Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 1 Peter 2:11-17 - Is It Biblical to Submit to Corrupt or Pagan Governments?

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1 Peter 2:11-17 - Is It Biblical to Submit to Corrupt or Pagan Governments? · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Howdy there, faithful listeners. Welcome to the Bible
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  Speaker 1: Explained on this lovely Tuesday morning. And thank you for
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  Speaker 1: being here with me on the Bible Explained podcast. Now,
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  Speaker 1: today we're going to be talking about a subject that
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  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people don't like. And we've
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  Speaker 1: covered this subject before on the podcast a handful of
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  Speaker 1: times in Romans 13, also in Titus chapter 3. And
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  Speaker 1: I think also Matthew 22. So we've covered this quite
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  Speaker 1: a bit. And if you guys haven't guessed what it
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  Speaker 1: is yet, it is submission to government authorities. And you
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  Speaker 1: guys might be like, oh boy, I'm turning off this
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  Speaker 1: episode now. And I get it. I understand the anger.
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  Speaker 1: I think some people feel towards the government at times.
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  Speaker 1: But still, because this is in scripture, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to talk about it. And we're going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: when we should submit to the government and when we shouldn't,
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  Speaker 1: as well as a few other things that we'll talk
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  Speaker 1: about today. But before we get into today's episode, I
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  Speaker 1: am asking each of you to please listen to this
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  Speaker 1: sponsored advertisement and also to go grab your Bible out
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  Speaker 1: of the version that you prefer and go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: grab your cup of coffee as well as this sponsored
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  Speaker 1: ad plays. I appreciate all of you faithful listeners for
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  Speaker 1: taking a moment to listen to that advertisement. But now
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  Speaker 1: let's get into 1 Peter 2, 11 through 17. As usual,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading this passage from the W.E.B. Let's give
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  Speaker 1: reverence to God's word together. Beloved, I beg you as
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  Speaker 1: foreigners and as pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which
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  Speaker 1: war against the soul, having good behavior among the nations,
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  Speaker 1: so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers,
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  Speaker 1: they may see your good works and glorify God in
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  Speaker 1: the day of visitation. Therefore, subject yourselves to every ordinance
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  Speaker 1: of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king
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  Speaker 1: as supreme or to governors, as sent by him for
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  Speaker 1: vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.
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  Speaker 1: For this is the will of God, that by well-doing
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  Speaker 1: you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
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  Speaker 1: Live as free people, yet not using your freedom for
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  Speaker 1: a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. Honor
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  Speaker 1: all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
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  Speaker 1: Even though Peter is clearly writing to his own generation
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  Speaker 1: in this chapter, it expands across every generation and every
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  Speaker 1: time period because we are called by God to submit
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  Speaker 1: to the governing authorities. This is not the first time
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  Speaker 1: that we have read this in scripture. This is also
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  Speaker 1: talked about in Titus chapter 3 and also Romans chapter 13.
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  Speaker 1: Even Jesus himself in Matthew 22, 21 said to the Pharisees,
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  Speaker 1: So even Jesus was teaching a submission to governing authorities.
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  Speaker 1: And this is something I think that makes a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people in today's day and age pretty angry. And honestly,
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  Speaker 1: it probably made people back in Jesus's day and age
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  Speaker 1: pretty angry as well. Because don't forget, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: Israelites were under the Romans, right? And they hated the
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  Speaker 1: Romans and people throughout all of history have hated their governments,
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  Speaker 1: regardless of who's in charge. Somebody always hates the government
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  Speaker 1: because they're not doing the things that we want them
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  Speaker 1: to do. And that is why it's repeated so often
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  Speaker 1: in scripture that we should be obeying these government authorities,
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  Speaker 1: because God is the one that actually puts these people
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  Speaker 1: in place. So let's turn to Romans 13, 1 through 8,
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  Speaker 1: or 1 through 7, rather, and read about this. This
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  Speaker 1: is Paul speaking, and he says, So in other words,
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  Speaker 1: God is the one who puts leaders in their positions.
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  Speaker 1: And if you are going against what God has ordained,
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  Speaker 1: then you're technically going against God himself. That's why we
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  Speaker 1: are to be in subjection of whoever God puts in place.
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  Speaker 1: So how do we be in subjection to governments that
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  Speaker 1: we just don't like or governments that are doing evil things?
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  Speaker 1: Because don't get me wrong, the Romans back in Peter
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  Speaker 1: and Paul and Jesus' day, they were doing very evil things.
