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that love the lord and let our joys be known number 43 come we that love the lord and let our joys be known join in the song with sweet accord join in the song with sweet accord and thus surround the throne and thus around the throne we're marching to zion beautiful beautiful zion we're marching upward to zion the beautiful city of god let those refuse to see who never knew our god my children of the heavenly king my children of the heavenly king they speak their joys we're marching upward to zion the beautiful city of god the hill on zion brings a happy feel for walk the golden streets we're marching to zion beautiful beautiful zion we're marching upward to zion the beautiful city of god we're marching is thanks for the opportunity to hear your holy and your perfect word today we ask you bless the service bless the music that is pleasing to your ears we pray this and ask this in jesus holy name amen amen hymn number 303 is next my faith looks up to thee hymn number 303 let's get on that first verse together in hymn number 303 my faith looks up to thee thou land of calvary 303 oh oh in when oh oh throw our announcements together if you don't have a bulletin slip up your hand nice and high we'll get to you with one on the inside we have our service time sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service sunday evenings at six wednesday nights at seven is our bible study this week will be in ecclesiastes chapter number eight we've got the so many times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms and then across the page there will be root beer floats after the morning service for all of the dads happy father's day to all the dads out there and then below that is the bible verse children's children are the crown of old men and the glory of children are their fathers we've also got the bible memory passage that we're working on first corinthians 2 9 through 13 the verse that we're on is verse 11 for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of god knoweth no man but the spirit of god and the deadline to recite the entire passage is going to be july 11th congratulations also to the castro family on the birth of jonah castro born tuesday june 15th 8 pounds 11 ounces and 20 inches long great picture there so congratulations to the castros on the back there is a baby shower uh this saturday june 26th in honor of mrs don batalia that's going to be from two to four o'clock right here again that's this coming saturday and uh try to rsvp if you can otherwise just show up but uh you can rsvp on the church members only facebook group or you could just email the church or mrs wendy rawson is who you would uh rsvp with and then we've got pastor erin thompson guest preaching down at the tucson church on thursday july 1st let brother corbin wrestle know if you plan on going and then below that please sign up as soon as possible if you are planning to attend the red hot preaching conference um i think that about 85 people are going right now from our church so that's great we're gonna have a great crowd out there they have a great crowd anyway and then we're gonna bring 85 more people and so it's gonna be great they just remodeled their building to make more room so it should be a wonderful conference that's going to be in july so july 15th through 18th sign up if you're going and then below that is just a list of other uh events that are coming up now we went uh so many yesterday in pacing instead of globe because uh there were a bunch of fires around globe then it turned out there were a bunch of fires around pacing too but it didn't actually affect anything you know the air quality was good the weather was good so we're going to continue doing the single day trips on saturday's to pacing and then for the two-day trips we're going to be going to heber which is about 45 minutes further than pacing but it's about 20 degrees cooler so pacing is already substantially cooler than phoenix but then heber is like a lot cooler than that so anyway those trips are available to anyone every other week we're doing the single day versus the two-day the sign up sheets and the information on those are going to typically be right here in this area and so for the summer we're going to be going up to those cooler climates they're not quite as receptive but we uh you know we need to get them all done anyway because we're planning on knocking every door in the entire state of arizona and so uh we need to hit those and it's beautiful weather it's nice to get out of the heat so we do that in the summer in the winter we'll be back to the desert cities and so forth that is about it for now how many people got saved yesterday was three total saved yesterday and so amen for that and that's about it for announcements right sorry i forgot app immediately after the service if you are one who carries a weapon be sure to meet with brother segura he's going to meet you right around the pulpit and then also those who would typically help us out if someone got rowdy or disrupted the service and somebody needed to be removed if you're the kind of guy that that would uh jump in and do that then also see brother segura after the service and that's about it for announcements all right come lead us all right and your signals you should find the insert of still sweeter every day if you don't have one please raise your hand and we'll get you with one still sweeter every day let's sing it on that first verse sing it out oh him from a farm he's better than the lily brighter than the morning star It's fair and o'er and o'er, each day he grows so sweeter than when it was the day before. The half may not be fancy, beside the golden shore. Oh, Beryl's is sweeter than it ever was before. My heart is sometimes heavy, but it grows so sweeter than when it was the day before. The half may not be fancy, beside the golden shore. Oh, Beryl's is sweeter than it ever was before. Beryl's is sweeter than it ever was before. Beryl's is sweeter than it ever was before. Beryl's is sweeter than it ever was before. Beryl's is sweeter than it ever was before. I have a price that satisfies, since I have been redeemed. To you is real, my highest price, since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed by the glory of his name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a witness bright and clear, since I have been redeemed. Dispelling every doubt and fear since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed by the glory of his name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a home prepared for me, since I have been redeemed. Where I shall dwell eternally, since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed by the glory of his name. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. Amen. Great singing this morning. Alright, this time we'll pass off. Let's turn our Bibles to Joshua chapter 1. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua. Joshua chapter number 1. As we always do, read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Raymond as he reads. Joshua chapter 1. Joshua chapter 1, the Bible reads, Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise. Go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare ye vittles, for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan. But ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them, until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them. Then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sun rising. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. According as we hearken unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee, only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death, only be strong and of a good courage. Brother Collin, will you pray for us? Dear Lord, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to come to church today and to hear your word preached. I pray, Father, that you fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit to teach us and edify us and help us to be the people with open ears. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Be of a Good Courage. Over and over again, Joshua chapter 1 has this statement about being strong and being of a good courage. Starting on verse number 1, the Bible reads, Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead, now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Now Moses had been a powerful leader and a great man of God that had led the children of Israel for decades. And so now that he's dead, someone else has to step in and fill that role because one thing that we see over and over again in the Bible is how important leadership is and how important it is to have a strong leader. So as soon as Moses is gone, there's a void there. And if someone doesn't step up and fill that void and provide strong, decisive, courageous leadership, then the wrong people are going to step in and fill that void. And of course we know that when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, there were always bad people trying to supplant Moses and take over his role. And so God wants to make sure that they have a good leader to get in there so he's building up Joshua and telling Joshua, look, Moses my servant is dead. You need to go over Jordan with this people. You need to take them into the promised land. And he says in verse number three, every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even under the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. So at the end of verse three he said, as I said unto Moses, I'm saying it again to you. And then in verse five in the latter part there he says, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. And we know that God is not a respecter of persons. So the same God that's with Moses is going to be with Joshua. It's not like, well, I was with Moses, you know, but he's kind of a special guy. He's Moses. You know, anyone who wants to serve God, anyone who says, here are my Lord, send me, anyone who dedicates their life to the service of Christ, God is going to be with them. And all of the same promises that he would give to someone like Moses or Joshua or anyone else, you know, we can claim those for ourselves today because God will be with us as well. Just as Joshua steps into this leadership role and is given the promise that God will be with them, God's going to be with us in our leadership roles as well. Now, today is Father's Day. So we think about fathers and what it means to be a father. And of course, that is an important leadership role in our lives today. And in our society, it's one that's often lacking as we have so many homes where there's not a father present in the home or there's a father present in the home, but he's not strong and he's not of a good courage. So he basically just lets whatever go on in his house and just lets his family go whatever direction we need to have strong leadership today in 2021. We need some men to be like Joshua that would step up and be great leaders. Of course, at the end of the book of Joshua is the famous verse where Joshua says, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So we know that he specifically led as a father, not just as a leader of the nation, not just as a spiritual or military leader as we see him through most of the book of Joshua, but he was also a great leader in his own family, in his own home. And not everybody is going to be a pastor or have some other spiritual leadership role, but most of the men here either are fathers or are going to be fathers someday. And so we need to take this advice and understand that if we step up to the plate and lead our family spiritually, if we get on the Lord's side and serve Christ, then God is going to be with us. Just like God was with Moses, just like God was with Joshua, God's going to be with us also. And so there's no reason to fear or dismay. We need to be of a good courage and lead our homes and lead our household. He says at the end of verse five, I will be with thee, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee, be strong and of a good courage. That's why we can be strong and of a good courage because it's God that's on our side. He's with us. He's not going to fail us. He's not going to forsake us. Be strong and of a good courage for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance to the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous. Notice the word only there. He's saying, look, this is just the one thing that you need to do. This is all you have to worry about. Just please would you be strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Look, are we going to prosper in 2021 if we follow God's word, if we don't deviate from it to the right hand or the left hand? Of course, God is not a respecter of persons. In the New Testament, we as Christians have all of the promises that God gave to the children of Israel back in the Old Testament. We as the spiritual children of Abraham, we inherit all these promises. We inherit all these blessings. And so God is saying today to every father in the room, be strong and of a good courage. Only be strong and very courageous, very courageous. You know, there's too much cowardice today among men in America. Too many people are scared to stand up and do what's right. And what is it that we need to have courage to do? The courage to follow God's word. The courage to say, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The courage to be a Bible believing fundamental Baptist in 2021 America, whether it's cool or not, whether it's in style or not, whether society thinks it's acceptable or not, whether your extended family thinks it's okay or not, we need to stand up and say, you know what? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And we don't care what society does. We don't care what people think about us. We're not scared and wondering what's going to happen. You know, oh, man, you know, we got a Democrat in the White House. You know, it's so scary. I'm not scared of him at all. You know, it's so funny how people get so scared during the election, like, oh, man, you know, what if a Democrat gets elected? You know, what are we going to do? But you know what? There's no reason to be scared of them. We have the Lord on our side. If God be for us, who can be against us? And so I am going to lead my family the way that God wants me to lead my family. And I don't care what anybody says or thinks about that. I'm going to be very courageous because God's on my side. And that's the most important thing. If God's on my side, that's all I need to worry about. And so you say, well, you know, are you sure it's okay to spank your kids? Hey, it doesn't matter. The Bible says to spank your kids. The Bible says that the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself will bring his mother to shame. Right? The Bible says he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. The Bible says withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. I don't care what anybody says about that. I don't care what anybody's opinion of that is. I don't care what extended family thinks about that. I don't care what the law says about that. The Bible says it. I'm going to be strong. I'm going to be of a good courage. I'm going to do what the Bible says. I'm not going to turn from the right hand to the left hand, and God is going to be with me. That's what the Bible says. I mean, you have the courage to do what God has said to do. And by the way, just let me say this as well. You know, spanking your kids is legal in all 50 states, by the way. I don't care what some lesbian tries to tell you who can't even produce children. Okay? Spanking your kids is legal in all 50 states, including Arizona. But you know what? Even if it weren't legal, I'd still do it anyway, because I understand that God's word is supreme. And I love my children too much to withhold correction from them. I'm not going to raise my children in the way that this world wants me to raise my children. I'm going to raise my children the way that God wants me to raise my children, or else what's the point of even having children? You know, if I'm