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

Exactly where I left off last Sunday night, I'm preaching a completely different sermon that has nothing to do with evolution, but I want to pick up on the same thought that I ended on on that sermon. Look at Romans chapter 1 at verse number 21, it says, Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. And professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Now, last Sunday night when I was preaching about evolution, I was talking a lot about atheists and people who refuse to acknowledge God and they don't want to believe in God. But the question I have is, why don't they believe in God? And really it's answered right here and in a lot of other places, but it's because they don't like God. It's because people believe what they want to believe in many cases. And the Bible says here, they knew God, but they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. And if you go down a few verses, down to verse 30, it says, Backfighters, haters of God. Now this reminded me of Matthew 8.34, you don't have to turn there, but it says, And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their coasts. Now this is really illogical, it doesn't make any sense. And those who profess themselves to be wise and have thereby become fools claim to be very logical, but yet this is the logic that they use to say that God doesn't exist. They say, well, you know, the reason I don't believe the God of the Bible exists is because He's such a mean God. Or because somebody, this is Richard Dawkins that I was quoting last night, he said, He said the reason that he doesn't believe in God is because the God of the Old Testament is homophobic. And he doesn't really give women the right kind of rights, and he doesn't really treat people the way that that guy thinks that they should be treated. That's what I want to talk about tonight, is that, you know, it doesn't matter what you think God should be like or whether you approve of what God does or who He is, He's the Creator. Turn to chapter 9 of Romans, you're in Romans chapter 1. God is our Creator. God is the God of the universe, and you know, thankfully He is a very loving God, He's a gracious God, He's a really good God. But whatever He is, it's not our place to judge Him and to decide whether we like who He is or whether or not we approve of the things that He does. You see, He is the judge over us. He's the one who created us, and that's what we need to keep straight in our lives. I'm going to apply this to us as Christians, but look at Romans chapter number 9, it says in verse 20, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? I mean, isn't it God's business what He does with His creation since He's the one that created it? And yet we somehow get the idea that we're the boss or that we're the judge or that we're God in our own mind, and that we're more qualified to look at the things that God does or the things that God says and say, Well, I'm not sure I really agree with that. It doesn't matter whether you agree with that. If you disagree with it, then you're the one that's wrong, according to the Bible. Look at Ezekiel chapter number 18. Ezekiel chapter number 18. It says in Ezekiel 18, and next I'm going to go to Ezekiel 33, but it says, Ezekiel 18, 25, Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Now, in our modern vernacular, that'd be like saying, Well, I don't think that God's fair. You know, like if we read God's laws or some of the things that He's done. He says, You say the way of the Lord is not equal. Here now, O Israel, is not my way equal? Are not your ways unequal? I mean, God's saying, Look, who's wrong here? Is it me or you? And if we disagree with God, it's us that's wrong. The Bible says we're but of yesterday. I mean, in the scheme of things, this world's been around for thousands of years, and here we are just, you know, decades old, and we think that we know more than God. And the older we get, the more we see that God was right and we were wrong. And so we should not try to stand in judgment of God. But why do people hate God? Why do people who are atheists or whatever kind of Christ-rejecting variety, why is it that they don't like God? Well, look at John chapter 3, and while you're turning to John chapter 3, I'll turn to 1 John 3. It says in 1 John chapter 3, it says in verse 12, Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. See, the Bible says that when one person is wicked and someone else is righteous, the wicked person's going to hate that righteous person because it exposes their wickedness. It exposes them for who they are, exposes their ungodliness. That's why Cain killed Abel. He hated Abel because Abel made him look bad, because Abel was doing the right thing, and it made Cain look even worse for doing the wrong thing. Look at John chapter 3 in verse number 19, it says, And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil, what? Hated the light. And by the way, that light is Jesus Christ. If you just go back a few pages, keep your finger there in John 3. Look at John chapter 1, it says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. So he's the creator. And without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He, meaning that true light, was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Later on, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He that believeth on me shall not abide in darkness. He said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. Go back to John chapter 3. It says, Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, in verse 20. Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. He doesn't want to be pointed out for his sin, and his wickedness, and his error. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. And we don't have time to turn there, but in 2 Thessalonians, go to Deuteronomy 6, if you would. In 2 Thessalonians, the Bible talks about with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, and them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. You see, they rejected God. They don't want to believe in God, because they don't like God for who he is. So they'd rather embrace pleasure, and sin, and this world system, and reject the God of the Bible, because they don't like him. Well, look at Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. Now, this is something that you're going to see over and over throughout the Bible, and especially in the book of Deuteronomy, over and over, God commanding us to love God. It says in Deuteronomy 6, 4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Now, God commands us to love him, right? Now, we started out by showing how the ungodly people of this world, they don't like God. You know, they don't agree with him. They want to stand in judgment of him. They think that his ways are not equal, and that their ways are equal, or fair. And they reject God. They hate God. They don't love God. They want to live a wicked life, and that pushes them away from God. But the Bible commands us as Christians to love God. Now, the Bible doesn't just take it for granted that we're automatically going to love God. It's a command that we're commanded to do. Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. So he doesn't just assume that everybody loves him, or that even all of his disciples that love him. And even all those who believe on him don't necessarily love him. And everyone doesn't love them as much as they should. You know, it's something that we should grow in over time. But God here is commanding us to love him. He said, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord is a command there. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12. Deuteronomy 10, 12. It says, And now, Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee? So this is not optional, right? He's requiring us but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command thee this day for good. Look at chapter 11, verse 1. Therefore, thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments always. And we're not going to turn to all of them for sake of time. But Deuteronomy 13, 3. Deuteronomy 19, 9. Deuteronomy 36. Deuteronomy 30, verse 16. Deuteronomy 30, verse 20. Over and over again, God's commanding us, just in that one book, Deuteronomy, to love God, to love the Lord. Now, let me illustrate to you this way. I love my wife, right? Now, I should love my wife. I'm commanded by God to love my wife, right? Now, does that mean that I only love my wife just because I have to? Well, I wouldn't normally love her, but because I'm commanded to, no, that's not what it means at all. My wife is very lovable, okay? That's why I married my wife. I chose someone that I wanted to love, okay? I chose someone that I liked, okay? And then I'm also commanded by the Bible to, you know, husbands, love your wives, okay? Now, God is very lovable, isn't He? I mean, there are a lot of good things about God. There are wonderful things about God. There's plenty for us to love about God. If we don't love God, He isn't the problem. You know, He created us and He commands us to love Him. But there's a lot to love about God. There's a lot of things that we could love. Now, let's say I went around with a picture of another woman, okay? Not my wife, just a picture of a completely different woman, and I've got this picture up on my desk at my office, and I carry it on a key chain, and I carry it around in my wallet, and I've got this picture of just this totally different woman that looks nothing like my wife. And I say, well, you know, I just carry this picture around and I love my wife so much, and this reminds me of my wife, and I look at this picture and I think about how much I love my wife as I look at this picture of this other woman. Would that make any sense? No. You see, my wife wants me to love her for who she actually is, okay? You know, she wants me to love her as a person, not someone else, okay? Not just a woman. I love a woman. I love my specific wife here. And today, people think that they love God, okay? But they have this other picture of God in their mind, this other image of God that they've created in their own mind of who they think God is. And this is just like when the unsaved and the atheists, you know, they make up their own conception of what God should be like, you know, this big Santa Claus up in the sky. He knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, and, you know, if you're good, he'll reward you, and if you're bad, well, you're going to get a reward anyway. He'll just kind of look the other way and not really worry about it. You know, and they have this false made-up image of God. And then they say, I love God. It's like, you don't love God. You know, you love a figment of your imagination that you've made up, that you call God, but it's not really God, okay? Because God is the God of the Bible, okay? And that's why loving God and loving His Word go hand in hand. Listen to this from Psalm 119. Oh, how love I thy law. Verse 97. It is my meditation all the day. Verse 113. I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love. Verse 163. I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love. Verse 165. Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. And so we need to read the Bible, get to know who God really is, and then love God for who He is. And if we get something in the Bible that we don't agree with or that doesn't really make sense to us, just understand it's you that's wrong. It's not God that's wrong. Say, well, this doesn't really seem fair, you know, what God did here. No, you just are obviously wrong about what you think fair means because God is always right. You're nobody compared to God. What is man that God is even mindful of him? It's amazing that God loves us and cares about us, but we ought never to stand in judgment of who God is, okay? He's our judge. We ought to measure ourselves by Him. But you see, God in the beginning created man in His own image, but man today wants to create a God in His own image, okay? And, you know, we talked about the atheists obviously. They make up this false God and then, you know, it doesn't jive with reality and then, oh, well, I guess God's not real then because the only God that seems real is the one who said to kill homosexuals, you know? Well, sorry, that's the real one. I like him, you know what I mean? Because I'm not a sick pervert. That's why I like him because I don't have a problem with God's laws against adultery because I'm not an adulterer. But people who live in adultery, they don't like a God that hates adultery. They don't like a God who hates rebellion and witchcraft and pornography and fornication and drunkenness because they want to live that lifestyle. But we as Christians who are saved, who are, you know, born-again children of God, we ought to love God. We ought to love Him, okay? Every child in America, I don't really care whether every child in America loves me or not. You know, I'm not Ronald McDonald. But, you know, I want my children to love me, right? And, you know, if some child down the street doesn't love me, I don't really care. They don't even need to love me. But this child right here, my son in the front row, he ought to love me, okay? He's commanded to love me and he has a lot of good reasons to love me and I love him, okay? This is my son. And those of us that are God's children, we need to understand, hey, we came from him. He didn't come from us. He created us. We're supposed to love Him the way that He is and not try to change Him to fit our mold to become what we think He ought to be. You know, we've got to get into the Bible. And if we want to know, and I've often said when I preach about things, you know, I don't have some agenda of trying to make the Bible fit some belief that I have because I don't really care. You know, and I don't want people to take me the wrong way when I say I don't care. When I say that, I mean I don't care what the truth is in the sense of whatever it is, I'm going to believe it because it's the truth, you know? Because I don't have the right to shake my fist at God and tell Him He's wrong. So, in a sense, I don't care what He says. God says it's right because He said it and that's what makes it right because God said it. The fact that it's in the Bible is what makes it right. It's not that I believe the Bible because I think it fits, you know, the way I think things should be. It makes a lot of sense to me. Because the Bible makes sense to me, it's true. No, the Bible is true. Therefore, if it doesn't make sense to me, I'm dumb. That's all it comes down to. I mean, it's that simple. And so we've got to get this straight in our lives because the first step is people want to make God in their own image. Doesn't the world get everything backwards? You know, the Bible says that Jesus Christ gave His life for us. And then people tell you, well, salvation is you giving your life to Christ. No, He gave His life for us, we just believe on Christ. And people get it backwards. He created us in His image, but man wants to create God in man's image, okay? But not only that, Christians, they want a church that's in their own image. You know, they want God's house to fit their image and their feeling of what it should be. Now, people today want church to be a positive only place. They want it to make them feel good, okay? Now look, I like to feel good. Who likes to feel good? Yeah, everybody likes to feel good, right? Who likes to feel bad? You know, I've been sick and feeling miserable and bad and, you know, nobody likes to feel bad, okay? I feel kind of bad right now. But the bottom line is, you know, a feel good church, a feel good religion, a feel good positive only message is not the message of the Bible. Okay? So I have to choose. Am I going to go with God's Word here, God's preaching, which can be very negative? And you see, people who don't know that, they just haven't read it. You know, that's all there is to it. If you read it, there's a lot of pretty heavy stuff in that Bible. There's a lot of swift kick in the pants in that Bible. Now look, I love the Bible. And God is the most gracious, loving guy. Hey, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Have you ever loved anybody that much that you give your son? You know, and so God's love is explained to us in that way. That's pretty amazing. But yet... Excuse me. But yet people want to come to church and judge the church. You know, they sit back in judgment of the church and, you know, in a sense you ought to judge it to see if it lines up with the Bible. But they judge it as in, you know, does it seem right? Or does it make me feel good? Or does it help me feel better? Because, you see, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death, the Bible says. So there are a lot of things in this world that seem right and they look really good, but they're wrong. Okay, and so, who so trusteth in his own heart, the Bible says, is a fool. Okay, you can't just go with your feeling and I'm just going to go with my gut. You know, I went to that church and my gut just told me, this is the