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...seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh. What God is about to do, we show it unto Pharaoh. The order came of seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and there shall arise out of them seven years of famine, and all the plenty shall be forgot in the land of Egypt, and the famine shall consume the land. And the plenty shall not be known in the land but the reason of the famine in following, for it shall be very grievous. And for that the dream was doubled into Pharaoh twice, it is because a thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenty of years. I'll let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be restored for the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt, but the land perish not for the famine. And a thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this, as a man in whom the Lord the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, for as much as God is truly all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shall be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him investors of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made them to write in the second shirt which he had, and they cried before him, bow the knee. And he made a ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath Pana, and gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of all, and Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls, and he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities, the food of the field, which was right about every city, lady up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea very much until he left numbering, for it was without number. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipharah, priest of all, and gave them to him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, for God said, for God said he hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. And the name of the second called Ephraim, for God had caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. And the seven years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended, and the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said, and the dearth was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. On all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph, for he saith to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold them to the Egyptians, and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all the countries came into Egypt to Joseph, for to buy corn, because the famine was so sore in all the lands. Blessed be the God's word, let us pray. Lord God in heaven, we thank the Lord of this state, that you've given to us. Please bless, Lord, the good weather for this state, for health and safety, Lord, for all the people gathered here in this state. Bless, Lord, with the wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy Ghost, that we may listen and understand your word, Lord, this day. Would you excuse me to pray? All right, we're here in Genesis chapter 41. We're continuing our false philosophy series, and I'm preaching against the philosophy of communism in this sermon, against communism. Now, we had an introductory sermon when we started, and then I talked about Taoism, and kind of the big principle in Taoism is how to have an effortless and easy life. Well, that's just foolish if you're a Bible-believing Christian, because that's not what God says, right? Life is just not easy, okay? And in Buddhism, it's to remove all suffering from your life. Well, you can't remove all suffering, and God doesn't tell you to remove all suffering. With communism, kind of the big thing that they push is equality. Now, here's the thing. Having an easy life sounds good. It's not practical. It's not biblical. Removing suffering sounds good. It's not practical. It's not biblical. Equality sounds good, doesn't it? But it's not practical. It's not biblical, and it has historically always failed, and it does not work. And if you want to get a picture of communism, go to North Korea and see if you enjoy living in North Korea. And I'll tell you what. This world is heading towards communist regimes in countries all over the world, and so quite honestly, although I'm not preaching just completely against communism in this sermon, I probably should in the future, because that's kind of the world that we're coming towards, okay? Now, you say, what is communism? Well, here's a couple definitions here. It says it's a political theory derived from Karl Marx advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned, and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. So basically what it's saying is this. The government controls everything. They control everything. All of your vehicles, all your housing, and they kind of just give you what they decide is appropriate, okay? So basically lots of power for the government, okay? Another definition is a classless social system with one form of public ownership, meaning the government. The government owns everything. No private businesses. The government owns everything. Of the means of production and with full social equality of all members of society. So let's just give everybody equal, you know, social equality. Here's the thing, though. That doesn't apply to a Bible believing Christian. What they actually mean is equality to everybody except if you disagree with us, right? Because what you've seen recently in the U.S., they're starting to give people like, hey, you know what? If you get this vaccine, we'll give you 50% off this thing, right? They're starting to give you money if you do what they want, right? And so when it's saying full social equality, this will not apply to us as Bible believing Christians because of the fact we're not going to go along with all of those rules of a communist regime, okay? Look at China, you're allowed one child. If you've got a problem with it, well, you can get arrested or killed or you can just do what we say, right? And so basically with communism, you have a really powerful government and you must do everything the government says. And look, Christianity is never allowed to thrive in communist regimes. You're not able to freely go soul winning in North Korea or in communist China today or in the Soviet Union when communism was really big. Now one thing people say is this, well, communism and socialism are completely different. That's what they say, okay? Because in the U.S. most recently, there was three main democratic candidates and Joe Biden ended up winning and he became the president. The other two candidates were basically just full fledged socialists. Bernie Sanders just openly said, I am a socialist, okay? And then Elizabeth Warren was essentially a socialist, whether she wanted to admit it or not. But just two people that said, we believe in socialism, it's totally different than communism. We're democratic socialists, okay? Well, when you think of communism, probably here you think of North Korea and China, but coming from the U.S., you think of the Soviet Union versus the U.S. in the Cold War for so long. And the Soviet Union was known as the communist regime. Well, the USSR stands for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Well, it sounds like communism and socialism are so different from one another when one of the letters is socialist in the USSR, okay? And so communism is a wicked system, but what they promote that sounds really good is equality for everybody. It's like if so-and-so has a cell phone, you deserve a cell phone too. If so-and-so has this salary, you deserve the exact same salary. And look, it sounds good, but it's not biblical, it's not logical, and it has never worked, okay? Now, I understand that communism became very popular with Karl Marx. I actually read, as I was sick recently, I read the Communist Manifesto, one of the worst books I've ever read in my life, okay? But I read the Communist Manifesto, I read the Tao Te Ching and the Communist, all these, you know, heretical books, right? I just read the Communist Manifesto to prepare for this sermon, but although it became popular with Karl Marx, and by the way, Karl Marx was a failure in life. Here's a man who talked about equality for workers, but he never worked a job. He literally never works, and same with Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders never worked a job, and then all of a sudden he's like, well, we need to have, you know, fair wages for workers, although he never worked, and then he just became a politician. Everyone's like, yeah, let's back this guy. He never worked. So what would he know about, he talked about working at a factory, Karl Marx, what would he know about it when he didn't work a job? He was a philosopher, meaning he sat around and just, you know, wrote books from time to time, and people paid him for it, okay? But although it became popular with Karl Marx, we actually see pictures of it in the Bible, and Genesis 41 is a great example, and you must realize there's nothing new under the sun, okay? Although communism by its name became popular with Karl Marx, it's been around before. We're just seeing a rise of it with the Soviet Union, North Korea, you know, China, Cuba, and these communist regimes. Vietnam is full-fledged communist. Genesis 41 there, let me turn there myself, because I changed the scripture. I tried to find the longest chapter for Brother JR to read, right, when I changed the scripture, so I think I found it in Genesis 41. Let's look at verse number 46, and let me say this. Joseph in the Bible was a great man, okay? Joseph in the Old Testament was a great man, but I have heard preached before that the Bible never mentions Joseph sinning. Although he was a sinner, it never mentions him sinning. Well, I've actually seen him make plenty of mistakes in the Bible, and look, I'm not saying I'd do a better job. I don't think I'd forgive my brothers immediately either, you know, but also Joseph does the wrong thing when it comes to the government. He was in second in power with Egypt, and basically he sold the people into slavery. We see that in Genesis. Genesis 41 verse 46, and Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt, and in the seven plencheth years the earth brought forth by handfuls. This was part of the dream of Pharaoh about how we're gonna have seven good years and seven bad years, so during the good years, basically prepare ahead of time for the bad years, and that's obviously a good principle. Be prepared for the coming seven-year, you know, lockdown, right? You know, you never know, okay? Verse 48, and he gathered up all the food of the seven, you guys think I'm joking, I mean, and he gathered up all the food of the seven years which are in the land of Egypt and laid up the food in the cities, the food of the field which was round about every city lady up in the same, and Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea very much until he left numbering for it was without number, and so basically seven years of plencheth and they gather up the food that's in Egypt. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but basically, you know, people had an abundance of food and the government basically takes the food. Here's the thing though, they didn't buy the food from the people. They took the food, which would be okay as long as you give it back to the people, okay? They didn't buy it, they took it, okay? And so notice what it says in verse number, hold on, I lost my place here, chapter 41. Chapter 41, verse number 55, and when all the land of Egypt was famished, this is during the time of famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph, what he saith to you do? And the famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold on to the Egyptians, and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. You say, what's wrong with that? Well the problem is, you took the food from the people and didn't pay them, and now you're selling it back to the people. I mean, if you're going to take from the people and not pay them, you got to give it back to the people for free. Now they should have just bought the food to begin with, but they take it for free and then they sell it back to the people. That's called stealing, okay? And the government steals from the people and then they sell back. I mean, the government never suffers from the famine in the story of Egypt. The government's doing great during the time of famine, right? And they take from the people, they sell it back to the people. Now look, Joseph was a godly person. He's obviously entering into a country that has this sort of political sort of system already set up. It obviously feels normal to him because that's what he's around, and that's the way the government operates. I don't think Joseph's just a wicked person that wants to destroy the freedom of the people, but that's just probably how the government operated. So he's like, okay, we take from them, then we sell it back. That's what we've always probably done before, right? Verse number 57. Verse number 57, and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn because the famine was so sore in all lands. Now here's the thing. It's not wrong for them to sell to other nations, but if they sold to other nations, they should have given the money to the people whose food they took. But selling to your own people when you took, I mean the government's supposed to serve the people, but it's doing the exact opposite in this story when it comes to Egypt. They take the food from the people, then they sell the people because we can't have the government workers being poor, right? That's what we're seeing here in the story of Egypt. Now go to chapter 47. Let's go forward in our story. Chapter 47. And it shouldn't be surprising to us that Egypt had a wicked government. I mean Egypt was a wicked country. And you know what? We see them basically ripping off the people, and they just destroy the people's lives. They take the money from them, they take the food from them, and then they sell it back to them, okay? Genesis chapter 47. Let's start at verse number 13. And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very sore. So the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. So basically everyone's getting hungry again. The food ran out, and so now all of a sudden they go back to the government. Verse 14. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the corn which they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. So the government has the money here. Verse 15. And when money failed in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph and said, Give us bread, for why should we die in thy presence, for the money faileth? Look, during a famine, everybody's going to be struggling. But in this story, the government's not struggling, because they just took from the people. So the people are really going to be struggling. Now, they would have had a tough time during this time period anyway, but, you know, the government takes the food from the people, the government does okay, and then they sell it back to the people. What they could have done is just prepare the people ahead of time and told them, maybe make a law, you need to save up, and you keep the food. That way you're prepared for the time. Or the government could have helped the people by buying the food, or basically storing it, and then giving it back to the people, because they're trying to protect the people during this famine. Verse 16. And Joseph said, Give your cattle, and I'll give you for your cattle if money fail. So basically, the government has made the people poor, and now the people have to give their cattle if they want to have food provided. And they brought their cattle onto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses, and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. So the people lose all their food, and now they lose all of their livestock, so they don't starve to death. And so now the government has all of the livestock, all of the animals, okay. Verse 18. When that year has ended, they came on to him the second year and said on to him, We will not hide it from my Lord how that our money is spent. We're out of money. We're out of food again. My Lord also hath our herds of cattle. There is not aught left in the side of my Lord, but our bodies in our lands. So basically, we're extremely poor, and all we have now is our land and our bodies. Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Look, by the way, in communist countries, you see millions of people that die due to famine. I mean, in North Korea, I don't know how many years ago, maybe 20 years ago or something. It's like 15% of the population starved to death, and the leader was so arrogant, he refused to get help from other countries that were trying to help, and he just let his people starve to death. I mean, you look at communists, the Soviet Union, tens of millions of people die. Communist China, tons of people die. You say, Why? Well, because when the government controls everything, there's corruption that takes place, the people get poor, and the government screws it up, and then everybody just ends up becoming really poor. And some people get killed because they fight against the government because they don't want to lose everything, and some people end up starving to death. That is what happens in communist countries. And yet, in the United States, they're like, It's democratic socialism. Bernie Sanders will make, I mean, he'll give me a free cell phone. Everything's gonna be great. I mean, when you read the stories of the Soviet Union, they're like, Oh, man, the government gave me free socks. It's like, yeah, you're starving to death. It's like the government should give you free stuff when they took everything from you, Soviet Union. And then the people just aren't aware of it, though, in communist countries. And it says in verse 19, Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh, and give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land be not desolate. So basically, they sold their land to the government so they didn't starve to death. Now the government owns all the land. Verse 20, And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them, so the land became Pharaoh's. The government now owns all of the land. Okay, verse 21, And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof. Only the land of the priests bought he not, for the priests had a portion to sign them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them. Wherefore they sold not their lands. Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day in your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh. You also have a 20% tax. You've lost all your food, all your fruits, all your vegetables, all the things you produce from the field, all your animals, all your livestock, and your land, and 20%. Now I don't know how you can read this and say Joseph did the right thing, right? This is this is basically just like communism, okay? The government's taking everything. Then ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own. You get to keep 80%! Why are you complaining? And look, you know what, in the U.S., you get your paycheck, and then it's like, whoop, 25% went to the government immediately, and then there's taxes on everything, and when you add it up, it's a lot more than 20%. Then it says here, four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. Now notice verse 25. And they said, thou hast saved our lives! Thank you, government! You're so nice to us! You've saved our lives from starving to death! You've been so great to us! We only sold everything that we had! Thou hast saved our lives! Let us find grace in thy sight of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests, only which became not Pharaoh's. Okay, I mean, who wants to live in North Korea now, after reading chapter 41 and chapter 47? Now turn your Bible to Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah chapter 1. I do believe, and look, I've said before, I don't think the end times will come in our life, but I do believe as we get close to the end times, you're going to see this in countries as they're going to turn to communism. This is what's going to happen, because what happens is, once you're forced to rely on the government, you get in that system, and then you're just there forever, and then it just gets worse and worse in communist countries. I mean, if you read anything about history, tons of people die in these countries. And the thing is, the government might give you stuff. They'll give everybody the same thing as long as you follow their rules. You're never going to see Christianity and soul winning thriving in a communist country. It will never happen, okay? Closest thing I found in the Bible was Genesis 41, with Joseph and that story. I don't want to go full into communism here today. I think in the future it'd be a cool sermon to preach, but I'm preaching against that idea of equality and what they mean by that, because it sounds good. It sounds good equality for everybody, but it never works in communist countries. And when they say equality, they don't really mean equality like the Bible would say, because I want you to understand here that I believe all of us were created by God, and God loves all of us. And I don't believe one person is better than another person, but at the same time, God made us different. That's an important distinction. God cares about all of us, but He did make us different. And when it comes to this not being logical, point number one, communism, this idea of equality, it's not logical for the simple fact, you know what? We have different abilities. We were created differently by God. Jeremiah 1, verse 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. And so the Bible says that before Jeremiah was formed in the belly, God knew him, because God specifically created Jeremiah. Every single one of us, God created us, but He didn't create us like robots. This is not a factory where we're all the same. Some of us are taller than other people. Some of us are shorter than other people. We have different genetics. We're just made differently with different abilities. And I want to apply this to three things here with career, with our health, and with church of why this doesn't work as we look through all the points. When it comes to our career, you must realize we are different people, and you might have been given an ability by God that could actually make you a lot of money. Or maybe you weren't given that ability. And instead of being in, because all communism is, is envy. You're envious that so-and-so has something. It's not fair. I want it because we need to have the exact same thing. It's just envy. That's what it is. We're made differently. Look, LeBron James, I don't like the guy, but he has an ability to do something that they pay millions of dollars for. I don't have any skill that people will pay millions of dollars for that I'm aware of. If you happen to know a skill that I have that will pay me millions, let me know, because I would love to make a lot of money. Right? LeBron James has an ability to do something that pays him 50 million dollars a year or whatever he makes. A ton of money. Look, we're not that tall. Right? It's like, I'm missing about this much height before I could be like LeBron James. We probably don't have that. But you know what? Instead of just being envious and saying, well, it's not fair. I wish I could be a pro. Well, you weren't given that ability by God. Your genetics are different than his genetics. And look, you know what? You might have an ability to do something that makes you very successful with a career. There are certain things that will pay you a lot of money, and then other things maybe won't pay you as much money. And the bottom line is we have different abilities. We're not the same. There are things that I'm good at that maybe you're not good at. There are things that you're good at that I'm not good at. We are just made differently. And look, we can be envious at other people, but the bottom line is God created you specifically for a specific reason. And you should be happy with the skills and abilities that God gave you. Turn to John chapter 9. John 9. John chapter 9. So why it's not logical, when it comes to our career, we need to realize that we have different abilities. We have different skills. Some people have an ability, a lot of ability, to learn foreign languages, or maybe they have an ability with math or with science or with grammar. Well, we're different. And some of those skills might pay more than other skills. It just is what it is, okay? When it comes to our health, why this applies to communism is because in a lot of countries they have universal health care. And what universal health care is is where basically everybody pays the same amount out of their pocket, and then everybody gets coverage. Now, kind of the joke in communist countries or when you're making fun of communists is that basically, you know, you're in line to basically sign a ban. I broke my leg. It's like, all right, we'll put you there for 2023 in July is when you'll have your surgery. Because in communist countries, what happens when everybody has universal health care, they just don't take care of their bodies, and then they'll go in to the doctors for anything. And when you have a real problem, you can't actually get help. So it doesn't work, and we'll talk about that later on. But I want you to realize the bottom line is we are created differently, and some people are created with very healthy genetics where you don't have a lot of health problems. Maybe some people aren't. We're made differently. John chapter 9, verse 1, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth, okay? Now, in verse 2, we are going to see the dumbest question in the entire Bible, in my opinion. The dumbest question, okay? And his disciples asked him—this is a person who was blind from his birth—saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Look, how can this man sin to be born blind? What did he do in the womb that made God so mad? I mean, did this guy, was he born blind because he committed some wicked sin in the womb? What sin did he commit? It's like, I don't think in the womb you can really do something that wicked, okay? I mean, I know Jacob and Esau are kind of fighting in the womb, but it's not like they have weapons, okay? And so, who did sin this man or his parents that he was born blind? Now, here's the thing. Of course, it is possible someone could have health problems due to choices that parents made. Like, for example, if a woman's pregnant, they say, don't drink, don't smoke, and if you do those things, you can give real health problems to the kids. That is, of course, possible. That's not the situation here, though. It could be, though, that for whatever reason, somebody's born blind, and it doesn't mean that the parents did anything wrong. It just is what it is, okay? And you might have been born—I don't know everybody's story. Maybe you were born and you have health problems. It just is what it is. We're just created differently. We can be thankful that God created us the way He did. And the reality is, even if we do have some health problems, you know what? I'm sure we have better health than other people that might have more problems. I mean, I know in my family tree, on my dad's side, people usually get diabetes at a young age. They don't really live super long lives. They have a lot of heart disease. Now, if you're in that situation, maybe you have genetics in the past, you should probably take better care of your body by realizing, you know what? Maybe I don't have the greatest genetics, right? If you have a history of some disease in your family, maybe you should prepare yourself for that. But you know what? It doesn't mean that you did anything wrong. It doesn't mean your parents did anything wrong. It just is what it is, okay? Verse 3, Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in them. In this story, this man is born blind because Jesus is able to perform this great miracle. And that's the reason, you know, He was there for that opportunity. But I don't necessarily know why everyone was born in different ways. That was God's choice, though. He made you a specific way. Go to 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12. So look, realize we're just born differently. Different abilities that might pay you more or less money, and you know what? Different genetics that might make you have more or less health problems. You know, sometimes somebody might have something that might seem like a blessing in one way, it's like a curse in another way. Because here's the thing, pro basketball players, they can make a lot of money, but if you're really tall, it usually makes you short in your life. Because it's actually not healthy if you're really tall. If you're seven feet plus, you oftentimes die at a younger age. You look at people that are like seven foot four, seven foot five, they often live shorter lives because it's not actually healthy on your heart and your body to be that tall. So in one way you might say, man, I wish I had that, but you know what? Maybe you can't make the money. You might live a longer life, though, okay? How does this apply to church? Well, the fact is, we have different skills and abilities. You say, Brother Secchi, I want to lead the songs. Do you have a good voice? I mean, it could be that you were just not born with a great voice. Well, you're probably not going to do the song leading, okay? 1 Corinthians 12 verse 14, for the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now if God sent the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. He said, Brother Secchi, it sounds like all the body parts matter. Yeah, they all matter, but the ear and the eye are different. All of us matter, but we're different. And see, the world's trying to make everybody the same. We're not the same. Right? I mean, the