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[0:00] So Philip has said, does anybody else have anything you'd like to say? Yes, I do. Well, I don't know whether you've got your nest built or whether you'd like to stand up and stretch.

[0:14] Maybe you're already comfortable where you are. Maybe you'd like to stand up and stretch. Whichever one you'd like to do, help yourself. Well, thankful for the Tigners that came to sing for us tonight.

[0:32] What a blessing. I enjoyed that. I just sat there and enjoyed that. I wanted to try out the name of Raymond Snodgrass. Does that work?

[0:43] Campbell's Creek. I'm a creaker, man. Ordained out of Spring Fork Baptist Church. Aha. Who? Oh, yes.

[0:56] We're closer than you think, brother, even though our minds don't get together. Heiser Creek, that's where it was.

[1:08] We were preaching down there for Brother Randy Carter. I think, was that back in the summer, maybe? Okay. Well, we're glad you're here. We appreciate everybody that's here.

[1:19] Amen. I got preaching today. Amen. Does that be all right? Amen. Okay. Well, let me get into this. I am so excited.

[1:31] I wished, I prayed, that I could get this across the way the Lord gave it to me. Did you ever want to do that?

[1:41] Did you ever want to say, man, Lord, if I could just tell them the way you've told me, what a blessing that would be? Let's look in the book of Isaiah chapter 9.

[1:54] Isaiah chapter 9. And I'll just start reading there at verse 1. That's a good place to send. Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. Verse 1.

[2:05] And it says, the rod of his oppressor as in the day of Midian.

[3:01] For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood. But this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

[3:13] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

[3:36] Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever.

[3:54] The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. I call your attention to verse 6 and reading those things again. We have the story actually of the nation of Judah going into captivity.

[4:12] And as Naphtali and Zebulun are involved in this, they are shrouded in darkness. And the warriors are talked about.

[4:24] And then just right in the middle of all of this captivity and gloom and doom and sorrow, God announces a child is going to be born.

[4:37] Amen. Amen. That's Christmas. Amen. A child is born. Then it said a son is given. Amen. That is humanity and deity.

[4:52] Amen. The child, the human child is born. But the God's son is simply given because he was already in existence before he was born.

[5:06] Amen. Amen. And the text that I really want to preach on is the next phrase.

[5:18] The government shall be on his shoulder. The government shall be upon his shoulder.

[5:28] Amen. Let me pray and we'll look further into this. Heavenly Father, thank you for the privilege to pray. Thank you for these precious singers that came and helped us in the fight and encouraged the people.

[5:46] Thank you for our folks that are here and those that are visiting. God, I pray that you would open the windows of heaven to us, Lord, for the rest of this service.

[5:59] God, may I be able to preach. Lord, may I be able to preach. In Jesus' name. Amen.

[6:12] Amen. It said the government shall be upon his shoulder. Now, I went to... I have an 1828 Webster's Dictionary and I went to that dictionary and I looked up the word government.

[6:30] There are 11 different definitions of the word government in that old dictionary. Now, when we think of the word government, immediately we think of the state house or Washington, D.C.

[6:47] and what goes on up there. But the first definition that was given for government was the ability to control or restrain yourself.

[7:01] The ability to handle your own temper, to handle your own passion, self-restraint.

[7:15] I think it was one of our founding fathers that said our government can never exist unless our people will govern themselves.

[7:27] Amen. If they do not restrain themselves, then our government cannot exist. In order for the people to be free, they must be governed.

[7:45] A train is not free running down a dirt road. A train is only free as it runs down the track. A ship is not free when it hits the rocks.

[7:57] A ship is only free when it's in water deep enough for it to flow. Proverbs chapter 25 verse 28, A man that has no control over his spirit is like a city that's broken down without walls.

[8:15] If you can't handle your passions, Amen. If by the help of God you can't control your own lusts of your own flesh, the devil can walk in anytime he wants to.

[8:28] You have no ability. Amen. If we can't govern ourselves how we expect anybody else. Amen. Government is one of the definitions was the authority in the community.

[8:46] The authority of a parent. The authority of a polity of the state. And then the fifth definition was an empire, kingdom, or a state. Let me preach a little bit and we'll come back to this.

[9:02] Isaiah's prophecy is about the fall of Judah. Because Israel had rejected the light. Remember we preached that this morning. Because the light was rejected God sent that light to the Gentile people.

[9:18] And the Gentile people received what Israel threw away. In a way, I don't know how God would have worked it out. I'm sure he could have had another plan. But in a way, I'm glad they rejected him because that opened a door for an old sinner like me to get into the kingdom.

[9:39] They that sat in darkness, Matthew chapter 4. They that sat in darkness saw a great light. Matthew 4.15, Naphtalm of Galilee of the Gentiles.