place. You're home. You know, you're in the right church. It just, something just felt right, you know. Now I remember there was a church one time where I just, I walked into this church one time and I mean everybody was so friendly. These were the nicest people and I think our church ought to be friendly and our church is pretty good about this. We could always do better just to really reach out to visitors and be friendly and nice because it means a lot to people. Because I remember I walked into this church one time and, man, I felt like I've arrived. I'm home. You know, I got there and, man, everybody was so nice to me. Everybody was so friendly and, you know, because most of the time you get to church and you're a little uncomfortable at like a brand new church. I don't know about you but when you try a first time at a new church you're a little nervous and a little uncomfortable sometimes and you don't really know anybody, especially when you're younger. But, man, I walked into this church and just everybody reached out to me. Everybody was so friendly and I just fit right in and it was just like, wow, here I am. I've arrived. You know, but that church turned out to preach total heresy, total false doctrine. I mean, I'm talking to people. Most people weren't even saved. They don't even know if they're going to heaven and they think it's by works and whatever. And that right there can show you that just because you fit in... And then I finally found the right church as a teenager where I was learning a lot and, you know, I never fit in there. I never felt at home there. I never was happy there. But it was a great church and that's where I learned the things that helped me to live a Christian life and have real joy in my Christian life and win souls to Christ and do everything. And I'm just kidding about not being happy there. But, I mean, I didn't fit in. I didn't have all these great friends there. I mean, for a long time I went there as a teenager and, I mean, you know, I didn't really have friends because I kind of got out of the youth group. I was about 18 years old and the next age up was like 30. Even though there were like 150 people in the church, the next age up was like 30. And then all the teenagers that were below me and, you know, once I wasn't in the youth group anymore, I wasn't really in that group anymore and they were a few years younger. And there's kind of a big difference in maturity there sometimes between like an 18 year old and just even a few years younger. And then I've got like a 30 year old with two kids. That was a pretty big maturity jump right there too, you know. So I didn't feel like I fit in. I didn't maybe necessarily like everything about it. But you know what? That was the place that was preaching God's word faithfully and that's where I went. That's the church that was winning souls, that was knocking doors, that was breathing fire against sin, that was taking the strong stand. And so that's where I stayed. Not just, oh man, I just have a great feeling about this other church. Or, oh this church really fits my personality. I really like the music and it really just fits me, you know. Gotta find a church that's me, you know. And today people want a Bible version that just fits them, you know. And it's just, it's my style, okay. And look, God made us all unique. We all have different styles and I think that's great. I don't think we should all be the same. I mean God created us all very different from one another. And He can use us to accomplish different tasks that, you know, I can do things that you can't do and vice versa. And there's going to be people who I can't reach but they'll listen to you because they like you. You know, you are more their style. That's fine. But there's a problem when we want to conform God and His Word and His institution and His church and His preaching and His music and we want to conform it to us. We need to conform ourselves to Him. And the Bible says, be ye not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. You see, we're the ones that need to change. Go to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter number 8. So in Romans 12 He says, and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed. So God's commanding us to be transformed, right? Does that mean stay the same? No. He's saying, look, you need to be transformed. If you don't agree with God, if you don't match up or line up with God on things, you're the one who needs to transform. God, we don't serve a transforming God. Okay? God said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob, Renach, and Sue. He said, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. And so God is unchanging but we are supposed to be changing. We're supposed to be transformed. And He said, not to be conformed to this world. Look what He says in verse 28 of Romans 8, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. So right there, the Bible says that we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We are to be conformed to God's Word. It's not conformity that's bad. It's conforming to the world around you that's bad. Conforming to the Bible is great. Conforming to the Lord Jesus Christ, conforming to His standard. And look, He gives plenty of room for your personality to shine. You know what I mean? He's not this restrictive God that just tells you every phase of everything you're supposed to do in life. I mean, in the Garden of Eden, He only had one rule that He gave them. He's not just bogging us down with rules, making us all dress exactly the same and act the same and talk the same and look the same. He made us all different. We can be different, but we need to conform our philosophies. We need to