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Song number 40 to 430, as you find your seeds are able to, song number 2, see it on that first verse. Joes from the glory, we know all the earth whose sacred story, now prosias come and worship, where the newborn shepherd's field abiding in overthight, God with now-residing earth shines the end. Come and, come and worship at Christ the new ye, Savior come to brighter vision far, see a desire ye have seen it all star, come and work at Christ the new ye, Savior the altered, watching long it and fear, see the Lord our love here, come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear God, Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord God, for just allowing us to be here in your house this evening, Lord God. We thank you so much for every soul that was made into your house. I pray that you please just bless our service. Please bless the singing unto you, Lord God. Most of all, the preaching of your word. Please fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit, Lord God. And I pray that you please help us to be attentive, Lord God, tonight as we hear the preaching of your word. We pray now these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Song number 427, We Three Kings of Orientar. Song number 427. Sing it nice and loud and powerful. Amen. Sing it on that first verse. We three kings of Orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star. Oh, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading still, proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Born a king on Bethlehem's plain, goal I bring to crown him again. King forever, ceasing never over us all to reign. Oh, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading still, proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Frankincense is bare, a deity nigh. Prayer and praising, home and raising, worship Him God on high. Oh, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading still, proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Mur'est mine, its bitter perfume, breeze of life a gathering bloom. Sorrowing sighing, bleeding dying, sealed in the stone cold tomb. Oh, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading still, proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Glorious now, behold Him arise, King and God and sacrifice. Hallelujah, hallelujah, peals through the earth and skies. Oh, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading still, proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. We're seeing our next song, which will be 421, the first Noel, if I'm not mistaken, is that correct? The first Noel, 421. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then, of course, our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. And we are currently going through the book of Joel on Thursday evening, so hope to see you there. And then you see the so many times in teams, the list of expecting mothers, and the important reminders there at the bottom. This coming Saturday, December 16th at 6 p.m. is the First Works Christmas program. We will begin that evening with the orchestra playing a couple of Christmas songs and then roll right into the program itself. And so I want to encourage you, of course, to be here, but also to bring a visitor on that day and to hear the little kids sing. And, of course, they're going to be acting out some of the parts of the Christmas story in the Bible. And so we're looking forward to that. That'll be at 6 p.m. If you have any questions about that, you can see Brother Maury for more details. Sunday, December 24th is our Christmas Eve service. So we're going to have Mediterranean food after the Sunday morning service and then alligator and desserts after the Sunday evening service. And so we're looking forward to a great Christmas Eve service. It's great that it falls on a Sunday. And so we're looking forward to that. And then Sunday, December 31st is a New Year's Eve service as well. We'll have some games after the service. And then Friday, January 5th is the men's prayer night. 7 p.m. at the church building. And then lastly there on Friday, January 26th is Sarah and Giovanni's wedding. If you could do us a favor and RSVP so they can get a headcount on everyone who's coming. There is a you can scan to RSVP right there on the right hand side. And if you have any questions about that, you can also see Brother Maury for more details on that as well. And so you see the regular reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction. Excuse me during the service. Let's take some salvations from this past week. Salvations from Monday to Thursday. Any salvations from Monday to Thursday? How about Friday and Saturday? Salvations Friday and Saturday? One. Okay. Anybody else? Stop scratching your noses. All right. And this afternoon. How about this afternoon? One, three, four, two, one. Anybody else? Okay. Keep up the great work. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Four hundred and twenty one. The First Noel. The first verse. The first Noel. The angel did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay. In fields where they lay keeping their sheep. On a cold winter's night that was so deep. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel. Born is the King of Israel. And by the light of that same star, three wise men came from country far. To seek for a king was their intent. And to follow the star wherever it went. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel. Born is the King of Israel. This star drew nigh to the northwest. For Bethlehem it took its rest. There it did both stop and stay. Right over the place where Jesus lay. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel. Born is the King of Israel. Then entered in those wise men three. Forever lead upon their knee. And offered there in his presence. Their gold and myrrh and frankincense. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel. Born is the King of Israel. Amen, we're gonna sing another song, song number 431. Before the ushers collect the offerings, song number 431. Silent night, holy night. Song number 431. Sing it on that first verse. Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round, young virgin, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night. Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar. Heav'nly hope, sing Hallelujah. Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night. Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from my holy face. With the dawn of deeping grace. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Silent night, holy night. Wondrous star, blend thy light. With the angels, let us sing. Hallelujah to our King. Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, our ushers will be receiving the offering. And please turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 13. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. Tonight we're in Proverbs chapter 13. And the Bible reads. A wise son heareth his father's instructions, but a scorner heareth not rebuke. Man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth, but the soul of the transgressor shall eat violence. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that open wide his lips shall have destruction. The soul of the slugger desireth, and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. A righteous man hateth lying, but a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way, but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. There is that maketh himself poor, yet he hath riches. The ransom of a man's lives are his riches, but the poor heareth not rebuke. The light of the righteous rejoiceth, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. Only by pride cometh contention, but with the well advised is wisdom. Wealth guided by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathers by labor shall increase. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. Whoso despises the word shall be destroyed, but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge, but a fool layeth open his folly. A wicked messenger falleth into mischief, but a faithful ambassador is health. Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction, but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored. The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul, but is an abomination of fools to depart from evil. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Evil pursueeth sinners, but to the righteous good shall be repaid. A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Much food is in the tillage of the poor, but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment. He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth betimes. The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want. Let's pray, dear Lord God. Thank you for every soul at this church, Lord. Just thank you for this church you've given us. Thank you for the King James Bible, Lord. And we thank you for pastor. We pray that you bless him right now. Fill him with your Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us, Lord. And just bless this service and every aspect of it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Tonight is bad company. Bad company. Obviously, we know that the Bible teaches that or talks extensively about the people that we keep around ourselves, the type of friendships that we have, the associations that we have in our lives. And at the end of the day, you know, you are who you hang around with. That's just the bottom line. The Bible teaches us that if you want to be a godly person, you got to make sure that you're hanging around godly people. If you want to be a wise individual, you got to make sure you're around wise people. The company you keep will determine your future. It will determine the kind of person you're going to be in the next five years. Is my mic not on? No, it's on. It's on. Yeah. Is my mic on? Do you guys hear me or am I just loud? Let's use this one. I'm going to turn this other one off. I'm going to turn this other one off. Man, that means I can't walk around. All right. So what was I saying about company? The company you keep will determine the type of future you will have because you are who you hang around with. And of course, I'm referring to your close circle of friends and the people that you're around the most. Now, let me say this is that tonight we're going to talk about bad company and the type of people that you should not have as your close friends, as your close company. But let me give you some exceptions to this rule. I'm not referring to your spouse because you can't really do anything about that. And I have to clarify that sometimes because people, I'll preach a sermon like this, and they're just like, oh, man, they just apply it to every single person in their life, including those they can't get away from, like your spouse. Obviously, that does not apply if this is your spouse. And I'm sorry if this is your spouse. But at the end of the day, you can't really get away with them because you married them. But secondly, it doesn't apply to your parents either. If you're living under their roof, if your mom or your dad fits the description of one of these people that we're going to talk about tonight, you can't tell them, hey, mom, you're bad company. I can't be around you. Especially if they're paying your bills, they're feeding you. This can't apply to them. And so those are the two main categories that I say is the exception to the rule. And there is a third exception, but I'm going to get into that later on in the sermon. Look at Proverbs chapter 13, if you would, and verse number 20, very famous passage of Scripture and carries a lot of wisdom with it. It says in verse 20, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Now, don't take this in an overly literal sense. When it says when you walk with wise men, it's referring to the fact that you're allowing yourself to be influenced by wise men. Obviously, the reason it's using that term there, walking with wise men, is because of the fact that can two walk together except they be agreed, right? So in other words, if two are walking