not going to follow God's word. We need to have the courage to raise our families for God today, to obey the Lord, to take a stand for Him in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights in the world. Be strong. Be very courageous. Have the guts to stand up for what's right in 2021. Have the guts to be a zealous, dedicated Christian. And you know what? If somebody asks you if you're a Christian, don't be like Peter and deny that you know him. But rather, claim the name of Christ and let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let's keep reading here. It says in verse 7, Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. That's what we all want, right? We all want to be prosperous. We all want to have good success. Well, we've got to meditate upon the word of God. We've got to study our Bibles. But, you know, it's interesting that he says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. He doesn't say it's not going to depart out of your eyes or your ears. He says it's not going to depart out of your mouth. Why? Because, you know, the best way to learn something is to explain it to someone else. That's the best way to really ingrain something. You know, if you read something or study something, a lot of times you'll forget it the next day or, you know, you'll forget it a month later and you don't always retain what you learn, do you? And there have been many things that I've read and studied and then just, you know, completely forgot about it. People would ask me and I don't know the answer because I've forgotten. But the things that you speak, the things that come out of your mouth, those are actually the things that you remember more. You know, I've forgotten a lot of Bible memory verses over the years, but I'll tell you the Bible memory verses that I'll never forget are the ones that I use out soul winning. Because, I mean, you know, if you're not soul winning and you're preaching those verses to other people, you never forget those verses. And that's why you don't even have to make a point to memorize the Romans Road or something. If you go out soul winning a lot, it's memorized. You could say it forward, backward and sideways because it's just so ingrained. And also, you know, doctrines or ideas that you've explained to other people, you know, you don't readily forget those either. You know, teaching things to other people really helps you to retain the material as well. So the Bible says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Here's the thing. If you're meditating on the Word of God and thinking about the Word of God day and night, it should be in your mouth as well. You know, you're going to talk about the Word of God. You're going to speak about the Bible. And the Bible even specifically commands us, since we're kind of emphasizing the family with this since it's Father's Day, you know, back in Deuteronomy chapter number six, it talks about the fact that when you get up in the morning and when you lay down at night and when you sit down at the table, you know that you'll speak of these things. Thou shalt talk of them. Talking about the commandments of God, the Word of God, the scriptures. He said, you know, you talk about them when you rise up. You talk about them when you lie down. You're going to talk about them at the dinner table. You know, we need to talk about the Bible in our houses. Let me tell you something. Here I am today preaching the Word of God, not because of some Bible college or even necessarily of churches and pastors primarily, but I'll tell you the biggest reason why I'm here is because of my parents. And some of the doctrines that I am the most known for, some of the doctrines that I've preached and taught and that millions of people have heard and even would associate with, you know, Pastor Anderson, X, Y, and Z doctrine. He's really big on that. He preaches on that a lot or he's done sermons on that. You know, those things actually came from my parents. You know, I can think back to many, many times where my dad explained to me the reprobate doctrine, for example, you know, and talked about how people could be beyond salvation and explained that from Hebrews chapter six and talked about that. You know, my dad explained that to me from the Bible. You know, my mom explained to me the gospel. My mom explained to me the eternal security of the believer. I knelt with my mom and prayed and received Christ as Savior, as a six-year-old boy. But throughout my childhood, my parents taught me things. You know, my mom, I remember my mom teaching me about how all of our sins are forgotten by God and that he has separated us as far as the east is from the west, so far as God separated us from our sins. And that our sins and iniquities will he remember no more. You know, I can remember my mom talking about the fact that our sins are forgiven and forgotten and that we're not going to have to stand before God and have our sins brought out. You know, the unsaved will have all their sins brought out at the great white throne of judgment. And a lot of Christians mistakenly believe that we as believers are going to be, you know, taken to task for all the sins that we've done in our lives. And that's a false doctrine. I remember my mom explaining to me the correct doctrine on that. You know, I can remember my dad explaining to me from 1 John chapter 5 that if you don't believe in eternal security, you're not saved. Because he said, look, this is the record that God gave of his son that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his son. He said, look, this is what you have to believe to be saved. You have to believe that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his son. You've got to believe that it's given to us. It's not earned. It's not by works. God has given to us eternal life, not temporary life, not life until I mess up. And he said, and this life is in his son. It's got to be through Jesus. And here's the thing about that. You know, my dad is not a pastor. My dad's an electrician. His dad was an electrician. Before that, you know, electricity hadn't been invented. But anyway, basically, you know, he's just a layman. He wasn't a pastor. And my parents were not necessarily the, you know, movers and shakers of the church that you would have pointed to as like the key players. You know, these are the key players in this church, the Anderson family. Not at all. They were just church members. They were just people who went to church. My dad was an electrician. My mom stayed home and raised us. But guess what? They talked about the Bible. They talked about the things of God. And they taught us important doctrines that have stuck with us unto this day. And me and all of my siblings, you know what? We all go to independent Baptist churches. And we all are saved. Okay? Because my parents talked to us about the Bible. And they explained us doctrines from the Bible and showed us things in the Bible. And taught us scriptural truths. I'm thankful for that. And so we want to do the same thing. You know, why not talk about the Bible with your daughter, with your son. And this should probably be something that just comes up a lot. I mean, I'll put it this way. If it's on your mind, it'll come out of your mouth. You know how people are when they get on a certain kick and it's all they talk about? Who knows what I'm talking about? You know, they get into something new. You know, they get into some new sport or some new hobby or they go on a trip somewhere and it's just all they talk about. It's because they're just thinking about it all the time. They're thinking about it. Well, guess what? You know, we need to be that way with the things of God. We need to keep God on our mind, keep the Bible on our mind. And then we'll find ourselves talking about the things of God. You know, there are so many opportunities in life where something comes up and you can point out to your children, hey, you know what? This kind of reminds me of a story in the Bible. And, you know, of course children hate it when parents tell them stories, right? Of