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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We sing praises under you, ask in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Right across page number 22. 22, are you washed in the blood? Hymn number 22. Hymn number 22, have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Hymn number 22, sing it out on that first verse together. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you boldly trusting in his gracious sound? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments slothless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you walking daily by the Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments slothless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Will your soul be ready for the vengeance? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments slothless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Lay aside the garments that are staying glisten And be washed in the blood of the lamb There's a fountain glowing for the soul unclean Only washed in the blood of the lamb Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments slothless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Okay, now get singing. Next time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week we will be in Deuteronomy, chapter number 30. Below we have the soul-winning times, as well as salvation and baptisms. Across the page are the birthdays and anniversaries for the month of February. Bridal shower, that ship has already sailed. But this Friday at 2 o'clock is the wedding ceremony for Anselm and Eileen. And so everyone's invited. Don't be shy. Come on down if you're available this Friday. February 4th, 2 o'clock. Cake and punch will be served after a short ceremony. And so a great time of fellowship and sharing in this exciting moment for them. Congratulations on the back of the bulletin to the Delgadillo family. Elijah Delgadillo, born Wednesday, January 31st at 4.22 a.m. Seven pounds, five ounces. Mother and baby are doing well. Also, congratulations to the Oates family on the birth of baby Eric Stephen. Thursday, February 1st, 12.35 p.m. Seven pounds, two ounces. Measuring 19 inches. Please pray for Mrs. Oates. Speedy recovery. San Jose, Arizona, soul-winning marathon. Six people went out there. One person went out there. One person went out there. One person went out there. Six people went out there and had six salvations and they knocked every door in the quite small town of San Jose. And then other upcoming events. We've got a baby shower coming up for Amanda Coletto on February 17th. And multiple small town events as always. Over here is the place to go to find details and sign up sheets for those as they become available. And that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul-winning from the past few days. So going back to Thursday, which I suppose was the what? First? Anything from Thursday. Okay. Okay. All right. Anything else from Thursday? What about Friday? Okay. Got it. Got it. Okay. And Saturday. Okay. All right. And then I suppose that we should count the small town stuff. So that's another six for Saturday. Anything else on Saturday? And then what about today Sunday? Quinn? Five for the main group that was with Quinn. What other groups have we got? Two, one. Got it. Okay. So I'll go ahead and delete that, too. Very good. Thank you. All right. And then back to today. We got three. And then that's your North Phoenix total for the week for North Phoenix. Gotcha. And then got another one back there. All right. Anything else from today? Very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning. With that, let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right. You should find the answer in front of your hymn. All of the hymn, rejoice in the Lord. If you don't have an answer, please raise your hand so we can sing it on that first verse together. God never moves without purpose or plan. God never moves without purpose or plan. God never moves without purpose or plan. When trying is servant and holding a man. Give thanks to the Lord, though your testing seems long. In darkness he giveth a song. Oh, rejoice in the Lord. He makes no mistake. We know in the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified. I shall come forth as gold. I could not see through the shadows ahead. So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead. I bowed to the will of the Master that day. Then these taken tears fled away. Oh, rejoice in the Lord. He makes no mistake. We know in the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified. I shall come forth as gold. Now I can see testing comes from above. God's strength is His children and purges in love. My Father knows best and I trust in His care. Through purging the Word I will bear. Oh, rejoice in the Lord. He makes no mistake. We know in the end of each path that I take. For when I am tried and purified. I shall come forth as gold. Matt, good to see you everybody. Going your psalm books down to hymn 128. Hymn number 128. Each step I take. Hymn number 128. 128, each step I take my Savior goes before me. It's been a while since we've sung this song. But if you know it, let's sing it out together. Hymn number 128. Sing it out. Each step I take my Savior goes before me. And with His loving hand He leads the way. And with each breath I whisper, I adore Thee. Oh, what joy to walk with Him each day. Each step I take I know that He will guide me. To higher ground He ever leads me on. Until someday the last step will be taken. Each step I take just leads me closer home. At times I feel my faith begin to waver. When up ahead I see a chasm walk. Then I turn and look up to my Savior. I am strong when He is by my side. Each step I take I know that He will guide me. To higher ground He ever leads me on. Until someday the last step will be taken. Each step I take just leads me closer home. I trust in God no matter by what name. For life eternal is in His hand. He holds a key that opens up the way. That will lead me to the Promised Land. Each step I take I know that He will guide me. To higher ground He ever leads me on. Until someday the last step will be taken. Each step I take just leads me closer home. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Also, here's a huge problem with that theory, is that the whole point of a euphemism is to soften something. Okay, so would seeing Noah's nakedness be a euphemism for him having his father's wife? No, because that's like a thousand times weirder. That's like the opposite of a euphemism. That's like a gnarlyism. Okay, that doesn't make any sense. That doesn't make any sense. And look, there are other scriptures where this takes place. Like, for example, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, it talks about fornication among the Corinthian church, and that there was a man who actually had his father's wife. It just comes out and tells you that. Okay, and there are examples of that in scripture, and so it would make no sense to have a euphemism by making it sound like something faggoty if it wasn't, right? That's like the worst thing you could do, because you're making it so much weirder. No, it's weird because it was weird. And then lastly, here's another theory that's out there, and this is like kind of a rabbinical, kind of Talmud, Jewish kind of theory that's out there, that says, well, what actually happened is he actually castrated his father. Now, here's the big problem with that view. Again, there's not even a hint of that in the text. There's nothing like that anywhere else in the Bible. Nothing like