WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:00.160 Amen. 00:00.800 --> 00:02.860 I wanna look back at verse 12, the Bible says, 00:03.700 --> 00:05.740 let no man despise thy youth, 00:06.380 --> 00:09.320 but be thou an example of the believers 00:09.980 --> 00:13.580 in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, 00:13.880 --> 00:15.120 in faith, in purity. 00:15.620 --> 00:18.200 So now this is an admonition of course to a pastor 00:18.720 --> 00:22.660 and this is to young Timothy as the Bible would indicate 00:22.660 --> 00:24.420 he's a youth according to the Bible. 00:24.500 --> 00:25.160 What is that age? 00:25.300 --> 00:26.500 I don't know, but he's younger 00:27.080 --> 00:28.680 and the Bible is telling him though 00:28.680 --> 00:30.920 to be thou an example. 00:31.160 --> 00:33.480 And really that's kind of the title of my sermon 00:33.480 --> 00:34.900 is just to be a good example. 00:35.680 --> 00:37.680 And being a good example, I think 00:38.180 --> 00:39.800 there's a lot of elements to it. 00:39.840 --> 00:41.000 Of course there's a lot of ways 00:41.000 --> 00:42.360 that we should be an example, 00:42.780 --> 00:44.980 but I think in some ways being an example 00:44.980 --> 00:47.980 is often doing something that other people are not doing. 00:48.760 --> 00:51.720 You know, to be an example is not following 00:51.720 --> 00:53.500 because you're really more of a follower 00:53.500 --> 00:55.760 than setting an example, being a leader. 00:55.760 --> 00:59.360 So I really look at this passage as a commandment 00:59.360 --> 01:01.800 to be a leader, to do things that other people 01:01.800 --> 01:06.380 are not doing and to set yourself apart and doing good. 01:06.960 --> 01:09.300 It's very easy to set yourself apart and doing evil, 01:09.840 --> 01:13.160 but it's much more difficult to be a good example 01:13.160 --> 01:16.340 and to do what's right, to oppose evil, 01:16.520 --> 01:20.040 to oppose wickedness, to not necessarily go with the crowd 01:20.040 --> 01:22.180 or go with the stream, go with the flow, 01:22.340 --> 01:24.800 but rather to set a good example and be different. 01:24.800 --> 01:30.280 And in this world, unfortunately, evil is just abounding. 01:30.960 --> 01:33.760 The Bible says that the whole world lies in darkness. 01:34.280 --> 01:36.440 And so unfortunately we just see 01:36.440 --> 01:39.040 just so much corruption in our government. 01:39.500 --> 01:41.400 We see so much corruption in the world. 01:41.700 --> 01:44.860 We just see so many evildoers and so many bad things. 01:45.320 --> 01:47.040 And you kind of sometimes get 01:47.040 --> 01:49.140 what I would call blackpilled on humanity 01:49.140 --> 01:51.360 or you kind of lose faith and humanity as a whole. 01:52.000 --> 01:54.220 But the thing is, is what's to help us 01:54.220 --> 01:57.800 is for some people to step up and be a good example. 01:58.500 --> 01:59.220 And you know, that's what we need. 01:59.320 --> 02:01.000 We need more people to be a good example 02:01.000 --> 02:02.200 and not just pastors. 02:02.780 --> 02:05.200 I believe that this of course is a nomination to pastors 02:05.200 --> 02:07.560 but that we need other people to be examples. 02:07.700 --> 02:09.740 And notice, Timothy doesn't even have to be 02:09.740 --> 02:11.500 an older person to be a good example. 02:11.560 --> 02:14.500 He's a young person and yet he can be a good example. 02:14.620 --> 02:16.520 And I think that everyone in this room 02:17.260 --> 02:20.620 should strive to be a good example for their peers. 02:21.140 --> 02:22.760 And whether you realize it or not, 02:22.760 --> 02:25.940 there are people looking to you and how you behave 02:26.540 --> 02:31.580 and how you perform and you are in some ways influencing 02:31.580 --> 02:33.600 many people that you don't even realize. 02:34.060 --> 02:36.120 Let alone the people that you should probably realize 02:36.120 --> 02:37.920 that you're influencing, whether that be your family, 02:38.120 --> 02:40.060 your spouse, your friends, your church. 02:40.560 --> 02:43.560 Many of us are greatly influenced by the people around us. 02:43.620 --> 02:44.960 And when we see good examples, 02:45.180 --> 02:48.440 it can inspire other people to do better 02:48.860 --> 02:51.100 and to do good as well and to follow like suit. 02:51.800 --> 02:53.460 The counter is just as true 02:53.460 --> 02:55.240 where people are setting a bad example 02:55.840 --> 02:58.280 where a lot of people follow that bad example as well. 02:58.640 --> 03:00.540 But I really wanna give you the admonition 03:00.540 --> 03:02.140 to try and be a good example. 03:02.520 --> 03:05.100 Of course in this context we have in word, 03:05.340 --> 03:08.160 meaning I believe you could look at this 03:08.160 --> 03:08.900 as the word of God. 03:09.240 --> 03:10.880 You could also just look at this in his word, 03:11.140 --> 03:12.700 what he says, the things that he says 03:12.700 --> 03:13.720 is he's a good example. 03:14.180 --> 03:15.180 Preaching the right things, 03:15.320 --> 03:16.180 preaching the right doctrines, 03:16.280 --> 03:18.020 preaching the word of God, faithfully. 03:18.300 --> 03:20.240 In conversation, this is typically what we think 03:20.240 --> 03:23.140 of as lifestyle, not necessarily your words, 03:23.220 --> 03:24.880 but really just the manner of life, 03:25.060 --> 03:26.920 how you carry yourself, the decisions that you're making. 03:27.620 --> 03:28.920 In charity, this is your love. 03:29.240 --> 03:30.560 Charity is how you love other people. 03:30.800 --> 03:33.120 So being an example of loving other people, 03:33.300 --> 03:34.420 doing good under other people, 03:34.800 --> 03:38.920 in spirit, of course, having the right attitude 03:38.920 --> 03:40.640 towards the things of God, 03:41.020 --> 03:43.740 having a holy spirit in a sense, 03:44.160 --> 03:45.940 the leading of the spirit of God. 03:46.520 --> 03:47.600 And of course in faith, 03:48.080 --> 03:49.800 trusting God when you can't see it, 03:49.800 --> 03:50.680 it doesn't make sense. 03:51.460 --> 03:52.460 Believing God's word 03:52.460 --> 03:55.320 when you don't necessarily see it happening, 03:55.700 --> 03:56.580 but you're trusting God. 03:56.960 --> 03:59.660 And then in purity, keeping yourself pure 03:59.660 --> 04:01.400 from the evils of this world, 04:01.640 --> 04:02.900 from the wickedness of this world. 04:02.960 --> 04:03.740 So there's a lot of different ways 04:03.740 --> 04:04.480 that we can apply this. 04:04.840 --> 04:05.880 But I wanna get a few more examples 04:05.880 --> 04:07.960 before we dive into our application. 04:08.140 --> 04:10.000 Go to Philippians chapter three. 04:10.020 --> 04:11.080 So you're gonna go back to the left, 04:11.100 --> 04:11.560 just a hair. 04:11.980 --> 04:13.620 Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. 04:14.280 --> 04:15.320 Chapter number three. 04:16.180 --> 04:17.620 And I wanna look at verse 17. 04:21.920 --> 04:22.520 Brethren, 04:25.460 --> 04:27.840 be followers together of me 04:27.840 --> 04:30.260 and mark them which walk. 04:30.960 --> 04:33.880 So you have us for an in sample. 04:34.260 --> 04:37.520 So the King James Bible occasionally uses 04:37.520 --> 04:39.680 this little bit different word in sample. 04:40.200 --> 04:42.780 It's the same thing as we think of example, okay? 04:42.860 --> 04:45.060 It's just worded, it's just spelled differently, 04:45.220 --> 04:46.500 but it's basically the same thing. 04:46.960 --> 04:47.900 And notice he's saying, 04:47.900 --> 04:52.160 hey, some people we have to point out are bad 04:52.780 --> 04:54.820 so that you can make sure you follow us 04:55.360 --> 04:59.500 because we are the good example, they're the bad example. 05:00.060 --> 05:01.660 Of course, in the context here, 05:02.120 --> 05:05.100 the apostle Paul is talking about the unsaved Jews. 05:05.660 --> 05:08.480 So the unsaved Jews and the synagogues at their time, 05:08.780 --> 05:11.660 these are bad examples, these Judaizers, 05:12.140 --> 05:14.960 people trying to lead the Christians astray 05:15.460 --> 05:17.240 into believing work salvation, 05:17.760 --> 05:19.880 believing and following the commandments to get to heaven. 05:20.340 --> 05:23.440 You know, their judicial system that is corrupted 05:23.900 --> 05:25.220 where they're hypocrites 05:25.220 --> 05:27.220 and they have all these man-made traditions 05:27.220 --> 05:28.820 that go against the things of God. 05:29.100 --> 05:31.760 He's saying, hey, we gotta mark these people 05:32.280 --> 05:35.500 or even Christians that have been in their churches 05:35.500 --> 05:39.200 and have apostatized or started speaking perverse things 05:39.200 --> 05:40.920 to draw away disciples after themselves. 05:41.220 --> 05:42.840 Hey, we have to mark those people 05:43.280 --> 05:45.860 so that you know, hey, you need to follow us, right? 05:46.300 --> 05:50.460 Be followers together of me and mark them which walk 05:51.100 --> 05:52.840 so as you have us for an example. 05:52.960 --> 05:54.920 Now, again, in the context of Philippians 3, 05:55.320 --> 05:56.360 notice what it says in verse two, 05:57.360 --> 05:59.760 beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, 06:00.220 --> 06:03.840 beware of the concision for we are the circumcision. 06:04.000 --> 06:06.780 So Philippians 3's context is mainly about Jews 06:07.280 --> 06:09.180 if you realize kind of what he's saying here 06:09.180 --> 06:11.940 because the concision is talking about those 06:11.940 --> 06:15.920 who have been circumcised physically but not spiritually, 06:16.020 --> 06:18.100 not in their heart and so he's warning, 06:18.300 --> 06:19.380 hey, be aware of these dogs. 06:19.980 --> 06:22.100 He's not talking about literal animals, you know, 06:23.080 --> 06:25.880 phyto or a chihuahua or a pit bull. 06:26.600 --> 06:28.240 He's calling people dogs. 06:28.820 --> 06:30.400 Now that's a pretty derogatory term 06:30.400 --> 06:32.120 but unfortunately there are people 06:32.120 --> 06:33.380 that are way worse than dogs. 06:33.960 --> 06:36.020 There are people that are more evil than animals 06:36.500 --> 06:38.340 and they act like animals in the sense 06:38.340 --> 06:39.540 they seem to have no conscience, 06:39.540 --> 06:43.560 that they're ferocious, that they act beastly 06:43.560 --> 06:46.080 and so he's just saying, hey, beware of dogs, 06:46.200 --> 06:48.800 beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 06:49.280 --> 06:51.160 Okay, and we need to mark those people 06:51.740 --> 06:53.600 and warn against those people 06:53.600 --> 06:56.940 and you need to follow us, we are the good example. 06:57.080 --> 06:58.680 The apostle Paul is saying, I'm a good example. 06:59.240 --> 07:00.740 Now, here's what's funny. 07:01.000 --> 07:02.260 If anybody actually got up today and said, 07:02.320 --> 07:03.020 hey, I'm a good example, 07:03.380 --> 07:05.000 what do they call that person? 07:05.940 --> 07:06.600 Prideful, exactly. 07:06.980 --> 07:09.320 It's just like, oh man, you're just so prideful. 07:09.320 --> 07:10.740 You think you're a good example 07:11.280 --> 07:12.660 but here's the thing, the apostle Paul 07:12.660 --> 07:14.140 is not trying to brag in himself. 07:14.480 --> 07:15.900 He's just saying, look, we are sincere. 07:16.200 --> 07:18.040 We're the legitimate form of Christianity. 07:18.800 --> 07:20.520 You need to be following our example 07:21.020 --> 07:22.540 and it's not about him though. 07:23.040 --> 07:24.140 He's following Christ. 07:24.340 --> 07:25.400 He's following the word of God. 07:25.840 --> 07:27.180 He's saying, hey, we're a good example 07:27.180 --> 07:28.300 not because I'm a good example 07:28.300 --> 07:30.740 because this is good and I'm trying to do this, okay? 07:31.140 --> 07:32.160 It's not that he's perfect. 07:32.520 --> 07:34.180 It's not that he's trying to glorify himself. 07:34.460 --> 07:35.600 He's just saying, I've recognized 07:35.600 --> 07:36.900 this is the right pattern 07:36.900 --> 07:39.740 and what these people are doing is not the right pattern 07:39.740 --> 07:41.840 so we need to mark those people 07:41.840 --> 07:42.980 and you need to follow us 07:42.980 --> 07:44.520 because we are the ensemble. 07:44.800 --> 07:45.540 We're the example. 07:45.820 --> 07:46.720 We're what's good. 07:47.120 --> 07:48.120 You need to follow us. 07:48.260 --> 07:49.320 You need to be like us. 07:49.800 --> 07:51.260 And let me just explain this. 07:51.500 --> 07:53.220 You should be like a new IB pastor 07:53.720 --> 07:54.780 because let me tell you something. 07:54.900 --> 07:55.700 They're the good examples. 07:55.940 --> 07:57.600 They're the ones that are zealous 07:57.600 --> 07:58.620 for the things of God, 07:58.920 --> 07:59.960 going soul winning, 08:00.400 --> 08:01.820 preaching the hard truths of the Bible, 08:02.200 --> 08:03.600 telling you to keep the commandments 08:03.600 --> 08:06.120 and look, even if one of them was imperfect, 08:06.700 --> 08:08.320 even if they were secretly hypocrite, 08:08.340 --> 08:09.820 it wouldn't matter because you're ultimately 08:09.820 --> 08:10.640 just following the Bible 08:11.160 --> 08:12.580 and you're just trying to follow people 08:12.580 --> 08:13.900 that say they're following the Bible, okay? 08:13.960 --> 08:14.720 That's the whole point. 08:15.260 --> 08:16.680 There's no point in following someone 08:16.680 --> 08:17.700 that's obviously bad 08:17.700 --> 08:18.980 and telling you not to follow the Bible. 08:19.220 --> 08:20.420 You should try to follow the guy 08:20.420 --> 08:21.320 that is following the Bible. 08:21.780 --> 08:22.880 Albeit no one's perfect. 08:23.100 --> 08:23.820 No one will arrive. 08:24.020 --> 08:24.980 No one will always do it right. 08:25.380 --> 08:25.840 You know what? 08:25.920 --> 08:26.880 We should follow the Bible 08:26.880 --> 08:28.300 and follow those who are following the Bible. 08:28.540 --> 08:30.620 We should follow the Apostle Paul's in our life 08:30.620 --> 08:33.300 because he's the one following Christ, okay? 08:33.960 --> 08:37.520 Now I want to go to first Peter chapter five, 08:37.600 --> 08:38.940 go to first Peter chapter number five. 08:40.020 --> 08:41.800 Notice the Bible's bringing this up a lot 08:41.800 --> 08:44.160 about examples or in samples. 08:44.640 --> 08:45.600 People you should be following. 08:45.800 --> 08:46.700 People you should be looking up to. 08:47.280 --> 08:48.640 And what's sad in this world 08:48.640 --> 08:52.440 is, you know, help Lord for the godly man seeseth. 08:53.560 --> 08:56.460 It's sad when there's just very few good examples. 08:57.140 --> 08:59.100 You know, isn't that pretty much 08:59.100 --> 08:59.960 what the Bible teaches? 09:01.180 --> 09:02.680 I mean, isn't that what Psalm 12 is teaching? 09:03.440 --> 09:04.480 Help Lord for the Godly. 09:04.500 --> 09:06.180 It's not saying everyone's godly. 09:07.520 --> 09:08.180 Everyone's good. 09:09.380 --> 09:10.180 Everybody's awesome. 09:10.800 --> 09:12.820 We got all these wonderful people 09:12.820 --> 09:14.200 and all these wonderful pastors 09:14.200 --> 09:15.480 and just everybody's good. 09:15.920 --> 09:17.380 Now the Bible kind of paints the opposite picture 09:17.380 --> 09:18.460 that it's like help Lord 09:18.460 --> 09:19.840 because there's virtually no one good. 09:20.320 --> 09:22.320 There's just like not very good examples. 09:22.780 --> 09:24.120 There's very few options. 09:24.700 --> 09:25.700 You look in the biblical record. 09:25.820 --> 09:26.940 I mean, you have examples in the Bible 09:26.940 --> 09:28.760 where the Bible says God is looking for somebody 09:28.760 --> 09:30.600 and he says I found none. 09:31.980 --> 09:33.020 That's pretty sad. 09:33.840 --> 09:35.640 Like, why am I supposed to think like, 09:35.800 --> 09:38.340 oh, back then God couldn't find a single person 09:38.340 --> 09:39.740 but today everyone's good. 09:40.460 --> 09:42.020 Today every pastor's a good guy 09:42.020 --> 09:43.560 and every church is a good guy. 09:43.740 --> 09:44.900 And it's like, you know, 09:45.500 --> 09:48.680 these fake Christians, all of them like each other 09:48.680 --> 09:49.700 and they just hate us. 09:49.820 --> 09:51.560 Like we're the only bad Christians, you know? 09:52.200 --> 09:54.200 And it's just like, it's kind of the exact opposite 09:54.830 --> 09:55.620 in many cases. 