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Amen. So we'll be back there in Deuteronomy, but if you want to go over to Genesis chapter, actually go back to Deuteronomy chapter 11. I'll just read to you from Genesis chapter 12 in a minute. But what I want to preach this morning is a sermon entitled cursed company, cursed company, or cursed company, as we might say it today. And I don't know if you noticed there, but where we were reading in Deuteronomy 27, what we see is that God is very much in the cursing business. There are people that we could look to today and say those people are cursed of the Lord. And this isn't just an Old Testament phenomenon. This is something that applies to us even today, even to those that are living in the times of the New Testament. We need to understand that God is a God who, yes, blesses immensely. That God is merciful, long suffering, and that God is a God that wants to bless and does bless those that are obedient and those that trust in him. But those that walk contrary to God, those that are opposed to him, those that scoff and mock at the word of God, the Bible makes it very clear are cursed by God. And if you don't think that God is a God that curses, then please explain to me hell. If you're somebody who thinks, well, I just think God's all love all the time. God never wants anything bad to happen to anybody. There's no greater curse than that of hell. And hell is a cursed place. In fact, that's probably, in fact, it is the worst curse that could ever happen to somebody. And it's something that God does to people. God is the one that his mouth kindles the fires of hell. So again, at the beginning of the sermon, a nice gentle introduction this morning. I'm just reminding us again that God is the God of the Bible. Here is the God that curses. And we're here in a Baptist church this morning, listening to the sound of a Baptist preacher preach from the King James Bible. So we should expect to hear what the Bible has to say on all manner of topics. We should come here with an open mind and ready to receive what the Bible says. I mean, I trust that's the point of being in a Baptist church this morning. What does the Bible say this morning? And the Bible makes it abundantly clear that God is a God, yes, who blesses, but also a God who curses. And there are people in this world that are cursed company. And we want to avoid these people. We don't want to fall into that crowd. We want to fall into people that are cursed of God. We want the blessing of God in our lives. And if we want the blessing of God in our lives, then we have to find out what are those things that God blesses and what are those things that God punishes. If you look at Deuteronomy, look at chapter 11. We'll look at verse 26. He said, Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. Of course, the book of Deuteronomy, it's just basically a long sermon at the end of Moses's life before the children of Israel are going to go into the promised land without him under the leadership of Joshua. At this point, he's just kind of reiterating everything that's been already spoken to them before. Once again, just reminding them about the laws of God, the promises of God, how they're there to conduct themselves as a nation, all these, he's just kind of preaching at them this long sermon here. But he says in verse 26, Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. He's saying all the things I'm telling you, all the things I'm saying to you, the word of the Lord that I'm speaking unto you, he's saying this is a blessing and it's also a curse. The Bible is a sharp two-edged sword that cuts both ways. It's a double-edged sword. God is a God that can bless you or God is a God that can curse you. And what determines whether we're going to be blessed or cursed? Well, look at verse 27. A blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord God, which I command you this day, and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which you have not known. So Moses is making it perfectly clear here, hey, the difference between being cursed and being blessed today is whether or not you obey the commandments of God. Meaning when you hear thus saith the Lord, when you read in the scripture what God's will is, and you either choose to obey that or you chose to disregard it, you know, that determines whether or not you're going to be blessed or cursed of God. Okay, if you would go to Deuteronomy chapter 29. Deuteronomy chapter 29. And look, all I'm saying this morning is there's cursed company out there. There's people out there that are under the curse of God. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 29 verse 14. Why are these people cursed? Because they keep not the commandments of God. They do not obey God's commands. It's as simple as that. It doesn't matter how well intentioned they are, what their motives are, what they think, how they feel. You know the Bible says that, you know, there's a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. Every man is right in his own eyes but the Lord ponder at the hearts. You know, we could sit here and use the world's philosophies and the world's perspective and all the things we've been taught in this feminist culture, in this wicked backwards liberal godless culture that we're living in and we can, you know, absorb all that and say, well, this is how I feel and that's fine. You're welcome to feel that way but if it's contrary to what the Word of God says, then according to the Bible, you're cursed. If you're saying I'm going to disregard whatever the Bible says in whatever area of my life, that's how you bring the curse of God in your life. And look, it's not like God has to hex you or something. It's not like God has to even show up and actually do something or stick his finger in your life and make something happen. You know, you could just by adopting these godless philosophies, that's punishment enough. There's been plenty of homes that have been ruined because people don't want to follow the Bible's teachings on how a house is set up. There's been plenty of people that have ruined their children and have ungrateful children because they don't want to follow the Bible's teaching on child rearing. You know, there's plenty of churches that don't have the Spirit of God in them that aren't, you know, that God isn't moving there even though maybe it looks like that because they've forsaken what the Bible says. You know, God doesn't even have to do anything. Sin has its own built-in punishment often. And that's, you know, there's so many ways we could talk about that but again, my point this morning, what I really want to drive home is make sure that we understand is that there are people that are cursed and what determines whether or not a person is cursed or blessed of God is based 100% solely on their obedience to the Bible, to the Word of God. Look at Deuteronomy 29 verse 14. Neither will you only, excuse me, neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath. You say, oh, you're reading Deuteronomy 27. You're reading Deuteronomy 11. That's the Old Testament. That's just Moses talking to children of Israel. It doesn't really apply to us today. That's the Old Testament God. You know, well, the Bible says that God, he says, I am the Lord. I change not. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. That's what the Bible says. Okay. Well, look here. He says, not only with you do I make this covenant and this oath, verse 15, but with him that standeth here with us today before the Lord our God and also with him that is not here with us today. So he's got all Israel there and he's preaching this to them and he's telling about all the words of this covenant and he's saying, if you want to be blessed, do this. If you want to be cursed with that. And he's saying, it's not just for you, the people that are here with us, the nation of Israel, but it's also for them that are not with us here today, meaning the generations to come. And look, we could just extrapolate that out beyond the children of Israel, beyond the nation of Israel, right to today. We can apply all this to ourselves today. So these things are important to us today. You know, we can be blessed or cursed by God based upon our obedience to a lot of Old Testament teaching. Look at verse 18, lest there should be any among you, man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turneth away from this day from the Lord our God, and go to serve the God of these nations, lest there should be any among you, a root that beareth gall and wormwood. And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse, that he blessed himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace. Doesn't that sound like a guy who, you know, he's right in his own eyes, but the Lord searches his heart? Doesn't that sound like a guy, a person, who says, you know, that they've done no wickedness, that they've, that everything's just fine with them, that they don't have anything to worry about, that they're right with God, whose ways are right in their own eyes, right? But then thereof is the way of death. He said, lest there be any among you, a man, woman, family, tribe, right, and it come to pass when they hear these words of what? Of this curse. I mean, that's what he's saying. Look, the things I'm preaching and teaching you today, this is what Moses is saying, is a curse. This could just as well go against you as for you in life. And he says, when that person hears that and begins to say, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, though I have my own ideas about how the home should be run, though I have my own ideas about how children should be raised, though I have my own ideas about what is appropriate, not appropriate, to preach, though I have my own ideas about how we ought to do this and do that, though I have my own imaginations in mine heart, and to add drunkenness to thirst. The Bible says in verse 20, the Lord will not spare him. Oh, I'm sorry, did you have your own idea about husbands and wives? Oh, I'm sorry, did you have your own idea about child rearing? Oh, I'm sorry, did you have your own idea about what God thinks about this sin and that sin? Oh, well, don't expect God to just say, excuse me, I didn't realize. God says, oh, you have your own ideas? You have your own imaginations of your own heart? Well, I'm not going to spare you. God is no respecter of persons. It doesn't matter who it is. If we go against the word of God, we open ourselves up to the curse of God. The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man. And it's not that God doesn't just, you know, go suck his thumb in the corner either and boo-hoo himself. Nobody likes me. God says, oh, you don't like the way I do things? You want to do, you know, you want to be like those that do what is right in their own eyes? You want to say that the ways of the Lord are not equal? Well, he's not, he's, you know, he's not going to just go throw a pity party for himself. He said, I'll tell you what, I'll get mad. I'll get angry. I'll smoke against you. I mean, that's, that's not any good way to that's not any good way to live your life, folks. And look, I'm fully convinced there's people out there where they're just suffering the consequences of sin, right? Because the Bible says that, you know, that, that there are, there are the consequences of sin, that there's the pleasures of sin for a season, right? But the wages of sin is death. You know, people are enjoying sin, but then they're also enjoying the consequences that come with sin. And they're just living every life under just, you know, God's curse, God's curse, the curse of, of God against them. And maybe just the punishment that's just built in with their sin. And they just think this is normal, right? They're like that meme of the dog in the burning building. Who knows what I'm talking about, right? He's sitting at the table. He's got, he's, you know, he's, he's sitting at the table and the whole house is on fire. They're like smoke is billowing up at the ceiling. And he says, what? This is fine. This is normal, right? And that's wrong. You know, we laugh at that, but you know, that's, that's how some people live their lives. They have their own imaginations, their own ideas, and then everything's against them. There's no blessing. Everything's difficult. And it just seems like everything's hard. Nothing works out. It's just, life's just one long, big trial, no joy, no peace, no blessing. And they think this is fine. Well, after all, this is how my parents did it and my grandparents did it. And they just continue on like that. But they don't realize it's sometimes it could just be that, you know, the anger of the Lord, that God is jealous and that he's, as it says, I shall smoke against that man. You know, it's, Oh, does God get angry? I mean, I love the way the Bible reads. It makes you think of, you know, in the cartoon with a guy, his face turns red and he gets all mad and the smoke starts coming out of his ears and his, you know, the steam starts coming out or whatever. He's blowing smoke. I mean, that's a picture of being angry, right? Just furious. He's saying, look, God is jealous and God shall smoke against that man. And all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him. And the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. He's gonna be like, God's gonna be like, it's like, you don't even exist. He's just gonna curse you and destroy you. Go to Deuteronomy chapter number seven. So, you know, I'm making the point right out of the gate here that God is a God that curses. And there's people that bring the curse of God upon themselves. There's people today that are cursed company. And if we deny that, you know, then we deny the Bible that we're denying scripture. The Bible says in Proverbs three, as you go to Deuteronomy seven, verse 33, the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. The wicked aren't getting away with anything. The curse of the Lord is there, but he that blesseth the habitation of the just. You know, the guy that's doing right, that's obeying God's command, not perfect in every way, but guy that's struggling and fighting the flesh, the guy that's trying to guide and lead his family in righteousness, the just person who's trying to serve God and obey. You know what the Bible says? He's blessed. He's a blessed man. Not perfect man, but you know, he's trying. He's not wicked. He's the blessed guy. That house is blessed, but the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. God's not in, you know, there's no, you know, demilitarized zone with God where it's just like, you're, you know, you're not going to get in any kind of confrontation with God. You're either blessed by God or you're cursed by God. There's no gray area. You're either keeping his commandments and living for him or you're not. You either care about what God says about the Bible or you don't. Look at Psalm or you're there in Deuteronomy, right? Did we already look at that? Deuteronomy 7 verse 26. Let's look at some people that God curses. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it. And what he's talking about specifically in this context is idolatry, graven images, molten images. You know, that's in the preceding verses there. And he's saying, that's what he's talking about. The abomination, you know, you bring an idolatrous abomination into your house. You shall be cursed like it, right? You set up the idol, you set up the statue, the graven image. That's what the Bible calls it. And you worship it and you bow down to it. God says that's an abomination and so are you. You know, and that might not be a popular message, especially in a, in a predominantly Catholic town like Tucson where, you know, we have everywhere you go, there's images of Mary and other saints and people's yards and tile work done to them. I mean, houses are built with the little enclaves built right in. So, you know, here's, it's two bedroom or three bedroom, two bath, and there's even this little spot for your statue built right into it. They, a lot of forethought went into it with the contractors. You know, but you know what the Bible says here? You bring an abomination and idolatry is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Thou shall not make it into any graven image. Right? That's, that's the 10 commandments, folks. And you bring that in, he says, that thing's an abomination. You bring it into your house, thou be cursed thing like it. It's not just that that thing is cursed, but you're cursed too. But thou shall utterly detest it. Well, you know, it was grandma's. You should detest it because it's, it's idolatrous. It's an abomination. The Bible says to sit there and think that you could, you know, make an image like unto the incorruptible God. It's bizarre. Thou shalt utterly abort, he says, for it is a cursed thing. And that's Bible. Let's move along here. I've got a lot of Proverbs to look at. I don't know if I want