...
Once you find your place, let's sing it out all together on that first verse.
...
This will be my theme at ever ending,
great redeeming love of Calvary.
It's the love of Jesus, something wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful.
Oh, it's the love of Jesus, something wonderful,
wonderful it is to me.
Amen.
Great sight to sing this morning.
I've asked for the Thomas Paletto to open 7th floor first.
Lord, we just thank you for the mothers in our lives,
and I thank you for my mother.
Lord, we just ask that you bless the singing
and the preaching to come.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Back to hymn number 120.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, number 120.
Against Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing number 120 on this verse together, 120.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me roll,
high in rock, in treacherous shore,
chart, and compass come from thee.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, as above,
this hill's her child.
Thou canst touch the ocean wild,
boisterous waves obey thy will.
When thou sayest to them, be still,
what a great sovereign of the sea.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, when at last I hear the shore,
and the fearful breakers roar,
when it's the end of peaceful rest.
And while leaning on my breast,
may I hear they say to me, fear not,
I will pilot me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me roll,
high in rock, in treacherous shore,
chart, and compass come from thee.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
As we sing on the waves before me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me.
Jesus, savior, pilot me, over life,
as we sing on the waves before me.
Pretty much all of our preacher friends
are going to come and preach
at Faithful Word Baptist Church in succession.
Every service is gonna be one of these pastors
coming to preach.
So we got Pastor Jared Pozarski,
Pastor Bruce Mejia, Pastor Aaron Thompson,
Pastor Joe Jones, Pastor Jonathan Shelley,
Pastor Roger Jimenez, Pastor David Berzins,
and Pastor Jason Robinson are all coming to preach
right in a row, so you don't have to travel around
to hear these guys and go to different places.
They're all coming to you,
and these guys can all preach really well.
It's gonna be exciting.
It's gonna be great.
Now, there's also gonna be a prize
for anybody who, actually a couple prizes,
for anybody who has perfect attendance
during the mega conference.
So if you come to all of the services,
you're going to be invited to an elite dinner
for those with perfect attendance
for those other diehards,
and also there'll be some kind of a special badge,
and I'm not talking about an electronic badge or something.
I'm talking about an actual physical prize.
It's gonna be great.
It's gonna be exciting.
So during this exact time,
I am going to be traveling the country
and preaching at these guys' churches on the same day.
So I'm preaching at their church.
They're preaching here.
So I'm kind of just ripping off the Band-Aid
and getting all the travel done at once
because I haven't really been traveling.
I've been turning down the vast majority of invitations
to go preach different places over the last few years.
So I'm just gonna kind of just get it all done in one shot,
just get in that mode, and just preach at all these places,
and then it'll be great for you also
to hear from some other pastors
because you probably get a little sick
of listening to me rattle my cage three times a week,
and then when I come back, then you'll want to hear me again
because, you know, you'll have had a break from me, all right?
So anyway, that's coming up starting June 19th.
It's gonna be exciting.
And so looking forward to that.
Some of these guys, you may have already
listened to their preaching online,
and some of them you may not be familiar with,
but you're gonna get exposed to all of them.
So it's gonna be a cool thing coming up this summer.
And then below that, some other events.
Of course, we have the preaching class on Tuesday nights.
We've got the mission strip in St. Thomas
that's just right around the corner, just a week away.
And then, you know, hopefully you're not already
thinking about the donuts in June, you know.
That's a little bit out there
to be counting down to that already.
All right, so that's about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right, in the front of your hymnals,
you should find the insert of Psalm 15.
If you don't have one, please raise your hand.
And let's sing it out nice and loud on that first.
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh up rightly at worketh righteousness,
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbighteth not with his tongue,
nor doeth evil to his neighbor,
nor taketh up a reproach against him.
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.
He that backbighteth not with his tongue,
in whose eyes a vile person is content,
might overing them that fear the Lord,
in whose eyes a vile person is content,
might overing them that fear the Lord.
He that swear into his own burden,
changeeth not,
he that blurteth not,
owes his money to you,
He that swear into his own burden,
changeeth not,
he that blurteth not,
owes his money to you.
Lord, taketh reward against the innocent,
he that doeth these things,
shall never be improved.
Lord, taketh reward against the innocent,
he that doeth these things,
shall never be improved.
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Amen. Good singing.
Let's go on our song books now, number 179.
Hymn number 179,
Such Love, number 179.
That God should love a sinner such as I,
number 179. Let's sing it out nice and loud
on this first verse together.
That God should love a sinner such as I,
should yearn to change my sorrow into bliss,
for rest still he hath claimed to bring me nigh.
How wonderful is love like this!
Such love, such wondrous love,
such love, such wondrous love!
That God should love a sinner such as I,
how wonderful is love like this!
That Christ should join so freely in this King,
although in that his death on Calvary,
did ever human tongue find no more theme,
than love divine that grants on me.
Such love, such wondrous love,
such love, such wondrous love!
That God should love a sinner,
such as I, how wonderful is love like this!
That for a willful outcast such as I,
the Father planned the sacred plan and died,
redemption for a worthless life to buy,
who long ago in grace did find.
Such love, such wondrous love,
such love, such wondrous love!
That God should love a sinner such as I,
how wonderful is love like this!
And now he takes me to his harvest song,
he asked me not to fill a serpent's place,
the far off country one brings our own done,
wide open are his arms of grace.
Such love, such wondrous love,
such love, such wondrous love!
That God should love a sinner such as I,
how wonderful is love like this!
Amen, good singing this morning.
Alright, this time we'll pass the offering plates around,
as the plates go around let's turn our Bibles
to the book of Proverbs chapter number one.
Proverbs chapter number one, as we always do,
we'll begin reading in verse number one
and we'll read the whole chapter,
follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads.
Proverbs one, starting in verse number one.
Proverbs chapter one, the Bible reads,
the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David,
king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction,
to perceive the words of understanding,
to receive the instruction of wisdom,
justice, and judgment and equity,
to give subtlety to the simple,
to the young man, knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear and will increase learning,
and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels,
to understand a 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.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father
and forsake not the law of thy mother,
for they shall be an ornament of grace
unto thy head and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, come with us, let us lay wait for blood,
let us look privily for the innocent without cause,
let us swallow them up alive as the grave
and whole as those that go down into the pit.
We shall find all precious substance,
we shall fill our houses with spoil,
cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse.
My son, walk not thou in the way with them,
refrain thy foot from their path,
for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird,
and they lay wait for their own blood,
they look privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain,
which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets,
she crieth in the chief place of concourse,
in the openings of the gates, in the city she uttereth her word,
saying, how long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
And the scorners delight in their scorning,
and fools hate knowledge.
