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All right. Good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. And we'll go through a couple of announcements in our bulletin. First let's count up any salvations that are unreported from this past week or any unreported results. Let's start in the back. Any salvations or reports that I'm unaware of? Anybody? How about here in this section any salvations to report? 3 and 4, 7, 1, 1.
one, one, three.
Anybody else?
All right. Well, great job, everybody.
Twelve salvations to add to our bulletin.
And of course, we do have so many this afternoon around 145.
A couple other things to mention in our bulletin for our Bible reading challenge.
If you were able to read the New Testament in the month of January,
your prize is over there on the table.
We have Hershey's cookies and creams bars.
So you get one for reading through.
If you read it 10 times in January, you get one bar, OK?
I don't think anybody did that, but, you know, one bar for having completed it.
Also, we have a sowing marathon coming up this Friday for Chinese New Year.
And then our annual Sweetheart Banquet is coming up next Sunday.
And so for the Sweetheart Banquet, you know, bring your own lunch,
but then we'll have the food catered for the event.
So it's for married couples. Right.
And so I believe that's it for announcements.
We'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song.
Amen. For a scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the Book of Deuteronomy.
The Book of Deuteronomy.
Fifth book in your Bible. Deuteronomy chapter 32.
Deuteronomy chapter 32.
And we will only be reading from verse 16 down to verse 33.
Deuteronomy chapter 32, 16 to 33.
Please say Amen if you're there.
Amen.
Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 16.
They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, but abominations provoked they him to anger.
They sacrificed him to devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, who knew gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
But the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and has forgotten God that formed thee.
And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters.
And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their ends shall be, for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God.
They have provoked me to anger with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people.
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn into the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with their increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap mischiefs upon them, I will spend mine arrows upon them.
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoid with burning heat, and with bitter destruction.
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with a poisonous serpent to the dust.
The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man in grey hairs.
I said I would scatter them into corners, and make the remembrance of them to cease from among men.
Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord had not done all this.
For they are a nation-vote of Gounsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
O that they were wise that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end.
How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except the rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?
For the rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their vine is as the vine of Sodom, and all the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of acid.
Bless the reading of God's word, let us pray.
Again, in heaven, think of our free state of giving to us.
I pray, Lord, just please bless those who take.
It's the weather for our soul, and the house that was just laid on.
I pray, Lord, that you would also bless the preaching, and our pastor, Lord, let us pray.
We love you, and we pray. Thank you.
All right, we're here in Deuteronomy chapter 32.
The name of the sermon is Chinese New Year 2024, the Year of the Dragon.
And so we're coming up on Chinese New Year, and it's going to be the Year of the Dragon.
And you know, different animals represent different things in the Bible.
And you know, the dragon represents something very specific, which we're going to see in the sermon,
which it represents the devil. It represents Satan.
Let me just give you four points here today about the dragon, okay,
and what we can learn from Chinese New Year.
Now, first thing you need to understand is the classification of animals in the Bible
is different than the classification that man has in our modern day.
So in our modern day, you have the word reptile,
and then you have crocodiles, snakes, lizards, turtles, and tortoises are types of reptiles.
But in the Bible, you don't really see the same classification.
And in the Bible, you see serpents, which is not exactly the same as snake
because there's a lot of types of serpents in the Word of God,
and dragons are a type of serpent,
and the cockatrice, I believe, is a specific type of dragon, which is a type of serpent.
You say, what's your point? Point number one, the existence of dragons.
Dragons are a real creature that existed.
And people today are going to say it's mythological, it's fake, not according to the Word of God.
The dragon is a real creature that existed.
I'm going to give you four proofs of that just in point number one.
Number one, why do I believe in the existence of dragons?
Because the Bible speaks about them many times.
Thirty-four different verses in your King James Bible, you see the word dragon or dragons.
Deuteronomy 32 verse 33.
Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.
An asp is a type of snake.
Let me ask you a question.
Would it make any sense to have a verse with a real creature and a fake creature?
Let's just bring up a fake creature and a real creature in the same verse.
Would it make any sense at all?
And so the Bible mentions dragon. You say, why?
It's a real creature.
It is a creature that existed.
You say, wow, how do you believe that or why would you believe that?
Because the Bible says it, and as a Bible-believing Christian, the Bible is my primary authority.
It is the authority for what we believe.
Go in your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
2 Timothy chapter 3.
Now, I will say this.
In the Bible, if you study the topic of dragons,
because if you remember a couple of years ago,
I preached a sermon on the mythological creatures of the Bible.
And I talked about the unicorn and the dragon and the cockatrice and different creatures.
And sometimes you're going to have a creature that as time goes by,
the stories that are told get further away from the truth.
So for example, the Bible speaks about unicorns, doesn't it?
So I believe in unicorns.
Now, the modern-day interpretation of a unicorn is like a pony with a horn sticking out of its head
that when it sees a rainbow, it starts to fly or something like that, right?
Well, I don't believe that.
But if you look up unicorn in the Bible, what you're seeing is a one-horn rhinoceros.
That is what a unicorn is.
The Bible speaks about the strength of the unicorn.
And in fact, the scientific name for a unicorn with the Indian rhinoceros,
which is one of the five primary types of rhinoceros in the world,
is rhinoceros, you know, whatever afterwards, right?
And so rhinoceros is part of the name of the unicorn.
A rhinoceros is the name for the rhinoceros in India.
And guess what? It's a one-horn rhinoceros.
So here's the thing.
And honestly, you know, a one-horn horse wouldn't be that crazy to me either
because a lot of animals have horns out of their heads, okay?
But it's a one-horn rhinoceros.
Well, here's the thing.
When it comes to a dragon, some of the things about dragons are true and some are false.
So for example, not all dragons are fire-breathing, according to the Word of God.
Not all dragons fly, right?
And so I'll give you an example of a dragon that we know in our modern day that's poisonous,
the Komodo dragon.
Guess what?
It's probably pretty similar to the dragons the Bible mentions.
It's a poisonous dragon that is pretty scary if it's coming at you, right?
And so that is some of the dragons.
And yes, there's also the fire-breathing, flying ones we're going to look at in the Word of God.
But look, the Bible speaks about dragons.
They're a real creature.
They're not mythological.
They're not fake.
The Bible talks about them.
2 Timothy 3, verse 16,
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Look, the Bible mentions the dragon, and it's profitable for doctrine.
You say, well, how is a dragon profitable for doctrine?
Well, as we see the ties together with the devil, we're going to see how it's profitable for doctrine.
All Scripture.
Go to John 17.
John 17.
But people like to trust what the world says.
Well, I mean, it would be impossible for a creature that big to fly.