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  Speaker 1: They were corrupt, just as every other government. They were idolatrous,
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  Speaker 1: just as every other government. They were not Christian. They
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  Speaker 1: were not Jewish. And probably a lot of the Jewish
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  Speaker 1: people believed that they didn't have to listen to the
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  Speaker 1: Romans because the Romans were not Jewish and were not
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  Speaker 1: following the Jewish laws. And yet Jesus and Peter and
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  Speaker 1: Paul tell the Christians this. submit to the government authorities. Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's go to our passage for today, 1 Peter 2,
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  Speaker 1: 11 and 12, and read about this. It says, Beloved,
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  Speaker 1: I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from
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  Speaker 1: fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Okay, so first
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  Speaker 1: and foremost, Peter is putting all of us Christians in
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  Speaker 1: our place. He's saying, this is your temporary home. You
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  Speaker 1: are considered a foreigner and a pilgrim when you start
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  Speaker 1: believing in Jesus, meaning that you are passing through this life.
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  Speaker 1: Just as a foreigner of a country is passing through,
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  Speaker 1: and that's not really his home. He's hoping to get
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  Speaker 1: back home. Every Christian is the exact same way, except
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  Speaker 1: our home is not found anywhere here on earth, really.
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  Speaker 1: Our home is found in heaven. That is our permanent location. Now,
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  Speaker 1: God gives us places of rest and beautiful homes to
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  Speaker 1: enjoy while we're here on earth, And that's a very
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  Speaker 1: kind and generous thing for him to do for us.
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  Speaker 1: But we have to remember that we are foreigners and
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  Speaker 1: pilgrims on this earth. And when you keep that kind
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  Speaker 1: of in the back of your mind, things that initially
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  Speaker 1: seemed so disastrous to us don't seem as disastrous anymore.
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  Speaker 1: Just as a foreigner who is traveling through a country,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if that country starts to break apart or
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  Speaker 1: if there's problems with the government happening in that country, or,
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  Speaker 1: you know, things are just in turmoil, that foreigner knows, well,
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  Speaker 1: this is bad because I'm living here right now, but
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  Speaker 1: it's okay because I'm going home. And the problems that
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  Speaker 1: are here in this country don't affect me as much
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  Speaker 1: because I have a home where those problems are not happening.
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  Speaker 1: And my home is better than this home. So that's
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  Speaker 1: the first way we can obey Peter. and Paul and
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  Speaker 1: Jesus when they tell us to submit to the governing authorities.
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  Speaker 1: We realize that this is temporary and that God is
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  Speaker 1: ultimately in control and that we have a better home
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  Speaker 1: somewhere else where these governmental problems are not going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: So here's what Peter continues with. He says, as pilgrims
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  Speaker 1: abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having
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  Speaker 1: good behavior among the nations. So in that of which
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  Speaker 1: they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your
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  Speaker 1: good works and glorify God in the day of visitation.
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  Speaker 1: So because this world is not our home and we're
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  Speaker 1: just a passing through, some of you guys might recognize
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  Speaker 1: that old hymn. This world is not my home. I'm
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  Speaker 1: just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond
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  Speaker 1: the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
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  Speaker 1: and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: it's so catchy. But anyway, because we are pilgrims here
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  Speaker 1: on earth, we're just passing through earth. We have to
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  Speaker 1: have good behavior among the nations and also abstain from
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  Speaker 1: fleshly lusts, which wage war against our souls. Now think
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  Speaker 1: about that. Fleshly lusts are actually trying to pull us
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  Speaker 1: away from Jesus. They are waging war against our own souls.
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  Speaker 1: So we have to abstain from these things. And that
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  Speaker 1: can be very hard to do, especially if we have
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  Speaker 1: addictions or sin bents, as some people like to call them.
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  Speaker 1: And these are things that we regularly struggle with. So
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  Speaker 1: how do we get rid of some of these fleshly
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  Speaker 1: lusts and temptations that are trying to steal away our souls? Well,
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  Speaker 1: the only way we can really do it is by
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  Speaker 1: just trusting in Jesus more and more. It's a habit
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  Speaker 1: that you have to practice, saying no. And even if
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  Speaker 1: you do fail and you fall back into the sinful
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  Speaker 1: temptations and lusts that you previously had, whatever it might be,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm not just talking about pornography. There's any number
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  Speaker 1: of temptations and lusts out there that all of us have.