09:55.620 --> 09:57.240 But look at first Peter chapter number five, 09:57.300 --> 09:57.840 look at verse three. 09:59.020 --> 10:00.020 Talking about pastors, 10:00.120 --> 10:02.040 neither as being lords over God's heritage 10:02.040 --> 10:04.460 but being in samples to the flock. 10:04.600 --> 10:06.900 So that's why I said it's not always example. 10:07.180 --> 10:09.700 Sometimes it's in sample, same thing, same word 10:09.700 --> 10:12.300 in essence as far as what it's trying to communicate. 10:12.640 --> 10:13.600 And he's trying to say, hey, 10:13.880 --> 10:16.460 pastors should be a good example to the flock. 10:16.720 --> 10:18.340 Meaning that their lifestyle, 10:18.860 --> 10:21.800 what they're doing should be what you're trying to do. 10:22.440 --> 10:23.100 You know, you think about it 10:23.100 --> 10:24.640 like even just the qualifications of a pastor 10:24.640 --> 10:27.040 like that's kind of what every guy should be trying to do. 10:27.420 --> 10:32.440 Be a good husband, be married, have kids, ruling well, 10:32.920 --> 10:35.180 having a good reputation, not drunk. 10:35.420 --> 10:36.860 I mean like, pretty much just everything 10:36.860 --> 10:39.300 in the qualifications is just being a good Christian. 10:39.620 --> 10:41.140 Just being a good person in general. 10:41.600 --> 10:43.280 The pastor's supposed to do the work on evangelist 10:43.280 --> 10:45.000 so that the congregation will what? 10:45.380 --> 10:47.140 To evangelism, go out and preach the gospel. 10:47.480 --> 10:48.920 So you know, pastors should be someone 10:48.920 --> 10:51.420 that's evangelizing, going on missions trips, 10:51.880 --> 10:54.020 loving the loss, trying to get people saved, 10:54.020 --> 10:55.120 preaching the gospel. 10:55.900 --> 10:57.020 You know, how many pastors a day 10:57.020 --> 10:58.720 never give the gospel to anybody? 10:59.120 --> 11:00.680 You know, it's kind of sad. 11:01.340 --> 11:02.680 It is like, that's not a good example. 11:03.380 --> 11:04.760 You know, you have churches 11:04.760 --> 11:06.880 and you have whole movements of religion 11:06.880 --> 11:08.860 where the pastor's not even married. 11:10.340 --> 11:14.280 How is a guy that's not married supposed to get up 11:14.280 --> 11:15.660 and all educate us on marriage? 11:16.380 --> 11:17.660 Now I know there's some guys out there 11:17.660 --> 11:18.940 that think they can, okay. 11:19.800 --> 11:21.240 I know there's a lot of single guys out there 11:21.240 --> 11:22.120 that are the greatest husbands 11:22.120 --> 11:23.220 that have ever walked the planet 11:23.780 --> 11:27.340 but you know, don't you think that they might struggle 11:28.220 --> 11:30.000 to understand the nuances of marriage 11:30.000 --> 11:30.940 when you've never been married? 11:32.220 --> 11:33.380 Don't you think it would be hard 11:33.380 --> 11:34.680 for some of those never had kids, 11:35.240 --> 11:37.180 has zero kids to be able to really explain 11:37.180 --> 11:39.420 all the difficulties of child raising 11:39.420 --> 11:40.560 and just all the different, 11:40.780 --> 11:42.460 I mean, you know, it's kind of absurd 11:42.460 --> 11:43.860 to think this guy is our example. 11:44.080 --> 11:45.400 Here's a guy who doesn't go soul winning. 11:45.720 --> 11:46.500 He doesn't have a family. 11:46.660 --> 11:47.500 He doesn't have a wife. 11:47.720 --> 11:50.480 Yet, he's gonna tell us all what we're supposed to do. 11:50.860 --> 11:51.860 That's not an example. 11:52.480 --> 11:54.560 Okay, that's like a bad example. 11:54.800 --> 11:57.520 And so I think why the Bible wants a guy 11:57.520 --> 11:58.480 that's married as kids 11:58.480 --> 11:59.760 so that he can relate to everyone. 12:00.000 --> 12:02.120 Because if he was lacking in one of those areas, 12:02.320 --> 12:03.380 well he's gonna probably lack 12:03.380 --> 12:06.140 in being able to essentially help people 12:06.140 --> 12:08.080 and empathize in various situations 12:08.560 --> 12:09.940 and he's there as an example 12:09.940 --> 12:12.120 for everybody to kind of follow in general. 12:12.280 --> 12:13.920 Him and his family of course 12:13.920 --> 12:15.660 because his wife and children are supposed to be 12:15.660 --> 12:17.300 in behavior while they're in the church as well. 12:17.620 --> 12:20.660 You want the wife to be sober and not a slanderer. 12:20.660 --> 12:22.280 You know, faithful in all things. 12:22.680 --> 12:23.780 And so it's important for them 12:23.780 --> 12:25.120 to be setting this good example. 12:25.400 --> 12:28.060 Because many times people will, 12:28.780 --> 12:33.220 they kind of like set the pastor and this family 12:33.660 --> 12:35.180 as like the ultimate bar. 12:35.840 --> 12:38.240 And I don't think that that's necessarily right. 12:38.540 --> 12:39.920 I'm just telling you kind of what it is. 12:40.420 --> 12:42.460 Like wherever the pastor's at or his family, 12:42.560 --> 12:43.860 it's kind of like where other people 12:43.860 --> 12:45.080 will put as their maximum. 12:45.680 --> 12:46.660 And that's not necessarily right. 12:47.100 --> 12:47.720 You know, and praise God, 12:47.820 --> 12:48.800 we have people in our church 12:48.800 --> 12:50.260 that go soul-winning more than I do. 12:50.760 --> 12:51.480 They don't say like, 12:51.560 --> 12:54.500 oh, well, I want to max out at whatever pastor's shell is doing 12:54.500 --> 12:57.500 or people go on more mission strips than I will 12:57.500 --> 13:00.420 or you know, people that have more kids than I do 13:00.420 --> 13:01.180 or people that, you know, 13:01.680 --> 13:03.520 it's not like you have to limit yourself 13:03.520 --> 13:05.660 to whatever pastor's shell he does, right? 13:06.180 --> 13:08.340 But in some cases many people 13:08.340 --> 13:10.200 won't even try to go above that anyways. 13:10.680 --> 13:12.800 So if the pastor's setting a really low example, 13:13.200 --> 13:15.180 well then it's just not going to challenge the congregation. 13:15.580 --> 13:17.300 And so it's important for the pastor, 13:17.300 --> 13:19.720 for the wife, for the children to set a good example, 13:20.220 --> 13:22.720 to be leading and doing good. 13:23.100 --> 13:24.000 They don't have to be the best, 13:24.420 --> 13:26.120 but at least they're setting a good example 13:26.120 --> 13:27.720 so that many people can follow. 13:28.600 --> 13:30.360 And of course we want other people in the church 13:30.360 --> 13:31.640 to do likewise. 13:31.920 --> 13:32.800 You know, there's people in the church 13:32.800 --> 13:35.020 that go soul-winning and they're an example to me. 13:35.620 --> 13:36.540 They encourage me. 13:36.660 --> 13:38.080 They cause me to want to improve 13:38.080 --> 13:40.220 or do more or work harder. 13:40.540 --> 13:42.700 There's people in here that do great things 13:42.700 --> 13:44.400 for their wife and they are a good husband 13:44.400 --> 13:45.900 and it motivates me to be a better husband. 13:46.480 --> 13:48.540 There's wives in here that serve their families 13:48.540 --> 13:51.380 and set a good example and encourage me and my wife 13:51.380 --> 13:53.840 and our family to want to do more and help other people. 13:54.340 --> 13:56.000 There's people in here that have great kids 13:56.000 --> 13:59.040 that are really respectful and really precocious 13:59.040 --> 14:00.760 and it causes us to be like, 14:00.840 --> 14:03.540 man, we want to train our kids to be like their kids. 14:04.140 --> 14:05.520 And it's just good examples 14:05.520 --> 14:07.300 or just encouraging other people to be good examples. 14:08.060 --> 14:09.940 And whenever you're setting a bad example 14:09.940 --> 14:12.040 or a low example, well it just kind of, 14:12.040 --> 14:14.540 it causes a lot of people to follow and like footsteps. 14:14.540 --> 14:18.340 So it's important for us to have good examples 14:18.340 --> 14:20.040 and in many cases, you know, 14:20.060 --> 14:22.360 you'll be like your pastor in many ways. 14:22.680 --> 14:24.360 Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter one. 14:24.540 --> 14:28.200 And one way that I think is really interesting, 14:28.960 --> 14:31.180 it seems like for the most part, 14:31.180 --> 14:34.560 people kind of believe like their pastor, you know. 14:35.040 --> 14:36.260 It's just like it doesn't matter. 14:36.960 --> 14:38.700 Just people just, everybody just kind of agrees 14:38.700 --> 14:41.540 with their pastor and the pastor is just always right. 14:41.860 --> 14:43.040 And that's not necessarily true. 14:43.040 --> 14:44.760 The pastor isn't necessarily always right. 14:46.400 --> 14:48.780 But as for me, like in picking a church 14:48.780 --> 14:49.620 or where I want to go to church, 14:49.940 --> 14:51.040 I kind of wanted a church 14:51.040 --> 14:52.980 where the pastor is right for the most part 14:53.580 --> 14:55.680 because I kind of want my family and me 14:55.680 --> 14:57.840 to kind of like be in lockstep. 14:58.300 --> 15:00.040 You know, I don't want it to necessarily be 15:00.040 --> 15:02.660 a constant fight or something 15:02.660 --> 15:05.040 or I don't want my kids and me to be at odds. 15:05.380 --> 15:06.740 I even remember growing up in the church, 15:06.840 --> 15:07.860 I was growing up, it was pre-trib. 15:08.800 --> 15:10.760 And my dad was not, my dad was not pre-trib. 15:10.760 --> 15:13.060 But I kind of would side with my pastor, 15:13.740 --> 15:16.580 even though my dad wasn't pre-trib at all. 15:17.060 --> 15:19.900 And you know, I wish that my dad maybe explained his position. 15:20.020 --> 15:21.240 He was just kind of not pre-trib. 15:21.320 --> 15:23.880 He wouldn't tell you why or like verse or something. 15:24.060 --> 15:25.960 He just knew, he was like, pre-trib is not in the Bible. 15:26.300 --> 15:28.900 And he's just like, so, you know, it's like, 15:29.200 --> 15:31.100 but the pastor's saying it, you know, whatever. 15:31.460 --> 15:33.460 And so like sometimes it creates this weird conflict. 15:33.760 --> 15:37.400 And you know, again, if your dad says something different, 15:37.620 --> 15:39.440 you know, you should take key to what your dad says, 15:39.440 --> 15:41.080 you should listen to your parents, 15:41.220 --> 15:42.640 you should consider what they have to say. 15:43.460 --> 15:44.280 But you know, at the end of the day, 15:44.320 --> 15:45.840 the pastor's not always right. 15:46.320 --> 15:48.220 But you know, hopefully it's not like a constant, 15:48.420 --> 15:49.760 you have to go home and explain why 15:49.760 --> 15:51.040 Pastor Shelley's wrong, okay? 15:51.660 --> 15:53.320 If you have to explain why Pastor Shelley's wrong 15:53.320 --> 15:55.120 after every sermon, you might find a different church, 15:55.200 --> 15:55.440 okay? 15:56.240 --> 15:59.740 But you know, hey, if that occasionally has to happen, 15:59.840 --> 16:00.540 then go for it. 16:00.820 --> 16:02.240 But you know, you kind of want to go to a church 16:02.240 --> 16:03.280 where you look up to the pastor, 16:03.840 --> 16:04.800 you like what he's preaching, 16:04.980 --> 16:05.640 you like what he's teaching. 16:05.760 --> 16:06.880 That's really important to me, you know? 16:07.420 --> 16:09.100 I want to go to church where the pastor's 16:09.100 --> 16:10.960 gonna teach me the Bible and I'm gonna agree with him 16:10.960 --> 16:14.080 on most things, on the big things for sure, okay? 16:14.540 --> 16:16.660 Look at verse Thessalonians chapter number one 16:16.660 --> 16:17.580 and verse number seven, 16:18.240 --> 16:20.080 because people are gonna believe like their pastor. 16:20.560 --> 16:22.960 So hopefully you just believe right by accident. 16:23.240 --> 16:25.840 Verse seven, so that you are in samples 16:25.840 --> 16:27.460 to all that believe in Macedonian okay? 16:27.620 --> 16:30.600 Now this is not just a person, this is the whole church. 16:31.260 --> 16:32.940 And it's saying this entire church 16:33.500 --> 16:34.860 is setting a good example. 16:34.860 --> 16:37.300 So it's not only important for the pastor to be an example. 16:37.560 --> 16:39.060 It's not only important for his wife 16:39.060 --> 16:40.020 and his children to be an example. 16:40.480 --> 16:42.460 It's important for the whole church to be an example 16:42.460 --> 16:45.280 because a church will sometimes be an example 16:45.280 --> 16:46.320 to another church. 16:47.000 --> 16:47.940 You know, when a church sees, 16:48.160 --> 16:51.180 hey, set fast Baptist church is being evicted 16:51.180 --> 16:53.100 for preaching, you know, this sermon. 16:53.620 --> 16:54.400 But you know what? 16:54.520 --> 16:56.140 The pastor didn't take it back 16:56.140 --> 16:57.360 and the church sides with them 16:57.360 --> 16:59.600 and the church is still following around in hotel rooms. 16:59.940 --> 17:01.080 They don't even know where they're going to church 17:01.080 --> 17:02.380 since then in the morning, they just know they're going. 17:03.360 --> 17:04.940 I mean, there was a point in time 17:04.940 --> 17:06.520 where we were sending out the address 17:06.520 --> 17:08.260 like an hour or two hours before 17:09.220 --> 17:10.480 we were actually having service. 17:10.800 --> 17:11.880 And I know some people are getting nervous 17:11.880 --> 17:13.380 because they're kind of like, I don't want to really ask 17:13.380 --> 17:16.340 but it's like an hour, you know, like, I got to know, 17:16.440 --> 17:17.940 like, where are we going, Pastor Shelley? 17:18.000 --> 17:19.100 And it's just like, all right, here we go. 17:19.200 --> 17:19.740 This is where we're going. 17:20.300 --> 17:21.940 You know, it was funny, we were meeting, 17:22.260 --> 17:23.960 I told people like, don't bring visitors. 17:24.380 --> 17:26.060 I'm like, no one knows where we're going. 17:26.260 --> 17:26.940 Don't share the link. 17:27.260 --> 17:28.680 And they're just like, hey, I brought this visitor. 17:28.760 --> 17:29.400 He didn't want to get baptized. 17:29.940 --> 17:31.360 You know, it's just like, what? 17:31.720 --> 17:33.440 We had like more baptisms 17:33.860 --> 17:35.400 when we were like in the hotel church 17:35.400 --> 17:37.760 that we'd had like a few months prior or something. 17:37.880 --> 17:38.220 It was funny. 17:38.800 --> 17:40.260 I mean, I was just like, dang it, 17:40.260 --> 17:41.940 I have to go get in the pool or whatever. 17:42.060 --> 17:43.460 He's like, but you know, at the same time, 17:43.500 --> 17:45.200 I'm like, I'm praising God that there's a baptism, 17:45.500 --> 17:46.880 of course, you know, currently speaking, 17:46.980 --> 17:48.820 it was kind of like, what the heck, you know, 17:49.200 --> 17:50.820 how do we have all these visitors in the hotel 17:50.820 --> 17:51.580 that want to get baptized? 17:51.780 --> 17:54.200 But you know what, praise God for the baptisms. 17:54.960 --> 17:55.580 Praise God. 17:55.700 --> 17:56.900 And you know what, that sets an example. 17:57.380 --> 17:59.480 You know, first works, they got bombed 17:59.480 --> 18:00.320 and then they're just like, 18:00.320 --> 18:02.420 hey, we're still having church, someone's backyard. 18:03.060 --> 18:04.500 You know, and it's like, that's a great example. 18:05.080 --> 18:06.140 Now, of course, when you live in California, 18:06.300 --> 18:08.220 you can do that, you know, you live in Texas, 18:08.380 --> 18:09.780 it would have been a different, you know, animal 18:10.300 --> 18:12.160 to having it outside, okay? 18:12.600 --> 18:14.960 But it's just like, hey, church is going through 18:14.960 --> 18:18.080 persecution and rallying around the pastor, 18:18.920 --> 18:22.440 rallying around the truth, being steadfast. 18:23.040 --> 18:24.480 You know what, that's a good example 18:24.480 --> 18:25.920 and it's example to other churches. 