world's trying to make men and women the exact same. News flash, men and women are different. We're created different for different purposes. I mean, literally when I was in college, I had this class that talked about the fact that men are generally taller than women and men are generally stronger. Now, you say that. Some people say you're sexist. How dare you say men are stronger than women? I mean, are you going to deny reality? Men are stronger than women. Is that not a fact? I mean, the Bible says that, but you know what? Men are stronger than women. Okay? In the class I had, they said, well, maybe men become taller than women because at a young age, women are taught that they're supposed to be shorter. So it kind of gets in their head, and then they become five inches shorter. It's like, how dumb can you possibly be? Right? It's just like, and obviously there's exceptions with men and with women, but I'm just saying, you know what? Men and women are different. God created us differently. And to try to act like we're the same is ludicrous. It's ridiculous. Okay? I mean, look, I am never going to give birth to a child. And I know there's a few weirdos out there that are trying to make new science, like men trying to get pregnant. Like, what is wrong with you? Why would you want to go through that pain anyway? It's like, I don't want to go through that. But it's just like, look, I'm never going to give birth to a child. But you know, it's funny because in the US, they're really trying to push this sort of agenda. And they're just saying, well, women can be just as good as men at basketball. No, they can't. It's just a fact. Men are going to do better at sports because they're generally a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, and they're taller. Okay? I mean, it's just a fact. And you can deny reality, or you can just say, you know what? It doesn't make men better than women. It just makes us different. And there's nothing wrong with men and women being different. There's nothing wrong with us that are men that we're all a little bit different from one another. In fact, that's a good thing. Look, if everybody was me, this would be an annoying church. I'd be like, man, everyone's so arrogant and obnoxious, right? I mean, look, if everybody was just the ear, there'd be problems at a church. God made us differently for a reason. Okay? We are different from one another. Now turn in your Bible to Daniel chapter 1. Daniel 1. But let's just think about this from a practical level. Let's take this communist sort of philosophy where everybody just does the exact same thing, and we're all the same. Let's take that to a basketball situation. I mean, can you imagine the Lakers 20 years ago? They had two stars, right? Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. And Shaq would be like, well, it's not fair I don't get to shoot three-pointers. Even though I can't make a free throw, it's not fair I don't get to shoot three-pointers. It's not fair I don't get to be the point guard. I'm just going to stay outside and shoot threes all day. And then Kobe's like, it's not fair I don't get to post up down low, right? The Lakers would have been the worst team in the NBA. I mean, the players are different. There's a difference between a point guard and a shooting guard. The point guard's more of a pass or the shooting guard's more of a shooter, generally. I know there's exceptions and it's kind of changing. But look, it's like in the NBA today, you got Stephen Curry who shoots the ball from half court and makes it. Well, it's not fair I don't get to shoot from half court. You're not even going to hit the backboard. I'm not going to hit the backboard. And it's just like, no, instead of just complaining, you say, well, it's not fair I don't get to. Well, just take whatever God's given you and just use it. It's ludicrous. It's a stupid theory. We're just created differently. We don't do the exact. The eye does things differently than the ear. The ear matters. The eye matters. The nose matters. But they're different. They all have different. I mean, the ear's like, I want to be like the foot. Well, you're not going to. Right? You're just different. Okay? It's a dumb theory. It doesn't make sense on a practical level. We're in danger chapter one. So look, it doesn't make sense because we have different abilities. That's why it's not logical. But not only do we have different abilities, we have different backgrounds. And what I mean by that is we've all made different choices the last 20, 30, 40, 50 years of our life or whatever. And because we have different backgrounds and we made different choices, you can't put people all at the same level when we made different choices in life. One aspect of that is with our careers. Daniel chapter one, verse three. Notice what it says. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king's seed and of the prince's. Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding science. And such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, in whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. So here it says they picked the children that were educated. They picked the children that had an ability already. What does that mean? Well, it means those parents probably were training and teaching those kids to educate themselves. And basically when the king comes, he doesn't say, well, I'm going to give everybody an equal opportunity. No, what he says is, I'll take the people that already have the ability, that we have the ability to teach the tongue of the Chaldeans because they were already educated. Okay. It's the same thing with our careers. I mean, if you go to a job interview and you're applying to be, you know, the assistant CEO of an electrical engineering company, but you don't have an engineering degree, you've been a nurse for five years, you're probably not getting the job. Well, it's not fair, right? You made different choices in life. You have a different background. Okay. So you're just not going to be able to get that job. And you know what? It's okay because there's jobs out there, but you know what? We have different backgrounds, different abilities, but also different backgrounds. And so it just doesn't logically make sense with a career. Now, go to Genesis chapter 47. Genesis 47. Genesis 47. Now, the reason why I say that with a career is because the thing is with communism, they basically say everybody should be paid the same amount of money. Everybody should have full equality paid the same amount of money. Well, it doesn't make sense because we have different abilities, but we also have different backgrounds. And certain things, they're going to pay for more than other things. But imagine on a practical level, does it really make sense that the head of a company is going to make the same amount of money as the employees? Because if they get paid the same amount of money, who would want to be the head of that company? Why would you want to be the CEO of a company if you get paid the same amount by working less hours and having less stress, right? I would rather just work the job. I mean, if I got told, hey, you can make the same amount as a CEO. No, I don't want the new position. I'll stay just the general worker. I don't want to get an increase. I don't want to work more hours. I'm fine with this, right? Because if you're getting paid the same amount of money, nobody's going to want to move up the ladder. It doesn't even make sense. And this is what the world does. They look at something and say, well, it's not fair. And they try to fix it and they actually make it not fair. Look, if you start a company, there's going to be a certain level of stress and difficulties with doing that. And so you deserve to get paid more money than the people that are employees. It's just common sense. And Karl Marx obviously didn't get this because he never worked. He was never at a company. So he's saying it's not fair. The workers of the world unite with this big mantra. Well, you're not a worker. The workers of the world unite against these oppressive people that own these factories. They're the business owner. Of course they make more money. It's like, what don't you get about that? Of course the person who owns the company is not going to hire people for the same salary that he's making. It doesn't make any sense. But it's not fair. They're envious. Well, what you're saying doesn't make any sense, Karl Marx. And look, by the way, Karl Marx was a loser in life. You look at his kids. I mean, his kids, I think like over half of them either committed suicide or starved to death. It's like one of the big things in the Communist Manifesto, the thing that stood out to me that was the most wicked is he was trying to abolish marriage. Basically he said, well, it's not fair. What he claimed was a lot of husbands cheated on their wives. And he's like, we should teach wives, we should teach free relationships. Where basically you don't have one husband or one wife. Basically you just sleep with whoever you want and that's what's fair. Wouldn't that destroy people's lives? Have a lot of kids born out of wedlock without parents to raise them? And by the way, Karl Marx did get one of his workers pregnant and everything. Didn't take care of them. Didn't feed them and everything. It's like that sounds a little unfair to me. Go sleep around with whomever and then just get a lot of people pregnant. No parents there to raise the kids. No dads in the home. Yeah, it sounds like you're destroying the world, Karl Marx. It sounds like you're a wicked devil, a lazy person who is probably a reprobate, just a bad person. Right? Just a loser in life. Look, this is communism. It's a very ungodly system. Genesis 47 verse 6. I do want to say this though with our careers. I do believe that God promises to provide our needs. If we work hard, God will provide our needs and that is the secret to success. You might have different abilities. Maybe you don't have an ability that other people have. Maybe different backgrounds, choices you made. But hard work can work you out of situations. Genesis 47 verse 6. The land of Egypt is before thee. And the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell. And the land of Goshen let them dwell. And if thou knowest any men of activity, then make them rulers over my cattle. When they're looking for someone to be a ruler, they say, who's a hard worker? Who's a man of activity? Okay? Now, here's the thing. If you're in a company, you might work very hard and maybe you don't get the pay raise that other people get. But you shouldn't get envious at your co-workers because they got the pay raise or the job that you wanted. I mean, that's the choice of the boss. And we need to understand at the end of the day, promotion cometh from the Lord. And so if God chooses to promote you, you can be promoted. And if not, then you're not. When I look at, go in your Bible to 1st Corinthians 6. 