to have you go over there, but why don't we have you go over to Proverbs 26. Keep something in Deuteronomy. We'll be back to 27. And maybe if you want to just jump around with me in Proverbs a little bit, you can, or you can just listen. It doesn't matter. I'll read to you from Psalm 37 verse 21. The Bible says the wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous show with mercy and giveth for such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth. And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. So again, just another verse that's just plainly saying that God is a God that curses people. And that cut off there is literally talking about ending your life. That's what it means to cut off in the Bible. Your life is just cut short. And he says they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. Psalm 119 verse 21. Thou has rebuked the proud that are cursed. The proud are cursed today. You know, and there's a whole group of people. You want to talk about a cursed crowd. There's a whole group of people out there that, you know, their banner is pride. The Bible says the proud are cursed and they commit abomination which do err from thy commandments. They spit in the face of God. They mock at the things of God. The Bible says they're proud and they're cursed. I'm just pointing out this morning that there's a company that is cursed. There is cursed company because God is a God that curses. If you're, I don't know where I had you go. 26? Okay good. Look at verse 2. As the bird by wandering and the swallow by flying, the curse causeless shall not come. The curse causeless shall not come. There's a reason why people are cursed. It's not just, oh God's mean. No, if we're doing things that are an abomination to God, if we're doing things that displease the Lord, if we're doing things that are contrary to his word, God's perfectly just in cursing people. You know, they can't plead ignorance. The curse causeless shall not come. You see somebody being cursed of God, there's a reason. Now let's look at verse 3 here. I thought about just kind of skipping over this topic, but you know, this is kind of relevant here. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back. That's part of being cursed is, you know, it's in the context of being disciplined. You know, being cursed by God means you're going to be, God's going to chasten you, right? He chasteneth every son whom he receiveth, Hebrews 12. Neither is there any son whom he chasteneth not. Now chastening is literally a whipping. God's not going to literally come down here and whip you, but you know, there's other ways in which God can punish you that are far worse than any physical punishment. One thing that we see in scripture often is people literally lose their minds. Evil spirit was sent unto Saul and he lost his mind. Balaam, it says the madness of the prophet about Balaam. People lose their minds. That's a curse from God. God could touch it. The Bible says your breath is in God's hand. And look, I'm not saying that every ailment that you have, every time you stub your toe or get a sniffle that God's cursing you, right? Obviously things just happen, but you know what? Sometimes there's things that happen in our lives should give us pause, cause us to step back and say, is God cursing me right now? And I'm not saying every time it does happen that is the curse of God. But the Bible says that the curse causeless shall not come. And that there's a punishment for certain things. A whip for a horse. You want to get that horse to go a certain direction? You know, you got to whip them. You got to smack them. A bridle for the ass. You got to keep that thing in line. How do you keep a fool in line? You beat them with the rod. Okay. The Bible teaches corporal punishment folks. Go over to Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19. And I'm going to preach this right now. And it deserves a whole sermon on its own. Because there is an attack on the family. There is an attack on the authority in the home today. And it's always been there. But what's so mind boggling and frustrating now is that it's even being led by pastors. There's Baptist pastors today that are getting up that are missing out on this. That they think that, you know, that chasing is got like this narrow little window here. There's just only one way to do it. It's got to be done just the way they dictate. And a lot of times what they're doing isn't even what the Bible says. You know, your little wooden spoon when you spank your little baby's bottom. That's not even, I mean, I'm not saying it's unbiblical. But the Bible says, you know, you got to chasing your son, it's a rod. I'm not saying you got to use a rod. I'm just saying the Bible's just trying to make the point that, you know, inflicting physical punishment, physical pain on children to keep them in line is biblical. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I read the Bible this morning. You know, I don't know what you expect from a Baptist pastor in a Baptist church. It's like, I went to a Baptist church and he got up and actually preached what the Bible says. I couldn't believe it. Look at Proverbs. You don't believe me. Okay. Proverbs 19 verse 18. Chasing thy son while there is hope. That's not talking about a grown man. That's talking about a child. And let not thy soul spare for his crying. Oh, stop, stop, stop. Look, these kids, if you'd practice biblical discipline, if you actually chasing your children, you spank your kids, they'll start screaming and crying before you've even done anything. You just say, come here. You're getting three. You're going to get three for that. Here's what you did. Come here. You don't come here. You're going to get another one. Oh, I couldn't do it. They started crying and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. You know what? The Bible says you hate your son. We'll get to that verse next. If you don't chase in your children, the Bible says you hate them. Because you know what? When we chase in and spank and discipline our children physically, you know what you're teaching? You know what the message that gets through their head? There's consequences for misbehavior. That's the message you're sending them. You do wrong, you're going to have a consequence. And if you don't teach them that when they're young, they'll figure it out when they're older. When they're in cuffs, when they're sitting in a cell, when they've got their car around a tree and they're on fire, when they've OD'd, when they're living under a bridge, because you were just so nice and so gentle and so sweet and so loving that you couldn't bring yourself to spank your sobbing little brat. There I said it. That's how you raise brats. You don't spank them. And it's crazy that it's like this is a controversial subject all of a sudden. I know it's not around here because I live in a predominantly Hispanic community. I don't know what's wrong. I think it's all the white people are losing their minds. All these, you know, I guess that's the problem with being privileged as a white person where you can actually afford to go to these institutions and be brainwashed. I don't know. I don't know what it is. It's a cultural thing. It's like you start talking to some people around here. It's like, oh yeah, I'll tell you how you do it. I mean, I thought I was hardcore. You know, it's like some of them are like, no, here's what we do. Here's what's happening in our house. I'm like, well, amen. Because it's Bible. It's biblical. And like people just, it's not even Christian. People that aren't even Christians understand this. You got to straight, you know, you can't have all these kids and just have them just run roughshod over the parents. You got to maintain order. You got to maintain discipline. Teach these kids. And look, I'm not saying that's all we do as parents, but I'm saying this is a major component of raising children. Chasing your son while there is hope. And that hope is early and often. That's when you should be doing it. And don't spare for his crying. You do it, you know, people, and I understand like people, especially if they didn't grow up with this, they weren't disciplined. Like I never received corporal punishment as a child. Can you tell? Right? And I had to figure a lot of this out and thank God I had a Baptist pastor who was willing to teach me and instruct me in these things and preach these things from the pulpit. Before I even moved out to Arizona, I had a, you know, a