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The River ChurchSermons

Romans 9-16

Applying Righteousness: Towards Others/Government

Lee Hotchkiss · Sunday, 9 November 2025 · Romans 13:1-10 · 39:16 · 5,196 words

Romans S29 · 13:1-10

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

The sermon shifts from the doctrinal teaching of Romans to the practical responsibilities of believers, highlighting three institutions God established: family, church, and government. Drawing on Romans 13:1‑10, it teaches that God placed governing authorities in place, so Christians must submit, obey laws, pay taxes, honor and pray for leaders. The message explains that separation of church and state safeguards religious rights, encouraging believers to participate in society. It ends by affirming Christ's ultimate authority and calling listeners to love their neighbors as a reflection of His image.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

politics 21 authority 30 government 25 responsibility 22 tax 19 structure 9 establish 13 public 10 society 10 vote 8 official 9 pulpit 7

Topics

Government & Authority 9 Sin 2 Obedience 2 The Gospel 2 Faith 1 The Wrath of God 1 Prayer 1 The Body of Christ 1 Righteousness 1 The Law 1

Scripture referenced 23

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Genesis 2:7 1:44 Genesis 2:18 1:48 Genesis 2:21-22 1:52 Genesis 1:27 2:02 Matthew 16:18 3:12 Matthew 28:19-20 5:14 Matthew 28:19-20 6:08 Romans 13 6:26 Romans 13 6:34 Romans 13:1-10 6:38 Romans 13:1-2 7:06 Romans 13:1-2 7:35 Romans 13:1-10 9:35 Romans 13 17:55 Romans 3:13-7 21:57 1 Timothy 2:1-2 22:11 Romans 3:31 22:48 Romans 13:10 23:42 Romans 13 28:43 Romans 13:1-10 35:35 Romans 13 36:42 Romans 13 36:54 Matthew 8:18 37:04

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

You know, we've been going through the book of Romans now for quite a few weeks,

and I hope everybody has gained just a ton of the book of Romans.

And the first 11 chapters that we went through were really the salvation story,

our God's blessings on us, his grace that he shared with us.

And it's very doctrinal in terms of all of the things that God has done for us.

And then as we move into chapters 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16,

we will see a big shift in terms of not necessarily what God has done for us,

but what it is that is our responsibility here on earth as believers.

And although that this is not our permanent home, right,

we know that our permanent home is in heaven.

We still have a responsibility to live out here on earth.

And it's clear.

It's clearly defined in the last five chapters of Roman.

And keep in mind that as Christians, we are created in the image of Christ,

and our conduct should be such.

We have that responsibility.

When you take on Christianity, you're taking on the name of Christ.

And so how you conduct yourself in private and in public is a reflection of Jesus Christ.

Now, in the Bible, God has instituted,

really, or established three main institutions, okay?

The first thing that we see him institute or establish

is the institution of the family in the book of Genesis.

In Genesis 2, 7, we see the creation of man.

In verse 18, we see the need for relationship.

In verses 21 and 22, we see the creation of woman.

And in 23 and 24, we see the covenant of marriage to becoming one flesh.

In Genesis 1, 27,

28, it says,

God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him.

Male and female, he created them.

And God blessed them.

And God said to them,

Be fruitful and multiply.

It's a responsibility.

God puts it in the word.

Fill the earth and subdue it,

and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens

and over every living thing that moves on earth.

In this foundation of family,

we see God has designed,

a place for companionship between male and female,

procreation, when he says be fruitful and multiply.

And we are to be a reflection of God's image.

I think about probably my household a lot of times

and how I conduct myself and my family

and think, was that a reflection of God's image?

But he created us to do so and be so.

We see in the book of Matthew

the establishment of the institution of the church.

Matthew 16:18 says,

"And I tell you, that you are Peter.

And on this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Jesus is the founder and builder of the church.

He is the cornerstone.

He is the establisher of the church.

And what does the word "church" mean?

It means those or those that are called out.

Called out to be different.

The church is to be separate of this world.

If the Bible says that we are not of this world,

what does that mean, we're not of this world?