1st Corinthians chapter 6. You know, when I think of my family and my parents growing up, and my dad would tell me this story, because sometimes you have a lot of luck. Sometimes maraming suerte, sometimes walang suerte, right? Just kind of depends. And you know what? My dad, when he was kind of new, he was a government employee, he had a lot of luck when he first started. He was at a company and basically worked for the government. And basically, the manager of that company was being pushed out the door. But the manager had the responsibility of hiring the next assistant manager before he quit. So he picked my dad because he was the newest person and he wanted to tick off, you know, basically the upper management that was pushing him out the door. So he picked my dad and my dad didn't have the experience. And hey, you know, sometimes that's the way it works. But then, my dad later on in life, you know, he was actually, my dad was a very smart person. He was the only person qualified to be, but they, I grew up in West Virginia, which is the whitest state in the U.S. But, you know, you got to hire somebody of a different ethnic background, even though everybody's white in West Virginia. And so my dad was the only person qualified for 20 years and he never got hired. And it just, it is what it is. And then kind of the branch manager didn't really like my dad because my parents didn't go to the church that she wanted. So basically, she expected if you're going to be moved up in the company, you have to go to the church that I say, okay? So my dad never got moved up past that point. So sometimes you have a lot of luck and sometimes you don't. But, you know, we did fine growing up. We weren't a rich family, but we did fine. Our needs were provided. And look, in life, I don't know why God might allow you to be promoted or he might not, but that is God's choice. And instead of being envious, we just work hard and just trust in God. And it could be that by making more money, it might actually destroy you. It might not be a good thing. Maybe God's holding you back. He'll provide your needs, but maybe saying, you know what? I'm going to hold you back because it's just not the best thing for you. I don't know those things. God knows those things. When it comes to our health, this doesn't logically make sense because, as we said, different backgrounds. You might have good genetics or bad genetics, but you've also made different choices the last 20 years. First Corinthians 6, verse 18, Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that commits fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? If ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. The Bible says if you commit fornication, you sin against your own body. You say, well, what if somebody commits fornication? They get an STD. Well, it's not fair that I got an STD and someone else didn't get an STD. It's like I only slept with one person. They slept with 20 people. Well, life's not fair. It just is what it is. And look, that's kind of the point of the sermon. Life's not fair. We need to realize that, okay? But look, the bottom line is there's kind of a secret to just not getting any STD. It's called don't sleep around with anybody. But look, if you live a sinful life, you'll destroy your body. I mean, think about this on a logical standpoint. If somebody's been a drunk for the last 20 years, they're probably going to have more health problems than me. They're probably going to have more health problems than you. I mean, if you smoke cigarettes for 25 years and then you end up getting lung cancer while you were smoking for 25 years. Look, I don't wish that upon someone who chooses to smoke. I'm just saying there's repercussions for our actions. And if you make choices in your life that are unhealthy, you might have repercussions. And you can't be saying, well, it's not fair that someone else, well, we have different abilities and different backgrounds, different genetics, and we've made different choices. Go to 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. So universal health care doesn't make sense because why should I pay for someone who's been a derelict, a drunk, and a drug addict for 25 years? Why should I pay for them to have surgery because of the choices they made? It doesn't make sense, right? When people are drug addicts, oftentimes they'll lose either an arm or a leg. And the reason why is because they often will inject themselves with dirty needles and they get an infection from someone else. So they inject themselves often in the arms. And around Sacramento, you'd see a lot of homeless people that are walking around. And in the U.S., which I'll talk about a little later, the government will pay you not to work. So you're only homeless if you want to be homeless. And so most all of them are pretty much drug addicts. But you'll see a lot of them are pretty much drug addicts. But you'll see a lot of them without an arm or without a leg. And I didn't know why. And then one of my church members have already told me, well, what happens is they inject themselves with dirty needles, they get an infection, they got to amputate the leg, otherwise they're going to die. Well, here's the thing. Should I have to pay for the amputation surgery when I've never taken drugs in my life? It doesn't make sense. And what happens with universal health care in a communist system, people don't take care of their bodies because they just figure, well, I'll just go to the doctors and take this pill and it'll all be fixed. You know, how about taking care of your bodies? How about eating healthy and exercising and taking care of your bodies and not just say, well, I'll just rely on the government. And look, we don't have that system. And you know what? That's a good thing we don't have a universal health care system like that. Because that ends up tanking the economies of societies. I had an old employee at my job a long time ago. And he was very liberal, which I mean, he was pro-abortion, I'm sure pro-gay marriage and things such as that and everything. We were talking about a universal health care system. And I was telling him why I don't agree with it. And he was telling me why he did agree with it. I said, well, let me give you an example and tell me what you think. And the person, you know, he's a nice guy. I gave him the gospel. He didn't get saved. But you know, I talked to him about work and everything. And the guy seemed like a decent guy. But he partied. He drank. He was living with his girlfriend. He always brought McDonald's every single day. And look, I'm not against McDonald's. I'm not saying it's a sin. But it's also not the healthiest life choice. He smoked cigarettes when he was off work and things such as that. And I asked him, I said, well, let me ask you a question. Which one of us eats healthier, me or you? And he said that I eat healthier than him. And I said, well, which one of us exercises more, me or you? He said, you know, I don't exercise. So, you know, he said, I exercise more than him because he never exercised. And I said, well, which one of us is more likely to have health problems when we get older? If I eat healthier, I don't drink and I exercise. He said, well, it's probably going to be me and not you. I said, well, should I have to pay for you because of the choices you made? And he's like, that makes sense, right? So, I think he was still pro-abortion, but at least he was, you know, anti-communist when it comes to health care. And look, it sounds good. Health care for everybody. But when it's free health care, that means the government's taxing everybody. It's not free. It's funny because when Barack Obama got elected in the US, they'd have videos of people and they're asking like, why'd you vote for Barack Obama? He gave me a free cell phone. It's like, it's not free. I paid for it for you. You're living off the government. I paid for it. And then you vote for the guy that allows you to be a lazy Dalit. That's reality. And it's like, communism is coming to the US and people don't even realize it. They're embracing. And it's like, man, pick up a history book. Read anything about the Soviet Union. Look into North Korea and you'll figure it out. But, you know, people just don't realize these things. So, it doesn't make sense from a health standpoint. But also with church, it doesn't make sense either because you might say, Brother Stuckey, I have a desire to be a pastor, but we've also made different choices our last 20 years. Okay? 1 Timothy 3 verse 1, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. That's a good desire to have. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. So, it says one thing, you need to be the husband of one wife. You say, Brother Stuckey, well, it's not fair that I don't get to be a pastor. Well, get married. Instead of complaining, well, it's not fair that, you know, Pastor Jimenez is a pastor and I'm not. It's like, well, do the first step, get married. I mean, do everything else that it mentions, but you've got to just do what are the requirements. Instead of complaining, you say, well, it's not fair, I love God just as much. Well, hey, being the pastor of a church doesn't mean you love God more than everybody else. You can be godly whether you're the pastor or not. Okay? But the bottom line is, if you're going to be the pastor, there are requirements. And it's just like, if you haven't gotten married, then you're not going to be the pastor. That's just the rules God has. It also says apt to teach in verse 2. Apt to teach means having an aptitude or an ability to teach. You know, one thing that helps you become better at teaching? Practice. That's what makes you better. I remember the first time, well, I don't really remember. I'm just, when I was a kid, you know, trying to do a layup in basketball, that was really hard for me. Now, I'm not a great basketball player, but I know how to do a layup. But you know what? When you first start, you don't know how to do that. You know why? Because it's new to you. And so, here's the thing. You say, by the way, I want to be a pastor. Well, you get an ability. You get practice. You get knowledge of the Bible, and it's going to make you better. You know what makes you a better math teacher? Actually understanding math, which means you have to learn if you're going to teach it. You can't teach if you don't know. I mean, I guess you can tell stories up here all day. I mean, people do it. And they're richer and more successful. They have bigger church services than me. So what do I know, right? But it's like, if you're going to have an ability to teach, you've got to actually know the material, and you need to have experience. I know that when I was younger, at West Virginia, you know, the pastor had an opportunity where he said, I wanted to preach every single week at junior church. I took that opportunity, and I preached every single week at my church in West Virginia. And you know what? I'd listen to my sermons. I'd have the audio recorded on my phone. And you know what? You get better with practice. It's the way it works. But here's the thing. If somebody doesn't have any experience, and they've never read the Bible, they're just not going to have the ability, okay? We've made different choices in life. Verse 3, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. Talking about things with character. One that ruleth well's own house, having his children in a subjection with all gravity. So in verse 4, it says having his children in subjection. So one requirement is that you need to have children. And it's referring to having at least two children. Not just one child, but at least two children. Now here's the thing. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with not being pastor. I'm not the pastor of this church, because I don't meet these requirements yet, because my kids are still very young, and they need to be a little bit older. But I also don't go around calling myself a pastor when I'm not. And look, I've wanted to be a pastor since I was 19. I had that desire, and you know what? It's more so here in the Philippines, but in the U.S. there are opportunities to be a pastor without actually meeting the requirements. Here's the thing though, there are requirements that God has. And instead of being envious at other people that maybe do it at a younger age than you, it's like you could just worry about what are the requirements and just fulfill what God tells you to do. Instead of just being envious and saying, well I've got to be a pastor. Look, someone who feels like I must be a pastor or I'll never be happy, they're going to be a miserable person. You should be able to be happy whether you're a church member or whatever position you are as long as you're serving God. You can serve God. And by all means, I hope many people become pastors at our church one day, but you have to meet the requirements. This is God's system. And it says in verse 5, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall they take care of the church of God? Verse 6, not a novice. What's a novice? It means somebody who's a beginner. Is there anything wrong with somebody who just got saved yesterday? Nothing at all wrong. Right, we owe it 35 saved in the Marikina Sowenny I think was the number. Praise the Lord. But they're a novice because they just got saved. They might have a strong desire to be a pastor. Well you just got saved. It's like you're going to need to take some time to make sure you meet all the requirements. Nothing wrong with being a novice, but it does mean you can't be a pastor because of either choices you made or maybe just the luck didn't fall to you, whatever it is. And it says you'll be lifted up with pride if you're a novice. Go to Daniel 4. And so look, the bottom line is it's not logical because we have different abilities and we have different backgrounds. We make different choices in life, okay? But not only that, it's not biblical. It's not logical, and I use the Bible to show that to you, but also it's not biblical. Let me show you some verses on this. Daniel 4 verse 30. Daniel chapter 4 verse 30. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built? Nebuchadnezzar, very arrogant. For the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty. Look at this great church that I have built. The sort of mentality from some pastors. Verse 31. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven say, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. Boy, I wish this would happen in the modern day. But that would be great, right? Verse 32. And they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be of the beast of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall pass over thee until thou know the most high ruleth in the kingdom men and giveth it to whom so ever he will. Look, do you realize that Nebuchadnezzar became the ruler because God picked him? It was God's choice. You know why there's a pedophile in the office in the United States? Joe Biden? Just a pervert? I mean, you can see any videos of him. I mean, the guy is such a dirty pervert. And it's like, I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would vote for him. I mean, he does the same thing with everybody, right? There'll be like a family that's there to take a picture. And then if there's like a brother or sister, he'll always say to like the young guy in the family or whatever, he's like, boy, you probably have to fight all those guys off with a stick that go after your sister, right? She's a pretty gal. And then he'll give her a hug. It's like, and I'll often kiss the girls. And look, this happens when they're less than 10 years old or when they're old women. I mean, he's just kissed women on their lips in front of their husbands. It's like, good night. I mean, if he did that, I'd just kind of pound him in the face. I don't care if you're the president. It's like kissing my wife. And it's like, he does that all the time. And he's been doing that for so long. It's like, how in the world? That just shows you how wicked the United States has become, that they would vote for him. And it's just like, good night. And the guy, I mean, everybody knows he has Alzheimer's. It's obvious. Like, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm not saying that as an insult. I know that's disease. He's got that disease. He's a pedophile that's lost his mind. And God probably made him lose his mind because he's a wicked pervert. And yet that, but you know what? That's who God decided to rule the United States. He said, why would God put a wicked person? Because that's what the U.S. deserves. And the U.S. is starting to tank economically. And you know what? That's what the U.S. deserves. And that was God's choice. And the same thing is true with any country. You know, these communist regimes. Why is it that in communist China, God put, because that's what God chose. And so the reason why I'm saying it's not biblical with your career, you need to understand promotion cometh from the Lord. And yet you just do what God tells you to do. And you trust in God. It's his choice. At the end of the day, you need to be okay with the fact that you can do everything right, and maybe you don't get the promotion that you think you should. God will provide your needs though. Go to Job chapter 2. Job 2. Job 2. Job chapter 2. Job chapter 2. With our health also, you can do everything right. Because you know, you've got this health and wealth prosperity gospel, where they say, hey, if you're really serving God, if you have faith, you're going to have great health and lots of wealth. If you don't have good health, you just don't have enough faith. If you don't have enough money, it's because you're just not giving enough, right? This sort of gospel, well, you give God $10, He gives you $100. I miss that verse in the Bible, right? That you can just basically use God as a system to just become rich. It's like, man, I mean, I'm sure we would love that, right? It's like, that would be the easiest way. Instead of the stock market, just, hey, give God $50, and I got $250 back. It's next week, give Him $250, you get $1,000, right? It doesn't work that way, okay? And so I want you to realize, with our health as well, you can do everything right and end up having health problems. Now, I do believe in taking care of your body. I do believe in exercising and eating right, and I'm not claiming I eat perfectly because I obviously don't, but here's the thing. You can do everything right and still die of a disease in your 60s. You can do everything right and get into a car accident and die when you're 20 years old. That happens, right? Job 2, we have an example with Job. Job 2 verse 4, and Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, yea, and all that man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold he is in thine hand, but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot onto his crown. And he took him a potsherd, disgraced himself with all, and he sat down among the ashes. In this story, Job does nothing wrong to deserve this punishment. Of course, we understand there is none