Turn you at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you,
because I have called and ye refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded,
but ye have said it not all my counsel,
and would none of my reproof.
I also will laugh at your calamity,
I will mock when your fear cometh,
when your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer,
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me,
for that they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof,
therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,
and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them,
but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely,
and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Dear Father of Heaven, please feel the pastor's spirit,
and we all receive wisdom and understanding from this day, we pray.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen, the title of my sermon this morning is,
The Law of Thy Mother.
The Law of Thy Mother, of course, today is Mother's Day,
and so we want to think about and honor our mothers today.
Of course, every day, the Bible is very clear
that we should honor our father and mother,
which is the first commandment with promise,
and it says that it may be well with thee,
and thy days may be long on the earth.
And some of the things we're going to look at this morning
in the book of Proverbs show the opposite of that.
What happens when you don't honor your mother?
Okay, because if you honor your father and mother,
your days can be long on the earth,
you can be blessed, it can be well with you,
but if you don't honor your mother, what's going to happen?
Well, the book of Proverbs has the answer to that question.
But look down, if you would, at your Bible there
in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 8.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father,
and forsake not the law of thy mother.
For they shall be an ornament of grace under thy head,
and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
What you have to understand is that there are
wicked people out there in this world
that are lying in wait for you,
they want to entice you, they want to seduce you,
they want to beguile you,
just as the serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden.
The Bible says that the wicked man bends his bow
and he makes ready his arrows
so that he can privately shoot at the upright in heart.
These wicked sinful people want to entice you
and your parents, your mother and father,
their rules for you are to prevent you
from falling into these traps that they will lay for you.
That's what the Bible is saying here.
It says, hear the instruction of your father,
let your father teach you what is right,
how to live, what to watch out for,
and forsake not the law of thy mother.
We live in a day where people don't want any rules,
they don't want to be told what to do,
they despise any authority in their life,
but the Bible says forsake not the law of thy mother.
Mom has rules and they're not suggestions, they're laws.
And the Bible says we should not forsake them.
You know, even when you're old, even when you're an adult,
you should still think back to the precepts and the rules
and the things that your mom taught you when you were a kid
because those things will actually guide you through life
for the rest of your life.
And the Bible says there shall be an ornament of grace
under thy head and chains about thy neck.
And it's interesting the double meaning
with the word chain, right?
Because a chain could be something that holds you down
and holds you back or it could be something decorative.
When we think of a chain around the neck, it's actually jewelry.
It's actually something that makes you look good.
And it's really just two different ways
of looking at the rules.
You could look at them as restricting and binding
and holding you back, or you could look at them
as something that actually gives you honor
and actually gives you dignity and worth
as I preached about recently when I talked about
shame versus honor.
And so it says,
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay weight for blood,
let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause.
Now, people that try to suck you into their sinful lifestyle,
they try to entice you and get you sinning,
they act like they're your friend and they act like they love you.
And they say, We're going to lurk privily
for the innocent without cause.
Hey, let's go play a trick on this other person.
Let's go victimize this other person.
Let's go hurt this other person.
Let's go take from them.
But if you actually look down at verse 18, it says,
They lay weight for their own blood.
They lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain,
which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
So you see how these people, they end up turning on you.
So they seduce you and they get you to go along with their sinful ways,
but eventually they will turn around and devour you.
They're not going to be loyal to you.
They're not going to care about you
because they don't love anyone except themselves.
And that's the warning here.
And you may be irritated by your parents,
but this is what your parents are trying to protect you from
and the danger out there is real.
You teenagers and young people and children,
you may not have enough life experience
just to realize how bad this world is,
how weird the things out there are,
how many dangers there are, how many pitfalls there are,
but your parents have seen it, they've been through it,
and they're trying to warn you and protect you from that.
Now flip over if you would to chapter 6 in the book of Proverbs.
Chapter 6.
And in chapter 6, verse 20, we have a similar statement
as to what we saw in chapter 1 where the Bible says in verse 20,
My son, keep thy father's commandment
and forsake not the law of thy mother.
Bind them continually upon thine heart
and tie them about thy neck.
And again, look at the language here.
Just like with the chains in chapter 1,
now we have the word bind thee, tie thee.
And so here's what the Bible is saying.
Restrict yourself.
Chain yourself.
Bind yourself.
Tie yourself.
What does that mean?
What it means is that mature people, wise people,
make rules for themselves.
They put restrictions on themselves.
You see, when we're kids, we all think that when we grow up,
we can just do whatever we want.
Like, oh, man, I can't wait to be an adult,
and I can do whatever I want.
But here's the thing.
By the time we actually get to be an adult,
we don't do whatever we want anymore
because now we've gotten smart enough to tie ourselves down
and bind ourselves a little bit
and hold ourselves accountable for some things.
You see, maturity and character is parenting yourself
and imposing those rules on yourself.
Even when mom and dad aren't there to impose rules on you,
you start actually imposing rules on yourself.
Mom doesn't have to pull me out of bed every morning
and get me to go to work.
No, I pull myself out of bed.
Mom doesn't have to call me and say,
hey, Stephen, would you brush your teeth tonight, please?
You know, I do that myself.
And when we're kids, we think, oh, man, when I grow up,
I'm just going to eat all the ice cream and the candy.
But when we get old, we don't do that.
Some people do, but, you know, we're not supposed to do that.
Most people don't do that.
And the people who do that face consequences for doing that.
The point is that we need to bind these things in our heart,
tie them about our neck, and basically what the Bible's saying
is the things that our parents teach us,
we need to own those things.
We need to take those teachings and guidance
from a godly mother and father and say, you know what?
That was mom's rule, but, you know, now that's my rule.
You know, that was dad's commandment.
Now it's my commandment.
I'm going to do the same thing.
Mom and dad are right.
Now a lot of what your parents are teaching you is the word of God.
And so that's reason enough to adopt it and embrace it
and make it a part of your life because it's God's word.
But even some other things that your parents teach you
that are not God's word could still just be wisdom for life
and just little tips and things that are going to help you
live the right kind of life,
listening to someone who's wiser and older than you teach you.
Bind them continually about their heart
and tie them about their neck.
Verse 22,
When thou goest, it shall lead thee.
Talking about the commandment.
When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee.
And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.
Now what is the opposite of the way of life?
The way of death.
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
meaning that if you don't want someone to reprove you
or tell you that you're wrong,
you don't want someone to instruct you in how to live your life.
You are choosing a road for yourself that will end in literal death for you.
That's what the Bible's saying.
What are these instructions and commandments going to do for you
to lead you in the way of life?
