(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And tonight I want to preach about something that comes up a couple times in the chapter we just read, 2 Timothy chapter 1, and that is the subject of being ashamed. Now the subject of shame comes up in the Bible 234 times. The term shame or ashamed is mentioned. So this is something that the Bible talks a lot about, and the Bible talks a lot about things that we should be ashamed of, and a lot of things that we should not be ashamed of. And people today are often ashamed of the wrong things, and they're not ashamed of the things that they should be ashamed of. Let me just start out by giving you some things that we should not be ashamed of. Of course, the famous verse comes to mind, Romans 1.16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But right here in this passage, jump down to verse 7 of 2 Timothy 1 there, it says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. So number one, the Bible tells us not to be ashamed of the gospel, but then secondly here he's telling us not to be ashamed of those who preach the gospel. We should not be ashamed of them. Now many people were ashamed of Paul because of the fact that he was in prison. He says, Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker, means you're taking part in it also, of the afflictions of the gospel. You see, many people were ashamed of Paul because he was in prison. He said, you know what, if you were preaching like me, you'd probably be right here with me. You need to partake in some tribulations and afflictions yourself. You see, we as God's people need to understand that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And so when we see someone else suffering for the cause of Christ or being persecuted for the cause of Christ, we should not be ashamed of that person. We should not try to distance ourselves from that person, rather we should rally around that person, stand up for them, be a friend to them, and never side with the world against God's people. Now look if you would at 2 Timothy 1.15, just go down a little bit. The Bible says, This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. He wasn't ashamed of the fact that Paul was in prison. Look Paul was not in prison because he was some kind of a criminal, a thief, a murderer. He was in prison only for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being ashamed of him would be ridiculous. Go to 1 Peter chapter 4, but what causes people to be ashamed of a Bible believing preacher is fear. He said, God's not given us the spirit of fear. That's why you shouldn't be ashamed of me. That's why you should be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. The Bible says, Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. The Bible says we shouldn't just live in fear and constantly worry about being persecuted. Just know that it's going to happen, know that it's going to come. You say, well am I for sure going to prison? No. He said some will go to prison, many will not go to prison. People are going to be persecuted in various ways for the cause of Christ. But God tells us don't be fearful about it, but when we see someone else being persecuted, we need to stand with that person, refresh that person, help that person, be there for that person, and definitely not be ashamed of that person. Look at 1 Peter 4.15, it says, But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters, yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. So first of all we shouldn't be ashamed of the gospel. We shouldn't be ashamed of those who preach the gospel. You know there are people who are sometimes ashamed of me. They're ashamed of the pastor because, you know, oh man, you know, people Google him and there's all this stuff and all these people hate him and attack him. But you know what, you shouldn't be ashamed of me. I'm not ashamed of you. You know there's nobody in this church, there's not one person in this church that I would not, and when I say I mean there's not one person in this church, that I would not in a heartbeat claim as my church member and say this is one of my church members, that I wouldn't be proud to take with me if I were visiting some other church or visiting friends or family, that I wouldn't be proud to take that person with me and say this is one of my church members, this is my friend. So don't be ashamed of me, it should be a two-way street. And by the way, the reason that everybody hates me and has all this stuff on the internet attacking me is because I've stood up for what's right. What did I steal? What have I robbed? Who have I killed? Who have I assaulted? The only reason why there's anything against me is for the words that have come out of my mouth as I preach the Bible. So don't be ashamed of me, I'm not ashamed of you, I love you and I would claim you as my friend and church member in a heartbeat. Every single person out of the sound of my voice. But number three, go to Mark chapter 8, another thing we should not be ashamed of, we shouldn't be ashamed of the Gospel, we shouldn't be ashamed of Bible-believing preachers, we shouldn't be ashamed of Bible-preaching, but we shouldn't be ashamed of Jesus or his Word. And of course you can't really separate Jesus from the Word because Jesus is the Word made flesh. So you can't say, well I believe in Jesus but I don't believe in the Word. Well you got the wrong Jesus, because this is Jesus. What he said, he said the words that I say unto you, they are spirit and they are life. He said I'm the way, the truth and the life. He said thy Word is truth. The Bible says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Look at Mark 8.38, it says, whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Now why is Jesus here bringing up the adulterous and sinful generation? Because he's trying to make a point of how ridiculous it is that