Therefore, they couldn't have existed.
It's funny because people used to mock Job 40 and 41 in the Bible,
and it talks about behemoth and leviathan,
which, by the way, leviathan is a type of dragon.
But here's the thing.
They used to mock the Bible for these creatures,
and they're like, what is this creature behemoth, huh?
And then people would try to defend the Bible by saying it's like an elephant,
and it's like, well, it's got a tail like a cedar.
So no, I mean, a cedar is thick.
It's strong, right?
And here's the truth.
Animals become extinct.
There are animals that exist today that are not going to exist in 50 years.
You say, why?
Animals die off,
and the determination of whether or not an animal lasts
is not really based on how powerful they are
because dinosaurs existed, and guess what?
At least for the most part, they died off, right?
Now, in terms of the parts of the uninhabited world, who knows?
There's a lot of parts of the ocean that are uninhabited.
There's probably a lot of crazy sea monsters that exist
that I have no idea which ones do exist and don't exist.
I don't really know, but yeah, you know what?
Dinosaurs are very strong, and they died off,
but they existed just like the dragon.
John 17, verse 17,
Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
God's word is truth.
Are you going to trust the scientific world
that says that we all have a common ancestor called the bacteria,
from the ocean or whatever, that came right after the Big Bang,
that we all evolved from a rock billions of years ago,
that 13.8 billion years ago,
all the matter of the world condensed into a dot
and started spinning and exploded, and here we are today.
You've been watching too many Disney movies, my friend.
That's called a fairy tale, and yet it's a fact.
It's a scientific fact, and you don't believe it, pastor,
because you're religious.
You're not that educated.
You're not that smart.
You don't understand math and science.
Well, I got a math degree in college.
I'm sorry, but it's not mathematical to say
all the matter condenses into a dot and spins and explodes.
I'm sorry.
I don't remember the math problem that solved that, right?
It's like the world always will push all this science on you
and say it's a fact,
and oftentimes you learn actually it's not true at all.
And so why would I go to the world to tell me what's true
when the Bible says God's word is truth?
Sanctify them through Thy truth.
What's truth?
Thy word is truth.
Not what the world tells you, but God's word is 100% true.
Go in your Bible to Isaiah 14.
Isaiah 14.
Now, I mean, the obvious reason why I believe in dragons
is the Bible mentions them,
and it's not like it mentions them once in maybe the context.
No, no, no.
It mentions them 34 different verses, right?
But number two, personal testimonies.
Now, I get it.
A lot of weird people exist that say a lot of weird things.
People say, well, I saw this flying thing in the air.
It's like maybe you were doing drugs or whatever, right?
Who knows?
But if you're looking at famous people that have existed
that are prominent people and well-known,
and they specifically say they've seen dragons,
it's a pretty credible witness, right?
Like in a courtroom, you're looking for a credible witness,
someone that can be trusted what they say.
And what I'm saying is throughout history,
there have been a lot of very credible witnesses,
very well-known people that saw dragons.
Now, this is meant to be a sermon about the Bible,
so I'm not going to go on too big of a rabbit trail,
but when I think of famous people in history outside of the Bible,
I think the most famous name that has ever existed
is probably Alexander the Great.
Now, I could be wrong.
Maybe you have a different opinion,
but I've never met anyone that doesn't know Alexander the Great.
I mean, he's a pretty famous person, right?
Did you know Alexander the Great wrote about dragons that he saw in India?
He's like, what? Well, let me just read it to you.
It says, one of Alexander the Great's lieutenants,
named Onesacretus, stated that the Indian king, Abiserus,
kept serpents that were between 120 and 210 feet long.
Subsequent Greek rulers are said to have brought dragons back alive from Ethiopia.
Yeah, there's a lot of historical accounts of dragons
in massively long serpents that you don't see today.
Now, Alexander the Great's a pretty credible witness.
And people say, well, maybe this was a crocodile, a 150-foot-long crocodile.
It's like, okay, well, if that's the case,
you're still looking at a creature that doesn't exist today, right?
It's like 120 to 210 feet long.
And it says that this king in India was keeping it as a pet.
Well, that's not surprising.
I mean, they worship everything in India.
And yeah, you know what, they were worshiping.
This is one of the big things they told Alexander.
It's like, make sure you don't kill our snake.
Don't harm our serpent that we have because this is our god that we worship.
That's very believable.
This is the land of India, right, where they worship every animal under the sun.
And then it says, when Alexander threw some parts of India into a commotion
and took possession of others, he encountered, among many other animals,
a serpent which lived in a cavern and was regarded as sacred by the Indians,
who paid it great and superstitious reverence.
So basically, they worshiped this giant serpent in a cave, okay?
Accordingly, Indians went to all lengths, imploring Alexander
to permit nobody to attack the serpent.
Please don't kill this serpent. This is our god.
And he assented to their wish.
Now, as the army passed by the cavern and caused a noise,
the serpent became immediately aware of it.
So basically, they're passing by and leaving India and going on to their next battle,
and the serpent that's inside of a cave that they've got captive,
you say, well, I don't believe that because how could they keep a serpent that big captive?
Doesn't the Bible say every kind of beast and of serpents and of things in the sea
is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind?
Isn't that what it says in James 3?
Every serpent, every kind of serpent is tamed and hath been tamed by mankind.
Every kind of beast, which includes Leviathan, Behemoth, or any beast that has ever existed.
You say, why? Because man is smarter than animals.
And man has weapons.
And every kind of beast and of serpent is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind.
But the tongue can no man tame, the Bible says, right?
But that's what the Bible says, every beast has been tamed.
And it says they passed by, and it is said that the beast put its head out of the cavern
and hissed and snorted so violently that all were terrified and confounded.
So basically, they're going by, they distract the serpent inside,
and the serpent sticks out its head and part of its body.
It's like, hisssssss.
And then the tongue is, of course, going out there, and it says everybody was terrified.
Yeah, I would be pretty scared too.
You've got Alexander the Great, who pretty much owned the world,
and then all of a sudden it's just like, oh man,
I'd be pretty scared of a giant serpent that's 120 feet long also.
Look, I'll just be honest with you, and I've killed snakes before.
I grew up, we have them in some of the woods where I'm from in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
And here's the thing, there's something disgusting about a slithering snake that you see, right?
Imagine a snake that's 150 feet long.
That would be pretty terrifying, right?
And it says that it's visible, the visible part of the serpent alone,
so this is the part that stuck out of the cavern,
was roughly 32 meters, well, 70 cubits, which is 105 feet or 32 meters,
because 18 inches per cubit, right? One and a half feet.
So basically, over 100 feet long of the serpent stuck out of the cavern.