that happens. Now, that's something that happens a lot in Greek mythology. Dudes are constantly castrating their father in Greek mythology, but that's not the Bible, and so that's obviously just the influence of paganism, you know, coming in through these Jewish scholars and just kind of making stuff up at that point. So I don't even think that that theory is hardly even worth talking about, okay? So we see these theories. Now, look, what I would subscribe to is that seeing his father's nakedness is a euphemism for doing some other kind of perverted abuse of some kind. We don't know exactly what he did. We don't want to know what he did, but he did something abusive to his father, okay? And it was something gross, and it was something faggoty, and that's what happened. We don't know exactly what the particular act was. We don't want to know. God is sparing us the details, but I think that makes a lot more sense than simply seeing him naked just because of the harsh reaction and why it's even worth talking about, why it's even worth putting in the Bible, because it's obviously a big deal of what happened. So let's talk about now what we know for sure, right? Whether you subscribe to the simple saw him naked or whether you say, yeah, I think Pastor Anderson's right, he definitely did something else gross, whatever it was, we don't care. Or even if you subscribe to this other theory, you know, here's what we know for sure I believe based on the text that we can just take to the bank, okay? Number one is that Ham is doing this in some way to try to gain power for himself, okay? This isn't about the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes. Some ancient dude in his tent drunk? No, this is about the pride of life. And the reason that I say that is because the text is careful to tell us that he went and told his brethren, this is what I did to Noah. And so the fact that he brags about this, whether he's bragging about just seeing him naked or violating him or abusing him in some way, I believe that it's clear, no matter which view you take, that he's trying to assume power over the family. He's trying to take power away. And again, the reason I would back this up as well is that after this all happens, what's the curse upon Canaan? The curse is that Canaan is going to be a servant of servants and that Shem and Japheth are going to excel and the exact opposite of what Ham would have wanted is going to happen. That's what I think is going on in this story because that makes way more sense than Ham just wanting to go in there and get perverted with some old dude, you know, just doesn't make any sense. So I think no matter what, this is a power move. This is about him abusing his father or humiliating his father in some way. So I think number one, it's a power move. Number two, it's something perverted. Even if he's just looking on his nakedness and, hey guys, check this out. That's weird too. It's voyeurism. And so it's something perverted. I think we can all agree on that. Number three, I think that this incident was about humiliating and dishonoring his father. Abusing him probably in the worst possible way as a way to humiliate and dishonor his father in an extreme way to basically somehow take power himself and be the head of the family, really be the head of the world. Because remember, they've just gotten off the arc. These are the only people that are left. They're starting to have kids. Different families are starting to develop. Ham is already at least on his fourth child because Canaan seems to be his fourth child. So they've already got kids and they're establishing families. Obviously, somebody's going to be ruling. Somebody's going to be leading. Somebody's going to be in charge. This seems to be a way that Ham is rebelling against his father by abusing him, humiliating him in the worst possible way so that he can somehow seize power for himself and somehow be above his brethren. And then the last thing I would point out is that this is an exploitation of his father's weakness, right? His father makes a stupid decision and gets drunk. He screws up. But instead of Ham helping him out like Sham and Japheth help him out, he gets in there and takes advantage of a situation and exploits the weakness of his father. Now, with those ideas in mind, I know I'm coming at you with a lot of information and a lot of different theories and everything. I'm not trying to overcomplicate the story, but I'm just trying to get your mind ready to read the story and understand what the possibilities are because there's a lot going on here in this passage. So let's back up and look at this again with all that in mind now. So it says in verse 19, these are the three sons of Noah and of them was the whole earth overspread. We're in Genesis chapter 9 verse 20, and Noah began to be a husband man and he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and was drunken and he was uncovered within his tent and Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without and Sham and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were backward and they saw not their father's nakedness. Now some people would point to this and say, well if it's not just a literal seeing of nakedness then why are Sham and Japheth walking backwards and not looking at it? Well here's the thing, obviously seeing dad naked is shameful and embarrassing to a normal person. A normal person doesn't want to take advantage of that situation or abuse that situation or humiliate him, but rather wants to give him privacy and decency. Put yourself in Sham and Japheth's shoes. No matter what happened to Noah, if he's in the tent drunk and naked, perhaps the victim of some kind of a perverted act, well you know you don't want to see that garbage, right? You want to give him his dignity back. You want to cover him up and so you're going to walk backwards and put that garment upon him. Also think about it this way, is that Sham and Japheth are doing the exact opposite of Ham. You know, let's say Ham is uncovering or seeing his father's nakedness proverbially speaking, they're basically being so pious here, they're saying, well not only would we never do such a heinous, disgusting, filthy act, but we don't even want to literally look upon our father's nakedness. And so they're giving him maximum dignity, maximum respect. Now look, did Noah screw up? Yes. Should Noah have gotten drunk? No. But guess what? The people in the Bible are human beings and they make mistakes. You see, the Bible is a real book about real people and the true story is that in real life, sometimes bad people do good things and even good people end up doing bad things. That's real life. Now, you know, if the Quran or something just whitewashes everything and Muslims just claim that none of these, no negative story about any prophet is true and this can't be true and everything, because basically they are so low in intellect that everything has to be dumbed down for Islam. I'm serious. I mean, it has to be totally dumbed down for them because it's an illiterate culture. Literally, look, just Google most illiterate countries in the world. They're all Muslim countries within countries that have high illiteracy. It's the Christian population that's literate and it's the Muslim population that's illiterate. If you have a country that's half Muslim and half Christian, the Muslim population is virtually illiterate. And look, this has nothing to do with race. Last time I checked, Islam wasn't a race. You got a bunch of white Muslims in Eastern Europe. You got red, yellow, black and white Muslims. Actually, I don't