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🎵Music🎵 You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You All right, good afternoon everybody and welcome to steadfast baptist church It's great to see everybody here this morning. We can go ahead and find our seats. We'll go ahead and get started And for this morning, we'll start off in song number four hundred and forty one great is thy faithfulness Song number four hundred and forty one Song number four hundred and forty one great is thy faithfulness. Let's all sing it out together on the first song four hundred and forty one Great is thy faithfulness Oh God my father There is no shadow of turning with me Passion Great is thy faithfulness All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness Summer and winter and spring time and harvest Sun moon and stars and their forces above Join with all nature and man and bold witness To thy great faithfulness Mercy and love Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness Pardon for sin and of peace that endureth By all dear presidents to cheer and to guide Strength for today and pride hope for tomorrow Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me All I have needed thy hand hath provided Down in the valley with my savior I would go Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow Everywhere he leads me I would follow follow on Walking in his footsteps till the ground is one Follow follow I would follow Jesus Anywhere everywhere I could follow on Follow follow I would follow Jesus Sing it out for a second Down in the valley with my savior I would go Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow With this hand to lead me I will never never fear Danger cannot frighten me if my Lord is near Follow follow I would follow Jesus Anywhere everywhere I could follow on Follow follow I would follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I would follow on Down in the valley o'er upon the mountain steep Close beside my savior would my soul ever keep He will lead me safely in the path that he has trod Up to where they gather on the hills of God Follow follow I would follow Jesus Anywhere everywhere I would follow on Follow follow I would follow Jesus Everywhere he leads me I would follow on All right, great singing everybody. Good morning everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Thank you for being here this morning. If we're going to go through the bulletins at this time, if you don't have one, go ahead and raise your hand and the usher will bring you one. On the front there we have our verse of the week Proverbs 31 verse 8. If you are under the age of 18 and you quote this on Wednesday to either myself, Pastor Shelley, or an usher, you are eligible to get an ice cream of your choice from the freezer. And if you're wondering where Pastor Shelley is this morning, he has been visiting Faith Forward Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona. They've been having a missions conference down there and he preached on Friday about our Bahamas missions trip. It was a great sermon. Definitely recommend you guys check that out if you get a chance. It's uploaded on our Rumble page, so just go to our Rumble and you can watch that sermon. Definitely a great reminder of what an awesome trip that was. Raise your hand if you went to that trip. It was a great time. Listening to his sermon just got me really fired up for if there's ever a potential to go there again. It was a really fruitful trip and it was a blessing to be able to go to that and there's been some great sermons preached at Faith Forward in this conference, so definitely check that out if you can. On the front left of our bullets in here, we've got our service times listed there, our church-wide soul-winning times that meet here at the building and then our regional soul-winning times that meet in various locations of DFW. One change to that this week, Brother Sam Foley's time was changed from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m. I think just because of the time change, it's getting dark really early, so there's that change. Below we have our stats for our church, November stats and our year-to-date and because of the Bahamas, praise the Lord, it's November and we've already broken the record for the most salvations our church has ever had in one year and we still got several weeks to go in this year, so definitely let's get that final push to our soul-winning and just try to get as many people saved as we can. So that's really encouraging to see that number there for our year-to-date. Praise God for that. We do have on the top right there our list of expecting ladies. Please keep them in your prayers and great news, we do have a congratulations in order to the Zermano family on the birth of Priscilla Zermano. She was born on 11-9-23 at 11-26 p.m. Weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces and was 19 and a half inches long, so that's a beautiful picture there of Miss Priscilla for sure. Make sure to congratulate them when you see them. I don't see them this morning, right? Okay, good. Just making sure they're not here, okay. Get some rest, right? So we do have our prayer list on the other side, some new prayers there and if you do have a prayer request that you would like, please email that into the email address listed there. If it's something you want to keep in for a long time, please note that, otherwise we do update those weekly. Upcoming events, November 30th we have our Mexico missions trip. I think we have about 10 or 11, maybe 12 people signed up for this so far. If you're going and you haven't signed up, there is a sign up sheet at the front. Please do sign up for that so we can get accommodations booked. December 8th is the ladies' Christmas party. December 11th is Christmas caroling. December 16th is our children's Christmas music recital. December 24th is our cookie bake-off. And December 31st is our New Year's Eve party and men's preaching night. I always love that party. It's always fun. Back when I used to attend Sure Foundation Baptist Church, they did the same thing there. It was always a great time. You know, one of the funniest games that we ever played during this New Year's Eve party is one year we had someone get up and they had the message, Bible, and they had to read a verse and you had to guess what verse it was trying to say because it's such a perversion that it's hard to even know what it's saying. So it's like, it's a pretty funny game. So that's always a good time, the New Year's Eve party and then men's preaching night. Pastor Shelley's going to have some more details for the men that would like to preach. Definitely want to encourage every single man that can preach to sign up for that. It's a men's preaching night so we need you to sign up. We need you to be willing to preach. I don't know if it's going to be a 15 minute long sermon or a 5 minute sermon but you know, definitely want to encourage the men to preach on that night. It's going to be a great time. That's it for announcements. At this time we'll go to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. Alright, that was Psalm 139. Psalm 139. Everybody sing it out together. Sing it out together. Sing it out together. Sing it out together. Sing it out together. Great singing. Everybody now as the offering plates are being passed around go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 31. That's Proverbs chapter number 31. Proverbs chapter 31. We're going to read the entire chapter starting in verse number 1 as is our custom. Proverbs 31 the Bible reads, the words of Jesus are the words of the Lord Jesus. The words of the Lord Jesus are the words of the Lord Jesus. The words of the Lord Jesus are the words of the Lord Jesus. The Bible reads, the words of King Lemuel the prophecy that his mother taught him. What my son and what the son of my womb and what the son of my vows. Give not thy strength unto women nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It is not for kings O Lemuel it is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. Open thy mouth for the dumb and the cause of all as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband does safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants ships she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household and a portion to her maidens. She considerth a field and buyeth it with the fruit of her hands she planted the vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength and looseneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good. Her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff. She strengtheneth out her hand to the poor. Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen and selleth it and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed. Her husband also and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excelest them all. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in Heaven, we thank you so much for Stepfast Baptist Church. I pray that you would just be with Pastor Shelley and his family as they travel back. I also pray, Lord, that you fill Brother Dylan Oz with the Holy Spirit now and enable him to preach the sermon you've laid on his heart with boldness. Soften hearts in the room, Lord, so that we may receive your message and be more complete Christians. We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Well, first of all, thank you, Pastor Shelley, for the opportunity to preach to you guys today. It's always honor and blessing, and thank you guys for being in church to hear it this morning. So we're here in Proverbs 31, and let's start reading in verse number one. The Bible says, The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him, What, my son? And what, the son of my womb? And what, the son of my vows? Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. So we're here in Proverbs 31, and as you guys know, this is the chapter that we're memorizing as a church, so these verses are probably fresh in your mind. And as I was memorizing this chapter, this verse really stuck out to me where it said, Give not thy strength unto women. You know, this is something that we see in our modern day America. It seems like more and more men are just flippantly giving their strength to women in our society, and we can apply this in a multitude of ways, but this is definitely something that we see today. And of course, you know, the Bible highlights that men have strength, right? In order to give your strength away, it implies that you have strength to begin with, right? This is something that unfortunately we have to remind people of in 2023 that it's men that are strong. Men are the ones that are strong. Let me read for you Proverbs 20, verse 29. It says, The glory of young men is their strength. What is it that would be praiseworthy or something good to look out about a young man is the fact that he's strong. Now, this is something that we have to, you know, understand from the Bible nowadays because it's not as necessarily as clearly evident as it used to be. It used to be that just every man was strong, the men in our culture were strong, the men of America were strong. Now, that's not necessarily a given. Now, most of our country is extremely weak emotionally, physically, spiritually. I mean, men in our country today are getting weaker and weaker, and as a result, our country is getting weaker and weaker. So, we have to make men strong again. Now, go to 1 John, chapter number 2, and keep your place in Proverbs 31. I put a bookmark there throughout the sermon. 1 John, chapter number 2, look at verse 14. 1 John 2, 14 says, I have written unto you fathers, because ye have known him, that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men, because ye are strong. And the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. So, again, the Bible is constantly reiterating the fact that young men are strong. What is it that gives them glory? Their strength. What is it that characterizes a man? His strength. And here in Proverbs 31, King Lemuel's mother is saying, hey, don't just give that strength away to women. Don't just give it away to women. What are some ways that men give their strength away? Well, of course, let's think about in some ways how men are strong. Their physical strength. Their providing ability to make money. Their protection. Their giving of a woman a child. These are all ways that men have strength. And the Bible is saying we ought not to just give this away to women. The title of my sermon is Give Not Thy Strength Unto Women. Give not thy strength unto women. And, you know, when I preach, I like to find modern examples that show in our current day and age just how true the Bible is and just how living and wonderful the word of God is and how you could really apply it to every situation in life, even in 2023 America. So I want to bring up one individual as a case study that we can look at and say, here's a man that gave his strength unto women and let's look at what happened to him. And this guy's name is Trevor Bauer. I doubt anyone in here knows him. Does anyone know who Trevor Bauer is? Okay, there actually are a couple people that know who he is. Okay. This guy is a former pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers. This is the same L.A. Dodgers that Pastor Shelley was talking about on Wednesday that had all the tranny drag queens, you know, doing their dances mocking the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, this is an extremely wicked organization. This guy, Trevor Bauer, he was a star pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers. And I believe he was in 2021. He was accused of battery and sexual assault by this woman named Lindsay Hill. And he was never convicted. There was no criminal charges even brought against him because the evidence that was brought to the police, the police said, there's no evidence. We're not even going to bring charges against this guy. There's not enough for even a criminal trial. But that doesn't stop people from going to civil lawsuits, right? So he was never accused criminally, had no charges against him whatsoever. But he did just have this false accusation against him. And just because of one accusation with no evidence, not even enough evidence for the police to investigate it, the Los Angeles Dodgers fired him, cut off his MLB contract, he lost all of his, you know, commercial contracts and all the things that professional athletes have to make money. He ended up being cut from Major League Baseball and had to move to Japan to go play baseball because he was just blacklisted just from one woman's accusation against him. Now, since then, there's been like this two year long civil court battle where he hasn't really been able to speak about what's going on because when you're going through court, you can't really do that. But just recently, he won his case. Lindsay Hill was awarded nothing. This guy was proven innocent as much as the law possibly could prove him. And so now he's able to speak about what happened and now he's able to actually defend himself. So he made a short video defending himself about what happened. And I just want to read you the transcript