["In the Hall of the Mountain King"]
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Come on in and take a seat.
Four-twelve. Onward, Christian soldiers.
Four-one-two. We're going to sing it out on the first.
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before
Christ the royal master
Leads against the foe
Forward into battle
See his banner go
Onward, Christian soldiers
Marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before
That was a great start for this evening.
Four-hundred and twelve. Four-twelve on the second.
At the sign of triumph
Satan's host the flea
On then Christian soldiers
On to victory
Hell's foundations quiver
At the shout of praise
Brothers lift your voices
Loud your anthems raise
Sing it out!
Onward, Christian soldiers
Marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before
Okay everybody, we can't sing a march and a song about war without some strength.
Let's sing it out with some strength on the third.
Like a mighty army
Moves the church of God
Brothers we are treading
Where the saints have trod
We are not divided
A one body we
One in hope and doctrine
One in charity
Sing it out on that chorus.
Onward, Christian soldiers
Marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before
Finish strong on the fourth.
Onward then ye people
Join our happy throne
When with ours your voices
In the triumph sung
Glory, laud and honor
Unto Christ the King
This through countless ages
Men and angels sing
Sing it out!
Onward, Christian soldiers
Marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before
Great singing this evening.
We are so happy you are here and joining us for our Sunday evening service.
We like to call it the most exciting service of the week.
We are going to go ahead and open up with a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, thank you so much for this church.
I thank you so much for this evening and for all these church members who are out here faithfully serving you.
On a Sunday night we pray that you would bless the music and the preaching to come.
And that everything said and done tonight would bring glory and honor to your name.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Alright, well at this time we are going to sing favorites.
Which is where if you are selected we will sing a stanza from a song that you pick.
436 on the last.
436 the star spangled banner on the last.
Okay, well I think we have to stand up for this song pastor.
We are going to ask everybody to stand up.
We are going to sing the star spangled banner.
Hey, we are patriotic tonight. We are preaching about...
Okay, 436 star spangled banner on the last.
Oh, thus be it heaven when free men stand
Between thee their loved homes and the wondrous sight
Blessed by Jordan peace may the heaven rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just
And this be our motto and God is our trust
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave
Brother Salvador this is my first time doing favorites.
You picked a great one. Thank you for the challenge.
Alright, we are going to say that.
190 on the first. We are going to sing 190 on the first.
Wonderful, wonderful Jesus.
190, wonderful Jesus on the first.
There is never a day so dreary
There is never a night so long
But the soul that is trusting Jesus
Will somewhere find a song
Wonderful, wonderful Jesus
In the heart he implanteth a song
A song of deliverance of courage and strength
In the heart he implanteth a song
Miss Abigail, 198, 198, 198, joy unspeakable, 198 on the first.
198, joy unspeakable on the first.
I have found this grace is all complete
He supplyeth every need
While sit and learn at Jesus' feet
I am free, yes, free indeed. Sing it out.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory
Full of glory, full of glory
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory
All the half has never yet been told
Alright, Miss Andrea.
328, 328, I want that mountain.
328, song number 328.
I want that mountain.
Alright, on the first.
I saw the giant of prayerlessness up on the mountain high
He laughed so hard at my amended knee
No longer in the wilderness I'll say and so I cry
I want that mountain, it belongs to me
I want that mountain, I want that mountain
Where the milk and honey flow
Where the grapes of Esther grow
I want that mountain, I want that mountain
The mountain that my Lord has given me
Great singing.
Miss Laura Beth.
102, song number 102.
He hideth my soul.
Song number 102, he hideth my soul.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord
A wonderful Savior to me
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
Where rivers of pleasure I see
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows the dry thirsty land
He hideth my life in the depths of his love
And covers me there with his hand
Alright, this will be the last song this evening.
Brother J.
136, song number 136, Master the Temptist is Raging.
Just a couple pages over there.
136, 136, Master the Temptist is Raging.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Master the Temptist is Raging
The billows are tossing high
The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness
No shelter or help is nigh
Caris thou not that we perish?
How canst thou lie asleep?
With each moment so madly is threatening
A grave in the angry deep
The winds and the waves shall obey my will
Peace be still
Whether the wrath of the storm toss sea
Or demons or men or whatever it be
No water can swallow the ship where it lies
The master of ocean and earth and skies
They all shall sweetly obey my will
Peace be still
They all shall sweetly obey my will
Peace, peace be still
Great singing.
Amen, alright well let's go and take our bulletins
We'll look at some announcements real quickly
We're glad you're with us of course
For the Sunday evening service
If you do not have a bulletin just raise your hand
And one of our ushers can get one for you
If you need a bulletin just put your hand up
And we will get one for you
The verse this week, Matthew 633
But seek ye first the kingdom of God
And his righteousness and all these things
Shall be added unto you
And that's a good verse there
We like that
If you open up your bulletin
You'll see our service time
Sunday morning service 10 30 AM
We had a wonderful service this morning
We're glad you're back out tonight
For the evening service
And we of course invite you to be with us
On Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study
We call the Sunday night service
The most exciting service of the week
And we call the Wednesday evening service
The most encouraging service of the week
And we'd love for you to join us of course
On Wednesday night
If you look at our soul winning times
Our main soul winning time
Is on a Saturday morning
Is at 10 AM
We'd love for you to join us
For our big soul winning rally
Soul winning of course
Is when we go out in the community
We knock doors
We invite people to church
And we preach the gospel
To anyone who's interested
We also have additional soul winning times
On Thursdays and on Sundays at 2 PM
And if you are a soul winner
We want to remind you
Please make sure to add your salvation
So if you've got somebody saved
Add that on your communication card
And let us know
Turn it in
So we can get it updated in the bulletin
Make sure you
If you have a map that you did not finish
Make sure you clearly mark what was done
What was not done
And put it in the bin in the foyer
So we can get that recycled through
And get it done
And then of course if you're running late
To one of our soul winning meetings
You can call us at the number there
916-868-9080
Let us know that you're planning on being there
But you're running late
That way our soul winning captains
Can make sure they have
A partner and a map
And everything that you need
If you look at the announcements
And upcoming events
We of course
Have been going through a sermon series
On Sunday mornings
Called The Spirit World
And we've been studying
Heaven, hell, angels, demons
And we had a sermon on heaven
A sermon on hell
A sermon on angels
This morning
We had a sermon on demons
And next Sunday morning
Just in time for Halloween
We're gonna have a sermon
About the devil
And the Bible says that we should not be
Ignorant of the devil's devices
And it's good for us to know
Who our enemy is
We're gonna be learning
All about the devil next week
And then the week after that
We're gonna be studying
Spiritual warfare
And that'll wrap it up
For that sermon series
So we want to encourage you
To be here
For that on Sunday mornings
And then tonight
We are starting
A brand new sermon series
Called
It's kind of a long name
But it's called
God is not a republican
But the devil
Is a king
God is a king
But the devil
Is a democrat
And uh
Anyway
That's the title
I couldn't come up with something
Better than that
So
I'm assuming that's why we sing
The Star-Spangled Banner
I'm not sure
I tell the song leaders
We don't have to sing it
But if we're gonna sing it
We need to do it right
Uh
So
Anyway
I like The Star-Spangled Banner
But um
God is not a republican
But the devil's a democrat
Obviously we've got an election
Year coming up
We were about three weeks away
From the election
So I thought it'd be fun
For
Me to preach some of these
But
It's gonna be fun
Please understand
I strictly mean for me
I understand that most of you
Are not gonna like it
Um
But
I meant for me
Cause I need therapy sometimes
Harvest party
Uh
Is on Thursday
October 31st
At 6pm
And uh
We hope you'll join us
For the harvest party
And uh
That's of course
So you don't have to
Stay home
On Halloween night
Or do something like that
Uh
We'll have our annual chili
Cook-off
And games
Uh
So
You need to bring your chili
By 6pm
If you're gonna compete
You don't have to compete
You can just bring chili
Uh
Cause that's what we'll eat
For the evening
And we've got sign-up sheets
In the back
For
Uh
Corn
Corn bread
If you'd like to sign up to
Bring corn bread
Or dessert
We would appreciate your help
With that
We're gonna have
Of course
Pink pong
Cornhole
Um
Just all sorts of
Different games
And activities
For the kids
So
Anything
Some sort of a
Farming thing
I don't know
Uh
Just show up
Alright
It'll be great
And uh
I think you can pet the goats
Or feed the goats
Something like that
And uh
Also
Uh
The ladies and men's
Basketball game
Of course
The annual basketball game
So ladies
If you'd like to sign up
There's a sign-up sheet
In the back
Men
We don't have a sign-up sheet
For you
Cause nobody took the initiative
Men
So don't forget about that.