you'd be ashamed of him and of his wholesome, pure words in the midst of an adulterous and perverse generation. I mean imagine, in the presence of an adulterer, you're ashamed of Jesus? I mean what should we be ashamed of? Adultery and perversion. But here he says in an adulterous and perverse generation and sinful generation, we are ashamed of Jesus Christ and his pure words. Now no question about it, there are many things in the Bible that are not popular today and that's why sometimes Christians will be ashamed of certain things that the Bible teaches that are a little bit extreme or a little bit hard-edged, but you know what? When we look at the world and how sinful it is and how ungodly it is, how can we even stop and care what they think? I mean how can you look at our culture in America today that is not a wholesome culture? Now I'm going to get into the things that we should be ashamed of today and that our country should be ashamed of today, but how can you look at all the shameful things and then turn around and say, well I'm a little bit ashamed of what Jesus said back in the Mosaic law. You know, why don't you just shout it from the housetops, man? It's nothing to be ashamed of. But what should we be ashamed of? Those are some things that we should not be ashamed of, the gospel, preachers, Jesus, his word, the Bible, his commandments, his laws. You know, here are some things that we should be ashamed of. First of all, nakedness, okay, because if you study shame in the Bible, this is the one thing out of those 234 times that the word shame or ashamed is used, this is actually the most commonly associated thing with shame, hands down, this is the thing that comes up over and over again, nakedness today. Now if you would, you know, I don't want you to have to turn to all of these just because I want to blow through some of these, but if you would, just go to Revelation chapter 3. And while you're turning there, I'm going to blow through some of these Old Testament passages. Now, first of all, the very first time shame is ever mentioned in the Bible is in the Garden of Eden, the Bible talks about Adam and Eve, and it says that they were husband and wife, and it says they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. So obviously there's nothing shameful about nakedness between a husband and wife within marriage. That is a time when nakedness is acceptable, okay. But when we're outside of marriage and we're in mixed company, you know, that's where nakedness is ashamed, to be publicly out in public, you know, in mixed company, naked. Exodus 32, 25 says, when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies. Naked unto their shame. Isaiah 20 verse 4, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians' prisoners and the Ethiopians' captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt. He said, look, being naked in front of people is a shame, and he said these people were naked and they had their buttocks uncovered. That tells me that having your buttocks uncovered is nakedness. Let me tell you, that is the style today. It's bizarre. I mean, I wouldn't have thought that that would become in fashion when I was a child. But today, I mean, I'm seeing so much of this, this carpenter crack or whatever you want to call it, you know, the plumber, whatever, you know. I mean, look, I was just at a restaurant a couple days ago and there's just, there's just this woman just sitting at the counter and it's just, there it is. The pants and the skirts are just so low that it's just, there's just a cleavage. It's the new cleavage. And you know what? God's people need to stay away from that garbage. Don't you ever walk into this church showing your crack. I mean, it's unbelievable today that I would even have to say that from the pulpit in a church. But look, I'm telling you, I probably went the first 20 years of my life without seeing that except when someone was working on something at the house. You know, some big, fat, smelly plumber guy or, you know, whatever has bent over, working on something under the sink. You know, okay, you expect that, right? But I'm telling you, I probably went the first 20 years of my life without seeing it. I think I probably see it now on a weekly basis. Who knows what I'm talking about? I mean, you're just constantly seeing it. And it's a shameful thing but they're not even ashamed. I mean, just think about it. An adult woman sitting down in a restaurant, just her buttocks uncovered, just unashamed, just like an animal, just whatever. I mean, it's bizarre, my friend. We should not participate in the world's fashions. The world's fashion is to wear low-cut pants. The world's fashion is for men to show their underwear and to show their crack. Look, God's people need to live at a higher standard and not be carried about with every trend and every fashion that comes out of Paris and comes out of Madison Avenue. We ought to stand up for old-fashioned, clean living, and look, I'm not saying you have to dress like Little House on the Prairie, but can you cover your crack? I mean, give me a break. It's madness, my friend. But the Bible says in Isaiah 47, too, take the millstones and grind meal, uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers, thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not meet thee as a man. Look, he talks about when your nakedness is uncovered, your shame is being seen. And he talks about here uncovering the thigh that your shame would be seen. Micah 1-11 says, having thy shame naked. Nahum 3 verse 5 says, behold I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face and I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. Habakkuk 2-15, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him and makest him drunk and also that thou mayest look on their nakedness, thou art filled with shame for glory. Drink thou also