve a few years some foreign rulers are able to REM remain in power for many many years others hold various positions and pursue higher office some foreign leaders hold office in small countries during momentous times in history of their Nation While others are at the helm of large Nations and see increasing turmoil among their people there are leaders that are seeing their country’s historic culture challenged by an influx of immigrants from elsewhere while other leaders have what appears to be greater stability within the fabric of their society with Traditions maintained and protected some of the leaders of the world stand quite firm in defending long-held values of their country in face of external pressure to change while other leaders and their governments maintain the Pomp and Circumstance of tradition but sadly whose citizens identify less and less with Christianity there are some world leaders that are aggressive in their efforts to dominate and control their own country and even seek to influence others while other leaders lead countries that are focused on strengthening the future opportunities for their own people there are some leaders new to their respective positions seeking change from the status quo While others are part of a dynastic system where they concentrate on firmly maintaining power as their primary focus history has recorded numerous individuals that pursued the dominance of others Napoleon bonapart was such a person Jerry Bridges includes a note about a sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon Spurgeon said that the French leader had heard that man proposes and God disposes but bonapart said I propose and dispose too Spurgeon went on to say in this sermon quote how do you think he Napoleon bonapart proposed and disposed he proposed to go and take Russia he proposed to make all Europe his how had he disposed it he came back solitary and alone his mighty Army perished and wasted having well nigh eaten and devoured one another through hunger man proposes and God disposes well we know how this all ended for bonapart the Battle of waterl concluded his military career in 1815 he went on to live few years few years of the remaining years of his life in ex Exile and passed away his plan was never fulfilled God ordains rulers this is captured really well in this uh passage from Romans 13 beginning in verse one let 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 resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves for the rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil do you want to be unafraid of the authority do what is good but if you do evil be afraid for he does not hear bear the The Sword in vain for he is God’s minister Minister an Avenger to execute wrath on whom on him who practices Evil Daniel 4: 17 touches on how God determines who rules this decision is by the decree of the Watchers and the sentence by the word of the Holy ones in order that the living may know that the most high rules in the Kingdom of men gives it to whomever he will and sets over it the lowest of men God determines the length of service for each ruler and when they hold office Isaiah 40: 23 and 24 he brings the princes to nothing he makes the judges of the earth useless scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth when he will also blow on them and they will wither and the Whirlwind will take them away like stubble read that last section of verse 24 he will also blow on [Music] them and they will wither and the Whirlwind will take them away like stubble it’s not a very nice way to exit stubble be stubble can anyone here think of a scenario where you have seen that Mark I think of the uh the fall of the Soviet Union and the tearing down of thein wall something that many thought would never happen yeah was reminded of that when I saw the movie about Reagan and the estate and uh Mr gorbachov teared down that wall teared down this wall and I I was thinking um you know in my lifetime the disintegration of the Soviet Union is an example and and I was reminded of Romania and how uh the leader there had been in power over 20 years Nikolai chesco and there was an uprising and the many of the military again switch sides and began siding with the people who were involved in what turned out to be a revolution and Christmas day in 1989 he and his wife were executed just like that who would have ever thought that could occur we’ve been studying the sovereignty of God God controls the decisions that rulers make Proverbs 16:33 the lot is cast into the lap but it’s every decision is from the Lord every decision we think we make decisions you know military conflicts have been part of history for forever and um we often again think about the talked about the breakup of the S Soviet Union and various military uh events and uh is God involved in that certainly bibl we think in biblical times and some of what I thought about as I was um preparing for this just things that have happened in my lifetime and how I can try to relate God’s sovereignty certainly biblically uh but but in what the events that that I’ve witnessed um and can anyone here think of an an instance where you think God’s sovereignty has been obvious to you evident Mark I to answer all your questions but I just read a book called The American Miracle by Michael medfed and all of the coincidences good and bad have been really amazing looking back um failed assassination attempts actual assassination attempts are just some examples for example Abraham Lincoln had been spared many times but then he was assassinated on good Friday and that really made an impression on Americans who understood the significance of and there’s just a lot of things like that where when you look at it on the whole it’s it’s well it’s very obviously well beyond coincidence yeah agree thank you Mark Jerry Bridges in uh portion of this chapter just had several thoughts that I thought were worth emphasizing and maybe to discuss again it was about God’s sovereignty and over rulers their decisions and how those decisions have impacted uh Us in the world no government no