righteous, we are all sinners, but it's not like Job had committed some wicked sin. Now his friends basically believed in a health and wealth sort of gospel, it seems like. Because they basically said, man, if you lost your health, you must have done something really bad, right? Because otherwise God wouldn't curse you. And look, that's our natural mentality as people. That's what we assume. If somebody goes through a health problem, the first thing that probably pops into your mind, man, I wonder if they committed some wicked sin. But biblically speaking, is that the attitude we should have? It could be they did nothing wrong, and for whatever reason they had a health problem. Look, you can do everything right and end up dying at a young age. My favorite preacher from 30 plus years ago was Curtis Hudson, right? Who's heard of the sermon in another gospel? Has anyone heard of that sermon in another gospel? That sermon was the sermon that taught me repentance of sins was work salvation. That preacher died when he was about 60 years old from cancer, and there's no indication he had some major sin. Nothing's come out in the news about him committing some wicked sin. He just happened to die when he was around 60 years old from cancer. I wish he could have preached for another 20 years. Why did that happen? I have no idea. It's not my job to try to figure it out either. I just know he's a huge benefit in my life from his preaching. I learned a lot from him. And look, the reality is you can do everything right and die at a young age. Now, by all means, we should try to do everything right, and that could lengthen our lifespan, but the reality is we just don't know what will happen. People get in car accidents and they die. That happens. Look, we're all on the roads and you never know what could happen. You could be walking down the road and some car could just basically lose control and just smash it. We don't know what will happen. Now, I don't want that to happen. I hope it doesn't happen in my life or my family's or anybody at this church, but the reality is it could happen to one of us. And here's the reality. As people, as a church, we should not have the attitude, well, I wonder what sin they committed. They must have done something wrong for God. No, I mean, sometimes, you know what, you just have bad health and you don't necessarily know why. We don't know why God necessarily gives you good health or not, but it is God's choice at the end of the day. God allowed Paul to have a thorn in the flesh for God's benefit. It kept him humble, the Bible says. That's the reason why Paul had a thorn in the flesh, which I believe was probably his eyesight. Verse 9, then set his wife onto him. Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. Now, look, I believe Job's wife was probably a very godly lady. She lost all of her children. They became poor. She's obviously speaking from emotion. And women tend to be a little bit more emotional with some of their words sometimes. And obviously, she's going through a lot. And she says, you know what, curse God and die. It doesn't mean she was a bad person. Verse 10, but he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God? And shall we not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin with his lips. Now, go to 1 Timothy chapter 3. We'll close up here in 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. And so, look, this idea of communism, it doesn't make any sense from a biblical standpoint or a logical standpoint, because God might choose to allow you to have good health or not to have good health. Now, what ends up happening is people will say, wow, I mean, if the government's not supporting you in these ways, what are you going to do? You need the government. Well, the only reason why we need the government is because we're forced to need the government because of the government. And it puts you in a mentality where you get used to being on certain government systems, and you know what, we can't imagine what it would be like without that system. But you know what, God has a political system in the Bible. See, the purpose of the government is to punish evildoers. The purpose of the government is to protect the people. So if there's a violent rapist out there, the government deals with it, and they put that person to death. If there's a pedophile out there, they're no longer the head priest at whatever Catholic church, but they're put to death. That's the government's job. The government's job though is not to just provide all of these things for us. That's not the system we see in the Bible. And here's the thing, what you see is you see families supporting one another, and you see churches will support their members if they go through trials and things such as that. As a church, we have helped people from time to time financially that went through various trials. Now what we do not do is help people that are not part of our church. It's like, instead of asking our church for money, why don't you ask your church for money? Oh, lockdown, I haven't been able to go to church. What about before the lockdown? Oh, I'm Catholic. Well, why don't you ask the Catholic church for money then? Right? And it's like, you know, it'd be very easy to just give free handouts to everyone who comes, but if they're not part of our church, you know, I'm sorry that you're not part of our church. It doesn't mean that what they're saying is not true, but it just means you should go to your own church to ask for money. Right. It's just common sense. When it comes to communism, it's not biblical when it comes to a church setting because you want God's system. God's system is not a community rule of a church. Right. You don't see that. You say, Brother Stuckey, I think we all have something to give, so I think we should have a rotating schedule, where basically, you know, I'll preach this week, then Brother Ehrman, then Brother Franklin, then Brother Nomar, then Brother Gilbert, and just on down the list. Everybody just, but we can't be sexist, so we'll have all the women preached too, because in communists, they're always pro-feminist too. So just everybody will just take turns. Right. Next week, my wife is going to come up here and just, you know, preach on something. Right. And it's just like, is that the system in the Bible though? Do you see that? No. It doesn't mean the person who's preaching is a better Christian. It just means God's system though is to have one person in authority in a local church. It's not a free-for-all system. Say, Brother Stuckey, it's not fair. We should all just lead the music equally. Well, we don't all have good voices. Now look, I can lead music when I need to, but the reason why I don't push to lead on Sundays, because the guys who lead music are better than me. Right. And look, if you have an ability, then praise the Lord, you can use that for God. But if you're the ear, don't try to act like the eye. It's foolish. It's stupid. It's just like people were made differently. It's like, if you can't shoot a three-pointer, you don't shoot a three-pointer. Right. If you're not good at offense, you play hard defense and get rebounds. That's just the way it is. Okay. You don't just act like everybody's the same. No, we're just made differently. And there's nothing wrong with that. And see, in church, you have a one-leader system. Notice what it says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 4. One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. Did you realize that Christabel is not the ruler of our home? You know why Christabel is not the ruler of our home? Because the only thing she'd drink is Coca-Cola. Right. She hears Coke. I mean, she's excited. That's all she loves is just Coca-Cola. Right. I know. We let her drink Coke from time to time and have ice cream and things like that. But if it was her choice, it would be every single meal. Because the reality is, she's too young to understand that you can't live off ice cream and Coke. Everybody likes ice cream. Everybody likes Coke. But as you get older, you realize, I can't just eat this all the time. My teeth are going to rot. It's going to destroy my health. And you feel like garbage if you're just eating junk food all the time. I'm not saying it's a sin to eat junk food from time to time. Obviously, all of us do. But when we get older, we realize, man, I need the energy to get through work and get through the day. I can't just eat sugar all the time. You need a balanced diet. But a baby doesn't understand that. Right. Well, the reality is, at church, some people are newer. It doesn't make sense for someone who's been saved for two weeks to get up here and preach a sermon. Now, look, of course I might give people opportunities from time to time. But at the same time, it's not just a free-for-all. But it's not fair, Brother Stuckey. I've been going to this church. Why don't I get a chance to preach? Well, you're not a guy. You're a woman. That's why. Number one, you're not a guy. And if you get an opportunity, praise the Lord, if you don't, don't be envious at other people to get an opportunity. We're just made differently. In God's system, notice what it says in verse 5. For for man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Right. And so the husband is the head of the home, the Bible says. And in the same way you rule your house is how you take care of the church of God. You're the head authority. You love your life. You love your kids. You lay down your life for your kids. But you also are the ultimate decision maker in that family. You say, Brother Stuckey, it's not fair. You know, I'm the wife. I should make just as many. Well, this is God's system. And it's my opinion, and I could be a sexist if whatever, you know, I say this, you know, people can think whatever. But you know, the bottom line is women can often make decisions based off of emotion. And you know what? You're going to be prone to making bad decisions if you just make decisions off emotion. And so I believe that God is