and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. So look, there's a lot of scriptures, aren't there, that just mention nakedness, shame, nakedness, shame. When the Bible tells women to wear modest apparel, in 1 Timothy chapter 2, he says that the women be adorned with modest apparel with shame, face, and sobriety. Basically just being ashamed to be nude publicly. That's how we ought to raise our children, that's how we ought to look at it, that it is embarrassing or shameful to show your thighs, your backside, your nakedness in public. You ought to be covered up and clothed that your nakedness be not seen. Within marriage, great, but outside of marriage, outside the four walls of your home, when you're out in public, you need to be fully clothed and fully covered and it should be a shameful thing when someone is nude publicly. Look at Revelation 3.18, it says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with thyself that thou mayest see. Go to chapter 16 of Revelation verse 15. Revelation 16, 15. Look this is what we ought to be ashamed of. You say, oh I'm ashamed, you know, to wear a modest skirt or a dress. I'm afraid I'm going to get made fun of for dressing like a godly Christian lady because all my friends are wearing the short shorts and they're wearing pants and they're dressed in a way that is not pleasing to God and you say, well I'm just a little bit embarrassed but you know what you ought to be embarrassed about is dressing like a floozy. That's what you ought to be embarrassed about. You ought to be embarrassed about dressing like a hoochie mama and a hooker and going around in clothing that literally was only worn by prostitutes in time past. I mean look, a prostitute wears a miniskirt. A prostitute dresses up and puts on the for sale sign because she's for sale and you ought not be ashamed to dress like a godly Christian lady and to wear modest apparel, to wear a skirt that covers your nakedness that's the knee or below and covers up your thighs and covers up your shame and that you're not one that is promiscuous. See promiscuity is what you ought to be ashamed of. You ought not be ashamed of being pure, of being clean, of being virgin. Those are the things you ought to be proud of and you ought to be ashamed of nudity and nakedness and the Bible says in Revelation 16 and 15, behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame. I mean how many times is this covered? What else should we be ashamed of? Go to 1 Corinthians 14. You know what else we should be ashamed of? Woman preachers, female preachers, that's what the Bible says we ought to be ashamed of. You say, oh man I'm embarrassed about this sermon. Why don't you be embarrassed about a female preacher instead of the pastor who preaches against it? It says in 1 Corinthians 14.35, and if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Did you see that? God says it's a shame for women to speak in the church and yet many times God's people are ashamed of this verse. I mean many Christians are ashamed where the Bible says let your women keep silence in the churches for it's not permitted. They're ashamed of it. Oh well, and they try to explain it away, oh that was back then, that was the culture, we're not like that. They're ashamed of the verse, they ought to be ashamed of Joyce Meyer. You know and if I knew any other female preachers I'd preach against, that's the only one that I know of. Does anybody know of another one? Paula? Is that it? You're just making stuff up? Paula White? I thought that was a cooking show or something. Is that a preacher? Oh okay, I was thinking of Paula Deen, okay whatever. I can't get all these Paula's straight, whatever. Go back, well Paula White needs to start a cooking show, right? She needs to get out of the pulpit and get in the kitchen. That's what I was thinking of, alright. So anyway, see I could save that, I could turn that around. You know what we ought to be ashamed of? Sin. Sinning is what we ought to be ashamed of. Go to 1 Corinthians 15, while you're turning there I'll read to you from the Old Testament. Jeremiah 3.25 says, we lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us, for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth even unto this day and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. They say look, we're ashamed of the fact that we're living in sin. We're ashamed of the fact that we haven't obeyed God. Ezekiel 16.52, thou also which has judged thy sisters bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than thou, yea be thou confounded also and bear thy shame in that thou hast justified thy sisters. Hosea 4.7, as they were increased so they sinned against me therefore I will change their glory into shame. So we ought to be ashamed of sinning. We ought to be ashamed of going naked. We ought to be ashamed of female preachers. We ought to be ashamed of sin. Look at 1 Corinthians 15.34, awake to righteousness and sin not. For some have not the knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame. So Paul is saying, you know what, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for the sin in your life and you need to awake to righteousness and sin not. And he said you also need to be ashamed that there are people in your area that haven't heard the gospel. Lack of soul winning is what we ought to be ashamed of. He said look there are people around you that don't even have the knowledge of Christ and I speak this to your shame, we have a responsibility not to get the whole world saved because the whole world is never going to get saved. Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. But when people don't even have the knowledge of God, that's when we ought to be ashamed. I'm not ashamed that Tempe is going to hell in a handbasket. I'm not ashamed that Tempe is a wicked abomination of a city because it's got Arizona Satan University in the middle of it and all the ungodliness and debauchery that goes on there. That doesn't make me ashamed. You know why? Because we've knocked almost every door in it. That's why I'm not ashamed of it. Because it's not our fault. But you know what, if we're going to sit back and not do any soul winning and not win people to Christ, then it would be our fault if we're not at least given the knowledge. I mean the people in Tempe are without excuse, my friend. We've knocked the doors. We've preached the Word. We're going to knock them again and again and again. But when there's no soul winning going on, that's something to be ashamed of. When we're living in sin, that's what we ought to be ashamed of. Ungodliness, abominations. The Bible says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Go if you would to Isaiah chapter 3. Isaiah chapter number 3. Because we should be ashamed of abominations. Listen to Jeremiah 6.15. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 8.12 says pretty much verbally the exact same thing. He's twice talks about how people were just committing abomination and they were unashamed, would not blush, and therefore they were going to be destroyed. In Ezekiel 44.13 at the end he said, but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they've committed. But look at Isaiah chapter 3 verse number 9. The Bible reads, the show of their countenance doth witness against them, watch this, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. So this verse doesn't mention the word shame but it talks about people who are very unashamed about their sin. He says they declare their sin as Sodom and they hide it not. You see the thing about Sodom, because there were other places in the world and other people who've always committed the wicked sin of Sodomy. You know, you say what's Sodomy mean, queerness, queerdom, you know, is what I call it. Being a homo, okay, it's been around in a lot of different places but usually it was hidden because it was such a shameful thing, people would not admit it. In the previous generation, it was still there in the closet, I mean it existed. But people were ashamed of it, it was hidden but the Bible said no, they declare their sin as Sodom and they hide it not. You know, when a society begins to just openly accept Sodomy, that's when they're like Sodom, that's when you know it's at the very final stage on the downward spiral of the final stages of depravity when you've got them just proudly, proudly just exposing the sin of Sodomy. No longer hidden, no longer in the closet but coming out of the closet. That's where America is at today. And you know what, you say well America wasn't that great 50 years ago or 60 years ago. You know what, I know that there was sin in America 50, 60, 70 years ago but it wasn't just being openly declared like it is now. That is a new development, okay. That is in literally the last 10 to 15 years. 15 years ago it was not being declared the way it is today, not even close. And I'm a young man, I'm 32 years old, okay. But I'm just shocked that the older generation just sits by and lets this happen. What a disgrace. What a shame. You know who ought to be ashamed of themselves? Gray haired men who accept all this Sodomy and filth, who actually lived in this country when it was a clean and normal somewhat decent place. And now they just accept all this garbage. I mean what a shame. What an abomination. And at least I'm just a young man who just inherited this mess. I mean good night to sit there as an older man and just be okay with it. I mean if you're an older man and you're fighting against it and you're standing up against it, praise God for you. But if you're one of these gray haired people that accepts all this, and look, there aren't even a lot of older people in our church because our church is too old fashioned for the elderly. I mean figure that out. I mean our church is too old fashioned for the elderly. Elderly can't handle it. Too old fashioned. I mean that's when you know you're old fashioned. You know we're so old fashioned that only people in their 20s and 30s can even handle it, how old fashioned we are. It's a joke but it's true though. It's crazy. I mean you have all these elderly people going to churches where, I mean look, there's this huge Lutheran church, right, down in, what's that one called? Do you know what I'm talking about? I think it's in Awatukee or I don't know. There's a huge Lutheran church near here, I'm not sure if it was that one or a different one, that runs thousands and you're going to see a lot of gray heads in the congregation of a Lutheran church, isn't that right? And you know what? Two of the ushers at that church are open sodomites. Two open sodomites at this big Lutheran church that's run in 2000. Most of them are a bunch of gray heads. You know what? It's a shame. It's unbelievable, my friend, that they're not ashamed of abomination. What else is a shame? First Corinthians chapter 11 tells us about more things that are shameful. What other things are shameful? You know, and there are people who are ashamed of this kind of preaching even though every single thing I've preached so far has come from the Bible. Everything I've said is from, I mean, let's see how many verses I've preached so far. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. So I've preached about 32 verses from the Bible right now plus a few others that I just quoted off the top of my head. So you know, I'm probably 32 minutes into the sermon, 32 Bible verses have come out of my mouth, you know, and there's probably 32 things that will offend the world that we live in today and tell me what have I preached that is not biblical. And yet people are ashamed of this kind of preaching. There are some people, not in our church, thank God, that would be ashamed to bring a visitor to a service like this. Like, oh man, I brought a visitor and, you know, Pastor Anderson decided to just blow his top or whatever. But yet every single thing I've preached is biblical. You say, well, you're yelling. All the Bible preachers yelled. They all yelled. I mean, which one do you want to talk about, Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus? They all yelled. Okay? It's not the yelling, because if I were yelling, if I stood up here and said, Jesus loves you! He died on the cross for you! No one would be offended by that. No one would say that preacher yells too much. No they wouldn't. Man, we ought to get excited! We're saved! Woo! Nobody would say like, oh man, I'm so offended by that yelling. Or if we brought in a big screen TV and watched a football game and all started screaming and yelling and beating our chest, no one would be offended by that. It's not the yelling, it's what's being yelled. It's saying the truth a little too loud that offends. That's what it comes down to, okay? But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The Bible says in verse 13, judge in yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a coming? That tells me that a man having long hair is a shame. I'm not going to be ashamed of a preacher who preaches against men having long hair. I'm going to be ashamed of the long hair on a man itself. That's the shameful thing. And by the way, also, it's a shame for a woman to have short hair because look at verse 6. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. That's a tongue twister. A lot of shorn, shaven, sheared, shame. Look, it's a shame both ways. When men look like women, when women look like men, when they have their hair backwards, their clothing is backwards, that is what we ought to be ashamed of. You know what else we ought to be ashamed of? Not knowing the Bible. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2. A lot of things in the Bible that we should be ashamed of. You say, what does it mean to be ashamed? What it means to be ashamed is to be embarrassed. That's probably the word that we would think of today the most in 2013. If we said being ashamed, we'd say you're embarrassed. If I said you're ashamed of Jesus, it means you're embarrassed to be associated with Jesus. If I said you're ashamed of the gospel, it means you're embarrassed to bring up the gospel. You're embarrassed to talk about the word of God. If you're embarrassed to be associated with a preacher of God's word, that's what it means to be ashamed. So what should embarrass us? Going out of the house half naked ought to embarrass us. What ought to embarrass us? Being a woman preacher is embarrassing. Listening to a woman preacher when you're a hair-legged man is really embarrassing. What kind of a man? And just like I thought it was embarrassing, I just found it embarrassing when men get all excited about female politicians. Like I think that's embarrassing. Like I was at this political rally one time, and I don't go to political rallies, okay? I've been to like less than five in my entire life. But I was at some political rally, and this guy was just like, just gushing over and just, he was just so excited and just ecstatic just about Sarah Palin. He was just like this, just, oh, Sarah Palin. It's just like everybody you talk to, he just wants to praise Sarah Palin. And I'm just thinking to myself, you're a man, why is your idol a woman? Like why are you following a woman? Why are you lifting up a woman on a pedestal? This is your hero. This is your idol. This is your, you know, it's a good night. Why don't you get a man to follow? Why are you following a woman? Why don't you follow a man? And you say, oh, you're against women. I'm not down on women. Women should have female role models that they follow, but they should be female role models that are godly and that are righteous. And kind of like I preached about on the wedding on Saturday, you know, where their husband's not living in their shadow, but vice versa. You know what I'm talking about? Where, you know, where, well I don't want to go into a big thing on that, anyway, but what I'm saying is that it's embarrassing, it's a shame when there's no man that could stand up and preach where men are sitting down in church and a woman is up preaching and teaching them. And a lot of times women are preaching and teaching and I've heard it said, well there's just no man available, you know, to do this, so she has to step into that role. Well that's embarrassing. It's a shame. I mean I was embarrassed, one time I preached at a church that was a church that spoke a foreign language that I didn't speak and I was just embarrassed that the woman that was translating for my preaching was a woman. You know, I just felt weird that, you know, I'm preaching and this woman's translating. I mean that was embarrassing to me. I mean, good night. But it was kind of embarrassing that a man couldn't do that, you know what I mean? I mean that's the way I felt about it. It's embarrassing when a church has no soul winning, it's kind of embarrassing. I go, okay, what are you guys doing to win the lost, you know? What's going on here? Is this a social club? It's an embarrassment. You know, I'd be embarrassed if nobody in our church went soul winning. I'm proud of the fact that we have huge numbers of people out soul winning every week and it'd be embarrassing or shameful if it weren't so. You know, people ought to be embarrassed by abominations, the Bible says. Sodomy, it ought to embarrass us. I mean we ought to be a little bit embarrassed even just as Americans since our country now promotes sodomy. It's kind of hard to get patriotic and everything when our country's promoting sodomy. I mean it's embarrassing when we're sending flamboyantly sodomite ambassadors to Arab nations. You know, I mean that's embarrassing. Good night. I'm not embarrassed to have a short