Well, they're going to keep you from the evil woman.
The same kind of people that Mom and Dad were trying to keep you away from
in Chapter 1, the people who want to bring you into their group
and you could be in the cool crowd, you could be in their gang,
you could be in their posse, you could hang out with them
and they're going to, you know, they're only going to mess with other people.
They're only going to harm other people.
They're not going to do anything to you until they turn around and do,
stab you in the back, which they inevitably will.
In Chapter 6, he says,
To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Look, these seducers that are out there,
these ones that are out there to entice you and to beguile you,
they will flatter you with their tongue.
They will tell you how great you are.
They will tell you how beautiful you are.
They will tell you how handsome you are.
They will praise you and flatter you and make you feel good.
And, you know, your parents are always on your case.
Your parents are always telling you what you did wrong.
But, you know, so and so, she will always, you know,
talk about the good things about me and flatter me and praise me.
Folks, don't fall for this deception.
Lest not after her beauty in thy heart,
neither let her take thee with her eyelids,
for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread
and the adulterous will hunt for the precious life.
The whorish woman is out to take everything that you own
and bring you to a piece of bread where all you have left is a piece of bread
because basically she's just drained you of everything else.
And, you know what, the whorish woman,
you're not going to make an honest woman out of her.
Like, all of a sudden she's just going to be so faithful to you.
No, if she'll be whoring around with you,
then she'll be whoring around with everyone around town.
Okay, you young men, maybe she looks good outwardly,
but her soul and spirit is rotten and you need to find a virtuous woman,
you need to find a godly woman, and when your parents are warning you,
hey, stay away from that girl, be wise and listen to what your parents are saying.
The whorish woman, the evil woman,
the flattery of the tongue of the strange woman.
Now, the book of Proverbs is typically written from the perspective of
a young man getting instructions and so he's warned about the strange woman.
But you know what, you could also flip these over
and talk about how young ladies need to beware of the smooth-talking, flattering dude.
Because let me tell you something,
there are some smooth-talking, flattering dudes
that are going to tell you how beautiful you are
and you know, sure, they've been a playa in the past
and they've been out there, you know, just going from girl to girl,
but now they're ready to settle down with you and you're special
and you're different, but let me tell you something,
they say that to all the girls.
Fall for that garbage, it's the exact same thing.
Just because we're talking from a male perspective about women,
you could flip this over and I guarantee the exact same thing's happening
where men are seducing young ladies and taking advantage of them
and just wanting to use them and take away their purity
and when they're done with them, they will discard them.
And that's going on constantly.
Don't listen to the flattering of the tongue, don't fall for it, be wise to this.
Flip over to chapter 10 in Proverbs, chapter number 10.
So in Proverbs 1 and Proverbs 6 it said,
forsake not the law of thy mother.
Listen to mom, follow her rules, she's looking out for you.
Now look, moms and dads are not going to be perfect.
I guarantee you that I've made mistakes as a parent,
my wife has made mistakes as a parent,
my parents, I'm sure, made mistakes and we've all made mistakes.
That's not the point.
The point is your parents are looking out for you
and if you're smart, you'll listen to them.
Well, you know, my parents, shut up and obey your parents.
Shut up and honor your father and mother.
Well, I'm not going to call my mom today.
You shut up and call your mom on the phone.
You know, it's so easy for young people to stand in judgment of their parents,
but guess what, they're not experiencing these things
because they've never done it.
You know, someday they'll be a parent and they'll understand
what parents go through and how difficult it is to be a parent.
And so the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 1,
the Proverbs of Solomon,
a wise son maketh a glad father,
but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
You know, quit being an idiot in your life
because you're making your mom depressed,
is what the Bible's basically saying here.
You know, a wise son makes a glad father.
You know, I want nothing more than for my children to be wise
and to live good, godly lives as wise young men and wise young ladies.
That's what I want for my children.
You know, I'm not trying to vicariously live through them.
I'm not trying to get them in the Olympics or something
so that I can see them in the Olympics
and they can, you know, achieve what I failed to achieve athletically or something.
I'm not trying to filter them into the ministry
and get them all pastoring churches
because I'm a pastor so I got to get them pastoring
so I can like vicariously live through them.
I'm not trying to get my daughters to marry pastors
so that I can like vicariously live through them.
No, I'm not interested in that.
You know, all I want to do, I just want to look at them
and see them living a wise Christian life.
That's all that matters to me.
You know what I mean?
I'm not trying to get them to do what I want them to do
or to do the job that I think is cool
or to, you know, live the lifestyle that I would live.
No, that's not what I want.
I want them to live for God.
That's all that matters.
And I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth
and I want my children to be wise and smart for themselves
because at the end of the day, if any of my children screw up their lives,
you want to know whose life they're screwing up?
You want to know their lives?
You see, no one can destroy my life except me.
No one can destroy your life except you.
And you know what?
When you rebel against your parents
because you're punishing your parents or you're punishing yourself, idiot,
because guess what?
Your parents, if they're living for God,
are going to keep on being blessed by God
and you rebellious punk teenager are going to reap the whirlwind
because of your decisions
because you will be punished for the stuff that you do.
And that's what's going to happen.
That's what the Bible says.
So you know, your parents, when they're strict with you,
it's not just because they're just these sadistic people
that just like to punish you and make your life miserable.
No, they're looking out for you.
They want you to grow up and live right.
They don't want you to be a criminal.
They don't want you to grow up and be a fool.
They don't want you to screw up your life.
They don't want you addicted to drugs.
Why don't they want you addicted to drugs?
Because they know how much that's going to hurt you.
You're going to go through a lot of pain and suffering
and you're going to live a short and painful life
when you're addicted to drugs.
They don't want you going out and getting drunk.
Why? Why not?
Is it because they just don't want you to have a good time?
No, because they know what that leads to.
They know what's coming at the end of that road.
And so they're looking out for you.
They care about you because they, you know,
they want you to be wise for yourself.
You know, when the Bible says a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother,
why would mom be depressed?
Mom's depressed because she loves her kids.
She gave birth to those kids and she wants what's best for them
and it's sad to see them make an idiot of themselves and ruin their lives.
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,
but righteousness delivereth from death.
Now look, we've already seen this theme come up a few times.
In Proverbs 6 23 it said,
Reproves of instruction are the way of life.
In Proverbs chapter 1 it talked about swallowing people up alive as the grave
and laying weight for their own blood,
lurking privily for their own lives.
Now we see that righteousness delivers from death.
You know what that means?
That means unrighteousness leads to death.
Because if, if, if, if righteousness delivers from death,
you don't need deliverance unless there's a danger,
unless there's a peril, okay?