[9:51] Here in the captivity and the darkness that had gross darkness that had covered the people. The Bible said a light has sprung up. Jesus has came as a light to the world.

[10:05] God would take away the government of the Jew. He would remove their logistics. He would remove their soldiers. He would remove their judges, their priests, their prophets.

[10:18] He'd even take away their song and they'd be in darkness. But when the Messiah comes, incompetence in government will go out because it will be on his shoulder.

[10:29] Hallelujah. Verse 6 says, A child is born. A son is given. A child born is humanity. A son given is divinity.

[10:39] But this specific child is light. If you'll look at verse 2, he's a great light. This morning we preached from John chapter 1.

[10:51] In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shined in the darkness. The darkness comprehended it not. Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

[11:05] If we look by faith, we can see light. I can see light emanating from a manger. I can see light glowing from a little baby's brow as he's wrapped in swaddling cloth and laid in the place where the calf...

[11:20] You say, Preacher, you can't see no light there. I can't see no light there. Well, the reason you can't see light is because the God of this world has blinded your mind. You do not believe.

[11:32] I can see light anytime that Jesus comes around. Light is in Jesus. And all government, all government, self-government, community government, church government, national government, all government is on his shoulder.

[11:52] He gives wisdom and power and peace. It isn't a wonderful counselor. That's the way the new Bibles would have it read. Jesus is a wonderful counselor.

[12:04] No, he's not a wonderful counselor. He's wonderful. That is awe-inspiring. And until you get a grasp of the...

[12:17] Before God can utter one word of counsel to you, you gotta get a grasp of the fact that Jesus is wonderful. Amen. Psalm 33 and 8, stand in awe of him.

[12:33] He is wonderful. If he never said another thing, if he never blessed me another time, if I had to spend the rest of my life here without hearing from heaven, I would have to say, isn't he wonderful?

[12:49] Jesus has been wonderful to me. Hallelujah for Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Stand in awe of him. And he's the counselor that's with authority.

[13:01] According to Matthew chapter 7, he didn't speak like the scribes spoke. But he spoke with authority. He wasn't in a debate of whether... Some people think it's this and some people think it's that.

[13:13] Whenever he spoke, it was the final saying of what was going on. He is the everlasting father. The everlasting father is interchangeable with Jesus in relation to time, not with the other members of the Trinity.

[13:32] But when King Jesus comes to live with us, there's going to be peace on earth. You believe that, preacher? Amen. I'm one of them dummies that believes it could happen tonight.

[13:44] Amen. I believe Jesus is coming. And I don't think it's going to be long before he comes. I do not know how long. And I may be an old man and I'm already an old man.

[13:55] But I may be older than that or I may not survive the night. But Jesus is coming. What a shock on this world. The wolf will lay down with the lamb.

[14:06] The lion will eat straw like an ox. And the sickness will flee away. And the lame will walk in the desert and will blossom like a rose. And the government shall be on his shoulder.

[14:17] That's what we're reading. And I appreciate that. And I appreciate Christmas. And I appreciate the fact that he's coming again. But I want you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 28.

[14:28] And I want to show you something tonight the Lord willing about that government on his shoulder. Matthew chapter 28. This is not a prophecy of the future.

[14:41] This is right now. Matthew chapter 28. Look at verse 18. And Jesus came and spoke unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

[15:10] That's not a prophecy what's going to happen later. That's a prophecy of what's happening right now. He right now holds this world in his hands.

[15:23] Amen. All power in heaven and earth is given to him. And as a governor he has instituted three delegations of that power.

[15:38] Now stay with me. A lot of my people don't have their children reared and some of you are just starting. But I want you to stay with me of three things that Jesus has shared his government.

[15:54] Three sources with three distinct jobs that Jesus has given you and I and other folks as far as the governing is concerned.

[16:05] Number one Jesus shares his government with the family. Number two Jesus shares his government with the church.

[16:21] And number three Jesus shares his government with the state. And watch this all three are under God.

[16:34] The family is responsible to God for its job. The church is responsible to God for its job.

[16:46] The government is responsible to God the state for its job. And don't ever get the idea that God needs our help in bringing the state in line.

[17:00] Don't get that idea that if we don't do it the nation will fall. I'm telling you we're not strong enough to hold the nation up. And if the nation realizes or doesn't realize what it's done and it runs afoul of almighty God then that nation has got to pay the price.

[17:21] I have no problem with separation of church and state. No problem at all. But then I know what the church is supposed to do. The mistake is equating God with the church only.

[17:35] God's not only over the church but God's over the state. God has requirements for the state. In Psalm chapter 2 the Bible said that God asking a question where's Molly?

[17:56] We were in our family devotions we'd come across Psalm chapter 2 this week and it starts out why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing.

[18:12] Molly said I know daddy the heathen rage because they're heathens. That's a good answer. But if you'll follow that course of that Psalm you'll find that the governments of this world are obligated to bow beneath the Son Jesus Christ.