18:26.560 --> 18:28.580 Church is going out and doing big missions trips, 18:29.240 --> 18:31.980 inspires other churches to go and do big mission trips. 18:32.300 --> 18:33.580 Church is going and saying, hey, 18:33.600 --> 18:34.900 we got this many people saved. 18:35.460 --> 18:39.140 I guarantee, I guarantee that the new IB 18:39.140 --> 18:41.360 saying how many salvations we got in 2025 18:41.880 --> 18:43.400 caused a lot of our enemies to be like, 18:43.520 --> 18:44.940 we need to do soul-winning a little more. 18:45.500 --> 18:46.660 And you know, is that really that bad? 18:47.640 --> 18:49.700 Someone could dislike me and dislike our church 18:49.700 --> 18:52.480 and if they go soul-winning, praise God anyways, you know? 18:53.080 --> 18:54.800 You don't have to like me to get someone saved. 18:55.100 --> 18:56.700 You don't have to like me to do the right thing. 18:56.700 --> 18:58.720 But you know what, we probably still provoked 18:58.720 --> 18:59.520 some under jealousy. 19:00.080 --> 19:01.640 We've provoked them under jealousy like, 19:01.900 --> 19:03.320 hey, you probably want to get a part of this. 19:03.960 --> 19:05.440 You know, I've noticed some of these people, 19:05.520 --> 19:06.940 they're going to the same Caribbean islands 19:06.940 --> 19:08.940 we're going to, that's probably coincidence, right? 19:09.720 --> 19:11.240 I don't care, go for it. 19:11.600 --> 19:13.460 You know, I don't own the Philippines, 19:13.780 --> 19:15.820 I don't own the Bahamas, I don't own Mexico. 19:16.200 --> 19:17.860 It's like, hey, go with us soul-winning, 19:18.100 --> 19:19.560 don't go with us, just go soul-winning. 19:20.920 --> 19:21.960 But you know what, in some cases 19:21.960 --> 19:24.160 you're just setting a good example and that's important. 19:24.660 --> 19:26.760 You know, in many cases, I don't think 19:26.760 --> 19:28.680 that I'm ever going to be that liked or that popular, 19:29.180 --> 19:30.680 but just by setting a good example, 19:30.880 --> 19:32.120 even people that don't like you, 19:32.300 --> 19:34.400 they'll sometimes, they'll follow you anyways 19:34.780 --> 19:36.360 or they'll make good decisions anyways. 19:36.600 --> 19:37.200 And you know what we need? 19:37.460 --> 19:39.020 We just need more people to be a good example 19:39.020 --> 19:40.180 whether they're liked or not. 19:40.640 --> 19:42.620 Whether people want to be their friend or not, 19:42.880 --> 19:44.240 whether people go to their church or not, 19:44.480 --> 19:45.960 we just need people to be good examples 19:45.960 --> 19:47.320 and we need churches to be good examples. 19:47.820 --> 19:49.140 We need more churches to say, hey, 19:49.340 --> 19:51.300 you can preach hard on the truth of the Bible 19:51.300 --> 19:53.860 and still exist, still grow, still thrive, 19:53.860 --> 19:54.940 still get people baptized, 19:55.340 --> 19:56.900 still do all the things that you need to do. 19:57.120 --> 19:58.580 Hey, you can give money to missions 19:58.580 --> 20:00.360 and you can still have money to have conferences 20:00.360 --> 20:01.100 and have fun things. 20:01.400 --> 20:03.220 Like, we don't want to sit here and set a bad example. 20:03.340 --> 20:04.060 What is it a good example? 20:04.680 --> 20:06.040 We want people to visit our church 20:06.040 --> 20:07.400 and say like, I liked being there. 20:07.840 --> 20:09.020 I like the spirit there. 20:09.160 --> 20:10.220 I like the people there. 20:10.520 --> 20:11.980 You know, I heard that they're all weirdos 20:11.980 --> 20:14.100 and mentally retarded, Kool-Aid drinking freaks, 20:14.180 --> 20:16.180 but I went there and they're all cool and awesome 20:16.180 --> 20:17.280 and I like them. 20:18.300 --> 20:20.340 Look, I met a guy at Massa 20:20.720 --> 20:23.580 and he said that he was going to 20:24.400 --> 20:25.640 all scripture Baptist church 20:25.640 --> 20:27.140 the last six months or something. 20:27.920 --> 20:30.120 So it's just the last six months of their demise. 20:30.580 --> 20:31.920 He'd never even heard of the new IVB, 20:32.300 --> 20:34.280 but he like shows up and every sermon 20:34.280 --> 20:35.900 is just about how bad the new IVB is. 20:36.060 --> 20:38.000 He's just like, man, I just heard about these people. 20:38.080 --> 20:39.800 They're just all weird and freaks 20:39.800 --> 20:41.620 and just like crazy and whatever. 20:42.300 --> 20:42.840 And then he's like, 20:43.040 --> 20:44.040 then I started listening to their sermons 20:44.040 --> 20:45.680 like they're pretty good sermons, you know? 20:45.940 --> 20:47.680 Like, and then he's like, 20:47.780 --> 20:48.740 and then I started meeting these people. 20:48.820 --> 20:49.640 They're like kind of cool. 20:49.640 --> 20:51.300 And he's just like, you know, 20:51.360 --> 20:52.920 hey, that's a great testimony. 20:54.540 --> 20:56.660 And hey, even if they say that you're weird 20:56.660 --> 20:58.060 and you've turned the world upside down 20:58.060 --> 21:00.220 and hey, they come here, they're also, 21:00.700 --> 21:02.280 it's like, hey, once they meet you, 21:02.860 --> 21:04.320 it's like, hey, I kind of like those people. 21:04.760 --> 21:06.060 They're setting a good example 21:06.560 --> 21:08.580 and they're turning the world upside down to the gospel. 21:08.940 --> 21:10.300 And hey, not everybody's going to like you, 21:10.360 --> 21:11.380 but just be a good example anyways. 21:12.260 --> 21:14.200 And we need a whole church to be a good example. 21:14.820 --> 21:15.980 We set an example. 21:16.660 --> 21:18.280 Our name, Steadfast Baptist Church, 21:18.420 --> 21:19.120 sets an example. 21:19.120 --> 21:21.560 There are many people looking at what we're doing 21:22.000 --> 21:23.680 and they're going to follow like suit. 21:23.880 --> 21:25.960 If we just folded like a deck of cards, 21:26.080 --> 21:28.140 a lot of churches would lose boldness 21:28.140 --> 21:29.080 in preaching the word of God. 21:29.540 --> 21:31.160 But by standing on the truth, 21:31.280 --> 21:32.700 by preaching what the Bible says, 21:33.140 --> 21:36.580 by being very zealous for the things of God 21:36.580 --> 21:39.280 and evangelism, it inspires other people to do likewise. 21:39.860 --> 21:41.700 And we need to do that. 21:42.000 --> 21:43.400 You know, people that like our church 21:43.400 --> 21:46.420 and go through the tribulation, that sets an example. 21:46.860 --> 21:48.720 You know, if everybody just leaves and gives up 21:48.720 --> 21:52.520 and well, I just disagree with how he said it or whatever. 21:53.440 --> 21:55.340 It's just like, well, then other people 21:55.340 --> 21:56.520 will learn from that example 21:56.520 --> 21:57.800 and they'll disagree with their churches. 21:58.220 --> 22:00.680 And you know, not everybody even has a good church to go to. 22:01.160 --> 22:03.120 When people are leaving a good church, 22:03.700 --> 22:04.540 what does that send? 22:04.640 --> 22:05.400 That sends a message to people 22:05.400 --> 22:06.560 that are in a bad church to leave. 22:07.140 --> 22:07.900 You know, I've met these people like, 22:08.000 --> 22:09.400 I can't go to church if it's pre-trip. 22:10.260 --> 22:12.140 It's like, well, you're just going to not go to church? 22:12.460 --> 22:13.720 Like, that's not good. 22:14.300 --> 22:16.940 You know, like, hey, if you can tolerate things 22:16.940 --> 22:19.260 and sometimes you don't agree and you go, 22:19.520 --> 22:20.580 that sets a good example too. 22:21.420 --> 22:22.480 You know, hey, we need to be people 22:22.480 --> 22:24.360 that are just cared, we care about the truth 22:24.360 --> 22:26.060 and we care about getting people saved 22:26.060 --> 22:28.700 and we don't have to like and agree with everything. 22:29.160 --> 22:30.340 We just want to be a good example. 22:30.760 --> 22:32.160 Go to 2nd Thessalonians, chapter three. 22:32.280 --> 22:33.180 Go to 2nd Thessalonians, chapter three. 22:33.440 --> 22:34.420 You know what's a good example? 22:35.600 --> 22:37.720 That 10-year plaque we have out in the hallway 22:38.220 --> 22:40.380 of people that have been here for 10 years straight. 22:41.060 --> 22:42.160 That's a great example. 22:43.440 --> 22:45.080 You know, what a great example. 22:45.080 --> 22:47.080 Brother Alberto and the Milsteads been here 22:47.080 --> 22:51.200 basically since day one, Miss Lucy in the first year too. 22:51.420 --> 22:53.880 I mean, we've had people that are just tried and true 22:54.560 --> 22:58.300 and I guarantee it wasn't as fun, you know, in the house. 22:58.880 --> 23:00.560 Wasn't as fun when Adam Fannie was here. 23:00.860 --> 23:02.920 It wasn't as fun, you know, when we had 23:02.920 --> 23:05.500 all kinds of protests and threats 23:05.500 --> 23:08.600 and just changing locations and all this stuff. 23:08.880 --> 23:10.320 I mean, it's not always been the best. 23:10.780 --> 23:11.700 There's highs and lows. 23:12.360 --> 23:13.580 But you know, at the end of the day, 23:13.580 --> 23:14.840 like it's a good testimony to say 23:14.840 --> 23:16.080 hey, I've been in a church for 10 years. 23:16.580 --> 23:19.320 Hey, I've been in a church for a long period of time. 23:19.500 --> 23:20.180 I've seen it grow. 23:20.520 --> 23:21.560 I've brought people here. 23:22.100 --> 23:23.340 You know what, that's a good example. 23:23.920 --> 23:25.680 And it shows other people, hey, if they've been here 23:25.680 --> 23:27.700 for 10 years, I could be at a church for 10 years 23:27.700 --> 23:29.940 or I could be a Christian for 10 years. 23:30.520 --> 23:32.160 2nd Thessalonians, chapter number three. 23:32.680 --> 23:34.200 Look at verse number nine. 23:35.440 --> 23:37.720 The Bible says not because we have not power, 23:37.980 --> 23:39.800 but to make ourselves an example 23:40.200 --> 23:41.080 unto you to follow us. 23:41.080 --> 23:43.740 Now again, it's not example, it's in sample, 23:43.800 --> 23:44.680 but it's the same concept. 23:44.880 --> 23:47.760 This is the idea of the apostle Paul saying that 23:47.760 --> 23:49.680 when he went to the church at Thessalonica, 23:49.880 --> 23:51.180 he noticed that some of them were more lazy, 23:51.400 --> 23:52.400 they didn't work at all. 23:53.080 --> 23:55.000 And so he didn't even take a paycheck 23:55.000 --> 23:56.500 from that church specifically. 23:57.080 --> 23:59.880 And he would just work extra to pay his own bills, 24:00.100 --> 24:01.920 just to kind of set an example like 24:01.920 --> 24:03.840 hey, we should be hardworking people. 24:04.320 --> 24:05.480 Christians should not be lazy, 24:05.600 --> 24:07.220 they should be hardworking, okay? 24:07.600 --> 24:09.240 And he wanted to set a good example 24:09.660 --> 24:11.300 of being someone that's a hard worker. 24:11.480 --> 24:11.800 And you know what? 24:11.840 --> 24:14.720 We should all as men be hard workers. 24:15.240 --> 24:17.260 We need to be good examples of hard workers. 24:17.540 --> 24:19.080 Not people that are always complaining, 24:19.640 --> 24:23.580 trying to clock in for 39 hours and 59 minutes 24:23.580 --> 24:27.400 and 59 seconds, and just always upset, 24:28.080 --> 24:30.760 and just like, ah, you know, money, money, money. 24:31.140 --> 24:33.320 You know, nobody really likes somebody 24:33.320 --> 24:34.540 who's always complaining about money. 24:36.180 --> 24:37.860 You know, it's just kind of annoying 24:37.860 --> 24:40.440 to be around someone that's just always trying 24:40.440 --> 24:42.580 to bum money and always complaining about money. 24:43.160 --> 24:43.440 You know what? 24:43.580 --> 24:45.960 You like being around people that just work really hard, 24:46.380 --> 24:47.800 always taking care of things. 24:48.420 --> 24:49.740 You know, they're taking care of themselves. 24:50.560 --> 24:52.460 The Bible says they work with quietness, 24:52.580 --> 24:54.480 meaning that they're not bringing it up. 24:54.940 --> 24:57.040 And like it's not to say that we don't all have struggles. 24:57.460 --> 24:59.360 It's not to say that we don't all have low points. 24:59.460 --> 25:01.260 It's not to say that we couldn't ever use a few bucks. 25:01.580 --> 25:03.040 I'm sure everybody could use a few bucks. 25:03.560 --> 25:04.560 But at the end of the day, 25:04.840 --> 25:06.000 with quietness they're working 25:06.000 --> 25:07.660 and they're not just bugging everybody about money. 25:08.360 --> 25:10.620 Okay, you know, it's just kind of a bad attitude, 25:10.960 --> 25:12.300 a good attitude to someone that's willing, 25:12.500 --> 25:14.600 hey, if I have to do a little bit of extra work 25:14.600 --> 25:16.880 or work a little harder to take care of myself, 25:17.020 --> 25:19.180 I'd rather do that than just, you know, 25:19.240 --> 25:22.820 set an example of being unwilling to work. 25:23.580 --> 25:25.240 There are some people that are unwilling 25:25.240 --> 25:27.180 to work a little extra. 25:27.640 --> 25:30.960 Work an hour late, work a night, work a weekend, 25:31.800 --> 25:35.180 work in the morning, get a second side hustle 25:35.180 --> 25:36.560 going on or something, you know. 25:36.640 --> 25:38.380 There's so many people that are afraid to do that 25:38.380 --> 25:38.920 and won't do that. 25:39.000 --> 25:40.780 And you know what, Paul's setting a good example of, 25:40.780 --> 25:43.360 hey, I'm willing to basically work all day 25:43.360 --> 25:45.160 and all night, sometimes. 25:45.820 --> 25:47.020 You know, God made you strong. 25:47.260 --> 25:48.660 What did He make you strong for, young men? 25:49.720 --> 25:52.320 Just so you can flex on TikTok videos 25:52.320 --> 25:53.080 or something like that? 25:54.300 --> 25:57.640 I mean, you know, guys like to brag about how 25:57.640 --> 26:00.620 they can stay up all night drinking alcohol all night. 26:00.660 --> 26:01.500 They're mighty to drink wine. 26:02.100 --> 26:03.300 Well, maybe God gave you that strength 26:03.300 --> 26:05.000 so you could stay up all night working or something. 26:05.460 --> 26:07.120 Or maybe making some extra money 26:07.120 --> 26:09.160 or taking care of things or, you know, 26:09.220 --> 26:10.400 helping your wife, you know, 26:10.480 --> 26:12.380 when she has a hard time or something. 26:12.760 --> 26:14.800 You know, yeah, you are mighty to do these things. 26:14.900 --> 26:15.940 But you know what, instead of being 26:15.940 --> 26:17.480 a mighty to be a bad example, 26:17.580 --> 26:18.800 why don't you be mighty to be a good example? 26:19.440 --> 26:21.700 Instead of getting drunk and doing drugs 26:21.700 --> 26:24.820 and just, hey, look, I can drink 24 beers 26:24.820 --> 26:26.040 and still stand and talk. 26:26.640 --> 26:28.160 It's like, why is that cool? 26:29.420 --> 26:30.740 You know, that's not a good example. 26:31.240 --> 26:32.680 Be a good example of someone that, 26:32.920 --> 26:34.420 hey, I'm taking care of my family 26:34.820 --> 26:36.160 and I'm, you know, working hard. 26:36.240 --> 26:38.040 And look, I don't think you have to work 26:38.040 --> 26:39.560 any more than you need to. 26:39.940 --> 26:41.480 I mean, if you can make an honest living 26:41.480 --> 26:44.320 on 40 hours a week and you get four weeks of vacation 26:44.740 --> 26:47.840 and you never want to think about another job, go team. 26:48.200 --> 26:49.660 You know, but you know, in America 26:49.660 --> 26:50.920 with the inflation right now, 26:51.260 --> 26:52.880 some of us are having to work double shift. 26:53.040 --> 26:53.480 You know what I mean? 26:53.880 --> 26:55.680 Some of us have to do extra time 26:55.680 --> 26:58.660 and it still feels like you can't catch up sometimes. 26:59.380 --> 27:01.160 And we're all in different life circumstances, 27:01.440 --> 27:04.360 different situations, different priorities, I get it. 27:04.700 --> 27:05.280 But you know what? 27:05.460 --> 27:06.900 We should at least work with quietness 27:06.900 --> 27:07.920 and we should be good examples 27:07.920 --> 27:09.180 of people that are willing to work hard. 27:10.280 --> 27:11.360 Taking care of our family. 