Like, Lee, you live in this world.

What does that mean, you're not of this world, right?

You don't participate in community?

You don't work and drive down the streets?

No.

Our mindset is to be an eternal mindset,

not an earthly mindset.

And so if we collaborate with the world

in things that are opposed to biblical views,

then we are of this world.

And the Bible says that we are not to be of this world.

As the church.

Now the church is not a building.

I say this anytime I go to a church.

This is not the church.

This is the church.

This is not the church.

We have one church.

This is why we say this at the river.

We have nine locations and one church.

The church is a representation of you folks.

The body of believers.

This is simply a building that we host services

or host gatherings.

But you are the church.

You are the church and as the church,

you have a responsibility.

You have a responsibility.

I saw a little kid running down the road.

I heard down the road, down the hallway there,

I heard like flip-flops or something.

Jesus talks about Peter, the rock.

But Peter himself was not the rock,

but his confession of faith in Jesus Christ

being the rock.

The purpose of the church is found in Matthew 28:19-20.

This is what Jesus said to his disciples and to you.

It says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you to do."

And so all that I have commanded you to do.

And so we see the purpose of the church

is to go and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the purpose of the church.

And that is not only through your words

but through your actions,

through how you love people,

how you treat others,

in your local communities.

That is the purpose of the church.

And that is why we see people get baptized on Sunday mornings

because it says, "Baptizing them."

That is why they say that, right?

We didn't make that up.

"In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

It is found in Matthew 28:19-20.

That is the purpose of the church.

Go, share the good news,

the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let people's worlds be transformed.

And then a public declaration

of an internal decision.

And in Romans 13,

we see God's establishment of the government.

we are going to read verses 1-10.

That will be the text that we are covering today.

It says,

"Let every person be subject to governing authorities,

for there is no authority except from God,

and those that exist have been instituted by God."

So I want you guys to start processing this

as we read through this, right?

The first thing that you think about when you hear that is,

"Well, I don't agree with these people's political views."

Well, according to Romans 13:1-2,

that's not your decision whether or not God has instituted

or implemented them into their governing authority.

It says, "For no authority except from God,

and those that exist have been instituted by God."

Notice God here has established structure.

Not sin,

So God has put the structure of the governing authorities in place,

and according to Romans 13:1-2,

He has implemented these people.

"Therefore, whoever resists the authorities,

resists what God has appointed,

and those who resist will incur judgment.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct,

but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one

who is in authority?

Then do what is good,

and you will receive his approval.

For he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid."

You're supposed to be afraid of you guys.

"For if you do wrong,

then you're supposed to be afraid."

I shouldn't joke around.

I got mixed up here.

"Be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain,

for he is the servant of God,

an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Therefore, one must be subject not only

to avoid God's wrath,

but also for the sake of conscience.

For because of this you also pay your taxes.

For the authorities are ministers of God,

attending to this very thing.

Pay to all what is owed to them,

taxes to whom own taxes that are owed,

revenue to whom own revenue is owed,

respect to whom own respect is owed,

honor to whom honor is owed.

Owe no one anything except to love each other.

For the one 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 covet,

and any other commandment are summed up in this word."

That's love.

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Therefore, love is fulfilling of the law."

And so you see here in Romans chapter 13:1-10,

God establishing government

and our obligation as believers within that government frame.

We have an obligation.

Whether you like it or not.

All throughout the Bible you have decisions to make.

Whether you like it or not really doesn't matter.

This is the inerrant word of God.

What does that mean?

And so therefore we have to,

as believers who have taken on the name of Christ,

follow the word of God.

So let's look at some key principles.

Let's look at some key principles laid out in this text.

What are we supposed to do?

We're supposed to submit to authority.

So what does that mean?

Obey the laws of the land.

If you don't believe that a speed limit sign

that says 35 should be 35 in that area,

and you go 50, guess what?

You're going to pay the consequences.

God says obey the speed limit.

Obey the laws of the land.

That's what he's implemented.

If you work for a company,

if you don't believe the laws of the land,

if you don't believe the laws of the land,

then change jobs.