Baptist pastor that was teaching these things. I mean, he wasn't the perfect guy either, but I'll tell you what, he had this down, right? He had raising children down to a science when it came to corporal punishment. You know what? And he turned out great kids, great kids, good people, who are in turn raising great children. Okay? So I thank God that there was somebody there that was teaching me what the Bible actually says when it comes to this. And I understand that we can't always, it's hard when we don't know, but let me tell you something, when it comes to this thing about them not sparing for their crying, you got to be able to learn to discern between angry tears and sad tears. Some kids, they just, they're just mad at you. They're just mad that they're being punished. They're just, they're growling, they're kicking, they're screaming. It's not because they feel sad and hurt, it's because they're angry at you for actually giving them a boundary. And look, I understand I'm kind of opening up a can of worms here and maybe I should make a whole sermon about this, about, you know, maybe just some practical things about child disciplining your children. You know, how to do it, when to do it, you know, and I'm not saying there's just a one size fits all for everybody because different children, you know, children are different. Some kids have more spunk than others. Some kids are more rambunctious than others. Some kids are more docile. Some kids are more stubborn. Some kids are, you know, whatever, rebellious, whatever you want to call it. We'll go to Proverbs 23 verse 13, just while we're here. I know this is a sermon about people cursing and I'll make the tie in here in a second, okay? But I'm just kind of parking it here for a minute because this is something that needs to be addressed from time to time. That, because there is an attack on parents today. There's an attack on parents. There's an attack on authority. There's an attack on fathers and mothers today and their authority over their own children. And everyone thinks they can just make, you know, how other people run their home their own business. Like I'm never going to come make your, how you run your home my business, but I'll tell you what the Bible says about it. You could, you know, that's the purpose of coming to church. You can come here, I promise, as your pastor to preach the whole counsel of the word of God and you can do whatever you want with it. Don't spank your kids. It's not, you know what, it's not going to affect me unless they turn into a drunk and run into me or something on the road. I don't know. It's going to affect somebody eventually, but you know, chances are it's really not going to affect me too much. Look at Proverbs 23 verse 13, withhold not correction from the child. And it's not talking about grading his test. For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Oh, is he going to die if you spank him? Maybe we should just go around the room today and talk to all the older folks here, all the adults here who received corporal punishment and we could talk about what was done to them. And then we could take note of the fact that they're still breathing, that they still have a pulse, that they're not dead. And I bet a lot of those people would say, I'm glad my parents did that. I'm glad my parents, you know, maybe they weren't perfect in every way, but I'm glad that they taught me that there's boundaries that you cannot cross. And I'll say this, children look for boundaries folks and children want boundaries. Okay, I'll give you a story. Story time. Okay. When I was like six or seven years old and forgive me if any of you have already heard this one. When I was living in South Dakota, my grandpa owned several properties on a block on a street in Rapid City, South Dakota. And one of these properties, the one where he lived had this house up on top of the street and this incredibly steep hill. I'm talking like this. Like the kind of, you know, when you walk and you kind of have to put your, you know, you have to really make an effort. I'm talking steep folks. You could lay down and just start rolling. It was, it was a hike to go up and down. That's what his backyard was. And it was like at least the length of a football field. And at the bottom of that hill, you know, the house up here in the bottom of that hill, my dad had built a pole barn where he and my uncle did different types of work. Okay. And I was there with my cousin one day up at the top of the hill. And the top of the hill, right, so you had the house and then there was the basement. Okay, now I know you in Arizona don't understand this. A basement is, no, I'm just kidding. Right. The basement kind of was cut into the side of the hill. And it was kind of dug out and there all the, the ground was like the shale. It looked like a rock, but it broke apart. So, you know, being like a six, seven year old boy, you thought, oh, we're breaking rocks. We're so strong. Right. We're playing pretend. We're throwing the rocks up against the side of the house, the basement there that came out and that was dug into the hill. We're just throwing it up against, you know, just throwing it up again, watching them break. And my grandpa came out the door of that wall that was dug inside of the hill. And I don't know why he looked at me, but he looked right at me and said, you better not throw one of those at me. And we're talking a guy who's been in several foreign wars, a Golden Gloves boxer. And, and I could say a few other things, but I won't because I don't want to disrespect the man. But he looked right at me. This is how I remember it and said, you better not. And you know what this idiot did at six or seven years old? Looked right back at him and threw. I don't know if I hit him, but I know I threw one at him because the next thing I know, my grandpa had me by the hair. And I was tumbling, you know, you know what, over tea kettle down the hill. And I came to and I got up and guess who was there waiting for me as soon as I got back to my feet on that statement? Grandpa. Guess what he did? Grab this little blonde haired, blue eyed boy and gave him another toss. And that probably happened three or four times all the way down that hill. And my dad was at the bottom of the pole bar and he threw me all the way to my dad's feet and said, your dad's feet and said, your boy threw a rock at me. And my dad went, how could you do that to my son? You know what he said? And he turned to me and said, don't throw rocks at grandpa. And you know what I learned? Don't throw rocks at grandpa. But my point of my story is this, do you think from that day forward, I just despised my grandfather? I'm not kidding you, like a week or two later, I remember asking my dad, will you call grandpa and see if I can go stay the night there? And I remember shortly after that wanting to just be around him all the time. Because somebody showed me a boundary. Somebody said, hey, if you don't do this, then you're a good boy. That's part of setting boundaries. It's like, oh, if I don't do this and I don't get trouble, then I'm a good boy. That's part of why we want to discipline our kids and show them boundaries, even with physical consequences. That way they can say, oh, that's the boundary. So if I don't do that and then I'm not going to be punished, I am a good child. And it actually builds self-esteem, confidence. And I remember sitting there with my grandpa just a week or two later, spending the night at his house, sitting at his kitchen table, the whole, it always smelled like ginger snaps because he always had ginger cookies around, going through a tackle box and he's giving me lures and things and just, it's a very fond memory of my grandpa. But you know where it started was with me pushing a boundary and getting thrown down a hill by my hair. And I'm still alive. He shall not die. You spank your kids. Thou shalt beat him with the, look at verse 14. Hopefully everyone's got a Bible with them this morning and is reading from a King James Bible, the black and white ink of the word of God here. Verse 14, Proverbs 23, thou shalt beat. That's a commandment. I mean, there's all these other thou shalt's in the Bible, right? Thou shalt beat him. Does this sound like it's optional? It doesn't sound optional to me. Thou shall beat with him with the rod, with the rod, with an implement. And look, let me say, let me say this. I don't care what implement you use. I don't care what it is. Name the implement. I don't care. You know, the worst thing you could ever beat your kid with this, your hand, because then this is what they'll fear. You know, you want the plexiglass paddle. You want the belt. You want the paint stir stick. You want whatever it is. You know, you want whatever it is. I won't even mention some things because everyone is so sensitive about, oh, I can't believe you'd use that. I'd rather people use anything besides their hand because then all you got to do is hang the paddle. And it's a reminder. Then the paddle is a reminder to those children and not your hand. Then they know, hey, if there's nothing in dad's hand, there's nothing to worry about. There's nothing. And mom's not reaching for that, that ping pong paddle. She's not reaching, you know, she's not taking her sandal off her shoe, right? Then there's nothing to worry about. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall what? Deliver his soul from hell. That's a powerful verse about child rearing. Powerful verse. And it ties in with what I'm saying. You're teaching people that there's consequences. And what you're teaching your children is that there's consequences with God. That there's boundaries. Go to one more time, one more time, Proverbs 13, because I quoted this, I mentioned this, and I want to prove it to you. I said earlier that if you do not corporately punish your children, if you do not physically discipline your children, the Bible says you hate him. Proverbs 13, look at verse 24. He that spareth his rod, hateth his son. I don't know how else do you more plainly say that. He that spareth his rod says, oh, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to discipline. I'm just too nice. I'm going to give him a time out. I'm going to ground them. Restrictions, that's what I had growing up, restrictions. My parents were so, my mom was so soft she couldn't even call it grounding. You're on restrictions. Yeah, you can't do X, Y, or Z. You can't go for two weeks. Oh, I guess so I'll just sit here for two weeks and brood and get mad at you. That's what they do, folks. Go to your room. Go sit in the corner. You know what you're doing is they're just going to sit there and hate you and brood for however long they're there. This is why physical discipline is so much better because once it's done, it's done. There's an infraction, there's discipline, and there's a hug afterwards, and we're done. And now we're friends again. And now we can just move on. And as long as you don't do it again, there's no problem. Not two weeks of me like, oh, remember when you did that? Remember when you said that? Remember how you behaved then? Remember, remember, remember? For two weeks, whatever it is. All you're doing is brooding animosity. All you're doing is brooding bitterness and resentment in your child's heart. It's like torture. You know, it's like a very, obviously, very minimal form of prison, right? You know, prison is not a biblical punishment. It's not in the Bible. The Bible teaches fines, physical beatings, and death. Those are the biblical punishments. It says, he that spareth his rod hated the sun. Why would it say that? Because if you beat your son with the rod, you shall deliver his soul from hell. I can't think of anything more unloving than delivering somebody into the pit of hell. He that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. And betimes means early. You do it early. When should I speak my kids? Early. As soon as they can start exercising their will, which is early. And look, I'm not saying, you know, the punishment fits the crime the way it should be. I'm not saying we're going to discipline a younger child as like we would a teenager. And yes, you should still punish your teenagers as long as they need it. You know, now we have Baptist pastors that are getting up and telling their congregation, oh, if you have to spank your teenager, you failed. Good luck. Like what encouragement, what hope is that? It's none. You know what that is? It's a pastor who is only thinking about himself and not his people. How he appears, how he comes across. Well, my teenagers don't have any problems. My teenagers are just so perfect. So if you're having problems with your teenagers, you must have screwed up, not like me. I didn't mess up. You did. It's pompous, it's arrogant, and it's unloving, that attitude. My old pastor told one of them, you know, and people think this is like some new thing that we thought up of here, the new IFB or something. Look, when I was an old IFB, when I was an old fashioned Baptist church back in Michigan, I remember one of my fellow church members coming to me and say, yeah, pastor told me I needed to go home and discipline my 16 year old stepson with a 2x4. And he did it. And he did it. Because, oh, I can't believe you'd beat a 16 17 with a 2x4 across his butt. I mean, have you ever dealt with the 16 17 year old? It's like, it's like a child in a man's body. You know, that is pretty much the case until you're about 30. But that's another story. But I mean, it's like, what do you want him to do? You know, take the little wooden spanking spoon that he used when he was a little eight year old. You know, stop mouthing off your mom. Stop shooting your mom those glares. Stop and start doing what you're told. Better start doing, you know what I mean? Start obeying because there's consequences. That same young man went out and grew up in a fine young man, as far as I know. Didn't turn into some degenerate. Hey, let's move on though. I know I've got to, I just preached a whole second sermon right there. But I had to park it right there. And here's the tie in. Is that because this is not being taught, because this is not being preached, and because people are getting soft on this doctrine, on disciplining your children, is that now you have a group, a generation of children are coming up that are cursing their father and mother. And they're doing it, you know, all over. You know, I saw, and it's like, I saw a clip from like some sitcom from back in the 80s, the other day, somewhere on social media. And it was this little girl. And she's talking to a grown man. I don't know what all, it was like closed captioned. I didn't click on it. But this little girl goes, I hate my parents. You know, those are words that should never come out of a child's mouth. I hate my mom. That's cursing them. I hate my dad. That's serious. There's something wrong there. And I'm saying that that's been put into our culture, that's been taught that, you know, in our society, through the media, dad's just this bumbling bozo idiot that doesn't know anything, that doesn't any kind of, every dad's just another Homer Simpson. Not in my house. You know, that's an attack on fatherhood. It's attack on men. It's attack on the home. It's attack on authority. And I'm saying that because these verses that we just read in Proverbs aren't being taught and are not being practiced, is that now we have a generation that does not bless their father or does not bless their mother. They curse their mother. They don't bless their mother. They curse their father. They don't bless them. They're ungrateful. Go to Exodus chapter 21. I want us to read this in the Bible, the source verse that Jesus later quotes. This is a serious thing with God. Serious thing. How you treat your parents' children. And look, I'm dealing with it because I don't want any children in here to ever, ever go down this road. And it just, it seems today that certain events are transpiring today that the children can start to get this idea that, oh, there's a way to get away with this. That it, oh, if I curse my parents, publicly even, I could even start a YouTube channel and just start cussing out my parents and people will send me money. As far-fetched as that sounds, that kind of thing is going on right now. And I don't ever want kids in this church, or any other church for that matter, anyone that comes to the sound of this preaching, to think that they're going to get away with cursing their parents. Or that God's okay with it. Because God is a God that curses. And if you curse your parents, you are cursed of God. And anyone that wants to buddy up to somebody is in cursed company. You want to buddy up to somebody that's cursing their mom and dad, you're in cursed company. You want to enable some, someone who's cursing their father and mother and rebelling against their parents and dragging their name through the mud, you're in cursed company. How do you