27:11.900 --> 27:13.300 You know, you want your wife to look up to you 27:13.300 --> 27:14.240 and say, hey, he works hard. 27:14.940 --> 27:15.980 He's trying to pay the bills. 27:16.160 --> 27:17.320 He's trying to take care of me. 27:17.700 --> 27:19.020 And you know, if I was a young lady 27:19.420 --> 27:21.140 and I was thinking about who I want to marry, 27:21.500 --> 27:24.080 I would want to make sure that the guy is a hard worker. 27:24.880 --> 27:25.880 Because let me tell you something. 27:26.000 --> 27:27.020 If he's not a hard worker now, 27:27.020 --> 27:28.180 he will not be in the future. 27:29.100 --> 27:31.140 You want a guy that's going to work hard, 27:31.280 --> 27:33.580 is diligent, is putting in a lot of effort, energy. 27:34.040 --> 27:35.460 And I don't really even care what it is, 27:35.560 --> 27:36.680 just a hard worker in general. 27:37.140 --> 27:39.200 Because lazy people are just lazy, 27:39.460 --> 27:40.780 their whole life for some reason. 27:41.300 --> 27:43.540 If he's always, oh, he just plays video games all day. 27:43.880 --> 27:44.940 That's not a good sign. 27:46.960 --> 27:48.300 He's refusing to work. 27:48.520 --> 27:49.220 He doesn't do anything. 27:50.020 --> 27:52.260 You know, I didn't always have a job, 27:52.680 --> 27:55.500 but in college, you know, I played golf. 27:55.500 --> 27:57.520 And I mean, whenever I was serious about golf, 27:57.640 --> 27:59.900 I would play golf eight, nine, 10 hours a day. 28:00.520 --> 28:02.060 Practice, do workouts. 28:02.420 --> 28:04.600 We'd have to get up at 6 a.m. do workouts. 28:05.160 --> 28:07.000 And for some reason, we had some crazy, 28:07.120 --> 28:09.180 like, ex-AFL guy doing our workouts. 28:09.280 --> 28:11.620 It was like a two-hour workout at 6 a.m. 28:11.640 --> 28:13.120 Then we'd go play, you know, go to school, 28:13.320 --> 28:14.380 play golf all day. 28:14.880 --> 28:16.380 I mean, it wasn't an eight-hour shift. 28:17.140 --> 28:18.240 You know, and you want people 28:18.240 --> 28:19.840 that are willing to go a little bit extra. 28:20.340 --> 28:21.840 Does that going to provide the bills? 28:22.040 --> 28:23.300 No, I didn't become a professional golfer 28:23.300 --> 28:24.640 and I don't make money on golf, all right? 28:24.640 --> 28:25.760 But you know what? 28:25.840 --> 28:27.600 Hard work translates into hard work. 28:28.520 --> 28:31.580 Being lazy doesn't translate into anything good, okay? 28:32.080 --> 28:34.140 And now, was I the best college student? 28:34.320 --> 28:35.820 Did I develop some bad habits in college? 28:35.900 --> 28:36.500 I did, all right? 28:36.980 --> 28:39.160 I got lazy and kind of gave up work. 28:39.320 --> 28:40.980 It's hard, but you know, in general, 28:41.760 --> 28:44.480 you know, we should find men that work hard. 28:44.920 --> 28:46.500 And you know, if Iowa had a daughter 28:46.940 --> 28:48.040 that was about to get married 28:48.560 --> 28:51.020 and this guy is lazy and doesn't want to work hard, 28:51.100 --> 28:52.640 I'd be telling her that's not, you know, 28:52.640 --> 28:53.360 he needs to change. 28:53.780 --> 28:55.280 Or something needs to be fixed here. 28:55.380 --> 28:56.340 You should be looking for a guy. 28:56.900 --> 28:58.120 Why just wanting to be good-looking? 28:58.940 --> 29:00.480 You know, I just want, what was the guy 29:00.480 --> 29:02.560 that Britney Spears dated that looked like a bum? 29:03.800 --> 29:05.500 Kevin Federline, I mean, come on. 29:05.900 --> 29:07.920 Like, this guy looks like a bum, you know? 29:08.080 --> 29:11.540 It's just like, no, don't date this guy or whatever. 29:12.040 --> 29:14.000 It's like, but he's a hottie, you know? 29:14.160 --> 29:15.420 It's just like, no, he's like a bum. 29:16.180 --> 29:18.340 I don't care if he's good-looking or whatever. 29:18.940 --> 29:21.900 You'd be better off marrying some ugly dude 29:22.280 --> 29:23.420 because they're all ugly anyways, 29:23.840 --> 29:26.980 that works hard than some Mr. Handsome 29:26.980 --> 29:29.160 that never wants to lift his fingers, you know, 29:29.260 --> 29:30.740 and actually work hard, okay? 29:31.380 --> 29:33.480 You know, that's way more important anyways. 29:34.500 --> 29:36.060 And again, this is a biblical example 29:36.060 --> 29:38.380 of guys that work hard, you know, 29:38.460 --> 29:40.760 that are willing to do things that are important. 29:41.240 --> 29:43.020 And again, God made you strong for a reason. 29:43.460 --> 29:44.180 It's the work, guys. 29:44.920 --> 29:46.080 Six days south of labor. 29:46.780 --> 29:48.720 Sorry that doesn't fit your little American dream. 29:49.520 --> 29:52.620 God didn't have the American dream and toe here. 29:53.220 --> 29:55.140 I mean, some people aren't even working six days a week 29:55.140 --> 29:56.460 and they're complaining about it. 29:56.580 --> 29:58.840 And it's like, God's saying six days south of labor. 29:59.580 --> 30:01.380 Now, I want you to go to Titus chapter two. 30:01.540 --> 30:02.700 It's just to the right, just a hair. 30:03.100 --> 30:03.860 Titus chapter two. 30:06.020 --> 30:08.900 We need to make sure that we're setting a good example. 30:11.820 --> 30:13.720 We could take the sermon in so many different directions 30:13.720 --> 30:15.140 but I'm just trying to show you how the Bible 30:15.140 --> 30:16.940 is bringing this up of being a good example. 30:16.940 --> 30:19.020 Titus chapter two, look at verse seven. 30:23.760 --> 30:27.440 In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works 30:28.060 --> 30:29.740 in doctrine, showing uncorruptedness, 30:29.780 --> 30:30.260 gravity, sincerity. 30:30.520 --> 30:35.800 So again, we need to show ourselves a pattern of good works. 30:36.560 --> 30:39.020 I want to go to 1 Peter, just go to the right. 30:39.520 --> 30:41.060 I'll read for you in 1 Corinthians 11. 30:41.520 --> 30:44.620 Be followers of me, even as I awesome of Christ. 30:45.040 --> 30:46.520 In Matthew chapter number five, 30:46.520 --> 30:49.000 the Bible says that we're supposed to let our light shine 30:49.000 --> 30:51.100 so that men may see our good works 30:51.100 --> 30:53.300 and glorify our Father which is in heaven. 30:53.720 --> 30:57.140 So we should be good examples showing our examples. 30:57.520 --> 30:59.760 We should point to the people that we should be following, 31:00.200 --> 31:03.020 following people like Paul that are setting a good example, 31:03.160 --> 31:03.980 following Christ. 31:04.600 --> 31:07.600 And of course, that is our ultimate example is Christ. 31:07.760 --> 31:10.560 Look at 1 Peter chapter number two, verse 21. 31:11.980 --> 31:13.880 For even here in two where you called 31:13.880 --> 31:15.940 because Christ also suffered for us, 31:15.940 --> 31:19.800 leaving us an example that we should follow in steps. 31:20.720 --> 31:23.060 Of course, Christ is our ultimate example. 31:23.800 --> 31:24.900 And I get it, people are like, 31:25.220 --> 31:27.260 oh, I don't follow man, I follow Christ. 31:27.540 --> 31:28.140 That's great. 31:28.660 --> 31:30.580 I'm glad that you have this attitude of following Christ 31:30.580 --> 31:31.400 but here's the reality. 31:31.840 --> 31:33.520 Those who are following Christ are following the Bible 31:33.520 --> 31:35.380 and the Bible tells you to be followers of Paul. 31:35.980 --> 31:38.240 So you do have to follow Paul as he follows Christ. 31:39.860 --> 31:41.640 And most people aren't a pastor. 31:42.180 --> 31:43.240 So you know what the Bible tells you 31:43.240 --> 31:44.500 to go to church and follow your pastor. 31:45.040 --> 31:46.720 So if you're gonna follow Christ, 31:47.280 --> 31:50.740 well, Christ died on the cross and gave you a church. 31:50.860 --> 31:52.260 He purged it with his own blood. 31:52.640 --> 31:53.920 And so if you're following Christ, 31:54.120 --> 31:56.560 you're gonna be following a pastor by getting into church 31:56.560 --> 31:58.720 and obeying them that have the rule over you 31:58.720 --> 31:59.680 and submitting yourselves. 31:59.980 --> 32:00.820 That's what the Bible teaches. 32:01.500 --> 32:03.880 Hey, if you're a wife, you're gonna obey your husband. 32:04.360 --> 32:07.340 In order to follow Christ, you have to obey your husband. 32:07.760 --> 32:09.380 You can't say, oh, I just follow Christ. 32:10.100 --> 32:11.460 Following Christ is following your husband. 32:12.160 --> 32:14.380 Hey, men, if you're following Christ, 32:14.540 --> 32:15.380 you're gonna follow your boss 32:15.380 --> 32:17.940 because you're supposed to treat him like the Lord. 32:18.100 --> 32:19.000 When you're on the clock, 32:19.300 --> 32:21.200 you're supposed to be acting like Jesus is your manager, 32:21.900 --> 32:24.320 like Jesus is your CEO, like Jesus is your boss. 32:24.860 --> 32:27.660 And so, you know, it's usually a scapegoat 32:27.660 --> 32:29.800 to actually do the opposite of what the Bible's saying 32:29.800 --> 32:31.720 when they say this of like, oh, I'm just following Jesus 32:31.720 --> 32:33.600 while they rebel against their human authority 32:33.600 --> 32:34.880 that Jesus put over them. 32:35.580 --> 32:36.280 That's false. 32:36.580 --> 32:37.820 No, you're supposed to obey your human authority. 32:38.200 --> 32:39.840 Hey, children, you're supposed to obey your parents. 32:40.540 --> 32:43.140 And of course, we are following Christ's example. 32:43.600 --> 32:45.440 He was obedient to who? 32:46.480 --> 32:48.440 The Father, you know, Jesus wasn't this rogue agent. 32:49.040 --> 32:51.460 He said, not my will, but thine be done. 32:52.060 --> 32:54.340 Even Jesus Christ himself learned obedience 32:54.340 --> 32:55.780 as the book of Hebrews tells us. 32:56.100 --> 32:58.400 And he submitted to the Father's will. 32:59.040 --> 33:00.940 The Bible says that he did not even come 33:00.940 --> 33:04.740 to earth of his own will, but he was sent by the Father. 33:05.220 --> 33:06.980 He came down from heaven from the Father. 33:07.460 --> 33:09.560 He said, he came down not to do his own will, 33:09.560 --> 33:10.840 but the will of him that sent him. 33:11.100 --> 33:11.920 That's the Father. 33:12.380 --> 33:13.540 The Father sent Jesus. 33:13.680 --> 33:14.940 He obeyed to come down. 33:15.420 --> 33:19.120 He was on the earth and at the time of the cross 33:19.120 --> 33:22.060 in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, nevertheless, 33:22.460 --> 33:24.240 not my will, but thine be done. 33:24.560 --> 33:26.040 If Christ can be obedient, 33:26.380 --> 33:28.980 how much more should we be obedient and submissive? 33:29.260 --> 33:30.960 And of course, he was obedient to the cross, 33:31.180 --> 33:31.720 picturing what? 33:31.960 --> 33:34.760 Suffering, persecution, ridicule, shame. 33:35.280 --> 33:36.480 And of course, we as Christians, 33:36.600 --> 33:37.820 we should follow that example saying, 33:37.820 --> 33:40.320 hey, we should be willing to be mocked, 33:40.440 --> 33:43.040 ridiculed and persecuted for the cause of Christ, 33:44.020 --> 33:47.540 even unto death, because Christ is our ultimate example. 33:47.860 --> 33:51.440 And we need more Christians that want to be a good example 33:51.440 --> 33:53.880 in following Christ and not man, 33:54.320 --> 33:55.560 not the pleasure of this world, 33:56.000 --> 33:58.460 not being well spoken of, not money, 33:58.880 --> 34:01.720 but rather serving God, serving Christ, 34:02.040 --> 34:03.660 getting people saved, preaching the truth. 34:04.500 --> 34:05.740 We need more good examples. 34:06.740 --> 34:08.380 I don't feel like there's that many men 34:08.380 --> 34:09.300 that are following Christ. 34:10.040 --> 34:11.400 It's sad, it's sad. 34:11.540 --> 34:13.180 There's not many pastors, not many preachers. 34:13.300 --> 34:15.820 I mean, the Bible warns, beloved believe not every spirit, 34:15.900 --> 34:17.240 but try the spirits, whether they have God, 34:17.320 --> 34:19.680 because many false prophets are gone on the world. 34:20.260 --> 34:21.700 Unfortunately, there's not a lot of good examples. 34:21.820 --> 34:22.620 We need more good examples. 34:23.000 --> 34:25.240 It seems like every day we see more and more pastors 34:25.240 --> 34:27.460 exposed as a pedophile, exposed as a pervert, 34:27.660 --> 34:29.720 exposed as being corrupt, committing adultery, 34:29.980 --> 34:32.060 sleeping with the secretary, sleeping with whoever. 34:32.520 --> 34:34.320 It's just a shame, it's an embarrassment. 34:34.740 --> 34:36.440 We need more good examples. 34:38.100 --> 34:40.260 And of course, that comes with the congregation 34:40.260 --> 34:41.840 elevating good examples. 34:43.180 --> 34:44.940 I want you to go, if you would, 34:45.120 --> 34:47.640 in your Bible to 1 Thessalonians chapter four. 34:47.820 --> 34:49.020 So go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter four. 34:49.320 --> 34:52.860 One of the admonitions in 1 Timothy chapter four 34:52.860 --> 34:54.100 of being a good example is in purity. 34:55.320 --> 34:57.440 And I think this is a very important one 34:57.440 --> 34:58.500 that I want to address. 34:58.960 --> 35:00.380 And it's for you young people. 35:01.040 --> 35:02.640 And I know how it is. 35:02.920 --> 35:05.580 I went to public school, I went to college, 35:06.160 --> 35:09.540 and I know for a fact that there are kids 35:09.540 --> 35:11.940 that are very influential to other kids. 35:13.300 --> 35:15.220 Teens, and some of you young singles, 35:16.000 --> 35:18.020 a lot of people are looking to your example. 35:18.520 --> 35:20.060 And here's the thing, this is what I know, 35:20.120 --> 35:23.540 that if some of the young ladies in our church 35:23.540 --> 35:25.600 that are the most influential that everybody's looking to, 35:25.960 --> 35:26.960 that wants to be friends with, 35:27.360 --> 35:28.940 if they decide to stay pure, 35:29.440 --> 35:30.900 and they're a virgin on their wedding night, 35:31.200 --> 35:33.960 they will inspire a lot of the other kids in this church 35:33.960 --> 35:34.740 to follow like suit. 35:35.700 --> 35:38.660 And I know if some of the good girls in our church, 35:38.840 --> 35:41.020 they decide to not take it seriously, 35:42.280 --> 35:43.880 and they go out and commit fornication 35:43.880 --> 35:45.100 and tell all their friends about it, 35:45.320 --> 35:47.280 they'll probably encourage a lot of those people 35:47.280 --> 35:48.220 to follow like suit as well. 35:48.920 --> 35:51.020 And it's, you know, we're in a church, 35:51.400 --> 35:52.620 there's a lot of kids, look around. 35:53.800 --> 35:55.460 But you notice there's not as many teenagers, 35:55.580 --> 35:57.020 there's not as many older kids, 35:57.020 --> 35:59.160 we kind of have a pyramid going, you know? 35:59.580 --> 36:00.700 We have less at the top. 36:01.260 --> 36:04.360 But that's why it's so important for you young single people 36:04.360 --> 36:05.680 to set a good example right now. 36:06.420 --> 36:08.300 You are gonna have a big impact 36:08.300 --> 36:09.880 on a lot of kids in this church, 36:09.900 --> 36:12.120 and you're gonna affect a lot of other people in this church. 36:12.500 --> 36:15.500 And if you make the right decisions and good decisions, 36:15.880 --> 36:17.800 you will influence a lot of other people, 36:18.280 --> 36:20.600 not only helping yourself, but helping other people. 36:21.200 --> 36:23.260 And the Bible tells us in first Thessalonians, 36:23.260 --> 36:25.560 chapter number four, look at verse number three, 36:26.220 --> 36:28.500 for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, 36:28.920 --> 36:31.300 that you should abstain from fornication. 36:31.860 --> 36:34.120 The Bible is telling us to abstain from this. 36:34.180 --> 36:35.480 This is a direct commandment. 36:35.860 --> 36:37.560 It's mentioned all over the Old Testament, 36:37.960 --> 36:38.940 all over the New Testament. 36:39.100 --> 36:40.340 This is a big deal to God. 36:40.760 --> 36:42.200 But you live in an American culture 36:42.200 --> 36:44.960 where fornication is almost just accepted 36:44.960 --> 36:47.940 as totally normal and totally expected. 