A few years ago I was pulling into a parking lot and saw a pastor pull out of the lot and head the wrong way on a one way road. He drove a block and turned onto another road the right way. I saw him later that day and asked him about it. He said, “I didn’t think anybody saw me.” I said, “Jesus saw you.” He just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
I visited his church a couple years later and found they were teaching that God may be a female, and the Bible was written specifically for the times in which it was written. In other words, parts of the Bible that go against current society are to be ignored.
I don’t know where this man’s disobedience started, but I first saw it when he turned the wrong way on a one way road. And then two years later I saw it in his teachings and interpretation of the word of God.
There are people everywhere claiming to know the truths of the word of God, while at the same time turning the wrong way on one way roads, and speeding down highways like there are no laws against it. Do you honestly think God is leading these people in their theology, and ignoring their actions? Absolutely not! God is no respecter of persons. He expects each one of His children to adhere to the laws of all authorities.
Dear friends, one cannot walk in disobedience and expect God to reveal the mysteries of His word. Disobedient people are double-minded people, trying to balance serving God and serving themselves at the same time. Such people cannot expect to receive anything from God. God shares the delicacies of His word with single-minded people.
Jesus Himself said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS,’” Matthew 7:21-23.
All who break the laws of the governing authorities also break the laws of God, for these authorities are established by God. “Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves,” Romans 13:2. And, “Whosoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all,” James 2:10. Are you taking these words to heart, or are you shrugging your shoulders as the disobedient pastor did? Your salvation, and the salvation of others, could depend on your reaction to what these words are saying.
May the Holy Spirit guide you into all the truth.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
If you think you walk by the Spirit and don’t submit to the governing authorities, you are deceiving yourself. If you say you walk by the Spirit and don’t submit to the governing authorities, you are a liar.
jondavidbanks.com 