That's the part of the body that was seen.
Yeah, that would be pretty terrifying, but here's my point.
Alexander the Great is a pretty credible witness,
and it mentions a lot of different kings in history
have brought back serpents as like souvenirs,
like we conquer, let's take back this gnarly serpent, right?
I don't know why people do that.
I don't know why you would want a snake as a pet, but it has existed in history.
The Bible says in Isaiah 14, verse 29,
So according to Isaiah 14, verse 29, have there been fire-breathing animals that fly?
Yes.
Why do you believe it, pastor?
Because the Bible says it.
Now look, the myths about this cockatrice are actually false,
because they'll say, well, this is an animal that hatched out of a rooster's egg.
Well, that's ridiculous.
Just because it has the name cockatrice doesn't mean it came from like a cock or a rooster, okay?
That's obviously just like the unicorn.
There's a lot of weird things that are said about it,
but was there a fiery flying serpent that existed?
Of course.
Why?
The Bible says it in Isaiah 14, verse 29.
Go to Malachi 1.
Malachi 1.
I mean, there's a lot of inscriptions all over the world
of a dragon and dinosaurs and these creatures that have existed.
You know what?
People would draw what they saw with their own eyes.
And look, a dragon's a pretty magnificent creature.
I'd say it's probably the most magnificent creature I could ever think of.
Just a terrifying...
I mean, every kid is like obsessed with flying,
and you've got a creature that can fly and breathe fire, right?
You've got kids here in the Philippines.
They eat fecal express, and then they try their best.
They're like trying to breathe fire, right?
And so it's like this is the most magnificent
and fascinating creature you could imagine.
And guess what?
It's a real creature that people drew on walls.
There's inscriptions all over the place.
But lastly, let me give you another proof that the dragon existed.
Chinese New Year.
The Chinese zodiac is proof that the dragon existed.
You say, well, why?
Well, let me name to you the other animals in the Chinese zodiac.
A rat. Who believes in rats?
An ox.
A tiger.
A rabbit.
A snake.
A horse.
A goat.
A monkey.
A rooster.
A dog.
A pig.
Is anybody going to dispute any of those 11 animals?
No.
They're animals that you've seen.
So you mean to tell me that in the Chinese zodiac,
they picked 11 real animals and one fake animal?
Use some common sense.
If they're going to use real animals, they're going to use all real animals.
So guess what?
Why is it they mention the dragon?
Because the dragon was a very common animal in China.
In fact, if you're looking at countries in the world
that have a lot of reports in their history of dragons,
China's the country that you're probably looking at.
And in fact, you'll tend to have American or UK sources
that will deny the existence,
because English is what you're seeing on the YouTube and all these videos.
Then they'll have a lot of videos in China where they say,
well, here's all the historical facts of dragons
that have existed throughout Chinese history.
And prominent, well-known people, the leaders of China, would report,
yeah, this dragon in 1400, whatever, this existed.
You say, well, why don't they exist today?
Because animals become extinct.
And here's the thing about this.
The Bible is pretty specific with dragons,
that they're an animal that exists where people do not exist.
Let me prove it to you.
Malachi 1, verse 3.
And I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste
for the dragons of the wilderness.
And it talks about destroying this territory,
and then guess what happens?
The dragons take over.
And this happens all over the world where people do not live, animals do.
Why?
Because the fear of every animal is afraid of human beings.
The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every animal, the Bible says,
including a big and terrifying dragon.
Why is that?
Because humans killed dragons throughout history.
And they have the ability because they're smarter.
They've got weapons.
And of course, in a one-on-one fight with a dragon, you're not going to win.
We had this question in Pampanga yesterday.
It's like we're asking all the men,
how many humans do you think it would take to kill a dragon?
Humans with arrows.
Well, that's a good question.
Right?
I mean, who knows?
Did the dragon, you know, were there dragons that breathed fire?
Yes.
At the same time,
animals that have the ability to breathe like hot liquid or something,
it doesn't mean they have an endless supply.
So as they breathe fire, they can run out of energy
and not be able to do that for another 10 minutes or whatever.
Right?
I don't necessarily know
because we're not looking at these creatures that are existing here today.
Here's what I'm saying.
Dragons went to places where humans are not.
So in the uninhabited parts of the world today,
what are in some of these jungles all over the world?
I have no idea.
And I don't want to find out.
I'm happy just to live where other people live
because if you go to some abandoned island somewhere in the world,
what are you going to discover?
I don't know.
And I don't want to find out.
There are probably a lot of creatures that we're not aware of
that exist in parts of the world because they go where humans do not go.
When I used to be a math teacher,
I had a student of mine and him and his twin brother,
they were on the soccer team I coached and they were born in Nigeria
and they were born in kind of more,
what we'd say the barrio or the jungle area away from the civilization.
And he told me that in their society they were terrified by this creature
that would come at night and would steal the chickens and the cows.
And they said it looked like a pterodactyl.
You say, Pastor, do you believe him?
I don't think he was lying.
He was kind of shy to tell me because he doesn't want to be mocked
and made fun of by everybody because if people don't see it,
they don't believe it.
And I get it.
There's a lot of fake things that are mentioned like,
you know what, as wongs or whatever people come up with.
But even something like that might be based on something that's been changed
over time or whatever.
All I'm saying is there are some weird creatures that exist in this world,
but whether they would exist now or not in,
you know,
civilized areas where people don't exist.
Fire breathing,
flying animals did exist before because the Bible tells us it's true,
right?
Go to Revelation 12.
I don't think it should be that crazy because the Komodo dragon,
the world calls it a dragon.
Does it breathe fire?
No.
Does it fly?
No.
But it is poisonous as the Bible speaks about the poison of the dragons.
It is a creature that could easily kill a human in a one on one fight without
weapons.
It is a creature that I wouldn't want to mess with.
I mean, I think animals are fascinating,
like when you're at a zoo and they're caged up.
Right.
But when they're running all around you, I mean,
these are wild beasts that might attack you.
That's why people get killed by humans.
I was just reading an article from several years ago.
This guy was like obsessed with bears and him and his wife or him and his
girlfriend would like live in these areas with lots of bears.
And he's like, they're his best friends.
You live with them for over a decade.
And then one day the bears got hungry and that was the end of them.
You say, why?
Because they're wild animals.
And as human beings, we're better than animals.
And I don't care what animal you're looking at.
They're not the same as a human being.
They're not.
I don't get this world where people are obsessed with animals and they devalue
human life.
It's like abortion, no big deal.
I mean, millions of babies all over the world get aborted every single year.
And that's okay.
But how dare you harm an animal?
How dare you?
