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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Study Headquarters

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Speaker 1: dot com. You're listening to Daily Devotions with Pastor John

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Speaker 1: I'm john Stongey and today's devotion is inspired by Luke

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty, verses twenty five and twenty six, which says,

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Speaker 1: and he said to them, then render to Caesar the

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Speaker 1: things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that

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Speaker 1: are God's. And they were not able in the presence

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Speaker 1: of the people to catch him in what he said,

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Speaker 1: but marveling at his answer, they became silent. Every generation

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Speaker 1: complains about the government to one degree or another, but

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Speaker 1: biblically speaking, the government is one of the means the

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Speaker 1: Lord uses to promote justice and restrain sin. There will

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Speaker 1: be no perfect government until Bill Jesus is ruling and

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Speaker 1: reigning on this earth. But in the meantime, we're called

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Speaker 1: to show respect to government authorities out of reverence for

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Speaker 1: the Lord. Humanity by nature is rebellious. It's easier for

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Speaker 1: us to challenge authority than it is for us to

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Speaker 1: submit to authority. But Christ calls us to be good

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Speaker 1: citizens who remember to pray for our leaders. We're called

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Speaker 1: to obey the law so long as the law doesn't

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Speaker 1: conflict with our devotion to Christ. And even if we

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Speaker 1: do choose to object because of an issue of conscience,

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Speaker 1: we need to accept that there may be earthly consequences

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Speaker 1: for that decision. Well, this wasn't what those who questioned

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Speaker 1: Jesus wanted to hear. They just wanted to cause trouble

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Speaker 1: for Christ. But he gave them the answer they truly

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Speaker 1: needed to hear in that moment. Have you ever had

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Speaker 1: a similar experience in your walk with Christ? Have you

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Speaker 1: ever made a request of Him waited for an answer?

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Speaker 1: Sir received his answer, but didn't like what he had

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Speaker 1: to say. What do you suspect He may be trying

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Speaker 1: to teach you through moments like that. Let's pray, Lord,

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Speaker 1: we thank you for your word, and we thank you

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Speaker 1: for the privilege that it is to be able to

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Speaker 1: look at this portion of scripture from the Gospel of

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Speaker 1: Luke today. And Lord, it's fascinating to see how you

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Speaker 1: chose to interact with all sorts of people during the

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Speaker 1: course of your earthly ministry. In this particular context, we

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Speaker 1: see people trying to test you and trying to trip

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Speaker 1: you up on your answer. But you revealed something to

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Speaker 1: them that they didn't want to hear, yet it was

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Speaker 1: very true and very applicable to us as well. You

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Speaker 1: told them to respect the role of government, and that's

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Speaker 1: certainly something that we need to hear. And you also

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Speaker 1: told them that people are to respect their devotion to God,

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Speaker 1: and again that's something we need to hear as well.

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Speaker 1: But Lord, by nature, we are rebellious. We rebel against governments,

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Speaker 1: we rebel against you. It seems like every time we're

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Speaker 1: given any sort of direction, we instinctively try to fight

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Speaker 1: against it, even in small ways, or we try to

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Speaker 1: adjust it and make it more palatable to our preferences.

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Speaker 1: But Lord, we want to be men and women who

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Speaker 1: honor you and honor the direction that you're giving us.

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Speaker 1: It's to our benefit that our sin is restrained, and

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Speaker 1: we need to respect all the authorities you've placed in

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Speaker 1: our lives. Lord, we also know that there are going

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Speaker 1: to be times when our consciences are genuinely troubled. There

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Speaker 1: are going to be moments when the authorities in our

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Speaker 1: lives ask us to do things that are outside of

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Speaker 1: your moral will. So Lord, we're grateful that the full

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Speaker 1: counsel of your Word gives us examples and advice as

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Speaker 1: to what to do in situations like that as well.

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Speaker 1: We're called to put you first, while understanding that we

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Speaker 1: may experience some earthly coin consequences for that decision. So Lord,

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Speaker 1: we're grateful for all the things you choose to teach us,

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Speaker 1: and we're grateful for the things you reveal to us

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Speaker 1: in your Word that we weren't looking for but we

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Speaker 1: really needed to hear. And as we go about our

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Speaker 1: lives on this earth, we pray that we would put

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Speaker 1: you first no matter what. And we thank you again

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Speaker 1: for this challenge from your word, and we pray this

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Speaker 1: all in Jesus' name. Amen,