CITIZENS OF TWO KINGDOMS | 6pm

Praise the Lord.

Nice to see all of us this evening.

Thank you so much, Ivy, for the reading of God's word.

I want to thank the Lord for this opportunity that he's given us this evening to go into the word of God, and especially from this very tough scripture, Romans chapter 12, about obeying authority, from the topic citizens of two kingdoms.

I'm painfully aware that if I was having this same, same service at my church back in Kenya this evening, I would be interpreting this text in a very, very different way.

Considering the background of what's happening right now in Kenya, let me just give you a brief of what's happening right now.

In June 2024, there was a protest in Kenya against the finance bill, particularly the proposed tax increases at a time where many, many Kenyans were already struggling with the cost of living.

And how did the government respond to this? They deployed policemen, and at some points, even military personnel.

And what began as an opposition to overtaxation developed into kind of a broader Gen Z-led movement, demanding accountability from the government, demanding better governance from the government, and the end of corruption.

There were documented cases of killings, excessive use of force, and arbitrary arrests by government agencies.

Perhaps even more disturbing have been the reported patterns of abductions of activists and government critics and social media anti-government users.

There are cases whereby plainclothes security forces abducted and tortured and forcibly also disappeared people perceived to be involved in anti-government protests.

if I was preaching this sermon to my congregation, I'm sure that there will be just two or three people here.

Like, really? Obey government? They would be asking, Paul, have you been to Kenya lately? You know? And at first glance, it seems like Paul is saying, Christians, respect the government, obey the authorities, pay your taxes, and please, don't make too much noise about it.

Kind of what it is we think could be saying.

However, this evening, we must realize truth is truth.

And of course, there's some interplay between scripture and the context of Romans.

And the best we can do is to interpret the Bible into our own context and see what Paul has to say for us this day.

All scripture is inspired, right? It's profitable to all of us.

but this particular one begs questions, and they're not all answered in this passage, all right? I will be making references to other passages so that we can understand much better and bring things into perspective.

There'll be many questions that we shall be asking, and we shall continue asking.

However, don't let those questions obscure what we need to learn from Scripture tonight, all right? So let us put this scripture into context.