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Now, in Psalm 92, the verse that I wanted to preach about is verse number 10, where the Bible reads, But my horns shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. And the subject that I want to preach on tonight is the subject of unicorns. Now, every little girl is getting excited about unicorn sermon. But unicorns are an animal that are actually mentioned in the Bible nine times. Some people have criticized the Bible for mentioning unicorns. Flip back, if you would, to Numbers 23. Let me just start out by just taking you to all the scriptures that talk about unicorns, first of all. But some people would criticize the Bible for bringing up unicorns and say that the Bible is a book of fairy tales because it talks about this animal that is clearly a mythological creature. I'm not going to pretend tonight to know exactly what the Bible is referring to as a unicorn. But whatever it is, it was a real animal that really existed. It's very clear from the context in which the unicorn is brought up throughout scripture. For example, when it's brought up in Job, it's brought up in the context of a lot of other animals that are just commonplace animals. Of course, the Bible also brings up giant beasts such as Leviathan and Behemoth, which were unknown to science until just the 1800s, right? When they discovered dinosaurs and these massive creatures. So just because science is unaware of the unicorn, perhaps, that doesn't mean that it didn't exist. In fact, pretty much all of the cultures of the world, you can find drawings and paintings and things of unicorns. So it probably was a real animal. Some of these depictions can be a little different one from the other. Some of them look more like a horse or a goat. Some of them look more like a buffalo with a giant horn. You know, whatever the case may be, it's a real animal. Look at Numbers 23 verse 22. It says, God brought them out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength of an unicorn. Flip over to chapter 24. So the first mention, and also the second mention here in Numbers 24 verse 8, God brought them forth out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength of an unicorn. He shall eat up the nations as enemies, and shall break their bones and pierce them through with his arrows. It's clear that the unicorn was an animal that was characterized by its great strength. Very strong, fierce animal. Go to Deuteronomy 33, just a few pages to the right in your Bible, Deuteronomy 33. After Deuteronomy 33, we're going to go to Job 39, but look at Deuteronomy 33 17. It says, his glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth, and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. He talks about the horn being like the horn of a unicorn, and that it would push with that horn. And of course, if we study the subject of pushing, an animal pushing with its horns, it's an attack. It's using it as a weapon, as it were. Go to Job 39. Job 39, beginning in verse 9, the Bible reads, Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by thy good? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? Or wilt thou leave thy labor to him? Wilt thou believe him that he will bring home thy seed and gather it into thy barn? So in these four verses that are devoted to this animal, the unicorn, the Bible again emphasizes the unicorn's great strength, and it's also clear from the scripture that the unicorn is not a tame animal. It's not something that could be used for farm labor. He's saying, look, you're not going to be able to bind the unicorn. You're not going to get it to serve thee. It's not going to gather in your grain. It's not going to plow your field. You're not going to be able to domesticate this animal and use it as a laboring beast on your farm. Go to Psalm 22, Psalm chapter 22. We're just going to all nine mentions of what the Bible calls a unicorn. Go to Psalm 22 verse 21. The Bible reads in Psalm 22, 21, Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. So here it seems that the unicorn is being compared to the lion. It's being used in context with the lion as being a beast that you would be afraid of encountering. Just as you'd want to be saved from the mouth of a lion if you're confronted with a wild lion, the wild unicorn was also something that you'd be afraid of, something that would be a fierce beast that could attack you or turn on you or attack you. Definitely not a tame animal. Flip over to chapter 29. Psalm 29 verse 6 says, He maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn. Now some people have speculated that when the Bible says unicorn, it's referring to the rhinoceros because the rhinoceros is a very strong, fearsome beast that has one horn because unicorn just simply means an animal with one horn. By the way, there are a lot of animals in this world that have one horn. It's not really a shock. It's not just some mythological thing and so to say, well the Bible's a fairytale because it mentions unicorns is ridiculous because there are all kinds of one horned animals. Just because we don't know exactly what the unicorn was like doesn't mean that it wasn't a legitimate bonafide animal that was around at that time. And if it were a rhinoceros, it would still be around today. Now I'm not a zoologist. I'm not claiming to be an expert on the animal species, but I don't picture a rhinoceros skipping like a calf. I mean I don't know. Perhaps the young rhino skips like a calf. I mean can anyone shed any light on it? Anybody think it's happening? Because I don't. I mean when you see a rhinoceros, it's more of like a big lumbering. And rhinoceros is a pretty fascinating animal if you look at it at the zoo. I remember last time I was at the zoo, I was pretty amazed by the rhinoceros. They're huge. I mean it's a very fierce beast. I personally don't buy into the rhinoceros theory just because of this verse. It doesn't seem to fit. This is something that skips. So not only is it strong, not only is it wild and untamed, but it's also an agile creature that at least as a calf would be able to skip around, which doesn't seem to fit the bill of the rhinoceros. Go to Psalm 92, this is where we started. Psalm 92 verse 10, this is the 8th mention