I mean, look, the Bible says if an animal attacks a human,
the animal gets put to death, my friend.
That's what the word of God says.
And look, it's very easy for us to be desensitized to this living in 2024
when you watch all the Disney movies and all these animals are just,
you know, kids are seeing all these things.
Give an example, though.
For me, when I was a kid, I got bit right here by a dog.
It was a dog that our family knew.
They were friends of ours from church.
And then I went to pet the dog.
And one day, for whatever reason, the dog just attacked.
I mean, if we're out in the sun, you know, you can see a scar that I have
where it's like really, really, really close to my eye.
Got three stitches in my eye.
I was like five or six years old.
And here's the thing.
According to the Bible, what should happen to the dog?
Kill it.
That's what the Bible says.
And if you own an animal that attacks, it's known to attack
and you do nothing about it and then it kills someone,
you get the death penalty, according to the Bible,
because you did not do what you're supposed to do with that animal.
Because at the end of the day, it's a wild animal, right?
But dragons are a creature that exists.
Number one, the existence of dragons.
Many reasons I believe we should believe that dragons are a creature that existed.
Number two, though, what is the example of dragons?
Revelation 12, verse one.
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven,
a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet
and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven.
And behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns
and seven crowns upon his head.
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven
and did cast them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered
for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Now, here the Bible speaks about the dragon, and it's referring to who?
It's referring to the devil.
Now, I don't believe there's a literal creature with seven heads and ten horns.
Obviously, there's symbolism in the Bible. We get that.
Here, it's being symbolic, and the dragon is representing the devil.
And the Bible says that this great red dragon is trying to destroy,
I mean, basically trying to destroy Jesus, okay?
And it says his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven.
And what does that mean?
Well, it means that one third of the angels went with the devil.
These are things that we know, right?
Dragon represents the devil, verse five.
And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron,
and her child was caught up unto God unto his throne.
And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath placed prepared of God
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
So was the dragon a literal creature? Absolutely.
It's also an example of the devil, right?
That's what the Bible teaches.
Go in your Bible to Ephesians five.
Ephesians five.
As you're turning to Ephesians five,
let me just read you where the Bible says,
In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword
shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent,
even Leviathan that crooked serpent,
and he shall slay the devil.
That crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
So a dragon is a type of serpent, and Leviathan is a type of dragon.
And of course there it's representing the devil as well.
And it says that God is going to destroy Leviathan.
God is going to destroy that dragon.
So the dragon is an example of the devil, right?
Now let's talk about the country of China for a little while.
Because I want you to realize there's not just red dragons.
There's blue dragons.
There's green dragons.
The yellow or goldish dragon is the one that is like a symbol of like wealth.
I mean there's a lot of types of dragons with a lot of colors.
But what's the color of the dragon that represents the devil?
It's the red dragon.
And what is China known as?
It's the land of the red dragon.
Not just the land of the dragon.
They're very specific, the land of the red dragon.
You say, well, why is it that we have a country that would call themselves the land of the red dragon and is known by it?
Well, throughout history, obviously a lot of dragons have existed in China.
But here's a better reason, because it's the most godless and wicked place on the planet.
That's why.
It is such a godless and anti-Christian and anti-God and pro-communist country.
That is why.
And let me just give you a fact to prove this to you.
And it's very interesting to me.
During the Ming Dynasty in China, Christianity was illegal.
And they said they were going to completely wipe it out from China.
But guess what was not illegal?
Islam or Judaism.
You say, why?
Because they said Islam fits with our political ideals.
Judaism fits with our political ideals, but not Christianity.
You say, why?
Because Satan is the god of this world, and he is actively trying to prevent people from believing in Christ and getting saved.
That is why.
And make no mistake about it.
I mean, are you allowed to be Christian in China today?
You are allowed to be Christian today, but you're not allowed to preach like I'm preaching right now.
Because it is closely monitored by the government.
And you can agree or disagree.
I'm just being honest.
I'd rather live in North Korea than China, personally.
And that might be an American.
Because both America and the Philippines have a problem with China.
And it's nothing against the people that live there.
Because I'm sure there's saved people that live in China.
I'm sure the average person is just a nice, normal person.
That if you could meet them away from the government, persecuting you, forgiving the gospel, you could talk to them.
Maybe they'd listen.
Maybe they'd get saved.
But you can't worship God and serve Jesus Christ in China in 2024.
Now you say, well, what about this great underground movement of Christianity in China?
Well, here's the thing.
It's underground because you can't have a church like this out in public.
You can't.
Because it's just like in North Korea.
There'll be government officials that sit in the back to make sure that you say things that they like.
Same thing in China.
You cannot freely serve God.
But I hate to break it to you.
If you do research on this great underground movement of Christianity, you know what the explosion of Christianity in China is?
It's Pentecostalism.
It's not bona fide Christianity.
I wish that were not the case.
But it's a fact when you research it.
Look, I watched documentaries on this.
And these people would say, yeah, there's this great underground movement.
And then everybody was getting filled with a baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And guess what?
It's the same thing happening all over the world.
What do you see in the Philippines as Catholicism is dying out?
A rise in born again but not actually born again.
Right?
A rise in the Pentecostal movement.
A rise in this Joel Osteen Christianity that never says anything negative.
And by the way, Joel Osteen is a tongue-talking Pentecostal.
He doesn't let everybody know that because a lot of people think speaking in tongues is weird.
Like me.
I don't think it's just weird. I think it's satanic.
I think you're getting possessed by devils as you do that, as the Bible says.
But the great movement of Christianity in China, unfortunately, it's this movement of Pentecostal.
Just like Catholicism dying out here and being replaced by the Pentecostals.
Catholicism is now less than 50% of Brazil as the Pentecostal movement is exploding.
But unfortunately, it's not bona fide Christianity.
Now look, I'm sure there are some saved people in China for sure.
There's a lot of saved people that live there.
And guess what?
They cannot freely just go about their faith.
It's just like living in an Islamic country.
Right?
You say, well, why would that be the case?
Because of the fact China is an anti-Christian, anti-God country.
It's a pro-communist country.
It's a country where they do not allow true Christianity.
You can't go there and freely preach the gospel.
Aren't you thankful you live in a country where we can meet here for church, preach the word of God, sing hymns,
and then we can go out and tell people how to go to heaven?
Isn't that a great blessing?
Because not every country has the same sort of freedom that we have here in the Philippines.
There are a lot of countries all over the world.
And make no mistake about it, freedom is really dying out around the world.
And you say, why?
Because the Bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
And show me the country that has the Spirit of the Lord upon them in 2024.
Look, you can agree with me or disagree with me.