government or dictator is so powerful as to be as to be beyond the sway of his Sovereign rule over all the nations of the earth although we may suspect that some of the more disastrous decisions are evidence of God’s judgment we do not know that I was reading that I was Thinking of U the uh ER World War 2 era and the attack uh on Pearl Harbor and there are some people who have speculated that there was there were numerous instances and I guess they’ve been documented where there were warning signs and people ignored it um and uh you wonder why especially that there were seemed to be a handful multiple incidents where things had been become evident and and yet uh there was no reaction there was no preparation even last minute preparation and we saw the events of World War II and and what occurred and how I think there was good and evil very distinctly uh evident and um yet uh we saw the tragedy that began on December 7th 194 1 few more of Jerry Bridge’s comments he is Sovereign over the Nations where every attempt is made to Stamp Out true Christianity think about that hard to my get my mind around that sometimes when you see people suffering another quote we see over 1/ half of the world’s population living in countries whose government are hostile to the gospel where missionaries are not allowed and where National Christians are severely hindered from the from the proclaiming of Christ I saw this map that I thought was uh related to that particular quote this is a map that a few years ago was produced by the voice of the martyrs and it shows a rather massive area of the world where persecution of Christians exist and by looking at the the countries I think that they’re probably some of the more egregious persecution uh examples that we can think of but can you think of any instance where Faith people of Faith have been able to overcome the oppressive dictators or regimes glander I’m thinking about God’s Sovereign plan and the persecuted brothers and sisters because I follow the go of the m and I remember one in a magazine came to me from them and it was a church they were in service and the government sent the security people lock the Church the true gasoline of the church and everybody in that church so we think that I think when I think about when Paul wants to go over to Asia and then the man CRI over to Macedonia you know and then I think we could have been like those brothers and sisters over there and they could have be like us but when we see how we we know that it’s God’s Sovereign plan of everything but sometime you have to think is how come people died in the church on that particular day when the TR on the church but that could have been us over there so when we look at it we here in America we really have to thank God for bringing salvation to this side and they over there as persecution but what comfort me is when I read in Psalms it said precious in the sight of the Lord and the death of the Saints to all of those people in that church that is God’s way of bringing them home so in everything these rulers think that they they have everything in charge but God is total Sovereign he could have stopped that person from burning down that CH but he didn’t why we don’t know but that is Sor of that so when I look at it I say we have to be really faithful because those brothers and sisters are really suffering sure um I um was thinking about that mentioned Romania but I was thinking of Russia and um in the 880s i i attended a different church and um there was a gentleman who visited periodically his name some of you may have heard of him or knew him his name was Reverend Alex leonovich and he was uh the director of an organization called the Slavic missionary service and he would go to Russia or Belarus or Ukraine and um I remember him talking about this periodically and how in the 80s uh anyone remember the word perro perria or glassos some of you probably have never heard of those words um but in the mid 80s Mel gorbachov who was in power had uh begun to realized that I guess they were their economy was they were kind of losing control and he was trying to modernize the Communist party and so he created these this reform called perista and glassos and I remember Alex leonovich talking about how he would go there and come back and he would say gln is real it’s happening there is an openness the the uh the the the government system is crumbling and there is an openness to preach God’s word and he was excited about it and uh he’s since gone on to be with the Lord but um that that is something that again in my lifetime just within a period of years just something this Empire just crumbled and of course they’re one individual is wanting to to rebuild it but again God is in control this map uh was produced by the Pew Research Center and it is um uh more uh I think a couple of years old but they categorize countries of the world as to whether there are any hostilities towards organized religion wasn’t just Christianity and they cat cized countries as being either low moderate high or very high in persecution of of religious activity and when I um I tried to capture all of the uh the descriptions you can see on the bottom left hand corner you can just see very high and high and being techn technologically challenged as I am I had difficulty getting the entire uh image on this slide but gives you a sense but North America I mean they I identified America United States and Mexico as a high U hostility towards religion and and Canada was even lower than the United States so I thought that was interesting and I don’t know what information that they use to base this on but it certainly is something that we’re beginning to see um any thoughts about that about what anyone might be witnessing personally we we see accounts of What’s Happen happening in different places small businesses but any thoughts about what you’ve seen Mike I I don’t tend to think about it on the Nations or the nationalistic view but just in the day-to-day life of going out sharing the gospel with people there’s certainly a a resistance to it but there’s a Reliance on religion