of the unicorn. It says, but my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Many people have questioned the King James Bible and said, well it's just the King James is wrong when it says unicorn. And if you go to all the modern versions, of course they remove the unicorn and they switch it out to a wild ox. That's what they change it to. And one thing that you can see from this verse is that the unicorn is a creature with one horn. Because it says, thou would exhort my horn, singular, like the horn of a unicorn. So it seems to be an animal with one horn. I believe that the King James, of course, is the word of God. And of course all the Bibles before the King James said unicorn in a lot of other languages. It's always been unicorn. It's just the modern Bibles, they throw away all that tradition and just go with a lot of new readings in the whole Bible, really. They throw out thousands of years of history and translation and we're supposed to just trust them to give us these brand new Bibles that are newer and better and more reliable. And they've rid the Bible of these pesky unicorns. But in Psalm 92, it seems pretty clear that this is a one-horned creature in Psalm 92.10. Now go to the last place that unicorns are mentioned, Isaiah 34.7. The Bible reads in Isaiah 34.7, and the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls, and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. So, again, not really a lot that we can learn from that verse. When you look at all these scriptures in aggregate, whatever the unicorn was or is, it was an animal that was very strong, very powerful. When David said his horn would be exalted like the horn of a unicorn, it was something that had an exalted horn, meaning that its glory was its horn. You know, when you thought of the unicorn, you thought of the magnificent horn that it possessed as a weapon that it would push with. It was a fearsome creature that you didn't want to come across in the wild because it could hurt you. It was strong, powerful, untamed. Do we know exactly what it was? Was it exactly like the white horse with the spiraled horn, you know, with rainbows and everything like that? I'm not claiming that. It very well could have been equine in nature. Perhaps it was like a horse. I wouldn't be shocked. It's not really that weird to think of a horse with a horn. I'm not going to spoil some little girl's dream and what she has on her binder. It's fine. So I don't know. I'm not claiming to know what it is. But it was a real animal and to just throw out the Bible because it mentions unicorns is silly and ridiculous, okay? We don't know what animals were around back then and so on and so forth. But I want to preach tonight on the subject of unicorns and you say, you know, what are you going to preach on unicorns? Didn't you just pretty much cover everything the Bible said? Well, I was thinking about unicorns and unicorns are often used today figuratively. We talk about a unicorn. Like usually a unicorn describes something that's very hard to find because all the folklore and all the legends about unicorns, you know, unicorns are really difficult to find and it was something that you're trying to spot. Now the Bible doesn't teach that. So it was probably an animal that was pretty common in Bible days and it probably just went extinct, like all kinds of animals have gone extinct, like all the dinosaurs are extinct and the dodo bird and whatever else that has ceased to exist, the woolly mammoth, for example. But people will often talk about a unicorn as just being something that you're looking for and it's kind of unrealistic that you're going to find it. And you describe, you say, this is what I'm looking for, ABC, and they say, well you're looking for a unicorn and whatever the case may be. So I want to preach tonight about some unicorns that people are looking for today. Go if you would to Proverbs 14.23. When I think of unicorns, number one, many people are looking for that unicorn job. Now they don't like their job, they can't find a job they like, they're looking for the unicorn job, that perfect job. To the child I guess this would be being the video game tester or whatever, their perfect job that they want. Today people want to go to college and put a lot of time in college so that they can get a job where they work little and get paid a lot. A job that's easy, a job that's fun, interesting, challenging, they're looking for that perfect job. Now a lot of people today are on unemployment, right? And they stay on unemployment for a really long time because they're having trouble finding that unicorn of a job, that perfect job. There are jobs out there. People are hiring and people who are motivated and want to get a job can find a job, but it might not be the unicorn that you're looking for. Now I don't believe that it's wrong to collect unemployment, I'm not saying that it's a sin, I'm not going to judge you for that at all. Because of course that's something that you're paying into, I mean it's being deducted from your check and your boss is paying for it and everything. I mean it's there, we pay so much to these programs and we pay so much in taxes, I don't ever judge anyone or fault anyone who cashes out on something that they've been paying into their whole life. And increasingly we pay in more and more, we'll talk about it later Gregory. But I'll say this, I don't think it's wrong to collect it, but I've never collected it personally, but I know this, there is a mentality, there's a mindset that says, you know, well my unemployment is going to last for 20 weeks, and basically they start looking for a job about 19 and a half weeks in. Because they're like, well you know, I've got this unemployment available to me, so let's just keep collecting it, keep collecting it, keep collecting it, and just not look for a job, and then it runs out and they can't find a job sometimes. And you know, if I were you I'd get, well the getting's good, is my only advice. Now obviously, you know, there are times when there's a job that's coming down the pike and you know you're going to have a job in a few weeks or something, and you're getting unemployment in the meantime to fill some kind of a gap, but you know, just being on unemployment