You know, I grew up in the United States,
and I believe that the United States was the country that was greatly used by God
to get a lot of great churches started and send missionaries all over the world.
Before that, it was the United Kingdom,
and then the United States really became the country spreading Christianity to the world.
But is that what's happening in 2024?
Could you look at the president of the U.S., Joe Biden, and say there's a godly man?
A man who brought the trans community on the lawn of the White House that is taking off their clothes.
And I see these things.
I mean, my parents tell me about it every week as we talk on Skype,
and I'm just like, it doesn't even surprise me anymore.
You've got like wicked people that justify the LGBT and pedophilia,
and they're running the country.
And you wonder why this world is in the mess it's in.
And of course, we understand the whole world lieth in wickedness.
Look, the Philippines is in many ways a wicked country in 2024.
Same as the U.S., same as China.
But I will say this, at least this is not known as the land of the red dragon.
Let me translate that.
The land of Satan.
The land of the devil.
Say why?
Because the red dragon specifically represents the devil or Satan or Lucifer in the word of God.
Go to Ephesians 5.
It's not a coincidence, my friends.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Point number one, the existence of dragons.
Dragons are a real creature that existed.
Do dragons exist today?
Well, I believe the Komodo dragon is a remnant of that.
Do flying, fire-breathing ones exist?
Probably not.
I don't know what sort of sea monsters there are out there
or creatures in the sea or in, you know, abandoned islands or whatever.
But largely they're extinct.
But what's the example of dragons?
Well, I mean, the example of dragons is it's an example of the devil.
But let us talk about the exposure of dragons.
What about the exposure to the devil and his influences?
And I'm using this symbolically speaking.
What about us as Bible-believing Christians being exposed to the wiles of the devil?
Ephesians 5 verse 6.
Let no man deceive you with vain words,
for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
For ye are sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light.
What the Bible's saying is in the past, before you were saved, you were in darkness.
I mean, you were doing a lot of things that were wrong and you didn't even really get it.
The movies you watched, the music you listened to.
But the Bible's saying now you're saved.
Walk like it.
Live like it.
What are some examples?
How about before you're saved or before you're serving God,
guys will tell a lot of dirty jokes.
And then all of a sudden, when you're serving God, you're just like,
you know what, that's not right.
Give me an example.
One show I really liked to watch, I watched before I was saved.
And then after I was saved, I watched for a little while,
but I started to feel really guilty, was the show Family Guy.
I thought it was a really funny show.
And then all of a sudden, they blaspheme God or blaspheme Jesus Christ.
And it's like, I shouldn't watch this.
Because it didn't really bother me that much before I was saved
and before I was serving God.
But then it's like, well, wait a minute, I'm a child of light,
and as I'm reading the Bible, it's like, well, I'm sorry.
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
Then you watch Family Guy.
It's kind of like, okay, I should stop watching this.
Right?
And look, as Christians, we ought to live our lives differently than the world.
We ought to be peculiar people.
Don't allow yourself to be exposed by the influences of the devil
and what he has to offer.
The Bible says here in verse number nine,
For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
proving what is acceptable unto the Lord,
and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them.
Well, I mean, Pastor, why are you preaching against TV and music and movies?
Because the Bible tells me to reprove these things.
The Bible tells me to rebuke these things.
The Bible tells me, as a preacher of God's word,
to stand up here and say, hey, quit listening to the devil's music.
Quit listening to the rock music.
Quit listening to the country music.
Definitely quit listening to the Korean pop.
Be a man.
But quit listening to the devil's garbage.
Quit watching the things on TV.
Don't sit here and tell me that if Jesus was walking this earth right now,
he would sit beside you and watch that same movie with you
and listen to that same music.
The Bible says have no fellowship with these things.
No fellowship.
The Bible says here in verse number 12,
There is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
But all things that are approved are made manifest by the light,
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Here's the thing.
The light will manifest problems that exist.
I mean, you walk home today, you turn on the light,
and then all of a sudden that cockroach or EP starts crawling away.
The light manifests the problems.
The light will manifest if your house is dirty.
Here's the thing.
God is light.
And as we draw close to God, you know what takes place?
God will manifest the problems in our life.
I mean, when I first started trying to serve God,
there were a lot of movies I watched that were wrong.
A lot of music I listened to that was wrong,
and I started to feel guilty about a lot of stuff I never felt guilty about before.
You say, why?
Because as you draw close to the light,
all things that are approved are made manifest by the light.
So here's the thing.
If somebody is not saved,
and you try to explain to them why they should not listen to rock music,
it's going to go straight over their head.
They're not going to get it.
If you try to explain to someone who just got saved,
you know, Vice Pongy isn't funny.
He's actually blaspheming God.
They're probably not going to get it.
They probably don't understand.
I mean, you don't have to admit this to me,
but even more embarrassing than liking K-pop is liking Vice Pongy.
And there's probably many people here that when you were younger,
you used to laugh at his jokes,
and now you realize actually he's a profane and wicked human being.
But you understand this because you've drawn closer to God.
Of course, we're long-suffering with new people.
If someone's new to our church,
of course they're not going to understand all these things that we preach,
and we get that.
But it's my job to stand up here and approve these things.
And what I'm saying is Satan is the God of this world.
Don't sit here and tell me that an independent fundamental Baptist
or a soul winner or God created Hollywood.
Don't sit here and tell me that.
No, it's actually wicked people that are running that machine.
Go to your Bible, 2 Corinthians 6.
Now, here's where people get confused by Hollywood.
Let me just explain this to you,
because I used to watch a lot of the old classics.
And when I watched movies, for the most part,
I actually liked movies that are very old
because they had more of a story to them.
And the truth is, if you're going to look at a movie today
versus a movie 70 years ago,
what you're going to see is the movies 70 years ago
are much more conservative.
They're much more conservative.
They're nowhere near as bad.
But if you actually research the actors and actresses
that play these parts, you know what you realize?
Actually, the famous actors were pretty wicked in real life back then, too.
They played a family character.
They played a nice person.
And I remember it was kind of disappointing to me
because I watched a lot of the old so-called classics.
But when you look actually at the people like the Humphrey Bogart
and the Marlon Brandos and the Cary Grants,
you know what you see?
You see a lot of wicked, ungodly people.
They were not godly people.
And do your research.
I remember it about broke my dad's heart
when I had to explain to him
that Jimmy Stewart was actually not that great of a guy in real life.
Right? You probably don't know who I'm talking about.
I'm showing that I'm older than a lot of people in this room.
But it's like I was going back to the old days
and actually the people that played those characters,
a lot of them were the early LGBT members.
A lot of them.
You say, why?
Because Hollywood has always had an agenda against God.