36:49.780 --> 36:51.700 I mean, it is almost anticipated 36:51.700 --> 36:53.780 that everyone will commit fornication, 36:53.780 --> 36:55.500 that it's not a big deal, 36:55.720 --> 36:57.520 that no one is gonna be a virgin, 36:57.940 --> 37:00.460 and you know what, that is what the devil wants you to think, 37:00.580 --> 37:02.560 so that you will follow that example. 37:02.820 --> 37:04.700 But you know what, we need young people in this church 37:04.700 --> 37:06.520 to say, you know what, I'm gonna be a good example, 37:07.060 --> 37:09.540 I'm gonna be different, I'm gonna abstain, 37:09.940 --> 37:11.500 and I'm gonna abstain from fornication, 37:11.580 --> 37:12.860 I will be a virgin on my wedding night. 37:13.040 --> 37:15.140 And look, it makes all common sense, 37:16.320 --> 37:19.600 any guy that wants to take your virginity 37:20.260 --> 37:22.040 that was sincere would have waited, 37:22.500 --> 37:25.740 and every guy that's not sincere, it would have ran off. 37:26.320 --> 37:28.580 That's why it makes no sense, if you're a young lady, 37:29.200 --> 37:32.220 you should just totally, it should make no sense to you 37:32.220 --> 37:36.240 to not wait, you should just try to be pure, 37:36.600 --> 37:40.540 and it's not cool, it's devaluing yourself, 37:41.220 --> 37:42.880 it's causing only problems to yourself, 37:43.100 --> 37:44.220 and look, if you made that mistake, 37:45.020 --> 37:48.780 do the best to stop, and just stay as pure as you can now. 37:48.780 --> 37:52.260 But I'm telling you this, you know, it's better 37:52.260 --> 37:53.980 if we have some of the teenagers, 37:54.260 --> 37:55.780 and some of you young people, and some of you singles, 37:56.680 --> 37:57.840 you be pure on your wedding night. 37:59.480 --> 38:01.520 And if you made a mistake in that area, 38:01.920 --> 38:03.380 don't go bragging about it at all. 38:04.080 --> 38:05.520 Don't go telling other people 38:05.520 --> 38:07.020 and trying to encourage other people to do it. 38:07.480 --> 38:08.980 Go to 1st Corinthians, chapter number six, 38:09.100 --> 38:09.940 1st Corinthians, chapter number six. 38:10.500 --> 38:12.040 You know, I went to public school, 38:13.640 --> 38:16.480 and unfortunately, the culture in public school 38:16.480 --> 38:17.520 was to brag about that. 38:18.400 --> 38:20.400 It was to brag, and act like fornication 38:20.400 --> 38:21.620 was the coolest thing in the world. 38:24.880 --> 38:29.400 And I remember later in college running into somebody 38:29.400 --> 38:32.140 that I went to school with, it was a young lady, 38:32.300 --> 38:34.300 I didn't really know her that well, 38:34.400 --> 38:35.720 like I knew her, because I went to school with her, 38:35.760 --> 38:37.000 but I wasn't like her friend or anything, 38:37.120 --> 38:38.000 I didn't hang out with her that much, 38:38.920 --> 38:40.820 but she was in a conversation 38:40.820 --> 38:42.440 with some of the other guys I went to high school with, 38:42.820 --> 38:46.140 and they're having a very obscene conversation 38:46.140 --> 38:47.140 to say the least, okay? 38:47.580 --> 38:49.060 Talking a lot about fornication, 38:49.700 --> 38:52.820 and this young lady devolves that basically, 38:53.740 --> 38:58.540 she had been the football team's, you know, fan girl, okay? 38:59.280 --> 39:02.300 Every single guy, and she was just talking about it. 39:03.200 --> 39:05.180 And, but this was the weird part about the conversation, 39:05.760 --> 39:07.280 she was trying to explain to this young man 39:07.280 --> 39:09.900 how what she had done was stupid and foolish, 39:10.020 --> 39:11.300 and she wished she had never done it, 39:11.640 --> 39:12.980 and was trying to tell this guy, 39:13.240 --> 39:15.240 you should never commit fornication, 39:15.240 --> 39:16.320 you should wait until you get married. 39:17.160 --> 39:19.080 And it was just, it wasn't me, 39:19.260 --> 39:20.540 it wasn't a fundamental Baptist preacher, 39:20.720 --> 39:24.100 it was a literal whore, like in the biggest way possible, 39:24.900 --> 39:27.420 I mean like the worst whore I've ever heard of 39:27.420 --> 39:30.540 in my entire life, and I wish I could unhear 39:30.540 --> 39:33.960 a lot of things I heard, but she was saying, 39:34.600 --> 39:36.460 and this is only a few years removed from high school, 39:36.660 --> 39:38.100 she's saying I wish I had never done that, 39:38.360 --> 39:40.060 she said it made it not special, 39:40.600 --> 39:43.460 it was a horrible decision, I wish I hadn't done that, 39:44.040 --> 39:46.620 and now I'm just kind of trash to everybody, 39:47.080 --> 39:50.160 and she's like don't do that, don't ruin yourself, 39:50.600 --> 39:55.060 don't defile yourself, they wanna find some Jew somewhere 39:55.060 --> 39:56.940 to lie to you and tell you that it was cool and fun 39:56.940 --> 39:59.260 and they all enjoyed it, it's lies from hell, 40:00.240 --> 40:02.620 it's lies from hell, you will regret it, 40:02.940 --> 40:04.720 you will not be happy with yourself, 40:05.180 --> 40:07.520 you should be a virgin, and you know what, 40:07.560 --> 40:10.520 we need more people to set that good example. 40:10.940 --> 40:12.820 First Corinthians chapter six, look at verse 18. 40:14.560 --> 40:14.920 The Bible says, 40:15.440 --> 40:19.180 Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, 40:19.280 --> 40:20.620 but he that commit his fornication 40:20.620 --> 40:22.540 sinned it against his own body, what? 40:23.180 --> 40:25.060 Know ye not that your body is the temple 40:25.060 --> 40:26.160 of the Holy Ghost which is in you, 40:26.520 --> 40:28.100 which ye have of God and ye are not your own, 40:28.540 --> 40:29.700 for ye are bought with a price, 40:29.860 --> 40:31.760 therefore glorify God in your body 40:32.220 --> 40:34.520 and in your spirit which are God's. 40:34.640 --> 40:36.020 So the Bible is telling us, hey, 40:36.640 --> 40:38.360 our body has been purchased by God, 40:38.360 --> 40:40.400 therefore we're supposed to glorify God in our body, 40:40.620 --> 40:42.460 not just soul and spirit, but in our body 40:42.460 --> 40:44.260 and we should abstain from fornication, 40:44.340 --> 40:45.420 we should flee from fornication. 40:45.760 --> 40:47.520 You know, if you have to flee from something, 40:47.640 --> 40:48.760 that sounds like it's dangerous. 40:50.300 --> 40:51.520 Think about other things you would think 40:51.520 --> 40:54.220 you should flee from, like a lion, like a roaring lion. 40:55.120 --> 40:56.760 You don't want to get close to that thing. 40:57.360 --> 40:59.820 Okay, and see, young people don't realize this, 40:59.860 --> 41:01.920 they're too stupid to realize this in many cases, 41:02.320 --> 41:05.100 and I think that parents should try their best 41:05.100 --> 41:08.180 to help kids stay away from dangerous situations. 41:08.640 --> 41:09.960 But let me explain something to you, 41:10.240 --> 41:12.840 if you're a young single, you should just not get alone 41:13.320 --> 41:14.660 with someone you're interested in, 41:14.820 --> 41:15.860 because it's dangerous. 41:16.400 --> 41:18.940 Just like you wouldn't get alone with a lion in a room, 41:19.860 --> 41:22.460 you shouldn't get alone with someone you like in a room, 41:22.680 --> 41:25.980 because it's not like, oh, I wouldn't want to do that. 41:26.100 --> 41:27.120 You will want to do that. 41:27.760 --> 41:28.980 That's the whole reason why 41:28.980 --> 41:30.220 you're supposed to run away from it. 41:30.500 --> 41:31.140 That's the whole reason why 41:31.140 --> 41:32.600 you're supposed to not put yourself in the situation. 41:32.600 --> 41:34.480 If you just don't put yourself in the situation, 41:35.140 --> 41:36.020 you can't do it. 41:36.680 --> 41:38.320 If you constantly put yourself in the situation, 41:39.100 --> 41:40.240 unfortunately you'll probably do it. 41:40.680 --> 41:42.280 Now look, if you find yourself alone with somebody, 41:42.680 --> 41:44.920 you've gone too far, you can still say no, 41:45.000 --> 41:45.880 you can still walk away. 41:46.200 --> 41:48.100 You can still be like Joseph and run, okay? 41:48.540 --> 41:49.580 And that's what you should do, run. 41:51.780 --> 41:53.640 Run, Forrest, you know, just run, okay? 41:54.200 --> 41:55.360 Just run out of the room. 41:56.060 --> 41:58.780 And at the end of the day, you'd be better off. 41:59.620 --> 42:01.720 But I'm just telling you, in many cases, 42:01.720 --> 42:04.500 for most young people, just avoid the situation. 42:05.700 --> 42:06.980 Just say, if you're a young lady, 42:07.100 --> 42:08.900 just say, hey, I don't mind dating you, 42:08.980 --> 42:10.480 but I just don't want to be alone with you. 42:10.760 --> 42:12.280 Because I don't trust myself, 42:12.640 --> 42:14.420 and I want to honor God with my body. 42:14.960 --> 42:16.240 And you know, if you're the one, 42:16.560 --> 42:18.040 then we'll be alone on our honeymoon. 42:18.700 --> 42:19.460 And you know what? 42:19.960 --> 42:21.400 That's what you should try to plan for. 42:21.680 --> 42:24.080 Because if you say, well, I'm a good Christian person, 42:24.480 --> 42:26.040 I just want to, you know, we can be alone. 42:26.140 --> 42:26.800 It's not a big deal. 42:27.260 --> 42:29.200 It's just, you're just messing with fire. 42:29.720 --> 42:32.460 You know, maybe you could just dance around that lion 42:32.460 --> 42:35.160 for a little bit, but eventually he's going to strike. 42:35.360 --> 42:36.840 And so you just got to stay away from it. 42:36.940 --> 42:38.200 Don't put yourself in the situation. 42:38.800 --> 42:39.980 It's just not worth it. 42:40.300 --> 42:42.200 And of course, we need some people 42:42.200 --> 42:43.220 to set a good example. 42:44.960 --> 42:46.720 You know, in this passage, 42:46.880 --> 42:49.540 I know the primary example is virginity. 42:50.640 --> 42:52.860 But in general, we're supposed to glorify God 42:52.860 --> 42:53.700 in our body as well. 42:54.180 --> 42:55.880 You know, I think another way is just being healthy. 42:56.280 --> 42:57.440 You know, we should try to be healthy. 42:57.440 --> 42:59.100 And as men, we should try to be strong. 42:59.260 --> 43:01.500 The Bible has repeated commandments about being strong. 43:02.360 --> 43:04.720 You know, as men, we shouldn't be soft. 43:05.080 --> 43:06.260 We shouldn't be effeminate. 43:06.980 --> 43:09.720 We should be, you know, able-bodied men. 43:10.480 --> 43:11.800 We should try to work hard. 43:12.200 --> 43:14.980 We should try to, you know, be someone 43:14.980 --> 43:17.680 that's a little bit intimidating, okay, physically. 43:18.180 --> 43:19.880 And not necessarily be docile. 43:21.040 --> 43:22.700 You know, the Bible, I believe, 43:22.960 --> 43:25.700 has many men in the Bible that are very clearly strong. 43:26.220 --> 43:29.020 Like, it's not setting this example of a bunch of weaklings, 43:29.120 --> 43:30.080 a bunch of feminine dudes. 43:30.480 --> 43:32.520 It's men that are strong and taking care of themselves. 43:33.040 --> 43:33.500 And you know what? 43:33.700 --> 43:35.460 I don't think that you have to look a certain way. 43:35.760 --> 43:36.820 I don't think the Bible really cares 43:36.820 --> 43:38.300 about physical appearance, but it does, 43:38.660 --> 43:40.020 the Bible does emphasize being healthy. 43:40.220 --> 43:41.880 The Bible does emphasize being strong. 43:42.460 --> 43:43.760 And you know, I think it's important 43:43.760 --> 43:46.940 so you can go soul-winning so that you can work hard. 43:47.420 --> 43:49.260 There's many jobs that take physical labor, 43:49.660 --> 43:52.220 lifting 50 plus pounds, working nights, 43:53.060 --> 43:54.940 lifting heavy materials, you know, 43:54.940 --> 43:57.280 and it takes physical strength, physical endurance. 43:57.480 --> 43:57.760 And you know what? 43:58.180 --> 43:59.760 Men should be physically strong. 44:00.580 --> 44:02.340 You know, it's kind of a shame 44:02.340 --> 44:04.880 and it's kind of embarrassment when men are weak. 44:05.060 --> 44:06.320 You know, why do we have the mighty men's competition? 44:06.620 --> 44:07.480 You know what I didn't want to do? 44:07.740 --> 44:09.160 I didn't want to have the mighty men's competition 44:09.160 --> 44:12.160 and we're all like the McMurtry AI videos. 44:12.260 --> 44:13.720 We're all fat eating fried chicken 44:13.720 --> 44:15.900 or something like this with suspenders on 44:15.900 --> 44:17.560 just so our pants don't buckle, you know, 44:17.600 --> 44:19.100 under something, the pressure or the weight. 44:19.500 --> 44:20.720 Like, that would be kind of a shame 44:20.720 --> 44:23.640 and an embarrassment if we're the mighty men 44:23.640 --> 44:25.700 and we're all just these out of shape, 44:26.220 --> 44:28.440 you know, fried chicken, eaten, you know, 44:29.220 --> 44:30.480 weirdos or something like that. 44:30.680 --> 44:33.280 You know, or these docile guys or something. 44:33.440 --> 44:36.260 It's like, hey, let's have a strong competition, you know? 44:36.580 --> 44:37.680 Let's try to run around. 44:38.300 --> 44:39.300 Let's try to work hard. 44:39.880 --> 44:41.220 You know, I think that's important. 44:41.940 --> 44:43.720 And we should be good examples of that. 44:43.900 --> 44:44.920 You know, if you want your children 44:44.920 --> 44:46.660 to be strong and in good shape, 44:46.800 --> 44:48.840 often they're gonna follow their father's example. 44:49.520 --> 44:52.380 They're gonna follow their father's, you know, footsteps. 44:52.940 --> 44:54.920 You know, play games with your kids. 44:55.200 --> 44:56.320 You know, work out with your kids. 44:56.500 --> 44:57.780 Take walks with your family. 44:58.240 --> 44:59.140 Eat good food. 44:59.500 --> 45:00.820 Teach them about health. 45:01.020 --> 45:01.940 Teach them about hygiene. 45:02.560 --> 45:03.820 You know, take your body seriously. 45:04.700 --> 45:06.240 Take good care of your body. 45:06.800 --> 45:08.620 We need more people to take a good example. 45:08.760 --> 45:09.820 And you know what, praise God 45:09.820 --> 45:12.200 that Christianity is a pretty clean religion. 45:12.880 --> 45:13.940 You know, it seems like some religions 45:13.940 --> 45:14.920 are not very clean. 45:15.440 --> 45:17.120 Hint, hint, wink, wink, Hinduism? 45:17.580 --> 45:18.020 Okay. 45:18.840 --> 45:20.520 I mean, what's all the videos 45:20.520 --> 45:22.480 of them cutting food with their toenails? 45:22.880 --> 45:24.420 Like, I don't, and I'm not, 45:24.600 --> 45:27.300 maybe there's a video of like white Christians doing this. 45:27.400 --> 45:28.120 Sorry if that exists. 45:28.300 --> 45:28.640 I don't know. 45:28.840 --> 45:29.680 I've never seen that. 45:29.980 --> 45:31.640 But that would be gross in our approach. 45:32.140 --> 45:32.740 You know, it's just like, 45:32.820 --> 45:34.320 there's some religions that aren't that clean. 45:34.920 --> 45:36.740 There's some parts of the world that aren't that clean. 45:36.840 --> 45:38.200 You know what, what a shame would be 45:38.200 --> 45:40.320 if a Christian church was like that, you know? 45:41.660 --> 45:44.800 Unclean, non-hygienic, doesn't care about health. 45:45.220 --> 45:46.620 You know, I think we should care about health. 45:47.400 --> 45:50.000 I even primarily eat organic food, not always. 45:50.000 --> 45:50.920 Don't hear me wrong. 45:51.500 --> 45:52.820 You know, I try to eat organic foods. 45:53.140 --> 45:54.800 I try to eat vegetables. 45:55.400 --> 45:57.880 I try to eat, you know, all kinds of meat. 45:58.320 --> 46:00.060 You should eat meat, in my opinion, okay? 46:00.680 --> 46:02.620 I mean, the Bible says nothing's to be refused. 46:03.460 --> 46:04.680 If you pray for it. 46:05.380 --> 46:06.880 Hey, you know, there's some religions 46:06.880 --> 46:08.680 that abstain from meat a lot. 46:09.340 --> 46:11.300 Look, go with me to the Greek Orthodox Church. 46:11.560 --> 46:13.540 Don't do it, but in hypothetical theory, 46:13.580 --> 46:16.300 but I went there only because I was trying to learn Greek. 46:16.560 --> 46:18.320 Okay, they had a Greek night school when I was going. 