haircut and dress like a man. But you ought to be embarrassed if you're dressing in an effeminate manner. If your pants are sagging, you ought to be embarrassed. If you're wearing skinny jeans as a man, you ought to be embarrassed. If you're going out of the house and you're looking like Urban Outfitter and Abercrombie and Fitch and you're going out and you're looking like this metro kind of a guy, you know, you ought to be embarrassed. I'm embarrassed, you know. And you know how I said I'm not embarrassed of any of our church members? That's because none of our church members are like that. Because I would be a little embarrassed if you were a little fruitcake, little sissy britches in the way that you dress. That would be embarrassing. And you ought to be embarrassed yourself. But thank God we don't have any men in our church that are like that. I'm not sure why, but they don't gravitate to our church. I can't figure it out. But we ought to be embarrassed about, you know, men with long hair. You know, I mean, look, get a haircut, man. And you know what? I don't think it's embarrassing if a new believer gets saved to just tell them what the Bible says about getting a haircut so that they can get a haircut. Like, oh, we don't want to embarrass them. You're probably going to embarrass them more by not telling them what the Bible says. Because then they're just going to keep having the wrong hairdo according to the Bible. They don't care about the way you wear your hair. Well, he wrote a whole chapter about it. It's 1 Corinthians 11. It's half the chapter. Not knowing the Bible is pretty embarrassing. And you know what? Especially as a preacher. See, this is where Paul is talking to Timothy, who is his protégé in the ministry. This is one preacher to another. An older preacher to a younger, inexperienced preacher. He's giving him advice and help. And he says in 2 Timothy 2, 15, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It's a shame today when preachers don't know the Bible, when pastors don't know the Bible. It's embarrassing. You know, I'll bet you that movie, After the Tribulation, is embarrassing a lot of preachers write about now. It's an embarrassment. Because it just shows that they didn't study to show themselves approved unto God. Because there's no way that these preachers, listen to me now, there is no way that any preacher today who believes in a preacher of rapture studied and figured that out themselves. And anyone who says that they did is a liar. Because that doctrine didn't even exist before 1830. Are you going to tell me that before 1830 nobody thought of it for almost 2,000 years? But all these independent Baptists, they just all figured it out by themselves. Something that didn't even end the Bible. Something that the Bible never even says or alludes to or even partially kind of sort of indicates. And look, that movie is embarrassing them, that's why they hate that movie. They hate that movie because it's been viewed by millions of people and they hate the fact that it's an embarrassment and it's shined the lie that they don't read their Bible. And that's what's wrong in the pulpits of America today. That's what's wrong in churches today. Pastors who don't read the Bible. And they need to read it and study it and meditate on it day or night because you know what, I'd be embarrassed if I got up and preached a bunch of stuff and then had to come back later and say, oh, you know what, turns out I was wrong on, you know, 80 percent or whatever. I mean, that'd be embarrassing. I'd quit being a preacher. I mean, it's embarrassment. Now look, you know what's even more embarrassing is when these pre-trib pastors won't just eat crow and get it over with and just say, okay, sorry, we were wrong on this one thing. Just get it over with. Just rip off the Band-Aid, okay, and just get it over with and just say, you know what, I'm sorry, I was wrong about the rapture. I shouldn't have trusted, you know, Professor Fatbottom in my university that has studied Darby and Clarence Larkin and Schofield. You know what, it's embarrassing today to be preaching something that is so unbiblical that a toddler could prove it wrong. And that movie After the Tribulation is an embarrassment amongst preachers of God's word. But you know what, they need to get on board with it and quit shaming themselves further. Because God's people aren't stupid. The people in the pew aren't stupid and they're waking up. And you can sit there and you can hide it and try to pretend it doesn't exist and try to, you know what, that movie, okay, has shined the light, you know, the genie's out of the bottle, friend. It's over. You know, people know now that the pre-trib rapture is a total fraud, that it has zero basis in scripture. And you know, they can try to attack me or attack Paul or attack anybody else who made the movie and try to find something wrong with us. You know what? You're the one that's going to be with egg on your face at the end of the day. Okay. And so it's a shame when we don't know our Bible. Look, there are a lot of men in this room that are going to be preachers someday and that are going to pastor churches someday. And I thank God for that, that we have a lot of men in our church that are up and coming leaders that are learning how to preach and that are growing and they're going to get to the point soon or later to be able to start churches and preach. But you know what? You better read your Bible a lot and study the Bible a lot if you're going to stand up and call yourself a pastor. And you know what? Going to some university somewhere and getting some degree that says Master of the Universe or Master of Theology or Doctor of Divinity, that does not make you someone who need not to be ashamed. Because if you have not studied to show yourself approved unto God. And notice the emphasis on yourself. Study to