of what he says, just so that we can say, here's a man that gave his strength unto women. What does it look like for a man to do that? And what are the consequences of someone that does this, okay? So he has this video and some of what I'm going to read to you, he's quoting texts from Lindsay Hill. So he says, he's reading a text from her. It says, next victim, star pitcher for the Dodgers. A text Lindsay Hill sent to a friend before she ever even met me. So before this whore ever even met this guy, her goal was to destroy him. She didn't like him. She didn't want to be in a relationship with him. She just wanted to destroy the man, okay? That was her goal and there are women like this. What should I steal? She asked another in reference to visiting my house for the first time. The answer, take his money. So how might that work? I'm going to his house Wednesday, she said. I already have my hooks in. You know how I roll. Then after the first time we met, net worth is $51 million, she said. You better secure the bag, was the response to her. But how was she going to do that? I need Trevor to choke me out, she said. Being an absolute whore to get in on his $51 million. So I'm going to be referring to this woman as a whore. Why is that? Maybe because she called herself a whore, okay? So don't be offended on her behalf. She says, hey, I'm going to be a whore to get on his money. That's what she said. Then after the second time we met, former San Diego Padres pitcher Jacob Nix told her, you got to get this bag. I'll give you $50,000, she replied. Her AA sponsor asked her at one point, do you feel a tiny bit guilty? Not really, she replied. Since then, her legal team has approached me multiple times about coming to a financial settlement. But as I have done since day one, I refuse to pay her even a single cent. In August 2021, Lindsay Hill's claims were heard in court and during those legal proceedings, critical information was deliberately and unlawfully concealed from me and my legal team. Information like this video, which was taken by Lindsay Hill herself the morning after she claimed she was brutally attacked, emotionally traumatized and desperate to get away from me. And now we have the metadata so there can be no dispute that it was taken mere minutes before she left my house on the morning of May 16th, 2021 without my knowledge or consent, of course. But in this video, you can see her lying in bed next to me while I'm sleeping, smirking at the camera without a care in the world or any marks on her face. I think it paints a pretty clear picture of what actually happened the evening of May 15th and why the video was originally concealed from us. After hearing the evidence available to her, Judge Diana Gold Saltman found that Lindsay Hill had misled the court. She found her claims to be materially misleading. She denied her request for domestic violence restraining order and she found that no sexual assault or non-consensual conduct took place. The fact is I was never arrested. I was never charged with a crime and I won the only legal proceeding that took place without my side of the story even being heard. Most importantly, as I've said from day one, I never sexually assaulted Lindsay Hill, or anyone else for that matter, so I sued her which prompted her to counter sue me. Quite frankly, regardless of the outcome in court, I've paid significantly more in legal fees than Lindsay Hill could ever pay me in her entire life. And I knew that was going to be the case going into the lawsuit, but it was never about money for me. It was the only way for me to obtain critical information to clear my name. The discovery process in that lawsuit recently concluded, at which point Lindsay Hill's legal team came again to us with another proposal to resolve the case. This time, however, they weren't seeking any money from me. Having received much of the information that had been hidden from us, a small portion of which I've referenced here, I was willing to agree to the terms proposed. Both parties would drop their respective lawsuits and neither of us would pay either side any money. I also retained my right to speak publicly about the case. Now, over the last two years, I've been forced to defend my integrity and my reputation in a very public setting, but hopefully, this is the last time I have to do so as I'd prefer to just remain focused on doing my job, winning baseball games, and entertaining fans around the world. So today, I'm happy to be moving on with my life. That's a pretty crazy story, right? And on one sense, you kind of feel bad for the guy, because this woman is just a complete predator that was just seeking to destroy him, to steal his money, to ruin his reputation, and just by her one accusation, he lost his contract with the LA Dodgers. I mean, the guy probably spent his whole life working super hard to be a Major League Baseball pitcher, gone because some whore falsely accused him. Did the Dodgers do any due diligence? Did they give him the presumption of innocence? No, he was just accused and he lost everything. So in one sense, I kind of feel bad for the guy, but on the other side of the equation, you know that this is 100% his fault still? You know that this 100% could have been avoided if he would have listened to what the Bible said? Because let me tell you something, Trevor Bauer gave his strength unto women. He decided to give his strength unto women. He decided to commit fornication with some random whore that wasn't his wife, that he shouldn't have been doing, and if he would have never done that, he would still be a pitcher for the LA Dodgers. He never would have lost his money. He never would have had to gone to court for two years. He never would have had all these horrible things happen to him. But guess what? When you give your strength unto women, there's consequences for it. And that's why King Lemuel's mother was so wise when she told her son, hey, don't give your strength unto women. Don't give your strength unto women. So how is it that we can avoid a situation like this and not give our strength unto women? Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Number one, how to not give your strength unto women is abstain from fornication. Abstain from fornication. None of this would have ever happened if Trevor Bauer did not commit fornication. He probably thought, no big deal. I'm just having some fun. I'm a professional athlete. I'm so cool. I could get all these ladies. Yeah, these whorish, psychopathic, disgusting women that want to take you for everything you've got. Yeah, of course she'll be with you. Of course she will. Look at 1 Corinthians 6 verse 15 says, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Notice verse 18. Flee fornication. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. If Trevor Bauer would have listened to God's command to flee fornication, he wouldn't have had all the suffering and misery that he experienced. And take this as a lesson that you might, you young people in here that aren't married yet, you might think, no big deal. I could commit fornication. It's not really going to have any serious effects on my life. Yeah, that's what a fool would say. That's what an idiot would say. Someone that doesn't trust God's word, that's what that person would say. When you should realize that, no, actually the reason God gave us commandments is as a blessing to us and to protect us. And guess what? King Lemuel's mom wasn't just being a jerk, wasn't just being mean to her son by saying, hey, don't give your strength unto women. No, she loved him. She cared about him and she knew that was what was best for him. And so don't ever get this stupid idea that you think, oh, I can go out and commit fornication and nothing bad is ever going to happen to me. Wrong. Especially as a Christian, you are not going to get away with that. I'll read for you 1 John 5-3 says, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. You know, I wish that Christianity would get back to a point where we would actually love God's commandments. We would actually love the things that God tells us to do and love the things that God tells us not to do and not look at the word of God as so grievous. You know, Christianity today, it seems like they're always wanting to apologize for the Bible. Preachers always wanted to apologize for God's commandments. No, this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. Hey, don't be ashamed of the fact that you're not a fornicator. Praise God that you're not a fornicator. But you know, the world will want to shame you today if you don't commit fornication. If you're a young person in here and you decide, I want to stay pure, I want to wait until I get married, people will make fun of you for that. And I'm sure, especially in the Major League Baseball culture, if you're some hotshot pitcher and you decide, no, I'm going to wait until I get married, oh, I'm sure you're going to be made fun of for that. But what would you rather, be made fun of by the world, be made fun of people that aren't even saved, that don't even understand the Bible, that are fools, or would you rather lose all of your money, lose your contract, lose your presumption of innocence, lose your good name, lose everything because you wanted to commit fornication. Was it worth it, Trevor Bauer? Absolutely not. And look, I don't want to beat up on this guy too bad because I don't even know if he's saved. I hope he gets saved. I hope he, you know, serves the Lord someday. Obviously I'm sad for what happened to him, but we should look at his example and be like, whoa, I need to stay away from fornication. I need to stay away from whores. I need to not give my strength unto women. 1 Corinthians 1, I'll read for you John 10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Notice the Lord Jesus Christ, He came to give us an abundant life. He didn't come and try to see what's the least amount of fun we could have in life, what's the most He could just put us under lock and key and keep us away from anything good. No, Jesus came to give us an abundant life. And anything in His word, any commandment that He gives is only for our benefit 100% of the time. And don't be a fool that you have to have experience teach you that what I am saying is true. Just listen to me, listen to the word of God, and just trust that the commandments of God are given for your own good. Don't wait until you're like Trevor Bauer where you're like, yeah, the Bible's right, stay away from whores. Let me tell you what this whore Lindsay did to me. No, just realize what the Bible says and trust it. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4, it says, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. And I love this next phrase, that in everything ye are enriched by Him. You know, the world wants to tell you that Christian marriages are worse, you have less fun as a Christian, you gotta go to church three times a week, you gotta read the Bible, you gotta pray, you gotta abstain from alcohol, you gotta do all these things and you're withheld from all this fun, but the Bible says that in everything we are enriched by Jesus Christ. Every single aspect of our life is better than the world because of Jesus Christ. Our marriages are better, our kids are better, our jobs are better, our happiness is better, everything is better in Christ. Everything is richer in Christ. And someone needs to remind young men today that God's plan is the best way. Going your own way and deciding to be a complete whoremonger is a bad idea. Going your own way and deciding just to avoid women and give up on women and think all women are bad, that's a bad idea too. Go God's way rather than your own way and remember that everything that God tells us is for our benefit. Everything, we're enriched in all things by Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 5 Flip over to 1 Corinthians 5 You say, oh, what's the worst thing that could happen if I commit fornication? There's a lot of bad things that can happen. I mean, look at Trevor Bauer for one thing, right? Then there's the fact that one in four Americans have STDs. That's fun, right? Is that something that you really want to risk? Then there's the fact that you could be cut off from fellowship from God's people. Look at 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1, it says It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. So we see that even the apostle Paul, he addressed this issue in his ministry. He addressed the issue of fornication, something he had to deal with. Look at verse 2 And ye are puffed up, notice their reaction, and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. You know, the church at Corinth, when he addresses their fornication, what's their reaction? They're puffed up. And it kind of makes me think of America and modern American churches, how they want to be puffed up and brag about how accepting they are about sin. Look at how godly we are because we accept fornicators and you don't. They're literally puffed up, they're literally bragging about how sinful they are. They're literally bragging about how tolerant of fornication they are. That's nothing to brag about. But yet, that's something that happened then, it's something that happened now. Notice verse 3, For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed. Hey, we need to bring back judgment in America. We need to bring back judgment in the house of God. And I wish Trevor Bower had grown up in an independent fundamental Baptist church where he would feel the fear of being judged for committing fornication. Let me tell you young people something in here. If we find out that you're committing fornication, every single person in this church is going to judge you. Yep, we're all going to judge you. Why? Because we hate you? No, because we know that it's going to destroy your life if you commit fornication. You want to commit all these horrible sins that are worthy of being kicked out of church? Every single person in here will judge you. Because we're going to back up the pastor in exercising church discipline. Look at what the Bible says here in verse 4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Is that not a judgment? Is that not Paul making a judgment and saying, hey, the fact that you're glorying over being accepting of fornication is not good. That is judgment. And today, we have a whole generation of Americans that are afraid to judge. They're afraid to say, thus saith the Lord, this is what the Bible says. It doesn't matter if it hurts your feelings. It doesn't matter if your best friend is a fornicator. It doesn't matter if your parents are fornicators. The Bible says what it says, and if you want a glory in that, that is not good, the Bible says. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? You say, why would you judge someone? Why would you judge someone? Doesn't the Bible say not to judge? In certain contexts, it says not to judge hypocritically. It says to judge righteous judgment. But should we never judge? No, of course we should judge. Why? Because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. If someone in here is committing fornication and it's not addressed, it goes unchecked, people act like it's no big deal. You know what message you're sending to everyone else? Is that committing fornication is fine. Committing fornication is good. And then you're going to have all the young people in the church infected and ruining their lives because people don't want to judge. But instead, you know, if there's a young Trevor Bauer in this room, they're growing up in a church and saying, hey, fornication is wicked, it's not allowed, and if it's found out, you'll be kicked out of church, and we will judge you for it. That's good. You say, that's harsh. Yeah, it's harsh, but guess what? That person isn't going to grow up to lose all their money, all their job interests, all their reputation, their health, from some stupid whore. So which one would you rather have? Look at verse 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sanctified for us. And then it goes on to give a list of the different types of people that are not allowed in church. And you know, this is something that we may take for granted, a steadfast Baptist church, but most Christians do not believe this chapter right here. Most churches do not practice church discipline, and you should count it a blessing and a privilege to be in a church that does, because it is what the Bible says. So number one, we want to abstain from fornication. That is a great way to never give your strength unto a woman. If you never commit fornication, you're not going to give your strength unto a woman. Here's another way you could avoid giving your strength unto women. Number two, avoid whores. So number one, abstain from fornication. Number two, avoid whores. Don't just not commit fornication. Don't even be around whores. You say, I don't like that word. That's a Bible word. Do you not like the word of God? That's a Bible word. Go to Proverbs chapter number five. Proverbs chapter number five. You know, unfortunately, the flesh of man is sinful. All of us are sinful. Every single person in here is sinful. And the flesh of man desires the bad woman sometimes. Let's just be honest, right? That's why there's so many admonitions in the Bible against it, is we have to arm our spirit and arm our mind with this knowledge that we're not just like slaves of our flesh, listening to every desire that our flesh gives us. Look at Proverbs five, verse one. It says, A strange woman drop as a honeycomb and her mouth is smoother than oil. Notice how the strange woman is described from the perspective of the man, right? It's that her lips drip as a honeycomb and her mouth is smoother than oil. She appears to be delightsome. She appears to be something that you want. She appears to be something that would be good for you. But is that the reality? Is what you see the reality about her? No. Look at verse four. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. You know, if Trevor Bauer would have seen Lindsay as wormwood and as a sharp two-edged sword walking around, he probably wouldn't have wanted to mess with her. He probably would have said, Get away from me, whore. Back off, whore, as Pastor Shelley likes to say. Hey, avoid whores. Don't give your strength unto women. Look at verse five. Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are movable that thou canst not know them. Notice her ways are movable. She's insincere. So the strange woman when she comes to you, you can't trust what she says because what she says is insincere. And let me tell you something. If you have a guy that has a lot of money and a girl wants to be with you the first time, she comes over to your house, she's probably insincere. She's probably a whore. She's probably someone you should stay away from. And I'm telling you, there are some women that are predators. Just like there are men that are predators like Andrew Tate, the piece of garbage pornographer that he is, there are women that are also predators. The Bible says that the adulterous hunts for the precious life. There are women out there that are predators. Look at verse 7, it says, Hear me now, therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her. Notice, avoid whores. And come not nigh the door of her house, lest thou give thine honor unto others. Does that sound familiar? And thy years unto the cruel. What's honor? Oftentimes it's money in the Bible. And he's saying, hey, stay away from the whore. Why? Otherwise you're going to give your money unto others. Like what? Maybe like blood-sucking lawyers, Trevor Bauer, that you have to pay for two years to go through a lawsuit to clear your name. Then it says, and thy years unto the cruel. Hey, maybe spending two full years of your life in lawsuits is not something that sounds like a lot of fun. You say, how do I avoid that? Avoid whores. Stay away from the strange woman. Look at verse 10, Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labors be in the house of a stranger. And thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. So what does that have to do with flesh and body? Well, we already talked about STDs. How about just stress? I mean, stress and heartache, that'll do a major damage on your body. Just always being stressed out literally can affect your heart. You know, that could really destroy your flesh. And what's the end of it going to be? Look at verse 12 and say, how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me? And you know, I pray to God that verse 12 and verse 13 is never something that some young person at Steadfast Baptist Church ever says someday. And I hope that you take the admonition to never be around whores, to not commit fornication. I pray that you take that seriously, because this is going to be the end result of your life when you disregard God's commandments. You're going to be saying, man, how have I hated instruction? How have I despised reproof? Why didn't I obey the voice of my teachers? Why didn't I listen to the word of God? That's going to be the end. Look at Proverbs chapter number 7 verse 5. You say, how do you know if a woman is a whore? Because we're saying avoid whores. How do I know if a woman's a whore? She'll tell you. She'll tell you. And she'll tell you in multiple ways. Maybe she'll be like Lindsay Hill and literally just call herself a whore. Appreciate that. Thanks for letting us know. But there's other ways that she tells you too. Look at Proverbs 7 verse 5. It says that they may keep thee from the strange woman. Notice what the strange woman does. From the stranger which flattereth with her words. What is flattery? It's insincere, over-the-top praise. If you have a woman that is over-the-top praising you, over-the-top flirting with you, it's called flattery. And that should be a red flag to you that this is a bad woman. But unfortunately, us men are so stupid that we actually think we are all that in a bag of chips. So when a woman comes up to us and starts saying all these great things, they're like, yeah, you're right. That is true. That's what a fool would think. That's what an idiot would think. No, you should realize, hey, this woman's flattering me. I'm not all that in a bag of chips. When she's saying I'm this great, I'm realizing, okay, this woman is a whore. This woman is flattering me. That's not how reality works. You don't just have godly women coming up and just flaunting themselves all over you. That's not a godly woman that does something like that. A godly woman gets pursued by a man. She doesn't come throwing herself on a man. That's what a whore does. Look at verse 6. In the window of my house, I looked through my casement, and