Even before talking pictures, Charlie Chaplin was a whoremonger.
He's a horrible person.
Because the famous actors and actresses
were always ones hand-picked by the devil.
It's a fact.
You can look at it.
You can look that up in your free time if you don't believe me.
And what I would say is,
the devil has always been programming us
through the movies and the music and the television.
And we all get desensitized.
We all just see these things,
and over time, it changes our mind.
It changes our beliefs.
It changes our stances that we have.
And what the Bible is saying is,
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
2 Corinthians 6, verse 14.
Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness,
and what communion hath light with darkness?
So of course, marry someone who is saved, right?
But also, even above that,
don't have any communion with the things of darkness,
the things of sin, the unrighteousness.
And what concord hath Christ with him?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
For ye are the temple of the living God.
As God hath said, I will dwell in them,
and walk in them, and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
Wherefore, come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing,
and I will receive you.
Now, look, I personally...
Look, I don't personally think it's wrong
for you to eat a specific food during Chinese New Year
or whatever.
I do think it's wrong to, like, celebrate the dragon.
But above that, I'm saying symbolically,
don't get influenced by the things of the dragon,
of the devil, of the movies,
of the music, of Hollywood,
of these things that are out there.
Don't allow the devil to program your mind.
People get so upset, they say,
well, you're trying to brainwash people with the Bible.
The world is trying to brainwash people
to be like the world.
Isn't that what happens in 2024
in the public school system?
I mean, look, the agenda of the public school system
a long time ago was called the teacher kids.
Not anymore.
I was a high school teacher.
Trust me, I know.
The agenda is no longer to teach your kids how to do math.
You know what?
I was shocked when I was a math teacher.
I'm a high school math teacher,
and then you have students,
and it's like five plus six.
I'm just like,
and then they wanted me to teach calculus the next year?
It's like they don't know addition.
They're using their cell phone to add five plus six together.
I'm like, these are basic things that kids learn.
They don't know multiplication.
I mean, how are they going to be able to do deep things in math
that's not going to happen?
You know why?
Because the agenda of school systems
is no longer to teach the kids how to write
and to do math and to read.
Now it's to program them.
And look, you've got to be blind to not see that.
You've got to be blind not to see the influence of the devil.
And look, I understand this because I was in public school,
but then I was homeschooled,
and then I was a public school teacher.
And let me tell you something.
When I was homeschooled,
it took like one-fourth the amount of time to get stuff done.
You say, why?
Because I was just doing math, answering the questions,
doing science, answering the questions.
Then you're done.
But in school systems today, guess what?
They are trying to brainwash you to think like the world.
They are trying to brainwash you to think the LGBT is just completely normal.
Well, you know, it's like I know in the past it was weird,
but in 2024 it's not weird to have a guy wearing a dress.
It's normal.
What world are we living in where a guy wearing a dress is normal?
I was at Cebuana yesterday,
and I went in and we had a church donation,
and I went and gave my paperwork,
and then the guy that was there that was the worker,
he started speaking, and I could not imitate his voice,
nor do I want to.
Immediately I say, okay, this guy is a homo.
No question.
And then he ended up leaving while I was still at Cebuana,
like another woman was completing the orders on the computer.
And then the woman told him as he left,
you know, goodbye, ma'am.
Ma'am?
He doesn't go by sir.
Because he doesn't identify as a man.
I mean, he was born male, but now he identifies as a woman.
Yeah, it's completely normal.
I'm the one who's crazy.
Because when I was born there were two genders, male and female,
and now there's like 55 million genders,
and I'm the one that's strange.
I'm the one that doesn't know what I'm talking about.
Maybe you're just brainwashed by the world.
Maybe God's word is timeless and it endures,
and maybe people are just brainwashed and desensitized by the devil in 2024
at a rapid rate.
I mean, I'm shocked at how quick things are happening.
When I was a kid, the word gay meant happy.
I'm not that young, but I'm not that old.
I'm still in my 30s.
It's like to really change in 30 years,
where the word gay doesn't really mean happy, in 2024.
It is a rapidly changing world that we have here.
Go in your Bible to Daniel 7.
Daniel 7.
Look, a lot of people would hear this.
They think I'm crazy because the devil's blind to their minds.
They don't get it.
Of course, if you watch movies all day long
and play video games all day long
and watch the TV and listen to all the world's music all day long,
guess what?
You're going to think like the world.
You're going to act like the world.
You're going to do what the world says.
But if you read the Bible, you know what you're going to think like?
You're going to think like God thinks.
You're going to understand what God thinks.
You're going to see what's right.
Look, a great example for many people in this room,
you started coming to this church, and now you're reading your Bible.
I mean, you did your New Testament Bible reading challenge.
You're hearing the sermons.
And you know what?
You think differently than you used to think, don't you?
You say, why?
Because you are getting un-brainwashed.
You are learning what the Bible says,
and you are now allowing the Bible to determine your beliefs
and not what the world says.
Look, the world and God are in contrast with one another.
And Satan is the God of this world fighting against what the Bible says.
It says in Daniel 7, verse 25, you say,
Well, Pastor, I'm never going to change my beliefs,
no matter how many movies I watch.
Daniel 7, verse 25,
And he shall speak great words against the Most High,
the Antichrist speaking against God Almighty,
and shall wear out the saints of the Most High.
What does that mean?
It means to tire out those of us that are saved.
See, here's the thing.
Something can be very offensive to you,
but if you see it every single day,
you just get used to it.
I mean, I'll just be honest with you.
When I first came to the Philippines,
seeing guys wear dresses everywhere was extremely offensive.
And now I'm just used to it.
Because I see it all the time.
You get used to it.
Or how about this?
I mean, if you see it every single day,
what about this?
I mean, look, using the Lord's name in vain is a wicked sin.
Blaspheming God is a wicked sin.
Well, here's the thing.
A Bible-leaving Christian should realize this,
but you know what?
If you listen to movies that are constantly using
the Lord's name in vain,
it doesn't bother you that much anymore.
Why?
Because you are desensitized.
Because you are getting worn out by the devil.
Look, when you watch the movies of the world
and listen to the music of the world,
you know what's taking place?
You are getting worn out by the devil
to fight against the devil.
Now all of a sudden, you don't have the same energy.
You don't have the same boldness
to fight against the things of the devil
because he's wearing you out.
It's kind of like, let's say somebody is lifting weights
and you're benching 200 pounds.
After you do several reps,
it starts getting hard, doesn't it?
And then when you complete your set,
if you were to move down and drop the weight
20 pounds, now it's hard to do 180
because you're already tired.
And then drop it down 20 pounds,
and man, it's like, I'm having trouble doing 160.