[18:36] They take counsel together against Jesus. Their desire is to throw the restraints off. But in Psalm 2 4 God will laugh at your nation.

[18:47] Verse 12 said kiss the Son just like a Catholic would kiss the Pope. The government is supposed to give and kiss acknowledgement to Jesus Christ for he is the supreme governor.

[19:01] It's on his shoulder not their shoulder. A governor, a president, a mayor, a magistrate, a senator, a school teacher, a city counselor, all of them are responsible to God almighty, not to me.

[19:18] Dear Lord Jesus, we are superseded. We are subservient to you. What would you have us do? It is true divine providence that we enjoy civil, political, and religious liberty.

[19:35] The perpetuation of any good government, watch this, will be the direct result of constant reliance upon God. You think I made that up?

[19:49] You think I'm that smart? I've got a source for that. If I can read it, right here is a copy of the preamble to the constitution of the state of West Virginia.

[20:05] Listen, somebody knew this when this state was set up. since through the divine providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political, and religious liberty, we the people of West Virginia, in and through the provisions of the constitution, reaffirm our faith in the constant reliance upon God and seek diligently to promote, preserve, and perpetuate good government in the state of West Virginia for the common welfare, freedom, and security of ourselves and our posterity.

[20:39] That is the preamble to the constitution of West Virginia and everybody that will not subscribe to this need it voted out of our state house.

[20:51] And that would clean house, brother, and send it to. Somebody, somebody has slipped. Somebody has failed.

[21:04] And it wasn't the people that set this thing up. It was the Christians that hid in their churches and let the ACLU run our country. Each division has a job to do.

[21:20] I got time tonight. I might just give you those three divisions. A few days ago, Pastor George Doherty, Pennsylvania pastor who was instrumental in putting under God in the Pledge of Allegiance passed away at age 97.

[21:40] Wonder why that didn't make the news. The man that said we need to acknowledge that God is authority over America.

[21:55] There is a challenge. Am I telling it right? There is a challenge tonight to take that under God out of the Pledge of Allegiance because some dummy, you say well he's educated.

[22:06] He's a dummy. He's a fool. He professes himself to be wise but he's a fool and he wants to take under God out and when we do that we're wide open to destruction.

[22:22] The family is the first unit that's under God and God has given them a job to do. family is given a responsibility of parenting.

[22:36] You know what that means? That means bringing up your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That means parent that your job is to educate your children.

[22:47] It is not your job to throw it off on the public school system. What a horrible mistake. It is not your job to put it off on the church. It's not the church's job. It's your job as a parent to train up a child in the way he should go.

[23:03] You say I don't like that kind of preaching. Well go down the road. They don't preach it down there. The government of Jesus has allowed the family to have certain tools to operate with.

[23:19] Two of them is the rod and reproof. How long has it been since a parent used the rod? They're afraid to because another part that's under God, they'll come in and take their kids from them.

[23:36] Proverbs 29, 15, the rod and reproof bringeth correction, but a child left to himself will bring shame. You know how the family fails?

[23:50] You know what's the result of a family that fails? Divorce. Hello? Preacher, I wouldn't preach like that, but that's the direct failure of the family when that home splits up.

[24:06] Mommy goes this way, daddy goes that way, and kids go whichever way. Broken dreams, broken homes, broken hearts, and broken lives because somebody didn't realize that they had a responsibility to God Almighty.

[24:22] Amen. Daddy running around letting mommy run the house and mommy glad to do it. I used to preach too many dresses around in the house, but I think now it's too many kids.

[24:37] Amen. They run things. Nintendo and other things. Let me go on.

[24:48] That's getting hot in here. The second responsibility that the government is on Jesus' shoulder, but he commissioned the church of God to do certain things.

[25:02] The church of God is not to rear the family. The church of God is not to set up soup kitchens. The church of God is to preach the gospel, be interested in the souls of men and women that are dying and going to hell.

[25:17] That's our job. The responsibility of evangelism and salvation. The church has a fellowship and it has a support group and a prayer group.

[25:29] The failure of the church is the removal of the candlestick. I read that. I also read that God himself, Revelation 2.16, will turn against the church.

[25:45] I read in Revelation 3 verse 3 that he'll judge and destroy the church. You haven't read that, but it's there. Mark them down and go get them.

[25:57] That church that's destroyed, that one that sits up there on the hill, got that one little entrance and somebody's supposed to be guarding that entrance, but they're asleep on the job.

[26:10] Hello. They're worried about attendance. They're worried about the numbers. They're worried about their salary. They ain't worried about men and women going to hell. They're worried about whether they can keep more numbers than the church down the road.

[26:24] And I'm saying we're asleep at the switch and people are dying and going to hell. Went up that little path up that hill and that watchman asleep, he set his clothes on fire.