And then of course, other things there for you to look at.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays
and anniversaries for the month of October,
today is our deacon, Brother Oliver Gonzalez's birthday,
October 20th, I won't tell you how old he is today,
but he's very, very old.
And so you can ask him how old he is
and see if he tells you.
Tomorrow is Brother Abraham
in Miss Karen Jimenez's anniversary.
And then we have Liliana Pettis' birthday on October 22nd.
And we have Noelle Rosenberg's birthday on October 23rd.
We have Gi-Yoon Lin-Davidson's birthday on October 24th.
And Emma Gonzalez has a birthday on October 25th.
Praise Report, Money Matters,
all those things are there for you to look at.
And of course, if you're a first time guest,
if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church,
we're so glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you
as you walk out of the church building this morning.
As you go out our main foyer there,
you'll see a little table set up.
And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you
for being our guest tonight.
There are several resources in this bag
that we'd like you to have.
The one I like to highlight is this documentary
that our church made.
It's called Being Baptist.
It's very well made, very interesting.
We think you'll like it.
And we want to give this to you as a gift.
So please make sure you don't leave here
without grabbing one of the gift bags on the way out.
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you'd please
take a moment to fill out the communication card,
which is inserted in your bulletin.
And if you need a pen, you can just raise your hand.
One of our ushers will bring you by
a Verity Baptist Church pen.
You're welcome, of course, to keep the pen
as a gift from us as well.
We're not gonna do anything odd with your info.
We'd just like a record of your attendance.
We actually would like to send you a little gift,
but we need your information to do that.
So please take a moment to fill the card out.
When we're done with the announcements,
we're gonna sing a song.
When we're done singing, we're gonna receive the offering.
And as the offering plate goes by,
you can drop that card in the offering plate.
And I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So we're gonna go ahead and sing the chorus of the week,
which is the insert in your bulletin.
And we're gonna sing Rejoice in the Lord.
This is the kind of song you sing
with passion and purpose, all right?
So let's go ahead and sing it out.
On the first, God never moves.
Sing it out on the first.
God never moves without purpose or plan
when trying is served and molding is done.
Amen.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Seems long.
In darkness He giveth a song.
All rejoice in the Lord.
He makes no mistakes
With the end of each path that I take, for when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold.
Good, we're going to sing it out on the second. I'm going to ask, let's just slow it down just a tad bit if you don't mind. Sing it out on the second.
I could not see through the shadows ahead, so I looked at the cross of my Savior.
Instead, I bowed to the will. Master that day, then peace came and tears fled away. Good, sing it out.
Oh, rejoice in the Lord. He makes no mistake. He knoweth the end of each path that I take, for when I am tried and purified,
I shall come forth as gold. Good, sing it out on the last. Now I can see testing comes from above.
God strengthens His children and purges in love. My Father knows best in His care. Through purging, more fruit I will mare.
Good, sing it out.
I shall come forth as gold.
Amen, good singing. Before the guys come up, I would like to remind you that we, of course, are a family-integrated church.
If you've got kids that are making some noise or needing some attention, we've got mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms throughout the building.
Make sure you use those. Also, make sure you turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction during the preaching.
Right now would be a good time to check your phone and make sure that it's on silent. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for the freedom to be able to gather together.
Lord, we pray that you would bless the offering, bless the preaching of your word.
Lord, we ask that you would help us to learn, to grow, to draw closer to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Please open up to Genesis 12.
Genesis 12, if you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and an usher can bring you a Bible.
Genesis 12, just keep your hand up as you will come by.
Genesis 12, we'll read the entire chapter as our custom.
Genesis 12, beginning at verse number 1.
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and lot went with him.
And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran.
And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, into the land of Canaan they came.
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shikum, unto the place of Mori, and the Canaanite was then in the land.
And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land, and there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Haai on the east.
And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south, and there was a famine in the land.
And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.
And it came to pass, when he was come here to enter into Egypt, that he sent unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.
Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
Say, I pray thee, Thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee.
And it came to pass, that when Abram was coming to Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman, that she was very fair.
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
And he entreated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep and oxen and heasses, and menservants and maidservants, and sheasses and camels.
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me she was thy wife?
Why sayest thou, She is my sister? So I might have taken her to me to wife. Now therefore, behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word, and for our church.
I ask that you please meet with us tonight, and I ask that you be their pastor. Please strengthen him, and fill him with spirit.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. All right. Well, we're there in Genesis chapter number 12, and like we've been announcing,
tonight I'm starting a very unique sermon series, just a short sermon series, three weeks.
We have three weeks before the election, and generally speaking, every four years before an election,
I'll preach something along these lines, and of course, I've entitled this series, God is Not a Republican,
but the Devil is a Democrat, and we're going to be looking at some of these things over the next few weeks,
and this is not, you know, the first time I've preached something like this.
Several years ago, I preached a sermon called God is Not an American, and I can honestly tell you,
I probably got more hate from that one sermon from a bunch of Americans that didn't like the sermon,
but anyway, I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to preach the word of God, and I want to spend a few weeks on this,
and tonight I'm going to speak on the subject of God is Not a Republican,
and next week I'll speak on the subject of the Devil is a Democrat.
Week three, which will be right before the election, I'm still deciding what I'm going to talk about,
but I've got some ideas of things that I'd like to hit on.
When it comes to the Republicans and the Democrats, there's, you know, and people often, sometimes people get offended,
like, I don't think you'd be preaching about politics in church. Well, when you're the pastor, then don't do it.
I don't, there is a line that you're not supposed to cross when it comes to politics,
but honestly, we come so, we're so far away from that line here at Verity Baptist Church
that I'm not worried about a three-week series.
There's many Baptist churches where politics comes up every single week,
and that's definitely not something that happens here.
When it comes to the Republicans and the Democrats, they obviously differ on a lot of things,
and I'm going to be very honest with you up front.
The reason that the sermon, the series is entitled God is Not a Republican, but the Devil is a Democrat
is because obviously the Republicans, as far as lining up with the Word of God and the Bible,
they are more right than the Democrats on many issues, and that's my opinion.
I think that's probably the opinion of most Christians.
So, when it comes to economic issues, for example, high taxes, progressive taxes, welfare programs,
the Republicans tend to be on the right side of that, and I mean the correct side of that,
more than the Democrats. Social issues like LGBTQ, abortions, Republicans tend to be more on the correct side of that,
which is the right side of that.
And on government regulations, big government versus limited government and things of that nature,
the Republicans tend to be on the correct side of that.
And to be very honest with you, when I decided to preach the sermon series,
I had in my mind, I had this old style Republican in my mind, like the George Bush Republican Party,
which I was just like, this is going to be so easy, this is going to be a piece of cake,
preaching against the Republicans is not going to be difficult.
And then when I actually began to study for the sermon series,
and I started reading the revised Republican platform and things of that,
obviously, I'm going to be very honest with you, the Republicans have gotten a lot better, I think, than they used to be.
And even under Donald Trump, and maybe because of Donald Trump, they have gotten a lot better,
and I'm going to give them props where they deserve it.
So they're not just the most terrible thing in the world, but there are some things,
and specifically two issues I want to talk about tonight.
There are two issues I would like to speak about that may surprise you,
if you spend more time watching Fox News than reading the Bible,
that the Republican Party does not stand, or their stance goes against what the Bible teaches
and what God thinks. And that's why I say God is not a Republican,
because there are some things the Bible teaches that are different than the Republican Party stands for,
and the stance that they take.
And let me just give a bunch of disclaimers up front,
because obviously this is a conservative Baptist church, preaching against the Republican Party is like,
you know, trying to split the church or whatever, and I'm not necessarily trying to do that.
First of all, let me just say, tonight it may feel like I'm picking on the Republicans, because I am,
but next week I'm going to be preaching a sermon entitled, The Devil is a Democrat.
All right, so you'll feel better about it. It'll be their turn next week.
And I would just say this, stay with me, don't get mad, don't tune out, don't, you know, do any of those things.
Just, you can disagree with me, but I think if you listen to what I have to say, you won't disagree with my conclusions.
I think that you'll see what the Bible is teaching.
So, all I ask, and it doesn't matter, look, you can walk out of here singing, you know,
I'm proud to be an American or whatever, when the service is over, and I'm not going to be mad at you, okay?
But all I would ask is, just listen to the end, have an open mind, and open yourself to the word of God,
and what the Bible says. That's all I'm asking.