You get delivered from death because death is the consequence of unrighteousness.
And obviously we know spiritually that the wages of sin is death
and that ultimately our sins will lead to death and hell
unless we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and receive that free gift of eternal life and have our sins paid for.
But not only is there a spiritual component of being saved
and being declared righteous in the eyes of God
by believing in Jesus and his righteousness imputed to us
and we're not going to face the second death and so forth.
You know there's also just a physical component here
about just wicked people getting killed.
Wicked people dying young.
That's a thing too, my friend, in the Bible.
You say, well I'm saved.
Okay, but that does not prevent you from being maimed or killed at a young age
because of your wickedness.
In fact, the fact that you're saved makes you more likely
to be maimed or killed because of your wickedness
because whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth
and if you live after the flesh you shall die.
And the Bible is clear that God will punish his people who rebel against him
up to and including physical death on this earth.
That's a whole sermon in and of itself.
We could look at all the examples of that
and we could talk about King Saul and many others.
The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, verse 3,
but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.
Jump down if you would to chapter 15, actually.
Go to chapter 15, chapter 15, verse 20.
Chapter 15, verse 20 says,
A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish man despiseth his mother.
What's the Bible saying?
Let me just, you know, bring this up to date
because I know people have such a hard time with the King James version of the Bible.
A foolish man despises his mother.
Here's what that means.
It means if you despise your mom, you're an idiot.
You're an idiot if you despise your mother.
That's the Stephen Anderson international version, okay?
You're an idiot if you despise your mother.
A foolish man despises his mother.
Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom,
but a man of understanding walketh uprightly.
Let me break that next part down to you in verse 21.
Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom.
Let me break that down to you, okay?
This is all of the filthy comedy channels
and podcasts that you're listening to and enjoying
because folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom.
You know, all the junk, all the smut that people are listening to out there,
and let me tell you something.
These top most popular famous podcasts, you know, I don't listen to them.
I'd be willing to bet that they're filled with trash would be my guess.
Now, I don't really know enough about it to speak intelligently about it,
but frankly, I don't really care.
I don't want to know about it because here's what I can tell you.
Let me tell you about my own personal experience, okay?
Because when I was a teenager, there was no such thing as a podcast, okay?
So I don't really know much about podcasts,
but I think podcasts are a pretty big thing right now,
and somebody help me out if I'm wrong,
but a podcast is pretty much like preaching except it's not about the Bible.
Is that accurate?
Because I've never listened to a podcast.
The other day, I tried to download some running podcast
just because I was like, what is a podcast?
Like, what does this even really mean, podcast?
So I downloaded some running podcast, and it was kind of stupid.
It was just like these boring, it didn't even make, I don't know.
It was just a bunch of people just talking.
They were just like hanging out and talking.
Now, maybe I just downloaded a stupid one.
I don't know, but I'm just saying, like, to me,
my impression of podcasts is like preaching, but it's not about the Bible.
It's just people just preaching about stuff or just talking about stuff.
Now, does somebody have a better definition, or can somebody help me out?
Is that pretty on point?
I got the young people on my side up here, so it must be kind of on point.
Well, so I'm kind of thinking back to when I was a teenager.
What would be the analog of this, because, like I said,
this wasn't around back then, because when I was a teenager,
the internet was like, and then it was like text on the screen.
And if you want to load a photograph, it'll take about 25 minutes,
and it would load like line by line.
So there was no video.
Once I got to be an adult, then there started being like a little bit
of low-quality audio available when I was around maybe 18, 19,
at other people's houses, because I was still on dial-up.
But, you know, you go to other people's houses, they had DSL,
and it was like a little faster.
But I was trying to think of the analog of this, and you know what?
I was thinking about it, and it's basically like talk radio.
But I'm not talking about political talk radio.
I'm not talking about Rush Limbaugh and Alan Combs and Sean Hannity
and that kind of stuff.
I'm talking about like when I was a kid, the rock station would have
like a talk show on 98 Rock in Sacramento, and it was not political,
it was just talk.
And I think that was probably like what podcasts are today in a sense.
And it was just a couple guys talking, and let me tell you something,
it was such filthy smut.
You know, I'd love to even tell you, I remember just working
at Round Table Pizza and people just listening to this in the kitchen,
and they're just listening to these podcasts, you know,
but they weren't podcasts.
It was a talk show on 98 Rock, and let me tell you something,
just the filthiest smut that you can imagine.
I mean, I almost want to tell you just so that you'll know how bad it was,
but I'm not going to do that.
I'm not going to bring up filthy, disgusting things in the house of God,
because it's a shame even to speak of those things,
which are done of them in secret.
But let me tell you something, just imagine the worst possible thing,
and that's pretty much what it was for like over an hour straight.
And they're just talking about all this stuff and just talking about
all this dirty stuff.
It was like that all the time.
Now, I don't know, maybe in the last 23 years since I had that experience,
maybe these things have really been cleaned up and whatever.
And look, I'm obviously not saying all podcasts are like this,
because I'm sure there are plenty of benign podcasts.
I'm sure there are plenty of podcasts that are perfectly fine.
You know, that running podcast didn't have anything weird in it.
It was just boring.
But, you know, I'm sure that there are good podcasts out there, you know,
and I know our preacher friends, they're doing podcasts,
but that's about the Bible.
I mean, that's great stuff.
I'm for that.
I'm 100% for that.
But I don't know.
Like I said, I don't feel like I need to just do a deep dive into podcasts.
I'm just going to kind of step out on a limb here.
I'm just going to kind of take a gamble here and just guess
that there's a whole bunch of really wicked podcasts out there
that you could listen to if you wanted to.
Can I get a witness?
I guarantee you that just like on 98 Rock,
they were talking about all kinds of dirty things.
I guarantee you that you can listen to a bunch of worldly, sinful people
that are just going to joke around and tell you to do drugs,
and they're going to tell you to smoke pot,
and they're going to tell you to take LSD to open your mind,
and, you know, and they're going to tell you to take drugs,
and they're going to talk about fornication
and explain to you how to pick up chicks,
and they're going to teach you about all of these things that are wrong.
You know what I mean?
I guarantee you, and they're probably going to just joke around
and make light of the things of God and mock the Lord and whatever,
and again, I'm not talking about like a whole genre of podcasts
because like I said, I'm sure there are plenty of podcasts
that are perfectly fine.
I'm not talking about the genre.
I'm just guessing that this is a thing that's out there,
and, you know, when I look at that steroid-filled slob, Joe Rogan,
I just have a hard time believing that he's a godly influence
on our young people when I know he promotes drugs
and is an atheist and takes steroids.