think we have a lot of red ones, but let's hope it stays that way, right? No Navajo Muslims. But the point, okay, they're yellow, black and brown and white. But the point is that Islam is a religion for stupid people. It's for illiterate people. It's dumbed down. It keeps people stupid. It's designed for dumb people. So basically, this is like a level of like a cartoon watcher who just, they want to make it real clear for a five-year-old who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. So you're never, you know, you're never going to see Krang be a nice person or something, you know, or Shredder or something. I'm sorry, I'm going back to the cartoons of my childhood, all right? You know, the bad guys are just bad. They're just always bad. They just, they only do, and then the good guys are just always good and they're never going to do anything wrong. But the Bible is actually about real life and it's actually written for an intelligent audience and so when you read the Bible, you'll read about bad people sometimes doing good things. I mean, think about King Ahab. King Ahab's a bad guy. He's a negative character in scripture. But yet, you see moments where Ahab is doing right and where Ahab is following the Lord and things like that. You know, you have complicated characters in the Bible like Balaam. I mean, Balaam is a complicated character. Even the witch in Endor is kind of a nice person, you know, because why? Because that's the way real life actually works. And so Noah is a great man of God. He's a godly man. He's a righteous man. There's no question about that. But after he got off the ark, he got drunk. It was stupid. You know, some people would say, well, he got drunk by accident because, you know, booze was different after the flood or something. I don't know. I mean, that just sounds like kind of making excuses for him. I think it makes more sense that he just screwed up because he's human and he's just, you know, after 600 years of teetotaling, he's just like screw it and just gets drunk, whatever. You know, people are stupid. We've all done stupid things in our lives. Hopefully, we've never done anything that stupid. And hopefully, we never will go out and get drunk and do these kind of stupid things. But look, the Bible records all kinds of great men and women committing sins, you know, David and Bathsheba, Samson and Delilah. You can go down the list of all of the good godly people who really just blow it royally and commit major sins and do stupid things. That's what we see happening with Noah. Noah screwed up and then his son jumps in and takes advantage of the situation in one way or the other. What's his motive? Again, it's pride. It's probably, and we're going to see more evidence for that as we get into chapter 10, why I do think that that was the motive, that it's about taking power from self. Because he's not the oldest brother. He's called the younger son of Noah. And so, you know, he could be the second born or even the youngest. But he's definitely not the oldest. But he wants to be the one who runs the family. And remember, this is a big thing in the ancient world. This is a big thing in the book of Genesis. Think about with Jacob and Esau, right? Who's going to get the birthright? Who is going to get the blessing? Then we get down into Ishmael and Isaac. And we could go through all the different examples with the 12 patriarchs and, you know, who is going to be in charge. This is how human beings are. Unfortunately, human beings are not happy to just be peaceful and get along and everybody do their own thing. Well, human beings like to enslave one another. They like to rule over one another. They like to dominate one another. This is part of the sinful nature of man. And this is why man is born free but yet he is everywhere in chains. I mean, look around the world and look at all the abusive governments, abusive dictators and things that we see going on. And so it makes sense that in the new world here, after God has destroyed the old world and flooded it, they're starting to establish society. They have children. They have families. You know, there could start to be some politics of who's going to be in charge because frankly, I just otherwise can't really wrap my mind around why Ham would have any interest into going into that tent other than to abuse and humiliate his father in some way so that he can gain power. And that's why he goes and tells his brothers about it. He goes and brags to them about it. If it was just about his sick enjoyment, which doesn't really make any sense anyway, why go tell them about it? You know, the whole point of telling them about it is because he's maybe trying to threaten them or just trying to intimidate them or just brag to them or let them know what he has done as a move to take power or something like that. That seems to be what's going on in the story. Let's keep reading. Their faces were backward. They saw not their father's nakedness. Verse 24, Noah awoke from his wine because he's so drunk that he was literally unconscious, right? He literally passed out. He woke from his wine and he knew what his younger son had done unto him. And again, that wording doesn't really sound like it was just a matter of being looked at. It's possible, but it doesn't seem to be. Noah woke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. So notice the emphasis on he is going to serve his brethren and that he's not going to be the one who's in charge. He's not going to rule. He's not going to lead. He's going to be a servant of servants unto his brethren. And then it says, blessed be the Lord God of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant. So notice the emphasis on Canaan is going to be a servant. Canaan is going to be the servant. Canaan is going to be the servant. God's going to bless and enlarge Shem and Japheth and Canaan is going to be the tail, not the head. You know, he's going to be at the bottom, not the top. And Noah lived after the flood 350 years and all the days of Noah were 950 years and he died. So look again, no matter which way we look at the story, here's some things we can learn right away. Number one, don't get drunk because when you get drunk, who knows what people are going to do to you. Thousands of years later, people will be trying to figure out what happened to you when you were drunk because you're so blacked out, you don't even know you're so passed out. You can't even tell. Of course, later in the book of Genesis, we have two other enemies of the Israelites, the Moabites and the Ammonites. They get their origin story in the book of Genesis chapter 19 after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot's two daughters, what do they do? They get them drunk and they lie with their own father and they become impregnated and they end up producing these two nations from their bodies that end up being enemies of the Israelites, the Moabites and the Ammonites. And so this story is obviously similar to that story. It's also kind of giving an origin story for why Canaan is so wicked and so perverted. Now, the other question that comes up when we're reading the story is why is Canaan being cursed? Why is Ham not being cursed, right? Because Ham's the one who actually did this crime, but yet instead of the Bible telling us that Ham's going to be cursed, the curse is specifically upon Canaan. Why is that, right? And this is something that has puzzled people for millennia. Well, again, you know, the people who kind of go for that Noah's wife theory, which I think is ridiculous based on what we actually read, they would say, well, that's