Because as a Christian,

you've been set in this place

to obey those things that have been put in place.

Daniel in the Bible served faithfully

under Babylonian kings,

although he was in exile.

He served faithfully.

I want to talk about workplace for a second

because sometimes that's a sticking point for people.

We may or may not,

I would say we all choose where we work.

You can choose to quit.

You can choose to work there.

Let me give you some advice.

Never work for the company you work for.

Work for Christ and go to work every day.

The company you work for issues you a paycheck.

But I'll tell you this.

If you work for Jesus Christ every day,

you'll work more diligently

because you're bearing the name of Christ.

Know that God signs your paycheck.

Comerica Bank doesn't sign my paycheck.

God does.

Regardless of where I'm at,

know that you are working for God,

not this institution.

You are doing the right things in society

because you are a servant of God,

not because you're necessarily told to.

Everything you do is a reflection of Jesus Christ.

It says pay your taxes.

That's a principle laid out here.

Who wants to pay taxes?

Nobody wants to pay taxes.

Public officials don't want to pay taxes.

Lee doesn't want to pay taxes.

Nobody wants to pay taxes.

But according to biblical truth,

we are required to pay our taxes.

And guess what?

If you don't pay your taxes,

if you're a landowner and you don't pay your taxes,

it will be taken away from you.

There's a punishment for not obeying the law.

And God is showing us this clearly.

These are things that are required of us.

In fact, Jesus models this when he says,

"Render to Caesar what's Caesar's."

And God, what's God?

Jesus is saying,

"Hey, if there's rules in the land

where you have to do these things,

you have to take care of your responsibilities."

Guess what?

If you don't agree with it,

become involved with politics.

Become a public official.

Do something about it.

If you're not going to vote,

if you're not going to be a part of something,

then pay your taxes and don't complain about it.

That's biblical truth.

Leaders speak respectfully

about public officials, okay?

I guarantee that everybody is probably

on one side of their belief system or the other

when it comes to parties and political beliefs.

As Christians, your responsibility

is to be respectful in your thought,

in your words, and in your actions,

regardless of what side of the aisle they stand on.

To be respectful because you are

a reflection of Christ.

You were built or created in the image of God,

and that is your God-given responsibility.

Praying for leaders,

asking for wisdom for our leaders,

even when you disagree.

Guess what?

We've all seen political campaigns,

and we've all had people who have won presidencies

or won governorship or won local positions,

and we completely disagree with their platform.

Yet we as Christians are called to pray for them.

David had reverence for God

and therefore did not kill King Saul

when he had been given the opportunity,

calling him God's anointed one.

We are to honor structure but confront sin.

Also our God-given priorities,

our God-given command,

we are to honor structure

and confront sin.

In the justice of the government,

we see that the rulers are established by God

to punish those who do wrong

and honor those who do right.

That is our justice system, right?

God is, or Paul in this case,

is speaking of our justice system

and the fact that people shouldn't be able to do

whatever they want in society and get away with it,

and when they do something wrong, they're punished.

Anyone here been punished before for doing something wrong?

Okay, you're all lying.

And then you're supposed to be rewarded.

I know, I know Pastor Gary's lying.

And you're supposed to be rewarded

for things that you've done correctly.

And that's the justice system

and how governing authorities

or governing institutions have been established.

And that is what Paul is referencing here.

We are to fulfill the law by loving others

and following commandments.

Don't commit adultery.

Don't murder.

Don't steal.

Don't covet.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

Paul clearly laying this out.

Disobedience to legitimate government

can and is resisting God's structure.

Legitimate government established,

if we are resisting that,

it can be resisting God's structure.

And we'll jump into that in a minute.

Now, this is not a command

to obey every government decree.

And I know those are the things

that people are thinking about right now

as a body of believers,

as we talk about government

and following government,

regardless of what side of the aisle you stand on.

Not every act of government is divinely approved

or divinely backed, right?

There is sin.

I said this before.

God establishes structure.

He does not approve sin.

He establishes structure of government.

All throughout the Bible,

there were horrible, evil government leaders

that, according to Romans chapter 13,

were set in place by God.