46:18.790 --> 46:20.560 But you go and all the guys are just 46:20.560 --> 46:23.400 these skinny-looking vegans, okay? 46:24.380 --> 46:25.740 And, you know, they try to make, like, 46:25.840 --> 46:27.780 orthobros seem like these chads or whatever. 46:28.040 --> 46:30.180 In reality, they're like out of shape, 46:30.460 --> 46:31.920 nerd, vegan-looking dudes. 46:32.340 --> 46:34.560 Because, like, 180 days out of the year, 46:34.640 --> 46:35.340 they can't even eat meat. 46:36.360 --> 46:38.220 And they have all these weird fasts 46:38.220 --> 46:39.260 and all these weird rituals, 46:39.340 --> 46:42.220 and so they're, you know, just physically different 46:42.220 --> 46:43.800 because of their actual diet. 46:44.360 --> 46:46.200 And so, you know, you look at a lot of people 46:46.200 --> 46:48.660 and their religion is dictating their diet, 46:49.040 --> 46:51.140 is dictating their physiognomy, 46:51.240 --> 46:53.400 is dictating how they behave themselves. 46:53.680 --> 46:55.200 You know, as Christians, we need to be strong. 46:55.800 --> 46:57.940 You know, eating that strong meat, you know, 46:58.240 --> 47:00.160 and enjoying the blessings of the land 47:00.160 --> 47:01.380 that flow with milk and honey. 47:02.080 --> 47:03.200 You know, getting some good fats 47:03.200 --> 47:05.900 and getting some good meats and eating healthy, 47:06.320 --> 47:07.360 you know, organic foods. 47:07.920 --> 47:09.060 I think these things are important. 47:09.140 --> 47:10.920 I think the Bible has these principles 47:11.460 --> 47:12.800 that we can employ in our lives. 47:13.120 --> 47:14.240 Exactly how you do that, 47:14.240 --> 47:16.340 you see, you can do whatever you want, 47:16.420 --> 47:19.320 but, you know, the Bible does teach, you know, to be strong. 47:20.020 --> 47:21.860 The Bible does teach to take care of your body. 47:22.120 --> 47:23.920 And I think that we should all take those things seriously. 47:24.760 --> 47:26.620 I want to go to Hosea chapter one. 47:27.360 --> 47:30.020 So, and I didn't want to go to all the verses 47:30.020 --> 47:31.540 to prove my point on that, 47:31.600 --> 47:35.600 but I'm just kind of giving you general principles. 47:38.720 --> 47:41.540 We should be good examples in these areas. 47:42.040 --> 47:43.320 And one would be, again, 47:44.300 --> 47:47.980 we should set for the good example of good marriages. 47:49.800 --> 47:52.540 And I think this is what I want to emphasize, 47:52.820 --> 47:55.720 is, you know, being a good spouse, 47:56.020 --> 47:57.980 even in the low parts of your marriage. 47:59.640 --> 48:01.920 Because everyone enjoys the honeymoon. 48:02.920 --> 48:05.180 Everyone enjoys the good parts of marriage. 48:05.640 --> 48:07.140 And look, there are parts of marriage 48:07.520 --> 48:08.720 that is not hard at all. 48:08.860 --> 48:10.020 It's only fun and easy. 48:10.820 --> 48:12.600 But that's not going to last. 48:12.980 --> 48:14.100 That's not reality. 48:14.760 --> 48:16.920 You're also going to have extreme lows. 48:17.360 --> 48:18.460 You're going to have difficulties. 48:19.000 --> 48:21.320 There's a reason why the marriage vows are better for worse. 48:21.740 --> 48:23.620 I mean, the wedding day is kind of a high. 48:24.320 --> 48:25.600 It's kind of the better time. 48:26.020 --> 48:27.100 But there's going to be worse. 48:27.220 --> 48:29.520 And for some people, the worst is bad. 48:30.920 --> 48:32.580 You know, this is what's funny to me, 48:33.320 --> 48:37.440 is most people that have really bad marriage situations 48:37.440 --> 48:38.780 are not the ones that complain. 48:39.560 --> 48:41.100 It's the ones that are like somewhere in the middle. 48:41.660 --> 48:42.660 It's like the ones that don't have, 48:42.820 --> 48:44.480 the people that have like the one you're just like, 48:44.600 --> 48:45.140 that's a nightmare. 48:45.760 --> 48:46.360 You know, it's like, 48:46.460 --> 48:47.700 they're not the ones usually complaining, 48:48.160 --> 48:50.440 but the people that kind of have like a normal marriage, 48:50.800 --> 48:53.120 and then they feel like it's like the, 48:53.600 --> 48:54.760 wow, you don't want this one. 48:55.260 --> 48:55.540 Okay. 48:56.040 --> 48:58.620 And, you know, for all of us, it's kind of hard. 48:58.800 --> 49:00.900 You know, there's some bad dispatchers out there 49:00.900 --> 49:02.820 that have put bad examples out there 49:02.820 --> 49:03.820 where they say they never fight. 49:04.360 --> 49:04.620 Okay. 49:04.940 --> 49:05.580 That's a lie. 49:05.580 --> 49:05.640 Okay. 49:07.800 --> 49:09.860 That they don't have any problems in their marriage, 49:10.060 --> 49:11.880 that they're both, this doesn't exist. 49:12.080 --> 49:12.240 Okay. 49:12.740 --> 49:13.400 It's a fairy tale. 49:14.000 --> 49:14.200 Okay. 49:14.900 --> 49:17.200 But at the same time, you know, 49:17.380 --> 49:19.960 to me, the good example is someone that's sticking 49:19.960 --> 49:21.500 with their spouse in a low spot. 49:22.480 --> 49:23.780 Not, it's easy in the high spot. 49:24.320 --> 49:25.120 It's in the low spot. 49:25.480 --> 49:26.920 When they're weak, when they're vulnerable, 49:27.560 --> 49:29.120 when they're going through a hard time, 49:29.360 --> 49:30.300 when they have problems. 49:30.680 --> 49:31.460 And you know what? 49:31.540 --> 49:32.480 You just stick with them anyways, 49:32.920 --> 49:33.980 and you still love them anyways, 49:33.980 --> 49:35.300 and you're still doing good to them anyways. 49:36.100 --> 49:37.100 And you know, this is kind of what 49:37.100 --> 49:38.780 the whole book of Hosea is about. 49:38.880 --> 49:40.620 And it's kind of an example of how God is 49:40.620 --> 49:41.700 to the children of Israel, 49:42.260 --> 49:44.640 how God stuck with them, even in their low spots, 49:44.900 --> 49:47.900 even in their wickedness and their rebellion. 49:48.980 --> 49:52.000 And look, you know, I'm gonna preach on this 49:52.000 --> 49:54.320 and people get offended by this, 49:54.580 --> 49:55.940 but you know, it's biblical. 49:56.340 --> 49:57.180 You know, I'll get up and say, 49:57.240 --> 49:59.020 hey, even if your spouse commits adultery, 49:59.100 --> 50:00.000 you should not leave them. 50:00.720 --> 50:02.460 And people will get mad at me for that. 50:02.860 --> 50:05.140 People will say, well, God wouldn't want me 50:05.140 --> 50:06.400 to be in an unhappy marriage. 50:07.100 --> 50:10.180 Or they'll say, well, you know, 50:10.800 --> 50:13.060 I know that you say that, 50:13.160 --> 50:16.100 but if you say that, you're encouraging people to do bad. 50:17.000 --> 50:19.000 I'm like, I'm not encouraging anybody to do bad. 50:19.440 --> 50:21.420 That would be the same as me going up to the door 50:21.420 --> 50:23.580 and saying, hey, if you believe in Christ, 50:23.740 --> 50:24.220 you'll be saved. 50:24.500 --> 50:25.580 Oh, so now I should murder people? 50:25.680 --> 50:27.580 It's like no one's encouraging you to murder people 50:27.580 --> 50:29.720 because salvation's a free gift, okay? 50:30.420 --> 50:33.100 Yeah, technically, someone commit bad sins 50:33.100 --> 50:35.380 and still be saved, but no one's encouraging that, 50:35.520 --> 50:36.280 no one's promoting that. 50:36.640 --> 50:38.300 And even in marriage, you know, 50:38.380 --> 50:40.100 it's for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, 50:40.640 --> 50:41.580 you know, in sickness and health, 50:42.080 --> 50:43.760 you know, you're never supposed to leave them 50:43.760 --> 50:44.520 nor forsake them. 50:44.840 --> 50:46.960 It's till death do us part. 50:47.140 --> 50:48.040 You know, that's why I had a marriage come. 50:48.140 --> 50:49.460 It's called the till death marriage. 50:50.200 --> 50:52.220 It's like, I believe it, okay? 50:52.680 --> 50:54.340 It's not just a expression. 50:54.800 --> 50:56.880 It's not just a cute saying. 50:57.620 --> 50:59.920 I believe it, and I think that you should have it. 51:00.100 --> 51:03.580 Now, does that mean that every time that's easy? 51:03.920 --> 51:04.060 No. 51:05.020 --> 51:05.520 And you know what? 51:05.560 --> 51:08.300 For me, it's not hard because I have an awesome wife. 51:09.160 --> 51:10.620 You know, I'm not like, I'm not over here like, 51:10.800 --> 51:13.200 oh man, it's really hard to hang on, you know. 51:13.780 --> 51:15.620 It's like, I don't wanna let go. 51:15.900 --> 51:17.860 I mean, this is a great roller coaster ride. 51:18.200 --> 51:19.080 I'm just having fun. 51:19.420 --> 51:22.180 Like, there's no reason for me to get off this ride, 51:22.320 --> 51:22.560 okay? 51:23.360 --> 51:26.000 But, you know, for those that actually have 51:26.000 --> 51:27.340 the real bad situations, 51:28.140 --> 51:29.740 this is what unfortunately happens is 51:29.740 --> 51:30.980 sometimes it gets attention. 51:31.960 --> 51:34.760 And everybody's kinda notices it, and it's a big deal. 51:35.340 --> 51:37.120 Well, those are the important times for people to hang on. 51:38.660 --> 51:39.860 Because the set's a really good example. 51:40.260 --> 51:42.040 And you know, here's a bad example in the book of Hosea 51:42.560 --> 51:44.460 where a woman's committing repeated adultery 51:44.940 --> 51:46.760 and is a whore, as the Bible describes. 51:46.900 --> 51:48.100 Look at Hosea 1, verse two. 51:48.640 --> 51:50.800 In the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea, 51:51.280 --> 51:52.440 and the Lord said to Hosea, 51:52.440 --> 51:55.900 go take under the wife of Hortums and children of Hortums, 51:56.140 --> 51:57.660 for the land has committed great Hortum 51:57.660 --> 51:58.300 departing from the Lord. 51:58.400 --> 51:59.900 Now, that's a weird commandment, okay? 52:00.500 --> 52:02.040 Go marry a literal whore. 52:03.680 --> 52:07.120 But, obviously, he is the married woman 52:07.120 --> 52:10.660 that has a sordid past and has a bad past 52:11.100 --> 52:13.140 and has committed great Hortums. 52:13.540 --> 52:15.220 And he says, hey, go love her anyways. 52:15.480 --> 52:16.920 Go be her husband. 52:18.300 --> 52:19.940 Now, he says in verse three, 52:20.080 --> 52:21.240 so he went and took Gomer. 52:22.000 --> 52:23.360 The daughter of Deblayam, 52:23.440 --> 52:24.800 which conceived and bear him a son. 52:25.840 --> 52:29.040 So, Gomer, he takes his wife, marries her. 52:29.660 --> 52:32.020 No one ever names anybody Gomer ever again, apparently. 52:33.180 --> 52:35.680 But she conceives, the language, 52:35.940 --> 52:37.980 it almost sounds like it's his kid, 52:38.180 --> 52:39.060 but here's the problem. 52:39.800 --> 52:41.180 It's not even his kid, 52:42.280 --> 52:44.200 which is really crazy. 52:46.500 --> 52:49.600 It says, let's just read a few more verses later. 52:50.700 --> 52:52.200 It says in verse number 10, 52:52.280 --> 52:53.420 yet the number of the children of Israel 52:53.420 --> 52:54.320 should be the same as the sea, 52:54.380 --> 52:55.480 which cannot be measured nor numbered, 52:55.520 --> 52:56.340 and it should come to pass. 52:56.640 --> 52:57.760 That in the place where it's said to them, 52:57.760 --> 52:58.740 you're not my people. 52:59.300 --> 53:00.640 There it shall be said to them, you're not, 53:00.860 --> 53:02.060 you are the sons of living God. 53:03.240 --> 53:06.460 So, he has this guy, it's like an object lesson. 53:07.180 --> 53:08.780 Jose has to marry a woman that's a whore. 53:09.360 --> 53:12.560 She conceives twice, and the kids aren't even his kids. 53:13.240 --> 53:15.040 And it's to kind of picture how God 53:15.900 --> 53:16.900 with Israel's relationship was. 53:17.320 --> 53:18.780 It was a whore for a while, 53:19.280 --> 53:21.540 and then it's like producing children 53:21.540 --> 53:22.900 that aren't even of God, 53:23.260 --> 53:25.860 and not even Christian, not even saved, 53:26.040 --> 53:27.140 and they're not even his people. 53:27.780 --> 53:29.900 And it's kind of to show the apostasy of the Jews 53:29.900 --> 53:31.020 and the children of Israel. 53:31.560 --> 53:32.700 They're not his people. 53:34.560 --> 53:37.720 And it says in verse two of chapter two, 53:38.060 --> 53:40.420 plead with your mother, plead for she is not my wife, 53:40.500 --> 53:41.400 neither am I her husband. 53:41.860 --> 53:44.680 Let her therefore put away her hordoms out of her sight 53:44.680 --> 53:47.420 and her adulteries from between her breasts. 53:47.980 --> 53:50.020 Let's say strip her naked and set her as the day 53:50.020 --> 53:51.620 that she was bored and make her as a wilderness 53:51.620 --> 53:53.980 and set her like a dry land and slay her with thirst. 53:54.620 --> 53:56.700 And I will not have mercy upon her children, 53:57.020 --> 53:59.060 for they be the children of hordoms. 53:59.540 --> 54:00.860 So notice the Bible's real explicit, 54:01.080 --> 54:03.400 like these are not children from Hosea. 54:04.260 --> 54:06.180 It's like you marry a woman that was a whore, 54:06.860 --> 54:08.960 and then after getting married, she commits adultery, 54:09.280 --> 54:12.200 and she has multiple children that are not yours. 54:14.560 --> 54:15.600 Now wouldn't this be the, 54:15.600 --> 54:18.320 like all these pastors out there that wanna be like, 54:18.640 --> 54:20.300 now this is the exception for divorce. 54:21.140 --> 54:22.720 Like this would be their exception. 54:23.560 --> 54:25.360 You know, God doesn't say divorce her. 54:26.560 --> 54:27.580 God doesn't say that at all. 54:27.640 --> 54:29.460 Look at chapter three, verse one. 54:30.500 --> 54:33.220 Then said the Lord unto me, go yet love a woman, 54:33.740 --> 54:36.940 beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, 54:37.340 --> 54:39.640 according to the love of the Lord 54:39.640 --> 54:40.720 toward the children of Israel, 54:41.400 --> 54:43.560 who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. 54:43.560 --> 54:46.320 So I bought her to me for 15 pieces of silver 54:46.320 --> 54:48.840 and for a Homer Barley and for a half Homer Barley. 54:49.320 --> 54:52.320 And I said unto her thou shalt abide for me many days, 54:52.640 --> 54:54.040 thou shalt not play the harlot, 54:54.300 --> 54:55.880 and thou shalt not be a friend of the man, 54:56.140 --> 54:58.320 so will I also be for thee. 54:58.920 --> 55:01.540 So Hosea marries a woman, she commits adultery, 55:01.640 --> 55:02.840 has multiple kids against him. 55:03.460 --> 55:05.000 And then God doesn't say divorce her. 55:05.140 --> 55:07.260 He says, you know what, go love her anyways. 55:08.220 --> 55:09.820 And then he later has to pay money. 55:10.740 --> 55:14.080 He has to pay her to not be unfaithful to him. 55:14.800 --> 55:16.460 This is a weird relationship, okay? 55:17.480 --> 55:18.980 None of this is a recommendation. 55:19.740 --> 55:21.220 Did you remember what I said? 55:21.740 --> 55:23.260 In verse number three of chapter two, 55:23.760 --> 55:26.140 lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day 55:26.140 --> 55:27.640 that she was born and make her as the wilderness 55:27.640 --> 55:29.880 and set her like a dry land and slayer of thirst. 55:30.600 --> 55:33.080 God is saying, hey, you better quit committing adultery, 55:33.260 --> 55:35.540 otherwise I will destroy you physically. 55:36.720 --> 55:38.760 It's not like she's getting off, necessarily. 55:38.760 --> 55:40.940 It's not that God isn't mad at her. 55:41.080 --> 55:42.620 It's not like God has to allow her 55:42.620 --> 55:44.320 in this wicked rebellious sin. 55:44.460 --> 55:45.860 It's just, this is a moment of grace. 55:46.520 --> 55:49.260 And God is just saying, hey, if you are a husband 55:49.260 --> 55:51.680 and your wife is not the best wife, 55:51.940 --> 55:53.380 I'm pretty sure she's not the best wife. 55:54.140 --> 55:55.560 It says love her anyways. 55:56.480 --> 55:59.980 And hey, the reverse goes, hey, if you're a wife 55:59.980 --> 56:01.940 and your husband's not the best husband, 56:02.260 --> 56:03.340 you'll love him anyways. 