course not. Children love being told stories. Am I right? Every child loves to be told stories. And look, even adults love to be told stories. Stories are entertaining. And the Bible's got some great stories in it that teach important biblical truths. You know, why not tell your children Bible stories? And I understand that a lot of people have a set Bible time with their children. I think that's great, you know, Bible time or family altar time or whatever. But even besides that, there are so many things that just come up in life where we find ourselves in a situation or run into a certain scenario and we could say, hey, you know what? This reminds me of what the Bible says. Or, hey, there's a Bible story in the Bible just like this. And then you could tell that Bible story. And you know what? Talking to your children about the Bible, I guarantee you that's going to stick with them because children are like a sponge. You say, well, you know, they get all that in church. Yeah, but you know what? There's something different about getting something from your parents than getting it from church. And I hope that every child in here is listening to everything I'm preaching and hanging on every word. I sure hope so. But I'll tell you this, and this is just my personal experience. I think back to my childhood and the churches that I went to growing up, and if I were to take a piece of paper and pen and write down all the sermons I can remember, right? So I take one piece of paper, I write down every sermon I ever remember hearing. You know, I think of a church, I went to a church called Citadel Baptist Church. I went there for like three and a half years, you know. I think about, okay, I went there when I was nine, ten, eleven, twelve, you know, around that period, probably four years that I went there, because we kind of went there on and off a little bit, but we went there for about four years. And I'm thinking to myself of every sermon that I heard Pastor Armour preach during that time. And I can think of a couple, I can think of a handful, but I guarantee you that if I had another piece of paper about all the things that my mom, dad, older brother, and older sister explained to me from the Bible, it would be a way longer list of what my mom, dad, older sister, older brother explained to me that I still remember, that still stuck with me to this day. Think about that. And, you know, that shows you that you can have a great impact on your children and even on younger siblings by explaining to them things from the Bible, talking to them about the Word of God, and not just relying on the pastor and the church to do it. And look, the church is important. And I guarantee you that even though I can't remember as many specific sermons, I guarantee that those sermons still shaped my thinking and they still influenced me and helped me grow in the Lord and learn the Bible. But man, the things that really stuck with me are the things that came from mom and dad. Also, let me make another observation, that in those churches that I went to, there were families where all the kids grew up and went to the devil. And then there were other families where the children grew up and actually were saved, and actually were Christians, and actually served the Lord. But it's the same church. So, it wasn't necessarily the church that was the common denominator on which kids turned out right, it was more the family that determined which kids turned out right. Because you'd see this family over here where all the kids went wrong, and then this family, everybody serving God, and then they're in the same church, same preaching. Okay, so this shows you how important it is for parents to teach their children the Word of God. And if you meditate on the Word of God day and night, then the book of the law is not going to depart out of your mouth. Right? You're going to be talking about the Bible, you're going to find yourself quoting scripture and quoting Bible verses that are relevant to situations. You know, all the time things are going to pop into your mind and boom, they're just going to come out. And we need to teach our children the Word of God. If you want your children to turn out right, it's not enough to just bring them to church. You need to also teach them the Word of God yourself, speak to them, because they need to know that you believe the Bible, and that it's important to you, and that you care about the things of God, and that you meditate on these things day and night as well. He says in verse 9, Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Then Joshua commanded the people, the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host and command the people, saying, Prepare you vittles, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. Jump down if you would to verse 16. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go, according as we hearken unto Moses and all things, so will we hearken unto thee, only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death, only be strong and of a good courage. You know what's interesting here is that it's not just the Lord who's telling strong, who's telling Joshua to be strong and of a good courage. It's the followers themselves. I mean the followers are saying, We'll obey you, you know, but we want you to be a strong leader. We want you to be strong and of a good courage and then we'll follow you. You know that shows me that people respond to strong leadership. They respond to a courageous leader. They don't want to follow a weakling. They don't want to follow a wimp. You know when you go to a church where the pastor is weak and he doesn't preach hard because he's scared about what the repercussions are going to be. He's scared that people are going to leave the church or he's scared he's going to get in trouble with the man or something or he's scared about, you know, the IRS man, you know, saying that he's not charitable enough or something. He's a hate group or whatever. You know if they're scared about these things and they're weak, you know, people don't follow that. People want to follow a strong, decisive, courageous leader. And I remember when I was a little boy, I always wanted to be a preacher when I grew up. You know I can remember being 8, 9, 10, 11 years old and wanting to be either a pastor or a missionary but wanting to be some kind of a preacher when I grew up. But then as a teenager when we started going to these liberal NIV type churches that were not King James, not soul winning, and the preaching was weak and watered down, I completely lost my desire to want to be a preacher. I had no desire to be a pastor, a missionary, a preacher. You know it was just like that just wasn't a thing for me. I just had all kinds of other plans and goals and ideas about what I wanted to do with my life. And I'll tell you why. It's because I didn't have a strong role model in my life. I'm looking at the pastor and he's kind of weak, he's kind of soft, he's not courageous at all. You look at that and it doesn't inspire you to want to be that. To want to serve God. And then when I was 17 years old and I actually got into a church where the pastor had the guts to get up and preach hard and rip face, then all of a sudden it's like boom. I want to be in the ministry again. I'd love to be a pastor. It wasn't just because I was a teenager because I was 17. I'm still a teenager but all of a sudden I was once again inspired. I told that to my pastor. I said, you know what? I said as a little kid I wanted to be a pastor but I lost that vision as a teenager because of just the weak pastors that I was under. And so now that I'm under a strong pastor again, it makes me want to be a pastor. You know, I said that to him to encourage him saying, hey, I want to be like you. I want to follow your leadership. Why? Because he was providing strong leadership. You know, getting back to the family. As fathers, we need to provide strong leadership in our home and not be weak. Not be scared. Not be nervous all the time because that does not inspire the confidence of our wife or of