RESPECT TO AUTHORITY BY JOYCE MEYER

(Joyce Meyer) YOU HAVE TO PRAY THAT YOU DON’T COME UNDER DECEPTION AND YOU HAVE TO BE OPEN-MINDED ENOUGH NOT TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING EVERYBODY ELSE SAYS, BUT IF YOU’VE GOT SIX PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE TELLING YOU, “YOU ARE WRONG, YOU ARE WRONG,” THEN YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THAT AND NOT BE, “WELL, NOBODY IS GOING TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO.” MY SECOND THING THAT I WANT TO COVER BECAUSE I WANT TO BE FAITHFUL TO OUR VIEWERS TO GET AROUND TO EVERYTHING: WHAT ARE SOME WAYS THAT WE CAN SHOW RESPECT TO AUTHORITY?

(John) I THINK THERE ARE A LOT OF PRACTICAL WAYS. DON’T EVER LISTEN TO GOSSIP. WHAT IS GOSSIP? THE BIBLE SAYS DON’T RECEIVE AN ACCUSATION AGAINST AN ELDER EXCEPT BY TWO OR THREE WITNESSES. THAT WORD “WITNESSES” MEANS SOMEONE WHO HAS LITERAL EVIDENCE, PROOF. DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR AND DON’T PROPAGATE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR. BE SURE WHEN YOU’RE SPEAKING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE IN AUTHORITY OVER YOU, TO SPEAK WELL OF THEM. IF SOMETHING DOES GO WRONG, DON’T BLAB IT; SEEK TO COVER THEM BECAUSE GOD IS THE ONE WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF THEM — THEIR AUTHORITY. IF YOU LOOK AT NOAH, NOAH GOT DRUNK, COMPLETELY DRUNK AND UNCOVERED HIMSELF IN HIS TENT. HIS YOUNGEST SON, HAM, COMES WALKING IN AND SEES HIS DAD DRUNK AS A SKUNK AND NAKED AS A JAYBIRD. AND HAM GOES: UHHH! AND TURNS AROUND AND WALKS OUT AND TELLS EVERYBODY. EVERYBODY AT THAT TIME IS JUST SHEM AND JAPHETH BUT HE GOES: GUYS, DAD IS DRUNK AS A SKUNK AND NAKED AS A JAYBIRD.

(Joyce Meyer Online) WHAT DO SHEM AND JAPHETH DO? THEY WALK IN BACKWARD WITH A GARMENT OVER THEIR SHOULDERS AND THEY COVER THE NAKEDNESS OF THEIR FATHER AND THEY WALK OUT. THEY DIDN’T EVEN WANT TO SEE THEIR FATHER’S SHAME. RIGHT? WHAT HAPPENS? A CURSE COMES ON HAM’S YOUNGEST SON, CANAAN, THAT GOES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION TO GENERATION. DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S INTERESTING? IF YOU COME INTO THE NEW TESTAMENT, GOD BRAGS ABOUT NOAH WHEN HE’S BRAGGING ABOUT THE PATRIARCHS — THE GUY THAT WAS DRUNK! OBVIOUSLY NOAH REPENTED. HE BRAGS ON NOAH BUT YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT HAM BRAGGED ABOUT AGAIN BECAUSE I ACTUALLY SEE SOMETHING IN THE SCRIPTURES. I SEE TWO TYPES OF SINS IN THE SCRIPTURES: SINS AGAINST GOD’S HOLINESS AND MORAL SINS, AND SINS AGAINST HIS AUTHORITY. SINS AGAINST HIS HOLINESS AND MORAL SINS, AS BAD AS THEY ARE, THEY’RE NOT AS SEVERELY JUDGED AS SINS AGAINST HIS AUTHORITY. JOYCE MEYER MINISTRIES. DAVID COMMITS ADULTERY, HE’S PUT BACK ON THE THRONE. SAUL DISOBEYS GOD, HE LOSES HIS KINGDOM FOREVER. NOAH’S DRUNK, THERE’S AN IMMORAL SIN, BUT HE REPENTS. THANK GOD HE REPENTS. HAM DISHONORS HIS AUTHORITY AND YOU NEVER HEAR HIS NAME AGAIN. HE’S CURSED.