uh mainly founded in in the Judaism and Roman Catholic sex and and Islam we come across those kind folks but yeah I don’t I can’t vouch for the Pew research we hear obviously bad things happening in Canada we certainly see the secularization of America on in our day-to-day life the ones that are light and gray I don’t know would there’s no persecution there but or lighter persu it’s also interesting that that box yeah I should have said that the um thanks for pointing that out Michael um the gray areas they didn’t have information so they they could not categorize them and the the area of the Northern Africa and the Middle East that was something that on subsequent slides they were focused on a bit more but um just thought it was an interesting illustration certainly you see some of the countries uh certainly uh India there is U more and more um dominance of the Hindu religion and and uh there are U accounts of of that uh where the government is actually taking forward steps T taking steps forward to try to institutionalize that uh even though they are a democracy and other country in in Western Africa that’s Nigeria I had the chance to go there number of years ago and uh as I Was preparing to go I learned that that’s one of the most 10 populous nations in the world I I did not know that and uh the um the uh the vastness of the people and the uh poverty and uh struggles that so many of them encounter was was pretty um pretty amazing to me um it’s on a missions trip and there were many U seminaries that were being established and uh being supported by entities here in the United States and individuals in the United States a lot of wonderful things were happening Mike Mark just one thing too I was surprised to learn a number of years ago with a couple of the Supreme Court decisions that anti-christian beliefs are actually being cified in thew so the averell decision for example which legalized gay so-called marriage and then I think it’s the b or comto decision later on with transgender rights both of those attribute anyone who would disagree with those things they use the legal term animous which means hate so anyone which this would be Christians primarily who would disagree with those things the the legal categorization is that that that is hate and and what occurs next there there could be then people who would take action to try to have someone prosecuted for uh their thought or their actions and and that’s I think where we’re where we’re headed on so many uh so many instances um couple of other scriptures that again uh Jerry bridg has highlighted that I think are helpful to us in this uh study Proverbs 16 there was one of the verses that I think I read earlier but in the 16th chapter veres 9 and 33 I had read verse 33 earlier verse 9 a man’s heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps I like to think I’m in control of what I’m doing but I’m not ultimately Proverbs 21:31 I read earlier was the in the context of um military activity the horse is prepared for the day of battle but Deliverance is of the Lord and when I thought of that the horse is prepared for the day of battle I thought again about attack of Pearl Harbor and uh there wasn’t really preparation they could have been prepared they they were warned in some instances and in that case the horse wasn’t prepared and the other one uh the other scripture I want to read uh from Isaiah 40 before earlier I read verses 23 and 24 and I’m going to add 22 two now this is a really this is a really good one it is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like the Grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in he brings the princes to nothing he makes the judges of the earth useless scarcely shall they be planted scarcely shall they be sown scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth when he will also blow on them and they will wither and the Whirlwind will take them away like stubble and again uh further thought about our responsibilities towards government I read this earlier but I’m reading again this is want to U expand upon this a bit 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 resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves for the rulers are not a teror to do to good works but to evil do you want to be un unafraid of the authority do what is 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 not only because of Wrath but also for conscience sake for because of this you will you because of this also pay taxes for they are God’s ministers T 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 taxes custom fear and honor so we have to pay our taxes I want to pay less try to pay less but do so with the help of an accountant to do it legally some people try to pay taxes cut corners and according to this we’re to pay taxes so whatever is established were to pay what do you think about that taxes custom fear what about fear what does that look like Rich well you are supposed to says OB the lawful commands of your government now one thing that I’m a veteran so one of the ways that I say let’s say something the United States was founded on value you certainly did not you broke away from King George and England and that’s something even I wrestle sometimes in my head is how do you reconcile as a Christian you know rebelling against your government with this in this day and age we were founded as a constitutional republic so one of the ways that I maybe I don’t know get around that when I was in the United States Air Force my allegiance was first and foremost to the Constitution of the United States so that meant to me that if my president my officers over me Etc started straying from that and issuing unconstitutional ERS my first duty is to Constitution and I would have my opinion a legal obligation to rebel against them I guess that’s what’s what’s the government that you’re that you’re responsible to for us as as American citizens I mean I don’t know what it’s like in other countries I don’t live there and over here that’s something we all Wrestle with I guess what would you open up your Loy your loyalty to your of