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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you thank you lord for this morning we ask you lord to bless our first service and we ask lord did you bless the congregation the reading of your word the preaching of the sermon oh god I pray also that you would help brother Saki preach a sermon to us lord that would edify us and help us lord to be attended with a sermon and guide us oh god as we go through this service lord and we ask lord did you bless our fellowship and also that you would allow us to go soviet this afternoon lord thank you lord remember no eating during the service maintain a professional atmosphere and keep the children from running and making noise during the church services on the next page our weekly service times are listed first service is at 10 am then a short break in our 1115 service wednesday evening bible study at 7 pm soul winning times listed on wednesdays at 4 pm meeting at the church building we have soul winning and also on saturday at caisson memorial circle both a morning and an afternoon session with lunch provided by church of course we have soul winning this afternoon around 1.45 our salvations and baptisms are listed there for all of our churches for the year as well as the month on the next page our bible memorization challenge so today is the last day to quote ecclesiastes 7 verses 16-29 and the option coming up this next week is exodus 10 verses 1-15 upcoming activities and so not tomorrow but in next monday 8 days from now we do have a soul winning marathon on i think it's nino aquino day right it's the holiday and so actually i just noticed i copy and paste when i do both bulletins the time is wrong because that's the pampanga time so don't look at what the bulletin says i'll change it for next week the pampanga time is 3-6 but here we're going to do the morning session like we do on saturday's lunch provided by church and then the afternoon session both for the 21st of monday and then for the 19 days also there will be a morning session lunch provided by church and then an afternoon session as well so not 3-6 but our normal saturday schedule for those days our monthly prayer meeting is coming up in two weeks current and upcoming series we have a new series we're starting today called the alphabet of characteristics and i'll talk about that here later today and the book of matthew which will start as my family comes back from the US information on our group chat and then on the back there's a place for notes so i believe that's it for announcements we'll have brother marlin lead us in another song when you open it within the world you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you'll have it there you will see just as you'll be sleeping tonight could you have it make you feel all about this song you'll know the peace that comes when you belong you'll have it seen through the tears you'll never know that you'll be sleeping tonight this heart will take you on to the beat it ends so hard you'll gain through pain through snorkeling you'll see just as you'll have it sleeping at last you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll be blue it ends so fast you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the place of what's the best you'll never find the way you'll never back again And for our Bible reading, please open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 1 Ecclesiastes chapter 1 We are going to read the whole chapter. Ecclesiastes chapter 1. Please say amen when you are there. Ecclesiastes 1. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What prophet has a man of all his labor, which he taketh under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hasteth to its place where he arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turneth about unto the north. It whirls about continually, and the wind deturneth again according to circuits. All the divots run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the divots come, thither they deturn again. All things are full of labor. Men cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that has been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done, is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything worth it may be said, see, this is new. It has been already of old time, which was before us. There is no new remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. I the creature was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven. This sort of veil had got given to the sons of men to be exercised thereof. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. I communed with my own heart, saying, Look, I am come to great estate, and have got more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem. My heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I gave my heart to no wisdom, and to no madness, and fully. I perceive that this also is vexation of spirit, for in much wisdom is much grief, and here that increases knowledge, increases sort of. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for your wisdom and the Bible. Also help us today. Please open our hearts, help us to understand your word. Please give us concentration and also support the creature. We pray his name. Amen. All right, we're here in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, and the name of the sermon is Making the Crooked Thing Straight. Now our text verse of the week says in Ecclesiastes 7, Lo, this only have I found that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. And when we're saying God hath made man upright, think about sitting in a chair, you know, sit up straight, sit upright. So what the Bible is basically saying, God hath made man upright, is saying basically he's made man normal, straight, and I'm not talking about, you know, in terms of your interest with, you know, obviously men are interested in women, women are interested in men. I'm saying God hath made your life normal, and then the Bible says they have sought out many inventions, right? And so I have an illustration to help us understand what we're talking about, and I've got these spoons here, and basically God hath made our life like this, right? And then they have sought out many inventions, and this is what we've done to our life in a bunch of different areas. And the Bible is saying God hath made man upright, he's made them straight, he's made it normal, and we have messed up our lives and turned it into this, right? Now in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, notice what the Bible says, Ecclesiastes 1 verse 12, I the preacher was king over Israel and Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom, concerning all things that are done under heaven. This source reveal hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. Is it possible for me to make this straight again like it was five minutes ago? No, because when you bend it back, it's still crooked, right? And our life goes like this, it gets all bent, and you try to straighten it out, and it's like, it becomes like this, right? You know, this is the illustration I have here, but at our house, I'm reminded of this because of our curtain rod in our room. And our kids will play, and they'll run into the curtains, and slowly the curtain rod gets lower and lower and gets bent and bent to the point where I cannot open and shut