A Portion of Pastor Tim Stephen's message on May 9, 2021, seven days before he was first arrested.

Thanks to Fairview Baptist Church for this preaching video clip. It is entitled - The Reason Why We Gather.

Here is a portion of his preaching:

Authorities that we are under all come underneath the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's to Him that we pay the ultimate allegiance to.

Take our civil government for example, including our Mayor ,our Premier, our Prime Minister, our Health Authorities, they all answer to God as servants of justice. Romans 13 is clear that our civil magistrates are God's stewards or God's deacons and they wield the sword. They have police force and the reason why they have the police and wield the sword is to ensure justice, to punish the wicked one, the evildoer so that the righteous are rewarded. So we can live in a free society without fear of our possessions or our safety being jeopardized because of the wicked running rampant and so justice has been given to the civil magistrate and they are God's servants to carry out justice according to His standard and according to His rule and His law. The civil government are not rulers over the church, the Bible does not give in Romans 13 or 1 Peter 2 the civil magistrate authority over the church, the church is Christ’s Body, the Christ Bride. They are to wield the sword in matters of justice not in matters of regulating worship or how we gather together to worship…

So we submit to those in authority over us unless they forbid what God commands or command what God forbids or command what is not theirs to command. Now, right now, the civil magistrate is forbidding us to do what God commands. That's clear.

They are forbidding us to do what God commands because God commands us to gather together especially as the day draws near hebrews 10 25.
We're commanded to practice hospitality, 1 fPeter 4:9 .
We're commanded to sing to one another, Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16.
We're commanded to love one another in tangible real ways.
We're commanded to comfort one another.
We're commanded to serve one another to greet one another warmly with a holy kiss.
We're commanded to celebrate the Lord's Supper.
We're commanded to care for the elderly, widows and orphans.
We’re commanded to pray over the sick to minister to them not flee from them.

The government is forbidding us from doing these things the way that God has set down for us to do them and so we must obey God rather than men.