course for us as Christians it goes even higher than that I you think of Peter telling us and hedin you know you could tell us what to do but we have to obey God first those would be my thoughts on this whole matter of to whom you obedience for us have to say it’s God absolutely amen anyone else Glenda what does it mean fear what kind of fear is that fear that if you don’t do right you going to go to prison or Fe to honor them for where they are position thoughts from anyone else I think the answer is in the passage when it says we are if you do wrong be afraid right people said this in areas like illegal immigration things like that well we don’t want people to be afraid well it’s actually very appropriate for people to be afraid if they break law that’s a good thing right so I think from Mike you had your hand yeah obvious Jesus said about render to Caesar what is due Caesar for the taxes part obviously there are common expenses that need to be Pa paid for customs and fear yeah passage speaks to that and honor do hon to show them hon there are some that we we do honor but we should pray for all we may we may hold in higher esteem certain others over certain others overs yes Cheryl that we respect that God put them in whether do or not and I think easy us like beinged because I thinke arel he didn’t evil existed the Archangel exhibited respect not my place I have to let God re him and I I feel like that as Christians because we have a v we feel like I’m the one who’s putting this person in power and I’m the person who can take them out and as time goes by we realize actually that’s not true and I feel like in order for us to be able to fear and respect it’s not about that about God appointed them here I may hate it but you know in acts when The Purge of the church came we know in retrospect that God allowed that that didn’t cause it but allowed it so that the gospel would spread throughout the region so I think when we have a distance from the person we realize God who is Sovereign over everything is accomplishing all things together for and I can’t see it so that’s why I respect andar I don’t know thank you I think Mark you had your hand no just uh so would you say it’s kind of a question related to what Cheryl said would you say it’s appropriate to honor the position even if we don’t find the person to be particularly honorable I can give you an example years ago some of you know was a member of Congress and um when Bill Clinton was President and um the day the Lewinsky scandal broke was the day there was he was to come to Capitol Hill to deliver the State of the Union Address and so I attended and uh couple of weeks before I had fractured my left elbow so my arm was in a sling for six seven weeks and so when he entered the chamber um I stood in honor of the office if my elbow was not fractured I would not have applauded and in fact someone noted that there was some member of Congress who stood but couldn’t applaud but the excuse was he had his arm an arm in a sling but there were many people who stood but didn’t applaud and so that’s an example that I can point to of honoring but not affirming person any other Glenda the reason why act what of you have to honor their so that’s that’s all all clear to thanks another verse that I haven’t read before from first Timothy again about what’s our responsibility towards the government 1 Timothy 2: 1-4 therefore I I exhort first of all that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for for kings and all who are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and Peaceable life in all godliness and reverence for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth all who are in Authority everyone whether we like them or not whether they think they are doing good or not or to pray for them and I have to admit I don’t do that as often as I should I’m sure all of you do it perfectly right but it was a challenge to me to to do that um I I thought of an instance where this the last portion of that verse four that that we are to desire I believe this you know exhorts us to desire that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth all men whether I like them or not whether I agree with them or not the neighbor I used to have who didn’t mow his lawn and his weeds were coming over onto my side I they moved thankfully but they I should pray for I should have prayed for them um but I I thought of an instance uh back uh when I was in Washington in another capacity working for federal agency and there’s a Subway down there called the Metro have any of you ever been on the Metro so I I didn’t take it often but this in the span of I think a week or two I had to take it on half a dozen times during the day and two or three times I got on a train and uh there was a man that would enter the car and the train would doors would close and the train would leave and he opened a book and it was a h book and he started to sing A Hymn now he was from Eastern Asia he had a very thick accent and I could understand what he was singing Because I recognized the melody the tune in some instances I could understand the wording and he would read a hymn until the train stopped then he would exit onto the platform and wait for the next train or just go to another car and do the same thing from stop to stop and I saw him there like I said two or three times over the course of a few weeks he desired all me to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and during one of those rides there was a lady a couple of ladies sitting uh in front of me and one of them remarked boy this is annoying why does they have to do that and I said I leaned over and I said um at least he’s not cussing at you she turned around and says yeah I guess so any other examples have any of you ever experienced something like that where you would see someone taking steps that all men would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth have you done anything like that man on that Metro train you know thinking about just what is our heart salvation right toward all people all kinds of people really that’s what that means