for six months, or being on unemployment for a year, being on unemployment for a year and a half, and sometimes people are on unemployment for these extended periods with a lot of government programs that keep extending unemployment. Yes, the federal government subsidizes unemployment using tax dollars. They're constantly voting in Congress and the Senate to extend unemployment benefits another five billion months or whatever, so that people can stay on it. So what I'm saying is that you're never going to find the perfect job, and any job that you have, you can succeed and make money, really in any line of work. I mean there are literally, and look at Proverbs 14.23. The Bible says in Proverbs 14.23, in all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. So the Bible says in all labor there's profit. Anytime you're working, you're either making money or you're gaining experience or you're getting something done, or God's going to bless you just because he sees you going to work. Look at Ecclesiastes 9.10. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9.10, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whether thou goest. So whatever your job is, maybe you're in a job that's not the perfect job, it's not the perfect best unicorn job, but the Bible teaches that we should always work hard at our job, no matter what our job is, we should go there and give it our best. And sometimes that job that's a crummy job, if we would go to it and work hard, it could pan out into a good job. It could turn into a good job. And the Bible even talks about when we have a bad boss or a bad job, you don't have to turn there, but in 1 Peter 2.18 it says, servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. He says, be a good employee even if your boss is a bad boss. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. The Bible teaches that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. The Bible says with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to man. No matter what your job is, you should go to work and work as unto the Lord and not unto man, even if it's not the best job. Now pretty much any industry, you can make money in that industry. Even if you were to just take, for example, fast food. You say, well, fast food industry, you're not going to make any money with that. But there are people who make money in the fast food industry. You know, they get up into management or they get to where they're running a few stores and there are people who make substantial amounts of money. You can even think of a menial job like, for example, mowing lawns. You know, a lot of teenagers mow lawns, but yet I've known people who made six figures mowing lawns because they built a business, they hired people, they expanded it. Pretty much any industry, if you go into business for yourself, you can make a lot of money. You can get something done. And any work that you do for someone else, you're gaining experience, you're doing a good job. Now I realize that sometimes there are just dead end jobs, bad companies, and sometimes you need to make a change. Sometimes you need to get out of that job. But having this attitude that says, well, I'm not going to go to work until I find the perfect job. So I'm just going to sit around for the next six months, I'm going to be unemployed for the next two years because I just can't do the exact job that, I mean, I've got this degree in poetry, you know, and until I find that job, I'm not, you know, I've got this archaeology degree and until I get that dig, you know, I'm just not going to go to work. It's not always going to pan out your musician job that you're looking for, you know, your historian job. Sometimes you need to just go out and break your back and do some hard work. All labor has profit. The unicorn job isn't always going to be out there. You just need to get a job and just get to work and make some money and get something done. And, you know, if something better comes along, if you can make a change, great. But not only that, go to Revelation 3, not only are people sometimes looking for the unicorn job, they're also searching for a unicorn when it comes to a church. You know, they're looking for that unicorn church, that impossible to find, perfect church. Now what's interesting is that in Revelation, there are seven churches and if you look at each of these churches, they had problems. They had something wrong with them. Now these aren't just completely apostate, false teaching churches. Christ wouldn't even be talking to them. The fact that Jesus Christ is even talking to them, even referring to them as a church, even knowing their works, is that these are Bible-believing churches. None of them would be like a modern-day Catholic church or a United Methodist church or just some total apostate, mega church, liberal church that's not even preaching the word of God. These are bona fide Bible-preaching, Bible-believing churches. But yet they all had problems, they all had mistakes in them. And you say, well, one of them didn't. Yeah, but that was the one that's being persecuted so much that they're being persecuted unto death. So you'd probably quit that church because it's too much persecution, right? So pretty much if you're in the church at Ephesus, there's something wrong with it. They lost their first love. If you're at the church of Smyrna, you want to get out of that church because you don't want to end up in prison or killed. When it comes to the church at Pergamos, they had worldliness and they had the doctrine of Balaam and they had people that were, sometimes I get these mixed up when I'm trying to preach on the fly. The doctrine of Balaam, fornication, things sacrificed unto idols, Thyatira had a woman teaching, Sardis. Look at Sardis, this is the one I wanted to home in on. That's why I had you turn to chapter three. It says, verse one, and to the angel of the church in Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou liveth and art dead. So look, this is a Bible-believing church, a Bible-preaching church. But it was a dead church and they were living on a past reputation for having been in the past a church that was alive and a church that was thriving. They're living on that reputation, but they were