show thyself approved. That means do your own study. Do your own research. That doesn't mean sit in a classroom and just have somebody just spoon feed it to you. It means get the Bible yourself, right? And don't even just blindly accept, well I'm just going to be just like Pastor Anderson. Wrong. Do your own study. Study to show yourself approved unto God. Read the Bible yourself and get up there. Because you know what? Maybe I'll embarrass you someday. Maybe you'll repeat something that I taught, right? And then you'll embarrass yourself. I sure hope not. I mean I believe that everything that I preach is true and right or else I wouldn't be preaching it. But you know what? You better just make sure for yourself. You better just study to show yourself approved unto God. And if you're going to be a preacher, you know what? I consider my greatest responsibility as a pastor out of all the responsibilities I have, right? And I have a lot of responsibilities. You know I have a responsibility to preach sermons and I have a responsibility to run the business of the church, you know. I don't have a business. Well Jesus said I must be about my father's business, you know. There is a business aspect of it of just, you know, just trying to figure out, okay, how do we pay the rent? How do we do this? How do we do that? You know, besides just the daily administration and things and just making sure everything comes smoothly. It's my job to be a watchdog, you know, to keep false doctrine out, to be a shepherd of the sheep, an under shepherd, a bishop of the flock that's going to be there guarding the sheep from the wolves that are going to try to creep in and bring false doctrine and bring sin and iniquity. You know I have to be a leader. I have to try to inspire. I have to try to get people excited, motivated. I try to organize programs for the church. You know, have church activities and then do soul winning, go soul winning myself, get other people to go soul winning, let's go out and reach the lost. I mean there are all these things that as a pastor, they're my responsibilities to do. And you can think of a lot of responsibilities that a pastor has to his people, you know, to be there for them, to help them when they're in trouble, right? Somebody that they can turn to as a friend. I mean people expect their pastor to be there for them when they have problems and go to him and get help and get things figured out. But you know what, I consider my most important responsibility. Out of all the responsibilities, out of all my duties, I believe that my number one responsibility, this is my opinion, this is what I think, is to know what I'm talking about. I mean that's the most, to me that's the most important thing. Even if I mess up on a lot of other things, I just want to make sure that when I get up and preach, what I preach is right. And I think that's my number one responsibility. Because I don't care how well I'm running the show here. You know what, if I'm preaching things that are not right, that's pretty shameful right there. So I feel like the most, I feel like my number one priority is just to know what I'm talking about. My number one priority is to be right and to preach sermons that are doctrinally correct. That is my number one priority as a pastor. Because there are way too many people who are standing behind pulpits and they're regurgitating stuff that they heard somewhere else, and they're not studying to show themselves approved, they're leaning on commentaries, or they're leaning on what they learn in Bible college, they're leaning on a big name preacher that they rely on, you know a fundamental pope, you know Paul Chappell, Jack Treiber, whatever, you know just somebody that they basically just look to that person and just like, well if they say it, I believe it, that settles it. Look, we're supposed to be independent Baptists, so I don't have to look to some guy and say, well that's my pope, I'm the bishop of faithful word, he's my archbishop. That's Catholicism folks, I don't have somebody that I look up to and say, well he calls the shots, I'm looking to him for my doctrine. No, we need to stand on our own two feet, and listen to me, if you're not a man who's capable of standing on his own two feet, doing your own study, studying to show yourself approved, finding the answer in the Bible yourself, you know what, you're not cut out to be a pastor. If you're one who just wants to follow someone else all the time, then you were cut out to be a follower, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with being a great follower, but don't be a pastor. Because to be an independent Baptist pastor, you have to be someone who has done their own reading and their own research, and if I walk up to you and say, oh your website says the pre-Trib rapture, right? Show me that in the Bible. Oh, I haven't really studied it. Then why is it on your website? Because you copied and pasted it from somebody else, because you didn't study to show yourself approved unto God on one of the major subjects of the Bible. You've copied and pasted it, and you didn't even study it yourself, I haven't really studied it. Then you're not fit to be a pastor, go study it and come back. I mean I know a pastor who literally has never even touched on the rapture in a decade of preaching, because he just says, I just haven't studied it. A decade into his ministry, and he literally said, I don't preach on it because I haven't studied it. What have you been doing for the last decade? I'm sure he'd been busy, but you know you're busy about the wrong things. Listen Martha, you need to sit down and listen to what Jesus has to say. You're doing too much work, and you're not doing enough listening. And look, I'm all for working. But you know what, I'm not going to stop sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to go work. You don't