explained because Canaan is actually, you know, the product of this union. And that's what they would claim with that. The problem with that is that, you know, a child being born under this woman when she's that old is unlikely because she hasn't had a kid in like a hundred years. So why would she all of a sudden start having a kid again? Like that's kind of far-fetched and crazy. I mean, I can see why they would want to find an explanation. But I think a more likely explanation is just that if your dad is this perverted and he's raising you, you know, you're going to end up being perverted as well. And so I think Canaan is cursed because he's the youngest son of Ham. And so he's probably the one that's living at home. Maybe the others have already moved out or something. And so he's the youngest. He's the one living at home. He's the one being raised by this pervert after he's done this horrible act. And so that could be part of the explanation. But what we need to understand is that in general, in the Bible, it's clear that God will visit the iniquities of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. And so the blessing of God will be on a family to the third and fourth generation. And the curse of God will be on a family to the third and fourth generation. Now that might not be very popular to hear that, but it's true. It's a fact. In fact, this is stated in the Ten Commandments. Go if you would to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter number 20. And when we have the Ten Commandments, the Bible says thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image in verse 4. And in the process of giving that commandment, he says in verse 5, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them. This is part of the Ten Commandments, folks. Very famous scripture. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, Exodus 20 verse 5, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, sorry, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. So you have this idea of a generational curse, the curse of God upon those who have committed sin and even upon their children and children's children and even great grandchildren. Now, what does this all mean? Does this mean that if your parents are wicked, you're just doomed and there's nothing you can do? No, because at the end of the day, the individual always has free will and can always choose to serve God and do right. And so you don't ever want to use your parents or your grandparents or your great grandparents as an excuse. But let me tell you this, if your parents are wicked, you're going to have an uphill battle in life. You're swimming upstream if you try to live for God, okay? If your parents are idolaters or wicked people, extortioners, drunkards, I mean, that stuff's all going to affect you. I mean, does anybody here really think that people who grow up in a Christian home with parents who love the Lord have the same opportunities in life as somebody who grows up in the home of a drunk or an atheist or a Hindu or a Buddhist? Of course not. And you know, we hear a lot about white privilege, right? You've probably heard that term a lot. It's kind of a buzzword over the last many years, white privilege. Well, let me tell you something. There's no such thing as white privilege. It's called Christian privilege. The Christian privilege is real. Let me tell you something. If you're a Christian, you have a huge advantage in life. And here's the thing. I'd rather be born into a black as the night Christian family than to be born into a white family that's not following Christ. Amen? It's not about color because you know what? There are some pretty wicked derelict trashy white people and if you're born in their family, you're not privileged. I don't care if you're as white as snow. You're not privileged because your parents are trash. Whereas, I don't care how black you are. If your parents love the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to be privileged. You're going to grow up. You're going to know how to read. You're going to be serving God. You know, you have way more opportunities in life. So instead of talking about white privilege, we should just talk about Christian privilege because it's real. You know, you're privileged to grow up in a Christian home and unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required. And so you are privileged to grow up in a Christian home and you should realize that you have advantages that other people don't have and so you shouldn't look down on other people and say, oh, I'm so much better than them. They're so stupid. They're so lazy. No, no, no. You are privileged because you were raised as a Christian. You say, well, no, I got saved later in life. Okay, well then you're privileged that you got saved and now you have the Father in heaven. And so it's still a privilege. Having Christ gives you an advantage and you know, here's the thing about kids who grow up in a Christian home. They're going to be more successful in life. They're just going to succeed even just from a worldly perspective. They're just going to succeed out there. They're going to be better at their job. They're going to just do better in life. They're going to have better relationships. They're just going to live a more excellent life because they've been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It's got nothing to do with race. It's got nothing to do with color. It's about religion. Okay. Muslims aren't stupid because they're brown. They're stupid because they're Muslim. Okay. That's why. And you know what? Racism is stupid. And you know, there's a lot of racism in this new generation that's coming up. Young people today, there's a lot of racism and part of it's a reaction to a lot of people you know, that are just constantly race baiting and trying to just hit us with a bunch of white guilt. And then it kind of backfires. But now you have a bunch of white kids growing up and being racist and looking down on people of other races, looking down on black people. Let me tell you something. It's stupid and it's garbage. We should not look at the world in this carnal way where we're looking at people and dividing people up. White, black. No. We should divide it Christian, non-Christian. Saved, unsaved. Righteous, unrighteous. And we should be past that. You know, in the New Testament, we're all one in Christ Jesus. There's no Jew or Gentile. There's no white and black. We're all one in Christ Jesus. And let me tell you something. I would be very glad for any of my children to marry the blackest black person who loves Jesus Christ. And I've said that from the pulpit. I've said that within the four walls of my own home that my children can marry whatever color person they want and I would be thrilled for them to marry some godly Christian who happens to be whatever color. I don't care. I just want my children to be equally yoked with a Christian spouse. That's what I believe. That's what I want. Because I don't care about race. Because I'm not one of these boneheads who is just so proud of being white or something. What a stupid thing to be proud of. First of all, you did nothing to achieve that. So it's easy for people with no achievements to get all proud of something that they didn't even have to do. You know, their parents did all the work to produce their white backside and now all of a sudden they're all proud of being white. It makes no sense. It's foolishness. And you know what? It's childish. It doesn't make any sense scientifically. It doesn't make any sense biblically. And by the way, we're all mixed anyway. Like, you just think that you just have... It's so funny talking to these white supremacist types. They literally think that everybody in their family tree is white and you're just like... It's literally impossible. I mean, you have so many... I mean, I proved this in Marching to Zion with the whiteboard and I did the math and everything. I mean, we're so mixed. I mean, think about it. If a white person and a black person have a child and then that child marries a white person and then their child marries a white person, a couple generations go by, you'd never know that there was ever a black person in that family. Or if they married a black person and a couple generations go by, you'd never know that there was a white person. I mean, Barack Obama's wife could play Snow White... Excuse me. Barack Obama's mother could literally have played Snow White in a film she's so white. Like, she's like an albino. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but she's pretty stinking white. Barack Obama's mom is white. Who's seen a picture of Barack Obama's mom? Super white, okay? But yet, Obama's married to a black woman or man, whatever you believe about that. But anyway, you know, Obama is married to a black woman and so he's got his two daughters. If they marry black dudes, you're going to forget that grandma was white as snow. And guess what? I guarantee all of us have got all kinds of relatives in our family tree of all different races and we're all mixed. You know, you talk to the Navajos on the reservation. They think they're like pure Navajo. Yeah, right. You've been mixing with white people for 400 years. Get real. And so this fiction of racial purity and this fiction... And by the way, you know, the New Testament couldn't be any clearer about this. One house of God that's a house of prayer for all nations. So is the church supposed to be segregated? No way. And so race doesn't matter. And here's what's funny. People will take this story about Sham, Ham, and Japheth and they'll use this to make it about race. Here's what they'll say. Well, Ham, that's black people. Sham, that's Asians. Japheth is white people. Here's what's so stupid about that is that basically for the first 100 years after they get off the ark, they're all living together. So who do you think that these kids are marrying? Their cousins or their siblings? They're marrying their cousins. So guess what? They're all mixing right away. It's not like Noah has these three kids, like one of them's Chinese, one of them's black, one of them's white. No. It's one family, okay? But yet, you know, you grow up hearing, oh, Japheth is white people. It's not that simple, my friend. We all... Here's bad news for you. We're all descended from Ham. Every single one of us. This is our weirdo ancestor, okay? We're all descended from Sham and we're all descended from Japheth. It's just that simple because humanity is so mixed. It's just that simple. And if you don't agree with me on that, it's really not a matter of agreement. It just means you don't understand math, science, history, or anthropology. So sorry about that. Maybe you can learn something. But it's a fact and I proved it in Marching to Zion and I mean, it's kind of common sense at this point, really, that people have been intermingled for years. And so, you know, we don't want to abuse this story and make it something about race. But that being said, there is a curse upon the children of wicked people, right? Now, it doesn't mean that they can't get saved, that they can't follow Christ. It just means that they're going to have a harder time than the one who's blessed to grow up in a Christian home. And so you, children, that are in this auditorium tonight because your Christian parents are bringing you to church, you better understand how privileged you are. You better understand how blessed you are. And you know what? If you grow up and rebel against your parents, you're wicked in the sight of God and you're probably going to end up dead in a field somewhere. Why? Because the Bible says, the eye that mocketh at his father and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles shall eat it. Because you're lying dead in a field, that's why. I mean, imagine, growing up in a Christian home, your parents get you saved, teach you the Bible, feed and clothe you, teach you to read and write, make you a productive member of society, and then you just spit in the face of your parents. It's wicked. The Bible says, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. Meaning that if you don't honor father and mother, it's not going to be well with you and you are not going to live long on the earth. Folks, this is a commandment that needs to be taken seriously. Cursed be he that seteth light by father and mother and all the people shall say, amen. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. That's the New Testament. You see, children need to grow up and honor their parents, respect their parents. Folks, I don't care what you believe about this story in Genesis 9, Ham is not honoring his father. He's probably dishonoring him in the worst possible way because the Bible tends to give us really extreme examples of situations to really drive a point home. So, you know, God's saying, hey, don't disrespect, don't dishonor father, and then it's like here's the extreme example of the worst kind of elder abuse you can imagine here. And then we see the horrible curse that comes upon that. Now look, Canaan is cursed big time, but do you know what one of Jesus' disciples is named? Simon the Canaanite. And so that goes to show you that even if you do come from a bad family or a cursed group of people, you can still not only serve God, but you can become a great man of God. I mean, think about it. If you're living in the time of Christ, those 11 disciples, because obviously Judas is there just to betray him and so forth, but those 11 disciples, I mean, these are kind of the top guys of that generation, you know, bringing the apostle Paul into the mix, of course, as the 12th, but these guys turned the world upside down. I mean, these are guys that are handpicked by the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to be with him daily, learning from him, working from him. I mean, what a privilege to be one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. Well, one of them is Simon the Canaanite. So don't tell me that, well, God can't use this person because of their parents or their or their lineage or their race or their ethnicity. Hogwash, God can use the Canaanite, but in general, the Canaanites are cursed by God. In general, the individual can be saved. Rahab can be saved. Simon the Canaanite can be saved, but it's going to be a little harder for the Canaanites to get saved than for the Israelites to get saved, right? Because of the fact that they are cursed by God because of their wicked parents. I mean, look, obviously the things that we do are going to affect our children. That should just be common sense. The things we do are going to affect our grandchildren. But you know what? Don't expect your parents to be perfect. You know, it's so funny. We get up and preach, hey, everybody's a sinner, right? And it's just like, oh, my parents, you know, mistreated me or whatever. Why don't you shut up, you little sniveling brat, and just be happy that you have Christian parents who brought you to church and raised you to love the Lord, to go to church, to be saved, to actually be a productive member of society, not a thug and a derelict and a trash type person, right? Instead of just whining and complaining. Look, do you