together, you're obviously allowing yourself to be influenced by that individual. You're close to that person. You're allowing that person in your circle of influence because you're learning something from them. They benefit you in a certain way. They profit you spiritually. Well, the Bible says that if you're hanging around wise people, the result is you're going to gain some wisdom. However, if you are friends with a bunch of idiots, stupid people, or as the Bible says here, fools, well, it doesn't say that you're going to be a fool. It doesn't say you're going to be stupid. What does it say? It says you're going to be destroyed. So it's giving you the worst possible case scenario when you keep a companion or companions that are foolish in your life, you would eventually be destroyed. This is why it's important for us to know that we need to avoid bad company in our personal lives. We need to have the right type of people in our lives as Christians in order for us to succeed, to prosper, and to live a life that's pleasing unto God, okay? And that's one of the reasons why church is good, right? Because when you come to church, you get the right company. You're in the right company of individuals that are going in the right direction. They're obviously esteeming spiritual matters. They're esteeming the word of God and the service of God, and that's the kind of people you should be around as a Christian, okay? Now turn with me, if you would, to 2 Samuel, chapter 15, if you would. 2 Samuel, chapter 15. Let me read to you a couple of verses here. Psalm 119 and verse 63, the Bible says here, I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts. King David here is saying that the type of people he keeps around himself are those who fear God, right? And he says those who keep the precepts of God as well. And you think to yourself, well, you know, that's kind of hard. How can I really know who is fearing God and who is keeping the precepts of God? Well, you really narrow it down when you come to church. Now, that would be hard to find in your family if they don't go to church. It's hard to find at a workplace because you don't know who's a Christian. It's hard to find at your school or any public settings of that matter. But you know what? At least you narrow it down when you go to a local New Testament, fundamental Baptist church, you know that you're in the ballpark of people who fear God and are keeping the precepts of God. So how do you know? Well, the fact that they're showing up to church should tell you that they obviously have some level of fear of God, right? Philippians 2, 25, you don't have to turn there, it says, Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my wants. So aside from the fact that you should keep people around you that fear God, that are keeping the precepts of God, you should be around people who are laboring for Christ as well. That's a great influence. Not just someone who claims to be a Christian and claims to believe the right doctrines, but someone who is actively living out their Christian life as well. That's going to help you as a Christian to become better and to live a life that's pleasing unto God. Surround yourself with companions who are laborers in the Lord. Proverbs 17, 17 says, A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. So here we see in Proverbs 17 that it's also good to have people around you who know how to endure the Christian life as well. People who know how to endure adversity. People who are just knocked over like a mushroom that grows overnight, but rather they're like a redwood that kind of sticks it out. You say, why is that? Well, because of the fact that iron sharpens iron, right? When you're around strong people, you eventually become strong spiritually. They challenge you, they encourage you, they exhort you, they sharpen you as a Christian to become better. You always want to be around people who are making you better, not causing you to regress in the Christian life. Now let's talk about bad company. And I'm going to give you four different people that you should stay away from as Christians according to the Bible. And obviously we can probably come up with a far more extensive list than this, but I'm simply using the times when the Bible actually talks about company. Now the first company that we should not keep around are the company of scorners. Scorners should be avoided 100% of the time. What is a scorner? A scorner is often someone who scoffs or mocks authority, okay? Now here's the thing, folks, is that if someone is just openly mocking God or openly mocking Christianity, we know to stay away from people like that, right? I mean, I don't know anybody here who has like an atheist as a best friend. If you do, there's something weird about you, okay? You're like, well, my best friend's like a God-hating atheist, you know? You need to find yourself some new friends because that's not the kind of friend you want. You know, the scorner, obviously an atheist can be considered a scorner, but I'm going to talk about specifically Christians who scoff and scorn authority, but they do it by sleight of hand because if someone just openly mocks authority, you know, red flags are going to go up in your mind and say this person's a bad person. But it's when they do it indirectly. It's when they do it under the radar. It's when they do it when you can't really detect that they're scoffing or scorning at authority. Those are the people that are dangerous. It's the ones who claim, they say they're Christians, they go to church, or, you know, they claim to believe the Bible, but yet they kind of undermine authority, they mock authority, they criticize authority. Whether it be myself as your pastor or your parents or anybody else who is considered an authority, they scoff at those things. Stay away from scorners, okay? Bad company. Now you're in 2 Samuel chapter 15. I'm going to read to you from 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 before we get into 2 Samuel. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 11 says, For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all but our busybodies. Now then there are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. And if any man, listen to this, obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but to demolish him as a brother. Now what is being talked about here? Well in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, he's actually referring to people who are just unwilling to work, okay? Think about a church at Thessalonica. There's some deadbeat Christian who's attending that church, unwilling to get a job, just kind of leeching off everyone else, their busybodies, they're not working at all. They are what the Bible considers to be disorderly. Now why is that? Well because God's order is for a man to work, right? To have a job, to be productive, to provide for his own, and to essentially, you know, occupy in important matters, whether it's paying the bills, you know, serving in church, they are busy doing the Lord's work, not just busybodies gossiping and just doing who knows what. So this person is guilty of this, and the Apostle Paul is rebuking the church at Thessalonica saying, you know, note that person and have no company with him. We shouldn't associate with lazy people, okay? Lazy people should not be our best friends, it should not be people that we hang around with and have in close proximity to our sphere of influence, but more so, he says in verse 14, if any man obeyed not our word by this epistle, note that man. So in other words, if someone is reading this letter, and they're seeing all these instructions and warnings against people who are not working, that are supposed to get a job, and they listen to them, they're just like, well I'm still not going to get a job. And they kind of are open about them, that's a scoffer. That is a scorner. The person who listens to the word of God knows where the line is drawn, and in spite of that still continues to criticize authority and not obey the word by the epistle, the Apostle Paul says note that man and have no company with that individual. Why? Because they're a scorner, okay? They are a fool, they're a scorner, and they're scoffing at the instructions from the man of God from the word of God. Now let's look at an example of this. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 15 in verse number 1. It says here, and it came to pass after this that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. Now let me give you a little bit of a background. Absalom is one of King David's sons, and of course at this time Absalom had murdered his brother who had raped his sister. He murdered him out of vengeance. And so in light of that he essentially fled the kingdom because he was afraid of the repercussions that were going to come with that. Well eventually through a series of events he ended up coming back to the kingdom, and David essentially permitted him to come back and dwell there in Jerusalem. But you know he wasn't seeing the king's face. They weren't like close anymore. He hadn't seen him for quite some time. And Absalom became a very devious individual in the sense that he began to rob the hearts of the people through sleight of hand and through scorning and scoffing at authority, which is King David. And so here we see, look at verse 2. And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate, and it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, O that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause may come unto me, and I would do him justice. Now let me ask you something. Do you see any mention of David here? There's no mention of King David. There's no mention of his bad leadership. There's no mention of his father at all. But there is mentions of him, really. So even though he's not being mentioned by name, Absalom is undermining, he's criticizing, he is scorning and scoffing at the authority of the land by essentially lifting himself up. So he's tearing down the king indirectly, all the while lifting himself up, because he is obviously undermining the authority there, and he has an ulterior motive, which is he wants to take over. Verse number five. And it was so that when a man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him. Now, kissing in this manner in the Bible is associated with what? Deceit and or flattery. Okay, so, you know, Judas, when he kissed Jesus, it's not because he missed him, it's because he was going to betray him. So Absalom is obviously a flatterer here. And why is he flattering the people? It's because of the fact that he's deceiving them. He's going to put forth some sort of deception to draw the hearts away from King David unto himself. Look at verse six. And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel, the Bible says. So here we have an example of Absalom undermining the king's authority by sleight of hand. He's not openly criticizing David. He's not getting on him or, you know, pointing out any of his flaws or anything like that, but he is doing it by sleight of hand. Okay. And we see that in verse number four. Oh, that every man that hath any suit or cause might come to me and I would do him justice. What is he implying? David's not doing anybody justice. Oh, that I remain judge in the land. There's already a judge in the land, though. And so we see here that he's obviously scoffing at authority. He's a scorner. He's undermining the king's authority. Now, this obviously can be applied to all areas of life of who is an authority, whether it's your parents, you know, and obviously there's not much you can do, kids, if you have one parent that is going to the authority of the other. But you know what, folks, that's wrong, too, though. You know, if you have a household where there's a husband and wife and the wife is constantly undermining the authority of the man, just kind of constantly cutting him down indirectly, that's wicked. Being like a little Absalom, just cutting down his integrity, cutting down his character, just kind of undermining his authority and scorning and scoffing at the decisions he makes, that is a wicked thing to do. Okay. You're scoffing at authority. That's bad company. Now, again, as I mentioned in the beginning, sorry, man, you can't do anything about it. That's your wife. And no, I don't know of any story going on right now of any wife scoffing at, you know, her husband. Vanessa does it to you at least every once in a while, but, you know, he works on staff, so you can't really. No, I'm just kidding. I'm joking about that. What I'm saying here is that that's a very wicked thing to do. And but in a case when it comes to marriage, obviously you can't do anything about it. But you know what? This happens a lot as well is in church, where you have church members undermine the pastor's authority and scoff and scorn the pastor's authority to other members of the church. And they'll do it by sleight of hand, right? Or they won't openly criticize Pastor Mejia, but they'll just say, oh, I just disagree with him on that particular area. But you know what? I love Pastor Mejia, though. He's changed my life. He has sure been a blessing to me. But he's wrong. You know what? People without discernment and without wisdom have no idea that they're being influenced by a scorner. Because often what happens when people make comments like that, where they're cutting down authority, is the recipient of that message slowly but surely is changing their attitude towards the pastor without even knowing it. You know, because that person's constantly coming around them, cutting down the authority, criticizing the authority. And I'm not saying that people can't disagree with me stuff in church. I'm just saying, you know, if that's your pattern, if the company that you're keeping is constantly showing a pattern of just cutting authority and criticizing and undermining by sleight of hand, that's bad company. You should not keep people like that around you. You say, well, what should I do? Well, just separate yourself from that person. You know, obviously in a church setting, we can't really do anything about that. If they want to continue to come to this church, it's really weird if they don't like me, but they keep coming here. All I can do is just preach a sermon like this, you know, to put in their minds that I'm probably talking about them. Okay, and put the fear of God in their hearts. But don't be around the absolums of this world allowing yourself. And look, it should tell you something if that person keeps coming back to you. If that person is constantly criticizing other people to you, that shows you, that should show you that that person does not respect you at all. Because they know that you're willing to listen. So either they think you're as wicked as they are, or two, they just think you're stupid. And you can't tell the difference anyway, so why not go to you? Okay, and so it's important for us to be able to identify the scorners when they come around, when they cut down authority. And you say, what should I do if I do identify it? Then just stop them in their tracks. If you have some scorn in the church undermining the pastor's authority, or anybody's authority for that matter, just kind of cutting people down, and gossiping, and just kind of by sleight of hand, just indirectly saying stuff about the pastor, just call them out on it, and that way they'll stop. And you say, well, can you give me an example, how do I do that? Well, my favorite way is just to kind of not be indirect, but rather be direct. And just say, it sounds like you're talking about Pastor Mejia. And you just kind of raise the volume up in your voice, so that people around you hear, because that makes them nervous. And let me just say this, since it's a Sunday night, it always makes me nervous, it always makes me suspicious, when there's people in our church that take other people, and they're just talking alone in some corner or something like that. And it's always the same person, too. And it just looks suspicious. And I'm not talking about if you have to deal with someone, and you guys are fighting or whatever, and you guys are dealing with it as brethren. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm just referring to individuals who just pull other people aside, they separate themselves into some dark corner, and they just constantly influence people. And you know what? In my experience, I've seen that when that happens, that person that they are trying to influence, eventually just gets out of church. I could literally point to people in our church, who are not here, who just coincidentally have been hanging around certain people, and all of a sudden they just disappear. Over the months, they just grow discontent with the church, they began to have a certain attitude towards the pastor and towards the leadership, they believe whatever narrative that person is giving, and boom, the corner got to them. And so it's important for us to know that. So if you ever have a person cutting down authority, whether it's a husband's authority, a pastoral authority, whatever it may be, just kind of call them out on it and say, are you talking about so-and-so's husband? Or if they're talking about their own husband, just say, are you criticizing your husband? That's what I would do. Because then it just kind of lets them out like, I guess I am. Like, oh, it sounds like you're criticizing Pastor Mejia. Is that what you're doing? Well, no, I'm just saying, well, what are you saying? At that point, don't even lack discretion, just kind of let it be known. That way the people in the immediate proximity can hear what's going on, and then that person can be ashamed. I do that all the time. Then that sin rebuked before all that others may fear. And shame on you if you're that person who's constantly receiving evil communications, receiving scorning, receiving scoffing and not saying anything about it, but yet even rather participating in it as well. That's wicked. You're an Absalom. You are the people that Absalom is speaking to. This is a wicked way to behave, especially in church. That's not the kind of company that we should keep, especially in church. Now, here's the thing is that, you know, obviously, as