Good evening, today we're in Proverbs chapter 14. Proverbs chapter 14 in the Bible reads,
"Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with their hands.
He that walketh in his uprightness, feareth the Lord, but he that is perverse in his ways,
despite this him. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall
perverse them. Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of
the ox. A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. A scornor seeketh
wisdom and findeth it not, but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. Go from the presence
of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent
is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit. Fools make a mock at sin, but among the
righteous there is favor. The heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle
with his joy. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright
shall flourish. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end is that mirth is bitterness. The
backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from
himself. The simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going. A wise man
feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rageth and is confident. He that is soon angry dealeth
foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated. The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are
crowned with knowledge. The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
The poor is hated even in his own neighbor, but the rich hath many friends. He that despises his
neighbor sinneth, but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. They do not err that devise
evil, but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. In all labor there is profit, but the
talk of lips tendeth only in penury. The crown of the wise is their riches, but the foolishness of
fools is folly. A true witness delivereth souls, but the deceitful witness speaketh lies, and the
fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge. The fear
of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. In the multitude of people is
the king's honor, but in the want of people is destruction of the prince. He that is slow to wrath
is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. Sound heart is the life
of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth
his maker, but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. The wicked is driven away in his
wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death. Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that
hath understanding, but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. Righteousness
exulteth the nation, but sin is a reproach to many people. The king's
favor is toward a wise servant, but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.
Let's pray. Dear Lord God, just thank you for this church you've given us, Lord,
and for the King James Bible. Lord, we pray that you bless Pastor right now,
film with the Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches unto us your word, Lord, and that us in the
congregation would take these truths and apply to our lives. Lord, we pray this all in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Proverbs chapter 14 this evening, and look down at verse number four.
It says here, where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
And the title of my sermon this evening is clean up your ox's crib. Clean up your ox's crib. Now,
what is an ox? Obviously it's a beast of burden animal. It's a beast that farmers would typically
use. And what this passage is saying is that having an ox is advantageous, right? It can help
increase production. When a person possesses an ox, the ox can reduce the amount of manpower
needed to accomplish any task and thereby allocating their efforts to more important
ventures and achievements. So instead of having a man plow a field, the ox can get it done
faster more easily, therefore producing more food for their families and even for their
business right and in fact you know he can with a team of oxen essentially cultivate 10 times faster
than a farmer with a hoe and so if a man has an ox or a yoke of oxen he can just simply get more
done and what the principle that's being taught here in proper chapter 14 is that there are certain
assets and possessions that will undoubtedly increase your productivity it will undoubtedly
increase your revenue it will undoubtedly increase your influence it'll just help you to be
more successful in life right but keep in mind though listen to this keep in mind that along
with the increase comes the responsibility to clean up after the ox meaning that the ox needs
food and needs shelter and it just makes a major mess all over the place okay meaning that it just
craps all over the place so you have the responsibility of cleaning up after the ox even
though it's able to give you all types of production and increase it says there where
no oxen are the crib is clean and if you don't want to deal with the mess that don't don't take
the ox right don't use the ox but if you want to increase your productivity if you want to increase
how much food you're bringing in how much revenue you're having how much uh achievements how many
tasks you want to get done how much whatever it is then get the ox but just keep in mind you're
gonna have to take care and maintain the ox if you don't then you're just gonna have a huge
mess on your hands now let me just say this regarding this proverb is that it's not
discouraging the farmer from ever getting an ox right but rather helping the farmer to be realistic
to understand that there is a whole lot of dung that he has to clean up after it's just being
realistic about the whole situation so let me just give you a few illustrations that can essentially
where we see this principle where we can apply this principle in our personal lives
and then i'm going to give you three main areas for our church to consider tonight
okay regarding cleaning up after your ox go to ecclesiastes chapter number 10 if you would
ecclesiastes chapter 10 let me just give you some basic illustrations you know when you get a brand
new car it's great right you get a i don't know if an import a foreign import or whatever just a
brand new car in general it's great it doesn't really break down it just runs well looks nice
right comes with all the bells and whistles but if you ever get in an accident and it's some
expensive import i mean now you're in a huge mess right because now you got to import the parts
it's harder to fix you know with that ox and the increase in speed that you get with that ox
comes more of a spot or responsibility to clean up after it you know if something were to happen
think about this a bigger house is like an ox right and uh you know this is something that
kind of hits home to us because you know we just move into a bigger home for my family and I and
we've never lived in a house this big and quite frankly it's just a lot to do around the house
my wife is just constantly working around the clock not that she wasn't before but now even
more so now because the bigger the ox the bigger the mess that it makes you understand and the
reality is this is that if that's not being taken care of if she just allows things to just kind of
go unchecked unclean it'll just accumulate and then you'll have a huge mess in a matter of a
week span of you know what happens with you know seven people living in a household look at
Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 18 says by much slothfulness the building decayeth and through
idleness of the hands the house droppeth through this is basically telling us the same thing
what Proverbs chapter four is saying is that you know there's much increase by the strength of the
ox but if you don't want to deal with the mess then don't have an ox because where no oxen are
the crib is clean if you don't want to deal with the stress of having to clean a big house or
whatever or wherever you're living you know you can become a minimalist or something and just
you know live in the middle of nowhere with four walls or something and you won't have to clean up
so much right but obviously that is the principle not only that but think about this when you get a
promotion at work it's great right get paid more maybe you receive a little more responsibility
more respect from your colleagues but it comes with a lot more dung to deal with comes with a lot
more responsibilities that you have to deal with right and you're you are accountable for more