and you know this passage I I remember probably around the time you were in Congress my I was had a conversation with my dad and I was so upset that someone like Bill Clinton could be our president and he said what are you praying for him citing this passage I said well this praying for impeachment count he said no you need you need to your heart and pray for his salvation and so that’s hard but I think that’s so glad you mentioned this I think this is what God’s telling us that what is our heart toward the salvation of people that we may be really disrespect or don’t agree with you know are we praying actively fervently for their salvation that’s I think that’s where it starts thank you um there some questions here which uh we’ll try to get to but I I want to touch on the first one describe a time in your life when a governmental decision had an effect on your life this is right from the book now I I’m going to give you a couple of thoughts maybe to start the conversation um unless someone has something that they just have to share right now but um sage and I went a week or so ago Down to Georgia for a wedding and um during the course of our stay for a few days we had to go to a store and and buy some toiletries and when we went to the checkout counter to uh purchase them instead of just handing me the receipt and the merchandise she pulled out a plastic bag and she put the items in the plastic bag and handed me the plastic bag and I thought well I get annoyed because the government made a decision that you know single-use plastic bags are illegal in New Jersey yet other packaging is permitted and that just that affects me it annoys me as you can tell maybe I shouldn’t be as annoyed about it it’s an inconvenience um that’s a minor example of something that I’ve experienced but I’ll tell you one that’s a bit more um uh significant so years ago I was mayor of this Township Franklin Township and uh in New Jersey municipal officials judges and others can perform weddings civil ceremonies so I had the chance to do that performed like 38 of them during the course of one year when I served and as far as I know most of them are still married but I run run across a couple of them now and then but um Mark mentioned the US Supreme Court decision that legalize same-sex marriage well now if a judge or a municipal official or even me as a former mayor I can perform ceremonies and you um if you perform a civil ceremony you cannot determine which ceremonies you perform so either you perform none or you perform any who ever present themselves to you so I’ve actually had a chance in my current capacity to perform I’ve been asked and I’ve declined mainly because not that the those that presented themselves were a problem from me uh from my Christian uh uh beliefs but because if I did then I would potentially have to perform any and all and uh many people are confronted with that uh today so again minor plastic bags is my was my first example and then the performance averages the second any any other surely someone here has had some is it a Zone he mentioned zoning he mentioned any number of things Mike in the same ve now that people are allowed of same sex to file the same tax return I do prepare the tax returns of samex couples a couple of them and I I thought about that and I said well you know this is something that I can continue on in and well I look at it this way you know the I know what true marriage is I know that these folks aren’t truly married although bye of government they call it marriage in this end number tax return that it’s not sin but if I didn’t prepare the tax returns of Sinners I would prepare no tax returns basically it yeah including thank you including my own return own return yeah Lea I don’t know if this is a a governmental decision um certainly is a wave so when my son was 13 and he wanted to live with his and I didn’t think that was the best decision for him his dad wasn’t home most of the time um but the judge and it seemed like the the government was behind the 13-year-old deciding where he lives and that’s ultimately what ended up happening there are instances I’ve heard uh regarding um trans transgender or sex change and even among minors and uh I had heard recently there was some I don’t know if it was in the United States or in another Nation but there was an instance where there was I think a 13 or 14year old who was able to get the court to side with them to allow certain procedure to proceed parental rights are not being supported by various courts yes1 years there and it came down to either you take the shot or you lose your job and to lose that job was to give up 21 years ping all of that stuff and but God made a way because I did a religious exemption and they actually accepted it but a lot of my coworkers job behind not being willing to forced to take a shot um that they were so against and so many people um took the shot because they needed their jobs because of their families and stuff and a lot of people got harm behind that as well so that’s when the government comes in and um have you do something against your will that was like potentially lifechanging yes action yeah what’s ISC Chris actually made that tried to make that a Christian issue to love your neighbor get the shot that’s an overreach of another tit absolutely wrong which makes me really appreciate what Pastor Dave preached early on about matters of conscience right these aren’t necessarily biblical issues but they are biblical in the sense that they are matters of conscience that we have fre yeah anyone else yes no neighbor Street open window’s I do it his his owner and Jersey so it was it I about it and did stop and it’s not often that I S it anymore but first like I can’t open my window this an yeah what people do have an impact on others even if it’s not a governmental in that case it was governmental uh decision but still just very real example of how it would affect you and where your Sanctuary yes um so I’m a teacher in a public school district and um by law I is under state law to teach contri people LGBT commity and also those um who have