I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man, void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house. Notice, the point is a void whore. What is this person doing? He's going near her house. He's not avoiding her. Verse 9. In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night, and behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtle of heart. Here's another way that a woman will tell you that she's a whore. By what she's wearing. The Bible says that there exists something that's called the attire of an harlot. What is a harlot? It's a whore. So there's women that dress like whores, and what are they projecting with their body? They're saying, hi, I'm a whore. Okay? So as a young man, if you see a woman that's wearing the short shorts, that's wearing the short skirt, that's wearing the inappropriate clothing, that is likely a whore. You say, well, I wear those things, and I'm not a whore. Why are you dressing like a whore? Because there is something, according to the Bible, that's called the attire of an harlot. And you know what? Some men in this country need to check their wives before they walk out the door. Some men need to check what their daughters are wearing before they walk out the door. And please, check your family before you walk into the house of God dressed like a whore. It's disgusting when a woman comes to church dressed like a whore, showing her thighs, showing her body. That is despicable. That is something you should, as a man, it's your fault when that happens. Don't allow your women to dress like that. Look at verse 11. She is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in weight at every corner. These women are everywhere. It's easy to find a whore. It's hard to find a godly woman. The virtuous woman, the Proverbs 31 woman, she's like a ruby. She's hard to find. She's valuable. She's of great price. But a whore is on every corner. And so don't fall for the same old tricks of the same old whores. Verse 30. So she caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him, I have made peace offerings with me. This day have I paid my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face and I found thee. Again, here's the flattery saying I've only been looking for you. I've been looking my whole life just for you. I've been preparing everything just for you. It's a lie. It's flattery. I've decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I've perfumed my bed with myrs, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning. Let us solace ourselves with love. Let's skip down a few verses here. Let's go to verse 22. He says, He goeth after her straight way as an ox goeth to the slaughter. Think about this imagery. Or as a fool to the correction of the stalks till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteneth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life. I mean, the Bible couldn't really get any stronger about how badly you need to avoid the whore. It says, Hearken unto me now, therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways. Go not astray in her paths, for she hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men. We're talking about giving your strength unto women. Many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. Don't think that because you're a strong man physically or because you're a strong man spiritually that you can never fall to a whore. You have to keep this danger alive and fresh in your mind and not think that you're too spiritual to ever fall or you're too good of a Christian to ever fall. No, you need to always avoid the whore. When you're single, avoid the whore. When you're married, avoid the whore. When you're 90 years old, avoid the whore. Just avoid the whore your whole life until you're in heaven and you never have to deal with them ever again. Now, let me just say this, because we do live in a culture and in a society in the United States of America where just about 99% of women are dressed immodestly, right? And, you know, I've heard some single guys think like, well, I'm not going to ever approach a girl that's wearing short shorts or I'm never going to approach a girl that's dressed immodestly. But the problem with that is then you're probably just never going to address a girl. You're probably just never going to talk to a girl. So what you should do, there's nothing wrong with trying to get a girl saved that's worldly, that's unsaved and try to disciple her. But, look, if you're talking to a girl for some length of time and she's unwilling to change on that, if she wants to keep dressing like a whore, then you should find a different girl. You shouldn't talk to that girl. But there's plenty of women that grew up living a loose and fast lifestyle that with the right man to lead them would want to live a godly life, would want to put on the skirt and the dress and want to be modest for her husband and in the house of God and those women are everywhere. Women are followers. So if you're a good leader, you can get a woman to follow you, okay? So I'm not just saying write off all the women of America, don't talk to them, don't approach them. That's a stupid mentality. I'm saying avoid the whores, okay? But there's plenty of women that just grow up not knowing anything different. This is the way that their parents dressed them. As sad as that is, you've got to realize that parents literally dress their kids like whores. And so if you're a young child and you've been dressed like that your whole life, how are you going to be expected to do anything else, right? It's not really that person's fault. So you could try to get to know that person and try to test their heart, but then their heart's going to reveal themselves. Do they want to just keep dressing like that? Okay, find a different girl, fair enough. But don't just write off all women. But, definitely avoid whores. Number one, abstain from fornication. Number two, avoid whores. But it's not just enough to avoid whores. Number three, you have to arrange safeguards. You have to arrange safeguards. Go to Romans chapter number 13. It's not just enough to will yourself into never committing fornication. It's not just enough to will yourself into never committing adultery. It's not just enough to will yourself to never give your strength unto a woman. You have to make it as hard as humanly possible to ever happen, if not impossible, if you could make it that way. You have to arrange safeguards into your life so that if you have a weak moment, if you're having a rough patch in your marriage, you don't just decide to give your strength unto women. You don't just decide to go commit fornication or adultery. Romans 13 verse 13, it says, Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. You know, when you think about providing, when we provide for our families, what are we doing? We're giving our family clothes, food, a place to live. We're giving them all the things that we need for them to thrive. Don't provide for your flesh. Don't give things that are going to feed and satisfy your flesh. Completely cut that off and set up safeguards to where you don't even have the temptation to commit that sin. And so there's some safeguards that I've put in my life, and I think you guys should do the same thing that'll help you to not give your strength unto women. Number one, here's one of them, never be alone with the opposite gender. Never be alone with the opposite gender. You say, You're crazy. This is insane. This is a cult. No, I just don't want my reputation destroyed. No, I just don't want to ever give into that sin if I'm ever tempted, or I don't want some whore like Lindsay Hill to accuse