people and everything rises and falls on leadership it's great to have this ox of you know a promotion
and more money but with that comes more problems as well the bible tells us you know in claustians
chapter 4 when talking to masters those who are in charge it says masters given to your servants
that which is just and equal knowing they also have a master in heaven so aside from the fact
that god expects four bosses to be just here and they have all the kinds of issues that they have
to deal with with their employees you know there's also spiritual accountability there as well where
god wants to make sure that they are being just with their employees it's just a greater
responsibility that you have think about this having more money and more possessions is great
right more money more possessions more oxen great you can do more you have basically more options
when you have more money i mean the bible literally says that money answereth all things
you just have a wider variety of options to choose from but man there comes a lot of problems with
having more possessions and more money go to ecclesiastes chapter five if you would
ecclesiastes chapter number five and by the way on this particular point that's why it's important
for us to realize that if you have more money there's nothing wrong with that you just got
to make sure that money doesn't have you you can have possessions just make sure those possessions
don't possess you that it'll hinder you from being in church from reading the bible from
minding spiritual things from soul winning that which is spiritual is the most important thing
may not hinder you from seeking the kingdom of god and his righteousness if that's the case
then you can't handle possessions if that's the case you can't handle money okay look what it says
in verse 10 of eclesiastes five it says he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver
you said who's going to be satisfied with silver the person who's content and receives silver will
be satisfied with whatever he gets right it says nor he that loveth abundance with increase this
also is vanity when goods increase they are increased that eat them what is that saying
we're no oxen are the crib is clean but much increases by the strength of the ox
telling us that the more possessions we have the more things exist that can
destroy those things moth and rust doth corrupt thieves can break through and steal things break
down and it says here and what good is there to the owners are of saving the beholding of them with
their eyes that's what's important folks that if you have possessions use them don't just have
possessions just to behold with your eyes you don't want no one to touch your boat you don't
want no one to touch your vehicle you don't want no one to mess with your possessions use those
things those things are meant to be used those things are meant to you know facilitate whatever
things you got going on don't be you know my wife went to a um i think it's called uh it's in a
state i can't remember what it's called what's the word i'm looking for state cell where you know
someone passes away and then they're basically trying to sell everything in that particular
house and she's like oh so she she found out about that so she went there and she said that
that house was just absolutely beautiful and they had all types of antiques grandfather clocks and
the more she just went through each room she realized like wow these people had a lot of
valuable things i mean gold and just you know uh antiques from different countries from egypt
they were just they traveled a lot and they collected all these things but nothing ever
happened to them they're just there and guess what now they're just selling they're selling
these invaluable possessions for a lot less and why because these people all these these people
did with it just behold it with their eyes but they did nothing with it and obviously we don't
want that doesn't mean we should be careless with what we have and the possessions that we have but
the point is you should use them and not be the ecclesiastes five guy who just beholds them with
his eyes he ends up perishing and nothing is done with it verse 12 says the sleep of a laboring man
is sweet whether he eat little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep
what is the point the point is this is that it's great to have possessions it's great to have more
money but just keep in mind that more problems come with more money there's a song about that
back in the day more money more problems okay and it is absolutely true yeah money answereth all
things but with that comes also more problems okay now that's not to say that God is against
you making money you just got to take into account that if there's an ox there it's going to make a
mess you got to clean up after the ox okay think about this you know more children is great and
the bible is pro having children you say well how many children does God really want people to have
as many as he gives you it's not a particular number we can't give a particular number
because it really depends right i don't think anybody should do anything to hinder themselves
from having children like birth control or the roman catholic method or whatever you know i
think we should just be husband and wife and pray unto the lord to give us as many children as he
wills right and not hinder that but just keep in mind that more children comes guess what more
problems okay you say why because now there's a bunch of little lives you're responsible for
you have to train them up in the way that should go you have to make sure that you take responsibility
with not only providing for them physically financially but even spiritually as well
okay and so that's important it's great to have children and i love my five children they bring
a lot of joy to my life uh you know i love coming home to my family it's one of the greatest joys
of my life is to come home and all my little ones just come and they tackle me and they kiss me and
they give me hugs i mean it's great i know it's not always going to be that way but i'm going to
cherish it while it's still lasting man it's great but obviously there's there's issues that come with
that you know fevers and you know earaches and hospital bills and just you know just diapers i
mean literal done it comes right potty training and all these things that you have to deal with
now this is not a discouragement to have children because just as promise 14 is telling us it's not
discouraging the ox it's trying to help you to understand you got to take into account that these
are the same things you have to deal with so it's great to have the increase it's great to have the
ox that brings the increase but do not neglect cleaning up after your ox okay now let's give
let's get practical here and let me get into my main points this evening and i don't think i'm
going to be long tonight but you know how that goes when i say that let me just highlight three
particular ox or oxen okay uh in our lives that we need to take into account and clean up after
okay let's talk about the ox of a church okay the bigger a church gets the more we can do for god
amen so why are tearing down this wall to make the crib bigger you know we want to make the crib
bigger to have more people come the church grows numerically spiritually we are able to train
labors for the harvest which means more people get saved more people are returned to righteousness
more fellowship more people standing up for the truth more people are being restored i mean the
list just goes on and on and on of all the great things that come attached with a growing church
more soul winning more salvations more discipleship more fellowship oh man almost seems like we can
we've had it's like we've already kind of peaked in that but yeah more fellowship with more people
more people being turned to righteousness but here's the thing more problems as well okay and
you know this is one of the reasons why people like a small church which i'm not for that
philosophy at all okay there's people who are like well i just like the cozy you know little
church where everyone just kind of knows each other and i just prefer for it not to get crazy
big that's a small vision okay and that's a selfish that's a selfish uh desire to just
want to keep the church small just for your own self satisfaction we should desire that the church
grows numerically spiritually why so we can do more for god because the church is the epicenter
of service where we send out soul winners and missionaries we're preaching god's word we're