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  Speaker 1: It could be something as simple as a shopping addiction.
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  Speaker 1: It could be any kind of addiction, really. Somebody actually
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  Speaker 1: asked me a couple of years ago, Jen, you're addicted
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  Speaker 1: to coffee. Do you think as a Christian, that's a
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  Speaker 1: good thing to be like addicted? And at the time
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  Speaker 1: I was like, get out of here. There's nothing wrong
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  Speaker 1: with a coffee addiction. But then I had to think
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  Speaker 1: about it. And what's interesting is right after that person
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  Speaker 1: messaged me about my coffee addiction, I had to stop
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  Speaker 1: drinking coffee because of all of my stomach problems. But
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  Speaker 1: if you're so addicted to coffee, I suppose, that you
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  Speaker 1: have to have it and you can't function without it
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  Speaker 1: and you're mean to people without it like I am,
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  Speaker 1: then yeah, it's probably not a good addiction to have.
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  Speaker 1: But then again, God does give us food and he
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  Speaker 1: gives us coffee for us to enjoy. So as long
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  Speaker 1: as we don't make it an addiction, it is fine
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  Speaker 1: to have. But we have to be careful even about
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  Speaker 1: something as simple as a coffee addiction, because anything can
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  Speaker 1: really wage war. against our souls. But anyway. The broader
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  Speaker 1: thing that I'm trying to say, I'm not trying to
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  Speaker 1: confuse you guys, is we have to identify the sin
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  Speaker 1: in our lives and do our best through the power
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to say no to
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  Speaker 1: these sinful temptations with Jesus being by our side, helping
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  Speaker 1: us through these things. And the more we say no,
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  Speaker 1: and the more we make that our habit instead of
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  Speaker 1: the previously sinful lust that we have, It's going to
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  Speaker 1: get easier and easier in the future to continue to
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  Speaker 1: say no to these things. And so we have to
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  Speaker 1: have a good reputation is what Peter says here in
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  Speaker 1: verse 12, having good behavior. In other words, a good
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  Speaker 1: reputation among the nations. So in that of which they
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  Speaker 1: speak against you as evildoers, they or the governing authorities
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  Speaker 1: or the overall populace may see your good works and
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  Speaker 1: glorify God in the day of visitation. So Peter is
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  Speaker 1: both warning us and encouraging us. He's saying, look, no
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  Speaker 1: matter what kind of great lifestyle and good reputation that
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  Speaker 1: you have, that you live, there are still going to
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  Speaker 1: be evildoers that hate Christians, that hate what you believe in,
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  Speaker 1: that are going to persecute you. And they might bring
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  Speaker 1: you before the governing authorities and make all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: accusations against you. But if you do good and have
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  Speaker 1: a good reputation, then no matter what evil is said
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  Speaker 1: about you, God is going to be glorified in the end.
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  Speaker 1: And you may actually save yourself if you live in
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  Speaker 1: peace with all people. In fact, Romans 12, 18 and
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  Speaker 1: 19 says this. If it is possible, as much as
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  Speaker 1: it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
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  Speaker 1: Don't seek revenge for yourselves, beloved, but give place to
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  Speaker 1: God's wrath. For it is written, vengeance belongs to me
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  Speaker 1: and I will repay, says the Lord. So even when
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  Speaker 1: people accuse us Christians of doing something wrong or being
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  Speaker 1: evil or slandering our names, when we live at peace
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  Speaker 1: with people and we have good reputations, those slanderous words
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  Speaker 1: hopefully will not get very far because we are living
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  Speaker 1: in peace. We are doing good things and people can
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  Speaker 1: see that and people are not stupid. However, even if
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  Speaker 1: the slander works, And people start to believe that you're
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  Speaker 1: some sort of evil person because you're a Christian, even
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  Speaker 1: if you did nothing wrong. God will repay those people.
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  Speaker 1: That's what it says right here in Romans 12, 19.
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  Speaker 1: Don't seek revenge yourself, but leave it up to God
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  Speaker 1: to repay because God promises us. He promises you and
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  Speaker 1: he promises me. I will repay the hurt that you experienced.