I mentioned, there's not necessarily anything we can do about it, because most of these scoffers and scorners are so indirect, they don't name anybody, so they can't really, they try to kind of cover their tracks. So in case something does come back to them, they're like, oh, that's not what I meant. I wasn't talking about anybody. I was just, I was giving an illustration. Right? But that's why it's important that when they do that to you, you just call them out on the spot so they just don't do it. Okay? And please don't misunderstand me. Again, I'm not saying you can't disagree with me, because obviously we all disagree with each other on certain things, not on major doctrines. But there's a difference between disagreeing and disagreeing and undermining authority or disagreeing with someone like the pastor through disrespecting or undermining his authority. Right? You can disagree with people without undermining their authority. I have pastor friends that I respect and, you know, that I love, but there's certain things that we disagree on, and if I'm ever open about disagreeing with them on a particular area, I try to be so discreet about it, because I don't want people to think that I'm cutting them down. You know? I don't want people to have the wrong idea that I'm disrespecting or undermining their authority because they're a pastor, they have their church's respect, they have my church's respect, so it's important for us to obviously, if you disagree with someone, you know, you need to watch your mouth sometimes, and not just, you know, let it fly and then say something disrespectful. Okay? Go to Proverbs chapter 6, if you would, Proverbs chapter 6. So we're talking about bad company here, we're talking about not keeping company with scorners, people who undermine authority. And I've had experiences, even in our church, where someone will even scorn me to my face in an indirect way. You know, they will literally come to me and they'll say something, and it's an indirect, but you know, I've been doing this long enough, I'm not stupid, I wasn't born yesterday, and I'll just kind of plainly tell them like, wow, it sounds like you're like disrespecting me or something right now, is that what you're doing? And then they stutter and stammer, and it's just like they're kind of found out. So I try to stop people right in their tracks. Okay? You know, we should be friends and keep the company close to us of those who love authority, they don't undermine authority, they're not going around gossiping about people, you know. And here's the thing, folks, is that our church should be characterized by praising God, by thanksgiving, by talking about doctrine, and secondary things that we can agree on, or even disagree on to a certain extent, but not be characterized by gossiping, right? You know, I like the fact that after a church service, I can see a group of guys in the fellowship hall just talking about doctrine. You know, Cody's talking about Yeshua and how he believes in Yeshua and all this stuff, and no, I'm just kidding. You know, he's talking about, you know, they're talking about doctrines and, you know, a variety of sermons or whatever, you know, I think that's great. Okay? I'm just leery of people who are constantly pulling people, and let me say this most of the time before I move on here, most of the time, the scorners and scoffers are always going after the new people. It's always the new people. Why don't they go after me? Why aren't they going after the leaders? I'll tell you why, because they sniff them out, that's why. Whereas, you know, you have a new person, this person starts navigating towards that individual, gravitating towards them, and just constantly wanting to talk to them. Why? Because of the fact that they're a clean slate, and they can undermine authority, they can criticize, you know, I'm leery of that. Now, but here's the thing, though, I don't police this church. I'm not going around saying, like, who are your friends, you know? Who is in your close circle of friends? In my opinion, if you get carried away with gossip and evil communications, that's your fault, you know? And so if you're at a church, you know, I feel bad for you that you got influenced by a bad person, but you know what? I'm not going to, it's no skin off my back because I preach enough sermons here to try to warn you about people like that. You need to have the maturity and pray for the sermon that you don't get caught up with some wicked scorner and scoffer who's mocking God, who's mocking the authority of the church, and stay away from that individual. You're like, well, what sermon can you point me to? Right here. This sermon right here. Don't keep company with scorners and scoffers. Psalm 1, verse 1 tells us, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, the Bible says. Now, one way you can avoid being a fish on the hook, per se, falling prey to some of these people, if they exist in our church at this moment, is by making sure that you get out of your little cliques every once in a while. We all got gangs in our church or cliques. People you just gravitate towards. Sometimes it's like a segregation of sorts. It's like the Mexicans are over here and then white people gather over here. Or it's like people who just want to talk about a particular topic over here. And then you have the people that you get along with the best, which I think is a great thing that you have really close friends in the church, but every once in a while you just need to get out of that circle and go talk to someone else. Go get involved in other people's conversations. Go be a little nosy and just go get involved in other people's conversations. You say, why? Well, number one, it prevents you from falling to the trap of familiarity with your group, where you start criticizing other people or people start criticizing other people to you. But number two, it prevents other groups from also falling into the trap of potentially scorning and scoffing because now a new person is showing up. I joke around sometimes, but sometimes I'll just join