dead. He said, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore, thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief. And thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Now, Jesus Christ made it clear that there were a few people in this church, even in Sardis, he's saying, even in this dead church, there were a few names that had not defiled their garments. There were a few people in that church that were great people. Unlike Sardis, which was a church that was on the decline, these people were not on the decline. There were a few names, even in Sardis, that were great people. And he's praising them, he's lifting them up and saying, they are worthy. They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Now, a lot of people that were living in Sardis would just probably just not go to that church and just say, I just can't find a good church in my area. The only church in my area is just a dead church, I don't want to go there. But you know what, Jesus didn't say, get out of the church. Jesus didn't say, forsake the assembling of yourselves together. You know what he said? Strengthen the things which remain. He said, strengthen the things which remain. And he praised those who were in church, even if it was a dead church, at least they're in church. And let me tell you something, it's better to go to a church that has issues than to not go to church at all. Because if you're not going to church at all, you are not right with God. You are in sin, and I don't care how many sermons you're downloading, I don't care how much preaching you're listening to, I don't care how much Bible you're reading, you need to get your rear end into a local church or you are not right with God. You must be assembled with the believers. The Bible says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is and exhorting one another, and he said, except in the last days it will be hard to find one. No, he said so much the more as you see the day approaching. In the end times we need to be in church more than ever. And what you need to do is get into Sardis Baptist Church. I know it's not unicorn Baptist, it's Sardis Baptist. It's dead, it's lame. But you know what, there are some good things about that church. And you need to get in there and strengthen the good things, and try to work on the other things that need work. For example, maybe you're in a town and you say, well why are you preaching this? We're all in unicorn Baptist. Faithful Word, right? You say, why aren't I preaching this? Because look, see there are some unicorns out there. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, what I'm saying is you're going to come at a time in your life though where you may not have Faithful Word Baptist Church. A lot of people under the sand of my voice are going to move to other places or be visiting in other places, and that's where this preaching needs to come into play. Someday you might live in a distant town or a distant city, and this might become relevant to you. What you do is you go to the best church in your area, the best church you can find. And let's say the only thing you can find in your area is a church that, well, it's Fundamental Baptist, they're King James only, but they just don't have soul winning, and that's all you can find. Now if you can find the one that has soul winning, go there. But let's say they don't have any soul winning. Then you know what, you need to go to that church and then you need to do the soul winning. You need to find someone in that church who loves the lost and get a soul winning partner, and maybe you could start soul winning. You could introduce soul winning. And I know people who have gone to churches like that and started a soul winning program and gotten the church fired up. Maybe they are faced with opposition within the church. People who are down on soul winning try to put a wet blanket on it. But you know what, that's all you can do is the best you can. You can just show up, go to church, try to be a good influence. But when you're sitting at home you're influencing no one. At least if you show up and try to strengthen the things that remain, at least you're accomplishing something for the body of Christ there at the local church, and not just sitting at home whining about how you can't find a good church to go to. At least get out there, get out of your little shell there, get out of your bubble, and go to a church, and you know what, don't just sit there and just be negative and down on everything. Find the things that are good about it, focus on that, try to help them grow in other areas, try to get people on soul winning, do the best you can, but get in church or you're not right with God, and if you quit going to this church then you better be going to another Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church. And if you're just going to stay home because you get angry at our church or get upset at Pastor Anderson's preaching, then you know what, you're not right with God if you just sit at home. Go to one of these other churches in town where all the faithful word wash-ups go to. No, I'm just kidding. Turn if you would to Hebrews chapter 13. So some people are looking for that unicorn job, that perfect job. Some people, and by the way, I go to work to make money. Not to have fun. And I'll tell you this, a lot of jobs that I've had over the years weren't fun at all, but they made money. That's why I went there. So you go to work at a job that pays. That's where you go. And it might be digging ditches, you might get muddy and dirty, it might be repetitive and redundant. I mean most jobs are pretty repetitive and boring. I mean when I was in the fire alarm business, I'd put fire alarms in these giant high-rise hotels. I'd put in the same device, the same horn strobe device in every hotel room, hundreds of rooms. Just a couple wires going in, couple wires going out. Same device all day long, getting carpal tunnel, turning that screwdriver, putting in device after device after device after device. That's work, that's life. I mean think about if you're a farmer. You know you think they just plant a different crop in every row just to keep it interesting? Just to make it fun? No, I mean they just plant the same