think that there were times when my parents punished me unjustly? Do you think that there were times when my parents made mistakes or did things wrong? Absolutely, but you know what? I can't remember any of them because I don't think about that kind of stuff. I don't sit around dwelling on every negative thing, all the bad times. You know what? I think about all the good times, and I thank God for every single bit of discipline I received from my parents, and I'm not going to sit and whine about it years later because of the fact that I'm just thankful for the privilege of growing up in a Christian home because you know what? I would not be where I am if it were not for my mom and dad. You know, I am here right now preaching to you. I have achieved whatever I have achieved, number one, by the grace of God, but second only to that is through my parents. I feel like my parents were way more influential on me than any church I've ever attended. More good doctrine, more good philosophies, more good training came from mom and dad than from any church I've ever attended, any pastor, any Sunday school teacher, mom and dad are what I have to thank the most. Are my parents perfect? No, they're not. Was Noah perfect? Noah's getting drunk and naked in the tent. He screwed up. He's being an idiot. He made a mistake, but Ham gets in there and exploits that weakness, exploits that situation, dishonors his father in some horrible way, whether it's voyeuristic or whether it was something worse than that, whatever it is, it's disgusting, it's wicked. Now, let's go to Genesis chapter 10. I got to hurry up for the sake of time. But Genesis chapter 10, we get into this sort of catalog of nations and the different nations and branches of the family that come out of Shemham and Japheth, right? And so we start out at the beginning with the sons of Japheth, and I'm not really going to spend time on that because it isn't really that interesting for our purposes tonight. Obviously, these end up becoming European nations or becoming associated with European nations. But again, having this idea that like, well, you know, white people, Europeans are descended from Japheth. No, because the way the Bible reckons genealogies is just by the father. Well, guess what? Half your DNA is from mom and half of it's from dad. Pretty much exactly half is from mom and exactly half is from dad. Seriously. Because if you roll a die enough times, it pretty much 50-50. And when it comes to genetics, it's a roll of the dice which genes are coming from mom, which genes are coming from dad. And so you end up being half mom, half dad. And so obviously, yeah, from a patriarchal lineage perspective, the sons of Japheth tended to settle more in Europe. But their wives are from Shem and Ham and everybody's so mixed, it's not a racial thing, okay? So we don't want to get mixed up. You say, well, then why are white people, why are people in Europe white? And why are people in Africa black? You know, and why are these people over here brown? Or why are these people's eyes different than these people's? Folks, it's because of the fact that there are different advantages to different skin colors and different physiques and different attributes depending on where you are geographically. And so those things are being selected for and over the course of hundreds or thousands of years, obviously those things get concentrated in certain places. See, in our modern society, we don't really have an appreciation for this and I'll tell you why. Because we just go to the grocery store and we just get all the nutritious food we want imported from all over the world. You know, it's not like, oh, these aren't in season. Everything's in season all the time when you fly it in from Chile or something. So we just eat like kings, we have all this food. You know, in the summer, we just turn on the air conditioner. In the winter, we turn on the heater. We just live in this perfect little climate controlled, diet controlled situation and most of us aren't even necessarily out breaking our backs outside all day. How many people would say, I work most of my workday indoors? Put up your hand if you work indoors most of your workday. Now put up your hand if you're mainly outdoors. You're mainly outdoors. Okay, so there you go, my friend. Most people are working indoors. But stop and put yourself in a situation where your nutrition's not necessarily that great. You're struggling to get the right foods and the right calories and the right macro and micronutrients. You're working outside all the time and people are having a much lower life expectancy because you're dealing with a lot harsher situations in this world. Well, just stop and think about it, okay? What's the benefit to being black? Like what is being black going to help you with? You're not going to get a sunburn, right? I mean, who do you think is going to get more of a sunburn, me or a black dude? You know, who's going to need the SPF 1000, you know? White people. So look, and there are people that are whiter than me. I'm not even the super whitest. You know, you get some of these really white people, man, they're just going to just turn bright red, they're just going to bake, they're just going to get cooked. So can you see why people that are living in really hot and sunny areas are going to get darker skin? Makes sense, right? Because the darker people survive, the younger people die, or excuse me, the lighter people die, the darker people, you know. White kids are just as smart, or whatever, no. I was having a Biden moment there for a second. I was sounding like Biden there for a second. But, you know, the darker people are going to survive, thrive, they're going to be able to be more productive, have more kids, the kids are going to be stronger, more robust, because they're in the sun, they can handle it, and they're just better suited to that climate. Does that make sense? So you say, what about white people? Like, what's the advantage of being white? You just get a sunburn. What do I get in return? You get vitamin D. Because here's the thing, if you're living in some cloudy place, you're living in England where it's all rainy and cloudy all the time, well, guess what? You need every little bit of sun that comes out, you need that to make it through. You don't want to have this barrier to the sun. You're like, oh, man, I'm black, I can block out all the sun. I'm like, I'm just a walking SPF 50 or whatever. Well, then that's not going to help you out when you barely get any sun, and you're living in Norway, you're living in Iceland, you're living in Sweden, and you're not getting a lot of sun. Well, you know what? Every bit of sun, you don't want to block it out. You want to bring it in because vitamin D is critical to your health, especially if you're not getting it in your diet. So these are just, you know, and I'm not going to just sit here and lecture you on all the benefits of all the, you know, but you get the idea, don't you? You know, there are benefits, there are pros and cons. It's sort of like Mario Kart, okay? You know, one car is faster, but the other one has better acceleration. You know, this car handles better in the turns, but the other one has better braking. You know, everything has its pros and cons. So physically, it's not like, oh, being white is superior, being black is superior. No, no, no, everything has different stats at different levels, okay? And it's just based upon geography. Now, now we're all kind of getting on airplanes and living in buildings with air conditioning, and so these things don't matter because we just