raising up godly families we should want to multiply that exponentially right but you we
just got to keep in mind i'm trying to prepare you as a church to expect there's going to be
problems over the next couple years okay you're like do you know of any i don't know of any but
i'm just i just know by experience that the bigger a church gets the more problems we're going to
have okay and the reason that's important to keep into take into consideration go to first
corinthians chapter one if you would first corinthians one the reason that's important
because we don't want you or i don't want you to experience some of these problems and just be like
i can't believe this is happening in our church uh with all these people you know why is people
getting divorced why was adultery you know what about fornication and the drunken that's what
happens i mean think about the church at corinth which is a fairly large church okay it's a fairly
large church they had all kinds of problems they had doctrinal problems moral problems just sinful
problems two letters had to be written to them because they had so many problems why because
when no oxen are the crib is clean but much increase is by the strength of the ox and you
know it reminds me of years ago there's a pastor who claimed to be new ifb and he claimed to just
you know be a part of our team or whatever and you know he's like criticizing us in 2020
you know because of the whole covid thing or whatever which we never shut down and he's like
we never closed down you know we have that's easy for you to say you have like four people in your
church who's going to close down a church of four people i got more people in my family than four
like my family's bigger than that church you understand so it's like yeah we don't have those
issues and yeah because you got four people in your church but you know the bigger a church
gets let me just say this the more fornication is going to take place the more division that
there's going to be the more the likelihood of heresy entering in that's just fact so don't be
just don't have an unrealistic expectation of church growth to think that just because the church
gets big that means we're just none of that stuff is going to get through no that means it's more
likely that those things are going to happen in our church okay you say like what well as i
mentioned division there's going to be divisions in our church and just mark it down as this is
being recorded i will repost this particular clip someday in the future because i guarantee it's
going to happen you know there will be divisions where there will be people who are trying to
create schisms in our church trying to split the church that's going to happen and don't be the
person that says well then let's just stay small then you know i don't want to clean up after that
ox yeah but much increases by the strength of the ox though so i'd rather risk you know having those
types of divisions schisms and splits but get the increase then just to say well i don't want the
problems therefore i don't want to clean up after the ox so therefore let's just not grow at all
that's nonsense that's a small vision i don't believe that's god's will okay look at first
corinthians 1 verse 10 now i beseech you brethren by the name of our lord jesus christ that you all
speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment for it has been declared unto me of you
my brethren by them which are of the house of chloe that there are contentions among you now
this i say that every one of you saith i am a paul and i have apollos and i have sephas and i
have christ is christ divided was paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of paul
i thank god that i baptized none of you but christmas and gays lest any should say that i
have baptized in my own name what does it say you know i'm hearing all these things that you guys
have like these little clicks in your church right one is saying well i'm with paul the other one's
like well i'm with apollos another guy is just like well i'm with sephus oh you mean peter why
don't you just say peter no i'm with sephus and the other guy's like well i'm a christ follower
right he's like i'm not with any of these guys that's called a schism that's called division
we're all on the same team right and you know this is going to happen where people this has
happened in the past it'll continue to happen where people try to pin the pastors in a new afp
against one another or something you know they try to make it seem as though because we have
differences which there's nothing wrong with having differences somehow that means that we
should be pinned up against one another and you know oh you know we get to interview this
pastor on this podcast because he's the most reasonable new ifb pastor out there or something
like that you know that's obviously an example there right whereas the bible says that we're
just on the same team and what's funny about this is that you know people will say oh you know
new ifb you guys just have to be in lockstep with pastor anderson but then on the same token they'll
say they'll try to magnify the divisions and the differences that we have with one another so which
one is it are we in lockstep or do we have notable differences between one another you see what i'm
saying what it is is a concerted effort to create division within the movement within pastors and
this is not just going to happen with churches but even in our church okay and this is obviously
something we have to be aware of you're like well i'm not really for that that's kind of scary to
me to think that maybe our church can split one day and you know people can just you know draw
away disciples after them and something like that can happen i'm willing to risk that if there's
more increase by the strength of the ox so don't let that scare you and in fact let me just say
this let me just go on record to say if there's like a devil in here and you take half of the
church see ya you know don't let the door hit you where the lord split you and so i'm not
that doesn't bother me at all if that's what takes place that's what takes place i'm just
letting you know beforehand that when you have an ox you're gonna have a lot of dung to pick up after
so don't expect for a church to grow and not have these particular issues go to chapter five if you
would or excuse me chapter four chapter four you know there's gonna be problems with divisions
and then there's also gonna be usurpers what are usurpers people who don't like spiritual authority
okay we're going to criticize authority criticize my leadership criticize me as being a pastor
they're going to try to draw away disciples after them you know they're going to be like the
absolums of first works baptist church it's going to happen because the larger church gets the
harder it is to keep track of everyone right and what everyone is doing that's just the natural
course of things and so look at first corinthians four verse 16 wherefore i beseech you be
followers of me for this cause have i sent them to you to mothius who is my beloved son and faithful
on the lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in christ as i teach everywhere
in every church now some are puffed up as though i would not come to you but i will come to you
shortly if the lord will and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up but the power
for the kingdom of god is not in word but in powers what is he saying there's a lot of people
at the church at corinthia they're talking a lot of trash questioning my authority they're questioning
whether i should even have any influence over this church but i'm going to see them face to face
and we'll see you know we'll see these people who are puffed up if they really have the power
you've got the power we're about to see if you truly have that authority if you can actually
say that when you're confronted to the face and this is why he says this in verse 21 what will
you shall i come to you with the rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness he's like should
i come and just discipline you guys for this and you know what we need more leadership in church
that is willing to pull out the rod on the congregation we need more leadership out there
that is unwilling to capitulate to the whims of the church members you know for doctrinal
or divisions or whatever that's going on and just pull out the rod regardless of what the
consequences are and the apostle paul was willing to do that he's like he's like i'll leave it up