A few more disclaimers, because some of you are wondering, yes, I am a U.S. citizen.
Yes, I served honorably in the United States Air Force, which I only bring that up to say that I think that makes me more patriotic than most of you.
So, I was deployed to Qatar, I don't know, does that allow me to preach the sermon? I don't know.
We sang the Star-Spangled Banner, okay? Good night. That should give us some points somewhere.
So, let's talk about the Republican Party, and the fact that God is not an American, excuse me, that's a different sermon,
that's a sermon, that was a sermon during COVID, that God is not a Republican.
I should preach that sermon again, though, that was a good sermon, I thought.
Let me give you two thoughts. Number one, where the Republican stance is different than the Biblical stance or the stance of God.
And again, for some of you, some of you are going to be like, I know this, I know this, okay, I know, you know everything.
But for some of you, this may be new, and it's good for us to be reminded of these things, to learn these things.
So, if you're taking notes, and I encourage you to take notes, then you can write these things down.
Number one, let's talk about the Republican stance on Israel, the Republican stance on Israel.
Let me read to you, I'm not going to read to you an article, I'm just going to read to you a headline from the Times of Israel,
and here's what they, a headline to an article that they wrote recently, says this,
GOP, which is referring to the Republican Party, the grand old party,
GOP platform pledges to stand with Israel, deport pro-Hamas radicals from U.S.
And the Republican Party, as a party, has a stance where they stand with Israel, with the nation of Israel.
And there's probably, I think, two reasons for this.
There's a spiritual argument, and there's a political argument, and I'd like to speak about both.
We'll begin, of course, with the spiritual argument, and the spiritual argument is this, that we must bless Israel.
That we need to stand with Israel, we need to bless Israel.
Now why is it that the Republican Party believes this?
And the reason that most Republicans believe this, and I just want to be clear about this,
this is not what Donald Trump's going to say.
This is not what the leadership of the Republican Party is going to say,
but the reason that they stand with Israel is because of the fact that the majority of the Republican base are evangelical Christians,
and most evangelical Christians think they're supposed to support Israel due to the Abrahamic Covenant.
Now you're there in Genesis chapter 12, and I want us to start here because this is where we find the Abrahamic Covenant.
Genesis chapter 12 and verse 1, the Bible says,
Of course, this is when God comes to Abraham, calls him out of his homeland to go to a new land, verse 2,
Look at verse 3,
I want you to notice that this is what's commonly referred to as the Abrahamic Covenant, and it is.
This is a covenant that God made with Abraham, and God promised Abraham, and God told Abraham,
and he commanded Abraham to come out of the land that he was from, and he told him to go to a land that he knew not of,
that God would direct him, and that he would make of thee a great nation,
Now, what happens is that Christians today look at this Abrahamic Covenant and say,
Well, because the Bible says, I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that cursed thee,
then we're supposed to bless the nation of Israel, because the nation of Israel, according to them,
are the physical descendants of Abraham, and we're supposed to bless Abraham and bless his nation,
and if we bless Abraham, then God will bless us, and if we curse him, he will curse us.
Now, a couple of thoughts on this, and actually, first of all, let me just read to you from another article.
Here's an article entitled, Evangelical Republicans Favor Pro-Israel Policies at Odds with Majority of Americans,
including Non-Evangelical Republicans.
Here's an excerpt from the article.
It says, A new poll shows that in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
an overwhelming 77% of Evangelical Republicans want the United States to lean towards Israel,
as compared to 29% of Americans overall, and 36% of non-Evangelical Republicans.
In contrast, 66% of all Americans and 60% of non-Evangelical Republicans
want the United States to lean towards neither side.
So when it comes to leaning towards Israel, favoring Israel, wanting to favor Israel,
involve ourselves in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, and all these things,
the reason that the Republican party often stands with Israel is because of the fact that the majority of the Republican base
are Evangelical Christians, and they think, you know, they're going to church every week,
and being taught that, I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that cursed thee,
and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Now, the Bible, and I've often taught this throughout, the Bible serves as its own dictionary.
And the Bible serves as its own commentary.
The Bible tells us what the Bible means.
We're supposed to compare spiritual things with spiritual, and allow the Bible to tell us what it is that these things mean.
The first thing I would say, when you look at the Abrahamic Covenant,
and look, I believe in the Abrahamic Covenant, it's a covenant that God made with Abraham.
But I want you to notice verse number three.
It says, and I will bless them that bless, and if you have a beautiful King James Bible on your lap,
you'll see this word, thee.
Now, oftentimes people will say, oh, the King James Bible is so antiquated.
I can't understand all those thou's, and all those these.
It doesn't make any sense.
Well, here's one reason why we should not get rid of our King James Bible.
Because of the fact that since 1611, since the time of Shakespeare, the English language has been in decline.
The English language has gotten worse.
I mean, just listen to some of you talk.
The English language is deteriorating, and I believe one of the reasons that the King James Bible, God in his providence,
chose for the King James Bible to be translated at the time that it did,
is because at that time, the language of the English people was at its climax.
That's why you have Shakespeare.
That's why you have things of that nature around the same time frame.
And notice what the Bible says.
It says, and I will bless them that bless thee.
Now, the King James Bible does not just update the language to say it the way you and I would say it,
because we would say, and I will bless them that bless you.
The problem with saying you is that in our modern vernacular, the word you is used for both singular and plural.
Meaning, I could be talking to one individual and say, hey, you.
Or I could be talking to multiple people and say, you guys, you people.
The word you can be used in our modern vernacular as both singular and plural.
In our King James Bible, the word ye is only plural.
You see the word ye, you see the word you in the Bible, you know it's plural.
You see the word thou, you see the word thee, it's singular and it's only singular.
This is one reason why the King James Bible is superior than modern Bible languages.
Because when you see in the King James Bible, go ye into all the world, you know he wasn't just talking to one person.
He used the word ye, he's talking to all of us, it's plural.
But when we come to the Abrahamic Covenant and we read these words, and I will bless them that bless thee.
That's one person, that's Abraham.
Which is why it's called the Abrahamic Covenant.
I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that cursed thee.
And here's the result of the Covenant, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
So notice the Abrahamic Covenant is not, you want to get blessed, you bless the nation of Israel.
No, the Abrahamic Covenant is this, God said I'm going to bless you Abraham, the Abraham,
and because of thee all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Well how does that happen? How does that come about?
Go with me if you watch the book of Galatians in the New Testament, Galatians chapter number 3.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians.
You find 1st and 2nd Corinthians in the New Testament, right after that you have the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter number 3.
The majority of the Republican base are Evangelical Christians.
And the majority of Evangelical Christians support Israel due to their belief that the Abrahamic Covenant teaches that we must bless Israel.
Here's the thing about that, the majority of Evangelical Christians are wrong.
The Bible does not teach this, the Bible is clear about this, and if you're going to let the Bible define itself, I think you can't argue Scripture.
Look at Galatians chapter 3, we could look at this from a lot of different references, I'm not going to take the time to do that,
but look at Galatians chapter number 3, and look at verse 14, Galatians chapter 3.
I'm not, I could preach a whole sermon on this one subject, I'm not going to do that because I've got other things I need to get to,
but I think this just proves it without a doubt. Galatians 3, 14. That, the blessing of Abraham. Isn't that what we just saw, Genesis 12?
In Galatians, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is about to explain to us,
because remember we compare spiritual things with spiritual. The Bible is its own commentary, the Bible is its own dictionary.
He's about to explain to us the Abrahamic covenant. Here's what he says, that the blessing of Abraham, that's a reference to the Abrahamic covenant,
might come on the, what's that next word? Gentiles. No, no, no, we're supposed to bless Israel.
Well, nobody let Paul in on that information. Well, I went to Bible college and I took a Bible college class and they said,
well Paul must have skipped that Bible college class because Paul said that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles.
You say, well how's that? How can the blessing of Abraham, how can the covenant of Abraham come on the Gentiles?
Here's how, through Jesus Christ. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.
That we, this is Paul, a Jew, speaking to Galatian Gentile believers, and he says that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but, look at the words here, a man's covenant.
We're talking about the Abrahamic covenant. Yet if it be confirmed, no man disannoyeth or addeth thereto.
Look at verse 16. This is really the verse I want you to see. Now to Abraham and his seed.
Because what they tell us is the Abrahamic covenant is all about Abraham's seed. It's about the Jews. We're supposed to bless the Jews. We're supposed to bless Israel.
Here's what the Bible says. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not and to seeds, plural, as of many.
You say, what is Paul explaining right now? Here's what he's explaining. He's explaining to you the exact same thing I explained to you when I pointed out the word the.
That this is unique to one person. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ.
So according to Paul in Galatians chapter 3, what is the Abrahamic covenant about?
The Abrahamic covenant is about the fact that God was going to bless Abraham. He was going to make him a great nation.
I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that cursed thee.
And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. How is it that in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed?
Because in thee will come the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And anyone who believes on him will be blessed, Jew and Gentile.
There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.
So the Abrahamic covenant, let me let you in on a little secret, is about Christ.
You say, well I want the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant, then bless Christ. And bless those who are in Christ.
You say, but aren't the Jews God's chosen people? They were, the nation of Israel, the Hebrew people, the nation of Israel, later known as the Jewish people,
were under the old covenant the chosen nation that God chose. And we've preached extensively on this, I've taught on this, we went through the whole book of Hebrews.
The old covenant has been done away with and God has torn down the wall of division between Jew and Gentile. Everyone is welcomed in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me just be clear about something. We're not talking about a race here. We're talking about a religion.
Because sometimes, you know, you preach this, especially in the new IFP, you preach this and then you get all these, you know, anti-Semites excited.
Nothing I'm saying right now is anti-Semitic. I'm way too brown to be hanging out with a bunch of skinheads and a bunch of white nationalists. I'm not into that.
I'm not talking about, you know, hating on the Jews just because they're Jews. Look, the Jews are sinners like anyone else.
They need Jesus just like the Muslims need Jesus, just like the Hindus need. You say the Muslim heathen, he needs Jesus. The Hindu heathen, he needs Jesus.
You know who else needs Jesus? The white heathen. The American heathen. The brown heathen. The black heathen. They all need Jesus.
The Abrahamic Covenant is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's all I'm saying. Here's all I'm saying.
I'm not saying we need to be against a group of people just to be against a group of people.
But if you're trying to tell me that we as Christians need to arbitrarily stand with Israel just because of the Abrahamic Covenant, you're wrong.
God is no respecter of persons. And God is not up in heaven saying, man, I really wish those Republicans were standing with Israel.
You know what Jesus called them? He called them the synagogue of Satan. You say, why? Because the religion rejects Christ.
Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-Christ that denies both the Father and the Son.
The word Christ means Messiah. And the Bible teaches that the Jews religion is an anti-Christ religion because of the fact that they deny that Jesus is the Christ.
What does it take to deny that Jesus is the Christ? It means you have to believe that there is a Christ, that there is a Messiah, but it's not Jesus.
That's exactly what the Jews religion, the Judeo religion teaches.
And again, don't take it overboard and, you know, go become some white whatever. You're going to do that not with me.
As far as race or whatever, we're all sinners and we all need Jesus Christ.
But as far as the religion, and here's the point I'm trying to make, we as Christians should not be giving Jewish people some free pass like, oh, they're special.
God is no respecter of persons. You say, it doesn't matter what descendancy you are, if you reject Jesus you will die and go to hell.
So as far as the spiritual argument, that spiritual argument falls apart because there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
None of that matters in Jesus Christ. We can all come to Jesus Christ and the whole world.
And even all the way back in the book of Genesis, that in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Aren't you thankful for that?
So there's a spiritual argument. And look, again, I'm saying, because the Republican party, they're like, well we've got to bless Israel because they're the Abrahamic covenant and descendants of Jews.
I'm just telling you, God's not a Republican and he's not up in heaven saying like, okay, yeah. God's up in heaven like, no, no, that's about Jesus.
That's about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise was made, and he saith not, and to seed as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Praise God.
So when it comes to the spiritual argument as to why we stand with Israel, there is no argument. There is no biblical argument to stand with Israel.
There's no biblical argument to stand with anybody but the Lord Jesus Christ. There's also a political argument. Go to Joshua chapter 9.
If you want Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua. Joshua chapter 9. Now let me just tell you right now, if you're already triggered and offended, it's just going to get worse.
I'm starting with the, like this should be the, this is me winning over the crowd, okay. So if it's not working, now it's not going to work.
Joshua chapter 9. The political argument, because if you were to ask the leadership of the Republican Party, you know, they're not going to just give that as a statement, you know, why do you stand with Israel?
Genesis chapter 12. You know, they're not going to say that. I mean, some of them weren't, I suppose.
The political argument is this, that we must stand with Israel because they're our greatest ally in the Middle East.
We have to stand with Israel because they're our greatest ally in the Middle East. Now, a couple things.
Number one, it doesn't take a lot to be our greatest ally in the Middle East. You know, it doesn't take a lot to shine above Afghanistan and Iran and Iraq, okay.
That's like me saying, I like Donald Trump more than Kamala Harris. Well, yeah, I do like Donald Trump more than Kamala Harris, but that's a very low threshold.
It doesn't take much to be liked more than Kamala Harris. So, the argument is they're our greatest ally in the Middle East.
The Bible gives us a story, the Bible actually talks a lot about allies and things of that nature.
I just want to show you one story that kind of highlights the dangers of alliances.
Joshua chapter 9, verse 3.
And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, this is Joshua chapter 9, verse 3.
This is after Joshua had great victories in Jericho and Ai.
Verse 4, they did work wily. That word means deceitfully. Remember wily, coyote?
They did work wily and went and made as if they had been ambassadors and took old sacks upon their asses and wine bottles, old and rent and bound up.
Look at verse 5, and old shoes and clouded upon their feet and old garments upon them and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.
And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal and said unto him and to the men of Israel, we become from a far country.
Now that's a lie. Remember they're working wily.
They're actually very close to Joshua.
But they grab all these old clothes, old food, old raiment and they just get real dirty and they come to Joshua and they look like they've been traveling for a long time.
They're working wily. They're being deceitful.
And they come to Joshua and they say, we become from a far country, now therefore make ye a leave with us.
Look at verse 14. Just for sake of time, I'm not going to read the whole story. Look at verse 14.
And the men, this is the men of Israel, took their victuals, so took their food and their supplies.
They saw that the bread was moldy. They saw that it was all old.
And here's where they made their mistake. And I would say this is probably, we've been preaching a lot about prayer lately.
Remember every problem in your life is a prayer problem.
Well, this is where they made their mistake and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.
So they didn't go to God and say, hey God, do you want us to form an alliance with these people?
It looks like they're really far away because God didn't want them to form alliances with people that were near them because they were supposed to conquer the people that were near them.
Look at verse 15. And Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them and let them live and the princes of the congregation swear unto them.
Now I'm not going to take the time to read the rest of the chapter, but later on Joshua finds out that they just lived down the street.
And the men of Israel get really upset. They want to go kill them and Joshua says, no, we can't kill them. We've made a league.
We've given our word. We have to, and they make them hearers of stone. They make them servants.
But you say, well, what's the big deal about alliances? What's the big deal about creating leagues with other nations?
Well, look at chapter 10 and verse 5. Joshua chapter 10 and verse 5.
Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lakish, the king of Eglon,
gathered themselves together and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon.
This is the Gibeonites. These are the people that just made a league with the nation of Israel in chapter 9.
And made war against it, look at verse 6, and the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp of Gilgal saying,
slack not thy hand from thy servants, come up to us quickly and save us and help us for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.
And again, we won't take the time to read the whole chapter, but Joshua has to come and get involved in this battle and get involved in this fight.
Why? Because he made a league with them. Because he formed an alliance with them.
And what God is telling Joshua, God tells Joshua, you should have prayed about this. You should not have formed an alliance with them.
You should not have formed a league with them. And look, we as a nation need to be careful.
America wants to sit here and be the police of the whole world and create all these alliances, but these alliances are going to get us into wars that we don't need to be involved in.
Combat that we don't need to be involved in. And I know that everybody out there just wants to act like, I'm some big macho man in war and blah, blah, blah.
But let me let you in on a little secret. Real young men die. Real young men give their lives, real human beings.
Because some politician wants to make some contract with someone. And you say, you sound very unpatriotic.
You know, you were born in Venezuela. You must be one of these Venezuelan gangs.
Well, you tell me who sounds unpatriotic. Because in George Washington's, remember that guy, George Washington?
In George Washington's farewell address to the people of the United States on Monday, September 19, 1796, as he was leaving office, here's what he said.
Here's what George Washington said. You don't think I'm patriotic? How about the father of the nation?
Here's what he said. It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
You're not very patriotic. I don't think you can get more patriotic than George Washington.
And this is what George Washington said. Fact check me. I'm not Donald Trump. I'm not afraid of that.
Fact check me if you don't believe it. Here's what George Washington said on Monday, September 19, 1796.