conform our minds to the Word of God, to the Bible, and let this be what dictates who we are, what we believe. This should be at our core right here and we should love God and want to be conformed to His image. We should want to follow Him, okay? Why do I love my wife? Just because I'm commanded to? No, I love my wife anyway, okay? But, yes, I am commanded to. It would be wicked of me to not love my wife, wouldn't it, if I said, Well, I don't love my wife because she's this or she's that. I love this other person instead. You know, that's garbage and it wouldn't be my wife's fault, okay? It would be my fault. Do you see that? Well, now put that same illustration with God. If you don't love reading the Bible, the problem is with you. You know, if you want to just read every other book than the Bible and the Bible is just a drudgery that maybe you pick it up every once in a while and read an obligatory part. Look, you should desire to read the Bible. You say, Well, I don't. I don't love the Bible. You need to read it and get to know it better because the more that you know it, the more you're going to love it. Because how could you not? I mean, it's so perfect. God's Word is so wonderful. God is such an excellent God. I mean, He's such a perfect God in every way. Obviously, you just don't know Him well enough. Maybe you just need to get to know Him. And you know, by the way, the same thing is true with your marriage also. You know, if you want to have a close relationship with your wife, you want to love your wife, you say, Well, I just don't love my wife. You know, you need to invest in that and spend time with your wife. Get to know your wife. And the more time you spend with your wife, the more you're going to love your wife, okay? The more that you do good things for, you know, the more that you serve God, the more you're going to love God. The more that you serve your wife, the more you're going to love your wife. The more that she serves you, she's going to learn to love you more and so forth. Because this is how you build a loving relationship here in a marriage, okay? And so we ought to love God. Yes, we're commanded to. But even if we were not commanded to, there's plenty of reasons why we should love God, you know? And if we don't love God, then the problem's with us. And so that right there also proves that love is not just this emotion that just comes upon you. No, it's something that you make a conscious decision to say, You know what? I love God. I love my wife. I love my children. I love God's Word. I love going to church. I love Faithful Word Baptist Church. And I do love this church. I think this church is great. This is a wonderful church, you know? And a lot of people don't like this church and part of it is just because it doesn't fit them. And if our church doesn't fit them, that's fine. But I hope it's not my preaching of God's Word that doesn't fit them. Because maybe it's just the Bible that doesn't fit them. And that's a problem right there. And then they'll find some other church that has trimmed some edges. They don't like some of the sharper edges on the Bible, some of the rough edges. So there are plenty of churches that will kind of smooth that out and kind of sand it down, you know? And make it nice and smooth for them. And not, you know, not poke them or, you know, anything. Oh, you know, that's a little sharp. Just keep it nice and smooth. Like they said in the Bible, you know, prophesy undoes smooth things. Prophesy deceits. You know, and again, they're trying to conform the preacher to them. I mean, they're telling the preacher what to preach. They're telling him, You need to preach this type of a sermon. You need to tone it down. You need to smooth it out a little. Really, they should be just telling the preacher, like, Well, I don't care what you preach as long as it's God's Word. You know what I mean? If the shoe fits, if it offends me, hey, then maybe I need to transform. You know, and everybody wants to transform churches, but they need to transform themselves. Because it's not the church that's the problem sometimes. It's them that's the problem. And it's not the Bible that's the problem. There's nothing wrong with the King James Bible. Amen. The King James Bible is the Word of God. But the problem is with people. They want a Bible that conforms to them. Because they think God's too homophobic. You know, homophobia? You think God's afraid of anything? God's going to do... Hey, listen to me. Let me just spell this out for you, okay? God's going to do with faggots exactly what he said he would do. He said, and you say, How do you use that word? That's a Bible word. Turn to Matthew 13, 40. And I'll close with this. Turn to Matthew chapter 13. I'm sick of people telling me that that's not a Bible word, so I found it in the Bible. It says in verse number... It says in verse 30 of Matthew 13, it says, Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Now the definition of the word faggot is a bundle of sticks that's thrown into a fire, in order to kindle a fire. It's these little bundles of sticks, right? So the Bible says here that the children of the wicked one, the children of the devil, the tares of this world, will in the final judgment be bound into little bundles and thrown into the fire, okay? So there you go. There you have faggots in the Bible. And you know what? I'm sick and tired of people coming to me because they don't like God. They don't like the fact that he's the one who said that they should be killed in Leviticus 20, 13. He's the one that called them vile and disgusting, but they've got their head in all the TV, and they've got their head in the Super Bowl today, when they ought to be in church