I mean, am I wrong?
Correct me if I'm wrong, guys, because, you know,
sometimes I get up here, and I just start saying stuff,
and I don't know, so help me out.
I mean, is this a godly role model for our young people?
Is this who we want?
Because I'm just thinking to myself,
this is the number one podcast in America.
This is the most popular podcast in America,
the Joe Rogan Experience, okay?
And I'm just thinking to myself, looking at the way our country is
and looking at the way our culture is,
if this is the number one most popular podcast,
I have a feeling it goes to some wicked places and some filthy places.
I mean, I'm just guessing based on the fact that it's the number one most popular
and that the guy I know promotes drugs and takes steroids,
and he is an atheist.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points
because I'm not an expert.
But folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom.
Folly is joy.
Listening to some idiot tell you to take drugs,
listen to some idiot blaspheme Jesus Christ who died on the cross for you,
listening to some idiot joke around about the most filthy acts
that people commit out there in this world,
vile things that people do, and condoning of sodomites and everything else.
You know what?
Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom.
You think that's fine?
It's not fun.
A man of understanding walk at the...
See, you don't want to listen to your parents,
but you want to listen to Joe Rogan.
You don't want to listen to your parents,
but you want to listen to...
I mean, who else is out there that people are listening to?
Mike Tyson.
I don't think anybody...
Is anybody listening to Mike Tyson?
Please tell me Mike Tyson doesn't have a podcast.
He has a podcast?
I thought you were just messing with me.
He smokes pot through the whole podcast.
Hotbox with Mike Tyson.
Wow.
Okay, that's...
See, I mean, you can't even make this stuff up.
I mean, I never would have guessed that people are listening to a Mike Tyson podcast.
But then again, folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom.
I mean, is there a bigger idiot in this world than Mike Tyson?
Is there just a dumber sack of meat in this world than Mike Tyson?
Wow.
Who else?
I mean, this is just getting better and better.
Man, I need more interaction.
I need more help.
Who?
Russell Brand.
Russell Brand?
Who's that?
I'm hearing, like, communist, sodomite, Hindu.
Man, this guy's checking all the boxes.
He's a communist, sodomite, Hindu.
Other than that, he's a great guy.
Man, alive.
Russell...
Wait, isn't Russell Brand, like, an Indian?
Oh, that...
Yeah, it shows how much...
See, I don't know.
British.
No offense to those who are British, you know.
Just scot...
I'm just, with a wave of my hand, dismissing that whole nation.
I'm banned from there, okay?
So I'm a little bitter.
Russell Brand.
Right?
I guarantee you that there's millions of people probably listening to him.
Millions of people listening to Mike Tyson.
And they're probably like, why just listen to Mike Tyson?
Because I just listen to Mike Tyson.
And they're probably like, why just listen to Mike Tyson?
Because I just listen to how stupid he is.
Well, that's because folly is joy to him and his destitute of wisdom.
That's why you just listen for hours and hours and hours and hours to that, you know.
Who else is out there?
Who is Jordan Peterson?
Atheist psychologist?
No, he claims to be a Christian.
But not a Christian.
I don't know.
But I'm just saying, you know, there's all these people out there to listen to.
There's all these influences out there.
You know, you need to be careful with what you're listening to.
And what your children are listening to.
And being influenced by these role models and so forth.
You know, I don't know.
I mean, I'm just throwing crap at the wall this morning, to be honest with you.
You know, because like, you know, I saw some guy die this week that was some kind of a podcasting kind of a guy.
And he was some kind of a men's role model, some black dude.
Help me out.
Yeah, and so, and it's like, he's like a role model for men everywhere.
But he's like a MGTOW guy.
You know, the men going their own way guy.
And here's the thing about this MGTOW guy.
Is like, you know, I don't know, how did he die?
In his 50s.
A heart attack in his 50s, right.
Let me be sure and model my life after that guy.
Let me go ahead and follow this guy.
This MGTOW, was he a godly Christian?
Is he preaching the Bible?
Is he preaching the word of God?
Was he preaching the virtues of marriage and being married and waiting until you get married to sleep with your wife?
Is that what he taught?
He's promoting fornication.
And he was the number one, people were calling him the greatest of all time men's YouTube channel.
Greatest of all time.
Promoting fornication.
Dies in his 50s.
I wonder if he honored his father and mother.
I don't know.
Divorced twice, but he's going to get all your relationships.
All set.
Folks, we could go on and on.
Let me tell you something.
There are some bad influences out there.
And you know, listen to your parents.
Listen to the word of God.
Listen to the preaching of God's word.
And be careful about these other influences and people.
Because, I mean, folks, let's just go real basic.
I mean, why don't we just go super basic and just go to Psalm 1 and just say,
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.
Nor standeth in the way of sinners.
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord.
And in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
I mean, folks, this is basic.
It's chapter 1.
Psalm 1.
Right?
Don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
Walk in the counsel of your parents.
Listen to the commandment of your father.
Forsake not the law of your mother.
You ought to be forsaking MGTOW and Russell Brand and all these other bozos.
The Bible says,
Folly is joy to him in his destitute of wisdom.
But a man of understanding walketh uprightly.
Without counsel purposes are disappointed.
But in the multitude of counselors they are established.
You know what I take from verse 22?
Listen to advice that is given unto you.
And not from some idiot that is on some sinful, atheist,
New Age, whatever podcast.
I'm saying, why don't you have some godly counselors in your life?
Why don't you listen to your mother's counsel, your father's counsel,
your pastor's counsel, godly friends, godly role models, godly family.
Without counsel purposes are disappointed.
But in the multitude of counselors they are established.
You know what?
There are times we need to listen to other people's advice in our lives
and not just assume that we know everything.
And just think that we know everything.
You know, there have been times in my life when I was going to do something
or I had a certain idea and people told me like,
well no, this is how it is.
And I'm just kind of like, okay, because I don't really know about that subject.
And so I'm going to listen to what you're saying
because you seem to know a lot more about that than I do.
You know, here's my logic.
Here's my reasoning.
But you're coming along and you're telling me, hey, trust me.
Here's my experience.
Here's what I know.
Here's what I've done.
Listen to what I'm saying.
Follow my advice.
And it's like, okay.
You know, and my parents have given me a lot of advice over the years.
Friends have given me advice.
My siblings have given me advice.
You know, you get advice from people that are giving you,
and I'm talking about good advice.
I'm talking about people who are looking out for you.
They actually know about the stuff they're telling you.
You know, they're talking from their own experience.
Like, you know, for me, you know, I don't work on cars or anything.
I've never been this guy who works on cars.
You know, I've changed brake pads and brake rotors.