And then all of a sudden,
you're just benching the bar, right?
Like, just 45 pounds.
Look, you get worn out
because you're allowing the devil to program you.
The example of the devil being exposed
to the example of the devil is going to wear you out.
Go in your Bible to 1 John 2.
1 John 2.
Now, of course, if you believe on Christ,
you're going to believe forever.
You have eternal life.
You're saved.
We get that.
But it doesn't mean that you're always going to have
the energy or the zeal to fight against the devil.
I mean, it doesn't mean that you're always
going to be excited to serve God.
And look, you'll be worn out by the devil
if you allow yourself to be exposed to the devil.
1 John 2, verse 15.
The Bible says,
Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life
is not of the Father,
but is of the world.
The Bible tells us not to love the world,
not to love the things that the world
and Satan has to offer.
Look, I'm not saying it's wrong
to go on vacation.
I'm not saying it's wrong to have hobbies.
But when you pick your hobbies,
pick something where the devil's not the one
that is running that.
There's a lot of hobbies you can do.
I mean, a lot of different ways
you can exercise,
nothing wrong or sinful about it.
Right?
A lot of hobbies you can do.
But picking hobbies
where you're being influenced by the devil?
For example,
lots of ways you can exercise,
but don't do yoga after, like,
worshiping some Hindu god.
Exercise in some different way.
Do whatever.
Push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups,
whatever you want to do.
But don't allow yourself
be influenced by the devil.
Love not the world, the Bible says.
The Bible also says that
no man that warreth entanglement himself
with the affairs of this life.
Can you imagine if you're in the middle
of a war and people are shooting at you,
people are getting killed?
Let me check my Facebook,
see what's going on.
Oh, man, I got a message.
Whoops, somebody died.
It would be ridiculous.
You would be insane.
You know what would happen?
Your commanding officer would take your phone
and smash it.
It's like, what are you doing?
But you know, Christians in 2024,
it's like all they care about
are the affairs of this life.
All they care about
is the world.
You say, well, what's the problem with that?
Well, point number one I said
is the existence of dragons.
Point number two, the example of dragons.
Point number three is the exposure of dragons.
But point number four,
the problem with this
is the extinction of dragons.
See, everything Satan has to offer
and everything this world has to offer
is going to become extinct one day.
It's all going to be thrown
into the lake of fire for all eternity.
I'm not saying Satan's going to burn up.
He's not going to,
but it's going to be done away.
Nobody in heaven cares
who won the Miss Universe Pageant.
Nobody.
Nobody cares who won the NBA title.
Nobody cares about the affairs
of this life in heaven.
They care about spiritual things,
things that have eternal value.
Why?
Because the things of the world
and the things of the devil
will become extinct one day.
Just like the vast majority of dragons
at least have become extinct.
And so is the devil one day.
He's going to be thrown
in the lake of fire,
and no one is going to care.
No one cares about the Grammys in heaven.
No one cares about the Oscars
or, you know, whatever awards.
They care about heavenly things.
The Bible says in verse 17,
And the world passeth away
and the lust thereof,
but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever.
Now, of course,
when we're talking about
the will of God,
ankalooben nangdios,
we're talking about
a lot of different things,
but it starts with believing on Christ
because the Bible says,
And this is the will of him that sent me,
that which everyone would seeth the Son
and believeth on him
may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
So believing on Christ
is step one to serving God.
And if you believe on Christ, you're saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved.
And of course,
there are a lot of other things
in the will of God.
God wants you to read the Bible
and go to church.
The only thing for heaven
is believing on Christ.
But here's what I'm saying.
Everything the world has to offer,
it's going to be done away.
The world passeth away.
Heaven and earth shall pass away.
But you know what doesn't pass away?
But my words shall not pass away.
The word of God does not pass away.
Go to your Bible to Ecclesiastes 1.
Ecclesiastes 1.
I mean, don't we sing?
And the things of earth
will grow strangely dim.
Isn't it true?
You start serving God,
and the things of this world
just aren't as important
as they used to be to you.
And look, when I preach this,
I'm not standing up here saying,
I am the picture of Christianity.
I'm not saying I'm perfect.
I'm saying, yeah,
I'm too attached to the affairs
of this life, too.
I'm saying, yeah, you know what?
All of us need to take heed to this.
That includes my family.
All of us, including me.
That we need to care less
about the things of this life
and care more about the things of God.
You say, why?
Because everything in this world
is going to pass away.
I mean, how foolish
when you stop and think about it.
We care so much about
so many things in this life
that mean absolutely nothing
for all eternity.
Nothing.
I mean, look, here's why it doesn't matter
who wins the Miss Universe pageant.
Probably just about all of them
are unsaved anyway.
So who cares?
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 1, verse 8,
All things are full of labor.
Man cannot utter it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing
nor the ear filled with hearing.
You say, Pastor,
I just want to watch this one last movie.
One last Hollywood movie
and I'm going to be done.
Oh, really?
The eye is not satisfied with seeing.
I mean, you watch, you know,
Batman Part 20,
there's going to be a Part 21.
And sometimes you joke about this stuff.
It's like there was like a new
Indiana Jones movie last year.
It's like, what?
I mean, when I was a kid,
Indiana Jones was before my time
and it's still around today.
It's like Harrison Ford,
which by the way,
you see this tough guy in the movies
in real life, he's a Buddhist.
It's like Harrison.
Indiana Jones is a Buddhist.
Yeah, Indiana Jones is a Buddhist in real life.
Right.
But here's the thing.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing.
There's always going to be another NBA season.
There's always going to be another movie.
There's always going to be another TV show.
Then it says this,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
There's always going to be that new song
that you listen to.
And look, here's the thing.
When it comes to these things,
I mean, we know these things.
You know inside your heart,
you watch certain things and you feel guilty.
I don't need to tell you that.
You know that.
You listen to certain things
and you feel guilty.
Guess what?
The ear is never filled with hearing.
It's kind of like, you know, with money.
It's like when people love money,
they're never satisfied.
They always want more.
If I could just make a million dollars,
I'll be satisfied.
And then you want two million.
And then you want three million.
And then you want to be Donald Trump
or Bill Gates or whomever
is really rich in this world.
That's just the way it works.
Yeah, he's not satisfied with seeing
nor the ear filled with hearing.
Go down to verse number 14.
This is what Solomon says.
This wisdom we should listen to.
This is the part of the Bible
we'd say is a section of wisdom.
Verse 14, I have seen all the works
that are done under the sun
and behold, all is vanity,
the vexation of spirits.
All is vanity.
It means nothing.
Why?
Because it's going to be done away.
Go to chapter two.
We'll close up here in chapter two.
Chapter two.
When you think about people
that lived during this time.
Solomon is someone that the world would say
that that that's a happy guy.
I'm sure he has everything.
He's rich.
He's got I mean,
he can eat any food that he wants.
He can wear all the fancy clothing.
Right.
I mean, he can have everything
that the world had to offer at that time.
And you would think that would make you happy
because doesn't the world teach you
that if you have a lot of money,
it's going to make you happy?
Doesn't the world teach you
that if you have all the nice things in life,
you're going to be happy?
What does Solomon say here in verse 17?
Therefore, I hated life
because the work that is wrought
under the sun is grievous on me
for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
You would think that having everything in life
would make you happy
because that's the way we feel.
We want a little bit nicer house,
a little bit nicer car.
We want to be able to eat
a little bit nicer food
and we're going to be happy.
And yet Solomon had everything
and he said, I hated life.
Why?
Because you realize it's all vanity.
It's all going to be done.
I'm not saying it's wrong
to have something nice in life.
I mean, that would not be
what the Bible teaches.
You have people in the Bible that are rich
and you can have nice things.
You can go on vacations.
But if that is what your life is about,
you live a very sad life
and it's going to lead you
to a point of depression
when you realize it's all going to be done.
It's all going to be gone.
What have I spent my life doing?
Do you really think
that there's anybody on their deathbed
that says to themselves,
I wish I had gotten to watch that movie
that Spider-Man 11.
I didn't get to watch it.
I saw number 10.
I saw number two.
I never got to see that one.
I never got to watch that TV show.
You know what people are thinking
when they're about to die?
They're going to think about things
that actually matter.
They're going to think,
I wish I had spent more time with my kids.
I wish I had not lived my life
so much for money
and just spent more time with my kids.
I wish I had read the Bible more.
I wish I had gotten more people saved
I wish I had been more dedicated to God,
but I spent my life on things that don't matter.
And you're going to get to the end of your life
and be like, what have I done?
And he hated life.
See, this is why a lot of celebrities
hate their lives.
Because you would think celebrities would be happy.
They have all the money in the world, right?
And money buys happiness.
And yet are the celebrities of the world
the happiest people?
Well, no, because they're getting drunk all the time.
They're doing drugs all the time.
If your life is so great,
why do you have to get drunk to have fun?
I enjoy life,
and therefore I don't want to forget
by getting drunk and not knowing what I did.
I actually like just spending time with my family.
Say, what do you like to do on a Friday night?
Do you like to go out and get drunk and get trashed?
Yeah, it sounds like a great time.
And wake up in your own vomit.
I'm really missing out
spending time with my wife and my kids
and seeing the smiles on my kids' faces.
I'm the one that's foolish and missing out.
No, maybe the world is just stupid.
Maybe people put a happy face on during the day,
and at nighttime they're miserable.
And maybe that's why they drink themselves drunk all the time.
Solomon had everything the world had to offer.
He said, I hated life.
Then it says in verse 18,
Yeah, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun,
because I should leave it
unto the man that shall be after me.
He's saying, I did all these things, and they meant nothing.
It's going to be gone.
What have I done?
And look, if this is the way you live your life
as a Bible-weaving Christian,
just everything the devil or the dragon has to offer,
every movie, every TV show,
you're going to be miserable at the end of the day.
Now, here's what's interesting about it.
In my opinion, when I think of animals that God has created,
because I think animals that God has created
are pretty magnificent.
I'm not an animal person.
We don't have pets.
I don't plan to have pets.
But when I see animals, I'm thinking,
it's amazing what God made.
And when I think of the most magnificent creature
I can think of,
I think of a fire-breathing flying dragon.
To me, it's the most amazing thing.
What's interesting about that is
what the devil has to offer is very tempting, isn't it?
I think that's some of the symbolism
the Bible's trying to tell us.
What the devil has is very tempting.
I mean, that movie looks so innocent,
but it looks so fun.
It's not that big of a deal.
Just try it out.
What the devil has to offer,
it comes in a really nicely wrapped up package.
It's got a beautiful bow.
And yet, you go down that road,
and you're going to destroy your life.
That's what the Bible teaches.
You say, well, pastor, how do I get happiness?
Well, the Bible's actually very clear
how you become a happy person.
Didn't Jesus say in the book of John,
if you know these things,
happy are ye if you do them?
Now, really, the context of what he's saying
is in the context of being a servant
and serving God and serving others.
You know what the secret to happiness is?
Living your lives for other people.
That's the secret.
You know one thing that makes me very happy?
Going soul winning.
Makes me happy.
I was going soul winning yesterday in Pampanga.
It was an interesting situation.
I was talking to a group of people,
and they had kids, and the kids are jumping on me.
They're all over me.
They're wrestling me as I'm giving the gospel.
I'm falling down.
The gift of God is eternal life.
But three people got saved.
You know what?
That makes me happy.
I enjoy preaching the Word of God.
I love preaching sermons.
That might make sense to you.
It might not, but one reason why I love it
is because I believe people's lives get changed
by the preaching of God's Word.
Even aside from that, how about raising kids?
It's not about what you want.
This is like step one to learn as a father or mother.
Don't live your life for yourself.
When you have kids, care about your kids.
Do things for your kids.
It's like your kids find something enjoyable.
Hey, learn to love their hobbies so you can spend time with them.
That makes you happy.
But then when you find yourself just filling yourself
with all of your lusts and your desires,
then all of a sudden you find yourself pretty depressed, don't you?
You know why?
Because what the Bible says is if you know these things,
if you live your life for others,
if you obey my commandments and do what's right,
it's like you're happy.
But you know, when you're doing what's wrong in life,
isn't it true that you're miserable?
You're depressed.
But when you're actually serving God and doing what's right
and living for other people, you know what?
You find yourself happy.
So when it comes to this idea of Chinese New Year,
I mean, obviously a dragon is just an animal that existed,
but it represents the devil.
And yeah, it's an animal that existed.
It's an example of the devil.
What I would say is don't be exposed to the things
and the works of the devil.
You say, why?
Because it's all going to become extinct one day,
and you're going to be miserable if you lived your life
for things that are just going to fade away.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today
and ask you to help us just to learn from the sermon,
ask you to help me, help my family,
help us to care less about the things of this world
and the affairs of this life.
Help us to just read our Bibles more,
to go soul winning more, to spend time with family more.
Help us care less about the movies and the music
and the things of this world.
God, help us just to serve you and do what's right.
God, we pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Okay.
We're gonna start off by saying thank you to every Nope Bloody
Oh, what a dream it was I. What a dream it was I.
What a dream it was I. What a dream it was I.
What a dream it was I.