on a Sunday night listening to somebody tell them the truth about things. And you know they want to go to some place where it's going to be conformed to them. Say, I don't think you should use that word. I don't care what you think, because I know what the Bible says. The Bible says that they should be stoned to death, so if I call them a name you don't like, I think that we can just cut the difference and just call it even. You know what I mean? Have you ever heard the term sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me? Okay? And so the Bible here has much harsher things to say about the sodomites than anything I've ever said. And because people don't like that, they'll take that anger out on me somehow and shoot the messenger. You see, it's not me that invented hell. It's not me that's going to bind them in bundles to burn them. It's the angels. Doesn't that sound nice? Angel. I was going to get this. The second one of the most popular names in Arizona is to name your child Angel. Doesn't that sound nice? Angel. But yet God's angels will bind up homos and throw them in bundles into the fire. In Matthew chapter 13, at the end of the world, as a final judgment, they're going to be cast in the lake of fire. That's who God is. That's his perfect little angel that's going to tie up some queer and throw them in the lake of fire. And look, I'm not here to give you what you want. I'm not here to preach what you want. Okay? There are plenty of churches that will preach what everybody wants to hear, and they've even canceled church tonight because of the Super Bowl. It's true. There are churches all over America by the thousands tonight that have canceled church for the Super Bowl. And there are all kinds of fundamental Baptists tonight who record the Super Bowl, and then they all have their cake and eat it too. They have church, and then they all get around and watch the Super Bowl and watch all the beer ads and watch all the big, fat children running around in their underwear and pants that are too tight or whatever. There are a bunch of children. It's a game. This is reality. This is real life. Church is real. Sports are a game. You say, are you against sports? I'm not against games. I play games all the time. I play board games with my family. Me and my son Solomon are at a game of Scrabble right now. But you know what? I'm not going to base my life on games. I'm not going to take my Sunday and spend it watching a game. And they want a church that fits them. Oh, I love this church because it really promotes sports. And it's okay for us to really talk a lot about sports. I could go on and on in the illustrations of just being in church where church just becomes all about sports. And as soon as church ends, there's no talk about the Bible. There's no talk about soul winning. It's not about the things of God. It's just all about sports. We do our 45-minute service, our hour service, just so we can really talk about what we really want to talk about, which is sports. And I thank the Lord for the people who are out today between Sunday morning and Sunday night church out winning souls to Christ today. I thank God for every one of them. Because you know what? They were doing something that mattered with their life. I'm not against playing a game, my friend. I am against this bunch of beer drinking, beer ad, cheerleader, rock and roll garbage. And you know what? I'm sorry. Sitting around and watching stuff on TV, no, I'm sorry, I am against that. I am against TV. Because it's just the world's programming. And I remember that one year, all the Christians were mad because that horrible singer, whoever it was, that literally became undressed during the Super Bowl, halftime. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Yeah, Janet Jackson. Oh, no, but that's what you get, Christian, for sitting there and feasting your eyes on all that the world has to offer. You're sitting and watching this rock performance by Janet Jackson, okay? Janet Jackson's music is wicked. I don't care if she's wearing coveralls and a nuclear radiation helmet, covering every square inch of her skin. I don't care if she's dressed like an Iranian. The music is wicked, okay? And Christians are watching this stuff, and then the devil just throws a curveball at them like that and shows them something really obscene. And I'm just not going to let him into my mind. I don't want to do it. And so, no, I'm not interested in the Super Bowl. I don't know who's playing. I don't care about it. I don't want to know. It means nothing to me, okay? If I want to play football, I'll play it with some friends. I'll get out there and actually get the exercise. We'll do it at the church picnic. And again, I'm not against sports. I'm against people being paid millions of dollars to play a game and worship and put on posters and everybody lifts them up. A lot of them are queers themselves. A lot of them are adulterers. And a lot of them are wicked people. And they're definitely not living a Christian life because on Sunday, they ought to be at church not playing games on Sunday, you know? Play games between the service. But better yet, be solely between the service. But do something with your life. Don't play a game. And people want a church that fits them, and they get mad when somebody gets up and preaches what needs to be preached and calls out this stuff and points it out. And they don't like the word that you use. Well, you probably don't like a lot of the words in this book either, like hell. Yeah, bastard. Thank you. They don't like that word either. Oh, I'm sorry. What words do you like? All the words of Janet Jackson's latest album? Because it's marked for explicit content, I'm sure, if she's