An address to the people of the United States, his famous farewell address, because he didn't have to leave office, he chose to leave office, he chose to give up power, which is obviously a great feature of the United States.
And he said it is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
You say, ah, well, that was George Washington. Maybe he wasn't so patriotic. I mean, he just won the Revolutionary War.
Okay. Well, how about this one? Citing George Washington's farewell address as his inspiration, Jefferson described the doctrine as this.
So this is what Thomas Jefferson said, citing George Washington's quote, it is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
Thomas Jefferson then said this, based off that inspiration, he said this, peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.
That's what Thomas Jefferson said. Well, I don't know how patriotic he was. He wrote the Declaration of Independence.
The same guy that penned the words, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,
that same guy said, peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.
That's what the founding fathers believed. I'm not saying they were great. I'm just saying, if you want to talk about patriotism, I don't think you can get more patriotic than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
They warned us against entangling alliances. Can somebody please explain to me how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Bosnia,
the assassination of one politician who wasn't even that high of a politician, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, gets killed, murdered, assassinated in Bosnia.
How does that plummet the world into chaos? How does that entangle the entire world into a conflict that would cross every border, every country, affect the entire world,
then known as the Great War, now known as World War I? How did that happen? I'll tell you exactly how it happened. Entangling alliances.
Some guy nobody even knows about gets killed somewhere, but because his country had an alliance with that country, and then they got involved, and then of course the other people had to get involved,
because they had an agreement with this person, and that person had an agreement, and before you know it, the whole world is at war. More human beings died than had ever died in a conflict at that time.
Thomas Jefferson said at the beginning of this thing, honest friendship with all nations entangling alliances with none.
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
And look, if your belief is, well, we've got to stand with Israel because they're our ally, you know, the question we need to ask ourselves is do we need to have all these alliances?
There are some people who believe that we may be on the verge of World War III right now. I mean with Israel at war with Hezbollah, Iran involving itself in that,
with the war between Russia and Ukraine and China recently involving themselves in that. Why? Because of an alliance.
And then other countries are going to get involved and say, well, we have an alliance here, and we have an alliance there, and here's what happens, real human beings die for stupidity.
For something that's not needed, something that's not real. So, I would say to you, and none of this is an endorsement of Kamala Harris, please, wait till next week.
But I would say to you that when it comes to the Republican party's stance on Israel, God is not a Republican.
God does not look at the nation of Israel as anything different than any other nation, as anything different than any other people.
Their religion is false like the Hindus, like the Muslims, like the Mormons, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, like any other false religion that denies Christ.
And there's no biblical reason to stand with Israel. There's no biblical reason to hate them just because they're Jews or ethnic or whatever.
But there's also no biblical reason to have alliances with anybody and to entangle ourselves in these matters of world affairs.
And obviously, if we are attacked, we should defend ourselves. Obviously, we understand those things and all those things are true.
But when it comes to the Republican party, the Republican stance on the nation of Israel does not align itself with the word of God.
And I'm here to let you in on a little secret. God is not a registered Republican. Number one.
Number two. Now, here's where it's going to get real bad, all right? And I just, I can already, I mean, there might be fist fights or something afterwards and that's okay.
I think these guys are supposed to take a bullet from me or something. I'm not sure. Number two.
The Republican stance on immigration. The Republican stance on immigration. And again, I know that this is controversial, whatever.
Just let me explain and then you can hate me after. Write me an email. My staff will read it.
The Republican stance on immigration. Let me just read to you from the Pew Research Center.
Republicans and Democrats differ over the most pressing priorities for the nation's immigration system.
This is what I was telling you. The Israel thing, that was just easing you into this.
The Republican Democrats differ over the most pressing priorities for the nation's immigration system.
Republicans place particular importance on the border security and deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally,
while the Democrats place greater importance on paths to legal status for those who enter the country illegally,
especially those who entered as children, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
Here's another article. It says there is a greater overall support in the Democratic Party for a moratorium on deporting or offering a pathway to citizenship to certain undocumented immigrants,
for example, those with no criminal record who have lived in the US for five plus years.
The article goes on to say this. Republicans are generally against amnesty for any undocumented immigrants.
They also oppose President Obama's executive order that put a moratorium on deporting certain workers.
Republicans also fund stronger enforcement actions at the border.
So the Republican Party has a certain stance on immigration. And let me just say this up front.
I don't disagree with all of it, obviously. But when it comes to these things, what we need to begin is we always need to begin here as Christians, as believers.
What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? Let me just quickly give you, just as quickly as I can, a biblical stance for immigration from the word of God.
Go with me if you would to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 19. If you're there in Joshua, if you go backwards, you're going to go past Deuteronomy, past Numbers, past Leviticus.
I know I've already, some of you have already tuned out and that's fine. Leviticus 19. Let me just give you a biblical paradigm, a biblical stance on immigration.
Look, here's all I ask. Look at what the Bible says and tell me that I'm not teaching you the word of God right now. Because the Bible speaks for itself.
Let me give you some thoughts. Four thoughts on the biblical stance on immigration and then I'll make some applications. Then you can write your hate mail and we can go.
Number one, we'll look at Leviticus 19 verse 33. If a stranger, now the word stranger in our King James Bible is the word that you and I would use would be foreigner.
Someone who comes from a foreign country. If a stranger sojourn, the word sojourn means they're dwelling among you, they're journeying with you.
If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, here's what the Bible says, ye shall not vex him. The word vex means to trouble, to distress, to harass.
If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. Here's the first idea we get from the word of God in regards to immigration.
This is not illegal immigration. It's just immigration in general. People migrating from one place to another.
The Bible teaches that the foreigner and the immigrant should be welcomed.
We should have a welcoming nation, or at the very least the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, which was the only nation God founded and the only nation that God gave documents for.
So we want to know what God thinks about how a country should be ran. We can look at the Old Testament nation of Israel and say well here's how God would do it because here's how God did it.
And according to the word of God, the foreigners and the migrants should be welcomed because he says if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.
Look at verse 34. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Now look, I did not sneak into your Bible and input Leviticus 19.34. It's been there and if you would have read your Bible like I've been telling you to, you would have read it on your own.
Before the election year. But what God says is that the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you.
So the first principle we see from not a republican stance on immigration but a biblical stance on immigration is that the foreigner and the migrant should be welcomed.
Number two, there should be no double standard for the home born versus the foreigner. It says that the stranger that dwelleth with thee shall be unto you as one born among you.
Now let me just be clear about that. Because in order to become a part of the nation of Israel, you have to convert to their belief system.
You have to get circumcised, you have to worship at the temple, worship at the tabernacle. You have to do those things.
So when the Bible says here that he shall be unto you as one born among you, it doesn't mean that like, oh they came into the nation of Israel, now they're an Israelite.
That's not how it worked because they had to do certain things to convert and to become a Hebrew and to become part of the nation of Israel.
So it's not talking about the fact that they're here now so they just need to be considered part of the nation of Israel.
Now I want to make that clear because the equivalent for us, obviously we don't live in a country that has a religion as its main religion.
But I think that the equivalent for us would be like citizenship. It doesn't mean that just because somebody is so journeying with us they just automatically become a citizen.
I don't believe that's what this passage is saying and when you compare it to other portions of scripture, the fact that people could sojourn and they were not part of the nation of Israel,
unless they got circumcised, unless they converted to the religion of Israel, then they were part of the nation of Israel.
So I think what the Bible is teaching here is just what it's saying, that the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you.
Meaning that even if they're a foreigner and they're not a citizen or they're not part of the nation of Israel, you should just treat them the same.
There should not be a double standard for the home born versus the foreigner. We're not talking about their status, are they a citizen or not a citizen.
It just means that everyone should be able to just do the same things. That's what God says.
Go to Leviticus 24. Just stick with me, alright. It don't make sense. Leviticus 24.
You know that the stuff I preach to you is not a bunch of crap. I don't just get up here and just say a bunch of stuff that doesn't make any sense.
You know I study these things out. Just wait and you'll be fine. Leviticus 24, look at verse 22.
Number one, the foreigner and the immigrant should be welcomed. Number two, there should be no double standards for the home born versus the foreigner.
Here's another proof of that. Leviticus 24, 22.
Ye shall have one manner of law as well for the stranger, the foreigner, as for one of your own country, for I am the Lord your God.
Now look, it's pretty clear. It's pretty basic. There should not be a double standard. Everybody should be treated the same no matter what country they were born in.
If they're here, the law should apply to everyone equally.
Go to Exodus chapter 12. If you go backwards you have Leviticus and then Exodus. Exodus chapter 12.