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  Speaker 1: And man, you know, As much as I would like
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  Speaker 1: to take vengeance out on the people that have hurt
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  Speaker 1: me in the past, God is going to repay. That
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  Speaker 1: is what it says in scripture. And when God repays
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  Speaker 1: somebody for the evil that they do, it is going
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  Speaker 1: to be perfect, like the perfect amount of punishment for
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  Speaker 1: that person. And it's going to completely satisfy our need
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  Speaker 1: for justice because God is the perfect judge and he
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  Speaker 1: cares about us very, very deeply. But going back to
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  Speaker 1: 1 Peter 2, Peter mentions that there are going to
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  Speaker 1: be people who persecute us. And when that happens, our
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  Speaker 1: good reputations may save us. But even if they don't,
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  Speaker 1: God sees the evil that happens to us. And it
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  Speaker 1: actually says right here in 1 Peter 2, verse 12,
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  Speaker 1: that they're going to see your good works and glorify
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  Speaker 1: God in the day of visitation. If you switch to
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  Speaker 1: the NIV right there and read the same verse, It
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  Speaker 1: says that they're going to see your good deeds and
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  Speaker 1: glorify God on the day that he visits us. So
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  Speaker 1: in other words, at Jesus's second coming, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to be justified completely, either now in this life or
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  Speaker 1: in the life to come when Jesus comes again. So
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  Speaker 1: now moving to verse 13, he says, therefore subject yourselves
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  Speaker 1: to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether
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  Speaker 1: to the king as supreme or to the governor's So
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  Speaker 1: there you go. Peter is not saying across the board,
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  Speaker 1: bow the knee to the governing authorities and practically worship
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  Speaker 1: them as God. Absolutely not. He's saying every ordinance of
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  Speaker 1: man we should subject ourselves to. These are the temporal
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  Speaker 1: things that are going to be done away with when
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  Speaker 1: Jesus returns. So anything not related to the spiritual. These
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  Speaker 1: are things like taxes and the speed limit and the
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  Speaker 1: law broadly. Even if these things are annoying and awful,
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  Speaker 1: like for example, whenever there is a weather change on
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  Speaker 1: the freeway, we have these like stupid signs that are digital.
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  Speaker 1: And so whoever in whatever part of the country can
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  Speaker 1: just like control our speed limit when they're not even
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  Speaker 1: in the general area. Like they just look at the
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  Speaker 1: weather and they decide what the speed limit is going
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  Speaker 1: to be for that day. It is so annoying because
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  Speaker 1: sometimes it's perfectly sunny outside, but because there is a
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  Speaker 1: threat of a storm coming, they lower the speed limit
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  Speaker 1: to 15 points. And it's like, look, this is stupid.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think I should have to obey this. I
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  Speaker 1: want to speed. But even though it's an annoyance, it's
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  Speaker 1: a temporary... honestly insignificant thing if you really think about
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  Speaker 1: it in the grand scheme of eternity. So Peter is
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  Speaker 1: not saying to bow the knee or obey anything that
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  Speaker 1: is not temporal. So anything that has to do with
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual. So for example, if the government forces children
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  Speaker 1: in the public school system to learn something that goes
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  Speaker 1: directly against scripture, as Christians, we shouldn't send our kids
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  Speaker 1: to that kind of program. We should do our best
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  Speaker 1: to fight against it. to talk to the school districts,
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  Speaker 1: to talk to the government, to do anything we can
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that our kids don't have to learn
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  Speaker 1: something that could potentially affect their spiritual health. Because those
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  Speaker 1: are now crossing over into the ordinances of God. So
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  Speaker 1: if it's an ordinance of man and it does not
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  Speaker 1: matter because it's annoying, And because it's broadly not going
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  Speaker 1: to affect spiritual health, we should just obey it and
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  Speaker 1: submit to these governing authorities, even if they don't seem
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  Speaker 1: to care about us or love us. We still submit
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  Speaker 1: because we are Christians and that is what God called
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  Speaker 1: us to do. But if it's beyond an ordinance of
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  Speaker 1: man and treads on God's ordinances, we do not submit
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  Speaker 1: to those things. And how do you know the difference? Well,
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  Speaker 1: you have to read the Bible and see what the
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  Speaker 1: difference really is. Is something crossing over into something affecting
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual health of somebody. And if that's the case,
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  Speaker 1: then we certainly cannot submit to something like that. But
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  Speaker 1: generally speaking, us Christians should submit because God put these
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  Speaker 1: people in place, sent by him, in other words, God
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  Speaker 1: in verse 14, for vengeance on evildoers and for praise
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  Speaker 1: to those who do well. So sometimes God uses others
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  Speaker 1: to enact vengeance and justice for him. We see that
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  Speaker 1: a lot in the Old Testament, where God will sometimes
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  Speaker 1: send conquering nations into Israel because Israel needed punishment from
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  Speaker 1: their idolatry and sins against Yahweh. God would use people
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  Speaker 1: to enact vengeance and justice on the guilty party. And
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  Speaker 1: so sometimes God is placing people in command, specifically so
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  Speaker 1: that they do enact judgment and vengeance against evil doers.