I love to think of this.

That's what makes God, God in us men.

We don't understand his purpose and his plan,

but he has one set in place.

We may never see it in our lifetime,

but he has one set in place

because God only has a eternal mindset, right?

We are thinking with our earthly minds,

thinking with our earthly mindset

when we think about certain people

who have been put in place.

We are called to respect the position of authority,

but not bound to endorse evil actions, right?

It's how we conduct ourselves,

but we are not bound to endorse evil actions.

We see this all throughout the Bible.

Exodus, the Hebrew midwives disobeyed Pharaoh,

refusing to kill Hebrew babies.

They feared God.

Why?

Let's go back up to the top.

Thou shall not murder.

Pharaoh said as the governing authority,

you need to kill all of the firstborn babies.

The Hebrew midwives said,

no, we're going to hide them.

We're not going to kill them.

Why?

Because they feared God and his authority,

and it was clearly written out

that that was not allowed.

Daniel in chapters three and six

and his three buddies,

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

they were told to stop praying

and to worship idols.

What'd they say?

We'll take our punishment for it.

5:29, Peter and the apostle said,

we must obey God rather than man.

There is a time when what governing authority says

is in direct opposition of what God says

that you as Christians have the right to say no.

That's your God-given responsibility.

When the government commands what God forbids

or forbids what God commands,

we must obey God first.

If you're created in the image of God,

if you are a child of God,

you must obey the Father.

13:3-4 says this,

for rulers are not a terror to good conduct,

but to bad.

Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

Then do what is good,

and you will receive his approval,

for he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid,

for he does not bear the sword in vain,

for he is the servant of God,

an avenger who carries out God's wrath

on the wrongdoer.

Paul here is speaking of when government

is functioning as it should,

promoting good and restraining evil.

That is the system of government

that is supposed to be,

take taxes out of the equations, right?

Nobody, okay, nobody agrees.

Nobody likes it.

But are you restraining evil

and pushing forth good?

Then we need to support that.

And we need to do those things

as the body of believers.

The order established by God

was to restrain evil

and bring an increase of good.

When rulers do the opposite,

oppress, persecute, or defy God's moral law,

their authority can become corrupt

and not divine.

Christians are called to respect authority.

Romans 3:13-7.

Pay all to what is owed to them,

taxes to what are owed,

revenue to whom revenue is owed,

respect to whom respect is owed,

honor to whom honor is owed.

We're supposed to pray for our leaders,

referenced in 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

First of all, I urge you that supplications,

prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings

be made for all people.

For kings and all who are in a high position,

that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life,

godly and dignified in every way.

Live peacefully, we're called to.

But also, stand for truth and righteousness.

If not you, then who?

Who is going to stand for truth and righteousness

if it's not the believer?

Romans 3:31:8-9 says this.

Open your mouth for the mute,

for the rights of all who are destitute.

Open your mouth, judge righteousness,

defend the rights of the poor and the needy.

That is also your responsibility.

It is not to remain silent.

It's to open your mouth for things that you see

that are corrupt or wrong

or impacting society in an ungodly way.

That is your ultimate authority

or your ultimate responsibility to God.

Walk in love, but stand boldly on the word of God.

Everything you should do should be in love,

but you are to stand boldly on the word of God

in all things.

Romans 13:10:

Love does no wrong to the neighbor,

therefore love is fulfilling the law.

Here's the sticking point.

You'll hear from Christians and non-Christians

all over the place is that

we are to simply just obey government, right?

There are a lot of things that

in the word of God are taken out of context

in our documents like amendments and constitution

that people read in a certain way

that they misconstrue,

that they don't understand,

that they put into place to maybe hold people down

or put them in a box.

What Paul is teaching here is that

he's teaching us what justification

and sanctification mean in the first 11 chapters

of the book of Romans,

and now he's teaching us directly

how to conduct ourselves with authority.

But how do we as Christians

teach about government authority and politics

from a biblical perspective

if we've only been taught

from a political perspective?

If we've only been taught in school

from a political perspective,

how do we teach politics

from a biblical perspective?