I changed the thermostat one time,
and that was like kind of the peak of my mechanical abilities,
like changing the thermostat in my car, you know,
with the help from a YouTube video.
When I changed the rotors in my car, I was just kind of like, all right, you know.
You know, I'm somewhat of a mechanic myself.
But the thing is, you know, I've done very little working on cars or anything like that.
I'm not a guy that is into that, okay.
It's probably been like 10 years since I've touched a vehicle in that way, okay.
So look, so, you know, if I have a car issue, I'm going to call my dad and ask him.
Because my dad, you know, he works on cars all the time.
He's worked on cars and motorcycles his whole life.
He's super mechanically inclined.
So I'm going to call my dad, and I'm just going to be like, dad, you don't know, okay, dad.
Let me tell you how it is, dad.
It'd be stupid because, you know, he's had decades and decades of experience,
and I know very little.
I mean, I would look to my sons.
I would ask my sons for vehicle advice or how to work on something
because like they know more about it than I do.
And I would even listen to them even though they're younger than me.
Because they know about something that I don't really know about, that I'm not into.
So, you know, they might give me advice on something of that nature, okay.
Well, you know what, here's the thing.
Your parents know a lot more about life than you do, young people, okay.
And by the way, the pastor knows a lot more about the Bible than the average Christian.
Now I hope that you know the Bible very well, and there are many people in our church
who know the Bible extremely well that I'm very impressed with your Bible knowledge.
And I think it's great that our church reads the Bible so much.
But, you know, I know the Bible.
That's why I'm here.
You know, I'm up here.
I'm a guy who knows what the Bible says.
You know, that's my job to know that.
That's my life to know that.
You know, and your parents, they've lived through a lot of the things that you're going through,
and it's easy to just shut down as a young person
and to just kind of think, well, my parents don't get it.
Guess what, your parents do get it.
And you might think, like, well, life's too different now.
Folks, life wasn't really that different when I was growing up.
Instead of podcasts, we had 98 Rock playing a filthy talk show.
You know what I mean?
Like, it's not that different.
Life isn't really that different than it was back then, okay.
There's no new thing under the sun is what the Bible says.
You know, it's like these people that tell you, well, you can't understand the Bible.
Well, you can't understand the Bible unless you become an expert in the culture back then.
Here's why you don't have to be an expert in the culture back then,
because human nature is the same.
Human nature, when Proverbs was written, is the same as human nature now,
so I don't have to know everything about the ancient Near East.
And guess what, it's a good thing because nobody knows exactly what the culture was like
because we have, like, less than 1% of the evidence.
You know, how do you like to make...
Why don't you draw a picture of something and you can see less than 1% of the pixels?
Because that's what ancient history is.
That's what archaeology is.
You're making a picture with less than 1% of the information, okay.
But the good news is the Bible is as relevant as today's newspaper
because of the fact that human nature is the same.
People are people, no new thing under the sun.
Whatever we have today, there was an analog for it back then.
You say, well, the internet has fundamentally changed the world.
Sure, but not that fundamentally, though,
because there are still equivalents and things that we could point to
and the life experiences have always been similar throughout time.
And so your parents' information that they have about life,
it's not just all obsolete because they're old.
No, the stuff that they experience is relevant.
And if you're smart, you'll be able to translate it to today.
You say, well, it's just not the same.
Yeah, but if you're smart, you'll be able to translate it.
Like, I'm translating, like, okay, these type of podcasts weren't around,
but here's what we did have, you know,
and I can make that connection and see, like, okay, that's the equivalent.
You know, it's like I was talking to somebody from a generation
that's even a little bit older than me and they told me a story.
They said, well, you know, back when I was young, you know,
we didn't just meet people from the internet.
We didn't meet strangers on the internet,
but she said, here's the equivalent of that in my generation.
One time I dialed a wrong number and the person was just like,
no, no, don't hang up.
And then they ended up talking and then meeting up in real life
and the guy was a complete freak.
No, no, no, don't hang up.
You sound pretty.
You know, what's your name?
And then she ended up meeting up with this dude in a public place,
thankfully, with a lot of other people around
and the guy was a total creep and a total weirdo.
So, you know, after being there just for a short time,
her and her friend get in the car to leave.
The guy gets on his motorcycle
and they're basically driving down the road away from the mall
that they had met this dude at
and the guy pulls up behind them on the motorcycle
and they're kind of, this is a little weird, right,
and he just starts, like, just slowly ramming the back of the car
with his motorcycle, you know, like a bumper car.
And they're just like, what do we do?
What in the world?
And this is before cell phones even existed,
so this is, like, freaking them out.
Okay, so here's the thing.
You know, meeting up with strangers on the internet wasn't a thing back then.
But guess what?
There's still a little bit of wisdom to be gleaned from that story
that you could probably apply to today,
meeting up with strangers on the internet.
Am I right?
So the wise person, the smart person will make these connections
and be like, okay, yeah, things were different back then,
but human nature was the same, wasn't it?
And so a lot of the same things are going to be happening.
You say, well, you don't understand because now everything's on text.
Folks, when I was a kid, everything was on text, too.
It was just, it was writing notes and passing them at school.
We were passing notes.
You can't even imagine how many notes we passed.
Does anybody remember that in school?
I mean, we'd be passing notes, passing notes,
and not just like little short notes that you'd be passing in class.
Then you'd write a full page and hand it to somebody
and you'd literally be receiving multiple notes per day
and giving out multiple notes per day.
And so I could take that experience and I could use that to instruct young people
and say, hey, some of those notes were used against you later.
You'd write something and the teacher would intercept it
and read it to the whole class.
Or you'd write something and somebody would get mad at you
and show it to other people and it would get passed around
and it would get you in trouble.
Well, couldn't I apply that same wisdom and say, okay, well, guess what?
If you text something to someone, they can take a screenshot of that
and now it's archived and they can share it with other people.
They can embarrass you.
They can humiliate you.
It can fall into the wrong hands.
Oh, it's totally new.
Texting is totally new.
But hold on a second.
Didn't it exist, though?
Text existed, my friend.
It just wasn't a computer.
It wasn't a machine.
But that's not really what makes texting texting, is it?
What makes texting texting is the text part.
It's in the name, text.
Okay?
And we wrote text on a piece of paper and handed it.
Oh, so our character, Pastor Harrison, what does he know about being a young person?
It's the same junk.
It's the same thing.
It's the same situation.
It's life.
My kids and their kids and grandkids and everything
are going to be going through the same type of experiences in their lives
that we're going through right now.
It'll be a different technology,
but it'll be the similar driving forces of human nature at work.