our children. If we want to inspire the confidence of our wife and of our children, we've got to be strong. We've got to be of a good courage. We've got to inspire that through good leadership, okay? Now what's interesting is that when we get into chapter 2 of the book of Joshua and we have the two spies that go into the Promised Land, right? Because again, the context of this passage is that Joshua is getting ready to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Moses is dead and now they need a strong leader to get them across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. And so they're going to cross over Jordan but before they do, they send over two spies just to spy out the land, see what's going on, do a little bit of recon before they go across the Jordan. And they end up staying in the home of Rahab the harlot. And while they're in the home of Rahab the harlot, she explains to them sort of the enemy's perspective. And it says in verse number 8, and before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof because the two spies are hiding up on Rahab's roof. And she said unto them, this is verse 9, she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. Now look at that. The enemy is scared of the people of God coming in. They're scared to death. They're fainting. They're trembling. They are, and the Bible used the word terror, I mean they are terrified. And what's interesting is that it says, we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you. Stop and think about it. How long ago had that happened? Forty years ago. Forty years ago the Lord dried up the Red Sea for them and parted the Red Sea that they might cross. And they're saying forty years later that they were terrified by that. And they heard that. It said in verse 11, as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. But here's what's funny is that forty years ago when they came to the Promised Land, they were too scared to go in. Remember how they sent the twelve spies in and ten of the spies came back and said, oh we be not able to take this land and there are giants in the land and they have chariots of iron and it's just too hard. And they were scared. But in reality what they didn't know was that the enemies were actually scared of them. Because think about it. When they went to go into the Promised Land, it was six months after the Red Sea event. So they'd already heard about it. They're already scared but yet God's people were scared. And they didn't even realize that they'd already been given the victory by the Lord and that the enemy's already terrified of them. No. Instead they get scared and end up wasting forty years wandering in the wilderness. Now they're coming back and Rahab's telling you, oh yeah we've been scared of you guys all along. We've been scared of you guys. As soon as we heard about the Red Sea, we've been scared. I mean our hearts melted. It's like good night. What have we been doing in the wilderness for forty years? But it's because of the fact that God's people always had the power to take the land, didn't they? I mean could God have brought them in forty years earlier? It was through their own disobedience that they didn't get in. It was through their own rebellion and unbelief that they didn't get in. But yet they could have entered the Promised Land at that time and the enemy was already scared of them. You know what? We need to get the right attitude today and understand that we as Christians are not on the defense. I don't live my life on the defense, you know, like, well yeah I'm a Christian but, you know, it doesn't mean that I hate anybody. I mean, you know, like, like we're just like apologizing all the time for, for the Word of God and, you know, well yeah, you know, I mean I know the Bible, you know, says that, you know, I mean, you know, homosexuality is kind of a sin and stuff. But there's lots of other sins in the Bible too, I mean, it's just, you know, it's just one of many sins. I mean, it's just one. And, you know, we're all sinners, you know, so it's like, yeah, I mean all of us are sinners so it's not a big deal or anything, you know. Folks, that's how Christians talk today in 2021. You know, during this so-called Pride Month. And you know what, everyone that's proud of hearts and abomination to the Lord. And you know what, we shouldn't have pride in June and we don't need pride in July either. You know what I'm talking about. I don't have pride in June or July because, you know what, humility is what the Lord calls for, humility. Everyone that's proud of hearts and abomination to the Lord, that's what the Bible says. But today Christians, they're on the defense, they're running scared, they're terrified of the people of this world. But you know what, it should be that the world is terrified by the people of God. It should be that they should be nervous about being too open with their sins and abominations. That ought to scare them and make them nervous. They ought to be terrified of the Lord God himself and his punishments and his wrath. But you know, today Christians are scared of the worldly people instead of vice versa and it's really a shame. It's really a shame. Especially since we are in the majority as far as people claiming the name of Christ. Obviously not everyone who claims the name of Christ is actually saved. Doesn't mean they actually believe in their heart or actually know the truth of the Gospel. But I'm telling you, you know, the majority of people in America claim the name of Christ. They claim to be following the Lord. And yet why are we terrified by the atheists and the gaytheists and fagnostics of this world? Why are we terrified by the enemies of the Lord? You know, I like it better the way I read it in the Bible when Samuel the prophet shows up to town and the people trembled. Samuel the prophet shows up and the people trembled and they said, comest thou peaceably? And he kind of waited a beat and then said peaceably. You know, make them a little nervous. You know, when Samuel showed up, the people were terrified. And you know what? He said, oh, it's the Old Testament. Okay, well, how about in the New Testament in the book of Acts? You know what the Bible says about that early church in Jerusalem? It says that great fear fell upon all the people when they heard about the things that happened at the church. Remember that part in Acts chapter 5? Okay. There were people that magnified God and glorified God about the things that were happening in that early church. And it said some people didn't dare join the church, though, because they were scared. You know, why not let the ungodly, worldly heathens of this world, why don't let them shake in their boots and why don't we be strong and of a good courage and quit being scared of our own shadows and quit being scared of phantoms and quit being scared of things that aren't even there. And you know, especially over the last few years, it just seems like everybody's so scared of things that don't even really end up happening. You know, 99% of what you end up fearing doesn't happen. Have you noticed that? Oh, what if this happens? It's not going to happen. And if it does happen, I'll worry about it when it actually happens. Because you know what the Bible says, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Take no thought for the morrow. The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. You know what I know is that today I can get up and preach the Word of God today and nobody's here to stop me. I can get up and thunder forth the Word of God and scream and yell the truths of Scripture as loud as I want and broadcast it all over the Internet to the whole world. And you know what? Nobody's here to stop me, are they? So that's all that matters. Yeah, but what about next week? What if Biden gets a second term? You see what I mean? It's just stupid to just worry about stuff that never even happens. I mean, I remember when Obama got elected, it was supposed to be the end of the world too. Eight years of Obama and here we are. Right? I mean, how much can creepy Uncle Joe