disabilities and so a couple times I I don’t teach Social Studies by myself but I co te special education so there have been a couple days in like the years I’ve been teaching where my decided to uh teach about um these things a couple of those days I happen to be acent so was um you know but the point I’m trying to say is um as we progress in education um there will become a day where and it’s not yet but there will become a day where there might be a unit or a longer lesson over a few days where it’s like you have to teach about this um right now it’s like you can’t refuse to teach about it but there isn’t like our curriculum that particular time so and then you know that impacts me because um my husband and I are thinking of hom schooling one day you know I love my job I love the people I work with um but I also I see everything that the kids go through and and things that they’re taught confusions and anxiety and we don’t think we want our kids to go through that so um for a number of years at least we’re really thinking and praying about stay home homecho really change you know maybe a different time great example and much more impacts so many people we don’t know half of it speaking of covid um I work uh for municipality and different local governments at the time some shut down some you know varying things and those are all local decisions and where I work um we shut down for a couple of weeks and then began to open and really it was only two we period of time that we’re actually shut down began to um so professionally it it didn’t impact me it didn’t impact the people I work with and I know in talking to other people that had a longer period of time where they either worked remotely or didn’t work the transition back was extremely difficult they were many were fear and I understand that and we even took steps to try to address that and acknowledge and not cause people to feel unduly uncomfortable um but um and that’s those are adults and how the adults dealt with it and children I mean just so I I can remember we have neighbors with some young children and and one little boy his name is Teddy his father was telling me how uh afraid he was just to uh see uh see someone without a mask he said can I talk to the person he just was extremely fearful and so uh I’m not minimizing illness you all know u in my family how the illness affected us but still uh decisions that people are making and what what that has meant uh emotionally and psychologically to many people especially children I I don’t think we know the half of it any other thoughts here pretty broad subject so what what are we to do what are we to do what are we to do with all of this share our faith but as far as you know later in the uh study guide he talked about what do you do do you write a letter do you speak out what have some of you done or what are some of you thinking of doing to try to have an impact you mentioned Daniel there which I think is a great great one of making making an appeal to a ruler and I think that’s a that’s a good thing to try to do like he didn’t outright Rebel but he asked for alternative and he made his position known and in one case that worked and in another case he got thrown into alliance then but stepping up and out in Wise ways I think is always a good thing um we we live in a country where you can you can write your representatives you can call them and they they do take that Ser you know this right personally they do take that seriously I’ve done it I probably haven’t done it enough remind me something um in our district last year that state government reding our state by.
milon which and I don’t know much about the numbers and everything but the and that there huge effort to meetings um make calls um so I even like had Jonathan do it you know it was pretty minimal on the part of each one of us it was more like more people that do it the more impact a call you sign a provide eventually they because all right good example thank you anyone else Mike I know these are practical Solutions in terms of writing letters getting involved speaking out but you know really our teaching here is the most important thing what we learn know from the Lord because you know ties into what we learn in Iron Man we he pulit is our first Ministry is to the Lord this we live temporary home is and just to recognize that is the most important thing Ministry to the Lord is to pray with him to understand his will to understand to for all men to come toled of Christ that’s really what and I do preach the gopel because we know that that is the only solution the only truth thank you Mike and I think with the had available the exemption and we had a p letters for everybody and when I applied for the religious exemption where people said oh they not going to Grant they’re not I did it anyway and I had to pass the sign off and I presented the letter and they accepted it and then other people who saw that I did went through the process they did it too and they was so it actually worked it it trickled down and people was like happy that they was able to get that and was not you know made to take the shot and or lose their job so that that actually work a lot of people follow suit what I love about that is you weren’t just looking out for yourself and Julie Julie’s case as well it really helped others you were advocating not just for yourself but very good anyone else well we’re about out of time uh I want to thank you all very much for um your attention and involvement um a moment we’ll close in prayer just want to remind you that next week uh Rich Monto will be teaching and presenting chapter six God’s power over nature so very anxious to hear about that let’s pray Lord thank you for your people and for the attention that they pay to being obedient to you and reading your word applying it to their lives thank you that we could be here together to discuss these things and challenging one another in so many ways now we pray that as we prepare for worship that the people who will be speaking will be leading in worship would be empowered by the holy spirit in Jesus name amen