drink a big glass of vitamin D milk, pop a vitamin D pill, and, you know, black dudes can live in Iceland and be real healthy and do great. And again, how long does it take for people to turn from white to black or from black to white? I just illustrated to you earlier, it's really just a couple generations. You can lighten up or darken up. You know, marrying, hey, lighten up, buddy. No, I'm just kidding. Sorry, we're not Mormon, all right? We're not going to tell you to lighten up. And so, again, you know, this idea of, oh, the sons of Japheth, you know, they're going over here. Remember, everybody's mixed, though, in the first generation, second generation, third generation, because for 100 years, they're all staying together. It's just the patriarchy that we're talking about when we have these dudes' names, okay? So we have these nations that come from Japheth, and some of them are associated, of course, with European places. Then we have the sons of Ham. I've got to hurry. I'm almost out of time here, but look at verse 6. This is more interesting. Sons of Ham are more interesting. Sons of Ham, Cush and Mizraim. Now, that's the most interesting one, because this is another word for Egypt. Now, we call it Egypt in English, but in lots of other languages, it's called Mitsraim. Lots of other languages, it's called Mitsraim. That's what it's called in Hebrew, for example. And lots of other languages, it's called Mitsraim. It's not called Egypt. You know, like, different countries are called different things in different languages. So even though we call it Egypt, it's typically called Mitsraim, because it's named after this guy. And Foot and Canaan, of course. We know who the Canaanites are. Sons of Cush, Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Rehama, Sabtika. Sons of Rehama, Sheba. Now, again, Sheba is where we get the story about the queen of Sheba coming to see Solomon and so forth. So, again, there's a person who actually got saved, even though she's from these Ham nations that are typically not godly nations. And the Bible says that the queen of the south, talking about the queen of Sheba, is going to rise up in judgment against that wicked generation that rejected Christ and will condemn them. She came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. You know, she came to hear the word of God. And then it says that Cush, verse 8, begat Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. So the sons of Ham include Nimrod, right? The beginning of his kingdom was, verse 10, Babel. This is where we later get the word of Babylon, right? Erech and Akkad and Kalni in the land of Shinar. Now, of course, these places are important places to the history of human civilization, right? You know, if you were studying ancient history, you would hear about the language called Akkadian a lot, right? Sargon of Akkad and so forth. So if you study ancient history, like, these places would mean something to you. Akkad, the land of Shinar, and of course, Shinar is associated with Babylon. We have Babel here. Out of that land went forth Ashur. This is where we get the word Assyria and built Nineveh. Again, Nineveh was a major empire, a major capital. And Kala, the same as a great city. And Mizraim begat Ludim and Anamim and Lahabim and Naftuhim and Pathusim and Kasluim, out of whom came Philistim and Caphtorim. But remember, in general, Mitsraim is Egypt, okay? That's what that ultimately becomes, or at least it's named after this guy, Mitsraim. And then we have, of course, Canaan begat Zidon, his firstborn, and Heth. We have, of course, Tyre and Zidon, those places. And some of these places, just the names could carry over. It doesn't necessarily mean that the lineage is always real. The Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgisite, the Hivite, the Archite, the Sinai, the Arvidite, the Zemorite, and the Hamathite. And afterward, where the families of the Canaanites spread abroad, and the border of the Canaanites was from Zidon. This is in the north, Tyre and Zidon. As they come as to Gerar unto Gaza, that's down at the bottom of the nation of Israel, where the Philistines are. Of course, the Gaza Strip we hear about all the time with respect to the war that's going on right now. Unto Gaza, as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, okay? So, Sodom and Gomorrah, we're talking about the Canaanites, right? So, it kind of makes sense in light of the story here that we see Ham being a weirdo, doing something weird with respect to Noah, and then his descendants become the Sodomites. Not a coincidence. Admah and Zeboam, those are the other two cities that God destroyed when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Even unto Lasha, these are the sons of Ham after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. And, of course, we get into the sons of Shem, and, again, those aren't necessarily as interesting. Except for the fact that, of course, one of them leads us to Abraham and so forth. So, Abraham comes to that Shem lineage. Really, the movers and the shakers here are in the lineage of Ham. And what I want to point out is that the ones that really stand out of that lineage of Ham is, number one, Egypt, which, of course, ends up becoming a world power, and Asher, which ends up becoming a world power, the Assyrian Empire, and Babel, which ends up becoming a world power. And remember from maybe the film Babylon USA or sermons that I've preached about Babylon, you know, we have all of this idea in the scripture of Babylon being this kind of take over the world empire mentality. One world type system. Tower of Babel. What's the Tower of Babel, right? Hey, we're all going to join together and build this tower that reaches unto heaven. Nimrod seems to be associated with that, possibly, because the beginning of his kingdom was from Babel. Although, we don't want to necessarily read too much into that, because, obviously, the entire world was there at that Tower of Babel at that time. And so, what we need to understand is that, you know, kind of bringing it all full circle, wrapping it all up, is that what we've got here is Noah, a godly man, he blows it. He messes up, he gets drunk, he gets naked, he does something stupid, and then what happens is his son Ham gets in there, takes advantage of the situation, exploits his father's weakness, either you could take a really conservative approach and just say, well, he just made fun of him. He just saw him naked, made fun of him, and told his brothers about it. Or, what's way more likely, he actually did something that the text is just using a euphemism to describe by saying, saw his nakedness, abused him in some way, molested him in some way, in order to humiliate him, in order to dishonor him, probably because he thought by taking Noah down, he's going to take over and run things by abusing Noah. He takes the power for himself, sort of like Absalom, you know, lying with his father's concubines or something like that. Or, sort of like Adonijah, you know, wanting to have the Shunammite and so forth. Abishag, the Shunammite, it's not a theme that's uncommon in Scripture, it's something that we see. He did something, he humiliated his father in some way, he goes and brags to his brothers about it, tells his brothers about that, but then God ends up turning this around and saying, no, Canaan is going to be a servant of servants. Canaan is going to be the one who ends up being subservient to Shem and Japheth in the long run. And, of course, that's what happens because the Canaanites get wiped out. I mean, think about it, Sodom and Gomorrah gets wiped out, the