the windows anymore, so I've got to take the curtain rod off, and then I bend it across my knee, and you know what, we've got it higher so we can open and close the windows, but our curtain rod looks like this, right? It's a mess, and it's never going to be straight ever again, because once something gets bent, it cannot be straightened out by man. It's not possible, right? I mean, if you've got something that looks like this, you can try to get it back to its normal form unless you're some sort of sorcerer or magician or something, it ain't going to happen, right? Because that which is crooked cannot be made straight according to the Bible. So you say, well, why are you saying that making the crooked thing straight? Because there's a multitude of verses that talk about God straightening things, and this is not a contradiction in the Bible. The idea is this. God has made us upright and made our life normal, and we have done this to our life, and we cannot straighten this out, but God can straighten and fix your life out. Man's wisdom and man's power is never going to be straightened out, going to straighten out all the messes in your life, but if we rely on God, God can actually straighten out the mistakes and problems that we've made, right? Turn your Bible to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2. Philippians chapter 2. So I'm going to give you four points here today of things that we have made crooked as a people, and obviously you could think of a lot of examples, a lot of things that I'm not going to mention here. Things might come to your mind, but I'm going to give you four specific things that are just general things that man has sought out many inventions and just corrupted what God made. One is this, a crooked nation, a crooked nation. Notice what it says in Philippians 2 verse 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke. Notice this, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Now, of course, this verse is not referencing the Philippines, but it certainly can be applied to the Philippines in 2023. Whether you realize it or not, we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse and wicked nation. There's no way you could argue that the Philippines in 2023 is any semblance of a godly nation whatsoever. And this is not me stating this as, well, you're an American. America is by no means a godly nation in 2023. But you preach against the areas that you live and the problems that you see, and this is a wicked and a crooked and a perverse nation in 2023, and it's undisputable. You cannot argue otherwise. I mean, you go out in public, you see a bunch of men cross-dressing. How are you going to argue this is a godly nation? How are you going to argue that God made the nation like this? No, no. God made the nation normal, upright, straight, and man hath sought out many inventions and turned it into this. And that which is crooked cannot be made straight. Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. The Bible also said, Whom ye shine as lights in the world, and so the thing is this, it is a perverse, it is a crooked, it is a dark nation, a dark, a sinful, a crooked, a perverse nation. And look, if you don't realize that, you are brainwashed by this world. If you think this is the way that God made this nation, you are insane. God made this nation normal, and they have sought out many inventions, and we've turned it into the mess that we have in 2023. I mean, literally, if you have your kids just watching something innocent on YouTube, the commercials, the infomercials that pop up, there are always some guy wearing a dress. And a couple of years ago, it was just Mimi Yuck, and now there's like 50 of them. Why is every celebrity in the Philippines a cross-dressing homo? I mean, it's a fact. Everywhere you see it, I'm sick of it. It is a crooked and a perverse nation, and it's become this way because people don't preach and state the truth. That's the world we live in in 2023. And me, myself, it kind of concerns you, raising up kids in this world. What kind of world are they going to be coming into in 20 years? I mean, it's changed a lot in my lifetime. How much more is it going to change? Because it's not just that things are getting worse. It's not just they're speeding up. It's accelerating. Accelerating. Man, the curve is concave up, if you know what I'm talking about. It's getting worse and worse at a very rapid rate, and I don't see any stopping to it. We live in a crooked and a perverse nation in 2023. The Bible says in Isaiah 45, verse 1, Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before Him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before Him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. Now, once again, God hath made man upright, and they have sought out many inventions, and that which is crooked, which is no longer upright, cannot be made straight. But the Bible says God is going to make the crooked places straight. In the primary context, we are thinking about a nation, an area where you live, and the Bible is saying, God can make the crooked places straight. And of course, at this time, God's people have been removed from the land for 70 years. They get to return. Cyrus makes a decree, and God says, You know what? You've messed everything up, but I can actually make the crooked places straight once again. Go in your Bible to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. You see, here's the problem. If you look outside the walls of our church, and outside of Bible-believing Christians that believe like we do, most people realize there's something wrong with this world. Wouldn't you say that? Most people realize this is just not the way that God made it. Now, oftentimes they're afraid to say anything because the people that have the power of the airwaves, the social media, is run by leftist, wicked, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT, filthy, wicked people. And that's a fact. And so people feel this way on the inside. They don't like it. They look at what's going on and say, This can't be normal. This is not the way that God made it. And they're afraid to say anything. And I get that. What I'm saying is, the world realizes there's a problem, and you know what their idea to fix the world is? If we just elect the right politician. If we can just elect the right politician, it will solve everything. Now, I personally am very pleased with the president that we have, and you can agree or disagree. It doesn't really matter to me. I'm the one preaching. But no president is going to fix all the problems in a country. And the president in a country is a reflection of what the people want and what they deserve. Now, of course, I'm always in fear when a new president gets elected. It's like, Well, what do we deserve? Please don't allow this person to get elected. But no president is going to fix all the problems in our country. And the world realizes there's a mess, and they're like, Let's try doing this. Let's try doing this. Let's try doing this. And they think it's going to work, and then it never works. In America, in the political system, you've got basically a two-party system. The Republicans and the Democrats. Every Bible-believing Christian is going to at least be more Republican than Democrat because the Democrats are pro-abortion, pro-LGBT, and all of these things. But the idea that conservatives have, Well, wait a minute. This is what Joe Biden is doing to the country. If we just elect the right president, it's going to fix everything. And it straightens up a little bit, and then you've got the next president comes in, and it gets worse. And eventually, when you go back and forth after a while, it's just more and more and more crooked. Look at my strike. I told Brother Rod, You give me the weakest spoon you can have to make me look strong. Look at my strike. But this is literally what happens, and as you try to straighten this out, it's just so messed up after a while. That's the way the world is going. And I just want to tell people, Hey, the problem is the churches. The problem is what's being preached. And then it goes straight over people's heads. And they ignore what you say. No, you don't know what you're talking about. It's like we just elect the right president. That's not going to fix everything. The Bible says in Isaiah 40, verse 1, Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Notice this. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the Bible is speaking to the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Who is it referring to? John the Baptist. And John the Baptist comes onto the scene, and the 40th book of Isaiah correlates to the first book of the New Testament. And you've got, in Matthew, John the Baptist crying aloud. Now look, getting somebody saved is not going to fix all their problems. If their life is crooked, it's still crooked after they get saved. A lazy person that gets saved is still lazy. A drunk that gets saved is still a drunk. A person that watches TV for five hours a day is going to watch TV for five hours a day after they get saved. That's the way it works. But how does John the Baptist straighten out that which is crooked? By standing up and crying aloud and preaching against the sin. The Bible is saying John the Baptist had the ability to straighten out places and prepare the way for Jesus, and of course, he went super viral, right? Where everybody knew what Jesus was saying, and then Jesus is straightening out all of these problems. And the world had become very crooked. I mean, during that day, when Jesus shows up and Jesus shows up, even the central religious leaders in God's religion are not saved, and they're wicked people. It kind of reminds you of today when the vast majority of Baptist pastors aren't even saved themselves. You tell people, hey, I'm looking for a good church to go to. Try to find a Baptist church. And then all of a sudden it's like, repent of your sins, repent of your sins, repent of your sins. And then Jesus comes in, and then John the Baptist comes in, and he's straightening out and preparing a way for Jesus, who then of course does the exact same thing. Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. You say, Brother Saki, do you think there's still hope for the Philippines? I think there's hope if the churches will start preaching the truth, but when the Baptist churches are trying to be like victory and CCF, no, you're not going to straighten out anything. Because you're doing things in man's power and man's wisdom and man's philosophy rather than just doing things the good old-fashioned way. Look, I'm not asking for a show of hands in this room, but I'm sure many people would say, yeah, you know what, my life was very crooked when I started coming here, and my life has really straightened out over the last few years. You say, how does that happen? It happens by the power of God's Word. That is what takes place. And see, God, you are not capable of going straight. But see, God is able to do that if we do things the way that God says. And in a wicked and perverse and crooked nation, the only hope is churches preaching the truth. The Bible says in Isaiah 42, verse 13, The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar. He shall prevail against his enemies. I have long time holding my peace. I have been still and refrained myself. Now will I cry like a travailing woman. I will destroy and devour at once. I will make waste mountains and hills and dry up all their herbs, and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and not forsake them. And the Bible says God can make all these verses that we're looking at are in Isaiah. Isaiah. Isaiah. And of course Isaiah is preaching against nations when you look at the book of Isaiah, not even just his nation. He preaches against a lot of different nations. But the very famous verse we often turn to, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet. What book is that found in? And show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. I mean, it's in the book of Isaiah. I will take the crooked things straight once again by the preaching of God's Word. Look, if you want your life to get straightened out and fixed, you know what the secret is? Being in the house of God and hearing the Word of God preached. That's the secret. That's the method. Now from man's perspective it seems kind of foolish, right? I mean, from a human and fleshly perspective, why would that make any difference? Look, I already know what's right and what's wrong. I already know this is wrong and this is right. But there's something different between knowing what's true and then having it thundered from the pulpit. And God used this method to affect and change people's lives. Look, before I got rid of rock music when I was probably 20 years old, I already knew it was wrong. I felt guilty when I listened to the music. Why? Because God ordained preaching. That is God's method. God's method is getting churches started and then churches reaching people with the gospel, but also not just reaching with the gospel, but also thundering from the pulpit to help change people's lives. I do not agree with this philosophy of it's just salvation, salvation, salvation, salvation, salvation. Look, our lives need a little bit more than salvation. Look, I was 20 years old. I didn't get it figured out. It was given to me and I believed it. What I'm saying is my salvation's done. It's eternal. Okay, what about the rest of my life? Well, there's a lot of things I need the rest of my life. And you also, you got saved, you believed on Christ, but there's a lot of other things that you need to fix your life. Right, go to Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah chapter 1. One problem people have is they don't want to be humble. They don't want to have humility. So even though our nation clearly looks like this, people want to say, no, actually, you know what, we're better than this nation. We're better than North Korea. Wow, you're really setting the bar very high. And so is every nation in the world. That's not exactly a high bar that you're trying to achieve. I mean, if you want to know what's wrong with our nation, go to YouTube and watch a video from 60 years ago in the Philippines and you'll see people dressed conservatively, normal, and you see a society that looks pretty nice to live in, a society that you'd love to have your kids growing up in, a society where you could be perfectly fine with just letting your kids play and being overly concerned. But that's not the world that we live in in 2023. In 2023, this country is a mess. Don't pretend it's normal. I mean, this is what it looks like. This is the reality check for people. But people don't like to hear that