crop over and over and over and they plow and they plow and they plow and they plow and they milk that cow and they do whatever farmers do. Okay, where did I return, Hebrews 13? Here's another thing where people are looking for a unicorn. Number one, unicorn job. Number two, the unicorn church, unicorn Baptist. It's out there, it's in Tempe, but you know people are looking for it somewhere else. Just kidding. Our church isn't perfect, no church is perfect. Get over it. But another thing that people are looking for is that unicorn wife or husband. They're looking for the unicorn, okay? Now a lot of people unfortunately that are married have this mentality. They think that something better is out there. They think that they made a mistake and that they married the wrong person and that they missed out on something better. What a wicked philosophy to have. What a wicked thought to enter your mind. What a covetous, ungodly thing to think as a married person. The Bible says in Hebrews 13, 4, marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled, what whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness. What is covetousness? Desiring that which does not belong to you and be content with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now we ought to just be content and happily married to the person that we've married and by the way, unless you grew up in some nation where it was an arranged marriage, you chose to marry that person and you need to be content with the person you're married to and thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, the Bible says. And that could also go conversely with the husband as well. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, talking about the unicorn wife or the unicorn of a husband that people are looking for. And by the way, this is why some people will remain unmarried until doomsday because they're looking for a unicorn, that's why. And by the way, the older people get, the more they start believing in unicorns, apparently. You know, you thought it was just kids who believe in unicorns, but in fact the older people get, they start to believe in unicorns once again. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1, it says, now concerning the things whereof you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman, nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband, the wife hath not power of her own body but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other except to be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. But I speak this by permission and not of commandment, for I would that all men were even as I myself, but every man hath this proper gift of God. One after this manner and another after that, I say therefore to the unmarried and widows it is good for them if they abide even as I, but if they cannot contain, let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn. Now in chapter 7 verse 6 he says, but I speak this by permission and not of commandment. What he's saying there is that we are not commanded to be married. The Bible does not command us, thou shalt be married. That's what he means there when he says I speak this by permission not of commandment and he follows that up by saying for I would that all men were even as I myself. Paul was not married so he's saying I'm not saying that you must get married because a minute ago he said let every man have his own wife. So he just wanted to make sure we don't think that he means by that that it's a commandment of God to be married. It is okay for a person to choose to be saved without permission to be married or not to be married. They are not commanded to be married. Paul said that he liked being single and he thought that it would be great if everybody were like himself. Well, sorry Paul, but the human race wouldn't last very long if that were the case. But the Apostle Paul in this chapter is giving a lot of comfort to those who are single for whatever reason. And he explains in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 the virtues of being single. He talks about the virtues of being married and the virtues of being single. And he's explaining that there's nothing wrong with being single but he explains in verse 7 that every man hath his proper gift of God one after this manner and another after that. So even though Paul says yeah I wish everybody were like me, is the single life for everyone? Clearly not because he clearly says here that this is a certain gift of God that some people would have that inclination to be able to handle living a single life and doing it in a godly, righteous manner. But the Bible says in verse 9, if they cannot contain, let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn. And I think the burning there is talking about people burning with lust is what he's referring to. And he's saying it's better to marry than to burn. And if we study the whole Bible in the aggregate, this is pretty much the only passage that really proclaims the virtues of being single that I've ever found. And in fact the bulk of scripture is telling you to get married. The bulk of scripture, like it says in Genesis chapter 3, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make it help meet for him. And of course he created Eve to be with Adam because it was not good for the man to be alone. And really throughout scripture, for example, the bishop or the elder of the church, the pastor must be married according to the Bible. The bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, and also having faithful children not accused of right or unruly. I believe that in order for a person to be qualified to pastor, they must both be married and have children. A lot of people don't believe that. There are a lot of single pastors. There are pastors that are married with no children. If you're going to take a strict interpretation, which I do, I say you have to be married and have children. Because if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? And how can you know how to rule your own house? We don't even know. You haven't even done it. And there are a lot of things that you learn through being married that you can't learn when you're single. And there are a lot of things that you learn