What the Bible is trying to tell us this morning, and help me, Father, to preach this in the power of the Holy Spirit,
I pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit now, as I preach, dear God, that I would not be preaching in the flesh,
but Father, I'm relying upon you to help me deliver these great biblical truths this morning, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Now what I want to talk about in this morning's sermon is education, and education is a subject that's dealt with a lot in the Bible and a lot in the Book of Proverbs,
and a lot in this chapter of the Book of Proverbs.
Now, education is a word that's not used in the Bible, but the Bible uses another word, instruction.
Instruction would be basically one person teaching another person.
One person instructing another person in all manner of subjects.
Now you'll notice here in Proverbs chapter 4 that there's a great emphasis on the parents instructing their children.
Look at verse number 1.
Here ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved, and the side of my mother.
He taught me also, and he said unto me, Let thy heart retain my words, keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding, for get it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.
So we see that education is very important.
Instruction, wisdom, knowledge, learning.
These are things that the Bible emphasizes.
Look at Proverbs chapter 1.
You see, today our religion of Christianity has become a religion of feelings.
It's become a feel-good religion.
And people come to church not to learn, not to be educated, not to get doctrine, or instruction, or training, or a lesson from the Bible.
They come to get encouragement.
They come to get a feeling.
They come, that look.
Encouragement is wonderful.
But what good is encouragement without education, without learning, without knowledge?
What good is zeal?
Sometimes you go to a church, and it's very much like a pep rally, a rah-rah to get you excited.
And maybe the pastor's very dynamic, and he preaches hard, and he can get you excited.
But what is zeal without knowledge?
What are you excited about?
What are you going to do?
Somebody could get you motivated, but if you don't know what to do or how to do it, then what good is it?
Many churches can give you a feeling.
They'll give you entertainment.
They'll give you a pick-me-up to get you through the week.
But knowledge, and instruction, and learning, and education, and wisdom, and understanding will not get you through the week.
Hey, they'll get you through your life.
You need to learn something in church that's going to change your life.
Not a feeling that's going to change your life.
Not come down an aisle and start crying that's going to change your life.
But learn the truth, and the truth shall make you free, the Bible says.
Look at Proverbs chapter 1, and I'll show you what I mean.
Proverbs 1, 5, the Bible says,
A wise man will hear and will increase learning.
Did you hear that?
Will hear, that means listen, right?
He'll listen and he'll increase learning.
And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels, to understand the proverb and the interpretation,
the words of the wise and their dark sayings.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
You see, I don't like to learn.
The Bible says you're a fool if you don't like to learn.
Fools are the ones who despise wisdom and instruction.
Fools are the ones who don't like to be taught.
They don't like to learn.
The Bible says a wise man wants to learn.
He wants to increase his knowledge, increase his wisdom, increase his understanding, and his learning.
Especially young children.
This is important to you, young man.
The Bible addresses it specifically too.
He says to give young men knowledge and discretion.
But look at verse number 7.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, now who's doing the speaking here?
Dad, right?
This is basically Solomon speaking to his son.
This is Dad talking to his child.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father.
So who's doing the instructing in this case?
For the father.
It says, and forsake not the law of thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Look at, uh, keep your finger in Proverbs 4, where we were.
But flip over to Proverbs 31 quickly.
And I'll show you another scripture here in Proverbs 31.
The Bible reads in Proverbs 31, 1, the words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Right?
So here we have mother and father teaching and training their child.
We're going to see more about that later on.
But back to Proverbs chapter 4, where we were.
It said in verse number 11, I have taught thee in the way of wisdom.
This is the father against me, the son.
I have led thee in right paths.
Verse 13, take fast hold of instruction.
Let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life.
Do you see that?
So what is your life?
Instruction is your life, he's saying.
You must learn.
You must gain in knowledge.
You must learn more.
You must understand more.
You must have more wisdom.
He said, uh, get wisdom.
Look at verse 7.
Wisdom is the principal thing.
He's saying it's the main thing.
Wisdom is the principal thing.
Therefore, get wisdom.
And withal thy getting, get understanding.
Exalt her, as she shall promote thee.
She shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
Verse 13, take fast hold of instruction.
Let her not go.
Keep her, for she is thy life.
Enter not into the path of the wicked,
and go not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it.
Pass it on by it.
Turn from it, and pass away.
And then on and on he describes, for they sleep not,
except they have done mischief.
And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
You see, there are wicked people out there in this world,
whose whole goal, their whole motive,
is to cause somebody to fall on a daily basis.
They walk about as the devil himself,
proudly seeking whom they may devour.
Proverbs chapter 4, look down at verse number 20.
My son, attend to my words.
And climb thine ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from thine eyes.
Keep them in the midst of thine heart,
for they are life unto those that bind them,
and health to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life.
How are you going to do that?
How are you going to protect and guard your heart?
Look at the next verse.
Put away from thee a froward mouth,
and perverse lips put far from thee.
Now, this is a great chapter on education,
Proverbs chapter 4.
On and on, glorifying, lifting up,
the idea of learning, education, instruction,
wisdom, and knowledge.
But, there's a wrong kind of education out there.
Look, if you would, at Proverbs chapter number 19.
I'm sorry, chapter number, yeah, 19.
Look at chapter 19 of Proverbs, we're in chapter 4.
Look over to Proverbs 19.
So, I want to start out the message by saying this.
I'm all for learning, instruction, wisdom,
knowledge, intellect.
I don't think that we should be dumbed down.
I don't think church should be a place
where things are dumbed down.
I don't think we should dumb down the Bible.
And that's all, you know, all these modern versions are,
is they're taking God's word and dumbing it down.
That's right, yeah.
The NIV is written on a,
I believe they say a fourth grade reading level.
Wait a minute, is God a fourth grader
that would write such a book?
You say, oh, but that way a fourth grader
can understand it.
My children are very young and they understand.
My son, Solomon, memorized the whole book of Ecclesiastes
when he was five years old and could quote it.
Word perfect at age five.
And you better know that after memorizing it,
he understood that book.
And children can understand a lot more
than we give them credit for.
If we teach it to them, if we instruct them,
if we give them learning.
But don't tell me that we need to dumb down church.
We need to dumb down.
Look, the school systems are dumbed down.
America is being dumbed down.
Because we spend our time in front of a machine
that spoon feeds us garbage, the television.
And so we're being dumbed down as a society.
People don't read, people don't study,
people don't learn.
And God said, my people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
God puts an emphasis on knowledge.
Maybe the churches of today put more emphasis on,
you know, emotion or feelings or intentions.
But the Bible puts a premium on knowledge,
wisdom, instruction.
Now, look at Proverbs 19, 27.
Cease, my son.
And the whole book of Proverbs is about this subject.
But look at verse 27.
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction
that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
Did you hear that?
What does the word cease mean?
Stop, right?
Quit, stop.
He's saying, stop listening to the instruction
that causes to err from the words of knowledge.
Now, the Bible said that the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge.
Hey, these are the words of knowledge right here.
This is the wonderful words of life, God's word.
These are the words of knowledge,
but there is an instruction that will cause you
to err from the words of knowledge.
There's an instruction out there.
There's education out there.