because it's offensive to them. Well, how dare you say that about the Philippines? I mean, you're living in a dream world if you think this is the way that God intended it. Look at the nations in this sermon. This is what the world is starting to look like. Things are waxing worse and worse and it does no good comparing yourself to other countries. I mean, just look at our country. It's a mess. If you compare it to the world 60 years ago, I can't even imagine being someone that's lived through this world for 80 years and the rapid change that's taking place. I mean, it's a mad house in 2023. Jeremiah chapter 1. Then the word of the Lord came on me saying, before I formed thee in the valley, Jeremiah 1 verse 5. Before I formed thee in the valley, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. And I ordained thee a prophet out of the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, I will not speak. Be not afraid of their faces. For I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. And God's advice to Jeremiah is don't be afraid of the faces of the people that you're preaching to. Now, of course, Jeremiah gets arrested and he has a lot of persecution, but I understand the idea as a preacher because when you preach, I mean, you see a lot of reactions of people and you'll see people sometimes get angry at what you're saying. Sometimes people look confused and that's never good. When people look confused, you're like, is what I'm saying making sense? I've seen people cry during service and those things can easily be distracting as you're just trying to preach the word of God. And specifically for Jeremiah, though, be not afraid. He's saying, hey, people are going to be mad at what you say because you're going to preach against the nation. You're going to say willingly go into bondage because God has rejected you. People aren't going to want to hear that. Jeremiah stood up and said, you know what? We all need to willingly just go to China and just let China take over. Of course, no one's going to want to hear that. It's like, well, you weren't sent by God. Of course, that's what they say to Jeremiah because Jeremiah is preaching against the nation. It's like, go to Babylon. It's like, excuse me? You weren't sent by God. And so he says, be not afraid of their faces. Verse 9, then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. The problem in 2023 is people are afraid of the faces of the people that they're talking to. It's like, oh, man, people might leave the church. People might not tithe anymore. People might get offended. That's the reality why Baptist churches don't really preach hard anymore because they're afraid of the reaction of people. They're afraid people are going to leave. I find it interesting that Jeremiah, before social media, before Facebook, before YouTube, before Instagram, before X, he says, I've set you over the nations. And what he's saying is, your message is going to go out to everybody and make the world a better place. Make no mistake about it. If social media shut down everything from every like-minded church, the Word of God is not bound. I don't know how it would get out to the ends of the world, and it would probably be via a lot of persecution, but it would. It's always been that way, and God has the power to do that. What you're seeing is men of God preaching against nations. Why? Because we live in a perverse and crooked and wicked nation in 2023. Turn in your Bible to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32. And it might sound easy, but as much as I know this is the case, it's impossible not to worry about people's reactions sometimes. It's impossible. I mean, as I preach sermons, you know, some sermons I'm preaching, it's like, okay, this is going to be an easy sermon to preach. You don't really have to worry. But sometimes as you're preaching on something, you're just like, we'll see how it goes. And you cannot let that affect you as a preacher, because my job is not to be your friend. It's not. Now, I want to be the friends with the people that are in this room, but my job is not to be your friend. It's to be the most like person. I get it. When you say things that are mean sometimes, you're not going to be the most like person. Everybody in this room has been angry at me before at some point or another. And even if it was just for a few seconds and then you're like, okay, I just got to accept it. It is what it is. I understand that. Why? Because when the message hits, it hits pretty hard sometimes. Because the Word of God is sharper than the Word of God. I'm just preaching what the sword says. As the messenger, sometimes you get hurt in the process. It's kind of like, you know what, if you've got a problem with your Internet or whatever and you call for customer service and you're like screaming at the person on the other side, it's not their fault. They didn't do anything. But you shoot the messenger, right? You're mad at the messenger. It's the same thing with the preaching of the Word of God where it's like, you know what, you can easily get mad at me. It's this nation. And I'm not saying individually we are the ones because here's the thing, this nation was made crooked a long time ago. But I'm just saying, as a people in the Philippines, the Filipino people made this country a mess. This is not the way that God made this country. God created it upright and we have turned it into this. Another thing on an individual level is a crooked marriage. One thing that God has made upright in our lives is our marriages. You meet the person that you believe that God has brought to your life for better or worse, for sickness and health, till death do us part. You love that person. You're very excited. When you get married, you're excited, you're happy, and God has made your marriage upright. And then we turn it into this. Deuteronomy 32, verse 1. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. I will drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass. Because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the rock, His work is perfect for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. They have corrupted themselves. Their spot is not the spot of His children. They are a perverse and crooked generation. Not only do we live in a world where we live in a crooked and a perverse nation, we live in a crooked and perverse generation. Now here's the thing. Sometimes older people will criticize the younger generation, but newsflash, this generation is a byproduct of the previous generation. And so if this generation's a mess, well those from the previous generation should be like, okay, we screwed up. Now this generation is obviously a mess in the year 2023. There's no doubt about it. But here's what I'm trying to say. We live in a perverse and wicked and crooked nation. This is a perverse and crooked generation and as a result, people get the influence from this nation and this generation. The Bible says he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. And in your modern day, in your secular job, you're going to be around a bunch of fools and a bunch of idiots that don't know what they're talking about. They don't love God. They're not serving God and you're getting advice just on a normal basis from people that have no idea what they're talking about. And the generation that we have today, they're getting marriage