And the same dangers will be there
and these Bible verses will still be relevant
and folly will still be joy to him that is destitute of wisdom
and it will still be safe and smart to listen to other people's counsel
and other people's advice when they're giving you warnings and telling you things.
Go to chapter 19 of Proverbs.
Proverbs 19, 26.
Proverbs 19, 26 says,
It's kind of an interesting word.
What does that mean?
I mean, you know, I mean, at first blush,
like obviously that this is not what this means,
but if I said to waste somebody,
I would think it meant like to kill that person.
Like in our modern slang, right?
That's kind of like the first thing I would think of,
like, you know, let's go waste those people or whatever.
It sounds like you're going to harm them in some way.
I mean, also wasting is when you don't take advantage of something.
Like you don't, you don't use what's there.
You wasted it.
Like if I bought food and didn't eat it, I wasted it.
It went to waste.
And so, you know, don't waste your father and chase away your mother.
What is that saying?
You know, mom wants to talk to you.
Mom wants to reach out to you.
Mom wants to give you advice or help you and you chase her away.
You know, you're wasting her in a sense
because you're not taking advantage of,
you're not using her, you're wasting her.
You know, God gave us our parents so we shouldn't waste them.
God gave you a pastor.
Don't waste the pastor in either sense of the word, okay?
You know, don't waste the pastor.
Don't waste, you know, godly role models in your life.
Don't waste your siblings.
Don't waste your parents.
Don't waste these things.
Take advantage of them.
Use them.
Let them be a blessing to your life is what I believe the Bible means.
I don't think it's saying, you know, he that kills his father or something.
It is the son that brings reproach.
Like, oh, you don't say.
Like, oh, yeah, that's embarrassing.
No, I think what it means is he wastes his father.
He wastes that source of information.
He's wasting that resource.
He's wasting that gift that he's been given in his life.
And by the way, those of you children who are growing up in a home with both biological parents,
you are an extreme minority.
If you're just living in a house where you're living with two married people,
you're in the minority now.
More households in America now are unmarried than married.
But if you're living in a house where your parents are married to each other,
and if you can imagine this, they're both your biological parents.
It's your actual father that sired you and your actual mother that gave birth to you,
and they live together in a house, and they're married, and you're their kid, and you live there.
Now, you know, this preaching would have been super weird 20, 30, 40 years ago.
But what did you say it is, honey, that the statistic is on that?
15% of house of...
It's like somewhere in the teens of kids who are living with both married biological parents right now.
You know, and look, if that's your situation, don't waste that.
Be thankful. You have an advantage there in life.
You're being given an advantage.
Just look at the statistics.
You're going to make more money, be more successful, and go farther in life,
even by the world's standards, if you're growing up in that situation.
Like, ah, my parents, ah.
Now, look, and maybe that's not your situation.
Maybe you're in a situation where your parents are divorced,
and you have a step-parent, and whatever.
Hey, you know what?
Just be thankful that you have parents in your home that are married to each other.
Even if it's a step-parent, at least they're married, and at least they're taking you to church,
and at least they're Christians, and at least they love you.
You know, we can always find parents that are married,
you know, we can always find something to be thankful for about our situation.
And you say, well, my mom isn't even saved.
This is a question I get every year on Mother's Day.
Well, my mom's not saved. What now?
Well, guess what?
Even if your mom isn't saved, you can still learn from your mom.
Because, you know, I like the saying that Brother Hiles said,
every man knows something that I do not know.
Therefore, all men are my teachers.
You know, your mom still could have some advice for life and so forth.
You know, my wife grew up in an unsaved home.
Okay?
But yet her mom had rules for her,
and her mom did teach her certain life wisdom that she still lives by to this day.
And her mom did restrict her from things and say,
you're not allowed to watch this, you're not allowed to listen to this,
you're not allowed to do this.
Now, obviously, growing up in an unsaved home,
there were a lot of things that were done wrong in that home as well.
But you know what?
Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
You know, my wife can still recognize the good things about her parents
and the good things that she was taught and the good aspects of her upbringing,
and she can still call her mom on Mother's Day and still say,
Happy Mother's Day, Mom.
Thank you.
And show kindness and respect and honor to her mother
so that it will be well with her
and so that her days will be long on the earth.
And you know, I hope that her mom gets saved,
and I hope that we'll see her in heaven someday,
but whether she does or not,
she can still honor her mother whether she's saved or not.
You say, well, what if my mom is a psychopath serial killer?
Okay, fine.
You know, obviously, yeah, you can bring up the bizarre exceptions,
and you know, yeah, if your mother is some horrible reprobate,
okay, you're the exception.
But just your mom's kind of a pain or she's not saved or whatever,
you know, sorry, that's not going to cut it.
You know, it's going to have to be a lot more extreme than that, you know.
Look at chapter 20, verse 20, and I'm kind of running out of time here.
This might be a two-parter because there's a lot of good stuff in the Word of God on this.
This might be a night sermon.
But you know, it's kind of a death theme
that we've seen in chapter 1.
There was a death theme, chapter 6, chapter 10.
It keeps coming up, doesn't it?
And look what the Bible says in Proverbs 20, 20.
It says, Whoso curseth his father or his mother,
his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
That's dying.
Okay, your lamp is talking about you seeing light.
And when darkness covers your eyes, that's called dying, all right.
And what we see here, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
Obscure darkness basically means dark darkness.
You know, like Spanish oscuro, oscuridad, right.
So, you know, it's going to be real dark.
Okay.
His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
You're going to die.
Now, this is written in the law of God.
In Exodus, chapter 21, it says that
he that curseth his father or mother shall surely be put to death.
He that smiteth his father or mother shall surely be put to death.
And you say, how dare you bring that up.
But in Matthew, chapter 15 in the New Testament,
you know what Jesus said?
Jesus said, who so curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
Jesus said that in Matthew, chapter 15.
I said Jesus said that in Matthew in the New Testament.
Okay, but you say, well, obviously that would never happen today.
No country in the world would ever have a law like that.
And that would never happen.
You know what, you're right.
You're right.
It never will happen.
I'm sure that there's no country in this world that would ever enforce that.
You know, he that curseth his father or mother shall die the death or be put to death.
But let me tell you something.
There's a God in heaven that will enforce that.
There is a God in heaven that looks down and he sees that.
And I don't care what our government does.
I don't care what any government does.
It doesn't matter.
The government's not the one that has to do it, my friend,
because God sees that and God will do that.
Because this verse doesn't mention the government.
This verse doesn't mention a law.
This verse doesn't mention any kind of a human instrument.
It just says, who so curseth his father or his mother?