actually do to us? And you know, the worst thing he can do to me is kill me and then I'll just go straight to heaven. And guess what? Creepy Uncle Joe is not even talking about killing me. That's not going to happen. You know, we're not even experiencing serious persecution in America at all. You know, today the big persecution in America is like, oh, this bakery was forced to bake a cake for homos. You know, I don't remember that chapter in the book of Fox's book of martyrs. You know, the part where they had to make, you know, medieval pastries. I don't remember that part in the book of Fox's book of martyrs. And let me tell you something. Nobody can ever make you make a pastry for some fag wedding, can they? How can anybody make you do that? Are they going to like grab your hands and like, because you know what? When they come to tell you to do that, you know what you say? No, no, yeah, but I'll lose my bakery. It's funny how Jesus can carry his cross up to Golgotha. It's funny how Jesus can be beaten and bloodied and bruised and have nails hammered through his hands and feet, but you don't want to lose your bakery. That's to your stupid bakery. You know what? Your bakery is all going to burn up one day. I promise you that. I promise you that your bakery will burn to the ground. Why? Because everything on this earth is going to be burned up someday. Read the book of Revelation. It's all getting burned. It's all burned down, but it's like, oh, what if I lose my business? What if I lose my house? What if I lose my bakery? What if I, hey, naked came I into this world, right? Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord had taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Every single thing that I have is borrowed. It's all borrowed. Well I own my home. Your home's borrowed. By the way, you pay rent to the government every year anyway for it. It's called property tax. Hey, your home is borrowed. Well I own my vehicles. No you don't. You're borrowed. Well, I've got my wife and kids, borrowed. You're not going to have them forever? Everything that you can see, if you could open your eyes and see it, it's borrowed because the Bible says the things that are seen are temporal and the things that are not seen are eternal. That's what the Bible says. And so to sit there and say, you know, oh, I'm so scared about what laws they're going to pass and, you know, we Christians are going to have to go underground. Think for yourself, because I'm never going to go underground. I will not go underground. I'll tell you, if persecution actually got so extreme to where I can't function openly preaching the word of God and thundering forth the word of God, then I would, the biggest thing I would do is just go somewhere else where I could. But going underground's not an option for me. It's just not an option. I'm not going to go high. What's the point? I'm not going to hide my faith under a bushel. No, no, no. I am a soul winner until the day I die, right? That's why I'm here on this earth is I'm going to go out and I'm going to tell people how to be saved. I'm going to preach the gospel. I'm going soul winning. I'm preaching the word of God. That's why I exist. And so, no, I'm not going to go underground, but it's like people are talking about going underground in America in 2021 when we're not even being persecuted. We're at like, out of a hundred, we're at like persecution level three out of a hundred. And you're already getting scared. You're already too nervous to claim the name of Christ and you're already nervous to come to Faithful Word Baptist Church. It's really a joke, my friend, to be scared about these things that probably aren't going to happen. You know, let the worldly people, let the heathen, let them be terrified and let them shake in fear. But you know, the Bible says the righteous are as bold as a lion. The Bible says the fear of man bringeth a snare, but who so trusteth in the Lord shall be safe. If I trust in the Lord, I'm going to be safe. I don't have to worry about anything. And you know what? That's the kind of leadership we need in every home in America. We need every home in America to be led by a man that says, you know what? I'm not worried about what tomorrow is going to bring. I'm not worried about the economy. I'm not worried about politics. I'm not worried about the laws and the government and all that. You know what? Because I know that I am able to lead my family to serve the Lord today and that's all that matters is that today I can serve the Lord today. My family can serve the Lord. I can teach them and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I can go out and work an honest living, feed my family, serve God, read my Bible, pray go to church, go so I can do everything I need to do. And you know what? I want to be able to say to my children and my wife, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. Come with me. Come with me. We're going to serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Don't be scared of your wife. Don't be scared of your children. Don't be scared of government. Don't be scared of, you know, all the different rumors and things. You know, the Bible says you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled. Isn't that what it says in Matthew 24? See that you be not troubled by the wars and the rumors of wars. Why? Because war is going on somewhere else in the world. Rumors of war is going on. You know what? Until it affects me, I'm not worried about it. How dare you? Because Jesus said not to worry about it. Jesus specifically said, you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled. Don't let it bother you. Don't worry about it. It's not a trouble to you, okay? You just need to serve God and focus on spiritual things. You don't need to worry about every single thing that's going on somewhere in some other part of the world all the time. You know, I mean, how many false alarms over in Israel, you know, for like, it's the end of the world. It's the end of the tribulation. Got a lot of false alarms over there, haven't we? You know, in my life, it's always almost the end of the world over there. It's always about to happen, right? And just recently, weren't they blowing each other up recently? Did that stop or are they still doing it? Started again, stopped again? Are they stopped or started right now? I don't care. It doesn't matter. Don't answer that because I don't care. It's not important to me, but you know what is important to me is that this is the day that the Lord has made. I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. I'm going to be strong. I'm going to be of a good courage. I'm going to follow the word of God. I want to raise my family right. And you know what? I've got enough to say grace over in my life of the spiritual things that I want to do and the necessary carnal things that I'm going to do with my family. Hey, that's all that I need to worry about. Not even worried about this other stuff. You know what? God is with me. And if God's with me, nobody can be against me, so I'm not worried about it. Oh, the forced vaccinations. That never happened. It didn't happen. They're going to come door to door with the military and vaccinate you. Didn't happen. Not going to happen. Not worried about it, right? But I'm telling you, I talked to people over the last year and a half that they were downright scared. They're like, what are we going to do, Pastor Anderson? You know, it's coming. It's going to be forced vaccine. You got to have a vaccine passport. First of all, if there's a vaccine passport, you know what I'll do? Stay home. Like why do we have, we just have to travel all over the world. But guess what? There is no vaccine passport. Didn't happen. There was no forced vaccinations. All of these boogeymen that people are constantly scared of, they don't even end up happening most of the time. Or even if you want to take the other side of the angle, coronavirus itself. A lot of people were terrified by coronavirus and guess what? It ended up fizzling out. Yes, there were a lot of deaths