advice from people that just don't know what they're talking about. Because the advice you hear from the world today to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5. I went to a wedding one time and it was a very interesting wedding because the congregation was kind of split between fundamental Bible-believing Baptists and unsaved Catholics. It was like a 50-50 split. And at the wedding, they would go to each table and ask for advice from each table. What would you suggest to the newly married couple? And so the advice is like the exact opposite from both sides, right? The fundamental Bible-believing Baptists, they're given good advice. And then the average Catholic, the advice is pretty much the exact opposite that I would say. I mean, I remember the one time that was really funny because the person who was doing the, what is it, MC, is that what it's called? They were a fundamental Bible-believing Baptist and the first advice I'd give you is to throw your TV out the window and smash it. And then half the crowd is like, What? And the MC's like, That is some great advice there. That will help your marriage. And then everyone's like, What are you talking about, right? And it was like the exact opposite. But what I'm saying is, in the world we live in, it's not a 50-50 split between fundamental Bible-believing Baptists from the generation and nation that is wicked and crooked and they don't know what they're talking about. It's like, This is your marriage and you're going to give me advice? But that's the world we live in in 2023. Let me give you some examples of the foolishness of the world that we live in. There's a lot of things that you could see. I mean, every week I see new things in the news and it's like, it doesn't even shock me anymore. I expect to have the most outrageous and absurd thing every single week that I see. Now, in America, in one of the states, Maine, you're not allowed to smoke cigarettes when you're 21, but you're allowed to change your gender at the age of 16 or 17 and your parents cannot refuse it. And if the parents try to refuse it, they take you out of your home so you can change your gender. You're not allowed to smoke a cigarette, but you can turn yourself into a woman. Explain to me how that makes sense. Does that surprise me? No, it doesn't. At Disney, I just saw this week, they'll have live shows or live animated things, and sometimes instead of having a person inside the costume, you can actually see the face of the person and the primary person that's going to play Minnie Mouse is a cross-dressing male. I'm not surprised. Of course they wouldn't have a woman playing Minnie Mouse. This stuff doesn't surprise you anymore because this is the world that we live in in 2023. I mean, this has become so common and it feels normal to people. And look, 50 years ago, every day non-denominational churches or Protestant churches, most of what they would say we would probably agree with. They preach against the LGBT. They would say it's weird and bizarre. I grew up as a Protestant in the United Methodist Church. What about the United Methodists in 2023? Now they have open tomboys running their churches. They go from preaching against the homeless 50 years ago. Now we'll just let a tomboy run the church. Does that surprise me? Not in 2023. This is just what you see everywhere. These are just a few examples of the insanity of the world. And so this is what the world looks like and then you're going to get marriage advice from the world? Does that make any sense? Why would I get advice from a world that looks like this? But that's what people do. And somehow they see a world that looks like this, a crooked and a perverse nation and yet they're getting marriage advice from the world. Well let me show you some good old-fashioned marriage advice from the Word of God. Ephesians 5 verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. You're a sexist. I just read what the Bible said. I didn't even give commentary. Obviously you understand what this verse means if you said I'm a sexist and that's the way you felt before I ever said anything. Just reading that verse, you know what it means. It's basic English. Wives, submit. I mean put yourselves willingly underneath your husbands. Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as you have women, but in a marriage you have wives submitting yourselves unto your husbands. And the world will say that's not fair. It's not equal. It's not right. Well actually the book of Ezekiel says are not my ways equal and your ways unequal? Let me explain to you about the stupidity of this idea of a 50-50 marriage in terms of authority. You're not going to be able to solve it. I mean companies have to have somebody in charge. It's common sense. You have to have somebody that makes the decision, somebody who's the head. This is not to say that the boss is better than their employee, but they're the ones that make the decision. And in marriage the way that God set up the system is husbands are the head of the wives. That's exactly what the Bible says here in Ephesians 5. It says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. You know what? Before my wife and I got married we got a lot of relatives, a lot of people we knew. They're excited for us. They're happy for us. We weren't really asking people for marriage advice just because I just figured I wouldn't necessarily agree with what we heard before we got married. Back in my day the husbands were the head of the home, but that's not really the way it's meant to be. Marriage is meant to be a 50-50 relationship. 50-50 in authority. And of course I didn't argue with my relatives. They're trying to be nice. They're trying to be friendly. There's no need to cause a fight or whatever. The Bible is timeless. And if it was good advice 100 years ago, it's still a good advice now. You say, but Brother Stuckey, my husband's a bad husband. I don't agree with his advice. What I would say is make sure you marry the right person. Because you're entering into a contract that is meant to be forever. And you're bound by that contract. So make sure you marry the right person. But then if you get mad at the thing, you already agree to that marriage. And what God says is, husbands are the head of the marriages. Now there's two major problems with this in 2023. Men don't want to lead. They don't want the responsibility and the stress. And then women don't want to give up the power. Now make no mistake about it. When you have to make the decisions at the end of the day, it's like, I wish I didn't have to make the decision. I wish that it wasn't my responsibility. Look, when it comes to running a church, there are a lot of times I think to myself, I wish I didn't have to make this decision. You say, why? Because what if it goes wrong? I remember the days when I was a church member, I'd just get to show up to church and if things go wrong, it's not my fault. I'm just there, no pressure, no stress. Right now I'll just sit down and you can come up here and finish this sermon. I'm being humorous, but I'm also being honest. Do you think that a business owner always wants to make decisions? Of course not. But it's part of the job. Here's the problem. What you'll have is women in 2023, they know what the Bible says, and so they kind of give a semblance to agreeing to this. They'll sort of say that their husband