a group of people talking and then everyone just quiets down. Now I just kind of walk over my hands and everyone's just like. And everyone's just like. Cody just freezes, you know. I'm like, why are you guys so quiet? What are you guys talking about? You know, so it kind of it kind of purifies the conversations a little bit. So it's always good for you to leave your clique and go join someone else's clique and just get involved. Conversations like, I mean, I don't know if I can do that. What do they kick you out of their club or something? This is a no girls club or something, you know, like this is a no man's club or whatever. You know, obviously you'll be a little weird if dudes are just joining women's groups or something like that. You know, at that point, it's just like, OK, dude, you know, they're talking about like kids and their husbands and they're criticizing their husbands. Can you get out of the car? I'm just kidding. The point is, don't sit in the seat of the scornful. What does that mean? You know, when the scorner is constantly criticizing authority and you're giving him that platform, you're sitting in the seat of the scornful listening to him. OK, cut that communication. Don't keep that bad company with you. Proverbs 13, verse one says a wise son heareth his father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not rebuke. Proverbs 15, verse 12 says a scorner loveth not one that reproveth him. Neither will he go unto the wise. Why don't you approach these people personally and tell them to stop doing that? Because they don't listen. Or that, either that or they just deny it. You know, because they try to hide the paper trail of whatever they're saying. So it doesn't it doesn't come back to them. OK. Bible says in Proverbs 21, verse 24, proud and haughty, excuse me, proud and haughty scorner is his name who dealeth in proud wrath. The Bible says, so these people will often undermine authority by sleight of hand. They will flatter or criticize leaders indirectly. What have you turned to? Proverbs what, six? Well, go to Proverbs six instead. I'm gonna read to you from Psalm 26, verse four says, I have not sat with vain persons. Neither will I go in with dissemblers. Dissemblers is just another way of saying people who flatter people are fake and they feign themselves. I have hated the congregation of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked. Well, I thought this is like a fundamental Baptist church. I thought everyone here loves God. They love the Bible. I mean, that is what we're supposed to believe for sure. You know, give the benefit of the doubt and believe that everyone's here for the right reasons. But let me just say this. We live in a sinful world. And so sometimes that's not always the case. And the bigger the church grows, the more scoffers and scorners are going to be in church. I'm just trying to help you to like fix your spiritual antennas so that you're aware of when people begin to criticize authority, whether it's your parental authority, it is your your husband, your wife. Obviously, your wife's not your authority, but, you know, your your your pastor. These are things that we need to pay attention to. And one of the reasons I say that, too, is because sometimes when a person is found out for being a wicked person. And let's just say they get excommunicated or they leave the church or whatever. I always get reports like after the fact like, yeah, they were saying that you're a really wicked person. You know, I'm exaggerating here. But they always bring up these these accusations that they made or these these criticisms that they've made against the pastor, like after the fact. So this sermon is to kind of help you to think like, hey, you need to filter these conversations and make sure that you're not just being someone's audience, a scorner's audience so that they can throw up all of their criticisms on you. Song 55, verse 21 says the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, flattery, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil. Yet were they drawn swords. Look at Proverbs chapter six and verse number 12. It says a naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes. He speaketh with his feet. He teaches with his fingers. Frowardness is in his heart. He devises mischief continually. He soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly. Suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. So what is this talking about? It's talking about a flatterer who's sowing discord. But obviously he can't do it blatantly. So he has to do it. He has to do it indirectly so as to not arouse suspicion. OK. And so that's important for us to know. Go to Romans chapter 16, if you would. Romans chapter 16. Beware of the scorner. Don't company with people like that. And, you know, some of you clicks out there. Make sure you guys are talking about the right things. And that your speech is seasoned with grace. That you're not undermining people's authority. You're not criticizing people. You're not participating in gossip in a church. Some of you ladies too. Amen. Whatever, you know, little lady groups you got going on. Make sure you're not getting together criticizing your husbands. OK. Criticizing authority. And just by sleight of hand, spreading misinformation and gossip and wickedness. Don't be a busybody. OK. Don't be a scorner because after this sermon, if you persist in that scorning, no one's going to have company with you. Because the pastor's telling everyone, don't keep company with people like this. Don't hang around with individuals like that. They are going down a path that's obviously wicked. Look at Romans 16 verse 17. Now I beseech your brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. For they for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. It's important for you to be able to detect flattery. To know when someone is flattering you, not just complimenting you. Compliment is OK. Flattery is wicked. What is flattery? It's an excessive compliment that someone gives to you in order to deceive you. And the way you can detect