know they're cursed? Exodus 21 verse 17. And he that cursed his father or mother shall surely be put to death. Tell me that God doesn't take it seriously. Tell me God doesn't take how you treat your parents incredibly seriously. You know, obviously it's not, you know, kids are, the Bible says, foolishness is bound in the heart of the child. I forgot to write this one down. But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. There's another good child rearing verse. Can't give you the reference. It's Proverbs. Read it. It's in there. That foolishness is bound. And look, little kids, they're going to say stupid things. They might even say, I hate my mom. But that's where the rod of correction comes in and says, we're going to drive that far from you. That foolishness that's bound in your heart. It's a foolish thing to hate your parents. The people that brought you life, that nurture you, that care for you, that provide all of your needs every day. That don't take up, take, you know, take, take themselves up on the promise that they brought you into this world. They can take you out. They suffer you to live, right? It's a foolish thing to then grow up. And look, I don't care how good or bad your parents were. Because the Bible doesn't say that. Oh, if they were bad parents, like, oh, who's, who's going to decide that? The court of public opinion these days, apparently, or the children, or the children get to then judge their parents on their parenting skills. You know, children who haven't even, you know, still smell like they just got out of Pampers are going to start judging their parents. You know, some of these guys that are, it's like, if I were in the room with you, some of these guys that are cursing their parents, I'd say, it smells like pee in here. Because you barely dried out. You're still wet behind the ears. You haven't even had a child, haven't begun to raise a child, and you're going to start judging your parents. What kind of backwards world are we living in? And then you have Baptist preachers and other people saying, yeah, we side with them. People that are cursing their parents. You got Baptist pastors that are cutting checks to these kinds of kids with church funds to the tune of thousands of dollars. You know, and those of you that are aware of the situation I'm referring to, you know what I'm talking about. If you're visiting here and you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't want to know. But you know, there's certain Baptist pastor out there. It's a shame I even have to call him a pastor. A guy should step down and resign, driven his church right into the ground. Two-thirds of it are gone. If you really cared about those people, he'd do the right thing and step down. Because you know, you can't embezzle funds with the church's money and continue to pastor. You can't write thousands of dollars of check and just call it charity to people that are cursing their parents. Well, it's legal. I don't know if it's legally legal. I don't know if it's embezzlement or not. But I'll tell you one thing, it's ungodly. You know, if I just started taking the church's checkbook and starting just writing checks to people, you know, that's actually against, I can't just write a check for people for any reason. It has to be charitable, educational, and something else. Better figure it out, right? It has to be clearly charitable. Or it has to be a, you know, payment for services rendered. You know, you can't just write, people are always calling the church, can you pay for my rent in my hotel room? Because, you know, I've been on drugs for so long. It's like, no, we can't. We can't just write checks to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who asked for it. And you sure, you know, and whether it's legal or not, how can you sit there and tell me with a straight face that writing checks to kids that are cursing their parents online or mocking their parents online is a godly thing. That's something a pastor should be doing. It's shameful. She should resign in shame and give that church back to those people and do the right thing. And that's what I messaged that guy. I said, everything else aside, do the right thing. No. Good luck, buddy. Because I'll tell you what, you're in cursed company. You're buddying up with people that are under the curse of God. I said they're under the curse of God. They're under the curse of God. How do you know? Because whosoever curses father or mother, let him die. And Jesus quoted that. By the way, I've got so much to get through. We've got to hurry. There's a cursed crowd out there. Go over to Deuteronomy 27 where we started. I'll just blow through this as quickly as I can. Leviticus 20 verse 9. For everyone that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He hath cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him. God puts that punishment in the same category as adultery and being a sodomite. Death. Well, let me cut them a check. No. Biblically speaking, they should be dead. Look, I get it. We're in the 21st century. I'm not holding my breath. And this next election, Levitical law is coming back to the land. It's never going to happen. I get it. To be a fool to think that. But I'm just saying, that should maybe temper our reasoning. Maybe that should help us navigate these waters. What actions are right and wrong when it comes to how we're going to relate to people that are cursing their parents? They're cursed, man. They're cursed. And if you're going to be their buddy, if these pastors want to be their friends publicly on Facebook, they're in cursed company. You're in cursed company. Are you saying they're cursed? I don't know, but you're definitely putting your armor on somebody that's under the curse of God. You might want to consider that. Proverbs 30 verse 11. There is a generation that cursed their father and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes. They're the judge. And yet it's not washed from their filthiness. They're pure in their own eyes. They're the judge. And yet they're filthy. They're on steroids. They're on horse steroids. Some of the strongest ones out there. They're taking LSD. They're eating mushrooms. And they're cursing their parents. Oh, let me just get with them. There is a generation who have lofty other eyes. Their eyelids are lifted up. Puffed up. Puffed up, proud, arrogant jerks. That's the type of person that would curse their parents. Look, this is nothing new, folks. I remember, I've looked back, I've had several friends like that. I remember, and I didn't even know they were like this. I remember one time I went over to my buddy's house and we were getting a leave and I was sitting outside the parking lot or in a driveway. He's like, I got to go get some money from my mom. I'm sitting in the Jeep, in the driveway. And all of a sudden I just hear him yelling, screaming at the top of his lungs at his mother because she wouldn't give him 50 bucks or something like that. And I'm just like, dude, what in the world? You know, one time I remember bad mouthing my mom one time to a friend of mine and he looked me right back in the eyes and repeated my words back to me. I said, whoa, that's what I sound like. I can't do that. You know, I'm ashamed of that to this day. But this guy is cursing his mom out so loud that I can hear him in the car in the driveway. And he gets in like nothing happened. I've had more than one friend like that who just has, you know, they're just proud, arrogant punks that think they can just talk to their parents however they want. You know, and I wonder what their child rearing was like. I wonder if there was some beating stole out. And look, I'm not saying that there's a guarantee. But if you do your part, you know, at least it's not on you. There is a generation whose teeth are swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the face of the earth, the needy from among the children of men. I don't know if that's talking about all one generation or if that's just generations getting progressively worse, but I wouldn't want to be in any one of them because that's cursed company. Jesus, and he said, well, I don't know that Jesus would ever preach like this. Well, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 15 verse three, he answered and said to the Pharisees, why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, this is Jesus talking, honor thy father and mother. He that cursed father and mother, let him die the death. That's what Jesus