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Good morning.

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I've got a little bit of a different message for you today and it's about honoring authority.

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Good morning.

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I'm Leanne Friesman and this is Restoring Word.

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Have you ever been in a place or a position in ministry where you were not quite sure

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you were in agreement with the person or the pastor that you were sitting under?

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And I've just got some words of wisdom that I think will help you and I'm going to try

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to keep it brief.

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This comes out of 2 Peter starting in about verse 11 and it's about trusting God but submitting

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to leadership.

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Now, there are some principles I want to lay down first.

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The kingdom of God is very different from a democracy.

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The church is not a democracy.

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When you work for a pastor, you submit to his authority and that is your position of

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protection.

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And when you are operating under delegated authority, let me tell you that's a very powerful

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place to be.

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That's where the grace of God will manifest in your life and in your ministry.

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That's where you will be, literally you will have a download from heaven so to speak coming

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from the top down.

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It's in a very glorious position to be, a very powerful position to be.

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And when I was trying to really put together this message, I really feel like this is maybe

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specifically for someone out there that's in a position of ministry.

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You've got to guard your heart and you've got to pray that the leader that you're working

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for will have a change of heart.

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That's number one.

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I'm not talking about a leader who's doing something illegal or immoral.

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This is about a leader maybe who is feeling a different direction for the ministry and

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you're on staff or you're in a position of leadership within the church and you just

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don't get it.

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Number one, God's either going to deal with you and you're going to get your heart right

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or God is going to deal with that leader.

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You know when I first started the Praise and Worship Program at Victory, Billy Joe didn't

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have the revelation of that.

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Pastor Dave and I did and that's where it all started.

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But the Holy Ghost dealt with Billy Joe and then all of a sudden, okay, we're going to

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have a worship program.

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It took almost a year for him to be in agreement that this was what the Lord wanted and eventually

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he got it.

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I can't tell you how many times I prayed for Billy Joe to get direction from the Holy Spirit.

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We had planned a chapel.

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We had put together things.

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Billy Joe and I never talked about it, but guess what, boom, he would stand in the pulpit

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and say, open your Bibles too and all of a sudden, it's right there.

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We're all flowing in agreement.

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Why?

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Because we all hear from the same Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not bipolar.

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The same Holy Spirit that talks to you, talks to your pastor, love your pastor, protect

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your pastor, cover him in prayer, cover him, guard him by the Spirit of God, okay, guard

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your heart by the Spirit of God.

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I was trying to put this message together and I was going through all of these things

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that I've seen in the city of Tulsa over the last 30 years and I can tell you that submitting

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to authority is also your place of protection.

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When your heart is connected to your pastor and your church, let me tell you, people may

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come against you.

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They may lie.

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They may spread all kinds of junk about you, but I tell you this, when you have the protection

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of your pastor, nobody can take you out of that position of authority, nobody.

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Why?

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Because your heart is connected truly.

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It's not just you're not giving somebody lip service, you know what I mean?

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You are truly connected to your pastor.

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Number one, your pastor is going to know it, so is everybody else that you're working

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for, okay, but the Holy Ghost knows, most importantly, and that's where the anointing

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comes from and that's where the presence of God comes from.

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If you are working in a ministry or you're working in a place and you're just taking

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a paycheck and your heart's not there, you need to resign and you need to find a place

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where you can serve, period, okay?

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You don't go to work for a pastor or a ministry.

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Out number one, loving the ministry and loving the church, loving the pastor, loving the vision,

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and then being willing to submit, because that is where the glory and the anointing come from.

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If you will honor authority, even when you don't understand, because when you work in a ministry,

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you don't know everything. You don't know what's going on. You have to trust that the pastor

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who does know everything, probably a lot of stuff you don't want to know, is being led by the Spirit

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of God. And what will happen is God will strengthen you. He will protect you. He will guard you.

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He will speak to those that you work for. And you will continue to operate in that place of

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provision, protection, grace, and anointing. And not only that, but it will also, over time,

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be a place of promotion, because you can be trusted. Have a great day, and thank you for listening.

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you