56:04.420 --> 56:05.080 Why it? 56:05.440 --> 56:06.480 Until death do us part. 56:07.020 --> 56:09.080 And hey, if she's gonna keep committing adultery, 56:09.320 --> 56:10.840 well then just let God kill him 56:10.840 --> 56:12.100 and then you're free from them. 56:12.360 --> 56:12.980 But you know what? 56:13.420 --> 56:16.020 God, I believe, is telling us till death do us part. 56:16.260 --> 56:18.000 God hates putting away. 56:18.920 --> 56:21.180 Look at Malachi, just flip to the right, just a hair, 56:22.080 --> 56:23.740 and go to Malachi chapter two. 56:25.920 --> 56:28.380 It's pretty much right, it's the last book 56:28.380 --> 56:30.480 in your Old Testament, right before Matthew. 56:31.180 --> 56:34.460 Malachi chapter two, look at verse 14. 56:36.480 --> 56:38.920 Yet you say, wherefore, because the Lord 56:38.920 --> 56:41.220 hath been witnessed between thee and the wife of thy youth, 56:41.620 --> 56:43.140 against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, 56:43.800 --> 56:46.020 yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant, 56:46.900 --> 56:47.980 and did not he make one? 56:48.880 --> 56:50.640 Yet hath he the residue of the spirit, 56:50.740 --> 56:52.800 and wherefore, one, that he might seek a godly seed, 56:53.440 --> 56:55.840 therefore take heed to your spirit 56:55.840 --> 56:57.800 and let none of you deal treacherously 56:58.220 --> 56:59.660 against the wife of his youth. 57:00.020 --> 57:01.580 For the Lord, the God of Israel, sayeth 57:01.580 --> 57:03.900 that he hadeth putting away. 57:04.600 --> 57:06.840 So don't be treacherous against your wife 57:07.320 --> 57:08.440 and don't put her away. 57:08.960 --> 57:11.060 Here, according to the Bible, we have Hosea 57:11.060 --> 57:13.060 with a wife that's pretty bad, 57:13.660 --> 57:15.420 committed the worst sins I could think of 57:15.420 --> 57:16.640 that you could commit against your husband, 57:17.340 --> 57:20.740 and yet he still loves her, he doesn't put her away, 57:20.780 --> 57:22.380 why, because the Lord hates putting away. 57:23.160 --> 57:25.360 And that's why in the book of Matthew 57:25.360 --> 57:27.920 and Mark and the Gospels, Jesus is not teaching 57:27.920 --> 57:29.140 that you should put away your wife. 57:29.560 --> 57:30.980 He says what God hath joined together, 57:31.520 --> 57:32.620 let not man put us under. 57:33.900 --> 57:36.800 And so, you know, many people will teach divorce. 57:37.760 --> 57:39.380 And of course, why do people divorce? 57:40.280 --> 57:42.420 Usually because they're in a bad, messed up situation. 57:43.160 --> 57:44.620 They're usually not divorcing 57:44.620 --> 57:47.480 because they got a lot of money, 57:47.480 --> 57:49.200 because they just have a lot of money 57:49.620 --> 57:52.200 and no problems and their kids are great 57:52.740 --> 57:54.480 and they're having the greatest intimacy 57:54.480 --> 57:56.440 they've ever known in their entire lives 57:56.440 --> 57:57.520 and it's all great. 57:57.640 --> 57:58.760 I mean, people aren't just like, 57:59.040 --> 58:00.040 I'm just a little too happy. 58:01.160 --> 58:02.660 They're just a little too good for me. 58:03.120 --> 58:04.860 Like, there's usually a problem. 58:05.640 --> 58:07.000 Usually things are messed up. 58:07.560 --> 58:08.660 But you know what, that's when you hang on. 58:09.120 --> 58:10.620 That's when you set the good example 58:11.020 --> 58:13.400 and you're like Hosea and you say, you know what? 58:13.580 --> 58:14.500 I'll love you anyways. 58:15.060 --> 58:15.940 I'll do good anyways. 58:16.320 --> 58:17.640 I'll fight for you in the trenches. 58:18.100 --> 58:19.220 I'll still do good. 58:19.640 --> 58:20.940 And you know what, you set a good example 58:20.940 --> 58:23.440 because unfortunately when people don't, 58:23.680 --> 58:25.440 it's like divorce seems to happen in pairs 58:26.320 --> 58:27.980 or in multiplication. 58:28.680 --> 58:29.920 It's just like one group does it 58:29.920 --> 58:31.560 and then the next does it and the next does it. 58:31.560 --> 58:33.720 And then pretty soon it's the entire comment section 58:34.300 --> 58:36.200 of Cassandra and Merchie's posts on Facebook. 58:37.600 --> 58:40.180 She's all these divorced women saying, you go girl. 58:42.160 --> 58:43.820 Oh, I wasn't joking. 58:44.000 --> 58:45.040 That's real, by the way. 58:46.160 --> 58:49.440 And look, it spirals out of control. 58:50.000 --> 58:50.560 You know what we need? 58:50.840 --> 58:52.660 We need people to say, hey, I'm gonna love my spouse 58:52.660 --> 58:55.000 anyways and I'm gonna do good under my spouse. 58:55.400 --> 58:57.580 And even if they've committed all these horrible sins, 58:57.840 --> 59:00.540 you know, hey, I can still just be married to them. 59:01.560 --> 59:03.520 And I'm not talking about like extreme 59:03.520 --> 59:05.080 reprobate serial killer stuff. 59:05.540 --> 59:08.400 If your husband's a reprobate serial killer, call the cops, 59:08.520 --> 59:08.720 okay? 59:09.340 --> 59:10.080 We get it. 59:10.460 --> 59:12.420 You can love them from prison and afar, all right? 59:12.880 --> 59:13.840 But I'm just saying like, 59:14.660 --> 59:16.740 no one's even bringing up that example, okay? 59:17.520 --> 59:19.300 And most of us, if you were to say, 59:19.340 --> 59:22.260 hey, my marriage problems, let me ask you this question. 59:22.460 --> 59:23.820 Are they worse than Nozea's? 59:25.960 --> 59:28.980 Are you really in a situation worse than Nozea? 59:29.460 --> 59:31.600 And you say, I don't know what God would want me to do. 59:31.780 --> 59:33.020 I'll tell you what God would want you to do. 59:33.280 --> 59:34.500 Love your wife and your kids. 59:36.020 --> 59:37.060 That's what God would want you to do. 59:37.600 --> 59:39.860 God hates putting away, God hates divorce. 59:40.920 --> 59:43.520 And I mean, I can't imagine. 59:44.340 --> 59:45.140 I have to love her. 59:45.420 --> 59:47.140 I don't have to love her, I have to give her money? 59:48.280 --> 59:50.380 That's like, this is a weird situation. 59:50.880 --> 59:51.580 But you know what? 59:51.680 --> 59:52.820 Doesn't that show that he loves her? 59:53.920 --> 59:56.460 Hey, if I have to pay for you to love me, 59:56.520 --> 59:57.240 then I'll pay for it. 59:57.240 --> 59:58.460 I'll buy you whatever. 59:58.980 --> 01:00:01.460 Let's just, hey, let's fix this. 01:00:01.840 --> 01:00:05.180 I'm in, I love you, I'm gonna take care of you. 01:00:05.420 --> 01:00:07.880 I'm not gonna leave you, I'm not gonna forsake you. 01:00:08.020 --> 01:00:10.380 But I want you to be mine and I'm gonna be yours. 01:00:11.300 --> 01:00:12.820 And you know, I think for a lot of people, 01:00:13.520 --> 01:00:15.460 you know, if you want your relationship to thrive, 01:00:16.100 --> 01:00:19.060 they just want you to feel like you're with them. 01:00:19.540 --> 01:00:20.860 Hey, I'm with you. 01:00:21.540 --> 01:00:22.520 Hey, I know you messed up. 01:00:22.740 --> 01:00:23.360 Hey, I know you screwed up. 01:00:23.760 --> 01:00:24.820 Hey, you may have broken my heart, 01:00:24.820 --> 01:00:26.580 but I'm still gonna give it to you anyways. 01:00:27.540 --> 01:00:28.860 I'll give you my broken heart. 01:00:29.340 --> 01:00:30.820 You know, I'll just give you whatever I've got. 01:00:31.180 --> 01:00:33.780 I'll give you the 15 shekels that I've got or whatever. 01:00:34.320 --> 01:00:34.860 Hey, you know what? 01:00:34.980 --> 01:00:37.020 We need people to set a good example in marriage. 01:00:37.400 --> 01:00:39.660 Not only being the good couple 01:00:39.660 --> 01:00:41.280 that's never fought or whatever, 01:00:41.820 --> 01:00:43.060 but also the couple that, hey, 01:00:43.140 --> 01:00:44.200 we went through the rough spots 01:00:44.660 --> 01:00:45.660 and we stuck together too. 01:00:46.220 --> 01:00:47.980 Hey, I loved her when it was hard. 01:00:48.240 --> 01:00:49.440 I loved her when she was sick. 01:00:49.780 --> 01:00:52.640 I loved him when he was, you know, whatever. 01:00:53.360 --> 01:00:53.760 A jerk. 01:00:54.400 --> 01:00:55.960 Yes, some guys are jerks. 01:00:56.080 --> 01:00:59.800 Ooh, you know, that's not abuse, by the way, being a jerk. 01:01:01.860 --> 01:01:03.620 Go if you would to Hebrews chapter 10. 01:01:04.160 --> 01:01:05.320 This is the last one I'm gonna mention. 01:01:05.880 --> 01:01:08.760 And I'm kind of, I'm already out of time, but look, 01:01:08.860 --> 01:01:12.580 we need more people to set good examples in this world. 01:01:12.580 --> 01:01:14.180 And we have so few good examples. 01:01:14.800 --> 01:01:17.980 So many people just hit the ejection seat, 01:01:18.580 --> 01:01:19.520 hit the ejection button, 01:01:19.700 --> 01:01:21.400 and we have divorces out of control in our country. 01:01:22.320 --> 01:01:24.040 Fornication is out of control in our country. 01:01:24.460 --> 01:01:26.080 People not taking their health serious 01:01:26.080 --> 01:01:27.280 is out of control in our country. 01:01:27.800 --> 01:01:29.700 These are some major problems and we need people, 01:01:30.020 --> 01:01:32.040 you know, bad pastors is out of control. 01:01:32.420 --> 01:01:34.380 Bad churches is out of control. 01:01:35.440 --> 01:01:37.560 And here's the last one I wanna say is 01:01:37.560 --> 01:01:39.920 that you should set a good example is, 01:01:40.280 --> 01:01:42.540 you know, siding with your church 01:01:42.540 --> 01:01:44.220 in a battle or tribulation. 01:01:44.760 --> 01:01:47.760 We talked about Hosea loving his wife 01:01:47.760 --> 01:01:48.800 in a difficult situation. 01:01:48.800 --> 01:01:51.220 You know what, praise God for the people 01:01:51.220 --> 01:01:53.940 that set a good example of siding with their pastor 01:01:53.940 --> 01:01:56.760 and siding with their church in a difficult situation. 01:01:57.900 --> 01:01:59.500 And I think this is very important. 01:01:59.880 --> 01:02:02.600 And I think it has major impacts on the church. 01:02:04.220 --> 01:02:07.220 Hebrews chapter number 10 is telling us 01:02:07.220 --> 01:02:09.140 to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. 01:02:09.360 --> 01:02:11.220 And I think that why this is important is 01:02:11.710 --> 01:02:13.640 you're supposed to go to church, period. 01:02:15.020 --> 01:02:17.180 I mean, let's read verse 25. 01:02:17.180 --> 01:02:19.100 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together 01:02:19.100 --> 01:02:21.520 as the man or some is, but exhorting one another 01:02:21.520 --> 01:02:23.000 and so much the more as you see the approaching. 01:02:23.540 --> 01:02:25.180 Not only are you not supposed to give up on church, 01:02:25.540 --> 01:02:27.640 you're supposed to be encouraging others to go to church. 01:02:28.060 --> 01:02:30.940 So not only are you supposed to not say, I'm not gonna go, 01:02:31.300 --> 01:02:32.660 you're supposed to be doing the exact opposite, 01:02:32.960 --> 01:02:34.540 you're supposed to be bringing people with you. 01:02:34.780 --> 01:02:36.540 Saying, hey, come on, let's go to church. 01:02:36.840 --> 01:02:38.180 Why are people not wanting to go to church? 01:02:38.200 --> 01:02:39.620 Because of all the bad churches out there. 01:02:40.340 --> 01:02:42.920 Or, hey, there's problems or hey, it's not perfect 01:02:42.920 --> 01:02:44.440 or hey, it's rocky. 01:02:44.440 --> 01:02:45.360 But you know what? 01:02:45.500 --> 01:02:46.880 You go to church when it's rocky. 01:02:47.520 --> 01:02:49.700 You go to church when it's not the greatest. 01:02:49.860 --> 01:02:51.880 It's having problems or there's heat 01:02:51.880 --> 01:02:54.400 or there's issues or whatever. 01:02:55.380 --> 01:02:57.340 Praise God, a lot of people came to church 01:02:57.740 --> 01:02:59.500 when the pastor was literally stepping down 01:02:59.500 --> 01:03:00.420 from Steadfast Baptist Church. 01:03:01.080 --> 01:03:04.520 I mean, we had a family that moved 01:03:04.520 --> 01:03:06.800 to Steadfast Baptist Church and their first service 01:03:07.240 --> 01:03:09.700 was a service when Ramirez was standing up 01:03:09.700 --> 01:03:11.260 saying he's gonna step down from the pastor. 01:03:12.600 --> 01:03:13.520 That's crazy. 01:03:14.440 --> 01:03:14.820 The timing. 01:03:15.220 --> 01:03:15.900 And they're still here. 01:03:16.820 --> 01:03:17.740 That's a good example. 01:03:18.940 --> 01:03:19.380 You know what? 01:03:19.500 --> 01:03:20.420 Praise God for them. 01:03:21.320 --> 01:03:23.660 Praise God that there's a family that encourages 01:03:23.660 --> 01:03:26.160 other people to say, hey, I'm not here for a man, 01:03:26.320 --> 01:03:28.240 I'm here for Jesus and I'm here for Christianity 01:03:28.680 --> 01:03:29.860 and I'm here for soul winning 01:03:29.860 --> 01:03:31.640 and I'm here for the right doctrines. 01:03:32.060 --> 01:03:32.400 And you know what? 01:03:32.460 --> 01:03:33.240 Just plug and play. 01:03:33.540 --> 01:03:35.440 God will put the new guy in and we'll just keep going. 01:03:37.960 --> 01:03:39.300 Because it's not about one man. 01:03:40.600 --> 01:03:41.220 And you know what? 01:03:41.300 --> 01:03:42.120 At the same time, 01:03:42.700 --> 01:03:44.960 we had tribulation in the Jacksonville church. 01:03:45.360 --> 01:03:48.360 You know, the Jacksonville church was tumultuous, okay? 01:03:49.040 --> 01:03:52.300 They were having all kinds of issues and whatever. 01:03:53.680 --> 01:03:56.420 And it was kind of turning into like, 01:03:56.800 --> 01:03:58.200 are you with Shelley or with Fannin? 01:03:58.360 --> 01:04:00.280 You know, this was like, this is big drama or whatever. 01:04:00.800 --> 01:04:02.980 But there is people in that church 01:04:02.980 --> 01:04:04.480 that said, hey, I'm gonna side 01:04:04.480 --> 01:04:05.620 with Steadfast Baptist Church. 01:04:05.820 --> 01:04:06.960 I'm gonna side with the leadership. 01:04:07.400 --> 01:04:08.940 I think that this ordained pastor 01:04:08.940 --> 01:04:10.640 that wants to take us on is the right guy. 01:04:11.220 --> 01:04:14.980 And that was an important decision for many people. 01:04:15.660 --> 01:04:17.420 You know, one of the first calls I got 01:04:17.420 --> 01:04:20.600 that I remember is from Brother Marcel calling me 01:04:20.600 --> 01:04:23.620 and he was ready to throw Fannin's head over the fence. 01:04:23.760 --> 01:04:24.520 I'm telling you what, okay? 01:04:25.560 --> 01:04:27.080 But you know what he was mad about? 01:04:27.580 --> 01:04:30.100 He was mad that this guy's a paid evangelist 01:04:30.100 --> 01:04:31.020 and he doesn't go soul winning. 01:04:31.520 --> 01:04:32.420 And that's what he told me. 01:04:33.140 --> 01:04:34.560 Who wouldn't be mad about that? 01:04:35.220 --> 01:04:36.720 That's a reasonable conclusion. 01:04:37.400 --> 01:04:37.900 It's like, what? 01:04:38.060 --> 01:04:38.880 This guy's not going soul winning. 01:04:38.980 --> 01:04:39.780 He doesn't care about soul winning. 01:04:39.780 --> 01:04:41.600 He's an evangelist? 01:04:41.980 --> 01:04:43.740 Like that, there's something off about this. 01:04:44.260 --> 01:04:45.060 I get you. 01:04:45.520 --> 01:04:47.000 You know, another person that was important 01:04:47.000 --> 01:04:48.840 is Brother Ben was talking with me. 01:04:49.620 --> 01:04:52.320 You know, I didn't tell these people anything to do. 01:04:53.000 --> 01:04:54.560 Brother Ben's like, hey, let's have a meeting. 01:04:54.760 --> 01:04:56.580 Let's go meet at a park and let's make a video 01:04:56.580 --> 01:04:58.040 saying that we support Pastor Shelley. 01:04:58.620 --> 01:05:00.660 And I think from that specific event, 01:05:00.820 --> 01:05:03.440 like a lot of people were rallied together, went there. 01:05:03.700 --> 01:05:05.220 I wasn't even sure if we were gonna continue 01:05:05.220 --> 01:05:05.900 a church over there. 01:05:06.140 --> 01:05:07.860 But when you see a video of people saying like, 01:05:07.940 --> 01:05:09.200 hey, we want a church over here. 01:05:09.200 --> 01:05:10.900 It's like, well, hey, we're gonna hang on. 01:05:11.340 --> 01:05:12.760 Hey, we're gonna fight for that. 01:05:13.000 --> 01:05:13.540 And you know what? 01:05:13.760 --> 01:05:16.180 Encourage other people to stay faithful, 01:05:16.280 --> 01:05:17.940 to stay steadfast, to stay in church, 01:05:18.100 --> 01:05:19.080 and not give up on it. 01:05:19.560 --> 01:05:21.180 And you know, we've had lots of great people 01:05:21.180 --> 01:05:22.740 that were from Jacksonville 01:05:22.740 --> 01:05:23.680 and from that church specifically. 01:05:25.160 --> 01:05:27.400 Zealous soul winners, people that love the Lord, 01:05:28.260 --> 01:05:29.680 that really stepped up. 01:05:30.140 --> 01:05:30.700 And you know what? 01:05:31.040 --> 01:05:32.920 It's important how these battles go down 01:05:32.920 --> 01:05:35.040 because what you notice is the people 01:05:35.040 --> 01:05:36.960 that side with the right side immediately 01:05:36.960 --> 01:05:38.860 end up being the people you can rely on. 01:05:39.300 --> 01:05:41.220 And the people that are always siding on the wrong side 01:05:41.220 --> 01:05:42.580 always seem to just have an issue. 01:05:44.200 --> 01:05:45.160 It's like, for some reason, 01:05:45.260 --> 01:05:48.000 problems just show everybody's character real fast. 01:05:48.320 --> 01:05:50.760 It's just like a quick glimpse into what everybody's like. 01:05:51.240 --> 01:05:53.180 But you know, if people didn't step up 01:05:53.180 --> 01:05:55.520 and set a good example, if people didn't lead, 01:05:55.960 --> 01:05:57.700 if people didn't, you know, do something, 01:05:58.160 --> 01:05:59.200 you know, a lot of other people 01:05:59.200 --> 01:06:02.600 would fall by the wayside, churches would collapse, 01:06:02.740 --> 01:06:04.040 people would get disgruntled, 01:06:04.040 --> 01:06:05.220 people would just walk away. 01:06:06.580 --> 01:06:09.080 You know, if it's like, oh well, there's protestors 01:06:09.080 --> 01:06:13.100 and we're all scared, so no one's coming to a hotel church. 01:06:14.000 --> 01:06:15.280 No one's showing up anymore. 01:06:16.280 --> 01:06:18.340 How do I even know, like, I'm trying to figure out 01:06:18.340 --> 01:06:19.800 what we're gonna do for a building or whatever. 01:06:20.140 --> 01:06:21.800 When no one's showing up, now what do I even do? 01:06:22.160 --> 01:06:23.500 Do I even need to get another building? 01:06:23.780 --> 01:06:26.560 What kind of size, you know, like, what's happening? 01:06:27.360 --> 01:06:29.120 You know, it's important for people to, you know, 01:06:29.220 --> 01:06:30.880 side with their church, side with their pastor 01:06:30.880 --> 01:06:32.260 in a difficult situation. 01:06:34.040 --> 01:06:35.980 Did I, I wanna go to one more place, 01:06:36.320 --> 01:06:38.440 go to 1st Samuel 17 and we'll finish there. 01:06:39.700 --> 01:06:42.820 We need some people that are gonna set a good example 01:06:42.820 --> 01:06:44.780 and say, hey, you know what, if my church 01:06:44.780 --> 01:06:46.700 is going through a difficulty, I'm gonna stand with them. 01:06:49.740 --> 01:06:52.380 We've had people in our church get fired 01:06:53.100 --> 01:06:57.220 for going to our church, for taking a public stand 01:06:57.220 --> 01:06:58.780 and saying, yeah, I do go to St. Vassar. 01:06:59.040 --> 01:07:01.240 Hey, I'll fill the pulpit and I'll preach a sermon 01:07:01.240 --> 01:07:03.700 or, hey, you know, I'm not afraid 01:07:04.140 --> 01:07:05.560 of siding with God's people. 01:07:06.880 --> 01:07:08.080 You know what, that's a good example. 01:07:08.740 --> 01:07:10.360 Because again, there's rumblings, people like, 01:07:10.420 --> 01:07:11.380 I don't know if I can go to church there, 01:07:11.460 --> 01:07:12.740 what if, you know, I lose my job. 01:07:13.220 --> 01:07:14.640 But then it's like, someone loses their job 01:07:14.640 --> 01:07:15.360 and then gets a better job. 01:07:16.100 --> 01:07:17.500 And it's like, okay, well, 01:07:18.020 --> 01:07:19.580 are you afraid of getting a better job? 01:07:22.180 --> 01:07:23.900 I mean, like, what's the problem here? 01:07:24.800 --> 01:07:25.720 You know what I haven't seen? 01:07:26.100 --> 01:07:28.580 I haven't seen someone take a bold stand for our church, 01:07:29.160 --> 01:07:30.880 a bold stand for the things that the Bible said 01:07:30.880 --> 01:07:34.080 and then God forsook them or it didn't work out for them. 01:07:34.540 --> 01:07:35.100 I haven't seen it. 01:07:37.320 --> 01:07:38.600 You know, why don't you just take the faith? 01:07:39.040 --> 01:07:41.280 You know, I haven't seen people say I'm all in on my marriage 01:07:41.280 --> 01:07:42.880 and I'm gonna love my spouse as hard as I can 01:07:42.880 --> 01:07:44.640 and it's just like totally fails or something. 01:07:45.340 --> 01:07:47.240 You know, I see people quitting and giving up 01:07:47.240 --> 01:07:48.900 and being disgruntled and murmuring 01:07:48.900 --> 01:07:49.920 and not taking anything seriously 01:07:49.920 --> 01:07:51.100 and then it always fails for them. 01:07:52.020 --> 01:07:53.620 You know what, we need some good examples 01:07:53.620 --> 01:07:55.880 to actually take things seriously. 01:07:56.300 --> 01:07:57.760 And you know what, do the right thing 01:07:58.200 --> 01:07:59.380 when no one else is. 01:08:01.200 --> 01:08:03.400 Go into a good church when no one else is. 01:08:03.980 --> 01:08:05.420 Standing with a good pastor when no one else. 01:08:05.580 --> 01:08:08.280 How about fighting Goliath when no one will fight Goliath? 01:08:10.240 --> 01:08:12.920 And of course in 1 Samuel chapter 17, look at verse 50. 01:08:13.420 --> 01:08:15.200 So David prevailed over the Philistine 01:08:15.200 --> 01:08:17.640 with a sling and with a stone 01:08:18.040 --> 01:08:20.000 and smoked the Philistine and slew him 01:08:20.440 --> 01:08:22.140 but there was no sword in the hand of David. 01:08:22.720 --> 01:08:24.760 David had no way to even kill this guy. 01:08:25.240 --> 01:08:26.720 All he did was stun him essentially 01:08:27.500 --> 01:08:29.220 and then he took his own weapon and killed him. 01:08:29.220 --> 01:08:30.760 God provided the sword for him. 01:08:31.460 --> 01:08:33.840 He just went out by faith and he didn't even just go out. 01:08:33.900 --> 01:08:34.320 He ran. 01:08:34.920 --> 01:08:36.580 He ran towards the Philistine, 01:08:37.140 --> 01:08:39.300 socked him in the head with the stone, 01:08:39.920 --> 01:08:42.540 slung the stone and then took his own sword 01:08:42.540 --> 01:08:44.100 and cut his head off. 01:08:44.420 --> 01:08:46.580 And he said, you know what, God's gonna give me your head. 01:08:47.420 --> 01:08:49.200 God's the one that's gonna deliver you unto me. 01:08:49.700 --> 01:08:51.240 Great faith taking a stand 01:08:51.660 --> 01:08:53.900 because he was defying the armies of the living God. 01:08:54.760 --> 01:08:56.700 We need men to stand up against the Goliath. 01:08:56.820 --> 01:08:57.720 And you know what he was, a youth. 01:08:58.180 --> 01:09:00.420 You know what, we need young men in this room 01:09:00.420 --> 01:09:02.280 to say I'm gonna serve God. 01:09:02.620 --> 01:09:04.900 I'm not gonna be like the other young men in this world 01:09:05.400 --> 01:09:08.720 that are chasing fornication, chasing money, 01:09:09.340 --> 01:09:10.220 chasing these things. 01:09:10.320 --> 01:09:12.780 You know what, I wanna be a steadfast Christian. 01:09:13.160 --> 01:09:15.020 I wanna be a Bible believing Christian. 01:09:15.400 --> 01:09:16.620 I wanna be a soul winner. 01:09:17.020 --> 01:09:19.140 I wanna stand up against the Goliaths of this world. 01:09:19.620 --> 01:09:22.100 I'm not gonna just sink and cower in fear 01:09:22.100 --> 01:09:23.740 to the faggot agenda of this world. 01:09:24.140 --> 01:09:25.120 You know what I'm gonna do? 01:09:25.520 --> 01:09:27.260 I'm gonna cut off the head of Goliath. 01:09:27.260 --> 01:09:28.020 That's what I'm gonna do. 01:09:29.400 --> 01:09:31.100 And you know what, when one guy stands up, 01:09:31.180 --> 01:09:33.160 when one little kid, when one youth, 01:09:33.540 --> 01:09:35.380 when the youngest brother stands up, 01:09:35.820 --> 01:09:37.000 what does the Bible say? 01:09:38.440 --> 01:09:40.220 It says in verse 51, 01:09:40.840 --> 01:09:43.180 therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine, 01:09:43.320 --> 01:09:44.940 took his sword and drew it out of the sheath. 01:09:45.420 --> 01:09:47.940 There having slew him and cut off his head therewith. 01:09:48.280 --> 01:09:50.400 And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, 01:09:50.860 --> 01:09:51.600 they fled. 01:09:52.200 --> 01:09:55.080 And the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted 01:09:55.080 --> 01:09:58.440 and pursued the Philistines until they come to the valley 01:09:59.000 --> 01:10:00.140 and the gates of Ekron. 01:10:00.620 --> 01:10:01.620 So what does the Bible say? 01:10:02.060 --> 01:10:05.720 Hey, the enemies fled and God's people arose. 01:10:06.480 --> 01:10:08.220 Notice because of David's example, 01:10:08.700 --> 01:10:10.540 he rallied the entire troops. 01:10:11.140 --> 01:10:13.460 What if David said, I'm just a youth, I'm too young, 01:10:14.180 --> 01:10:15.220 how am I gonna fight him? 01:10:15.260 --> 01:10:16.040 I don't even have a sword. 01:10:16.820 --> 01:10:18.560 Well, no one would have fought him 01:10:18.560 --> 01:10:20.940 and the Philistines would have just triumphed. 01:10:21.180 --> 01:10:22.840 But because one guy stood up, 01:10:22.840 --> 01:10:24.420 one guy said a good example. 01:10:25.020 --> 01:10:25.500 And you know what? 01:10:25.540 --> 01:10:26.200 We're gonna have enemies. 01:10:26.360 --> 01:10:28.520 We're gonna have Philistines come out here 01:10:28.520 --> 01:10:30.160 and defy the armies of the living God. 01:10:30.420 --> 01:10:30.840 You know what? 01:10:30.900 --> 01:10:32.300 We need Davids, they're gonna say, hey, 01:10:33.200 --> 01:10:35.080 I'm gonna stand in opposition to you. 01:10:35.460 --> 01:10:36.640 I'm gonna do what's right. 01:10:37.380 --> 01:10:38.720 And you know, even with the whole fanning thing, 01:10:38.800 --> 01:10:41.060 this is what I thought when that situation 01:10:41.060 --> 01:10:41.720 was going forth. 01:10:41.800 --> 01:10:44.360 I said, I wouldn't want to go to church 01:10:44.360 --> 01:10:46.860 with fanning as my leader knowing what I know about him. 01:10:47.620 --> 01:10:49.240 So I'm gonna publicly expose him 01:10:49.240 --> 01:10:51.520 and just give the people that are there a chance 01:10:52.060 --> 01:10:54.480 to have the right church and make the right decision. 01:10:55.600 --> 01:10:56.220 And you know what? 01:10:56.620 --> 01:10:58.200 David just doesn't wanna live in a world 01:10:58.200 --> 01:11:00.120 where Goliath used to do whatever he wants. 01:11:00.740 --> 01:11:01.680 He's gonna say, you know what? 01:11:02.040 --> 01:11:03.400 Someone needs to fight this guy. 01:11:03.860 --> 01:11:05.560 Someone needs to take this guy to task. 01:11:06.020 --> 01:11:06.380 And you know what? 01:11:06.420 --> 01:11:08.320 We need people that are willing to have a church 01:11:08.700 --> 01:11:10.860 that's just not gonna succumb to Goliath 01:11:10.860 --> 01:11:12.860 and be weak and cowardly like everybody else 01:11:13.320 --> 01:11:14.300 and say, hey, you know what? 01:11:14.760 --> 01:11:16.220 Even if there's a battle, even if there's a fight, 01:11:16.720 --> 01:11:17.440 I'm willing to fight. 01:11:18.000 --> 01:11:20.640 I noticed by one person's example, he changed everybody. 01:11:21.680 --> 01:11:24.420 By one church's example, it can change everything. 01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:26.640 One pastor's example can change anything. 01:11:27.280 --> 01:11:30.240 One person, one spouse can change the marriage. 01:11:31.340 --> 01:11:34.060 One marriage can change the course of many marriages. 01:11:34.660 --> 01:11:38.020 One virgin can change the course of many youths. 01:11:38.920 --> 01:11:41.840 You know, one person being strong can be strong for many. 01:11:42.540 --> 01:11:45.060 We need some people to set a good example 01:11:45.440 --> 01:11:47.080 and stop worrying about yourself 01:11:47.080 --> 01:11:48.860 and set a good example for other people. 01:11:49.520 --> 01:11:51.460 You know, don't be selfish with your actions. 01:11:52.160 --> 01:11:53.300 You are important. 01:11:53.800 --> 01:11:55.020 Your brothers and sisters will follow. 01:11:55.260 --> 01:11:56.040 Hey, you know what? 01:11:56.180 --> 01:11:59.380 If you're the oldest, you need to be a great example 01:11:59.380 --> 01:12:00.480 because your brothers and sisters 01:12:00.480 --> 01:12:02.200 will in many cases follow your example. 01:12:04.120 --> 01:12:06.340 Be a good example for your brothers and sisters to follow. 01:12:07.280 --> 01:12:10.140 Obey your parents, do right, be a hard worker. 01:12:11.100 --> 01:12:12.860 And if you've made mistakes, fix them 01:12:12.860 --> 01:12:13.980 and be a good example. 01:12:14.400 --> 01:12:15.200 Let's close in prayer. 01:12:15.800 --> 01:12:17.320 Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us 01:12:17.320 --> 01:12:20.900 a great example through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 01:12:22.020 --> 01:12:24.000 Thank you for men that have followed in his footsteps 01:12:24.000 --> 01:12:26.080 like the Apostle Paul and Peter and others. 01:12:27.300 --> 01:12:29.980 Thank you so much for all your clear commandments. 01:12:30.400 --> 01:12:33.300 I pray that you would just help teenagers and children 01:12:33.300 --> 01:12:36.360 in this room to have a desire to be a good example 01:12:36.360 --> 01:12:37.740 so the others could follow. 01:12:38.500 --> 01:12:40.660 I pray that you would help the youth to desire 01:12:40.660 --> 01:12:42.640 to have a pure marriage and to be virgin 01:12:42.640 --> 01:12:43.340 on their wedding night. 01:12:44.600 --> 01:12:45.680 I pray that you would help those 01:12:45.680 --> 01:12:50.900 they've made mistakes to stop and to seek the Lord 01:12:51.540 --> 01:12:52.960 and to try and prevent themselves 01:12:52.960 --> 01:12:54.160 from going down a worse path. 01:12:54.860 --> 01:12:56.660 I pray that you could rise up kids in this room. 01:12:56.740 --> 01:12:58.400 There'll be good examples of other kids. 01:12:59.180 --> 01:13:00.200 I pray that you would help those 01:13:00.200 --> 01:13:01.760 that are struggling in their marriage 01:13:02.180 --> 01:13:04.140 that they could be a good example of their spouse. 01:13:04.580 --> 01:13:06.560 They could be a good example like Isaiah was. 01:13:07.060 --> 01:13:08.360 They could love their wife. 01:13:08.540 --> 01:13:09.420 They could love their husband. 01:13:10.400 --> 01:13:11.940 I pray that you could help repair 01:13:11.940 --> 01:13:13.680 and heal those relationships. 01:13:14.020 --> 01:13:15.360 And they could set a good example. 01:13:15.360 --> 01:13:18.600 I pray that you would discourage anybody away from divorce, 01:13:19.380 --> 01:13:22.280 anybody away from trashing their spouse. 01:13:23.160 --> 01:13:25.600 I pray that you would just help restore relationships. 01:13:26.340 --> 01:13:28.180 I pray that you would just help us to be healthy 01:13:28.180 --> 01:13:31.720 and be strong and to strive for such a desire. 01:13:31.920 --> 01:13:33.220 I pray that you would help the men in this room 01:13:33.220 --> 01:13:34.960 to work hard and take their strength 01:13:34.960 --> 01:13:37.020 and apply it in a biblical and a godly way. 01:13:37.700 --> 01:13:39.360 I pray that you would help this church 01:13:39.360 --> 01:13:42.380 to have spiritual strength to stand against foes 01:13:42.380 --> 01:13:43.900 and to side with their church 01:13:43.900 --> 01:13:44.840 and to side with Jesus 01:13:44.840 --> 01:13:46.220 and to side with the right things 01:13:46.220 --> 01:13:47.280 when they go through opposition. 01:13:48.220 --> 01:13:49.600 And I pray that you would help our church 01:13:49.600 --> 01:13:51.880 to be a bright and shining example 01:13:51.880 --> 01:13:53.600 to such a dark world 01:13:53.600 --> 01:13:56.480 so that other churches could follow Christ. 01:13:57.040 --> 01:13:58.940 And it's in his name we pray, in Jesus' name. 01:13:59.300 --> 01:13:59.420 Amen.