said. He just quoted Leviticus. He just quoted Exodus. He just quoted the fifth commandment, honor thy father and mother that it may be well with thee in thy days, long upon the earth. It's the first commandment with promise, right after, you know, obeying God, you know, not taking the name of the Lord, thy God in vain, not having any gods before him, not making any graven image, remembering the Sabbath day. You go through those four and then honor thy father and mother. It's literally the fifth commandment in the 10 commandments. And then people, you know, break that commandment and think nothing of it. And then other people see people breaking that commandment and are flocking to them and telling them how brave they are and telling them how proud of them they are, how worried they are for them. It makes me sick. You're in Deuteronomy, you're in 27, back up to chapter 21. I'm going to take some time this morning, folks. Look, I'm going to, I'm going to get it all out. Don't worry. And then we're done. Okay. And we can go back to preaching through Mark, you know, Mark 13, end times prophecy will be a good time next Sunday. I promise you. All right. But this needs to be talked about because there's an attack folks. There's an attack on the family. There's an attack on authority. And it's, it's, there's people that are cursed that are doing it. And we don't want to follow this mentality where we think that people who are cursed by God are doing the right thing. I'm as, I'm as dumbfounded as you for even having to say it. Look at Deuteronomy 21 verse 18. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and then when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them. So again, does the Bible condemn chastening even older children, teenagers? No. Then shall his father and mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of the city. This is like the courthouse under the gate of the place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, this, our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. That's how I know it's an older child here, being a glutton and a drunkard. I mean, if we let little kids, they would probably go ahead with that. But this is someone who has enough physical willpower to overcome their parents and just say, I'm drinking it anyway. I'll take all I want. You know, they're, they're taking more than they should, whatever, right? They're just lazy glutton drunkards. They say they're going to bring him to the gate of the city and they're going to say, this, our son is a glutton and a drunkard and all of the men of the city shall cut him a check. And so you poor baby. Oh, you poor little thing. Oh, did, did daddy hurt you? Oh, you poor thing. Oh, did daddy break your toy? Oh, well, the most traumatic thing that ever happened to you was daddy broke your toy. This is literally what came out of someone's mouth. My dad broke my toy. If that's trauma, my, my kids, there's no amount of therapy that's going to help them. I mean, we, I mean, all this week, we're just like bag them up and we're putting them out by the curb. Just mountains of toys going out the door this week. Just getting rid of them. Is that what the elders of the city did here? Oh, you poor little baby. Let me, let me write a check that says charity just for you. $2,000 to this punk kid. Unbelievable. You know, there's another one out there too that's made $17,000. Another one of these kids. And you know what's really infuriating me? There's people that have sat in this church that donated to that person. There's people that sat in this church for years that have gone ahead and donated to a rebellious child who's cursing their parents publicly. And it's just like these kids are, they've run to the same people that just years ago were calling for their head. It's, it's, it's bizarre. You know, some of these same people are setting up these funds and things like that for these kids. Four years ago, they would have crucified you. And those of you that know that I'm talking about know what I'm talking about. And those of you don't, just be glad that you don't. And it's not always like this around here. Okay. You just, you caught me at a strange time, right? We're kind of, kind of in a dark place right now, but we're working through it. No, it says, the men of the city shall stone him with stones. So shall you put evil away from among you. The Bible says that they will kill them to put away the evil because cursing your father and mother, not obeying your father and mother, not heeding to the chastening that they're giving you, the Bible says is evil. And it's punishable with death and all Israel shall hear and fear. And then you go on to read, you're reading this Deuteronomy as they're getting ready to go into the promised land. And then you read the story of the children of Israel, how they just over and over again, get out of sorts with God, go into idolatry, go into heathenism, forsake the Lord God of Israel. It's like, you wonder how that happened. Probably because they never practiced this. Probably because they got away from the commandments of God and they raised a generation that gave no heat into the things of God. Proverbs chapter 20 says in verse 20, get you some 20-20 vision here. Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. I'm watching one of these videos of these two kids that are cursing their parents. I mean, calling them derogatory names. And it's, I'm just, I don't know if I, I heard the verse and then thought of this, or if I saw that and thought of the verse, but in this video, they're sitting in a dark room with a red lamp on it. And I'm thinking, there's a light that's going out in darkness right now. There's a lamp that's being trimmed down in someone's life. And eventually it's just going to be completely gone. I mean, it's talking about God snuffing you out for doing this. It's about God just casting you into darkness. If you what? If you curse your father or your mother. I mean, how many more verses do I have to read before we start to understand how seriously God takes this? You know, it says he shall put out. His lamp shall be put out. I mean, you know, sometimes God will just put it right out. Or maybe sometime God, you know, it's like a dimmer switch. He just slowly dims it down to try and give you a chance to snap out of it. Look at Deuteronomy 27 verse 14, talk about some cursed company. Verse 14, Deuteronomy 27, and Levi shall speak and say to the men of Israel with a loud voice, cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, that work the work of the hands of the craftsmen and put it in a secret place, all the people shall answer and say Amen. That's the first one. You know, I'm not saying that these are in list, this is in order of priority. But it seems, you know, wherever you want to place these in whatever order, they're all pretty serious. And look at the second one. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And it's not talking about, you know, putting a nightlight in your parents' bedroom. Setting a light by them. It's meaning you esteem them lightly. You setteth lightly by. You don't honor your parents. You setteth lightly by them. You esteem them lightly. You have no respect for them. You don't appreciate what it is that they did for you. The Bible says cursed, cursed, cursed is he that setteth light by his father, mother. And I want you to pay close attention to these next words. And all, all the people shall say what? Amen. You know the all includes pastors? Cursed be he that remove his labor's landmark. Cursed be he that make the blind to wander out of the way. Cursed be he that perverted the judgment of the stranger. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife. Cursed be he that lieth any manner of beast. I mean, God's got this in this list. This is cursed company. You curse your father and mother. It's like you're in the same list as people that are sleeping with animals. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister. You're the same list of people committing incest. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law. Cursed be he that smiteeth his neighbor secretly. Cursed be he that taketh the reward to slay an innocent burden. You're in the same category as a hit man. And incest and bestiality. That's what God thinks. And it's the second one on the list just after idolatry, which God calls an abomination. So one, that should tell us what God thinks about abomination when it's heading, or idolatry when it's heading the list. But it should also make us stop and pause that the second one on the list is people cursing their father and mother. And it's ahead of all these other things you say, well, it's in no particular order. Okay. It doesn't matter. It's still on the list, buddy. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law. The guy that's just going to say, oh, well, you know, all those verses about rearing your children and the rod and everything, it's just, you know, that's not what that means. Cursed company. And you confirm not all the words of this law. Oh, we like this part of the Bible and this part of the Bible. We're not going to confirm that part. You know, the Bible, we don't agree with that there. The Bible says you're cursed. I'm just reading the Bible, folks. I mean, I have a few handwritten notes here, but it's just verse after verse after verse after verse this morning. That's all it is. Copy and paste. I know I'm going long. I'm almost done. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 15, 1 Samuel chapter 15. You know, you're cursed if you don't confirm all the words of this book, of this law. You're a cursed company if you're going to aid and abet people that are cursed. You're, you know, I'm not, maybe I would assume you're probably cursed too when you're helping other people curse their father and mother because God seems to take it pretty seriously. And the Bible does say that whosoever bideth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. You bless somebody that's under the curse of God? You say, good luck with that. Here's 17 grand. Here's $2,000. Here's our moral support online. The Bible says you are a partaker of his evil deeds. You know, it's a sad thing to say. The Bible says a righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain in a corrupt spring. The Bible says in Proverbs 24, he that saith unto the wicked. I think we can all agree this morning that at least in God's eyes, maybe you don't agree with it, but at least in God's eye, at least, even if you don't even believe it's God's eye, but at least you can agree this morning from all the verses I've read that at least according to the Bible, the person that curses father and mother is a wicked person. At least you can agree to that. You can at least say, well, you can at least say, I don't believe it, but that is what the Bible says because I read the Bible. How can you, I mean, that's to deny reality. The Bible says that those are wicked people and he that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse. And look, they're saying, well, they're going to curse the person, not who's being wicked, not the wicked person. It's the person who says to the wicked, thou art righteous. You're just in your cause. The Bible says, don't curse the wicked. We're going to curse the wicked. They're already under the curse. We need to curse the people that are blessing wicked people. That's what the Bible says. That's chapter and verse, buddy. That's scripture. Hello? Thou art righteous. That's what they say to the wicked. Him shall the people curse. Nations shall abore him, but to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall count upon him. You know what? I'm going to call out people that are blessing wicked people because I want God's blessing. And I probably should have you turn there so you could understand, not just hear me run through this verse. But it says, he that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous. That's what he's saying. Him shall the people curse. Nations shall abore him, but to them that rebuke him, rebuke who? The person that is saying unto the wicked, thou art righteous. When I rebuke that person shall be delight, shall be God's favor and a good blessing shall come upon them. I'll be perfectly honest. I'm feeling pretty blessed lately. Just went independent, had record-breaking services. You know, we're going to be other things taken. I'm not going to go into all my personal details, but I'm stepping back and saying, I'm feeling pretty blessed. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I stood up for a man who's being cursed by his children and called out some people that are saying under those same children, thou art righteous. Oh, I don't know about that. Give it time. Let's just wait and see. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 15 verse 23. This is when Saul was supposed to kill the Malachites and King Agag and spare no one. They were all supposed to die. He was told by God, go and spare no one. Women, children, everybody dead. And we know the story that he spares Agag and the best of the flock and makes sacrifice, right? And then the prophet Samuel who gave him the command of God to go and do this comes to him and rebukes him. And he says in verse 23, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. And we've already read several verses about what God thinks about idolatry. It's an abomination. And the stubbornness here is him thinking, well, I know better than God. That's the stubbornness here. That's the rebellion in this story is him saying, I know that's what God says, but I know better. It has nothing to do with him not wanting to give up his leadership. It has everything to do with him saying, this is what God said. I'm not going to do that. I know better. That's the stubbornness. That's the rebellion in the story. That's an important little bit of context there. And he says, because thou has rejected the word of the Lord. Not, well, because you refuse to step down. Because thou has rejected what the Bible says, he has rejected thee. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned for I have transgressed the command of the Lord in thy words because I feared the people. Look at verse 26, I will not return unto thee for thou has rejected the word of the Lord. Why was Samuel, excuse me, why was Saul disposed of being king? Because he rejected the word of God. And yet you have people today that are calling for other men to step down from their office as a pastorate when they're not the ones that have rejected the word of God. They're not the ones that are saying unto the wicked, thou art righteous. They're not the ones that are aiding and abetting runaways. They're not the ones that are aiding and abetting people that are cursing their father and mother. He should step down. For what? Preaching the Bible? For practicing the Bible? For doing what the Bible says? Give me a break. But people hear that and they'll, they'll, you're going to swallow that. Oh yeah, you're right. People are so gullible. The Bible says in Proverbs, one, one last verse. Isaiah 50, of Isaiah five, Isaiah five. He, Proverbs 17, he that coveteth the transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth the matter, seperateth very friends. A reproof enter more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. An evil man seeketh only rebellion, therefore a cruel messenger shall be assent against him. That's a cursed person. You're evil? You seek rebellion? There's going to be a cruel messenger that assent against you. The Bible says let a bear robbed over whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly. Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. You reward evil for good, evil shall not depart out of your house. You know the scary thing about getting with cursed company is becoming a cursed person. Keep, you know, walk not in the in the council of the ungodly. Don't stand in the way of sinners. Don't sit in the seat of the scornful. Look at Isaiah chapter 5 verse 20. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil. That put darkness for light and light for darkness. That put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. These are all exclamation points so let me, you know, add the emphasis here. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. That think they know better than God like Saul. That reject what the Bible says for their own philosophy, for their own perspective, for their feelings. Because they're more concerned how they're going to be perceived by a bunch of feminists about what they're going to have to put up with when they go home to their wife. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them that are under the curse of God. And woe unto them that would partner with those that are in the curse of God and bless those that are in the curse of God. Woe unto them. Woe unto them that are in cursed company. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer.