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

Mark chapter 2 beginning verse number 1 the Bible reads and again he entered into Capernaum after some days and it was noise that he was in the house and Straightway many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them No Not so much as about the door and he preached the word unto them and they came unto him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four and when they could not come nigh unto him for the press they uncovered the roof where he was and When they had broken it up they let down the bed where on the sick of the palsy lay When Jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts Why did this man thus speak blasphemy who can forgive sins but God only and immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reason Within themselves he said unto them why reason ye these things in your heart whether is it easier to say to the sick of the Palsy thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and take up thy bed and walk But that you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins He saith to the sick of the palsy saying to thee arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thy house This is a really beautiful story about Jesus Christ preaching in the house And he's just holding a service in somebody's house and there were such a huge crowd of people that came out to hear him They could not even fit in the house and they had jammed this house Packed with people even in the windows the doors I mean just any way anybody could just cram in and hear what Jesus had to say and Then there are these four guys that have a friend that's sick of the palsy and they want to bring them unto Jesus to be Healed but they can't get to them because it's just too crowded. There's no way to even get near this house And so of course they take apart the tiles of the roof and they lower this guy's bed down I mean, you know, they must add ropes or something and just lower this guy down So imagine Jesus preached. I love the story you know Jesus preaching all of a sudden this bed just starts lowering from the ceiling and this guy is just lowered down and of course he ends up healing the guy because he was so impressed by their faith that they Just knew that whatever it took to get this guy unto Jesus if he could if they could get him to Jesus they knew he'd be healed and it was worth it to them to go through all the trouble to get up on the roof and Just devise this whole strategy and whatever damage they're doing to the roof that they're going to be liable for and so forth They knew that if they could get him to Jesus He'd be saved and it's a great team effort that we see here Before we get into that, let me just mention the fact that Jesus had a great crowd of people listening to him preach There are a lot of people today who mistakenly believe that if you preach the truth You're not going to be able to get a crowd There are some people have a defeated mentality especially amongst fundamental Baptists where they have a really small church and they say well It's just impossible to grow if you preach the truth if you take a stand if you don't compromise You're going to be small. The church is always going to stay small. That's just not true now Obviously we know that when you preach the truth, you're not going to be popular with the world You're not going to be popular with the majority of people out there, but we're in a city with four million people Even if 99% of those people completely rejected everything that we had to say There could still be room for plenty of crowds to come in to Faith Forward Baptist Church and hear the preaching of God's Word Even if it were a very small minority that we reach so don't ever get this attitude that says oh we can't grow We can't have a big crowd We can't have a big church or a mentality that says if the church gets big it must be a bad church Now truly many of the churches that are huge are bad Because they're appealing unto the world they're appealing unto the flesh They're compromising what they believe in order to grow at the expense of the truth But if you stay true to the truth and stay true to the gospel and don't trim the message and preach all the counsel of God you will reach people and you will multiply and you will grow and the church can thrive and Succeed and people will say well not in 2014 But yes in 2014 we can grow and thrive and succeed There's no reason why not there's nothing new under the sun and you say well But you know the world's just getting so wicked But the Bible talks about in Daniel chapter 11 about how in the last days in the end times They that be strong and do know their God it says they they shall do great exploits They'll do great things for God in the last days And so there's no reason to add this defeated losing mentality that says well Our church is just always going to be small. We can't grow You just can't do it in 2014 and a lot of times that just becomes a cover For somebody who's not really doing the work In order to grow they're not really doing the soul-winning or maybe there's something else that they're doing and let me say this We don't want to look down on a church. That's small Because first of all, every church starts out small and it takes a long time to get things rolling I remember when I came here in 2005 and we started the church from scratch in December 25th of 2005 and It was slow going and you know the first year we ran about 10 people the second year about 20 Third year about 30 in a city of 4 million people But you hang in there and it keeps growing and you stay with it and it's not like a weed that shoots up overnight But it's like a real tree that starts out slow and then it gets huge So I don't like this attitude that says small church good big church bad. That's not biblical. I Think that our church should strive to be as big as we possibly can with zero compromise No compromise So we're not willing to make any changes or compromises or water things down in order to grow and honestly if I had to make A list of my goals as a pastor and my goals for faithful word Baptist Church Numeric growth is not at the top of that list as being the most important thing It's not even that high on the list But it is a natural result of going out winning souls preaching the gospel doing something for God We ought to be reaching people we ought to be growing and thriving and our church every single year Has been larger than it was the year before we've never yet gone backward, you know, hopefully we never will But honestly, we're not only growing every single year, but we're sending people out to start church so we're losing whole families when we send them out to go start churches and then we see them succeeding and some are going to succeed faster than others depending on the area that they're in depending on what God's plan is for that area and and They're all working hard and and serving God but we see in their ministries those that we've sent out and we see in our ministry here and we see in other ministries of Soul winning Baptist churches in America that it is possible to grow and succeed and thrive in 2014 So don't ever get this defeated losing mentality. It isn't right the Bible talks about God blessing us and multiplying us We should be growing and Jesus Christ had zero compromise he preached the truth was he hated of the world He said the world hateth me Because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil the crowd nailed him to the cross the multitudes turned on him and many people Rejected him that all of the chief priests and scribes and Pharisees either secretly believed in him or openly rejected him But he didn't get a lot of support from that quarter at all except when they're coming to him by night, you know, no, none of the chief priests or rulers would stand up openly and Confess the Lord Jesus Christ, but does that mean that he didn't have a crowd to hear him preach? Yet thousands of people come to hear and preach John the Baptist had thousands of people come to hear and preach the Apostle Paul Reached all kinds of multitudes with the gospel. So don't get confused on this thing of oh, well if you preach, right? you're not going to be popular with the world and then confuse that as nobody's going to come to your church and People will even twist scripture and say that you know Oh Noah preached for 120 years and had no one saved That's not true or that Jeremiah preached for decades and had no one say that's a lie Because if you preach the gospel people are gonna get saved if you go soul-winning people will get saved I'm not saying every single time you go But the Bible says he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing Bringing his sheaves with them. It doesn't say hey, you might go out and do a ton of soul-winning and not have anybody say That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says you'll doubtless come again I'm not saying it's going to be instantaneous or the first time you go out But if you keep going out, you will eventually get people saved You will come back rejoicing bringing your sheaves with you And so this idea that soul-winning doesn't work or that we go out and preach and nobody gets saved That is a defeated failure mentality, it's not biblical in the book of Acts people are constantly being saved There's constantly success. They're constantly doing things for God and making a big difference in people's lives. And So I I like the saying that I heard one time for a preacher. He said if people are not being saved Then either the Gospels not being preached or the gospel has lost its power and that's the truth, right? I mean the the gospel is the power of God unto salvation if we're preaching it people are going to be saved and So the idea that people are not going to be saved is a false doctrine or the idea that you just preach for decades And nobody gets saved. Well, that's not biblical a lot of a lot of that is because people are preaching a false gospel They don't even know what the gospel is or they just don't know how to go soul-winning Or they just don't do any soul-winning and then they're expecting everybody to come to them You know, those are some of the excuses that they'll use for those kind of failures But we need to be in it to win it You know We need to go out and win people to Christ and and want to grow and serve God and and do something big for God You know I love the fact we were out so many this afternoon and knock in a neighborhood that we've knocked several times Even though it's several miles from here and we've knocked all of the surrounding area so many times the further out areas We've done zero or one times but but close to us, you know we've done these areas three four five and I love it when I Recognize people and I we knocked on this lady's door and I'm thinking I've knocked this This is my third time at this lady's door Over the years though. I love that because it makes me feel like wow We're actually getting the gospel to all the people in our area even multiple times We're even able to plant a seed and water and and speaking of planting the seed and watering Go if you would to 1st Corinthians chapter 3 just a few pages to the right in your Bible 1st Corinthians 3 What I love about this story a lot of things I love about this story But the thing that I really love about it is how it's a team effort how you have four people Working together to bring this guy to Christ and then Jesus sees their faith It says it says when Jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee and A lot of people have this mistaken idea That going out and winning people to Christ. We're not really part of the equation. We don't really matter It's just God just saves people Well truly God does save people and truly he is the Savior but to say that God just saves people and that we have nothing To do with it is false because God has committed unto us the ministry of Reconciliation and he is counting on us to do the job and he has Commissioned us to do that job and let me say this if we don't do it. It won't get done Don't give me this thing of well, you know, if God really wants somebody to get saved then God will send somebody No God really does want people to get saved and God is sending you and God is sending me the question is will we go and God uses Obedient Christians to give the gospel and let me tell you this if a church goes out and knocks every door one time Or if that same church goes out and knocks every door four times What do you think is going to result in more people being saved? Well, it just doesn't matter because it's all in God's hands If we go out and do it four times more people are going to get saved and that's why God Tells us that if we do not warn the wicked that his blood is on our hands And that's why the Apostle Paul in the New Testament said I'm free from the blood of all men Why because he preached unto all that were in Asia the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ And he said I'm free from the blood of all men I've not I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God He said, you know, I've taught you publicly I've taught you from house to house I'm free from the blood of all men. We have a Responsibility to go out and win souls to Christ and we don't just go out just to go through the motions Just to be obedient to God Hey, it's great to be obedient to God and go out and preach the gospel, but I go out to get people saved Yes, I want to go to be obedient to God But I go out to get people saved because I love people also and I want to reach people and I want to make a Difference in people's lives. That's why the Bible says if some have compassion making a difference others saved with fear pulling them out of the fire We as Aaron did truly stand between the dead and the living when we go out soul winning I mean we are there on the front lines of the spiritual battle Winning people the Lord Jesus Christ and getting people saved Look what the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 3 as we think about that team effort of those four men that carried that bed to Jesus it says in verse 3 for wall one say if I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos Are you not carnal who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom ye believed? Even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered, but God gave the increase so then neither is he that planteth anything neither He that watereth but God that giveth the increase now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his Own reward according to his own labor now right here the Bible is teaching of course that God gets the glory God's the one who does the saving we get that but you know what that'd be like saying if I had a garden right because isn't this the illustration planting watering if I had a garden And I go out and water the garden and somebody said you don't make that garden grow God makes that garden grow You might plant a seed you might pour water But you don't have the power to produce life only God can produce life now isn't that true that God is the one who's making The plants grow and God is the one that can produce life, but what if I just say okay? Well, then I'm just not going to water it And I'm just not going to plant seed because now that I know that God's doing it all Now that I know it's all the work of God, but wait a minute if I don't put that seed in the ground It's not going to grow and if I don't water that seed it's going to die But if I water it God is going to be able to do the work of making things grow Say well God can just do it all by himself really is that really biblical Does God really do it all by himself? No he doesn't Because the Bible says if our gospel be hid it's hid to them that are lost So you know if we hide it under a bushel people go without hearing the gospel people are doomed We need to reach them with the gospel, and you say well everybody gets a chance yeah But I want to give people two chances I Want to give people a third chance I want to give people a fourth chance because most people don't get saved the first time they Hear it I want to give them a sixth and a seventh chance and the more we go the more people are going to be Saved the more seeds we plant and the more water we dump in that garden the more people are going to be saved So it's so foolish to say oh well you know it's all in God's hands well Just because God makes the plant grow no it's not all in God's hands because we have to be faithful to water that garden You know so that's what the Bible is actually teaching because God says Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man, so God has given every man ministers by whom they might believe So are we going though are we being that minister are we filling the role that God has for our lives? And and are we being an answer to prayer when people are praying in some distant city? Oh, God, please let my relative in Phoenix, Arizona be saved Are we an answer to prayer when we knock on that door because I remember many times that I've knocked on somebody's door and Given them the gospel and they said wow You know my grandma is a baptist or my uncle's Baptist or my aunt They've been they keep talking to me about this and then they get saved and you think you know I'm an answer to the prayer Of that other relative that's a blessing to do that But you know what people are praying and so many people are just not willing to go and then it just doesn't get done And it's like well Why isn't God answering my prayer, but God's trying to send people, but here's the problem the harvest truly is plenteous But the laborers are few Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest You could be an answer to that prayer by being a laborer that goes out into the harvest and we see here that one Person plants and another waters God gives the increase, but I like this in verse 8 It says now he that plantereth planteth and he that watereth are one What does that mean he that planteth he that watereth are one? It's the same guy who plants and the same guy what sometimes we're planting Sometimes there's no such thing as just an all-time planter. I'm just a seed planter. I never want anybody the Lord I just plant seeds or all I do is just water no It's it's the same person that does but sometimes we plant Sometimes we water sometimes we get to see that harvest reaped okay now flip over to John chapter 4 just back a few pages of the left in your Bible John chapter 4 and The Bible says now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own Labor. Oh, we don't matter. We don't have any part in it. We have nothing to do it That's not what the Bible teaches We have a job to do God gives us that job to do if we accomplish the mission we get a reward We get paid say why do we get paid by the Lord? Why does he reward us? Don't we owe him so much anyway, well, here's the thing though Salvation is free. We don't pay that back when we go out and do works for God. He rewards us It doesn't go toward our salvation debt. That's already been paid by Jesus But look at John chapter 4 and we have another great passage on the same concept It says in verse 35 say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh harvest behold I say unto you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they're white already to harvest and he that reapeth Receiveth wages. Do you see again that reward when you go out and win souls to Christ and Gather fruit unto life eternal again showing that when we bring forth fruit as believers That's when we win people to Christ and those people have eternal life That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together and herein is that saying true One soweth and another reapeth I sent you to reap that were on ye bestowed no labor other men labored and year entered into their labors when we go Out and knock doors on soul winning. We're not always starting from scratch with people Are we we talked to somebody and a lot of times they already know who Jesus is They might know the basics of the Bible the basics of the story they've already been thinking about these things and we just get to come in and just water that plant a little bit and reap that Harvest and the Bible says that at the end of verse 36 there that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together isn't it gonna be great someday to get to heaven and be able to get together with your co laborers and Rejoice together with those the people that you wanted the Lord you could rejoice with those who planted the seed and say hey Your labor wasn't in vain. Remember you gave the gospel that guy and he didn't receive it Well, guess what later I came along and got that guy saved and vice-versa and we can rejoice in in our labors and rejoice in the increase that God gave as a result of just being faithful and going out and knocking doors and giving the gospel to people and Witnessing unto people at the job and friends and family and loved ones and it's a team effort It's not a one-man show go back to Mark chapter 2. So that's what we see in Mark multiple people Working together to get people saved and that's what we do when we go out and and we go out two by two Maybe one person's doing the talking and another person's just praying silently or maybe they're running interference You know keeping the dog at bay or keeping everybody a distractions away and everything like that But winning souls to Christ is a team effort It's something where we work together and so don't get discouraged if you go out and give people the gospel they don't get saved Somebody else will come along and finish that hopefully God willing and Especially as our church grows and we just keep knocking more doors. We ourselves will go back to that door Again, and again and again and and get as many people saved as we can and just you know, we can't save the whole world But you know what we can do though We can reach our area and at least make sure that everybody in our area gets there There could be people not hearing the gospel in distant areas But not in our area We this is what this is all, you know, we can't sit there and take the whole world on our shoulders But we can say you know what? Phoenix Arizona is where God has put us We've got a big task ahead of us We've got four million people that God has put within just a convenient drive for us to get to we can make sure that everybody hears the gospel multiple times in that radius and And and we can work together as a team and I love how four people here You know work together to get this guy say because not only did he receive physical healing He also got saved by believing in Jesus because it says Son it says in verse 5, but when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy son Thy sins be forgiven thee But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts Why did this man thus speak blasphemies who can forgive sins but God only and Immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reason within themselves He said to them why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thee or to say arise and take up thy bed and walk But that you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins He saith to the sick of the palsy I say unto thee arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house and immediately he rose took up the bed and went forth before them all in so much that they were all amazed and glorified God saying we never saw it on this fashion and He went forth again by the seaside and all the multitude resorted unto him and he taught them. So it's a wonderful story the religious scribes they think that Jesus is speaking blasphemy by just Absolving this guy of all his sins why because they don't believe that he's the Son of God They don't believe that he's the Lord and that All power has been given unto him in heaven and earth and that all judgment is committed unto the Son and that he will judge The quick and the dead they don't believe that now I have to agree with the scribes that a mortal man Can't just go around telling people thy sins be forgiven thee my son, you know this kind of thing, you know Right the Roman Catholics, I mean they say oh, yeah come to this booth come to this confessional booth and Tell me all your dirty secrets Because I'm a pervert and I just like to listen to dirty secrets, you know The more detail the better and come tell me ours and then I'll just tell you oh, you know You're forgiven as long as you just do some Hail Mary's and some our fathers Just chant this over and over again and rub these beads and and you know Go ahead and just chant over and over again our father would start at heaven I'll be like a my kingdom because I will be done about that is in heaven You know a vain repetition like the heathen do and you'll be safe that priest does not have the power to forgive sins It's God that can forgive your sins and no one else and the Lord Jesus Christ can forgive your sins But that man pretends to have the power to forgive sins to give people a Dispensation to give them absolution of their sins whether he be the Pope or the priest or whoever else He is a man and he is just as much of a sinner as you are He's probably more of a sinner because of all the junk he listens to in that stupid confessional booth all day It's probably corrupted and rotted his mind even more and so they're they would have been right except that they don't recognize who the Lord Jesus is look at verse 14 and As he passed by he saw Levi the son of Alpheus now I Look at the name Alpheus that doesn't look like a Jewish name to me Alpheus, you know that looks like a Greek name right and this guy his name is Levi That's a pretty Jewish name right Levi, but his dad's name is Alpheus Jesus had a disciple called Simon the Canaanite it's so funny when people think that you know the Jews have just always been so separate from the Greek and There's never been any mixing or anything like that. You know, you remember Timothy himself was a product of a Jewish mother and a it seems that way Jewish mother and a Greek father and All throughout the Bible. There's all kinds of mixing that takes place Between those that are Jews you have Simon the Canaanite obviously, you know he's at least partially Canaanite at least on on some branch of his family to have that name of being the Canaanite and Also, just the fact that we have so many Greek names in these stories It shows you that Greek isn't is a language that was being spoken in that place at that time Now I put you know, it's hard to say with authority Exactly what languages were being spoken because there's so few documents that have survived from that period until now Really? The Bible is the only thing that we really have To go on that's authoritative that we can really trust to tell us the whole truth and nothing but the truth but just using a little bit of logic and using what we read in Scripture and Because the fact that we do know for a fact that the New Testament is written in Greek. That is a fact and If you think about there are people out there this this Hebrew roots False movement that's out there is is teaching this lie that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew Now, let me say this There are today in existence approximately 5,900 handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek either partial or complete Manuscripts and the word manuscript means written by hand the man, you know, if you speak Spanish, you know that mono means hand Right and squid a script come make you think of writing. So a manuscript is a handwritten document So there are five thousand and nine hundred and some odd Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament handwritten copies. So these go back many hundreds of years and some of them are over a thousand years old and Do you know how many Hebrew manuscripts of the New Testament there are? Zero so but don't let that stop you from thinking that it was originally written in Hebrew You know, even though there's no evidence for that even though there are zero manuscripts of it being written in Hebrew but there are people out there today and it's a movement that's growing and people believe this stuff that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Jesus never said that he was the Alpha and Omega. He really said he was the Aleph and the Tov because you know, he never would have used a Greek alphabet, but you know what the New Testament is written in Greek and That you say why is that important? Why does that matter? It's extremely important Why because the Greek New Testament is the basis for everything that we believe because that's what was translated Into this King James Version a Greek New Testament the New Testament is where our faith is so if somebody says oh the Greek New Testament is a is actually a Translation and they'll even say that it's a translation with mistakes in it. Then God's Word isn't preserved Then we're putting our faith in a document that it's a false document But this is why they have to come up with that Oh, it wasn't originally written in Greek because they want to call him Yeshua instead of calling him Jesus and the New Testament never says Yeshua the Greek New Testament doesn't say anything like Yeshua You know if you were to pronounce the Greek word for Jesus, it would be Jesus Jesus or they say oh, well, you know in ancient times it was pronounced Jesus Okay, that's where we get Jesus not Yeshua But they say oh, you know, everybody spoke Hebrew and they're all Hebrews and it's all written in Hebrew It's false. And if you look at where Jesus grew up Jesus didn't even grow up in Judea Just think about this for a minute Jesus did not grow up in Judea. Where did Jesus grow up? Somebody tell me where did he grow up? He grew up in Nazareth right which is not in Judea he grew up in Galilee Okay, which is another province of the Roman Empire there not down in Judea, but he grew up up in Galilee on the edge of what would be considered Jewry, okay, so and he also spent part of his childhood, of course in Egypt from the time he was two years old He spent a lot of time down in Egypt and then he came up from Egypt and then he lived in Galilee And it wasn't until he's in his 30s, you know that he's doing a lot of ministry in Judea now Of course, he went down for the sacrifices and things like we see Jesus in the temple at 12 years old in Judea But where did he grow up most of his time in? In Galilee and to say that oh, there's no way there's no way they spoke Greek in Galilee is Just total ignorance because if you think about it if the whole New Testament just think for a minute if the whole New Testament's written in Greek Do you believe that Peter John James the brother of Jesus Luke Matthew Mark who am I naming authors of the New Testament, right? Do you think that these men did not speak Greek but that they just wrote the New Testament in Greek a Language that they didn't speak Well, they learned it later. I mean, do you really think that these guys just went through their whole lives? Speaking nothing but Hebrew. They just spoke Hebrew maybe Aramaic, you know according to these Hebrew roots people and then all of a sudden they just as Adults learn Greek as a foreign language as adults as Grown men and then they just write these perfectly eloquent books of the New Testament in Greek and I realized of course that the Bible is inspired by God that they spake as they were Moved by the Holy Ghost, but it wasn't the gift of tongues when they're writing You know Letters and epistles in the Greek language. They wrote it because that's the language that they spoke You know, I mean just common sense will tell you they wrote it in a language that they spoke and you know The epistle of Paul to the Hebrews Yeah, it's in Greek And it's in a very, you know, it's in a very high-level language of Greek when you read it in English It's at a very high level. It's one of the most difficult books of the New Testament So this idea you say why does any of that matter Pastor? Who cares? Here's why because God made a point to give us the Bible in multiple languages Not just one language because think about what if he just gave us the whole Bible in one language all Hebrew You know what? People would say Oh, it's got to be in Hebrew and then they would exalt that language and then what they would do is exalt those people Above all, you know when in reality God gave the Word of God to us in multiple languages Which proves that he can give us his word in multiple languages, which means we can have his word in English We don't have to go, you know people with the Quran the Quran is all Arabic, right? And here's what they say. Oh, you have to learn Arabic to get the true Quran. You've got to get it in Arabic You know, you can't really say that with the Bible. Oh, it's got to be Hebrew. Oh really then why is it half of it in Greek? Because it doesn't have to be in Hebrew Does it? No, because God can speak to us in our tongue wherein we were born in the language We were born and you say well, you know, where in the world do you get this that the Apostles and Jesus spoke Greek? Well, I don't know just the fact that the whole New Testament's written in Greek Just the fact that a lot of the people have Greek names Just the fact that all the epistles that they write even when they're writing to Jews that are scattered abroad and to the twelve tribes They're scattered abroad. It's all written in Greek. I wonder if maybe people just spoke Greek at that time and What what really was going on is that at that time Greek was like a universal second language Sort of like English today has become the universal second language where an ambassador from China and ambassador for Russia from Russia might get together and speak English together sometimes, you know Just from two totally different countries just because it's a universal second language It's known as the lingua franca of the world English is the universal second language today Hundreds of millions of people speak English as a second language now The reason that we don't understand this in America is because we Live in a country where everybody just speaks one language pretty much as English, you know We do have of course Hispanic people that speak Spanish and English but amongst just your normal like everyday American people Just think English one language English. Why learn anything else? So we're not to us. It's a foreign concept of most people speaking multiple languages, but if you go to other parts of the world Almost everybody speaks two languages at least they speak their local Language or dialect and then they speak the main language of the larger region that allows them to communicate with more people For example, if you look at Africa, you know it let's say you're in East Africa Swahili is the universal second language of East Africa Swahili is not even really a Native language it's a language that was created by mixing a whole bunch of African languages and it became like a language of business or a Universal second language for people in East Africa, so people speak Swahili But they also speak another language. For example, if you were to go to China There are all these Chinese dialects that are completely different than Mandarin Chinese and they couldn't understand each other if one only spoke Mandarin and they only spoke the dialect so your average Chinese person is going to know their local Language their local indigenous language and they're going to know Chinese, okay. Think about for example now, but do you speak Navajo? Yeah, right. Do you but you only speak Navajo? No, of course not you speak English too. Why because you're on the reservation That's his local language of Navajo, right? But then also he lives in a larger group being within the United States So if he wants to communicate with that group, he's gonna need English. So he's got Navajo. He's got English Okay all throughout for example in Luxembourg today That's a country in Europe where it's very small and they have a language called Luxembourg ish It's not that major of a language if that's all they speak they're gonna be pretty isolated So when they go to school in elementary school, they learn German and all of their schooling is done in German So at home they speak Luxembourgish all through elementary school, it's all German But you know by the time they're in high school, their schooling is 100% in French. No more German So they do Luxembourgish at home half their schoolings in German another half of their schooling is in French Why because every person in Luxembourg grows up speaking three languages minimum and many of them speak four or five languages I went to I've been to Luxembourg I went to the store in Luxembourg and they took Four or five kinds of money when I was there because it was before the euro and they took they took Deutsche marks They took whatever that's what I had. So I don't remember what else they took dollars They took dollars Deutsche marks and like I don't know Three other things that they took they've taken everything because it's a you know, because they're on a bordering area They're at the border there between a few countries. Well, here's the thing about Galilee You're on the border You're on the edge. Jesus Christ grew up in a place where he is is on the edge of a Few different cultures and all you know, his disciples are what Galileans as well So chances are if we just use a little logic and just read the Bible we could figure that they probably spoke Aramaic and Greek and They probably grew up speaking Greek as a second language because most people and obviously Jesus is it was obviously a smart man Obviously, he's the Son of God, but he was still human though because the Bible says he grew in wisdom So even though he was God in the flesh, he still had humanity. But do you think that he was you know? As far as his humanity went on the slow side. No because he's obviously he was the most diligent Most righteous person because he's God in the flesh obviously, he's a smart guy He's not just gonna live in a place where all these different cultures have converged where Greeks the universal second language And but he's just stuck on one thing just Hebrew. That's all I want to do is Hebrew. Nothing else They probably spoke Hebrew Aramaic and Greek That's what actually makes sense if you read the stories and read what the Bible says So anyway Don't be deceived by this Hebrew roots movement that tells you that Adam and Eve spoke Hebrew in the Garden of Eden and all this No, it's that's so bizarre. I Mean that that's people think that that actually makes sense because they just haven't studied But that makes about as much sense as saying that they spoke English in the Garden of Eden It makes about the same amount of sense because even even Hebrew even changed from the time the Bible started being written to time it finished being written Hebrew changed Okay, so to sit there and say that thousands of years ago It was the same and that before the Tower of Babel everybody spoke Hebrew and then God divided the languages Well, who are the lucky people that get to keep Hebrew? I Guess the pagans in Babylon just because Abraham was going to be one of them. It doesn't make any sense my friend Okay, so don't be deceived by it and that was all just based on one word in Mark chapter 2 Alpheus I Mean look at it. It's like alpha Alpheus, okay. Well, I'm sure somebody's gonna email me and tell me that that's a Hebrew name You know, but whatever but let's keep reading. I had to get that off my chest, but it says he passed by He saw Levi the son of Alpheus Sitting at the receipt of custom and said unto him follow me and he arose and followed him So what's he doing when he's receiving custom? He's a tax collector and These people were thought of back then as the scum of the earth man, those were the good old days But anyway nowadays, you know, we don't feel that way anymore But anyway back in those days they were that, you know that was considered pretty low when you're when you're a tax collector It says in verse 15 it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meet in his house and the his house That's not Jesus house because if you compare this with Matthew and Luke He's at the tax collector's house He's at Levi the son of Alpheus who by the way, his name is also Matthew This is another name for Matthew and it says when he's in his house many publicans and sinners So these are all his tax collector buddies that are over publicans and sinners Sat also together with Jesus and his disciples for there were many and they followed him Even the tax collector can be saved my friend. God's grace is that sufficient But it says when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners they said unto his disciples How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners when Jesus heard it? He saith unto them they that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance now Let me just say this when it says sinners. They're obviously in a sense. We're all sinners There's not a just man upon the earth that do with good and said not but when the Bible talks about publicans and sinners It's using the word sinner as somebody who's just a major sinner is what he means They're just you know people that are just known for their sinful lifestyle somebody you just look at and say wow that person is a Sinful person and all these people are coming and Jesus is eating with Publicans and sinners and he's being rebuked by the religious leaders and Jesus says well basically that he's trying to reach these people I'm come to call the right not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance So he's saying I want to reach these people. That's why I'm eating with them now Let me say this in the New Testament. The Bible is very clear that we should not eat with people who are Christians people who are called a brother Who are majorly sinful people and he brings up, you know drunkenness fornication and covetousness Rayler extortioner, he says we shouldn't eat with those kind of but here's the thing when it comes to the unsaved though We should eat with them Now to some people that doesn't make sense Well, but wouldn't I be more likely to want to eat with my brother in Christ? Albeit, he's an extortioner a drunk or fornicate, you know But no actually the Bible teaches that it makes more sense to go out and dine with the publicans and sinners of this world So that we can reach them with the gospel Whereas the one who's already a brother in Christ that is living that lifestyle is just gonna drag us down They should know better Anyway, they're choosing to continue in sin after they've been saved, you know Then that's somebody we should stay away from those people need to get right with God to be to be restored to fellowship You know and stop drinking stop fornicating whatever whatever their issue is But here we see that Jesus did dine with publicans and sinners, but people will try to to apply that to saying hey We should spend time with all Christians no matter how wicked they are But this is talking about basically people that Jesus reaching and calling to repentance Because 1st Corinthians 5 says with such and one know not to eat Referring to anyone that is called a brother and he makes the distinction 1st Corinthians 5 He says I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators Yet not all together with the fornicators of this world for then must he needs go out of the world He's saying if you can't eat with fornicators You're not gonna be eating with anybody in the world because the world's filled with fornicators But he said now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother Be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater a railer a drunkard extortioner with such and one know not to eat So that distinction is important to maintain You know, we should Reach out to the ungodly and the wicked and try to reach them with the gospel But when we see Christians who are backslidden and living a really sinful life We need to stay away from people like that because they're gonna take us with them. Let's keep reading It says in verse 18. I got a hurry I'm almost out of time. It says the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast and They come and say unto him Why do the disciples of John of the Pharisees fast but thy disciples fast not and Jesus said unto them came the children of the bride Chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them as long as they have the bridegroom with them They cannot fast but the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those days now when we Analyze this part on fasting because some people will say, you know is fasting a command. Is it not a command? Is it something that we have to do? How often do we have to do it? When do we do it? When do we not do it? What is the purpose of fasting and obviously this could be a sermon all in and of itself? Just on fasting because there's so much scripture on fast and there's actually quite a bit Mainly in the Old Testament, but there's quite a bit in the New Testament. Let's just go to some some highlights Let's go to Matthew 6 just to look at a few highlights on fasting Like I said, we we would never have time to go through all the scriptures on fasting It would take up more than one sermon to do so But I think that if we just take the story that we just read in Mark chapter 2 at face value I think we can clearly see that there's a time to fast and time not to fast Because of the fact that Jesus flat-out says that while the bridegroom is with them meaning that while he himself is with them He says they cannot fast But he says when the bridegroom shall be taken from them then shall they fast say why would they fast when I'm with them and If you think about that, that's about three and a half years Where the disciples aren't doing any fasting for that three and a half years So this is not something where it's like hey, you have to fast all the time You need to constantly fast because the disciples went three and a half years without fasting Okay, there's a time to fast and time not to fast You cannot really find a clear command in the Bible that ever commands you that you must fast But I will say this though, there's a lot of example of people fasting in the Bible All the great men of God in the Bible We have examples of them fasting the Apostle Paul for a New Testament example said he was in fast it fasting often So the Apostle Paul was one who fasted often Jesus of course Not giving a command but speaking of a future time when he's gone says they will fast so we know that the disciples fasted All of Jesus apostles fasted Matthew 6 says when you fast so, you know the Assumption is there that there is going to be a time that you do fast When you pray when you fast when you give alms These are things that we're supposed to be doing praying fast and giving alms as far as a command to fast The only thing that that you can really find is in the Old Testament Specific commands to fast in specific situations or in a certain certain Situation that people are in where they were told to fast in order to get right with God So I think that the main thing we see in Mark chapter 2 is that there's a time to fast and time not to fast Look at Matthew 6 it says in verse number 16 moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces That they may appear unto men to fast verily I say unto you they have their reward But thou and thou fastest anoint thine head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto man to fast But unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee Openly flip back to Isaiah chapter 58 So here we see that there are people who are hypocrites who fast in order to make an outward show in Order to receive glory from men and that's why the Bible says that when we fast we should not make ourselves look Poor and and disfigure our faces and just make sure everybody knows that we're suffering and How hard it is and what bad thing we're going through when we're fasting just to receive glory of men You know the Bible says that we should not appear unto men to fast But we should fast before our father which is in secret and our father which seeth in secret shall reward us Openly more warning about hypocrites and fasting in Isaiah 58 verse 1 cry aloud spare Not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness Meaning outwardly they seem to be doing righteous and forsook not the ordinance of their God They ask of me the ordinance of justice. They take delight in approaching to God Wherefore meaning why have we fasted say they and thou seeest not Wherefore we afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge behold in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labors Behold you fast for strife and debate. So are these people fasting for the right reason? Says you fast for strife and debate and To smite with the fist of wickedness You shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice to be heard on high Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it the bow down his head as a bull rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Well thou call this a fast and acceptable day to Lord Isn't that exactly what Jesus talked about in Matthew 6 the outward show the hanging down at the head the wearing of sackcloth? He said is not this the fast that I have chosen To loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh So what God's saying is, you know If you're gonna live a wicked life and then you're gonna fast it's meaningless unto God Just like when the Bible says that if someone turns away their ear from hearing the law of God, even his prayer is abomination So praying and fasting is not going to do you any good if you're not serving the Lord obeying him doing what you're supposed to be Doing so God desires obedience rather than sacrifice First of all, God wants us to obey his commandments and obey his word Now does that mean that fasting is not something we should do? No on the contrary fasting is a good thing to do What is the purpose of fasting? Well in this passage God gave us one of the purposes of fasting at the end of verse 4 to make your voice to be heard on high Basically to get God's attention to basically amp up your your prayer life if you have a prayer that you really want to get answered you can Make that prayer a stronger prayer toward God by combining that prayer with fasting So when is an appropriate time to fast it would be when you had a major Serious prayer request that you want God to answer you would combine prayer with fasting Another time that would be appropriate to fast would be to fast when you are weeping and mourning about The loss of a loved one or some other sad event in your life So there are times to to pray and fast the Bible says I humbled my soul with fasting David said I chastened my soul with fasting the Bible says if we would judge ourselves Then we would not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord So fasting is something that can humble us afflict us Chasing ourselves get ourselves right with God show God that we're sorry for something that we've done wrong Weep and mourn about something bad that has happened or just if we want a prayer to get answered we can fast and pray in Order to receive an answer from God that is favorable unto us So that's basically just fasting in a quick nutshell now when we see fasting in the Bible it is either a fast of abstaining from food and Continuing to drink water or you'll see a fast where you abstain from both food and water now obviously Abstaining from both food and water is very dangerous Especially if you live in Arizona The longest any person ever did this in the Bible was for three days in the book of Esther And they did not live in Arizona when they did that Okay But a lot of people will go on longer fast in the Bible where they just drink water and don't eat any food Some of the lengths of fasting that you'll see in the Bible is a one-day fast That is the most common fast in the Bible is a one-day fast More often than anything else you'll see people fasting for one day or just fasting until the end of the day till the Sun Goes Down But you'll also see three-day fast seven-day fast 14-day fast 21-day fast and even the extreme example of Moses Elijah and Jesus Christ who fasted for 40 days and 40 nights now in modern times You know that I've heard preachers get up and talk about how they fasted for 40 days and 40 nights You know lost their reward right there. I mean can you imagine going through something like that and then just losing your reward? Like why would you you went through 40 days and 40 nights of fasting and then you're gonna get up and brag about it Are you nuts I mean are you just you just like not eating for 40 days But you know there and then also but but you know who else fasted for over 40 days Mahatma Gandhi who's burning in hell right now, so you know just get oh man Oh this guy who gets up and tells us about how he fasted for 40 days. What a spiritual giant well Gandhi was a spiritual pygmy. You know Gandhi is not a spiritual man whatsoever Gandhi is not a believer in Jesus Christ God he was unsaved and he went 40 days and 40 nights without eating okay so to sit there and say That oh that makes you a spiritual giant No It makes you a braggart and a hypocrite and a Pharisee and it makes you in violation of what God told you about How fasting should be? See why do we know that Moses Elijah and Jesus fast for 40 days and 40 nights because they went around bragging about it Or because the scripture told us that they fasted for 40 days and 40 nights now You know don't just sit there and think well I'm gonna fast for 40 days and 40 nights you know some of you couldn't afford to fast for 40 days and 40 nights There's gonna be nothing left. You know there's a law of thermodynamics involved, and there's you know calories in and calories out Okay You know fasting for one day is an appropriate fast in many situations you know That's a great fast. There's no need to just say well. You know I'm gonna do everything to the extreme You know it's not necessarily what God wants you to do or has called you to do It's not commanded or you know a one-day fast may be appropriate a three-day fast may be appropriate But here's the thing about fasting It's not something where God commands it and says Fast and do it this often and do it for this long. It's a free will type of a thing It has to be because otherwise well He would give us some kind of a you know hey do it this often do it for this long Do the type where you don't do water. He doesn't give us any guidelines like that He just basically gives us a lot of examples He says when you fast just be sure that it's between you and the Lord You know and and you know sometimes people are gonna Say hey eat this and you have to tell them you know sorry. I'm not eating I'm fasting you know, but that's not you going around. That's different than you just going around just bragging about it Right if somebody asks you and you tell them okay? I'm fasting you know that's fine But to be one who is just look at me everybody I'm fasting and did I mention I'm gonna give alms a little bit later as well. That's being a hypocrite and a phony and So you know I don't believe it's right to say hey You have to fast this often or you have to do this kind of no It's something that's up to you between you and the Lord what you're gonna do for fasting But I do think that if that fasting if we study the Bible Fasting should be a part of every person's life at one time or another There should come a time when you fast because you're gonna get in these type of Situations where fasting would be appropriate and God Has laid that out for us in the Bible, okay? There are times to fast times not to fast different types of fast for different types of people It's between you and God and so on and so forth and you know I've read go back to Mark chapter 2 if I if I Took you away from there, but in Mark chapter 2 he mentioned this about fasting. I'll say this I've read a lot of books on nutrition and diet and things like that, and I've read a lot of books and you know If you read books on nutrition diet they all contradict each other there's no consensus No, you know it's not like it's set in stone. I mean they dramatically contradict each you'll you can't hardly find two books That'll tell you the same thing and then you'll and then you find two that say the same thing And then you put it in practice, and it doesn't work for you. You know so there's all different types of Points of view out there, but I have read a lot of books that claimed and they weren't even Christian books They just claimed that fasting is good for you You know I've heard them say that hey fasting for a day or a day and a half is really good for you to do That once a week once a month whatever or that even just fasting for 16 hours a day is good for you I've read a lot of books like that And they said that you know the the idea of going into starvation mode is a myth because from the science that I've read it Takes you about three days before you go into starvation mode So fasting is actually supposedly good for you. I don't know whether that's true or not I mean it makes sense But I don't know, but I see biblically spiritual reasons for fasting and so forth so again I can't spend too much time on it because it's a whole sermon of itself, but let's just finish out the chapter here It says in verse 21 No, man also so at the piece of new cloth on an old garment else the new piece that is filled up take it away from the Old and the rent is made worse and no man put a new wine into old bottles else the new wine does burst the bottles And the wine is spilled and the bottles will be marred But new wine must be put into new bottles and it came to pass that he went through the corn fields on the Sabbath day And his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears of corn and the Pharisees said unto him behold Why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful and he said unto them have you never read? And isn't that the problem? When people are wrong about things the biggest reason why people are wrong is because they haven't read the Bible Reading the Bible gets our doctrine, correct He says have you not read if you never read what David did when he had need and was Unhungered he and they that were with him how he entered into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest And did eat the showbread Which is not lawful to eat but for the priests and gave also to them which were with them And he said unto them the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath what Jesus warning against here is is following the laws of God In a way that is too nitpicky Okay, God didn't give us his commandments to just be really nitpicky and to just be illogical and stupid about the way That we follow God's commandments now the Jews today they have whole giant volumes and books and thousands of pages on what it means not to work on the Sabbath and They define I mean they go on for hundreds of pages on is turning a light switch on the Sabbath day work Seriously, I mean do you really think that's what God intended when he instituted a day of rest When he instituted the seventh day to be a Sabbath unto the Lord that they would work six days and rest the seventh day Do you really think that he intended them to write hundreds of pages about whether flipping on a light switch is work Because they say well if you're not supposed to kindle a fire on the Sabbath day You know is is flipping on a light switch kindling a fire But obviously that's going back to the fact that if you kindle a fire back in old days It's actually work to kindle. Yeah, that was when they actually had to work to make a fire they didn't just push a button or flip a switch and then the Jews today a Lot of branches because there are so many denominations of Judaism just like there are all different denominations of Christianity a lot of them will say well it's okay to have a Gentile do my work for me on the Sabbath day a Lot of the Jews believe that but actually in the Bible is real clear when God instilled the Sabbath He said even a stranger that dwells among you should not be doing any work But they will you know they'll let the goyim the cattle the Gentiles flip the switch for them or or whatever and they'll have a Gentile come in and flip the switch in their synagogue to turn the lights on or whatever you know or whatever the elevator and then They have these Sabbath elevators They just run non-stop because they say pushing the button would be work I mean good night. Don't even get out of bed in the morning Then if it's that I mean look if pushing the button on the elevators work You you should just be like You know you think you're gonna have to be like a hamster where you have like a little feeding tube Or you know where you just have it in bed Just you know have your food and drink all right. I mean good night. It's just stupid It's ridiculous Okay, and Jesus is saying look what are you talking about and he other times? He's like telling them that if their ox or their ass falls in the ditch on the Sabbath. They pull it out You don't just well just let it die Just let it die You know it's the Sabbath What is he saying in an emergency situation? You could pull somebody out of a ditch. You know somebody is sick up close the hospital. It's the Sabbath I mean, that's what they said right Jesus heals people on the Sabbath, and they're telling him He's in sin, and he's thinking you you know what if your ox or your ass falls in the ditch Aren't you gonna pull it out? I mean think about that shut down all hospitals on the Sabbath I mean think about somebody's just gushing blood help me help me. Oh, sorry. I can't sew you up. It's the Sabbath die But this is the bizarre Type of mentality that they got where they it's like they don't even understand why the law is even there anymore They're just mechanically robotically following these laws and and it's like they're worshiping The the the the rule more than understanding why the rules there you know and and and why it was even instituted And so the you know they're not going to work They're just eating and all they're doing is just walking through a field and just picking The corn and and here my wife. You know she had to correct me. She tells me like it's not corn like you think of Because you know I pictured like ears of yellow corn you know the peel of the back Eating the corn she's like no It's not corn on the cob because that's actually something that doesn't grow over there didn't grow over there That's something that grew here that they brought back You know with Columbus and everything brought it back and when the Bible used the word corn And and if you study the word corn in the Bible You'll see that actually she was right if you study the word corn in the Bible corn is just referring to any type of Grain and the reason she knew that's because she speaks German and English in 1611 was closer to German and the word corn in German refers to all types of grain, and if you stay the Bible you see that It is used in that way about wheat for example calling it corn But whatever it is you know whether it was the type that we're used to or whatever They're just picking a fruit or a vegetable. They're just pick whatever corn is considered these days, but you know I'll call it a fruit Who says it's fruit who says it's vegetable? Okay, no one agrees with me that it's fruit all right. Well. It's a vegetable then it's settled okay, but anyway you know you grab the corn and Peel it back and eat it that's not work I mean, that's not making a meal or whatever Jesus is saying they're they're hungry. They they're serving God They need to eat You know and and he felt that what they were doing was fine the Pharisees are being too nitpicky and God's even saying that There are even emergency situations like where David's eating the showbread that he wasn't supposed to eat because he's on the run for his life You know and and one of the things that I've thought of too Is that like let's say you're in an emergency, so let's say I got in a horrible car accident, right? and You know obviously I don't I don't believe in being naked in front of the opposite gender, right? But what if I'm rushed into an operating room and blood's gushing everywhere, and I'm I'm Traumatized from this car accident, and they have to just grab the scissors and just start cutting my clothes off I'm going to say like wait a minute. There's women in the room Or let's say a woman is right a woman is is wounded or dying and and you know somebody just has to rip her shirt off and And sew it up or whatever you know obviously you're not going to look at that and say oh That's that's sinful because you're exposing your negative now normally it'd be wrong to be naked in front of the opposite gender But obviously a situation like that where you're saving somebody's life somebody's bleeding somebody's dying You know obviously you would just take care of it. You just fix it to save the life, okay? And I believe in that and I think that that's the type of principle that we see here is just to use common sense and To save people's life now, but here's where people will go wrong on this. They'll just say oh well anytime I go to the doctor. I'll just strip down in front of the opposite gender No You know women will go women will be pregnant and they'll go to a male male Obgyn, and she's like all right take all your clothes off all right. You know and just and and it's obscene and By the way childbirth is not an emergent. You're not dying Childbirth is not a disease Childbirth is not a sickness. It's not this just horrible catastrophe or trauma You know birth is just a normal thing that's been going on for thousands of years women have given birth So that's why I don't believe in these male Obgyn's Say oh, you know who's going to deliver the babies well the same people who've been delivering the babies for thousands of years Women and you know if you study when when childbirth was really at its worst. It's when men first got involved Seriously when women first started going to the doctors and having these male doctors in hospitals And they're all washing their hands in the same dish of water because they didn't understand about how germs spread and then they're just the Mortality rate in hospitals was through the roof and only the most poor and destitute people would even give birth in a hospital because it's so dangerous You know throughout history women have given birth in their own home You know I think in the book of Song of Solomon the the woman that's that Solomon is singing to It says that she was given birth to under the apple tree in Song of Solomon chapter 8 okay My wife has given birth to seven of our eight children at home the first one was just because we didn't know any better now Look is there a time where there's an emergency and somebody has to be rushed to the hospital of course are there times when? You know it's just saving somebody's life is important of course, but here's the thing though When you're going in for your prenatal checkups, or just a normal just giving birth You shouldn't be just stripping down in front of the opposite gender You know if I went to the doctor And it wasn't something life-threatening and some female nurse told me to take my clothes off. I'm not going to do it because I don't think that that's right and Today, we just have Christian women who just they just don't think about these things and and and our society Just doesn't really take care of people's decency But you know usually if for example my wife had a complicated pregnancy this last time because she's pregnant with twins And it was complicated and there were problems, but you know what we did is we just every step of the way we just asked for her privacy to be respected and We said hey we this needs to be done by a woman you know and we want it because usually we just go with a Female midwife at home, and then it's not an issue, but you know we're going into these doctor's offices and hospitals everything And we said hey we want it to be done by a woman And you know what they actually worked with us on that and we were able to just make sure that her dignity was protected and That she wasn't you know viewed by the doctor nude or seen her nakedness. You know I'm protective of my wife I'm jealous of my wife And so that's the way we should be as men to protect and to care now does that mean that if somebody is drowning You know I don't want to just put my hands all over this woman Drowning or I don't you know we don't want to take her to a male doctor You know because she's you know bleeding out obviously you save the life You know you you you you know you do what it takes, but to sit there and just throw all Morality out the window for non emergencies is to go to the other extreme To just say oh well, let's not do the Sabbath at all you know if you were living in the Old Testament Well if I can pull my ox out of the out of the ditch I can pull it out of the oven you know I can do whatever I want well, whatever So you know you don't want to go to that other extreme you want to use common sense with the laws of God and Understand that there are emergency situations, and then there are just normal situations. That's bar I didn't have a word of prayer father. We thank you for this great chapter Lord and Lord I pray that especially we would really think about The the story at the beginning about reaching people with the gospel just how how those men were just willing to do anything just go They'll they'll tear apart the roof. They'll work hard. They'll carry a bed on the roof. They'll lower it by four men and Lord help us to be a part of the soul winning team Lord Help us to team up with people that we don't even know Who have gone before us and sowed the seeds help us to go out and water those seeds and reap that harvest in Jesus name