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  Speaker 1: That is what Peter is saying here. For this is
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  Speaker 1: the will of God, that by well-doing you should put
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  Speaker 1: to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So doing good,
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  Speaker 1: being obedient, being submissive to the government, and just generally
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  Speaker 1: having a good reputation will put to silence the ignorance
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  Speaker 1: of foolish men who come against us only because we
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  Speaker 1: are Christians. I mean, think about the story of Daniel
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  Speaker 1: in the lion's den. That was back in Persian culture
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  Speaker 1: with King Darius. Darius loved Daniel, who was a devout
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  Speaker 1: Jewish man who would pray to God every single day.
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  Speaker 1: And because the other advisors hated Daniel and also hated
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  Speaker 1: the God that Daniel worshiped, They went to the king
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  Speaker 1: and flattered him and were like, hey, king, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you should make a law that people can only worship you.
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  Speaker 1: They shouldn't be allowed to worship all of these other
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  Speaker 1: gods because you're the grandest of all of these kings.
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  Speaker 1: So you should absolutely get all the praise and worship.
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  Speaker 1: And so the king being very arrogant and very prideful
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  Speaker 1: was like, yeah, that's a great idea. I should absolutely
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  Speaker 1: make that law. So he made that law, not thinking
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  Speaker 1: about the ramifications of it, not thinking about his favorite advisor, Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: who worshiped Yahweh. But Daniel, when he saw that decree,
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  Speaker 1: refused to obey it. And he went home as normal
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  Speaker 1: and prayed to Yahweh and did not pray to King Darius.
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  Speaker 1: So the advisors who knew this was going to happen,
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  Speaker 1: and they set this all up specifically to kill Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: went to Darius and were like, hey, we saw Daniel
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  Speaker 1: praying to Yahweh as normal. And he was not obeying
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  Speaker 1: anything that you said, O king. So now because of
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  Speaker 1: this law, you have to cast him into the pit
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  Speaker 1: of lions. So Darius, who was very distressed, ended up
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  Speaker 1: casting Daniel into that pit of lions because he had to,
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  Speaker 1: because that was what the law said. And as we're
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  Speaker 1: going through the book of Esther, you can see that
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  Speaker 1: in Persian culture, when the king makes a law, that
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  Speaker 1: law was binding. Even the king himself could not go
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  Speaker 1: back on the law. So Daniel was cast into that
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  Speaker 1: den of lions and that actually caused Darius to to
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  Speaker 1: pray to Yahweh and actually start trusting in Yahweh. So
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  Speaker 1: he prayed to Daniel's God and asked God to save
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  Speaker 1: Daniel from that pit of lions. So Darius himself actually
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  Speaker 1: ended up breaking the law that he made, interestingly enough.
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  Speaker 1: And Daniel, of course, as we know, was saved from
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  Speaker 1: that pit of lions. And it turned out that the
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  Speaker 1: advisors that accused Daniel and only wanted his demise, ended
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  Speaker 1: up being thrown into the pit of lions themselves for
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  Speaker 1: this mass plan that they made to accuse Daniel. So
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  Speaker 1: Daniel did exactly what Peter is talking about right here.
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  Speaker 1: He submitted to the king when it came to governmental matters,
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  Speaker 1: but did not submit when it came to matters of faith.
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  Speaker 1: But overall, he was a respected and quiet and peaceful
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  Speaker 1: man that the kings all kind of loved. And in
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  Speaker 1: the end, even though people hated Daniel and tried to
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  Speaker 1: accuse him and slander his name because he was a
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh follower, it didn't work in the end. And those
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  Speaker 1: people were put to silence, literally, because they were devoured
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  Speaker 1: by the hungry lions. So that's how you and I
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  Speaker 1: should also be living as temporary residents here on this earth.