even putting out albums anymore, she's probably in hell next to her brother, or she's about to be. The bottom line is, look, you say, why do you preach so hard? Because every time I read the Bible, it just seems meaner to me every time, you know? And then people want this fluffy, lovable fuzzball of a church to come to. Well, this isn't it. This is a place where you're going to get the whole picture. You're going to get the good, the bad, and the ugly, my friend. And it's all in there. And God is who He is. And He's the Creator. And we ought to just get on our knees before Him, and love Him, and worship Him for who He is. And we ought to love the fact that He died for us. We ought to love the fact that He forgives us. We ought to love the fact that He's merciful to us, that He's good to us, that He feeds us, that He's prepared us a mansion, and we can live for eternity in a perfect place, that He gave us all the wonderful blessings, and He's going to give for all eternity, but we also have to love Him for who He is when He says, I'm sorry, but I don't accept homos. Amen. Oh. That just isn't fair. No, you're wrong. You're brainwashed. Right. You're the one that's wrong. Oh, I just don't really, you know, oh, hell, you know. You know what? Praise God for heaven. Praise God for hell. I mean, it's just, it's who He is. You know what I mean? He's the God of heaven. He's the God of hell. I'll thank God for punishing the wicked, and thank God for saving those who believe on Him. You know what I mean? I mean, what else can I do than that? Can I sit here and say, well, I just don't really think that He, you know, He could have just turned the heat down a little bit. Do you have to make it that hot? He's God. Love Him. You know, and maybe my sermon's a little incoherent tonight because I'm sick, but the bottom line is, I'm doing the best I can up here. I'm going to have to close the sermon, but the bottom line is this. You need to open that Bible, turn off all the worldly, and by the way, this whole Super Bowl thing, it's a big distraction. You know what it is? It's a distraction. It's just to get everybody's mind off of everything that they should have it on, the Bible, their family, you know, things that really matter. It's just to get everybody feeling like they're a part of something, part of a team, you know, and they can all join and rally around the whatevers, you know, the raiders or whatever. Heathens. What is it? Heathens. Is that the team? Yeah. You know, just to get us to just rally around, whatever, we can all wear that, and it's fine. They don't want to conform to God, but they'll all wear that same color and they'll rally around it, and that's my team, you know, and we won. You know, you didn't do anything. You didn't have anything in part of it, you know, but they'll be like, we won. Yeah, we tore you guys up, you know. It's just something to make them feel a part of something, but I'm already a part of something. The local church. I'm part of a real winning team that's out winning people to Christ, that gets people saved. Hey, I'm part of a team that actually matters for eternity. Faith Ward Baptist Church is my team, you know, and there's a whole great big league of all other great churches all across America that are out winning souls and that are, you know, fighting a real battle today, and they're not running to win a corruptible crown. They're running for an incorruptible crown, and I thank God to be part of a real team and to be fighting a real battle and to be doing something that really matters, and so today we need to not be sucked in by these distractions. The bread and circuses of today to take our mind off of all the other things, all the other battles that are going on, and we need to lay aside all this weight, okay, get into our Bible, get to know who God is before we just get mad when somebody preaches a little too hard, you know, against perverts or against adultery or against whatever the sin or pornography or whatever your pet sin is that you don't like to be preaching against, you know, you hang around too many homos or whatever or you drink or whatever, you know. Instead of getting all mad about that, we need to get in the Bible and get to know a God who's the most loving, compassionate, but also the one with the most wrath, more wrath than anybody you've ever met, more anger and wrath than Pastor Anderson has in his little finger because I couldn't dream of a place like hell, okay, and so the bottom line is we need to get to know the real true God and we need to love Him, you know, just like you ought to love your wife, just like you ought to love your husband, you ought to love God, you know, and don't carry around some phony picture of somebody else, you know, you think my wife would want to find a whole photo op of all these other different women? These are all the women that I look at every day that are thinking about my wife. No. So don't get some bogus God, some bogus picture of God, you know, why don't you get a real image of God and that image is found in this book. The Bible says we have the mind of Christ right here. That's why I had to have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for loving us, dear God, and we thank you that you are loved. And God, I pray to you, please just help us not to be like the atheist, dear God, that stand in judgment of you and say, we won't believe in God because he's too hard on the homos or he's too hard on this or he's not fair. God, help us not to have a Christianized version of that where we basically try to tone down things in the Bible that we don't like. Help us to just accept you and love you for who you are. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.