If you actually read this text,

if you actually read this text correctly,

you could very easily come under control

of government simply by saying

whatever is instituted,

we have to walk in the ways

of those things put in place

because that is our humble role as Christians.

It can be something that can control things.

In fact, Nazi Germany used this

against Christians to control them and say,

"Hey, listen to authority.

It's your God-given responsibility."

Across America, babies are murdered.

Last 10 years, estimated 8.2 million babies.

8.2.

Population of Michigan, about 10 million roughly.

Put that into context.

The combined population of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska,

North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware,

Rhode Island, and Maryland.

Combined population, 8.2 million

in the last 10 years.

You do the math over the last 50.

Open your mouth for the mute,

for the rights of all who are destitute.

We're the mute.

Those who can't open their mouths for them.

The most innocent.

Those are your God-given roles

and responsibilities as Christian

is to stand up for the innocent,

to stand up for those

who can't stand up for themselves,

to be the voice of reason.

That is your God-given responsibility.

If it goes against the word of God,

you are not to fall in order,

but to be bold on the word of God.

It doesn't mean you don't do it in love.

That's where it becomes distorted.

We do it in anger or frustration or violence

or whatever the world is doing it in,

but to do it in love.

That is the call of the Christian.

What if the existing president asked,

or president, said this,

"The rule is you have to vote for me next election.

I guess I got to get in line."

Well, they'd be the first ever 100%

population vote for a president

because we all have to get in line

and do what the government says.

No, there are things

that the Bible clearly lays out

of what it is that we have to follow.

We do have to follow the laws of the land.

We do have to pray for those in leadership.

We do have to do things

as a citizen of this country,

but we also have to do things

as a citizen of heaven.

Now, there are many approaches in politics

when it comes to the pulpit,

and I would say churches all across America

take different avenues,

all across America.

I would say churches at the river

might take different stances.

We have one that is the separation

of pulpit and politics.

We are about the gospel,

not politics whatsoever, okay?

The separation of the gospel and politics.

I find it difficult to preach Romans chapter 13

and separate the two.

So if you fall in that line

and you're going to preach this sermon,

I mean, we're talking politics here, right?

I mean, that's just the reality.

Government is politics.

So we have a complete separation.

We have the equation of pulpit and politics.

That's a lot of P's there.

And so we'll see this like in the Vatican, right?

Where the pope is leader.

He makes all the rules

and he's set everything in place.

Religion and politics are essentially one.

We also see the integration of pulpit and politics

to be the voice and influence in our society

and in public engagement.

I'm a big fan of this one,

of the integration of pulpit and politics.

Examples of people in the Bible.

Nathan confronted King David about his sin,

mixing spiritual accountability

with political leadership, right?

We have a responsibility

to hold our leaders accountable as well.

Pastors like Charles Finney,

preaching against slavery from their pulpits.

He believed that faith demanded action in society

and the gospel should transform culture.

Charles Finney preaching

about anti-slavery in his day was unheard of,

but he believed in doing what was right.

And I'm an advocate of that.

Pastors that teach believers should vote biblically,

support laws, protect life, family, justice,

and freedom to spade in public service, right?

It's integrating yourself into what politics are doing

And then the fourth is the proclamation of politics.

Actively addressing political issues

as biblical issues.

This challenges the myth that faith and government

should remain totally separate, right?

Who here has heard the separation of church and state?

What I love is more of you raised your hand for that

than you've ever done anything wrong in a church.

Separation of church and state.

This is not a place for politics.

This is a place for God, right?

That's a misconception.

It's a misconception that people

who simply don't just Google what does that mean

and read for 10 minutes

get an understanding

of where this separation of church and state

actually comes from.

So where does it come from?

It actually, it kind of came out of the Baptists, right?

So in the 1800s,

the Danbury Baptist Association was concerned

that the Congregational Church

was going to be named

the official church of the United States.

And so the Danbury Baptist Association

wrote President Thomas Jefferson and said,

"Hey, we don't want them

to be the official church of the United States.

We have a problem with that.

We don't feel like there necessarily should be

an official church."

And at that time,

Connecticut still had established a state church.

So the Danbury Baptist understood that.

And what that meant was

citizens were taxed to support the church.

And the Baptists at the time,

as a minority group,

objected to government favoritism

of a specific church.

It would be the state church

or the country's church.

And so President Thomas Jefferson replied to them, okay?

In Jefferson's reply, he said,

"The First Amendment builds a wall

of separation between church and state."

Jefferson's wall that he was creating

was to protect religious rights

from government control,

not silence religion, right?

It's not to silence our ability to speak up.

It's to protect our ability to speak on these things.

The concern was federal establishment

of a national church,

not local faith influence in your society.

The First Amendment states this,

"Congress shall make no law

respecting an establishment of religion

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

The government must not control religion,

not the faithful citizens of churches,

not speak out on political things.

The separation of church and state

that Thomas Jefferson was talking about

was not establishing a church

that essentially everybody had to report to in America.

But yet we take it as Christians

to be quiet and humble yourselves

and just allow things to happen in society

that are going to happen.

Be a part of what's happening.

Run for a public official spot.

Be supportive of the public officials.

Understand what's going on,

what they go through.

Don't just complain

because your tax bill went up 35 bucks

and you're ticked

and now you hate all the public officials.

Guess what?

The reason it went up

is because there was a millage

and you didn't go vote

and someone else did.

That's why it went up.

It's your responsibility, Christians.

I have people, friends and family,

who complain about politics all the time

and I say, "Hey, did you go vote last Tuesday?"

"Oh, no, I'm not worried about that."

Your tax bill just went up 85 bucks

and you complained about it.

That's this mindset.

As Christians, we embrace that,

that we're not supposed to be bold

and stand on the word of God

to let it impact society.

If you are not standing on the word of God

and allowing it to impact society,

no one will.

That is your God-given responsibility,

not to stay silent.

Politics has no place in the pulpit.

Then don't preach

on Romans 13:1-10.

How foolish is it to say

that Christian churches

have to stay out of politics?

Sometimes there are rules in place

that say I can't say you have to vote

for a political party.

You have to, as a Christian,

you have to do these things.

But to not preach the word of God

and how it relates to politics

in today's society

is doing the church and you an injustice.

That's our role and responsibility.

Paul doesn't say submit and obey.

He tells you where authority comes from,

why it exists,

and what those limits and authorities are.

This idea that we are just to submit

just to submit is a lie.

We are to submit to government authority

as they serve faithfully.

We are to pay our taxes.

We are to honor and pray for our leaders.

We are to know according to Romans 13

that they have been set in place

by God.

That is what Paul establishes

in Romans chapter 13.

We also need to know this.

That our ultimate authority

comes from God.

In Matthew 8:18, Jesus says this,

"And Jesus came to them and said,

'All authority in heaven and on earth

has been given to me.'"

And that's what I believe as a Christian.

That the ultimate authority in all things

in my life, in the life of my family

is Jesus Christ.

That's it.

And we need to understand that ultimate authority

because here's what I know for a fact.

The Bible says this,

"One day every knee shall bow

and every tongue shall confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord."

Here's what I know about that.

That's for believers and non-believers.

And there may be non-believers in here today

that say, "I'm going to tell you right now,

I ain't ever going to bow."

Guess what?

You ain't going to have a choice.

Because one day we will all stand

before God and it says,

"That every knee shall bow

and every tongue will confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord."

And we will be held accountable

for our lives.

We will be held accountable

for the things that we did and didn't do.

And as Christians,

we are to live peacefully,

respect authority,

and stand up for those

who can't stand up for themselves.

That is our responsibility.

And I pray today that,

that as we leave here today,

not only do we leave with the understanding

that we have God-given responsibilities,

but we also have earthly responsibilities

to those who have been set in place by God.

I didn't vote for that person.

Guess what?

You're not God.

Set in place these people.

And as we close today,

I'm going to pray for them one more time.

And thank you so much for coming today.

And just please have an understanding

where your true authority comes from,

and that's Jesus Christ.