want to do too much work to where you're no longer listening to what Jesus is saying. You got to learn and listen and then go do the work, and then you'll do it right. And then you'll preach it right. It's a shameful thing when preachers don't know the Bible. But I think it's just a shameful thing for any Christian not to know the Bible. We ought to just study the Bible, I mean let me put it this way, shame means he's embarrassed, right? Wouldn't you be embarrassed if, let's say you had a friend or a family member that was a Mormon, let's say, right? And let's say this Mormon just stumped you biblically. I mean wouldn't you be embarrassed, you know what I mean? Or let's say you have a friend or family member that's part of another false cult, you know Jehovah's false witnesses or whatever, and they stumped you biblically. I mean wouldn't you be kind of embarrassed, like oh, you know, I got the truth, you know, I'm in the right religion here, I got the Bible, and they're making me look bad, I mean they're stumping me, they're putting me to shame. And it's possible. You know, if you don't know the Bible, for people to stump you and spin things, and it's all lies, but you know what? We need to study and be ready to give an answer to every man. You know, and the more we know about the Bible, the less of those embarrassing moments we're going to have where we're stumped. Let's learn it, let's take the time to study, to show ourselves approved unto God. That tells me Jesus disapproves of those who don't study. Because in order to be approved unto God, you have to study. And you have to do your own study, you have to study to show that I'm self-approved. Look, we need to get our shame department figured out in our lives where we stop being ashamed of the wrong things. You know, stop being ashamed of God's people. And you know what? Don't be ashamed of God's people because of things that have nothing to do with spiritual things. Like for example, don't be ashamed of God, you shouldn't be ashamed of God's people because of their race. Right? Like, think about this, like, oh, you know, well he's black, or he's Mexican, or he's Chinese or whatever, you know. Or even he's white, because there's a lot of racism directed at white people, believe it or not. I mean, the knife cuts both ways, okay, there are a lot of people who are racist against white people, alright. And I mean, there are, you know, one Asian group that's racist against another Asian group. I mean, there are black people that are racist against other black people just because they're not black enough. You know what I mean? They're not dark enough. Obama, you know, whatever. For what I'm saying is, you know, we shouldn't be ashamed of God's people, and you know, I'd rather hang around with red and yellow, black and white that are God's people than a bunch of white atheists and white homos and, you know, whatever. I'm saying, we shouldn't be ashamed of God's people because of their financial status. You know, there are a lot of people that are poor in our church, there are a lot of people who have a lot of money in our church, and you know what, there should be no difference. And we shouldn't be ashamed of God's people, we shouldn't be ashamed of our friends in Christ because they're poor, or because they're a different race than we are, or because of, I mean, maybe they're a little bit goofy in one way or the other, you know. So what? You know, if they have the Holy Spirit living inside of them, if they love the Lord Jesus Christ, if they love church, you know what, we should never be ashamed of anyone in our church that loves God. We should be ashamed of liberal, watered down Christians no matter how cool they are. No matter how cool they are, no matter how white they are, no matter how much money they have, we ought to be ashamed of these bunch of liberals, people that are in a fire breathing church, people that love God, people that go out soul winning. So what if they're not just like you? Maybe they're not as good looking as you, maybe they don't have as much money as you, maybe they're not the same color as you, they're not as smooth or as suave or as athletic as you, so what? You know what? You ought to just rally with God's people and say, these are my friends, these are my brethren. Jesus isn't ashamed to call us brethren. I'm not ashamed to call you brethren, I don't care who you are. But we ought to be ashamed of the abominable. We ought to be ashamed of worldliness, sinfulness, liberalism, godlessness, you know let's just get ashamed of sin and embarrassed about stuff that's indecent and unclean and dirty and let's just rally with everything that's right and not be ashamed of God's people whether they're being persecuted, whether they're poor, whatever they are, let's just rally with them and let's only be ashamed of things that are sinful and let's be proud of God's word, Jesus, the name of Christ and all of God's people and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ and claim them like Jesus said, you know, behold my mother and my brethren. He said, he that doeth the will of God, he said, is my mother and sister and brother. You know that's how he felt about them, he's not ashamed of them. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and help us never to be ashamed of it. Help us to stand tall and proclaim your word, proclaim the gospel, proclaim righteousness and right living, rail against sin, help us to rally with preachers that do so, help us to rally with other of God's people, help us not to be ashamed of anyone in our church because they're not cool or they're not stylish or they're not rich or they're not, you know, the same color we are or help us to just rally with all of God's people and help us never to be ashamed of you or your word or your people or our brothers and sisters in Christ and in Jesus' name we pray.