God talks a lot about this. I just want to show you some passages. Look at verse 49. Exodus chapter 12 and look at verse 49.
Exodus chapter 12 and verse 49. The Bible says, one law shall be to him that is home born and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
So again, God is emphasizing this over and over. There should be no double standard for the home born versus the foreigner.
That doesn't mean that they're citizens or their status because that wasn't true of the nation of Israel either.
But it's just the way in a practical, the way they live, the way they go about life, the way they work, the things they do, there shouldn't be a double standard.
So here's what the Bible teaches about immigration. Foreigners and immigrants should be welcomed. There should be no double standard for home born versus foreigners.
Here's number three. Go to Exodus 22. Look at verse 21. And we've already kind of seen this but I just want to show it to you from other passages.
Exodus 22, 21. Thou shalt neither vex, remember that means to trouble, distress, harass a stranger, nor oppress him. Why? Why can't we vex them? Why can't we oppress them?
Here's the reason that God gives. For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. He says you were a foreigner in somebody else's land and they mistreated you.
So make sure you don't mistreat foreigners that come to your land. We've already seen this. You don't have to go back there but in Leviticus 19, 34 he said for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
In Exodus 22, 21 we just saw for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Look at Exodus 23 and verse 9. Exodus 23 and verse 9 says this.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger for ye know the heart of a foreigner seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
So here's the third biblical principle on immigration. Number one, foreigners and immigrants should be welcomed. Number two, there should be no double standards for the home born versus the foreigner.
Number three, a nation of immigrants should have compassion for immigrants. Now God applies that to the nation of Israel because he says you were a foreigner in a different land.
You were a stranger in a different land and you were mistreated in that land and God says you should have some compassion when foreigners come to your land.
Since you were a stranger, you should not vex, you should not oppress, you should not have double standards for foreigners.
And you say well we're not the nation of Israel, we weren't foreigners in Egypt. But here's the point. The point that he's making is this, a nation of immigrants should have compassion for immigrants.
Hmm, I wonder if that applies to the United States of America. Let me let you in on a little secret. This is a country of immigrants.
Unless you're an Indian, excuse me, a Native American, you say well I'm an American whose grandparents or great-grandparents migrated here from Ireland and England and the Dutch islands and France and Germany.
Right? This is a nation of immigrants. Let me let you in on a little secret. And I think these things apply to us that we, who are a nation of immigrants, should have compassion for immigrants.
We, who are a nation of migrants, because unless your name is, you know, housed with dogs and you're like, you know, Cherokee or something, I mean I guess that guy can be like build a wall, get them all out.
But everyone else is like, you're an immigrant. And you say, I was born here. Yeah, but you came from migrants.
And here's all I'm saying, here's all God's saying, that a nation of immigrants should have compassion for immigrants.
Number four, go to Proverbs chapter 14. Proverbs chapter 14. If you go, if you find the center of the Bible, you're more than likely following the book of Psalms. After Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs.
By the way, they built walls and put the actual, you know, Native Americans that were here inside of reservations. So anyway, I'm sure I'm a whatever just for bringing that up. Whatever.
You should start thinking before you speak. Proverbs 14, 28. Here's what the Bible says. Proverbs 14, 28. In the multitude of people is the king's honor, but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.
I'm just, look, you do what you want with it. You vote for whoever you want. I don't care who you vote for. We live in California. Your vote doesn't matter.
So do what you want. And if you're watching me from Pennsylvania or whatever, you know, do what you got to do. Whatever. I'm not against you.
I'm just explaining to you what the Bible teaches about these things. Number one, foreigners and immigrants should be welcome. Number two, there should be no double standards for home-born versus foreigners.
Number three, a nation of immigrants should have compassion on immigrants. Number four, a nation is stronger with a growing populace.
Now look at Proverbs 14, 28. In the multitude of people is the king's honor. Here's what the Bible is saying. A king is stronger. A king is a political leader.
He is stronger when his nation has more people. Then God says it this way. But in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.
When there's a want of people, when there's a decline in people, that is not good for a nation. That will bring the destruction of the prince, of the political class. It will bring destruction.
Here's what the Bible teaches. A nation is stronger with a growing populace. Now look, you may not like it. You don't have to like it. I don't care. I'm not running for president. You have to vote for me.
But a nation needs to be growing. And if we have this idea that says we're going to deport all these people, get rid of all these people, and I'm not necessarily saying that that doesn't need to happen, just listen to me. Just listen to me.
Do you understand that the American population is in decline? I'm not talking about Verity Baptist Church with our six kids. We're doing fine.
But do you understand that the average American is having less and less kids? The average American home is having one, two children. Oftentimes no children.
We've got these baby boomers who boomed right after World War II. They're all going to be going into retirement, going into retirement, getting out of the economy. They're not going to be paying taxes. They're going to have to be taken care of.
Who's going to pay for this? Their children. There's more of them than there is children. This is what the Bible's talking about. In the multitude of people is the king's honor.
But in the want of people is destruction of the prince. And here's what I'm saying. You take it however you want. I'm just saying to you, a nation is stronger with a growing populace.
By the way, let me just say this. Every organization is stronger with a growing populace. Churches are stronger with a growing populace. Nations are stronger with a growing populace.
This is what the Bible teaches. Now look, you don't have to like it. I'm just telling you. You fight with God. God wrote this, not me. I'm just here. I'm just telling you.
Go to Nehemiah chapter 13. If you go backwards, keep your place in Proverbs. Do me a favor. Keep your place in Proverbs. We're going to come right back to it. Keep your place in Proverbs and go to Nehemiah.
If you go backwards from Nehemiah, you've got Psalms, Job, Esther, Nehemiah. Psalms, Job, Esther, Nehemiah. I promise you, you're going to like the Democrats a lot better. You're going to be fine. It's going to be good.
I mean, Hillary Clinton, it's going to be great. Nehemiah 13, please. Nehemiah 13, verse 23.
Now, I want you to see something because I've been showing you all these laws, right, from Leviticus, Deuteronomy, about how immigrants are going to be treated.
We saw Proverbs. It's just wisdom, a wisdom book. In the multitude of people is a king's honor, but in the want of people is the structure of the prince.
Then, let's look at an application, though, like the actual nation of Israel, Nehemiah 13, 23.
In those days, also, saw Jews, this is Nehemiah speaking, that had married wives of Ashtad, of Ammon, and of Moab. These are women of other foreign countries.
Obviously, there's a spiritual application here. The Jews are in the religion of God and these people are in a different religion, but they're also foreigners.
There's a political application here. Look at verse 24.
And their children spake half in the speech of Ashtad and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
So, Nehemiah is looking at the situation and he's saying, these men married women from other nations, and he says, now their kids are in the country, but their children spake half in the speech of Ashtad and could not speak in the Jews' language.
But according to the language of each people. And look, he's saying that's a problem. That's a problem.
So, let me just say this. Number five. Immigrants should learn a basic, have a basic understanding of the language of the country and of the culture of the country.
I think of the history of the country. I think that that's something that's needed. That was a problem here with Nehemiah.
Now, Nehemiah took it a little too far in verse 25. He's like the original Donald Trump.
And in verse 25 the Bible says, and I contended with them and cursed them and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair and made them swear by God saying, you shall not give your daughters unto their sons nor take their daughters unto your sons or for yourselves.
And I think Nehemiah over, Nehemiah, the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, they do things that are not right. I'm not advocating this, okay.
It was like the original MAGA rally or something. But the point is this, that I do agree and I think Nehemiah was right in the sense that if people are going to be in our country, then they need to have a basic understanding of the language, a basic understanding of the culture, a basic understanding of just how our society works.
Because obviously we have different culture and government and things of that nature, all right. So here's what the Bible teaches about immigration.
Foreigners and immigrants should be welcomed. There should be no double standards for the home born versus the foreigner. A nation of immigrants should have compassion for immigrants.
A nation is stronger with a growing populace and immigrants should learn the language and embrace the culture. That's what the Bible teaches.
Now here's what I want you to understand, and this is what often happens in politics and in everything, is that we create these false dichotomies.
And then when you have these dichotomies, everyone wants to go on these extremes and then they act like you must be on an extreme.
You're either this or you're that and there's no other options. Let me let you in on a little secret. That's a lie.
God is a God of balance. God is a logical God and when people are often trying to like just make you be on, you're either this or you're this, that's not true.
God is a God of balance. So when it comes to immigration, these are the two extremes the Republicans and the Democrats want you to have.
One is the Kamala Harris, the Kamala Bordersar, Harris-Biden or Biden-Harris policy of just open borders.
Just open borders, anyone can come in, I mean more immigrants and more people have come into this country over the last three years than in a long time.
That's one extreme. Then the other extreme is just closed borders, not just closed borders but let's just round them all up, deport them, which look, whatever, you like that, that's fine, I'm just telling you that's not going to happen.
It's impossible. You're not going to round up 25 million people or whatever. I mean that's like, that would be, I mean that's like, I mean Hitler would blush at that.
Like it's not, it's going to be hard to do that and be humane. So those are the extremes. So where's the truth?
And look, I want to do this and I don't need to, and this is just my opinion and I'm always careful to tell you, if I'm going to give you my opinion, this is my opinion.
I've given you enough Bible but here's what I want to tell you. I want to give you what I think could be a biblical solution for the immigration problem.
And the only reason I'm even doing this is just to tell you this, is that if somebody just looks at the Bible and looks at our culture, looks at the problems, they could come up with a solution.
I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I have all the answers, okay? I literally wrote this over the afternoon, okay? So don't come up to me with your, you know, whatever.
I'm not running for president. But I'm just telling you, they don't want to come up with a real solution. There's more value for them in keeping the problem a problem.
So let me just give you what I think could be a biblical solution. And I'm not saying this is the only solution, this is just my solution.
There might be other solutions that are good and I'm not, I'm not doubting that. I'm just, I want to give you my biblical solution to the immigration problem, okay?
I'm Pastor Jimenez, I approve of this message, okay? I'm just giving you my policy. This is what I think. Like if I woke up as the President of the United States, which I never will, this is what I would do, okay?
First of all, let's just consider this. What's the problem? What's the actual problem? Here's the actual problem, violent criminals crossing the border and causing mayhem.
Isn't that true? I mean, that's the issue. Violent criminals crossing the border, causing mayhem, drug cartels crossing the border, bringing in drugs.
And, you know, what everybody's afraid of, terrorists crossing the border to perform terrorist attacks. Those are all real problems, they're legitimate problems.
What's another problem? Another problem is, and I don't think this is true of all illegal immigrants, but I think it is a problem, illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. and using up government resources.
Living off the government and the fact that we have to pay taxes to support them and their government resources. I don't think that's true of all illegal immigrants, but there's definitely a faction of illegal immigrants that are just using up government resources.
And I agree, that's a problem. What's another problem? The fact that we don't know who's crossing the border, right? And that's an issue. The terrorists, the cartels, the gangs, those are all legitimate problems. Those are all real problems. Those are all things that need to be dealt with.
So, how do we deal with that and yet maintain the biblical principles that the Bible gives us? What's a possible solution? A solution that aligns itself with the Word of God.
Look, this is just my opinion. Do with it what you want. But here's what I think would be an easy way to solve, not an easy way, an easy way to explain and to put on a piece of paper. Obviously, implementation of these things would be a lot of work.
But again, if I was the president, which I'm not and I never will be, I might one day run for mayor of Sacramento. And I would just run with one agenda. Get rid of the homeless. I'd have to figure out how to make Sacramento homeless free again or for once. I don't know, something like that.
That would be my one thing. I'd just put them all on a bus, send them to Idaho, and then I'd resign. But anyway, that's a sermon for another day. I'm assuming I can at least get about 200 votes. I'm hoping.
So, how do we do this? These are all problems. The things that I've stated are all problems. How can we deal with this? Number one, look, I'm about to get back on the Republican, make you Republicans happy.
Number one, yes, we need to secure the border and stop people from crossing illegally. We should not have an open border policy. Because it is true that though I do think there are people crossing the border illegally that are just coming to work and not cause any problems, there are people that are coming to cause mayhem, to cause problems, to live off the government, to be terrorists, to bring drugs, and those are all issues.
So, I agree that we should secure the border and stop people from crossing illegally. And however that needs to be done, build a wall, have more border, I don't know, what are they called? Troopers, border patrol, border soldiers, whatever. However, the border needs to be secured, I do think that's something that needs to happen.
However, and here's where I maybe differ a little bit. And look, I understand that what I'm about to say, these things are happening on lower levels, and they are happening, and I'm not saying that this isn't happening, but I would just say the two extremes are open borders, everyone in, no borders, deport everyone.
Here's what I think, if someone's going to try to follow the Bible, yes, we need to secure the border, make sure that we're not just allowing terrorists, drug cartels, gangs, crossing in without us knowing them. So, we must secure the border, stop people from crossing illegally, and then here's what I would say.
I would say we need to secure the border, not have an open border policy, but we should have an open gate policy. And an open gate policy is this, that we, because remember, what is the first biblical principle of migrants, of immigration, of foreigners, the first biblical principle is that foreigners and immigrants should be welcomed.
So, we should build a wall, secure the border, and then open a gate and say, hey, immigrants are welcomed. We want people to come. This nation was a great nation when thousands of migrants were coming into the country through Ellis Island.
It was a great nation. It was probably the greatest time in American history when literally thousands of migrants from Europe are coming in through Ellis Island, through the East Coast, into the country.
Now, was everybody allowed to come in through Ellis Island? No, they were turning away a lot of them. And, you know, my wife and I were talking about this, and she reminded me of this.
A lot of them were being turned away because of disease, and they just didn't want to bring plagues into the country, and I think, you know, those things are appropriate. Those things are fine.
I think we need to secure the border, and I think we should have an open gate policy which says we welcome immigrants. We welcome migrants. We want people. In the multitude of people is the king's honor, but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.
So we want people to come in, but here's the difference between letting anyone and everyone come in through a border and having an open gate policy that says if you're a good person, if you want to work, we'll let you in. Here's the difference.
When they're coming in through a gate, you can vet them. You can make sure, whatever that means, that they're not some criminal, some psychopath, you know, serial killer from some country.
We can vet them. We can identify them. We can make sure they're not a violent criminal. We can make sure they're not a terrorist. We can ask why are you coming from Mexico and your name is Hussein, you know, whatever.
We can make sure that they're not drug cartels, they're not terrorists, they're not whatever. We can identify them and then allow them to come into the country and look, we can keep an eye on them. I don't think that people should be allowed to do.
I think, look, if the United States secured the border, opened the gate and said anyone who's honest and wants to work, you can come, but we need to vet you and once you're here, we need to know where you're going to live, where you're going to work.
You need to check in every six months or whatever and so we can know where you're at, we know what you're doing, we know you're keeping out of trouble. You know, I think there are lots of people all over this world that would say, yeah, I want to come.
And then we're not letting the cartels in, we're not letting in the terrorists, we're not, once they're properly identified, they can enter the country legally. I'm not talking about as a citizen, I'm just saying with some sort of legal working status that allows them to work like everyone else who is allowed to pay taxes.
Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Because when people work legally, you know what they do? When they work legally and they're not getting paid under the table and they're getting a W-2 at the end of the year, you know what they also do? They pay taxes.
And the more people paying taxes, the more money the country has, which means that politicians, look, you like Donald Trump, I'm right up Donald Trump's alley right now.
The more people pay taxes, the less individuals have to pay taxes. I don't see what the problem is. 25 million people want to come here and work and pay taxes? Good, someone's got to pay for these baby boomers.
Let them work. If they're honest, if they're here, if they're not criminals, if they're willing to be identified, if we can know where they live, they'll check in on a regular basis, form some sort of federal agency that keeps track of them and checks in with them, do all those things. I don't think an honest working immigrant would have any problem with that.
Here's what I would also say. No. Anyone who performs a violent crime or breaks the law, they just get punished and they get deported immediately. Anyone who takes government assistance cannot be here.
If you're here to just live off welfare and live off the government, then you need to just go back to wherever you came from.
If you want to come here and be a productive member of our society, come. You want to work? Come. Let them work. Don't let them live off the government. If they're going to live off the government, they have to go back. If they're going to break the law, they have to go back. Register them so you know where they're at. Register them so you know where all those things.
Let me just say, because I've heard some extreme things. People talk about illegal immigrants and taking resources and whatever. Here's what I would say to you.
If they should not be allowed to just live off the government while being here, if they're here, they need to work, that's what they came to do.
But obviously, if some illegal immigrant has some medical emergency, I've literally heard talk show hosts talk about, we need to put armed guards at hospitals and check citizenship before people come in. Listen to me, that is insanity.
No one is going to allow a human being to bleed out on the sidewalk of a hospital. And if you think that's okay, there's something wrong up there. I know it sounds good on a podcast, but in reality, if you're watching someone die, that's not going to happen. It shouldn't happen. It's stupidity.
So you say, well, but then they come and they, you know, and cure some big debt because they have some medical emergency. Then take care of them, let them recover, and once they've recovered, charge them for the cost, give them a reasonable price, give them a reasonable amount of time to pay it. You say, well, they don't want to pay it, then deport them.
But I promise you, there's a lot of people that would say, I'll pay that bill. You'll let me stay. You'll let me buy a house. You'll let me work. You'll let me be here and prosper. I'll come through that open gate. I'm not a drug dealer. I'm not a terrorist. I'll let you know what my name is. I'll show you my identification. I'll check in every six months.
Now, here's the thing about this plan, and what I like about this plan, because I'm trying this out on you because I might run. It's going to be me and J.D. Vance. Because I don't think, you know, I don't think you have to be a natural born citizen to be a, no, maybe you do. Anyway, I'm joking, okay? I'm joking. Some of you are worried.
Here's the thing about this plan, is that if you secure the border and you have this open gate policy that says, if you're a good guy, we'll let you in. We just need to vet you. We need to know where you're going. We need to know that you're working. You can't be taking government assistance. You can't be selling drugs, but if you're a good person, we'll let you pay taxes. We need your taxes.
And they come in. Then here's the thing. Then anyone who's digging a tunnel under the border, you can just assume they're a bad guy. Anyone that's crossing the Rio Grande, you can just assume they're the drug cartel.
Because if you actually have a welcoming open policy that says we like migrants, we're a nation of migrants, we'll welcome you. We're not just going to let everybody in. We need to know who you are and where you're going to be. You need to make sure you're working and not taking advantage of the government.
You need to not be a criminal and not performing crimes. Obviously, all those things are true. But we'll let you in if you're just a normal person. Then anyone who's trying to sneak in, you can just assume they're a terrorist, they're a drug cartel, they're a Venezuelan gang, whatever. They're not a good guy.
If they get arrested, punish them, deport them. They use up government assistance, give them a chance to pay it back. If they're not willing to, deport them.
But I promise you there's a lot of people that would say, those are the rules. And here's the thing. Let them do that for 10 years. Let them pay taxes for 10 years. Let them not get in trouble with the law for 10 years. Let them not take government assistance for 10 years and then give them a pathway to citizenship. Why do you care?
And if your attitude is, no, I still don't want those brown people, then you're just a racist. I don't know what else to tell you. I can't help you. Racism is a mental disorder. You need therapy, prescription drugs, I don't know. It's just the reality. Why do you care? Why does it bother you?
Any immigrants who want to work ought to be welcomed. We ought to welcome them. We ought to love them. This is a nation of migrants. And look, that's what America was founded on. That's what America was built on. Give them a pathway. You don't like 10 years, make it 20 years. Whatever. I don't care. You say, none of this sounds patriotic.
OK, here's another quote from George Washington. Remember that guy? Here's what George Washington said on Wednesday, May 28, 1788. He said, I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtues and persecuted part of mankind to whatever nation they might belong.
That's what George Washington said. George Washington said, I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtues and persecuted part of mankind. And obviously, when he says safe, he's not talking about just letting anyone in who's going to do anything. But if they're safe and they're agreeable. And look, should they learn English, give them an English test. How about this, though? Let's cover this.
As much as I'm for immigrants learning English, I'm also for you Americans learning English. How about we work on that? I know you got your high school diploma. You can't read properly. But, you know, let's not be a hypocrite and start there.
As much as I'm against immigrants taking government resources, you know, how about you stop living off welfare, American citizen, and get a job. I'm not talking about disabled people. I'm not talking about people that can't work. I'm talking about you can work and you're just lazy. Maybe we should deport you.
This is what the Bible teaches. And look, I just think we need to have a balance. And look, when I'm at the MAGA rally, I can't say these things. Whatever. Hang out with your buddies. Do whatever you want. I don't care.
But I'm just telling you, instead of just going with the flow of whatever politicians are telling you, why don't you read the Bible and realize, you know what God says? God says that it's good for a nation to have a populace.
And it's good. And if they want to come and they want to work. Because you know the United States right now? You're like, well, we do have a policy where people come. But, you know, oftentimes, if you want to come legally to the United States, you have to be a doctor, an engineer, you have to be a nurse, you have to be something that we want.
But that's not what God says. God says, look, if you want to work, just work. I don't care if you work at McDonald's. If you're going to just be an honest person who works, pays taxes, doesn't take advantage of the system, then we should just let them.
Obviously, we should do it with responsibility. We should do it with humanity. We should make sure we should be respectful. We should know who they are. We shouldn't just be allowing people that aren't vetted come into the country. All those things are true. All those things are true.
But let's be careful about having this stance that says, they don't speak English. I don't want them here. You barely speak English. I talk to people and I'm just like, where did you go to school? Go to Psalm 118. We'll be done. I know you don't like this sermon. Whatever. I don't care. I'm done.
It's a long sermon. You say, why is it so long? Because I can only preach it one time because you're not going to come back. You'll come back for the Democrat thing, but not.
Psalm 118, look at verse 8. Psalm 118, verse 8. We'll be done. Psalm 118, verse 8. The devil is a Democrat. That'll be a better sermon. You'll like it.
Psalm 118, verse 8. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Just trust the Lord.
Verse 9. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. That's politicians.
And look, just trust in the Lord. We trust the Lord. And as far as immigrants, you know, whether they're here legally or whatever, the mission field is coming to us. Let's get them saved.
Let's get them saved. Let's get them growing in the Lord. Let's get them baptized. Let's love people. Let's not form this concept that is not biblical that says, you know, we're becoming, Americans are taking on this Jewish identity that, like, we're better than everyone.
You won the lottery. You were born in the United States of America. You ought to thank the Lord every day you live here.
And you know what? If other people want to come here and be honest and be productive, learn the language and work hard and pay taxes, I don't see why that needs to bother you so much. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. And Lord, I just pray you'd help us. I realize that maybe some of these things were opinion and people can just do whatever they want with it. They don't have to listen to it. They don't have to like it. It's fine.
Lord, I do pray that you would help us to just challenge some of the things that we're being told and to be people who are people of the book.
Get back to the word of God. Get back to the Bible. Allow the Bible to tell us what to think, what to believe.
And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to love people, care for people. Obviously, we want safe streets. Obviously, we don't want drug cartels and terrorists being allowed into this country.
Those things are obvious. We need to take steps to protect against those things. Lord, I pray you'd help us to do it in a way that is biblically sound.
And at least as Christians, help us to know what the Bible says about these things, to have an option for these things. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
All right. We're going to have Brother Andrew come up and lead us in a final song. And just want to remind you a couple of things.
First of all, don't forget about the Harvest Party. If you'd like to sign up to play basketball or to bring cornbread or desserts, those are back there for you.
And then, of course, the Wednesday evening service, we want to encourage you to be here for Wednesday night.
Book of Psalms and we'll study the Word of God, of course, together. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
Next Sunday night, Democrats. All right? So you don't have to feel bad. Maybe some of you need to feel bad. I don't know.
But Democrats, that'll be one that you'll like. And, of course, Sunday morning, be in your place, bring somebody to church, invite people to church.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. If you don't mind looking around your area, kind of cleaning up.
If your kids made a mess putting the hymn book back, we'd appreciate your help with that. And I hope you know that my wife and I do love you.
We're praying for you. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. We'll have Brother Andrew come up and lead us in a final song.
All right. We'll go ahead and take your psalm books. We're going to turn to page number 301, number 301.
We're going to sing Sweet Hour of Prayer this evening to end our Sunday evening service. We're going to sing it just a tad bit slower this evening.
301 on the first.
In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief.
And oft escape the tender stare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Sing it out strong on the second, just a little bit slower if we can, Brother Christian, just a little bit slower.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, thy wings shall my petition bear
to him whose truth and faithfulness engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his faith, believe his word and trust his grace.
I'll cast on him my every care and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.
That was really good. Let's sing it just a little bit louder for me on the third. Let's finish strong this evening on the third.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, thy right consolation share
till from mountains thus lofty height I view my home and take, sing it out, this robe of flesh.
This robe of flesh shall drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing through the air.
Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.
Amen. Great singing this evening. And as always, if you have any questions about baptism, salvation, or church membership,
the pastor will be at the door in the back and he will be able to direct you to somebody who is trained to talk to you,
or he'll be able to talk to you, of course, himself. Thank you all for being here this evening.
I'm going to go ahead and ask for the R.J., if he doesn't mind dismissing us with a word of prayer.
Amen. You guys are all dismissed. Thank you so much.
Amen.