Rom. 13:1 EVERYONE must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.
Here are some thoughts from this Scripture that have been in my spirit lately:

+ We all must submit to the authority of the govt whether we are Christian or not, agree or not, vote or not, have opinions or not.

+ The fact that is comes from God doesn’t mean that everything they do or don’t do is a reflection on God. (like a show airing on a network that is definitely using the network for exposure but doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of the network)

+ Those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. This phrase has been very misunderstood. Many have used this to justify the views and policies of someone that is not godly or being led by Biblical values. When this was written Nero was emperor of Rome. You think God would have chosen this murderous, perverted maniac as His man? ABSOLUTELY NOT!! So what does this mean? God has placed man in the position of govt on earth going all the way back to Gen. 1:28 when He gave dominion or rulership to Adam. So we honor the position of leadership even when we don’t necessarily respect the views or character of the man. After Bill Clinton committed adultery in the White House we did not then get to stop honoring him as President. We may have been disgusted with his character and poor decisions but we did not then stop honoring the position he was in.

+Right now we are in a time where many things are happening in our government that either contradict the Word of God (like the dogmatic advancement of “gay rights”) or make me uncomfortable personally (like the proposed govt takeover of health care). This doesn’t give license to dishonor or quit praying for those in government BUT does not mean (as many religious and liberal would try to condemn) that we have to agree or keep quiet concerning our views, values, and even opinions. Many brave men and women died to give us the right to have an opinion in this nation. We as Christians cannot err in either dishonoring those in government NOR by being super passive and not voicing our values and views by voting and being aware of what is going in local, state, and federal government. (many good-hearted believers have disconnected from what is happening in government and excused themselves from what is going on to shape our future by the excuse that “the Lord is coming soon.” This logic is irresponsible and presumptive!)

++ So what should we do? Glad you asked! We should pray for all those in authority (1 Tim 2:2) and ask God to give them wisdom and hearts that seek after Jesus. Secondly, we should be aware of what is going on in our nation and be sure to vote, voice our Biblical values, and talk to our fellow Americans about the state of our nation before God.

Prov. 11:11- Upright citizens are good for a city and make it prosper, but the talk of the wicked tears it apart.

For all of you wondering why I have not been writing as much lately, it is because (other than being busy, praise God) I am in the middle of writing my first book on discipleship. I know, i know, thank you! Im excited! As of right now, I am about a third of the way done and look to be finished by the end of the year. Please pray for me as i write that the Holy Spirit would envelop this work and powerfully anoint it by His Spirit. I will admit that while writing it the anointing has been so strong at times i have had to jump out of my writing chair and dance, shout, and praise the Lord with jubilation at the goodness of His presence. There is so much work to be done in the area of maturing the Body of Christ and I believe that this book will help spur many to aspire to the high calling of a radical disciple.
Thanks for your prayers and support, I truly treasure them! Joel

Ps. I cant wait to sign a book for so many of you that i love so dearly. That will be a dream come true!

Yesterday was a tremendous moment in time for Bethany. We held our annual gathering of all services and campuses called Bethany United. This years gathering was themed “For the glory of God”. His presence was there in a mighty way. Dad preached on how we should live our lives for His glory and not for ourselves. It is humanism that comes in and causes us to think that God exists for our happiness instead of us existing for His glory. Boy, what a message for the church of today!

Yesterday’s gathering was a small picture of what the Lord is doing all over the nations of the world in uniting His Church for the final harvest of souls. When we are able to lay down our differences, preferences, and pre-conceived ideas for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the glorious King, things that we never dreamed possible can take place.

It was a great joy for me to see the beautiful variety of young and old, black and white, rich and poor coming together for the cause of Christ and under the banner of the local church. Sadly, not many churches have come to such a place of Kingdom awareness that they could gather and be so well represented by every sector of society. It should be our prayer that this happens more and more!

Psa. 133:1- How wonderful and pleasant it us when brothers live together in harmony!