me of something I never even did. Our job as soul winners, our job as ministers of Jesus Christ, it's too important to be ruined by a whore. Screw your MLB career. That doesn't matter. You know what matters? Serving God matters. And I'm not going to let that get ruined by some whore, so I'm never going to be alone with the opposite gender. Now obviously I'm not talking about family or women that are old enough to be your grandma or something like that. Obviously use some common sense. But look, the Bible says to abstain from all appearance of evil. Not just avoid fornication, but also just avoid the whore, and just avoid the appearance of being by a whore. I mean when you have all these steps, how hard is it going to get all the way to fornication? It's like, don't even look like you're around a whore. Don't be around a whore. Don't commit fornication. It's going to be kind of hard to commit fornication when you have those other two standards, right? Put those in your life. And you know, I've taken this very seriously. I do not allow myself to be alone with another woman. And if by the off chance, you know, some situation happened where I wasn't expecting, where all of a sudden I find myself in a situation like that, I've even called my wife before and had my phone in my pocket so that she hears everything going on, and it's like, hey, you say you're crazy. That's wild. That's too extreme. No, I'm not going to let some whore ruin my life. I'm not going to let some whore accuse me of anything. And I'm not going to ever give in to that situation if I put up those safeguards. How are you going to give in to that sin when your wife is on the phone? It's not going to happen. Right? You say, this is going too far. Well, you could destroy your life then if you want. Here's another thing. Give your spouse full access to your phone, social media accounts, and bank accounts. When you get married, you've become one flesh. And you shouldn't be having separate bank accounts that your spouse doesn't know about. You shouldn't be having all these social media apps that your spouse doesn't know about. Me and my wife, we have our location on our phone. I always know where she is. She always knows where I'm at. When notifications for my social media accounts come up on my phone, they always come up on her phone. She knows every message that's sent to me. I know every message that's sent to her. Why? Because we don't trust each other? No, because this is just a smart safeguard to put up in your life so that you can never be falsely accused or you can never actually have this situation happen to you, God forbid. This is just a smart thing to do. And a humble person says, hey, I know that I have the flesh and I know that I can fall and I know that I can mess up, so I need this stuff in my life. The prideful person says, oh no, I'm fine. I can never fall. I can never be tempted by a woman. Look, if you're a man and you can never be tempted by another woman, you either need to go to the doctor or you need to get out because you're a fag. It's one of the two. You have some serious problems if you're never tempted by a woman. You need to put up safeguards so that nothing ever happens, okay? Number three, here's another personal standard I have, and I don't think you should ever have friends of the opposite gender. I don't think you should ever have friends of the opposite gender. Me and some girl, we're not going to go hit up the batting cages any time soon. We're not going to go play softball. We're not going to go out to eat. Now, here's the thing. I'll take my guy friends to batting cages, no problem. Hey, let's go. Let's have some fun, right? Let's go play baseball. Let's go play softball. That's fine. I'm not going to be doing that with another woman. Now, look, some people I guess it's better to be on this extreme of what I'm about to say than the other extreme, but look, don't get this so weird that like a husband and wife walk into church and you can only say hi to the husband. You have to like, oh, Mrs. So-and-so, I can't even speak to a woman. Like, I feel like sometimes in churches, that culture kind of exists where it's like, hey, it's okay to say, hey, good morning, brother so-and-so. Good morning, Mrs. So-and-so. It's okay to look a woman in the eyes and say hello and be polite, okay? You don't have to be rude to a woman. You don't have to be weird or anything like that, but don't be friends with someone of the opposite gender. Don't hang out with someone of the opposite gender. And look, it's okay to have couple friends. It's okay to go over to someone's house and be friends with a husband and wife, but even that, you should be careful of stuff like that, too. And if a couple friend situation, if there was anything that started ever to get inappropriate by any parties involved, you should be willing to back off from that in a heartbeat. Why? Because your relationship with your spouse is way more important than any friendship you have. And if any party starts getting any type of feelings that are inappropriate or starts being flirtatious or anything like that, you need to cut that off. And, you know, you need to be jealous over your spouse and watch out for stuff like that and be willing to cut that stuff off. Because, hey, it wouldn't be the first time someone committed adultery by having a really close couple friend, right? There's nothing wrong with having couple friends, but you should be very cautious and you should pay attention. So when it comes to not giving your strength unto women, we talked about number one, abstain from fornication. Number two, avoid whores. Number three, arrange for safeguards. Here's number four, award your strength to one woman. The Bible says, give not your strength to women, plural. But you know what you should do as a man? You should find one woman that you love and that loves you, and you should be with her and be faithful to her and take care of her for the rest of your life. It's called marriage. Don't award your strength to women, plural, but award your strength to one woman and one woman only. Go to Proverbs chapter number five. Proverbs chapter number five. Don't get this woman-hating attitude where you just hate all women and the Western woman's horrible and American women are all whores. Sure, there's whores out there. Sure, there's bad women and avoid those people. I already preached that. But find one and award your strength to her. Proverbs chapter number five verse fifteen. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind in the pleasant row. Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? You know, like I said, the Bible commands us not to give our strength unto women, but give your strength to one woman, your wife. You know, I wish Trevor Bauer was taught that as a young man because carnally speaking, Trevor Bauer's got a pretty great life. Carnally speaking, right? I mean, he's a professional athlete, makes a ton of money. He could get a great wife. He could get a good wife that he could love and rejoice and be happy with all of his days, but instead he gave his strength unto women. He awarded it to a whore and it destroyed him. But you know, what if Trevor Bauer would have just found a godly woman and awarded all the strength to her? They could have had a great marriage. And so remember that as a young person, hey, don't give your strength to women, give your strength to one woman. And don't give your strength to her until you're married. Be strong. Don't be a weakling. Don't give away your strength before the time. That's something a weak man does. A weak man commits fornication. A weak man commits adultery. No, be strong and say, no, no, no. I'm the one that's strong. I'm the one that's going to retain my strength and I'll give that lady my strength someday when I marry her. That's when she gets my strength. You know, we hold the power in this world. Despite what the feminists want to tell you, men hold the power. And anything that feminism has destroyed in America has been because men have awarded their power to them. That's it. Basically every problem in America comes down to two things. Feminism and fags. You want to know who's responsible for that? Men allowing it. We're stronger than fags? Why are we letting fags ruin America? We've got the power. We're stronger than women? Why are we going to let feminists ruin America? Hey, why is Nikki Haley running for president? Get back in the kitchen, Nikki Haley. That's disgusting. You're not going to be the president of the United States? Absolutely not. You know, a nation that lets a woman be president is a nation that didn't listen to King Lemuel's mom that said, give not your strength unto women. You say, this is offensive. This is the Bible. This is the word of God. This is what made America great to begin with. Don't be ashamed of it. Love it. Preach it. And as a man, give your strength to one woman only. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. You know, God's not just trying to withhold pleasure from us, right? He gave us the institution of marriage. He wants us to enjoy that, but He wants us to do it on His terms. He wants us to do it with righteousness, with holiness. Look at 1 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Notice this. You know, God created marriage, and God created the physical relationship between man and woman to be enjoyed. He gave us that as a blessing to us, right? But the thing is, people want to cheat God's system and try to get that outside of the blessings of marriage, and God's never going to bless that. That's never going to bring joy to your life. That's only going to bring pain and misery. But within marriage, it could be a great blessing, and it could be a source of joy and fulfillment and happiness. And let's be honest, this is what men are seeking for in their lives. But when they seek that outside of marriage, it's just misery and destruction every single time. Every single time. And people think that that area of life is somehow better in the world. But hey, according to the Bible, you have to get consent not to do that with your spouse. So in God's system, it's even better. You know? God getting Amen in here. Let's go, right? According to the Bible, to withhold that from your spouse would actually be fraud. It would be fraud. It would be a sin to do that, right? But in the world, I mean, these people are just always trying to find the next hookup. When can I get the next hookup? When can I get the next girl? It's like when you're married, you have your spouse with you at any time. It's better in marriage. God's ways are always better. In all things, our lives are enriched by the Lord Jesus Christ. In all things. Don't let the world tell you anything differently. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. I'll read for you Proverbs 31 verse 10. It says, For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. You know, a whore will always harm you. The harlot will always harm you. But you know what? The godly wife, the Proverbs 31 woman, will do you good as a husband and not evil all the days of your life. And so as a man, you should be seeking that godly woman and award your strength to that one woman. Ephesians 5 25 says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Think about this. Jesus Christ is the strongest man that's ever lived, right? When we talk about men having strength, no one has more strength than the Lord Jesus Christ. But who did he award his strength to? His bride. The local New Testament church. Jesus gave all of his strength for his bride. He gave all of his passion, his life, everything. Jesus gave his life literally for the church. Why? Because he loved it. Strongest man that ever lived gave his life for the church. Us as strong men, hey, award that to your bride singular. Award that to your wife. Don't go after the whores. You know, there's so many ways that men are awarding their strength unto women today. But I feel like fornication and adultery has to be at the top of that list in our country. And it is something that we as Christians have to constantly be preaching against and remind our young people that the lie that the world tells you about how great that relationship is outside of marriage is just that. It's a lie. It needs to be called out. It needs to be avoided. And we need to teach our young men and even the men that are married right now and even the men that are in their 40s and 50s and 60s and whatever, however old you are, never award your strength unto women. Award it to your wife. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day and thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for the admonitions inside of it. Thank you for the good and things that are also sometimes harder to hear for people. But I pray that you'd please just soften the hearts of every person that heard this message that they would search the Bible, that they would see if what was preached was true according to the Word of God. And I just pray that you would protect the young people in here and that you would help their parents to realize that they can't just be trusted, but they need to be supervised, Lord, and that we need to help our children not to make these mistakes. And we love you very much. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, in closing, let's go to song number 449. Song number 449, Dwelling in Beulah Land. Song number 449. Song number 449, everybody sing it out together on the first. Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is calling. Then I know the sins of earth be set on every hand. Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling. None of me shall move me from Beulah Land. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky. I'm drinking at the mountain that never shall run dry. Oh, yes, I'm easy on the meadow from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling in Beulah Land. Far below the storm of doubt upon the world is beating. Sons of men in battle on the enemy withstander. Save am I within the castle of God's worry treating. Nothing that can reach me is Beulah Land. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky. I'm drinking at the mountain that never shall run dry. Oh, yes, I'm easy on the meadow from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling in Beulah Land. Let the stormy breezes flow. Their cry cannot alarm me. I am safely sheltered here protected by God's hand. Here the sun is always shining. Here there's not can harm me. I am safe forever in Beulah Land. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky. I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry. Oh, yes, I'm easy on the meadow from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling in Beulah Land. You would hear the works of God I seek in contemplation. Hearing now His blessed voice I see the way He planned. Dwelling in the Spirit here I learn of full salvation. Gladly will I carry in Beulah Land. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky. I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry. Oh, yes, I'm feasting on the meadow from a bountiful supply for I am dwelling in Beulah Land. Great singing everybody. You were always missed. Thank you.