There's teaching and training out there
that will cause you to go away from the right path,
that will cause you to go away from God's word,
away from a righteous living.
It's the wrong kind of instruction.
And God says, you need to cease.
Put it far from you.
He said, put perverse lips far from you.
Get as far away from this wrong kind of instruction
as you can.
Now, of course, this morning,
I said I'm preaching about education.
Now, when we think of educators, the police,
they drive by every week.
Smile.
The smile, you're on camera, you know,
I don't know why the police drive by our church every week.
Is it because there's one police officer
for every five people in the city of Tempe,
or is it just because they like us in particular?
I don't know.
But the police drive by my house and church every week,
that has nothing to do with the sermon.
This message was brought to you by the Tempe Police Department
to protect and to serve and to watch every movement
and to be with you when you rise up
and when you lie down and when you go in the way.
They're right there by your side to ask you what you're doing
and take a picture of you with the camera.
But anyway, and now, see, they're messing up my sermon.
Back to what I was saying.
What was I saying?
I don't know.
Let's close in prayer.
Anyway, there's wrong instruction out there.
Now, when we think of education,
what's the first thing we think of?
Children.
And the Bible emphasizes that in the book of Proverbs.
Training children, teaching children.
Now, there are various ways to educate your children.
Number one would be the public school system, right?
The Tempe Elementary School, the Unified School District,
these different charter schools and regular public schools
would be one option to educate your children.
Number two would be a Christian school or a church school
or a non-denominational Christian school
or one of these church schools.
Number three would be homeschooling,
you know, parents teaching their children, right?
Well, let's talk about these.
Number one, public school.
Where in the Bible,
I'm turning to Daniel chapter one,
the book of Daniel chapter one.
Tell me something.
Oh, there's the police again.
Let me wave at them real quick.
All right, they just drove by.
Sorry, you missed it.
They just drove by again.
Where in the Bible will you ever find God's people
turning their children over to unbelievers
to educate and train?
Think about that now.
Now, you notice that in Proverbs 4,
the father took a very active role in raising his children
and the mother was also mentioned several times.
He said, listen to me.
Watch what I do.
Hear my instructions.
Hear my words.
Listen to my training that I'm giving you right now.
Now, we live in a time where parents
do not take an active role in training their children.
You see, the average parent will send their kid on a bus
or drop them off at school for literally eight hours a day
in many cases.
And then they come home and they're watching TV,
they're doing homework and all these other things.
There's so little interaction between parents and children.
I want to ask you something.
Who do you think interacts more with the average American child?
Is it that child's elementary school teacher,
kindergarten teacher or first grade teacher or the parent?
I mean, if you thought about it, on average,
more time of actually interacting with that child
as a teacher.
Now, where can you show me the Bible?
And I believe that the Bible has all the answers today.
You believe that?
Hey, I believe that God's word has every issue of life.
It has the answers for how I'm supposed to live.
Can you show me in the Bible
where I'm supposed to turn my children over to people
who are not even saved to raise that child
and train that child and educate that child for me
eight hours a day.
Show me that in the Bible.
Now, here in Daniel chapter 1,
we basically have the Babylonian captivity
of the children of Judah.
The Babylonians, which were not believing on Jesus Christ,
they did not believe on Jehovah, the Lord.
They were not worshiping the true God.
They worshiped a false god.
Their god was called Bel, B-E-L.
They worshiped a false god, just like Bel.
Bel is basically Satan.
That's who they were worshiping.
They worshiped a false god.
They had a false religion.
And they came in
and they took the children of Judah captive.
And they took out of the children
the ones that were the best-looking,
the ones who were the smartest,
the ones who were the most talented,
the most educated,
and they said, we're gonna take these young minds
and we're going to train them
in all of the learning of our culture.
So they basically transplanted them
from Judah to the city of Babylon,
and they began to instruct them in the ways of Babylon.
Look at verse number 3.
And the king spake unto Ashpenas,
the master of his eunuchs,
that he should bring certain of the children of Israel
and of the king's seed and of the princes.
Watch this.
Children in whom was no blanks.
So they're picking children that are healthy,
that are smart.
He said, but well-favored and skillful in all wisdom
and cunning and knowledge, right?
They were really educated, smart children,
understanding science,
and such as had ability in them
to stand in the king's palace
and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue.
What's tongue mean?
Language.
And the tongue of the Chaldeans.
And the king appointed them a daily provision
of the king's meat
and of the wine which he drank,
so nourishing them three years
that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.
Now among these were of the children of Judah,
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Ezra.
Now, out of all these children,
and we don't know how many there were.
We know that the Bible talks about
many thousands of people being brought captive.
Well, we're not sure how many of them
they chose to be educated in their school system, okay?
Because they chose a certain number
that were well-favored,
that were cunning in knowledge,
that understood science,
that were some of the most intelligent specimens,
and they wanted to train them for three years
in the knowledge of the Chaldeans.
Well, when they did that,
there were four rebels in the group.
Four. These kids had ADD, okay?
Today they would have put them on like Ritalin or something, okay?
Because they would not, they refused.
They were, you know, a note went home to the parents,
basically saying,
these children are refusing to eat the king's meat,
and they're refusing to drink the wine
that we're putting before them to drink.
Now, why? Because the Bible,
I believe it was an alcoholic beverage,
because they refused to drink it.
I don't think they were refusing to drink grape juice.
You know, what would be the point?
I'd like to glass the grape juice right now, okay?
They were obviously refusing it,
and the meat was sacrificed unto idols,
which the Bible commands in Revelation chapter 2 and 3
that eating meat sacrificed unto idols is a sin,
in Revelation 2 and 3,
also in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
And so these young men refused to obey some of the rules.
They were a little bit rebellious here.
Well, the master of the eunuchs,
they went to him and very kindly,
they weren't rude to him or anything.
They purposed in their heart
not to defile themselves with the king's meat.
But then they entreated him kindly and said,
you know, we request that we would not have to eat this, okay?
So they tactfully said that they did not want to eat
the king's meat or the wine we drank.
Now, they weren't going to do it no matter what,
but they put it forth as a request just to be tactful.
Well, the master of the eunuchs said,
well, I'm afraid to do this,
because I don't think that you're going to be as healthy
if you're not eating meat
and if you're not, you know, drinking this wine.
And they said, well,
because we all know all the health benefits
of drinking liquor.
But anyway, they said, well, wait a minute.
Test this out. Prove us.
We'll just eat pulse and lentils and beans
and basically a vegetarian diet of beans and everything,
and you'll see that we'll actually be healthier.
And it was really just a miracle of God.
You know, God allowed them to be fatter in flesh,
Bible says, even just from eating this vegetarian diet
and not eating the meat,
which would be obviously more of a substantial diet.
And so he allowed them to do this.
Well, at the end of the three years,
these four children had excelled the whole class
in education, in knowledge, in wisdom, in understanding,
and Nebuchadnezzar was very impressed with them.
But remember, two chapters later,
remember in Daniel chapter 3
when Nebuchadnezzar builds this giant image,
a golden image of himself,
and he wants everyone to bow down and worship that image?
Well, guess what?
Everyone bowed down and worshiped that image
except for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Wait a minute.
What about all those other children that came from Judah?