to you though do you want me to come to you with the rod you need a whooping spiritual whooping
in order to get you back on track that's what he's telling them look at chapter five so with
the bigger ox comes more increase comes more problems divisions there's going to be usurpers
people who are questioning my authority people who are going to fight against me people who are
going to try to lead you astray trying to create a faction in our church to lead people astray to
draw away disciples after them because they are usurpers they're just despisers of governments
that's just the natural course of how what happens when a church begins to grow not only that but
guess what more sin will be present in our church not because we have a sinful church but because
our church is made up of sinners so just more it's just higher percentage of likelihood that
people are going to be involved in fornication and folks this is why that myself as a pastor
i have to consistently preach against this stuff against fornication you know what i need to
consistently passionately angrily preach against divorce why because this you know we're going to
have divorced people come through or people that come to our church get married and get divorced
whichever one and they're going to want to justify their divorce and justify their remarriage
and you know if you allow that in the church it can create a snowball effect whereby the next
generation will be accepting and tolerating of that and then our children are getting married
and divorced and remarried and all that we don't want that to happen you say what do you got
against divorced people nothing i mean i love the divorced people in our church i just have again i
have this against divorced people is that those who try to promote divorce try to promote divorce
and remarriage try to justify it and let me just go on record to say once again is that divorced
people should not be trying to develop relationships with people in our church especially with people
that have never been married it's not right to do i've said it before and i'll say it again
and you know what i'm coming with the rod right now to kind of let you know and to remind you
that if i find out that's going on in our church then guess what i have to call it out
you understand because it's not right it's not right for you to try to get someone to marry you
after you've been divorced to a person trying to get someone trying to marry someone who's never
had that relationship before they've never experienced that but somehow it's okay for you
to do it wrong completely wrong but you know what the bigger our church gets the more that's going
to be prevalent and the more i'm going to have the uncomfortable responsibility to keep bringing
up in the sermon and you know sometimes people get tired of that they're just like oh man again
yeah again i just got to say it again and again and again and again because sometimes people forget
or they try to go about and justify that action and i get it i understand you might be lonely
and you know you don't want to remain unmarried i get it but you know what this is what the bible
says and we cannot permit that and look i don't throw people out if people get married in our
church that have been divorced they don't get church discipline for that so don't go around
saying that either that people will get thrown out for doing that because i'm not i don't do that
okay i do tell people that if you do that i'm not putting my stamp of approval on it you can go to
the courthouse and do that that's what you want keep it to yourself and when you come back don't
try to promote that to other people as though that's a sanctioned way a church sanctioned way
of going about things and trying to justify the remarriage and all that and stop bringing up the
whole reprobate car too oh it's just a different situation because my spouse my wife or my husband
was a reprobate i hear that all the time it's just it's just it's a cop-out to try to disobey god's
word and look let's say let's say the spouse was a reprobate you know nowhere in the bible does it
say that you can still remain does it give that caveat or that escape clause to say you know you
can't remarry unless that person was a reprobate or something i'm getting ahead of myself i'm just
letting you know though that the larger church gets the more likely that this stuff is going to
come up okay and in fact look at first corinthians 5 verse 1 it is reported commonly that there's
fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the gentiles
that one should have his father's wife and talk about disgusting this is not necessarily incest
this is essentially a man committing fornication with his deceased father's wife who's not his
mother's essentially a stepmom to form i guess you could say of incest but it's not necessarily
incest directly now this is wicked this is going on in the church and it says that it was reported
commonly among you this is why fornication is so rampant in mega churches it's so rampant it
happens all the time why because the pastor allowed the church to grow he possessed the ox
and he liked the increase but he didn't clean up after the ox and you know what after a while
you're walking in the crib and there's all kinds of dung everywhere he probably just got used to it
and now everyone just steps over the dung instead of shoveling it up and taking it out and throw it
it needs to be thrown and therefore now you can't even see the floor is just filled with dung
everywhere that's how a lot of megachurches are where they just kind of turn a blind eye
to fornication yeah they know it's sinful but we gotta let people time to grow we gotta disciple
them we can't judge them the bible says you know i you know the fact that paul he wasn't present
but he judged already and so that needs to be judged and it's actually one of the sins according
to chapter five that merits excommunication what's the point that i'm making with this
the point is i'm trying to prepare us for numerical growth okay prepare for numerical growth a lot of
increase a lot of new soul winners a lot of new christians you know what's great about a bigger
church is that more people get on fire for god you know some of you who are maybe a little lax and
apathetic maybe you lost your zeal you're going to meet some of these new christians and it's going
to light a fire under your rear end to see how zealous they are for the things of god and it's
going to provoke you unto love and to good works that's what's great about having an ox it's like
wow look at that ox is just plowing that field just going Sony just reading their bibles just
coming to church i mean you've seen it i've seen it new christians come they come consistently
every single service they're on fire and you know what it provokes you does it not at least it
should that's what's great about the ox but let me just say this with the bigger church i'm just
telling you it's going to come more problems but hey i'm cool with it i'm just warning you about
i'm cool with bigger problems you know life is a problem life is problems okay and so i'm already
prepared for it i know whether it's going to happen it's not going to catch me off guard maybe
some of the things might catch me off guard i might be surprised initially but i know for a
fact that when we possess an ox more problems will come the crib needs to be cleaned up though
okay so if if and when we grow and we will grow it's our job and my job more specifically to
clean the crib okay and let me say this on a practical way with a bigger church we got to
clean up the crib so don't be leaving trash on the in your pews and stuff don't let your children
just rip up the bulletins rip up the styrofoam cups and just leave it everywhere clean up after
yourself hey and by the way this isn't your house don't just leave your socks everywhere in your
shoes teach your kids how to behave themselves in the house of god okay if you if you know there's
shoes everywhere and socks and they're just jumping over everything like it's their own furniture
this isn't their crib this is the ox's crib okay we need to clean up and make sure that we're
taking care of the house of god okay and so yeah a bigger church is great but you know what it's
gonna be a big bigger mess though it's just gonna be a bigger mess and so every single one of us
need to take responsibility and put stuff away make sure that your kids are not drawing all over
the the hymn books okay and let me just say this don't be drawing all over the offering envelopes
either don't use that to you know so peabody can have something to do during the preaching
why don't you tell them to pay attention in church instead okay teach them and not have them draw
all over the offering envelopes and color all over the the hymnals and put stickers all over
the hymnals or whatever you know clean up after the ox you know after service this is what you
need to do after the service it's very practice life-changing here okay giving you life-changing
principles after the service look to the left and look to the right you know pick up all your trash
and you know you say what about yourself pastor my wife's watching this she's getting this
preaching too clean up after the kids Sarah I'm no respecter of people we all got to do it amen
and so I know we're not excited about I know we're excited about being able to bring our red bulls
and rock stars and Celsius and you know all our coffees and drinks and all milkshakes whatever
you got going on into the service hey I know you're excited about bringing the ox into the
building but just clean up after yourself though okay if you spill coffee don't turn a blind eye
to it go pick up after yourself go throw it away ask brother Hernandez where he can you can get
some cleaning solution to clean it up or whatever be responsible clean up after your ox number two
regarding the subject of cleaning up the ox's crib let's talk about the ox of marriage because
we kind of touched on that a little bit you know marriage is wonderful okay and I'm going
to compare it to an ox why are you laughing why because it just increases more joy just awesome
marriage is such a wonderful institution I to you know I don't regret ever getting married
it's just it's it's life-changing it's you know that you have the physical relationship
what's a sanction by God that's wonderful you have emotional support you know children are
byproducts and children are just awesome to have around you it's just a joyous thing to experience
you're not alone you have there's so many things that come with just marriage you know but let me
just say this a lot of increase with marriage but there's a lot of problems there too so don't have
this unrealistic expectation about marriage where well when i get married we're king james only so
we're just going to be fine and dandy okay we're king james only we're soul winners we're new ife
you know we got all our ducks in order don't work that way you're sinners you're sinners above
everything else so when two people who are sinners get married uh often the product is sin there's
problems that come with it there's issues you have to clean up after yourself and don't have this
unrealistic expectation when we get married everything is just going to be perfect there's
going to be no problems because the first time that a problem comes it's going to shake you
if you have that expectation it's going to shake you it's going to discourage you you're going to
think oh man we just did i make a mistake in marrying this person no you didn't make a mistake
because once you're married it's god's will it's like my father-in-law used to say you know if you
don't think she was god's will you don't think he was god's will he is now she is now and let me
just say this okay and this is very important and the vast majority i think of the people here
it's possible that you will not agree with me at all about this maybe some of you will but
maybe a lot of you won't and that is when you start having one dung starts just collecting in
your marriage okay the crib is just being it's just piling up with dung and you just can't shovel it
all out let me just say this you need professional help get some professional help get someone with
more experience to help you and you know what what i've observed as a pastor is that there's
christians marriages that will experience all kinds of problems in their marriage just get no help
whatsoever they're just willing to just crash and burn as a couple because the husband is just not
willing to get help because the wife is just unwilling to get any help whatsoever and and
here's the thing you know it's your life it's your marriage do what you want but you know what the
dung is piling up so high we can all smell it and when you come to church guess what the dung is
coming up to my nostrils it's coming up to other people's nostrils and then people get concerned
about what's going on with you guys don't get quiet on me now so you have one or two options
clean up after yourself put in the work to maintain your marriage and make it better
and you know what if you can't do it it's okay this is why you have a church get some help
don't be so prideful you're like pastor you know i never had an ox before you know well how do i
maintain this ox i'm like i can help you you know i've had an ox of a marriage for seven years and
it's been pretty successful eight years i think it's eight years six seven eight nine going on
nine years nine years you know i've had it for like nine years and so you know i'm not no one's
an expert at this but i succeeded in it and i had my uh my share of troubles and dung that i've had
to deal with and my wife has had to deal with and we've come forth as gold we're not perfect
and so by the way just let me let you know this is that my marriage is not perfect not that you
would think so but just in case you did we don't just like wake up in the morning like hello the
bible says in proverbs chapter 31 and i'm just arising calling her blessed and she's just like
you know we just levitate off the floor and then you know i just like pull out of king jane's bible
and i'm just that's not reality i wake up the way you wake up ugly as sin i boogers all over
the place in a bad mood i'm not going to speak for my wife because she's beautiful to me all the
time okay but you know what we're we're regular humans just like you okay and so we've had our
share of problems we've had our share of issues but you know what christianity has allowed us to
work things through and you know what if we've ever had an issue that we couldn't work through
guess what we did we got help you're like wait but well you're a pastor and does that mean i
don't go to someone who has more experience than myself that's the wise thing to do you said why
would you do that because i don't want my crib smelling like dung i don't want my wife and i
to live in a crib of dung to the point where we're coming to church and we just smell like dung but
we have lived in dung for so long we can't smell the dung but everyone else can i'm just trying to
tell you get some help why not god's giving you a church he's giving you a pastor there's other
godlier couples in the church that are doing well why not go to them for help you know why i'll
tell you why because you're prideful that's why you're prideful put your pride aside and get some
help well i'm just going to figure it out on my own a month later two months later i don't know
about that oh it's getting real quiet so here's here's your options and look you came here you
you purposely came here tonight here's your options clean up after yourself in your marriage don't
have an unrealistic expectation well i thought that she was just going to be godlier i thought
that she was just you know she's supposed to take care of her responsibilities i thought he was
supposed to just lead the home i thought yeah you thought all kinds of stuff because both of you put
your best foot forward and now you understand that both of your feet stink reality check wow
that doesn't mean you can't have a wonderful marriage because you can live with my wife for
nine years and you know what i loved every single moment of it have we had our issues
absolutely have we had our tips yes does that mean like oh you know we just you know the only
solution is divorce or let's just not talk about our problems at all let's just go ahead and put
a fake smile on when we come to church all the while the crib is just stinking like dung folks
there's there's been families who have come to our church with that same attitude putting the fake
smile the fake countenance the fake spirituality and they're burning their marriage is burning
because of it get help get someone who knows how to work with the ox get someone who has a big
shovel have their pastor or someone come to you and say can you help me shovel out the dung out
of my marriage you know i don't like picking up dung but i'd be willing to do it for you because
i love you and if that's what it takes let's clean up the dung let's do it i'm not your enemy have
i become your enemy because i tell you the truth look marriage is awesome having that ox is great
that ox you know you just you'll never be alone physically speaking you have that emotional
support there and it's just a blessing but folks can you just follow the principle though of
cleaning up after yourself then not just let problems go unfettered untouched just just ignore
it we can't ignore it because there comes a point where the problems get so big and mountainous that
just everyone starts knowing about it amen go to first corinthian what a happy turn that happy
turn first corinthian seven go to first corinthian seven if you would first corinthians chapter seven
it says in verse 26 i suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress i say
that it is good for a man so to be what is the apostle paul saying he says in his opinion it's
better to just be single in his opinion though and the the case that he's making is that it's
better to be single for the ministry sake right because then you could just you're you're more
free to do more than someone who's married okay you just have that much liberty verse 27 says are
thou bound into a wife seek not to be loosed are that loose from a wife seek not a wife but if thou
marry thou hast not sinned now let me just clarify what this means real quick before people try to
use this as a justification for remarriage let me clarify this this passage is saying when it talks
about all the bounding to a wife seek not to be loosed is basically saying like if you're married
don't try to like get divorced right but then he says art thou loosed from a wife seek not a wife
the only way you can be loosed from your spouse according to roman chapter 7 is if your spouse
dies and that is not permission for you to kill your spouse divorce is not the option death is
the option we're for death not divorce right that's what roman 7 teaches right that's what
the bible says so he says are thou loosed from a wife seek not a wife so he's saying if your
spouse in this particular case your wife dies you shouldn't seek a wife why is he saying that
because he's saying it's better to just remain single and do more for the lord but then that he
follows up in verse 28 and says but and if thou marry thou hast not sinned now why is he saying
that because of the fact that the only time it's justifiable for a person to get remarried is if
their spouse has died because at that point they're loose from the law of their husband
they shall not be called an adulterer or an adulteress make sense to everyone and so you
know lest anybody should try to use this as a justification for remarriage look at verse 28
but and if thou marry thou hast not sinned and if a virgin marry she hath not sinned nevertheless
listen to this such shall have trouble in the flesh but i spare you it's the same you're gonna
have some problems if you're married i must spare you the details is what he's saying there
now don't let this discourage you from getting married because marriage is awesome i don't regret
a moment of it i think it's wonderful i couldn't wait to get married okay when i got married at
the age of 29 and i you know i would never go back to being single i just i just would not want that
but the bible is being realistic here and it's explaining that if you do you will have trouble
in the flesh meaning dung shall accumulate so you need to clean up after yourself right it says in
verse 29 but this i say brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as
though they had none they that we let's skip skip down to verse number 32 but i would have you
without carefulness he that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the lord how he
may please the lord essentially saying that if you're single you know dedicate your time to
serving god because you have that time you're not responsible for a wife you're not responsible
for a husband you know i'm responsible for children you can allocate your time to serving god
how you may please the lord verse 33 but he that is married careth for the things that are of the
world how he may please his wife what does this mean now that you're married you're gonna have
trouble in the flesh and on top of that you have to figure out how to please your wife what does
that mean make her happy now i know what you're thinking well like she married me so she's done
what else check that was easy but it's an ongoing thing my friends and by the way let me just
clarify something because i don't believe in this whole happy wife happy life thing either
okay you know where it's all it's like you know it's like oh yeah the husband's in charge but
technically what the wife's in charge or something and if she's not happy no one's happy that's not
in the bible so let's go in and reverse that okay and not operate our homes in such a way
where the woman is vicariously you know what I mean ruling the house through her husband or
something like that okay what this is teaching here is that as husbands you know what we need
to do we need to be self-sacrificial care for the things of the world how we can please our wives
because we love our wives we want to be benevolent towards our wives and be a blessing to our wives
and so that's what it's referring to this is requiring a level of effort on our end to please
our spouses and it requires a little trouble sometimes okay so look if you're having trouble
with your children and dung is accumulating get some help if you've never dealt with this ox before
don't be embarrassed we're all new to it when we first get married even if you had listen to me
even if you've had godly examples even if you had spiritual godly examples you will still
find trouble doesn't matter you know you could be raised in a pastor's home and a deacon's home
in a christian home you will still have issues because that's just the nature of the beast
unintended the ox okay you know just with that ox comes more problems so clean up after yourselves
don't just ignore all the dung in the corners don't just live in dung please because after a
while you start smelling like dung and after a while i know you i know you're okay with
pretending like everything's fine but i'm not gonna pretend and you can't expect us to pretend
that everything's okay with you guys too i know we're getting a little personal here but you know
this is this is church and so you know this is what you need to hear okay go to jeremiah chapter
seven jeremiah chapter seven all right i'm almost done talk about the ox of the internet and social
media there's a lot of increase that comes with the internet and social media tons of increase
the gospel can be preached man i've gotten so many people saved just through instagram
contacting them personally messaging them even when we had our youtube i mean brother freddy he's
a byproduct of uh the youtube when we had it you know now he's getting married i mean that's that's
an increase that's a huge blessing to see that i mean it blesses my heart blesses my soul to see
something like that you know the word of god can be sounded forth but even not even not even talking
about spiritual matters i mean what about you have what if you have a business through social media
you can increase your business through social media it's an ox social media and the internet
is just an ox of a tool to use to increase your business increase your reach you can actually
make money on social media instagram or tiktok i mean you can you can rank in some dough if you
wanted to that ox is awesome i'm all for that ox you can and even if you don't use it for those
means like you don't preach the gospel there you don't preach spiritual truths there you can use
it just literally to keep in contact with family and friends who don't live nearby right and you
know you can see everyone's you know families and pictures and selfies and you know uh people
sometimes people document their entire lives on there on their stories you click on it it's just
tiny little dots all the way across and you can just get all the way through because it's the same
thing over and over again i'm just kidding i do the same thing all right you know it's just like
you and i can still be in contact throughout the week i mean in times past it was like you only
saw your pastor on sundays and on the during the midweek service but now it's just like we just see
each other every single day it's just it's actually great to a certain extent right there's a lot of
crap that's on there too though it's a great tool for increase it's a great tool to get people saved
to get the truth out there to grow your business to keep in contact with family and friends but