through having children that you can't learn when you don't have children. Now, nothing wrong with being single, nothing wrong with being married and not having children, but you're just not the guy for the job of bishop or elder. Because to be the bishop, you need to be married and have children. And you say, well, but what about this guy and he and his wife are not able to have children. Well, maybe God's not calling him into the ministry then. I mean, if you think about it. Not saying there's anything wrong with that guy, he could be a godly, righteous man, but it's obviously not God's will for him to pastor if God said he needs to have children and he doesn't have children, well, maybe he's just not supposed to be pastoring. Again, I'm not trying to criticize or rip on anybody who's married with no children or a single pastor. And you know, some people have asked the question, well, what if a pastor's married and has children, but then his wife dies? Does he have to step down? Obviously not. He's already learned how to rule his house. He's already shown that track record of the fact that he led and had to pass. Now I personally would recommend, of course, that he eventually get remarried or he probably should step down if he's not eventually going to get remarried. But obviously, you know, he's not just going to the next day get married. So I don't think he should have to step down until he gets remarried. I know a pastor whose wife passed away and he had a wife and lots of children, but his wife passed away, he's still pastoring, but in my opinion he should get remarried just because it's going to allow him to be a better pastor if he's married and has children. That's the ideal situation. That's God's plan. So what the Bible teaches is that marriage is a good thing. Marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled, but hormongous and adulterous God will judge. The Bible teaches that being single is great for some people, but I would say that the majority of the people on this earth and the majority of Scripture leans toward marriage as being God's plan for the average person, for most people. And often it can be an unhealthy situation to be single just because, and again I'm not criticizing because some people are cut out for this like the Apostle Paul, but it can sometimes be a situation that could lead you into temptation, that could lead you into sin, that could cause you to be less effective in serving God because you're not married and following that plan which God has laid out for us. It's not good for the man to be alone. Now in 1 Corinthians 7.39, you're in chapter 7, go down to verse 39, it says, The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead she is at liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord. Now this verse is one of several verses that tell us that the single person is at liberty to marry who they want. Isn't that what that says? She can marry who she will, who she wants to only in the Lord. So God is basically telling us that we have freedom, we have liberty to choose whom we marry as long as we marry someone in the Lord. Obviously we should never marry an unbeliever, obviously that is a sin, that is condemned by scripture, but God does give us the choice of who to marry. Let me say this, God does not choose for us, I do not believe, and also I do not believe that the parents should choose for us. I believe that each individual should choose their own husband or their own wife, that's what I believe. Now some people will remain single until doomsday simply because they are looking for that unicorn wife or unicorn husband. And let me just say this, the perfect person isn't out there. And guess what? When you find that perfect person that has the perfect looks that you want, that has the perfect godliness that you want, that loves faithful word Baptist church, and that has intelligence, and that has humor and is fine and is a great cook and everything that you want, what in the world would she be doing with you? Think about that, this unicorn of a woman that is so beautiful and so talented and so charming and smart, she might not even look at you twice buddy. I'm just joking obviously, but actually I'm not. Because the reality is that you're out there looking for some perfect person, you're looking for all these perfect attributes, well look in the mirror, you're not so perfect. Look at your life, you're not perfect. We need to understand that getting married is not about finding that prize or that trophy for ourselves that will gratify us. Marriage is about giving, not just receiving. Marriage is about what you can bring to the table. Marriage is about loving another person. It's not about just finding that perfect person just to complete your perfect little life. You know it's about finding someone that you actually love and care about and want to do things for them and you want to be generous to them and you want to love them and make their life good and teach them to be a better Christian. You don't want to go into it with a selfish, self-centered mentality. I find this that often people are looking for just this unicorn person, whether it's husband or wife, and they just say, well you know, when the right person comes along, I'm going to get married, and then just decades go by and the right person's just not coming along. Well maybe the right person just doesn't exist because maybe you're just looking for something that's just a little bit of a pie in the sky idea. When you're young, this isn't much of a problem. I mean when you're young, when you're a teenager, they all look great. You just pick the one you like, right? And you're a young adult, you just pick the one you like, right? But as people get older, they get really set in their ways and they start getting real definite ideas about who they are and who they're going to marry and how things are going to be. And then it becomes really hard to try to find that square to fit in the round hole. They're looking for that certain unicorn and it just isn't there. And when they get to be 30, it gets harder. When they get to be 40, it gets harder. It just gets harder and harder because they're not willing to adapt and they're not willing to make concessions and just basically