Stop and think about that for a minute.
These children were brought from Judah.
They've been raised their whole life to worship the Lord.
They weren't babies because they already understood science.
They were already cunning in knowledge.
They were already educated.
We don't know if they were teenagers or what age.
They were probably a teenager or young adult.
And yet, after three years of brainwashing
from the king of Babylon, eating his meat,
drinking his wine, three years later,
they were bowing down and worshiping
that wicked golden image, an idol,
when only four of them stood up for what was right.
Daniel stood up for what was right
and the three children there stood up for what was right.
You see, when God's people are educated by the heathen,
they become like the heathen.
Because you can't find me another name of anybody
in this passage that stood up.
When everyone else was bowing down, they said,
Hey, wait a minute.
It's just these, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Where was the rest of the group?
Where were all the other children?
They'd been brainwashed.
You cannot find for me public school education in the Bible
where God's people would turn their kids over
to unbelievers and heathen to be educated.
Because you'll have the same result
that you found here in the book of Daniel.
You'll find a few...
Are you listening?
Because I went to public school.
You'll find a few that will be...
And I was labeled the rebel and the punk and everything like that.
You know, you'll find a few that are the rebel
who won't just take what's crammed down their throat
in the public school.
You'll find a couple that'll stand up for what's right,
stand up for the Bible.
I used to bring my Bible to school with me
and have it on top of my books.
I read my Bible in class.
Hey, you'll find a few, but I'm going to tell you something.
The vast majority of Christian kids
who go into that environment
are going to come out like a Babylonian,
speaking like a Babylonian, thinking like a Babylonian,
and they're going to bow down
to the golden image of money in this country,
and they'll bow down to worship the environment
like they're taught.
Now, that's one example.
Let me read this for you.
You say, well, I think public school's fine.
You know what?
Public school is getting weird, my friend.
Here's a news article I picked up.
This is from Hayward, California.
Who knows where Hayward is?
Hayward is kind of between...
What's in the Bay Area?
You know, San Francisco Bay Area?
It's between, like, Fremont
and somewhere around San Jose, that whole area.
I just drove through there a couple days ago,
and I'm from Sacramento, California,
which is about an hour away, an hour and a half away.
Listen to this.
This is at a public school and a kindergarten
in Hayward, California.
It says, some parents are shocked
to find out their children are learning
to be homosexual allies
and will participate in a coming out day.
I guess they mean a coming out of the closet, okay?
At a public elementary school tomorrow,
and they claim that the school failed to notify parents.
One mother of a kindergartener
who attends Faith Rhine Gold School of Art and Science,
a K-8 school in Hayward, California,
said she asked her five-year-old daughter,
this is a public school,
what she was learning at school.
The little girl replied,
we're learning to be allies.
The mother also said a gay straight alliance club
regularly meets in the kindergarten classroom
during lunch.
Did you hear that?
What's wrong?
In Hayward, California,
in the kindergarten classroom during lunch,
a gay straight alliance club meets regularly.
According to the Pacific Justice Institute report,
Faith Rhine Gold, that's the name of the school,
opted not to inform the parents
of its pro-homosexual activities before.
They just decided not to inform them
that they were having this pro-homo activities.
So the school is celebrating Gay and Lesbian History Month.
Did you hear that?
This is elementary school in California
is celebrating Gay and Lesbian History Month, okay?
You know, I'd love to say some gay and lesbian history
because back in the day,
I'd love to go back where they used to like
put them in a straitjacket,
beat them, you know, execute them,
stone them to death, like chapter 20.
You know, you know what?
Actually, I think we should celebrate
Gay and Lesbian History Month
at Faithful World Baptist Church, right?
We can get back to the old way
that people used to handle, you know,
like in Leviticus 20 where it said,
you shall stone them with stones,
that blood shall be upon them.
But let me tell you something,
that truly is history.
That truly is gay and lesbian history
because today it's been crammed down our throat.
I mean, I've been this week,
just in my job where I go
and I work on fire alarm systems for a living
and I go into these clothing stores,
these department stores to do the fire alarm.
Seems like every time I turn around,
there's some filthy sodomite everywhere I look
and I'm telling you something,
they are taking over America.
You say, wait a minute, that's California.
Guess what?
We're right next to California.
Hey, I saw some cross-dressing queer
when I was in Arkansas the other day,
the Bible Belt.
Come on, they're everywhere.
And listen, Arizona is only one step behind California
in everything California does.
Arizona is always right behind it.
Because guess what?
Half the people who live in Arizona
moved here from California.
Here's a news flash.
They moved from LA to Arizona.
I mean, how many people in this room right now
are from Arizona?
Put up your hand if you were born in Arizona.
Okay, so out of the whole group,
basically, we have about one out of 20 people, right?
About, because what?
How many people raised their hand?
Put up your hand again.
If you were born in Arizona.
Two people born in Arizona, right?
So out of this, what?
30-some people, we have two that were born here, okay?
How many came from California?
Yeah, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Hey, I'm from California, okay?
This is California part two, okay?
In Arizona.
Ever since they invented air conditioning,
everybody wants to live here.
It's crazy.
You know, before they had air conditioning,
I don't know if I would want to live here.
But the point is, this is everywhere.
This is America.
This is public education.
Let me keep reading here.
It says, the school is scheduled to host discussions
about families and has posted flyers on school grounds
portraying only homosexuals.
Like saying it's about families,
and it'll show like two men and some children.
Two women and some children.
And then it says, you know,
students will listen to traditional stories
with gay or transgender twists.
Some parents only recently noticed posters.
They just started noticing these posters
promoting the school's coming out day tomorrow,
celebrated 12 days after the national coming out day.
It says when they were contacted the school
to confirm the event, you know,
that this news organization that I'm reading from
contacted the school to confirm the event,
a female representative said,
yes, it is scheduled for our calendar.
Yes, there will be this coming out of the closet day.
At an elementary school in Hayward, California.
A public school that our tax dollars are paying for, okay?
And then it says, when asked if the school made any efforts
to inform parents, she refused to answer
and said that the Hayward Unified School District
would have to respond to additional questions.
However, the district did not answer its phone or emails
and a voice recording would not take messages.
Listen to me, parents are calling the school and saying,
hey, why are you teaching my kids smut?
Why are you telling my child about these filthy things?
And they say, you're gonna have to call our office.
You call the office, it's a recording that says,
we're not taking any messages.
We're not answering the phone.
We're not answering emails.
We don't care what you want.
We don't care what you think.
We don't care about notifying you.
We will train your child to be a pervert,
whether you like it or not.
That is what the Hayward Unified School District is doing.
They're training these kids how they want to train them.
They don't care what mom wants.
They don't care what dad wants.
They're gonna train them to be a heathen
and to be perverted and to be vile and disgusting.
That's what they're teaching them.
I mean, can you believe that?
That they won't answer them.
You know what they ought to do?
They ought to put down the phone, put down the email.
They ought to go down there and go into that school
and find that door.
And if the door's locked, kick in the door.
Drag that president or whatever of the Unified School District.
What is it?
The principal, the superintendent.
They ought to slap her silly.
They ought to tell her,
quit cramming this down at my kid's school.
Can you hear me now?
You didn't get my voicemail.