there's a whole lot of crap that needs to be cleaned up with that ox porn right easily more
easily accessible not just through the internet but social media and in this particular point
i'm gonna focus more on the instagram aspect of it because i feel like we got an instagram type
church and if you don't have instagram just enjoy what i'm about to say don't worry about it you
know just just just tune in a lot of false prophets a lot of false prophets the false prophets i mean
the internet the social media instagram is just replete with just so much false teaching it's
almost nauseating how much nonsense is being espoused out there right but how about just like
hoes all right let me use the biblical term horse this is a biblical term a lot of whores on the
internet on on instagram a lot of whores and whoremongers on the internet who are the whoremongers
is a male horse and it used to be that you know it was more so like a message like this or a point
like this would be more directed towards men because they're you know it's just more likely
that men will get involved in things like this but now you know we're living in a day and age
where even women are involved in this stuff too because you have all kinds of dudes on the internet
trying to seduce women this is the thing now let me just say this okay let me explain to you how
instagram works because i have a pretty decent understanding you might have a better understanding
but i have a decent understanding you know instagram especially with the introduction
of reels it's no longer like a picture type of uh app now it's more videos right and you know the
way instagram works is that if you like follow or comment on a video your followers or the people
you follow will be recommended that video maybe some of you don't know that well you do now so
you know and then let me just say this you know instagram is really good for not just all these
other things that i mentioned but let me just let me just very be very blunt with you it's
actually good for just brainless activity and i'll be honest with you sometimes i need some
brainless activity because i'm constantly using my brain memorizing scripture preaching the bible
reading learning languages and so sometimes i just need to not do anything i just need to scroll
through some reels or something and just go through mean pages and just laugh and huh and then you know
like or send reels back and forth and just do brainless activity for i just need to get my brain
to rest okay you know sometimes i'm just on there and then random videos come up i'm like who's this
dude in his underwear with the mustache and why does he keep coming up on my feet oh that's why
because someone likes this video and follows this guy and comments on their videos oh that's why
or why is this like this woman keep coming up on my oh that's why because someone keeps following
this someone's following this and is being recommended to me getting quiet and sometimes
it's just like nazi stuff comes up you know it's like well i'm like this makes sense i know why
this is on here like i'm not shocked at all but there's other stuff i'm just like why is this
person keep coming up on my feet you know and then you look at me like and let me just let me
just let you know instagram says this is followed by and it'll say the person that's on your list
And it'll say so-and-so liked this video or so-and-so commented on this video. And you know what?
Here's the thing you may not know that but you know maybe maybe tonight you're gonna go home and clean up your crib
Clean that crap up stop following thoughts stop simping over women on the internet man up
We can all see it you smell like crap you smell like you've been liking thought pictures
You smell like you've been you smell you smell like you've been liking bikinis. Oh, that's weird
You smell like you've been liking photos of dudes in their underwear or smell that before that's weird
I'm just telling you hey look
I'm not telling you to get rid of Instagram either and let me let me just give people the benefit of the doubt, too
Cuz I'll use my account for example. Okay, my account. It's not big
It's not super big, but it has a decent amount of followers
I have like 10,000 followers and you know
I mainly use it to get the word of God out before in times past it was like a personal account
But then I just kind of transformed it into you know
I'm an influencer, I'm a Christian influencer
so I'm just I'm teaching them cleaning up the crib of your Instagram making sure you're not following and
Liking and watching things that you shouldn't be watching because it's sinful, but I guess I have to address the women too though
I guess this also applies to women okay, and you know what married women you should be ashamed of yourself
You should be ashamed of yourself
Freaking world that we live in where this kind of stuff is going on
And here's the thing like you can go to certain accounts like if you find a video or something
You go to certain accounts if you go on that person's account the account will tell you
Everyone that follows that person and you'll see everyone that follows that person and you're and you know what it's shocking sometimes
It's like what is this? What kind of world are we living in look at Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 7?
How shall I pardon thee for this thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods
when I had fed them to the full they then committed adultery and
Disciple themselves by troops in the harlots houses now. This is addressing men, but I feel like we can apply this to women now
They were as fed horses in the morning meaning what God gave them that which they need to satiate their you know desire
Their eyes their physical desires. He says everyone nade after his neighbor's wife
You know sometimes you go on Instagram all you see is people name after other people after other women and after other men even
I'm not gonna like imitate it was like a horse name just showing just unrestraint
No shame and you know, it's wrong. Listen to this. It's wrong
Obviously to even look at that stuff, but it's even it's just even crazier that you might know that everyone else can see your dung
It's one thing and I'm not even justifying this but please listen to me
It's one thing if this is something you're struggling with and you're trying to keep it under wraps because you're ashamed of it
But it's another thing to actually put it out on public for everyone to see do you like the video?
Comment on the video kind of disgusting crap is this it's just like you're basically showing
Everyone look at my dung. I didn't clean up my dung today
That's basically what you're doing and no one at first works Baptist Church should be involved in that crap clean up your crib
Stop watching videos of Instagram thoughts and these seductive dudes in their freaking underwear
With a mustache on well. I just started falling for fashion what fashion is wearing his underwear go to promise chapter 5
There's this term that I just learned recently
I'm a millennial, but I hang out with Jen's ears resonate with them
And this is it's just term thirsty now back in my day that means you were you needed you're dehydrated
And you needed something to drink but today that's not what it means
Thirsty means is referring to a person who's desperate for attention
Affection or approval in a way that is so raw it can be off-putting and they'll often say this to people like man
That woman is thirsty right here's ever heard that before if you didn't know you're learning it. All right, I'm teaching you
I teach you the Bible. I teach you, you know modern terms and don't say man that guy was thirsty
It's just like he they just have no dignity about themselves
you understand what I'm saying and
They'll demean themselves in order to gain another person's affection and they fall for what's called the IG thirst traps
Okay, don't be thirsty. Don't be a thirsty person. I don't even know if that's the proper way to say it
You know what? I'm saying don't be a thirsty person. That's such an that's so embarrassing and shameful
It's shameful for a man, but I don't know
I just feel this is just more shameful for a woman
It's super shameful for a man and I'm not saying that it's not shameful for a man because it is it very much is
Okay
And the men are not off the hook
Because I've seen some men following some stuff and liking some stuff that is not appropriate for a Christian man to follow and like and
Comment on you know, you're falling into that thirst trap. Well, you know what women, you know what in 2024?