find somebody and just love that person for who they are. Obviously, you don't want to compromise on salvation. Obviously, you don't want to compromise on the fact that they love the Lord. But come on, nobody's perfect. You need to love people in spite of their faults because you have faults and you want people to love you in spite of your faults. You got to love them in spite of their faults. And so people are often just searching for this ideal pie in the sky unicorn. And honestly, when I got married to my wife, I was 19 and she was 21. And honestly, we were both not super-duper set in our ways. And there are a lot of things that she learned from me. There are a lot of things that I guided her on. And then there were a lot of things that I learned from her, things that she brought to the table, and we were able to kind of grow together. And we grew together both spiritually and just in other areas of our life intellectually. And so today, were we just the perfect fit when we got married? I mean, it was just perfect, just compatible, 57 points of compatibility or whatever. But you know what, we're definitely compatible now. Almost 14 years in, we're compatible, right? Because you grow together. I learned things from her, she learned things from me, and we grow together and we get along and have the, you know, I consider my wife to be the perfect wife for me. I mean, I love my wife dearly and I can't imagine being married to anyone else. But here's the thing, though. I didn't sit around when I was single saying, okay, she must have blonde hair, she must be blue-eyed, she must be an exceptional cook that's half German and half Hungarian. If I got that specific, I'd be searching for the rest of my life. I just found the one that I wanted, and then that's the one that I chose. But again, go to Proverbs 27 verse 8. So we talked about the unicorn church people are looking for. They need to just get into a church. Talk about the unicorn job that they're looking for, look, just get a job. They're looking for that unicorn wife, unicorn husband, look, you need to just find someone and marry them. I'm not saying to just marry the first person that comes along, but you can't just get too crazy with your expectations of just the perfect person. You're not perfect, okay? That unicorn job. Here's the other thing, the unicorn place to live. Now a lot of people today are talking about leaving the United States. And honestly, the United States has problems. It has issues. I'm not pleased with what our government is doing. I'm not pleased with the way our country is going. I'm not pleased with the culture that just embraces sodomy and filth and perversion and promiscuity. I'm not pleased with our government and the way it's going into just a total fascist, you know, police state, total socialism, but a lot of times people have this grass is greener on the other side of the fence mentality and they're looking for that unicorn place to live. For example, this is the perfect example. People think that Switzerland is that unicorn country to live in. Now they've never been there and they probably have never talked to anybody from there. Now I've never been to Switzerland, I will confess, although my ancestors are from Switzerland so I've got the inside track to getting that Swiss citizenship because my ancestors were actually nobility in Switzerland. They were part of the Knutty family in Switzerland and there's even a whole big museum dedicated to the Knuttys and you know, nine generations back, yes I am a Knutty from Switzerland. So you know, they think oh Switzerland, now I've never been to Switzerland but I have traveled extensively throughout Europe and I've been to other places near there and I happen to have known some people from Switzerland and Switzerland is not the unicorn that you think it is. And in fact, just literally a month or two ago, I was hiking and I ran into some people from Switzerland and they were speaking German so I walked up to them and started speaking German with them and I started to talk to them about Switzerland and let me tell you something, a guy that I knew from Switzerland, he told me first of all, homeschooling is illegal there. He's like, oh yeah, it's free, the system of government is so great, everybody's got guns, it's perfect and in fact, there was this picture that's been going around the internet and just to show you how Switzerland's just the coolest place ever. And there's this picture and it shows like these two young pretty teenage girls riding on bicycles in like this green pasture with like machine guns on their back. And this is just like supposed to be just paradise. You know, beautiful young girls riding bicycles with machine guns in a green field. I mean it just doesn't get any better than that folks, right? Good night, it's such a lie and I even asked these people from Switzerland, I said hey, I said you know, what about this picture, because I knew it was ridiculous but I just brought it up, I said what about this picture of teenage girls riding their bikes with machine guns on their back or you know, whatever. And they're like no, people don't want to have guns in Switzerland, they're talking about how they have gun control there, very few people have guns, they're taking away the guns, they're starting to, you know, it's not what, just because you read something on the internet about everybody in Switzerland has guns and it's great, yeah! It's not really the case. The guy I know from Switzerland said, homeschooling's illegal, you have to put your kids in the government school and it's mandatory sex education, teaching them all kinds of filth and perversion. And this guy was like, what am I going to do? You know, when I have kids, I don't want to send my kids, my little tiny elementary school kids to go learn about all this perverted stuff in the bedroom and about homos and all this stuff, man, what do I do? And you know what, he thinks it'd be great to live in America. And then we think it's great to live in Switzerland. Hey, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. And you can sit and think to yourself about, oh man, America's going down the toilet, if we could just go to Switzerland it would be a gun-toting paradise. But it's