[26:38] Many years ago, I don't know how many it would be, but when I was in grade school, fourth grade, fifth grade, they had an American history textbook.

[26:49] And they had a picture in that textbook of a general named Wolf. And General Wolf at Montreal, the Battle of Montreal. They had a little path that went up the hill.

[27:03] And somehow the English had got by the French guards and they put a Frenchman up there or a man that could speak French. He talked to them and the guards allowed them to come through and on the plains of Abraham.

[27:19] And I can still see that picture of that old general pointing get up this path. When you get up this path, brother, the city's ours. Just get up that path. And I think about whenever the French woke up that morning, they looked out there and they were surrounded by English troops.

[27:37] Hey, that's what's happening to the church. We over here, we're not guarding the path. We're speaking the same language they're speaking. We're watching the same television programs they watching.

[27:50] We're thrilled to the same soap operas they thrilled to. The same HBO channels they got. We got them. We speak the same language. And we're asleep and we're going to wake up and the church is going to be destroyed.

[28:02] Let me go on. Y'all got time. Amen. The third thing that God, not me, not the people for the American way, not the civil liberties union, but God Almighty instituted human government.

[28:30] Amen. In Romans chapter 13 verse 1 through 7, he told us why he instituted it. That it would be a terror to evil doers.

[28:42] Amen. You're supposed to send them to the jail house, not the white house. Amen. A promotion of good works.

[28:57] The state was supposed to promote anybody that would do good and put down anybody that would do evil. Boy, have we ever turned that around. We call evil good and good evil.

[29:10] We sally up to queers out in San Francisco and say, hey man, you know what they need? Hey man, they need that whole city to fall in those.

[29:25] But the state has the sword. You see, the family had the rod, the church had the disfellowship, but the state's got the sword.

[29:37] Now, failure of the state. What if the state fails God? Well, I think I read that here.

[29:49] Let me see if I can find that in the book of Psalms. Turn with me to the ninth chapter of the book of Psalms. Psalm chapter nine.

[30:04] Let's look at verse 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God.

[30:29] I watched that Discovery Channel, me being the intellectual that I am. I'm all read up on the Aztecs, and the Incas, and the Mons, and the Romans, and the Greeks, and the Babylonians, and a thousand and one other nations that forgot God.

[30:53] Where are they today, preacher? Well, we're digging around in their remains. Brother, they're in hell, just like Sodom and Gomorrah. And the same thing will happen to America if we forget God.

[31:07] Same thing. The government is on his shoulders, and he'll, we won't do it, he'll do it. That's like I think people say, well, we need to help Israel, and I'm not opposed to helping Israel, but God don't need us to help Israel.

[31:23] God takes an ocean to help Israel, he can do it. Amen, he can split the sky, he can cause the Mount of Olives to separate, one go this way, one go that way.

[31:34] God's in control of this thing. He'll bring it to pass. He said in this same book of Isaiah, he said, seek out them soothsayers, them astrologers, them peepers, and mutterers, bring them on.

[31:48] He said, I'll be able to handle them. I can tell you what's going to happen before it ever happens. I'm sovereign. Now, I know you think, well, he's getting Calvinistic on me.

[32:00] But I always said this about them hyper-Calvinists, anybody that believed in the total depravity of man couldn't be all bad. We are responsible to him.

[32:20] I'm responsible for my family. You're responsible for your family. And the church has no business telling your family who they can marry and who they can't marry.

[32:33] Amen. I know Baptist preachers in this nation that the people have to come to him, get his permission before they can get married. Are you crazy? We're not Catholics.

[32:46] Amen. You might go to the Pope, but I think you'd be better off to go to God. I don't even want to know who you're going to marry. Amen. Amen.

[32:56] Amen. You say you do it? Well, if it don't meet my qualifications, I won't. Amen. Thank you. Just threw that in there and see if y'all's awake.

[33:09] We're responsible. I'm responsible for the Wilson family. Down there on Campbell's Creek, I'm responsible for what goes on in that home. And not only that, I got two jobs, man.

[33:21] I'm responsible for the rest of Baptist church. Amen. I'm responsible for what goes on around here. Amen. Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't like it.

[33:33] Amen. Thank God I'm not responsible for Obama. Amen. And I'm not responsible for Joe Manchin. Amen. But I know who they're responsible to.

[33:46] Amen. Amen. And all I can say is get out the way. Yeah. Amen. unto us a son is but a child is born, a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders.

[34:04] Amen. He'll take care of it. Amen. Amen. Don't you worry about it. Don't worry about the mule. Just load the way. Amen. Whatever God told you to do, you do.

[34:18] And he'll take care of the rest of it. Amen. Let's bow for prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are clothed.

[34:29] No one looking around. Amen. Thank you.