I can't believe you have to say this but don't be a thirsty woman single or married. Don't be that way repent clean up your IG
Clean up your crib. We don't want to see your crap that your ox is producing but this is the term thirsty
Well, you know what? I have a Bible verse for you married women and men purpose 515 drink waters out of thine own
Cistern to fill a little thirsty have your spouse quench your thirst
Stop looking to underwear mustache man for a quenching and running waters out of thine own
Well, what does that mean? It means go to your spouse
If you have these desires which are completely normal desires you married someone go fulfill and quench those desires with your spouse
Not with some Instagram whoremonger or whore who's just like, you know, you're a child of God
Like it's it you go on the I went on some of these accounts. I'm like just Christians on here. Why are there Christians on here?
Why are Christians following this? This is so shameful. It's so disgusting
This is so embarrassing and you know what some of them are in the new IFP
Less some evil come upon you and you get exposed before everyone but you know
You might have already been exposed before everyone because Instagram already exposed you drink waters out of that
I know in cistern go look at your wife instead go look at your husband
Well, yeah, but they don't look like the way that you still need to you hate to break it to you
That's how life is this is what you do
You tell your you ask God Lord help me to be once again attracted to my spouse
Because I'm because I'm a sinful person and I keep wanting to I keep being thirsty
I'm just a thirsty bum help me to develop an appetite for my spouse. That's the righteous thing to do
Oh, yeah, but the world make fun of it screw the world. They're going to hell. I don't care about them
Why don't care what the world thinks they're gonna be thirsty for the rest of eternity
Wanting to drop a water in their tongue who gives a grip what they think I don't want to please the world the world sucks
That's why I left the world. I got nothing to offer a bunch of simpson thirsty people
I don't want you to be associated with those simpson thirsty dudes
What not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds be a man be a woman of restraint and be satisfied
With the spouse that God gave you he says let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of water in the streets
I don't have to explain to you what that means use your imagination the Bible just saying it there
Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee let thy fountains be blessed and
Rejoice with the wife and you could even apply their husband of thy youth because I guess we have to apply it to husbands
- let her be as the loving hind pleasant row
Let her breast satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with their love and why wilt thou my son or daughter?
Be ravished with the strange woman or a strange man and embrace the bosom of a stranger and look you don't even get to embrace that bosom
You just increase their followers and they increase their algorithm. They don't know who you are. I don't care about your life
They don't care about you
They're just using you but the ways of a man verse 21 are before the eyes of the Lord
He ponders all his goings his own iniquity shall take the wicked himself. He shall be holding with the cords of his sin
He showed that without instruction and the greatness of his folly. He shall go astray. Now look, I'm cleaning up my crib, too
Sometimes I literally have to go on my Instagram and just go through the people I'm following make sure I'm not following anything stupid
You know accidentally because I'm not trying to intentionally follow someone who's bad sinful
You know, there's some there's some cool memes out in me pages that you know, people might think it's sinful
But I you know, I just it's just my my type of humor and so, you know, I'm not gonna repent of that
All right, we're talking about like, you know
Nakedness, okay and and adultery things of that apply to fornication and let me just say this
I understand that sometimes we can follow people and we don't know what they're gonna post right?
Like I remember years ago, you know
I was following someone who was a an avid follower of the movement of our church and you know, they posted, you know
You know christian stuff right just or their family or something like that or their husband or whatever
And you know their family and then they just disappear and then all of a sudden like their picture
Would come up i'm like what is this because sometimes you'll deal with christians online who backslide
They backslide and then their account just completely changes to being worldly
Sensual and all that stuff and then it's just like oh got to clean this up
Gotta get rid because i'm not trying to look at that
So that happens sometimes right and and by the way, let's not get extreme about I don't think you have to get extreme
Now if you feel like you have to then so be it get rid of instagram
I don't think you have to I think it's a great ox to use and and here's the thing don't misinterpret
certain things either you know oh you know this person liked that picture of that person's family
or something that doesn't mean anything it's a heart that's the only option that instagram gives
us okay now obviously show some discretion you know what I mean and and and let not your good be
evil spoken of but here's the thing you know a lot of these accounts that people follow they're not
even christian accounts so what does this guy or does that woman have to offer that's spiritually
advantageous to you you know he's not an ox she's not an ox it's a rat you guys ever heard of the
the urban legend of the rat it's an urban legend because i can't verify if it's true but i remember
being a kid and they would always tell the story of a person that went to mexico of course it was
mexico and he ended up finding this dog and this dog you know the dog basically came to him and was
very affectionate towards him and he looked at it he thought it was sick and so he like rehabilitated
it and he brought it home and he fed it and he kept it as a pet and then his aunt told him like
that's not a dog that's a rat after he cleaned it up it was like it's an urban legend but you
know what that's how a lot of people are with their instagram following his accounts and they
think they're following the aux but it's actually a rat what's the point that i'm trying to make the
point that i'm making is this is that you know instagram should be used for righteous purposes
or just not even it doesn't even have to be used for righteous purposes you can use it for memes
but don't use it to further your devices though don't use it to further uh your your thirstiness
your thirst clean up after yourself go to your instagram go to your social media and start just
scooping all that dung off of your social media because we all can smell it and we all see it
it's like a couple years ago there was a guy who was like a follower of the of the new ifb
and he you know he was very vocal on social media but then you go to his followers list
and it's just nothing but just like porn the entire time and he has on there kj the only
fundamental baptist soul winning you idiot all the while you look at his followers this is just
just sin and i'm always leery i know i'm going over right now but i'm always leery
of accounts that like have like you know 8 000 9 000 10 000 that they're following 10 000 accounts
or something like that you say why because i feel like they're just kind of they're just they're
just following a ton of accounts to kind of cover for who you know some of these accounts that they
shouldn't be following and in my experience with people that i've seen that's what that's exactly
what they do okay i know it's an uncomfortable sermon about caref look you needed to hear it
everyone needs to hear it here and this is just a warning to you and this is a warning that the
eyes of the lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good but guess what apparently our
eyes are there too every once in a while because sometimes it's not you some people you know in
times past people have to do things in secret now they just do it openly they can't even blush
and i'm just here to remind you can you blush a little bit can you be a little ashamed can you
can you understand that your crap is is stinking up my nostrils i'm tired of smelling your crap
and i'm tired of looking at your crap too can you just be a clean christian not a perfect one
just can you clean up after yourself can you wipe