makes the wrong choice, I told you you should have done this. It's like, okay, is that what you do to your boss? That's how you get fired. What it shows is inside your heart you really don't look at your husband as a leader. You're really not willing to submit to him. My old bosses that I've had on jobs, they made plenty of mistakes, but here's the thing, I didn't rebuke my boss. He's standing. He pays my bills. He gives me my paycheck. In marriage, if your husband is trying to be the leader, because a lot of men are afraid to lead because they're afraid, if I do wrong, if I make a mistake, it's going to be like a World War III fight. My wife's going to be really angry, it's like, whatever, you can just order whatever food you want, I don't care, you make the decision. Now here's the thing, if you want your marriage to look like this, then don't listen to what I say. If you want your marriage to be just like the world, if you want to be like the nation of Israel that said, give us a king to rule us like all the nations. Hey, I want a marriage like everybody else. Go for it. But if you want to have your marriage fixed and you want a good marriage, you know what you're going to do? Go down to verse 31. You say, Brother Succy, I'm here today and this is what my marriage looks like. How do I fix this? You can't fix it. And that's the problem. You're trying to fix it with your own wisdom. What you need to do is just start doing what God says. What I would suggest is, read Ephesians 5, read the Song of Solomon, read the Bible, read the Scriptures, read Ephesians 5, read the Song of Solomon, study it, start applying it to your life. Right? I mean, if you want your marriage to be fixed, if you want it to be straightened out, you know what you're going to have to do? You're going to have to start doing what God says. I don't want to submit to my husband or I don't want to take the lead and be responsible. And then it's like, wives and husbands refuse to do what God says. That's what you want. If you want to have a marriage just like everybody else in America, over half of marriages end in divorce. And then when you look at the other 50% of marriages, probably half of them or more, they stay married just to say, we did it. We made it to the end. You know what? It was miserable. It was horrible. It was the worst time of my life, man hath sought out many inventions. Man decided not to do what God said, and as a result, the marriage became a mess. The Bible says in verse 31, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife better today than they were a hundred years ago. Do you really want to make that argument that people have stronger family units in 2023 than they did in the past? I mean, if you want to try to debate that, I suppose we can, but I don't think there's too many people that would argue that. The world is a mess in 2023. Go to Proverbs 2. Proverbs 2. Point one is a crooked nation. How does that get fixed? It gets fixed by the preaching of God's word. Point two, a crooked marriage. How does that get fixed? By applying what God says about marriage. Point three, crooked parenting. Crooked parenting. The Bible says in Proverbs 2, verse 10, When wisdom enterth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall strengthen the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness, and rejoice to do evil and delight in the frowardness of the wicked. The Bible speaks about people that are wicked people and froward, and they speak froward things. They say things that are false. They say things that are foolish. They say things that are ignorant. Let me explain something that is foolish and ignorant. Well, spanking is child abuse. Well, spanking, I mean, I would never spank my child. Well, I don't want my child to go to prison for their entire life. But that's what people say to try to act like they're better. I would never spank my child. I'm just so loving, I would never do it. Well, my question is, if I were to believe in Christian, what does the Bible say? What does God say? I mean, if you want your kids to turn out like this, if this is true, the world is, do not spank your kids in 2023. Is that not true? That's the advice that the world gives in 2023. Ask yourself this question, are kids more respectful and better behaved in 2023 than they were when you were a child growing up? Does anybody want to make that argument? You say, Brother Stuckey, I mean, what's the problem? Problem is, you're not spanking your kids and you're raising them and, you know, whatever. I'm just saying you're not spending time. It's just they just watch and watch and watch and watch and watch. You never spend any time with them. You never correct them when they have problems. And this is the way it's turning out. And you've got to be honest with yourself. When you see a problem with your kids, you've got to be willing to make the change. Now, here's the thing. Every parent will see problems in their child's life. I'm not going to be in the preacher's son or daughter as it is anyway, but obviously my wife and I aren't perfect. We don't have a perfect marriage. We're not doing a perfect job raising our kids. Of course, we see problems with our kids that come up, but we have to be honest and we can't just always say, well, they're just tired. Well, they're just tired. I get it. Kids get tired and cranky just like we do as adults. But when every single time they're making excuses and what's going to turn out is this, it's better off just realizing, okay, honey, we're doing something wrong. We've got to figure it out. Right? Or you can just let your kids act like every other kid in this world. But I don't exactly want my children to turn out like the average person in 2023. Verse number 15. Whose ways are crooked and they froward in their paths. So people have crooked ways and they speak froward things and people see the problem with them, but then they take the advice from these same people. I mean, does that make any sense to you? Why would you take advice from someone who is failing in life? It doesn't make any sense. Take advice from people that are successful. I mean, would it make any sense if someone, let's say somebody was a homeless person you see on the street. I'm going to get their advice on how to be financially successful. And I'm not trying to insult a person who's homeless. I'm just saying, does that make any sense? Why would you get advice on someone who's obviously not succeeding in that area? It wouldn't make any sense. You'd get advice from people that are actually successful. And so instead of getting advice from the world that is failing raising kids, why not just get advice from God's word and from other people that love God that are obviously doing a good job? Turn to your Bible to Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22. I remember someone who used to go to our church, and their family went to our church, and the mom would mention, whenever kids would do something that was makulit here, including my kids. My kids would do things makulit. They'd draw on the line. And that's just the way kids act. Kids act makulit sometimes. They make mistakes. They would make these backhanded comments, well, my kids never did that growing up. And the thing is, when you're a preacher, I don't have the ability to get in fights with people, even if I want to. It's like you just got to take it and accept that my wife also. That's just a rude comment to make. But here's the thing. It's like, are you wearing blinders because of all this church has ever seen? And then you're going to sit here and say, well, my son would never do this. Yeah, but my son wouldn't do stuff that would get him thrown in prison. Literally. But it's just like, we're going to get advice from you when you obviously were unsuccessful. See, that's the thing. People in this world that are failing at raising kids, and then they're going to give advice, and then Christians take the advice. It's like, yeah, maybe we shouldn't really spank our kids in 1993 or 1983. The word of God is timeless, my friend. The Bible says in Proverbs 22 verse 15, foolishness is bound in the heart of every child but yours. Is that what the Bible says? Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but really sweet candy will drive it away from them. Is that what the Bible says? The rod of correction shall drive it far from him. The Bible's saying every child is foolish, and you know what the secret is? It's called a good, old-fashioned spanking. That's what the Bible says. Now look, I want you to realize, I do not believe that spanking is the only form of punishment you can give children. And quite honestly, in my opinion, as our kids get older, if they need punishment, it's going to be less and less spanking, because the thing is, the world is not just going to spank you if you rob a store. They're going to spank you. So if you're having major problems with your kids, you're going to have to go to something else, because honestly, spanking doesn't really hurt a 10-year-old like it hurts a 3-year-old or a 4-year-old. But here's the thing. If you deal with your kids at a young age, it's going to get rid of most of the problems you're going to have later on in life. But if you don't spank your kids, then your kids are going to be rebellious, they're going to be a problem, and you're going to have no authority or rule over them whatsoever. So if you don't spank your kids, you're going to have to go to a 5-year-old and see how kids act to their parents in public, and I hear kids say things to their parents, and I'm thinking, man, if I had said that to my parents, it's like my mouth would have been washed out with soap, literally. That's what took place to me when I was a kid when I said things that were inappropriate. My mouth was washed out with soap, and yet kids say things to parents, and sometimes the parents apologize. I'm sorry. It's like you're apologizing to your 5-year-old that is wrong. We're living in an insane world in 2023. Go to Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19. Look, you don't have to take my advice. I mean, we all have free will. You can do what you want, and I will always say that you spank when kids disobey, and kids learn and understand the word no by around one year. There's a gray area period for several months, but let me tell you something. My son Ezra, everyone knows the word no. I mean, you already spank Ezra? Of course! Because he already disobeys sometimes. Because I don't want to have to spank a 12-year-old son. I don't want to have to visit a son in prison when they're 25 years old. Of course I spank him when he disobeys. They need to learn authority at a young age because you spank due to disobedience. But people hear this, and they say, well, you know, I don't really want to start, but you know what? What's going to take place if you just don't want to spank? You don't want to spank? You don't want to spank? Then all of a sudden your kids will start to be out of control, and then you're going to start to take the advice, and it's like, you could have just started earlier, and it would have been a lot easier on you. And look, I'm not trying to beat up or criticize the parents in this room. Obviously, raising kids is difficult, and it's hard, but we need to take God's advice and not listen to what the world says. I'm not saying it's hard because they accidentally spill milk. Every child accidentally spills stuff. We accidentally spill stuff. But when they disobey, that's when you spank. The Bible says in Proverbs 19, verse 18, Chase in thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. The Bible says, Chase in thy son while there is hope. You say, why, Brother Stuckey? Because you don't really have much influence on the life of an 18-year-old if you've never disciplined them before. But at that age, they are what they are. You know when you have a big impact on your kids when they're one, when they're two, when they're three, when they're four? And isn't it amazing when kids get disciplined from their parents and those same parents also spend time with their kids? You know what you have? You have kids that love Mom and Dad. It's a fact. Look, I was spanked a lot as a kid. You say, why? Because I deserved it. Because I was rowdy. Because I was makulit. Because we do bad things. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. And here's the thing, chase in thy son while there is hope. Because there's coming a day when it's too late. And you can think I'm over the top, and I get it. I'm sure most people in this church think I'm over the top when it comes to spanking, and that is perfectly fine. Because you know what, I look at what the Bible says, and you know what, when our first son was born, you know who we got advice from? People like Pastor Jimenez, who was obviously very successful at raising his kids. People like Pastor Jared Pozarnsky that's obviously very successful at raising their kids. And guess what? They would agree with everything I'm saying. You say why? Because that's what the Bible says. And the proof is in the pudding, my friend. And when you see people that are successful, it's like, hey, you know what? What have you done to be successful? Right? Because there's coming a day when there is no hope. You deal with the problems at a young age, and here's the thing, you deal with situations privately, and you don't have to deal with them publicly as much. No parent wants to be embarrassed by their kids in public. And it's happened to all of us. Your kids act up, and you know what, they embarrass you. Deal with situations privately, and then publicly they're going to be a lot more obedient. And the Bible says, let not thy soul spare for his crying. You say, why does the Bible say that? Because once they find out they're getting a spanking, they start crying. No, no, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The Bible says, hey, you can't just always give them a warning. It's like, wow, I'm going to give you a warning, and then all of a sudden you do that every single time. It's like, so they learn, I can just get away with it by crying. But see, here's the thing. You don't get away with it by shedding tears in a courtroom. You do wrong. It doesn't matter how much you cry. You're still getting the punishment. Turn your Bible to Psalms 125. Psalms 125. Psalms 125. Psalms 125. But, I mean, if you don't want to follow my advice, then you can just have your kids turn out like this, have your parenting turn out like this. Now, look, if you do not have any children or if your children are great children, you can't just have your kids turn out like this. You can't have your parents turn out like this. Now, look, if you do not have any children or if your parents are great children