His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
And, you know, that should be obvious because of the fact that if you honor your father and mother,
it'll be well with you and your days will be long on the earth.
And if you curse your father and mother, your lamp will be put out in obscure darkness.
You're going to die.
You're going to be killed.
You're going to die.
It's going to be over for you.
But today we live in a day where this would be taken lightly.
It's not a big deal.
Let's jump ahead for sake of time to chapter 30 verse 17.
Chapter 30 verse 17.
It says in Proverbs 30 verse 17,
the eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother,
the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagle shall eat it.
Folks, I don't even have time because I'm skipping the verses about God killing you
If you curse your parents and mock your parents, despise your parents, don't honor your parents.
Like, I don't have time.
Folks, the eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother,
the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagle shall eat it.
Now stop and think for a moment.
Why would a person have their eyes eaten by ravens and young eagles?
Right?
So picture, if you will, a corpse laying in an open field and a bird coming and pecking out their eyes
because that's just the yummiest part.
That's the delicacy.
You know what I mean?
Because, yeah, they could start pecking wherever.
They could start pecking on your belly, your hands and your legs.
But, you know, they go straight for the eyes because it's like a little hors d'oeuvre.
It's like a, you know, a very delicate dessert unto them.
They want to get the eyes before anybody else gets them.
That's the best part.
Now look, why, what situation would a person find themselves in
where the ravens of the valley eat out their eyes and the young eagles eat their eyes?
Now look, is this someone dying of old age?
Surrounded by loved ones?
No.
Is this even, is this someone who gets sick and goes to the hospital and dies?
Is this someone who gets cancer and dies?
Is this someone who breaks a bone and it's an accident and the doctor gets there and they can't save them?
Is that what's going on in this passage?
Because I'm trying to think about this.
How does this really take place in real life?
How do you end up in a field with birds eating your eyes?
How do you get there?
And I was thinking of some ways that you get there.
If someone murders you, if someone murders you, they're probably very likely to deposit your body in a field somewhere.
Am I right?
So being murdered is one way you could get there.
I was also thinking about the fact, you know, if you were someone who was so hated and so despised
that maybe in, not in our culture, but maybe in other cultures you might be executed
and then also just as a further insult, just left out to the elements
because you're not even deemed worthy of a burial because people just consider you trash to that extent.
Now that wouldn't happen in our society, but I guarantee you that throughout history there have been societies
that would have just discarded a body because of their total disgust for that person.
But I guarantee you that, let's talk about the United States though.
2022, how might you end up in a field in this situation?
Well, if you're murdered, you're likely to be just discarded in a field somewhere
and animals will do that to you.
Or what about this?
How about maybe like driving off a cliff in your car or something?
You know, you drive off a cliff or something and nobody can get there in time.
And so there you are and, you know, right away the birds, they don't, you know,
they're going to go for their favorite part right away.
It's not like, you know, the last thing.
You know, like we as human beings, if we took a cow and we butchered it,
you know, we're going for the stakes, we're going for the parts that we like.
You know, the eyes would be like the last thing.
Well, with the birds, flip that over.
They like it.
It's right there.
You know, it's close to the surface.
It's chewy.
They like it.
But the point is, you know, I don't know, driving off a cliff in your vehicle,
I could see that ending you up this way.
What?
Yeah, go hiking when it's 110 outside and you didn't bring enough water.
I mean, yeah.
And the birds are circling overhead and whatever.
You know, you could see how that could happen, right?
But, you know, I'm thinking about these different scenarios.
I was just trying to think, like, how does this happen?
I like that.
That's great.
You know, the hiking, the car wreck, being murdered.
You know, and I'm sure you could think of more.
But the point is, what do all of these have in common?
You know what they all have in common?
They're an untimely death.
They're an early death.
They're a tragic death.
You're not living out your full lifespan and you've lived your full life
and you've finished your course and you've kept the faith
and you just end up getting your eyes picked out.
It just doesn't happen, my friend.
It's somebody who's dying young.
They're dying early.
They're dying tragically.
They're dying painfully.
That's what this is.
And the Bible says, you know, if you mock at your father
and despise to obey your mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out
and the young eagle say it.
And it's not just one verse.
It's verse after verse after verse after verse.
Okay.
And so happy Mother's Day.
But let me tell you something.
This sermon needs to be preached today.
Because there's a generation that does not bless their father
and they don't bless their mother and they don't love their parents
and they don't honor their parents and these consequences are real
and we need to stop listening to all these other people who want to be our parents.
And by the way, there are always going to be these people that want to step in
and be your parents instead of your actual parents.
You know, you have that girlfriend or that boyfriend
where like their parents will like attach to you and become your parents.
You know, and look, it's great to get close with in-laws
and it's great to get close with other godly adults that can be romance for you.
But you know what, don't let that just replace your parents
where now you're like comparing your parents.
Well, I don't like my parents.
I wish my parents were more like these other people.
You know what I'm saying?
You see the difference?
I'm not saying it's wrong.
Obviously, you know, it's great when we go over to our friend's house.
When I was a kid, when I was a teenager, I'd go over to friend's houses
and, you know, you'd enjoy having dinner with their family
and maybe you'd get some wisdom from their parents and hang around.
I get that's great.
Amen.
But not if you're going home and saying,
well, I just wish my parents would be more like so-and-so's parents
and you start comparing.
And guess what?
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Because, you know, these parents that you think are so much better than your parents,
they're probably not.
You just don't know.
And by the way, I don't care if they're a hundred times better.
They're not your parents.
Your parents are your parents.
You need to love your parents and honor your parents.
The Bible doesn't say honor a father and mother.
And it'll be well with you.
Is that what it says?
It says honor your father and mother.
Honor your father and mother.
And so today on Mother's Day, make sure that you honor your mother
because you don't want to be that guy that we just read about in Proverbs 30.
You want to be blessed.
You want it to be well with you.
You want your days to be long on the earth.
Don't waste your parents.
Take advantage of what they have to offer.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
And we thank you for our parents.
And Lord, I thank you so much for my mom.
And I thank you that I did have a godly Christian mom
that taught me so many important doctrines from the Bible
and just taught me life wisdom
and has been a good influence on me.
Lord, I thank you for my mom.
And I pray that everybody here would recognize the good things
that their mom has to offer
and not to go seeking out worldly heroes to tell them how to live
and finding some men's podcast to tell them how to live as a MGTOW.
But Lord, help them to get into the mom cast of mom actually telling them
how to live a Christian life.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen. If you need the words for this one, 176,
Jesus Loves the Little Children.
We'll sing it twice, 176.
Jesus Loves the Little Children
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
Amen. Great singing this morning. Yours missed.
Amen.