Can you hear me now?
That's what they ought to tell her.
If anybody had the backbone of this country
to do something about it
instead of just sitting here and saying,
oh, I'll just send my little tiny on the bus
and keep my fingers crossed,
I'll just pray to God.
Pray to God that it's not gonna protect your child
from that hellhole called the school.
It's not gonna work.
You can get on your knees and pray all day.
You can fast and wear a sackcloth.
But I'm gonna tell you something.
They're not gonna go to sleep tonight
until they cause somebody to fall.
And they're hunting for the precious life.
That's what it said in the book of Proverbs.
You can't just pray.
Why don't you pray
and then leave your child out in the desert
in 115-degree Arizona
and say God's gonna protect him?
Why don't you pray and drop him in a mound of snow?
That's not the way it works, my friend.
God has taught you and shown you
that you are the one who's responsible
for raising your children,
not the heathen of this world.
If this is who you want training your children,
people who won't even answer the phone to you
because they're too busy
putting up a poster about a homo day
at an elementary school.
What do kindergartners need to know about this?
Unbelievable.
I mean, you probably don't even believe me.
Come look at it afterwards.
You don't believe me, okay?
There it is.
There's the news.
And it's happening here.
It's happening everywhere.
But, you know, I feel like you just need to move on
in the sermon right now
because if you don't understand that part of the sermon,
then you're probably not gonna understand
no matter how much I say anything about it.
So let's move on to Christian school, okay?
So number one option was what?
Public school, okay?
Option number two, Christian school.
You say, yeah, Christian school.
Well, wait a minute.
Christian school.
There are two different kinds of Christian schools, okay?
One is you're basically your interdenominational school
that's basically not attached to any church or anything.
It's just kind of a free-standing institution.
It's a corporation.
It basically has a board of directors
maybe from different churches, different pastors, and so forth.
I went to a school like this for a few years.
It was called Victory Christian School
in Sacramento, California.
And it was just a Christian school.
They were Baptist in doctrine,
but they weren't a Baptist school.
I don't know what that means.
They weren't part of any church or anything.
It was just a school.
And you paid money to go there.
You paid, I believe, back then.
This is a long time ago.
It was $313 a month, you know, for a student.
That was a long time ago.
They printed a lot more money.
The government has printed a lot more money since then
to spend on all their programs.
And so now that would probably be about, you know, $500
because this is my short lifetime.
The money is worth about half of what it used to be
because they keep printing more.
But, you know, there's that kind of school.
And then there's the kind of school
that's based out of a local church,
like a local church school.
And I've been both.
I spent a lot of my time in public school.
I graduated from public school.
I spent a lot of time in Christian schools
that were just a free-standing school.
I spent some time in a few independent,
funny little Baptists, like church schools.
And I spent some time being homeschooled, okay?
So I pretty much have had personal experience
with all of these.
And you say, Christian school is the answer.
Now, wait a minute.
Christian schools that are part of a local church,
because if you want it to be like
an independent Baptist-type school,
you know, one of these ones that's just a victory Christian,
I mean, they had people at that school
that were into tongue speaking.
They had instructors there
that didn't believe in internal security.
They basically believed that abortion was okay
in some circumstances.
Mrs. Marriott was a teacher that I had.
He said abortion was okay in some circumstances.
Another teacher that I had, I think her name was Mrs. Marino,
went to a Pentecostal church, okay?
That was one of the instructors.
There was a child there with me in school.
It was a Lutheran.
There were children that were Nazarenes.
Just basically any denomination,
as you can imagine, was in this school.
So you say, well, if we want to go to a Christian school,
want it to be an independent Baptist,
well, it's going to be one of these basically
local church-type of Christian schools.
It's out of a Baptist church.
But wait a minute.
Have you ever been to a church that had a Christian school?
Put up your hand if you've attended a Baptist church
that had a Christian school.
You know what you'll notice?
Is that that is basically
the biggest ministry of that church.
Like, for example,
when I went to First Baptist Church in Hammond for a while,
okay, when I went to Howes-Madison College,
did you know that out of 600 employees at their schools,
they had 55 at the church?
Okay, so you see the ratio.
There were 10 times as many employees.
If you look at the budgets,
the budgets of the schools
were like 10 times the budget of the church.
And so when I went to Regency Baptist Church
in Orangeville, California, where I went for five years
in my teenage years and young adult years,
they had a Christian school.
I mean, Monday through Friday,
that's what the staff was doing.
I mean, it was all about the school.
They weren't out...
Well, they were not soloing all day Monday through Friday.
No, they were in school.
They were running the Christian school.
And they spent more time running the Christian school
than they spent running the church, period.
I mean, so let me ask you a question.
If Christian school is this huge, massive arm
of the local church, because that's what they call it.
They say it's like an arm of the local church.
It's under the canopy of the local church.
It's under the umbrella of the local church.
Let me ask you something.
Why is it never mentioned in the Bible?
That's my question.
If it's such a big deal, I mean, if it's taking all this money,
if it's taking the staff, 90% of the staff
of the church's time, if it's taking all this money,
all this energy, all these facilities, all this effort,
why is it never mentioned in the Bible one time ever?
That would not make any sense.
I mean, why in the book of Acts would we
read about the pastors and deacons in Acts chapter 6?
The Bible talks about how they have the deacons
to serve the widows, to distribute to the poor,
to help the widows in the church and the daily administration
when they talk about what the apostles were going to do,
what the pastor was going to do, what the deacons are going
to do, all throughout Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy,
the book of Acts.
Why is it that it never mentions their duty teaching
little children or training someone else's children
or running a school?
It's never mentioned, my friend.
And yet, you're going to tell me that that's God's plan
and God's will.
I don't believe it.
It's not in the Bible.
You can say, well, I like it.
I think it's great.
But don't tell me you're doing it
because the Bible said to do it because the Bible didn't say it.
It's just not there.
I mean, the Bible talks about the word of God,
preaching, soul winning, prayer, feeding widows and all this.
It never one time mentions a school.
The word school is only found one time in the whole Bible.
In the book of Acts, people who did not believe the Bible
were disputing with the apostles,
disputing against the Bible at the school of one Tyrannus.
That's the only time the word school is used in the book of Acts.
The only time the word college is used
is in the Old Testament, a woman preacher,
hold on the prophetess, dwell in the college.
So the only time the word college is mentioned,
you have a woman preacher.
And the only time school is mentioned,
you got a guy who doesn't believe the Bible.
And they're trying to win souls.
And they're disputing and saying,
we don't believe the Bible, okay?
So that's what you have here.
You don't have a Christian school in the Bible.
So if it's going to take up 80% of my time,
if it's going to take up the whole ministry of the church,
if the employees of our church,
I thank God that our full-time employee here
is not training my children reading, writing, and arithmetic.
I thank God he's out knocking those doors winning souls every day.
Thank God he's out getting people saved
instead of dealing with your brats.
No, I'm just kidding.
Anyway, why would we have some major ministry
when the Bible isn't mentioned?
Now, who's ever heard of ACE?
I went to an ACE school for a little while,
Accelerated Christian Education.
Now, a lot of Christian schools
that are in independent fundamental Baptist churches
are ACE.
Turn to Matthew 28, if you would.
Matthew 28.
They had this whole big article.
They had this big advertisement.
Who's ever heard of the newspaper,
The Store of the Lord, right?
Well, I get sent out to every Baptist pastor in America,
independent Baptist,
so somehow I didn't sign up for anything,
but I get it every week.
And I get The Store of the Lord,
and on the back, every time, there's a big ad.
That's the primo ad spot on the back,
whole double-page ad.
Every week, just about, it's by ACE.
And it's an ad telling you to start a Christian school
in your church.
You need a Christian school.
You need to start a Christian school in your church.
And I always look at it
because they're always telling you,
hey, the Bible, this is what they say.
It's not an option.
This is a command of God
for you to have a Christian school.
The local church has been commanded to do this,
and here's the scripture that they used.
Look down at Matthew 28, 19.
This is the verse that they used as their proof.
Go ye therefore, and teach to all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things,
whatsoever I command you,
and lo, I am with you always, even at the end of the world.
Amen.
There you have it, folks.
Drop your kids off at the Christian school.
That's the verse.
I went on their website just to see,
and I looked, and they had a whole pamphlet
about why Christian school.
There was not one verse in the Bible that said
they couldn't even find a verse that they could...
I mean, is that the best you can do, A.C.E.?
Let's see here.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations?
Okay, this is going to be a big Christian school, folks.
You know, this is going to be a big school.
We're going to teach all nations.
Well, what do you think we're teaching them
if the next thing after we do is we baptize them?
Sounds like we're teaching them the Gospel, right?
You know what I mean?
We teach them that Jesus died on the cross,
was buried, but again,
that salvation is by faith in Christ alone,
not of works that say a man should boast.
Then we baptize them, right?
Then we teach them to observe all things,
whatsoever Jesus commanded us, right?
That sounds like me winning somebody to Christ,
baptizing them, and then getting them in church,
and training them, and teaching them.
Where does that say,
turn over your kids to someone else to raise your child?
Does that say anything about raising a child?
No.
In fact, the Bible does talk about raising a child.
Because somebody asked me this week, in fact,
they said, well, wait a minute, Pastor Emerson,
I've heard you preach against public school,
I've heard you preach against Christian school,
but they said, where did the Bible teach homeschooling?
Well, let's look at it together, shall we?
In this sermon, look at Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Because I'm not just homeschooling my children
just to keep them away from Christian school,
just to keep people away from public school,
hey, it's because I want my children to be educated.
Remember the first part of the sermon?
How important learning, and knowledge,
and instruction in education is?
Hey, I think it's paramount.
I think it's the principal thing.
And I want my children to be educated properly.
And so I want them to get the most learning possible.
You see, why are you against so Christian school so much?
Because I've been to Christian school, that's why.
Who's been to Christian school?
Put up your hand.
Hey, listen to me.
I learned every dirty, filthy thing
that I ever learned in Christian school.
I learned less smut in the public school
than I did in the Christian school.
You don't believe that, but it's true.
And I went to Baptist, infinite fundamental Baptist schools.
I went to the interdominational school.
Porno videotapes were being passed around by the students.
The kids were smoking pot.
There were homosexuals.
I mean, I can't even go in.
If I just took one year of Christian school
and just went through it for you,
I mean, I couldn't even do it behind the pulpit
because it would be too graphic.
I mean, the wicked things.
And, you know, thank God.
You know, I was sheltered from a lot of it
and I found out about a lot of it later.
But you know what?
I was exposed to a lot of wicked things in Christian school.
And you know what?
I did better spiritually in the public school,
believe it or not.
And the public school was bad,
but I did a lot better over there.
Because at least I was just in a big sea of 2,000 kids.
I could just kind of find my own friends, do my own thing.
But I'm going to tell you something.
In that Christian school, you're in a small group.
There's one reprobate in that class
and he will turn everybody in that class wicked.
It's the least common denominator.
When you mix a bunch of kids together,
you get the least common denominator.
It takes one kid who's wicked, one kid who's vile,
and he'll get the whole rest of the class into porno,
smoking pot, all this stuff.
And I saw it in the Christian school.
I'm not going to go into all of it for decency's sake,
but I could tell you stories
that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
I mean, the vile, disgusting, wicked things.
And you could say, I don't believe you.
You can believe me or not.
I'm not lying to you.
And in fact, when I first got married,
I was thinking to myself,
well, we have a tendency just to repeat,
you know, what our parents did with us.
We just kind of had a tendency just to repeat that.
And so when I was first married and had a young child,
I thought, okay, you know,
put my kids in the Christian school.
And it was weird because I just,
I blocked out a lot of these bad memories.
But then as my child began to grow out,
I look at my pure, you know, righteous little child,
and I was just thinking about,
and all of a sudden these memories were coming back
of all the weird stuff.
And I just looked at my child.
I said, there is no way.
I'm dropping my pure and righteous little child off
in that hellhole where they're going to learn all this.
I mean, do I have to go into detail?
I mean, because it was bad.
I mean, just think about your worst imagination.
That's the kind of stuff that was going on.
I mean, kids are being molested.
I mean, it was just, it was horrible.
It was wicked.
I used to be, I remember one Christian school particular,
I used to be scared every day
that my parents dropped me off.
And I didn't tell them, you know,
because I wanted to be tough.
I want to handle it myself.
But I mean, kids used to beat me up at that school,
and I mean, do awful things.
And I mean, thank God I was never molested
or anything like that.
But I'm going to tell you something.
It was going on in school though.
It was going on.
And I was exposed to a lot of dirty, filthy jokes,
a lot of dirty talk, a lot of disgusting things.
Some of it, I mean, when I was seven years old,
I didn't even understand what they're talking about.
But you know, later on, it rang a bell.
I thought these kids were talking about
really violent, horrible things.
And that's what's going on.
And you can say it's not true.
You can say it's a lie.
Go ahead and roll the dice
and drop your kid off at the Christian school.
I'm just telling you that one sinner destroyed much good.
And you get that one,
and some of the kids in Christian school,
they're there because they got kicked out
of the public school.
That's the way it was.
When I was growing up,
kids would get expelled from public school.
Their kids would put them in the Christian school
as kind of a reform school to straighten them out.
But guess what?
Those kids straightened us out.
We didn't straighten them out.
Okay, that's how it works.
Least common denominator.
And again, I don't want to go on and on about that
because I want to talk to you about what the Bible does say
is the right way to educate your children.
You say, I still believe it's Christian school.
Okay, show me the Bible.
Everything I believe is from the Bible.
Is everything that you believe from the Bible?
Something as big and important
as raising your children or a school?
Okay, I don't see it in the Bible.
And if you can show me, then I'll change what I believe.
If you can show me it from the Bible.
And don't show me Matthew 28.
Okay.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Now, in order to understand Deuteronomy chapter 6,
you have to understand the meaning of this word.
Thou.
Okay?
Thou.
You say, oh, come on, the these and the thows.
That's why I want to get rid of the King James version.
No, wait a minute.
You need those these and those.
Because there's a difference between thou and ye.
There's a difference between the and you.
Say, what's the difference?
The Bible uses both.
Thou and thee are singular.
Okay?
Ye and you and your are plural.
If it starts with a T, it's singular.
If it starts with a Y, it's plural.
And so, when Jesus said to Peter,
Simon, Simon, he said,
Satan hath desired to have you.
He was saying, you.
He desired to have you, the disciples.
Okay?
But he said, but I have prayed for thee.
That's just Peter.
And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brother.
So, you see, if you're reading an NIV,
you won't even understand that.
You'll just think you're saying,
Satan has desired to have you,
but I've prayed for you.
When you are converted, strengthen your brother.
You're not going to get the meaning.
As you will with King James,
you'll get the meaning where you differentiate between singular and plural.
Okay?
For example, when Jesus said to Nicodemus,
verily, verily, I say unto thee,
ye must be born again.
He's talking to one man, Nicodemus.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
ye must be born again.
Basically, it applies to the whole group.
It applies to anyone.
Okay?
So, in order to understand Deuteronomy 6,
you must know that tenet of modern English.
The English of the King James Version is classified as modern English by a textbook.
We speak what's called contemporary English,
which is a little bit different.
This is modern English.
Before that, it would be Middle English.
It would be the 1200s, 1300s, 1400s, part of the 16th century.
And then, before that, it was Old English,
which is really a dramatically different language.
Okay?
Look at Deuteronomy 6, and let's start in verse number 4.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
So, how many people are we talking to so far?
Right now, we're talking to one person.
He says, thou shalt love, right?
And look at verse number 6.
And these words, which I command thee this day,
shall be in thine heart,
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house.
Now look, did everyone in the nation share one house?
Did everyone in the church share one house?
No.
This is talking to an individual.
He's saying, thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou wisest down,
and when thou wisest up.
That means that your child would have to be with you when you sit down.
When you get up.
When you go to bed.
When you walk by the way.
When you sit down to eat a meal.
Now obviously, as men, we go out to work.
I'm out at work constantly.
I work a really busy schedule.
I work about 60 hours a week on average.
I'm out at work.
But guess what?
My wife is at home training the children.
And guess what?
When I'm at home, I train the children and talk to the children.
This week, it worked out great.
The way my jobs were and the way my work worked out,
I was able to take my whole family with me to work this week.
And we went to California and went from job to job.
And you know, while I was doing the jobs,
they'd be waiting in the car or in the hotel or wherever.
And I was able to spend a lot of extra time with my children this week.
I was with them every day.
And that was great.
Because a lot of weeks, I don't get as much time with my children as I'd like to have.
And so this week, I was with them every day.
But thanks be to God, my wife is with them when I'm at work.
And she's there teaching and training and instructing the child.
You say, well, I think it's the men's job.
Somebody said, well, we believe in Christian school because it's men that should be educated
and not being with mommy all day.
Wait a minute.
God's the one who gave them to mommy to be educated.
And God said to hear the instruction of a mother.
God said the prophecy...
He said, well, women shouldn't teach their children the Bible.
Lemhiwel, the words of King Lemhiwel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Women should teach the Bible to their children.
They shouldn't teach men.
They shouldn't preach in church or teach in church.
But they should be teaching it to their own children.
Okay?
That's a Bible command.
He said, thou shalt teach them...
Look at verse 8.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand.
And they shall be as frontless between thine eyes.
And listen to this.
Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates.
Do you have the scriptures on the wall in your house?
Because the Bible says you ought to.
The Bible says you ought to post it in your house.
Post it above the door.
Post it upon the wall.
Thou shalt...
He's saying, I mean, it's the command of God to write these words.
Have God's word in your house.
Have you ever been in a school classroom and they have all the decorations all over the wall?
They're kind of like we have in here, all these decorations.
But just kidding.
We have to lobby all the decorations.
But you know what they have?
Like, let's say you go to a Spanish class.
They have all kinds of Spanish words on the wall.
They'll have pictures of Mexico, pictures of South America, pictures of Spain, right?
Hey, in your house, this is a training ground.
God's word.
Put it on the wall.
Take down Michael Jordan.
Take down Britney Spears.
Take down Magic Johnson.
Take down Leonardo DiCaprio and Keanu Reeves, and why don't you put up God's word?
Why don't you put up a light?
And hey, why don't you take down that picture of that long-haired guy that you think is Jesus?
Take him down while you're at it.
Take down all the idols.
Take down the little statues of the saints and Mary and Jesus.
Hey, if you want...
You say, but I want to have a picture of Jesus.
You don't know what Jesus looked like.
Here's a pic...
I got a picture of Jesus right here.
It's his word.
His word is the only picture that you need.
So why don't you post a scripture verse on the wall?
That'll be your picture of Jesus.
Take down all your crucifixes and all your holy water and your little birdbath.
Sprinkle holy water.
And put up God's word on the wall like you told me it would be the best.
So look at chapter 11.
We're in Deuteronomy 6.
Flip over to chapter 11 of Deuteronomy.
See, this is God's people being told, hey, take responsibility to teach your own children.
Don't rely on the government to do it.
Are you going to rely on somebody who's going into debt billions of dollars every five seconds?
Are you going to rely on somebody like that to teach your children?
It's no wonder that the person who can't even tell the difference between a billion or a trillion or...
That's the same person who can't tell the difference between male and female.
Right?
They think two men constitutes a marriage.
They think two women constitutes a family.
And then you wonder why they can't tell the difference between, you know,
spending money or saving money or going into debt.
And they're flushing our whole country down the toilet putting us into debt.
Billions and trillions of dollars.
And then that's who you're going to expect to teach your...
Boy, let's go to their economics class.
Oh man, I can't wait till I get to high school and I can go to a public school and learn economics.
Let me give you an economics lesson from the Bible.
You don't spend money that you don't have.
When you borrow money, you pay it back.
That's what the Bible says.
I didn't make that up.
The Bible says if you borrow money, he says,
the wicked borroweth and payeth not again.
Did you hear that?
The wicked borroweth and payeth not again.
And that's what your economics class will teach you.
To borrow and borrow and borrow and borrow.
That's why our country has so much debt.
It will never pay that debt off.
It will never pay it off.
Some other future generation may pay it off.
Somebody else may pay it off.
But the people who borrowed it will never pay it off again.
And the Bible says you borrow something, you don't go crying and say mortgage crisis.
You pay your bills.
If you have to work two jobs or three jobs, you quit whining and expect somebody else to pay your bills.
Expecting Barack Obama, because he's your mama, he's going to pay your bill for you.
Pay your own bills.
I'm sick of paying your bills.
That's what the Bible says.
Look, you just got more good economic sound advice right now than you would ever get in a four-year institution.
You could go to ASU, Devil State University, where the mascot of the Tempe, Arizona, ASU is the devil, literally, right?
I mean, the mascot is the devil.
Go ahead.
Oh, man, I would love nothing more than for my kids to go to ASU and study economics and wear that devil shirt that says ASU with the devil with the horns and the pitchfork.
And they can learn about this voodoo economics, right, of printing money that doesn't make any sense.
Printing monopoly money and borrowing money that you don't have.
That's not right, my friend.
Now, you say it's wrong to borrow money.
Of course it's not wrong to borrow money.
It's okay to borrow money.
But the Bible says, owe no man anything.
That means that if it's due on the 13th, you pay it on the 13th.
That's what it means.
It doesn't say it's wrong to borrow money.
I mean, look, taking out a mortgage to buy a house, taking a loan to buy a car.
You're entering into an agreement, a contract that says, hey, on the 13th, I'm going to pay X amount of dollars.
That means you pay it on the 13th.
When you owe them is when you're past the 13th and they have to come to you and say, hey, you owe us money.
You're delinquent here, okay?
And look, if you can't pay it, you're supposed to go to that person and say, let's make an arrangement.
I'm a little late, sorry, let me work with you or whatever.
But you know, you shouldn't just not pay your bills.
See, this is economics 101 from the Bible.
But where were we, Deuteronomy 10th or 11th?
How can you learn economics from somebody who doesn't know the difference between a boy and a girl?
That's the question you ought to ask yourself right now.
How are you, you're going to, wait a minute, you're going to learn biology from somebody
who doesn't know the difference between a man and a woman?
And they're going to teach you biology?
See, the real reason people go to school is not to learn.
It's to get that little piece of paper that says, degree, where the devil has certified you to go do whatever job.
And you know what, I know a lot of people who make a lot of money who don't have degrees.
I do. I can name a lot of people who have degrees who don't make any money.
Because you know what, the Bible can teach you how to make money.
God said he's the one who gives you the power to get wealth.
He can teach you to prosper.
He can teach you to get wealth.
And I'm not Joel Osteen.
It's called work hard and follow God's principles, get wisdom, get understanding.
You can make money in this world without the devil's stamp of approval on your life.
Without that, he said, dung on the wall, as you call it, degree.
But DD should stand for doctor of dung.
Because Paul said, all these accolades of man, I count them all but dung, right?
The degrees that he got in the Jews religion, he said it was dung.
Now, look at Deuteronomy 11 18, the Bible reads,
Therefore, shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul,
and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
And ye shall teach them your children.
Speaking of them, you say, wait a minute, that's plural.
Wait a minute, plural.
It's because he's talking to the whole group, but look at the next phrase, watch.
Ye shall teach them your children.
Right, he's talking to the whole group.
When thou liest down, and thou risest up,
and thou shalt write them upon the doorpost of thine house, and upon thy gates,
that your days, now he's talking to the group again,
may be multiplied in the days of your children,
in the land which the Lord swear of your fathers to give them,
as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Now turn to Proverbs chapter 18, we're going to go through several scripts in Proverbs,
I'm almost done, but let's go through a bunch of scriptures in Proverbs.
So God commands basically all through, basically besides Deuteronomy 6 and 11,
but really all throughout Proverbs, very often, Son, learn science.
Son, get understanding.
Son, get wisdom.
Son, receive my instruction.
Son, receive your mother's instruction.
But look at Proverbs 8-10, this is Dad speaking to his child.
Receive my instruction, Proverbs 8-10, and not silver,
and knowledge rather than choice goals.
Hey, if somebody were to offer you a million dollars versus knowledge,
intelligence, wisdom, understanding, if you were smart you'd take the knowledge.
Because the person who has no knowledge and gets the million dollars in the law to know,
or gambling, hey, they'd end up in debt, they'd end up bankrupt.
Because they didn't have the knowledge and the wisdom to spend it properly.
I'd rather have the knowledge and the wisdom.
And the Bible says, verse 33, hear instruction and be wise, they're refusing not.
So wait a minute, God's commanding us to be taught by another person.
That's what instruction means.
One person instructing another.
One person teaching another.
But who is doing the teaching?
Mom.
Who's doing the teaching?
Dad.
Who's doing the teaching?
God.
The Bible.
Who's doing the teaching?
The local church.
You say, wait a minute, how about a church school?
You don't know what church means.
That's part of the problem.
The word church, let's get a biblical definition of the word church.
Congregation.
Three times in the Old Testament the word congregation is used where it's basically quoted in the New Testament.
The word congregation is used hundreds of times.
What I'm saying is, the word congregation three different times is quoted into the New Testament and replaced with the word church.
Did you hear that?
So when God quotes the Old Testament, he never uses the word congregation in the New Testament.
When he's coming from the Greek language, he uses the word church because church means congregation.
It's an assembly, it's people congregating.
Let me ask him, is the church assembled on Monday?
And that's not a church school.
You can call it a church school, but it's not.
That is a couple of people who work for the church, maybe.
That's a couple of guys, a couple of ladies, and usually Christian schools across America are all taught by women, of course.
Because that's, you know, that's cheap labor is what they use.
Maybe the man for principle and a bunch of women teachers.
But let me tell you something, the church is not assembled on Monday, it's not assembled on Tuesday.
The average church in America is assembled Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night because it's the congregation of God's people.
When three people are there, five people are there, and all the kids, that's not the church.
You say it is the church.
Okay, then why do they charge money to go to the Christian school if it's a church?
Because God said not to make His house a house of merchandise.
And God said, wait a minute, if it's the house of God, the pillar and ground, the truth, the local church, it's free.
Paul said, I want to make the gospel without charge that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
Freely you've received, freely give.
How about if we put a church style at the front door of Faith Ward Baptist Church, and when you walk in, you drop in a corner, and you come in.
You'd say, that's wicked to charge people money to come in church.
There are churches in America that charge people money, do you think?
Yes, when I was in Illinois, there was a church in Illinois that you bought tickets, you paid for different seats to get the front row seats so you could be on the screen because it was a televised church service.
But if you were ugly and homely, they would not let you sit in the front.
Because they want everybody to be looking good in that front row.
This lady told me, she said, I tried to buy the front row seat.
I was not so good.
She said, I wasn't good looking enough.
So they wouldn't let me sit there.
That's wicked.
I mean, hey, if we're ever on TV, I'll put the ugliest person in the front row.
Hey, thank God, you know, man working on the outward appearance, you know, man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.
I'm trying to look like a bunch of movie stars here.
Look at this ugly creature.
Hey, thank God, right?
You're not looking at some Joel Osteen.
Look at these teeth.
Does that look like Joel Osteen's perfect dental work?
My teeth are crooked and yellow.
Hey, I'm not some pretty boy, Joel Osteen.
Hey, but at least I'm preaching the truth today.
I'm not preaching you a lie, okay?
And so all this pretty good looking, you know, Barbie doll Baptist church.
The point that I'm trying to make is this, if it's church, it wouldn't cost money.
If it's church, it's Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
It's the whole congregation.
It's the whole assembly.
If it's church, why are you making it a house of merchandise?
You say, what's merchandise?
Anything that's bought or sold.
That's different.
Merchant comes to the word merchant, mercantile, anything bought or sold.
You say, well, you can't buy or sell people or instruction.
Oh, yeah.
Read Revelation 18.
All her merchandise gives a list of merchandise.
It says gold, silver, ointments, spices, cinnamon, aloes.
It says slaves and the souls of men.
Merch, anything you buy or sell.
It could be a person.
It could be a thing.
It could be an idea.
It could be training.
It's merchandise.
And God said that money should not even change hands.
He dumped out their money.
When it was announced, he turned over the tables, huh?
He threw them out that he said those that bought and sold.
He said, you've made it a mouse of merchandise.
Take these things.
He says, he said, don't even carry a vessel through the house of God that's used for business.
This is not a business here.
This is the term.
The only money that can't change his hands here is we take up the offering like the Bible says.
That's all.
We don't sell it.
We don't sell the preaching CDs.
We don't sell books.
We don't sell music.
We don't sell preaching.
We don't sell DVDs.
It's all free.
Pick up the chair and set it up and take it out and put it in your car and take it home with you before I sell it to you.
I mean, look, who has a hymnal?
Who has one of these hymnals at your house?
Put up your hand.
Thieves.
Hey, I'm sick.
I got up here and said, hey, take home the hymnal.
I said, if you don't have a hymnal, take it home.
Say, how much do I owe you for it?
You take it home.
Yeah, there you go.
Put it in the purse right now before I give it.
Hey, take it home with you.
This is, hey, it's free.
I didn't buy this.
This doesn't belong to me.
It belongs to God.
He wants you to sing these songs throughout the week.
He wants you to throw your CD player out the window and start singing this song.
And so this will change your life.
And so what I'm trying to say is that the Bible teaches parents to train, yes, mom and dad predominantly Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
And yes, children ought to come to church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday and learn in God's house even more.
Hey, we offer a Spanish class on Sunday mornings.
That's a great opportunity for your children to come and learn Spanish so they can win people to Christ and espanol.
Okay, so and we're going to teach other languages in the future.
Church is a place of learning.
Your home, your house ought to be a place of learning, according to the Bible.
Turn, if you would, to chapter 12, Romans 7.
Chapter 12, verse number 1.
Proverbs 12, 1, the Bible reads,
Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
You say, what does brutish mean?
Well, brutish means stupid, is the definition.
It's a word that we don't really use that much anymore.
But a brute is somebody who's dumb.
It's somebody who's like a barbarian, you know, a brute.
They're stupid.
They're not smart.
He's saying, look, whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge,
but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
Look at chapter 13.
Next chapter, verse 18.
Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction,
but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.
See, without education, you're not going to make money.
But does that mean that the world needs to educate us?
Does that mean that the ungodly need to educate us?
Does that mean that the foolish need to educate us when God said,
the fool that said in his heart, there is no God?
Why would I send my kid to have a fool educate them?
Amen.
They will become a fool, right?
The disciple is not above his master.
And so if they're following the fool, they'll be a fool.
He says, the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul, verse 19.
But it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise,
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
So a companion of fools, people who say there is no God.
People who do not believe in the Bible.
Bible calls them foolish.
And that's what you will become, and that's
what your child will become.
Yes, you need instruction, but you need it
from somebody who's wise.
You'll attain under those wise counsels,
not the fools of this world to train and teach yourself.
And they're your companions on the playground.
Look, you say, I don't agree with this, sir.
OK, get in the car.
Drive down to the elementary school over here.
What time do they get up?
Three?
3 o'clock?
Something like that?
2.30?
2.45?
Something like that?
Go down there and park your car and just
watch the parade that comes out of that school
and just ask yourself, is that what
I want my child to look like?
You'll see their underwear.
You know you will.
You'll see the sagging pants.
You'll see the girls dressed like a hooker
when they're like nine years old.
And you're just shocked that anybody would even
let them go out of the house like that.
You'll look at these kids that just look sleazy.
You'll look at the men.
No, they're not men.
You'll look at these males with their little form-fitting jeans
wiggling their skinny little booty
around out of that school.
You know what?
It's going to be a cold day in hell
before that's the companion of my son.
Some little booty-wiggling-type-gene-wearing
with a faux hawk.
And he's out there just girly as all get out.
That's what we're putting out of these schools, a bunch of fads.
See, I don't like that word.
That's because your little school teacher
washed your mouth out with soap when you used it.
But you know, in my house, I say the word fag
and nobody tells me not to.
So deal with it.
But you know, you go down to the school.
They'll teach you about every sick perverted sodomite thing.
They'll tell you there is no God.
They'll tell you the Bible's a lie.
They'll tell you Jesus Christ, the bastard son
of a German soldier.
But I'm going to tell you something.
You get up and say, hey, I'm sick of these bunch of faggots
and that's not allowed.
Then freedom of speech is gone, my friend.
But you see, not in my house.
Because in my house, guess who's the boss?
I am.
And guess who's the boss of this church?
Jesus Christ.
And he's the one who said it's a death penalty
for these bunch of freaks.
He's the one who said they're sodomites.
He's the one who said they're queer.
They're strange flesh.
He's the one who said they're bioaffections.
And so I'm here to tell you something.
My children are not going to be companions
with the fools of this world.
Say they're sheltered.
No, we'll go soul-winding.
We'll knock the doors.
They'll see the sin as we go out on the people of Christ.
They go to the grocery store.
They go to work with me.
They go to these different places.
But they don't need to sit and be companion
with a bunch of fools eight hours a day
while mom and dad are doing who knows what.
I'll make you more money or whatever.
Chapter 15.
We're in Proverbs.
Chapter 15, verse 5.
A fool despiseth his father's instruction.
But he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
In the house of the righteous is much treasure.
But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.
You see that?
Verse 7.
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge.
But the heart of the foolish doeth not sow.
That school down there is not dispersing knowledge.
The Bible says right here
that the lips of the wise disperse knowledge.
Tell me.
Does someone who does not believe in God
and does not believe the Bible wise?
When the Bible says the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom.
When the Bible says he that when the souls is wise.
They're not dispersing knowledge.
They're socially re-educating your child
to accept alternative lifestyles,
worship the environment,
worship a false god,
and to hate the Bible and to hate God.
The heart of the foolish doeth not sow.
Does the heart of the foolish disperse knowledge?
No.
Look at chapter 16, verse 21.
Proverbs 16, 21.
The wise in heart shall be called prudent.
And the sweetness of the lips increase in learning.
Understanding is a wellspring of life
unto him that hath it.
But the instruction of fools is folly.
Right?
Did you get that?
The instruction of fools is folly.
He says,
The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth
and added learning to his lips.
Pleasant words are as a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and health to the bones.
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer at this point.
Father, thank you so much for, uh,
giving us the wisdom of God and the Bible.
Thank you, Father, that we don't need the world to teach us
how to make money or borrow money that we don't have,
that we can never pay back.
God, please just help us to follow your sound advice.
Yes, God, I know that we need to learn science.
Help us as we learn history, English,
math, science,
uh, all these different important disciplines, dear God.
But Father, help us to remember that it all starts with the Bible.
Help us as we train and teach our children
that the first subject on the agenda should always be Bible.
God's word should be first and foremost in every home,
in addition to science, math, history,
reading, writing, and so forth.
Father, help us not to be deceived.
Help us not to drop our children off
to be taught by the fools of this world.
Help us not to drop them off at the Christian school
where one sinner destroys much good
in an unbiblical institution
where God's house is supposedly being spread out
into other things where they charge money
and all these different things, God.
Help us not to be deceived.
Help us just take a clear look at the Bible
and say, wait a minute,
God gave me these children, help me to raise them.
And God, I pray that you give me personal wisdom
in training my five children, dear God.
And I pray that you bless me with many more children
and I will be able to train them and teach them.