or if your parents are great kids, you can't have your own, you know what, maybe you've forgotten. I mean, it's very difficult raising kids. It takes a lot of energy. Sometimes I feel bad because, you know, we obviously have three kids and, you know, I'm not back there to help deal with the kids. You know, my wife's back there to deal with the kids. It's hard raising kids. I mean, just doing normal things, you just try to have like a meal, try to have lunch. It's like, you know what, one day we'll get back to the stage where we all eat meals together as a whole. And it's hard. Raising kids is difficult. But here's the thing, it's going to be a lot easier if you actually do what the Bible says. Lastly, let's talk about crooked finances. The Bible says in Psalm 125, verse 4, Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. As for such, as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel. And there's many verses in the Bible that speak about crooked finances. The Bible says in Psalm 125, verse 4, Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts, but peace shall be upon Israel. As for such, as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel. And there's many verses in the Bible that speak about crooked ways, crooked ways, and maybe your finances have become a mess. You know, we're pretty much out of time, so I'll just kind of quickly go over what I was going to talk about. What the Bible says to men all the way back to Genesis is that by the sweat of your brow, you're going to be hurt. Life is hard. Life is stressful. And if you want to be successful, you got to work hard. The Bible says by the sweat of your brow, you're going to provide. None, of course, is a punishment due to the sin that Adam and Eve did. Now, I will say this. Now, go to Proverbs 3, and we'll close up. I will say this, that another thing to think about with finances directly, and I'm not going to turn there, but what the Bible says is we're meant to give 10 percent to God. The tithe is 10 percent. The Bible defines it as that. Not first fruits offering, not 11 percent, but 10 percent of your money is meant to be given to God. And the Bible speaks about if you give God what belongs to Him, then God is going to pour out blessings on you. That does not mean you're going to be rich, but it means, you know what, you're better off giving God His 10 percent and what's due unto Him, and then God can bless you in your life and help provide for you. Right? And so we looked at a lot of things. We looked at a crooked plan. We looked at the crooked marriage, crooked parenting, crooked finances. The reality is all of us, this is the way our life becomes when we use our own human wisdom and human logic. It becomes a mess. And if you're here today and you're honest with yourself, you have areas in your life that look like this, and you're trying to fix it. People try to make changes over and over and over again, and you're trying to fix it. And so we looked at a lot of things. We looked at a lot of things. We looked at a crooked nation, crooked marriage, crooked parroting, crooked finances. The truth of it is, it does not work. You say, why, brother Stuckey? Proverbs 3, verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Now, this is not referring to believing on Christ for salvation. It's saying with your entire life, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not onto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy people to the Father. And in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy people to the Father. And in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy people to the Father. Now, what kind of path does God put you on? He puts you on a straight path when you do not lean on your own understanding. See, there's a problem. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. There are things that seem right to us. There are things that make sense to us, but the question is, what does the Bible say? And the Bible says, lean not onto thine own understanding. Human wisdom and human understanding are things that make sense to us, but the question is, what is your understanding is going to fail in life? And instead of leaning and relying on what seems right to you, and trusting in what seems right to you, you need to quit doing that and lean onto God. And see, this is what our life becomes when we lean on our own understanding. And that which is crooked cannot be made straight. But God can straighten out what's crooked. And God can bring your life back to this, but you've got to do what He says. You've got to do what He says. Quit leaning on your own understanding. Look, my life is not perfect. I have areas of my life that look worse than this. I mean, quite honestly, this, I can tell, is about to break, so I'm not bending it anymore. But hey, our lives have become a mess in many areas. And when you see problems in your life, you know what the tendency to do is? Make excuses. Feels better. Instead of just admitting, I'm going to do better. I'm going to do better. I'm going to do better. I'm going to do better. I'm going to do better. Obviously, I'm messing up. People want to make excuses. And that's fine. If you want to have a marriage like everybody else has, go for it. If you want to raise kids that don't even know if they're a boy or a girl, and start cross-dressing when they're 12, then go for it. Right? I mean, if you want your life to get so magulo and messed up, then go for it. You can do whatever you want. But if you want God to straighten out and fix your life, you need to quit leaning on your own understanding and trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. And I ask you to help all of us, including myself and my family, help us to apply this sermon to our lives. Help us to quit relying on our own understanding and what seems right, God. But help us just to put our trust in you and realize that the Word of God is true, and we can trust in what the Bible says, God. And I ask you to help us that have made our lives crooked in various areas, God. We ask you to help straighten out these areas, God. Help us just to rely on you and straighten out these areas that we have messed up, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. For that song, let's turn to hymn number 294. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. I'll do a song like this and show the same old song. It's lovely and kind, how we all take a sip of the same old wine. On the second day, we pray, sing the chorus into you, as we eat and drink. We will dance with you all the way. Once we get by, we will sign to the land of the free and the home of the great Jesus, singing. Help me, God, to love in the sense of the tree. On the second day, we pray, sing the chorus into you. It's lovely and kind, how we all take a sip of the same old wine. On the second day, we pray, sing the chorus into you. Help me, God, to love in the sense of the tree. On the second day, we pray, sing the chorus into you. Help me, God, to love in the sense of the tree. On the second day, we pray, sing the chorus into you. On the second day, we pray, sing the chorus into you. Help me, God, to love in the sense of the tree. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. On the second day, we pray, sing the chorus into you. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear. Happy, oh, happy, the songs that we hear.