and you know what, obviously every death is a tragedy and I'm not downplaying the deaths from the illness, but it didn't end up being this plague that ended up just kind of wiping out, you know, a mass part of the population. It ended up being more minor than was originally thought. And so again, if you were terrified or worried about coronavirus, you know, it ended up not being as bad as people thought. So isn't that a relief? So what I'm trying to say is that we get so scared and worry about things that don't end up happening. I mean, imagine the things that I could have been scared and worried about over the last 16 years. I could have just spent my life just scared and worried about, you know, getting arrested for preaching this or that. But here's the thing, it never happened, did it? So I'm glad I didn't spend any time worrying about it because it wouldn't have even mattered. We need to be strong and have a good courage. It ought to be that the worldly people are on the defense and that we're on the offense. Why would I, for one second, apologize for standing up for traditional values? Or for standing up for normal marriage between a man and a woman and a normal family with a mother, father, and children being raised by their biological parents? Why would I be embarrassed or apologize for that? And you know, let me say this to you young ladies that might get an attitude because your parents are having you go out and wear skirts and dresses and be modest. And even when you go to the swimming pool, they have you modest and dressed appropriately and not out there half naked. You know, don't let this wicked thought enter your mind for one second of, oh, you know, people see me dressed like this, they're going to know that I'm some kind of a radical Christian. Don't you dare for one second be ashamed of being a dedicated Christian. Oh, somebody's going to see me dressed like this and think that I'm some kind of a zealous Christian. Yeah, great, great. I hope so. And you know what? Ask me how much I care what a bunch of people out there who can't even tell the difference between male and female think about the way I dress or my family dresses. You really think that I care for one second what that world out there with all the perverted junk that they're accepting on a daily basis. You think I care what they think about my daughter's clothing or my wife's clothing for one second? Oh, you know, why aren't you wearing pants? Why do you hang around with a bunch of queers and fags? That's what I ought to be asking you. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, I'm, look, this world that's idolizing sodomites, that's hanging around with a bunch of sodomites, that's wearing a bunch of gender bending clothing, right? Like I, like I'm worried about what they think of me. It's absurd. You know, the Bible says without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. Is that what it says? The less is blessed of the better. Without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. So let me ask you this. Why would I seek for the blessing or approval of someone who is so far from actual righteousness in regard to clothing and gender and why would I ask for their blessing on anything? I don't need their blessing. I don't care what they think. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And so you, you young ladies, and let me explain this to you young ladies anyway, is that, you know what, when you grow, when you go out there dressed as a godly Christian and you're in modest apparel, even in the summertime when everybody's out there in their colored underwear that they call a swimsuit and you're actually dressed in modest apparel, you're actually wearing a modest garment. You know what? When you get out there, you know what? People respect you more. And here you are, you're nervous, you know, you're walking up to the swimming pool, you know, nervous about being in your swim dress and you're kind of like, oh man, you know, and you're nervous about going out there. But you don't understand, they, they already heard about how God parted the Red Sea and they're the ones that are trembling. You know what I'm saying? You're like the children of Israel saying, oh, I'm so scared, there's giants in the land and they have iron chariots and it's like, no, no, they're scared of you. You're going to go in there and wipe them out. You're going to blow the trumpet and the walls of Jericho are going to fall down. God's going to send a swarm of angry hornets to sting all the enemies. God's going to wipe out the enemy. You've already got the victory. All you have to do is just walk into it. The enemy's scared of you, but then you walk out to that swimming pool and you're dressed modestly. You don't understand that what's actually going through people's minds is like, oh man, why am I out here naked? And they're probably feeling ashamed and embarrassed about how naked they are. That's probably what's really going on. Because what if I told you that, you know what, there's a natural tendency in humans to not want to be naked whether they're Christian or not? I mean, do you have to be a Christian to, to think clothes are necessary? I guarantee you that atheists and agnostics and Hindus and Buddhists and everybody out there, you know, doesn't want to just walk around naked. And I guarantee you that a lot of women that, that put on these, these outfits, they're just putting it on because they feel like, well, this is what you got to wear. This is what I got to wear to fit in and to be cool. But I guarantee you that there are a lot of girls out there that when they see you in a more Christian garment, I guarantee you that they would look at that and think to themself, you know, I wish I could wear something like that because I'm feeling a little exposed right now. I'm feeling a little vulnerable right now. You know, I wish I could be a little more covered up. I wish I could have a little more clothes on. Folks, I'm telling you, it's time for us as Christians to not have this attitude of fear and defensiveness and just like, oh, you know, well, you know, I mean, it is amazing how the Muslims, they go around with that rag wrapped around their head, right? They go around looking like a ninja or whatever with a mask on. Not talking about the COVID mask now, but you know, they've got it all wrapped up, you know, like a ninja and they walk around, they march around like that, right? Advertising their stupid religion started by a pedophile, Mohammed, right? Advertising that stupid, illiterate religion of Islam. It's funny how they proudly walk down the street. And how hard is it to spot a Muslim woman? How far away do you have to be? How close do you have to be to spot them? A quarter mile, am I right? And guess what? I go and, and, and, and speak at South Mountain Community College over there as a guest speaker. And guess what I've seen in every class, I've spoken in 95 classes and guess what's in every single class? A girl with a headscarf on over at that community college and you know what? Everybody looks at her and just immediately knows this is a Muslim, am I right? But God forbid, God forbid that someone sees you dressed in a modest apparel, in a long dress and thinks that might be a Christian. And you know what? They don't even know for sure because guess what? I remember when I was in high school, tons of non-Christian girls wore dresses to school. I mean, who thinks that only Christians wear dresses? Yeah, but you know when they see me doing it at the pool, then they know I only wear dresses. Or you know when they see me get on the horseback and I'm wearing a dress, then they know that that's all I wear. Oh no, say it isn't so. Say it isn't so that you're dressed in a cool, stylish, pretty dress. You're in a summer dress that goes down to your knees. Isn't that horrible? We're not even making you put on some ninja outfit. There's 1.6 billion people who are making their women dress up like ninjas and they're doing it. Right? And they're not even Japanese. None of them are Japanese. But they're doing it. But then we as Christians can't do anything for Christ? They'll do that for their pedophile false prophet, Mohammed, and what will we do for Christ? Nothing. Nothing. Because you know what we want to do? We just want to fit in in America and we want to be cool and we want to be popular and we want everybody to like us and we want to succeed in the world's eyes and be Mr. Cool, Mr. Popular and make no sacrifice for Christ. It's unbelievable. Folks, I'm not just trying to kind of slip across the Jordan River like some kind of a spiritual wetback. You know what I mean? I slip across and just kind of like, hey, I'm just kind of an illegal immigrant in Canaan. No you know what I'm trying to do? I'm trying to go across the Jordan and I'm there to take over. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? I'm crossing the Jordan River as a conqueror, not as an immigrant trying to get my Canaanite citizenship. I'm not trying to get some kind of a dream act of getting where I can get adopted into this world system where the world will accept me. Like oh, I can't wait for the world to accept me and give me like a green card that says you're cool. You're one of us. I'm not trying to fit in with this world. I'm not trying to get their blessing. I'm not trying to get accepted. I don't want some kind of a spiritual green card that says you're now accepted by the worldly people now. Huh? You think that's what I want? I don't care. Hey, I'm coming in to the Promised Land as a conqueror and you know what the Bible says? We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. In Christ we are more than conquerors. And you know what? Joshua's plan wasn't like, all right guys, here's the thing, you know, we've been in the wilderness for 40 years and we don't really have a homeland. We need a homeland for the Jews, you know, and we don't have a homeland. So here's what we're going to do guys. We're going to just kind of slip in a few at a time and just kind of slowly get into Canaan and you know, some of us are going to go to Jericho and hey, let's not make any waves. Let's try to dress like them, act like them, talk like them. Is that what Joshua did and said, hey, we're sick of being in the desert. We want, I mean, we want the milk and honey. Maybe we could just immigrate and become Canaanites, become Hivites, maybe we can learn their language and become like them. No. Is that what Joshua did? No. Joshua said, we're going over there and we are taking over. We are going to be the ones in control and you know what? I'm not saying that we're going to, you know, take over the world or take over America or something, but I will say this in my own personal life, I am a conqueror and I am going to lead my family, not on the defensive, but on the offensive claiming territory for Christ everywhere I go. I'm winning people to the Lord. I'm getting people saved. I'm turning many people to righteousness. I'm influencing people to be right. I'm not trying to fit in with them. I'm trying to be an influence on them. I want to be an influence on them and we need to stop being on the defensive, scared of our own shadow and scared of what people think of us and you know what? Those of you that are teenagers that are, that you know, you need to choose which side you're on teenagers because let me tell you something. You cannot be a zealous, dedicated Christian and be a cool teenager at the same time in this world's eyes. You know, you could be cool in our church. You could be cool in my sight. You could be cool in each other's sight, but if you think you're going to be the cool teenager out there in this world and a zealous Christian, you're wrong because it's going to become pretty obvious when you don't run to the same excess of riot that they run to. It's going to be pretty obvious when you're not doing the drinking, you're not telling the dirty jokes. Let me tell you something. It's a jungle out there and if you're actually going to be a right with God Christian, you're not going to be considered the cool kid out there because you're going to actually be living for God and it's not, you're not going to fit in with them. So you need to just decide right now what's important to you. You want to fit in with this world? Well then you know what? You're ashamed to Jesus Christ and I'm ashamed of you and so is Jesus. Because the Bible says, whosoever therefore will be ashamed of me and my words and this evil and adulterous generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed. So Jesus said, if you're ashamed of me, I'm ashamed of you. And so if you are like, you know, I just want to be cool. I just want to fit in with this world. I just want to be like all the nations. I just want to be like everybody else. I just want to fit in with everybody else. You know what? If that's you today, shame on you. I'm ashamed of you. Jesus is ashamed of you. Get right with God. Quit being ashamed of Christ. You ought to be ashamed of America today. You know, if we're going to be apologetic about something, it should be like, yeah, we're Americans. You know, we're not into faggotry though. That's what we ought to say. You know, if you went to Russia or something or Hungary, if you went to one of these countries that still has a brain in their head and said to them, like, you know, you'd be like, yeah, I'm an American, but don't, you know, you know, I'm straight though, you know, cause look at all the TV we're sending them, all the TV and movies that they probably think that it's a bunch of homos over here. You know, wouldn't it make more sense? How dare you be ashamed to be an American? How dare you be ashamed of Leviticus 20, 13? How dare you be ashamed of Romans chapter one? How dare you be ashamed of the New Testament? How dare you be ashamed of the commandments of Christ? That's what you ought to be feeling bad about. Being ashamed of those things. Don't be ashamed of Christ. We ought to be ashamed of sin. Sin is shameful. Christianity is not shameful. Like, well, yeah, you know, I've been married for 21 years, you know, I know it's a long time. Is that embarrassing? Who thinks that's embarrassing to be married for 21 years to the same person? Yeah, you know, I mean, you know, I mean, I have 11 kids. I know it's weird. You think that's how I act? Well, you know, I mean, you know, I don't, I don't put on a string bikini, you know, I go to the pool and I want to be, you know, naked in front of it. It's like, quit being so nervous and ashamed and scared, okay? Why not just get an attitude that says, I'm right. The Bible's right. God's on my side. Let's win this thing. Because let me tell you something, when you're scared, you've already lost the battle. If you're scared, if you're nervous, if you're ashamed, you've already lost. You've already failed. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for a church that's filled with strong men, Lord. And thank you for this day that we have on Father's Day to honor the dads that are among us, Lord, because it's not easy being a dad in 2021. But Lord God, we know that you did the hard part when you died for us. And so, Lord, please just give us the courage and the strength that we need in order to serve you and lead our homes. And Lord, I pray that you would just take away the spirit of fear that has just infected so much of Christianity today, Lord, and help us to be strong and have a good courage, Lord. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Please take your hymnals now and turn to hymn number 473, 473. For those who went to old IFB churches, it's just ship ahoy, not ships ahoy. Let's sing it out on this first verse, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on this first verse together, number 473. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. I was drifting away on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. 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Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Excellent singing this morning. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea. Let's sing it out on life's pitiless sea.