Canaanites end up getting wiped out because the children of Israel come in there in the book of Joshua and they're told to kill them all, and so forth. And so, you know, that does come to pass. The Canaanites, in general, are a nation cursed by God. They're a super sinful, wicked, perverted nation. Sodom and Gomorrah is there, but remember that even the seven nations of the Canaanites are also said to have committed all those perverted acts in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20, which include being a homo in that list with Leviticus 18, 22 and Leviticus 20, verse 13. The Bible says that they committed those sins in Canaan and whatever. Why preach this? What is the point of learning these things? How is this profitable? Because the big takeaway tonight is honor your father and mother. Yes, this is an extreme example of dishonor, but you should not dishonor your mom and dad at all. You should not talk smack about mom and dad. You should not hurt mom and dad. You should not physically assault them in any way. I mean, look, the Bible says that if you smite your parents, you should be put to death in Exodus chapter 20. Very serious crime. You should not curse your father and mother. You should not smite your father and mother. You should not seek to dishonor or harm in any way father and mother. You should not even make fun of your father and mother, because the eye that mocketh his father and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagle shall eat it. You say, why do you have that verse memorized? The same reason that you should have it memorized. Because it's real, my friend. And you better honor your father and mother. And God is showing us very early in the Bible, look, somebody dishonors their father, sometimes he uses very extreme examples, of course. But if you dishonor your father and mother, you're going to pay for it. And ultimately, who's the one that ends up getting hurt? Is it Noah that gets hurt? I mean, thankfully, you know, for Noah, I mean, if I were Noah, I'm glad that I was blacked out. So I don't have to even remember what the hell happened. Right? I don't even know what happened. I don't even want to know what happened. I'm glad God didn't tell us what happened. Thank you for sparing us. I don't know what it was. I don't care. I don't want to know. But here's the thing. I bet Noah was probably glad he didn't. You know, here's the thing. Noah didn't have to actually live through that experience because he was tranquilized by the booze that he drunk. Hear me out for a second. Noah didn't experience it. He found out, but he's told about it later. He finds out about it later. He didn't have to experience it. Ham did experience whatever it was. Okay, so Ham had to experience it. Noah didn't. Who gets cursed? Ham gets cursed. His son Canaan gets cursed. Okay, now stop and think about this. Noah, after this happened, he lives for another couple hundred years. And God blesses him. And you know what? People are still naming their kid Noah today. They're not naming their kid Ham. Or Cush. Or Futt. Or Mizram. Or Pasruhim. Or Kashluhim. Or Adonim. You know, Ashur. No, they're naming their kid Noah. Noah goes down in history as a great man of God. I mean, if I just walked down the street and said, is Noah good or bad? Good guy. Is Noah a good guy or bad? Good guy. Is Ham a good guy or a bad guy? I don't know who that is because I don't read the Bible. But anybody who reads the Bible would say that's a bad guy. Canaan. Canaanites. Are they good or bad? Right? Think about it. So here's the moral of the story, kids. You disrespect your parents. You dishonor your parents. You mock your parents. You harm your parents. You're the one that ultimately, and pardon the pun, you're the one who ends up getting screwed, not them. You understand? You screw them, you get screwed. That's the true story, my friend. Put that euphemism in your pipe and smoke it. The point is that if you commit sin and harm other people, you're not ultimately harming them. You're harming yourself. You know what? If I went out and dishonored my parents, I'm just hurting myself. I'm just shortening my own lifespan. Whereas if I honor my parents, I'm going to be blessed by God. At the end of the day, my parents are going to be blessed anyway. My parents are going to be blessed because my parents love the Lord. So they're going to get blessed no matter what. It's really just you're shooting yourself in the foot when you disrespect mom and dad. You're cutting off your nose to spite your face. And so sorry for such an unsavory sermon. You know, I've actually I've been working on this sermon for several weeks. And like I just I kept just not preaching it because I'm just like, who wants to talk about that? But you know what? It's just like God just kept laying it on my heart. Seriously, this this story. And it's funny, I preached my sermon this morning on John Chapter three and I preached my sermon. I finished and I and I was done preaching this morning on John Chapter three. And I like I walked away from the pulpit and I was walking back to my office and all of a sudden it was just like it just don't like like the missing piece to the sermon, like came together. And it was just like, that's what I'm preaching tonight, you know? And so obviously it's a wild story. It's something that you're probably not going to hear in a lot of churches. But, you know, I don't know about you, but you know what? I learned something preparing this and I'm I'm blessed and edified by this by this story. And frankly, I'm glad it's in the Bible, even though it's rough. We can handle it right. Amen. We're not Muslims. We're not like too stupid to be able to handle a story where Noah gets drunk and gets naked. You know, we can handle it because, you know, we're we understand the Bible is real. And let me tell you something, man, the world gets weird, man. And so the Bible sometimes has to get a little weird as a reflection of that. Let's borrow that word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the Book of Genesis, Lord. I pray that everyone here tonight would take something from a sermon and that it would be a blessing, Lord, that that that every child who's here would would understand the importance of honoring father and mother. And Lord God, I just pray that all of us would seek to glorify you as our heavenly father and honor you as our father in heaven. Even even more than our earthly parents. We owe you the utmost honor and respect. But, Lord, help us also to honor our earthly parents and also just other people who have who have invested in our lives spiritually along the way. And in Jesus name, we pray, man. Man, go to him. Two hundred and three. The windows of heaven. Two hundred three. We'll sing this one twice. And the second time through, we get to the end there. And that's why I'm happy. We'll sing that three times. So and that's why I'm happy. And that's why I'm happy. And that's why I'm happy tonight. So two hundred three. Let's sing it out. The windows of heaven are open. The blessings are falling tonight. There's joy, joy, joy in my heart since Jesus made everything right. I gave him my old tattered garment. He gave me a robe of new wine. I'm feasting on manna from heaven. And that's why I'm happy tonight. The windows of heaven are open. The blessings are falling tonight. There's joy, joy, joy in my heart since Jesus made everything right. I gave him my old tattered garment. He gave me a robe of new wine. I'm feasting on manna from heaven. And that's why I'm happy. That's why I'm happy. That's why I'm happy tonight. Thank you for watching!