not, people aren't riding bikes with guns there. I've been to those places around there, I haven't been to Switzerland, but I've been to Germany and France and Belgium and Luxembourg, it isn't like that. And I've talked to many people who live in Switzerland, it's not like that. Just because you got some picture off the internet doesn't make it real, doesn't mean that it's true. You know, another one that I heard about recently was, I heard New Zealand, oh, it's all about going to New Zealand, you know, it's this paradise. Somebody said it's identical to the United States in the 1950s. I mean, it's just like getting in a time machine, back to the good old happy days. And then another person told me, Uruguay, oh man, Uruguay, and they said, I'm moving to Uruguay, and we need to all leave and go to Uruguay. And then, you know, a week after the guy told me that, I read about how they're having, you know, same queer marriage, and queers getting married in Uruguay now. You know, after they just tell me how it's conservative, and it's godly there, you know. Folks, the whole world's messed up. You know, I mean, the whole world is in darkness. The Bible says, we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And honestly, I'm not even saying that there will never be a time when people should leave the United States, or maybe there would be a time to flee the United States. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. Maybe there is some unicorn country out there somewhere where everything is great, this land flowing with milk and honey. Maybe it's out there, I don't know. But everyone that I've been told about never panned out. And I have a sneaking suspicion that there is no unicorn place to live in this country. We live in a sinful world, we live in an ungodly, wicked, and perverse generation. And there are people out there who are just perennial wanderers. They're like Cain. They're like Cain. They're like vagabonds. You know, they're these wanderers in the earth. And the Bible says in Proverbs 27-8, as a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. And the Bible warns us about just wandering from one place to another, without a real intention, without a real reason to go. And if God has put you somewhere, and if you're there, and you have a good church there, you have a family there, and you're serving God there, you know, be careful about just wandering around and just moving for the sake of moving because, you know, you think, and I've talked to a lot of people who have left the United States and gone to these, you know, one guy in particular went somewhere in South America and came back and said, hey, you know, it's not what it's cracked up to be. I'm glad to be back in America. And honestly, I've traveled a little bit throughout your, I've never been to Asia or Africa or anything. I've been to Mexico and down into Mexico, and I've traveled around Europe. I think I went to, I don't know how many countries in Europe, nine or ten or something. I went to a bunch of different countries in Europe, and my thought the whole time was like, wow, I'm glad I live in America. America is better. And I know America is not perfect, but it is definitely better than living in Europe. No question about that. Our standard of living is way better. We have way more opportunity, more freedom. And by the way, Arizona is better than most states. I mean, if you look at the level of freedom that we have and just, you know, the financial aspects and, you know, the weather is great, especially in January. I mean, I was breaking a sweat today, you know, turn on the air conditioner a little bit. So why don't we just be happy with what we have is what I'm trying to say. Be happy with your job. Be happy with your spouse. Be happy with your church. Be happy with where you live. And look, sometimes do changes need to be made? Yes, except with your spouse. You don't change that, okay. But when it comes to your church, you know, if there was a better church out there and I knew it was better and it was legitimate, okay, I'd make that switch. I'd make that move. You know, if you're living in North Korea, okay, yeah, it's time to make the move. Make the move if you can, all right. You know, if you're living in just a really bad state or not, you know, you're living in Las Vegas, Nevada, it's getting a little too sinful for you, you know, yeah, okay, that might be a good move to maybe get out of San Francisco or whatever, San Francisco. What I'm saying is, you know, sometimes there's a need to make a legitimate change in your job, to make a change in where you live, to make a change in churches, but you can't get this unicorn mentality where you're just looking for something that you're just not going to find. You're looking for that perfect thing that's just not out there and what it becomes is just covetousness, just not being content and just not being satisfied with anything. You know, you've got to marry somebody. You've got to go to church somewhere. You've got to get a job somewhere. These are just things that you need in your life. You've got to live somewhere, and again, leaving out the fact that 1 Corinthians 7 says that some people are cut out for being single, average Joe out there, you need to get married. Average Joe, you need to get a job. Average Joe, you need to live somewhere. You need to get your rear end in church, okay? Look, you're not going to find a perfect of any of these things. You need to just find one that's a good one and go with it and love it and be dedicated to it and, you know, do the best you can to help your church be better and to help your spouse be better and to make the place that you live a better place. I mean, that's all you can do, right? Let's pray and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you that we do have a great church. We pray that I have a great wife, that I live in a great place, Arizona, and that I have a great job, but Lord, please just help us to be content with what we have and not to always be chasing after rainbows and four-leaf clovers and pots of gold and things like that. Help us to just get our feet back on the ground and get a little more realistic about our lives, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.