a system for a reason. I didn't write that women are the weaker vessel and men are the stronger vessel. That's what God wrote. This is God's system. It doesn't make the husbands better than the wives. It just makes them different. And you say, well, it doesn't make sense to me. Well, you can ask God why this is his system. But this is his system. It's not just a community rule. And look, is that ever going to work in a company? We start a company, we have 20 people, we all just are equal. Well, what if you disagree about something? Who makes a decision then? Well, we'll just always vote on it. Yeah, that really works well. Democracy, that's going to work really well, right? It's like, you know, this is not God's system. And you know what? We are heading towards a communist future all over the world and countries. That's what we're seeing. In the United States, there's been a big shift in my lifetime. Now you have open communists that are running for office and almost getting elected. It's like the Soviet Union used to be the enemy of the U.S. and now you got Bernie Sanders. Well, it's different. I'm a democratic socialism. Yeah, the S was for socialist in one of the S's in USSR. What's the result of this communist system? Well, when it comes to our career, if we took this communist system, it's going to result in laziness. It's going to result in failure. If everybody at a company makes the exact same amount of money, what's the motivation to try to work harder than somebody else? What's the motivation to try to do a better job than anybody else? There is no motivation. I mean, if you're going to be paid, whether you come in late to work or not, guess what? You're going to come in 10 minutes late, take whatever breaks during the day, goof off, gossip, be on your phone. Why? Well, it doesn't matter if you make the same amount of money anyway. It's a dumb system. It doesn't make sense. You get paid based on the ability and the work you do and if you don't, then nobody's going to try to do any work. You're not going to try to do a better job if you make the same amount of money. I mean, imagine taking a test in school and the teacher says, hey, it doesn't matter if you get an A or an F, you know, we'll give you the same grade anyway. Whether you get all 20 questions right or whether you miss every question, same grade. Are you going to study for that test? Now, I hope I can teach my kids to work hard and they'd study anyway, but I certainly wouldn't have studied growing up. Hey, if I'm going to get an A on the test, whether I miss every question, why do I need to learn this, right? It doesn't matter. It doesn't make any logical sense, okay? With our careers, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. When it comes to our health, same thing. If the government's always going to bail you out with this universal healthcare system, you know what's going to happen? People are going to become reliant on the government and they're not going to take care of their bodies. One reason why we try to take care of our bodies to some level of a degree is because we're afraid about how much money we'd have to pay if we have to go to the hospital, right? But here's the thing. If it doesn't matter what happens to your body, you can have whatever operation that the government pays for, whatever pill, you're not going to take care of your body as well. Now, we still should because it's stupid not to take care of your body anyway, but the reality is in systems with this universal healthcare, people don't take care of their bodies because there's not that much motivation. I know I shouldn't eat a fourth piece of cheesecake, but the government will pay for my operation anyway. You know, I might as well, right? It results in you not actually taking care of your health, just like you wouldn't take care of your career if it doesn't even matter what you do anyway. What about with the church? Well, if we adopt a communist philosophy, it's going to be a free-for-all. Just anybody can preach if they feel a desire. Anybody can do whatever. Nobody making any decisions. It's like we're always just going to vote on it. It's like, all right, are we pre-trib or post-trib around here? Let's just take it to a vote. It's like the church will eventually just become bad. You have to have somebody ruling and running the church. That's God's system, and I didn't make the system. That's God's system, and it's okay if you're not the person running, but accept it, though. I've been at churches ever since I got saved, and you know what? I wasn't the leader at the churches I was at, and ultimately at this church, I'm not ordained as the pastor, so I still don't have 100% leeway to do whatever I want. Pastor Jimenez is the ultimate decision maker at this church, but the bottom line is this. I've been at churches, and you know what? I didn't always agree with the pastor, but I wasn't the pastor. You know, I've been at jobs, and I didn't always agree with the boss, but I wasn't the boss, right? Whatever you are, just accept what it is, and don't be envious, and here's the bottom line. I understand why there's an appeal to communism because it feels good to complain, right? People enjoy complaining. It's not fair, you know? Here's the thing. You know Donald Trump? You know how he made his millions? His dad was a millionaire. He didn't make any money. He was never successful with finances. You say, I thought he was just this real... No. He's always failed a business, but his dad was like a multi-millionaire billionaire. He inherited all that... Well, it's not fair. My parents didn't have millions. Life's not fair. It is what it is. It's like, you know what? Whatever your background is, whatever abilities, life's not fair. We're not made the exact same way, and look, when you look at countries that have adopted a communist philosophy, tens of millions of people die in the bigger countries for two reasons. One is starvation. In North Korea, they had probably 15-20% of people starve to death just going back 20 years ago or whatever like that, 30 years ago or whatever. I see it coming in North Korea again. I think people are going to starve to death, and they're probably not going to... What happened before is the country was too arrogant to get help from other countries, and the president just let people starve to death, because when you go to North Korea, you don't have freedom to just go wherever you want. If you've ever watched a documentary on North Korea, basically you go to their main city, and it looks really nice. Wow, North Korea is actually really rich. They're richer than South Korea. I always thought North Korea was poor, and it's so great. Look at all the nice buildings. Yeah, they're only showing you the nice part. It's like the most run-down country in the world, because they're lying to you. One reason why so many people die is because of the fact they starve to death in these countries. The other reason is this, because eventually sometimes people fight back against the government because they're mad when the government takes everything from them, and then sometimes people get killed by the government because of that. Those are the two reasons why in communist regimes this happens. What's the benefit of rejecting this communist sort of philosophy? The benefit is you're going to be thankful for what you do have. Instead of being envious at what you don't have, you'll be thankful for what you do have. Look, some people have a lot of money, but they just don't have great health. One of the famous people in the U.S. was Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the richest people in the U.S., and he spent most of his life in a wheelchair. It's just like you can be envious and say, well, I wish I had that money, or you can just be thankful of the things that you do have. I'm not rich, but as far as I know, I have good health. I'm thankful for that. We're made differently. Whatever things you have, be thankful that God gave you those things. Whatever you have in life, it's because God gave that to you. Instead of being envious your whole life and complaining, a better strategy would just be to be thankful for everything you have been given. Look, if you're thankful to God for what you have been given, maybe He's more likely to give you more. Doesn't that just logically make sense? Understanding promotion cometh from the Lord. If we thank God for the little things, maybe He's going to give us more things. But if we're not thankful for the things God has given us, you know what? He might not give us anything. The communist philosophy is wicked, and it sounds good, equality, but the reality is, yes, there's no respect of persons with God, but He made us differently. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to be here today and getting to see Your Word on this topic. Help us to reject this philosophy and understand that we're made differently. Obviously, we were all created by You, but we are made differently, God. I ask You to just bless all the members of this church. Help us to work hard and be successful in life, God. Help us never to develop envy in our lives, though, and destroy our lives, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. The last song, song number 197 in your hymnals. Song number 197. Song number 997, just say it on the first. Singing I know of all I've shown, for me to pass it with my arms account, no passing case, regretting me. Dear God, I hear Him sing, and when my fears are turned to sin, no purpose in the land. Singing I know of all I've shown, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I know of all I've shown, for Jesus has lived in my life on earth. Singing I know of all I've shown, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I know of all I've shown, praising the Lord, praising the Lord. Singing I know of all I've shown, for Jesus has lived in my life on earth. Please always bless this church, and thank you, and we love you, and we honor you, and bless you, Jesus have a great day. Amen. you