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  Speaker 1: We should be using stories like Daniel. as guidance for
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  Speaker 1: our own lives of how we submit to rulers that
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  Speaker 1: are pagan and who are evil, while still submitting to
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh at the exact same time and having good reputations
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  Speaker 1: and doing good to all people. There are plenty of
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  Speaker 1: stories found like that in the Old Testament. And I
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  Speaker 1: think a lot of modern day Christians should really use
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  Speaker 1: those things as an example, because hatred of our government
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  Speaker 1: is at an all time high right now, not just
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  Speaker 1: with non-Christians, but with Christians as well. So here's how
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  Speaker 1: Peter concludes all of this in verse 16, live as
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  Speaker 1: free people, yet not using your freedom for a cloak
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  Speaker 1: of wickedness, but as bond servants of God. So in
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: other words, even though we live under the rule of
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  Speaker 1: government authorities, live with the understanding that God has ultimately
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  Speaker 1: granted us freedom. even if we're under an oppressive government
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  Speaker 1: right now. We are citizens of another place. We are
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  Speaker 1: free citizens of another place, by the way, where we
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  Speaker 1: will be able to live in complete and total freedom,
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  Speaker 1: but not freedom to do evil things, but freedom to
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  Speaker 1: serve God. And serving God is the ultimate freedom that
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  Speaker 1: you can get, which is kind of a weird oxymoron. Basically,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Peter is saying here, be free to serve. But we
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  Speaker 1: were designed, you and I, we were created to worship
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  Speaker 1: and to serve Christ. And since that's how we were
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: created to be, that is when we are going to
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: find the most fulfillment and joy and honestly freedom in
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: our lives is when we live the way that we
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  Speaker 1: were created to live. So now here's what he says
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  Speaker 1: in verse 17. Honor all men, everybody, whether Christian or non-Christian,
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  Speaker 1: honor them, love the brotherhood, That would be the brotherhood
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  Speaker 1: and sisterhood of Christians. Fear God, that comes first, and
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  Speaker 1: then honor the king. So fearing God comes first before
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  Speaker 1: honoring the king. And this is a guideline of how
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  Speaker 1: we can live according to scripture. Being in a country
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: that might have a government that we don't like. that
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: might have an evil, oppressive, or idolatrous government, while still
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: learning to submit and honor our kings and presidents and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: those in charge, but honoring God above everything else. So thankfully,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: we're not alone in all of this. There are many
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  Speaker 1: examples we can find in the Old Testament of men
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  Speaker 1: and women who submitted to governments, but submitted to God first.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, we're going through one of those right now
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: in Esther on the Old Testament side of stuff. Because
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: as you guys know, on Mondays and Wednesdays, I talk
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: about the Old Testament and Tuesdays and Thursdays, I talk
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: about the New Testament. And so right now we are
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: in the book of Esther. And that is another shining
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  Speaker 1: example of a young woman who submitted to the government,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: but also submitted to God first before everything else. So
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: I hope you guys tune in tomorrow as we talk
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: about Esther chapter, what is it? Six that we're on,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I think. And we're going to see how Esther ends
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  Speaker 1: up saving all of the Israelites and because of her
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: faith in God. So faithful listeners, make sure to tune
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: into that tomorrow. But before I end today's episode, please
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: listen to one last sponsored ad for today. All right,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope you all have a fantastic and
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: wonderful rest of your day. Hopefully I'll see you guys
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: tomorrow for the book of Esther and also on Thursday
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: for an episode again from 1 Peter 2, where we
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: will finish up this chapter and talk about servants being
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  Speaker 1: in submission to their masters. And that is another I
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  Speaker 1: think hot button topic right now that a lot of
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: people don't like to hear, but if this is repeated
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  Speaker 1: so often in scripture about submission, then certainly there is
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  Speaker 1: something to it. And certainly God wants us to, I think,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: think about submission more than we actually do, especially as Americans,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, we just have this like rebellious streak
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: in us. I think it's just the nature of America
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and the founding of America that But rebellion is not
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: always a good thing. Sometimes it can be, but a
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: lot of times it is not. So we have to
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: think about when is the appropriate time to rebel and
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: when is the appropriate time to submit. And when we
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: figure out those kinds of things, I think we get
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  Speaker 1: a little bit closer to the person that Jesus desires
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: us to be. So we're going to talk more about
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: submission on Thursday. So I hope to see all of
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: you faithful listeners then 6 a.m. or whenever you choose
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: to wake up. Happy listening and God bless. I just
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: want to take a second to thank the team at
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Life Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Explained podcast. In fact, if you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.