it is that if they're complimenting you and you know that it's not true about you, that's probably flattery. OK. I'll give you an example. OK. I'll give you a personal example. There's a guy who used to go to our churches years ago. Most of you don't know him, but he doesn't go to our church anymore. This is years ago. This is before I started working out. OK. And before I started lifting. And, you know, obviously you look at me now, I'm pretty buff. I know that you. Why are you laughing? I don't know why everyone's laughing at me right now. You're scorning the authority here. But years ago, I just didn't work out at all. Like I didn't lift anything. And I remember we went to this activity and this guy, he definitely scorned authority. And in fact, one of the reasons he left was because of the fact that he was about to, the hammer's about to come down on him for undermining and criticizing authority, even to the point where he called me like the imam. He was he was saying a lot of wicked stuff. But I remember one activity that we went to, you know, I came I think it was like we're like bowling or something. And he's like, Pastor, man, you're buff. You've been working out. And I was just like. Thanks, I guess I'm like, I don't work out, though. You know, I mean, like I know I'm not built. OK, like, you know, what this man is saying, he's obviously trying to either he's delusional or he's trying to deceive me for some reason. And it was the latter, obviously, because of the fact that he actually in his heart did not like me at all. So that was an I mean, he should have done a better job with that flattery. You know what I mean? Because I didn't work out. I didn't lift at all, you know. And and so when he said that, I was just like, that's major flattery right there. OK. And then it turns out this guy did not like me as a pastor. He called me a Muslim imam and would criticize me to other church members and things of that nature. And once he found out that the hammer was going to come down on him, it just so happened to be his last service after that game. And so I'm saying that we need to be able to discern when someone is flattering you or when someone is flattering someone else. Just know this. You know, when it comes to authority, people often will sandwich sandwich a criticism. Like me is such a great guy, huh? But, you know, there's one thing about him and then they'll give that criticism and then they'll give another compliment right after that. Why? To kind of deter detection. OK. And, you know, in Absalom's case, he was doing it through counsel. OK. And here's the thing is that, you know, people in our church have the liberty to give counsel to other people, you know, especially if they have the wisdom to. And I have no issue with it. But, you know, sometimes it's good to just get counsel to get counsel. You understand what I'm saying? There's actually nothing wrong if you're going to give counsel to someone to come to me or someone who is spiritually mature and say, hey, this is the kind of counsel I was going to give. What do you think of this? Should I say this? And, you know, I'll give you an example. There's a guy in our church a couple of days ago. He called me and it was regarding a really big decision that he wasn't going to make, but it was it was available to him. And he told me, he said, I've already kind of made the decision not to do this because I feel like it's not the right decision. And it had to do with like getting a job away and leaving our church and going somewhere else. He's like, I've kind of already determined I'm not going to do this, but I want to call you just to kind of compare notes to make sure that I'm still making the right decision, though. And, you know, he gave me his reasons why. And I thought to myself, like, yeah, you're making the right decision by not going. Because of the fact that he was making a decision just based off of like getting paid more or whatever. And and he said, you know what? But like my roots are right here. I think it's far better for me to remain in this church with my family. My family is just getting integrated. And so and I really like admired that because of the fact that if he never talked to me, he still would have made the right decision. But the mere fact that he wanted to make sure and get counsel from someone who's older than him spiritually, that says a lot. And so if you counsel someone, get counsel before you counsel. And in fact, that's what I do sometimes. Let me let me share you a cheat code that I have when I counsel some of you. I actually go get advice from some of the pastor friends. I'll call Pastor Jimenez. I'll call Pastor Anderson, you know, some of my pastor friends, and I'll say this is the situation that I'm in or a church members in. This is what I'm thinking about telling them. But give me your advice. What would you say in this situation? Like, oh, man, so you're not coming up with this stuff on your own? They didn't either. We all got it from someone else. But you know what? You know, in a multitude of counselors, there is safety, the Bible says. And, you know, there's instances where they give me counsel and I'm like, OK, that's exactly what I was going to tell them. Or they give me counsel and I'm just like, you know what? I'm going to run with that instead, because that's better than what I was going to tell them. You understand? And so beware of those who want to be the source of wisdom, because often what happens with that situation is that they don't want you to continue to follow authority. They want to be, you know, the main source of counsel and wisdom. And that's why, you know, I'm all for the clicks, my friends. Because, you know, that's what you need. But there's always an issue where everyone just gravitates towards one person for all the decisions they have to make in life. You understand? Especially for especially gravitating towards someone who doesn't necessarily have all the experience of being married, having kids, like they're in the same life situation as others. It's probably not the best person to go to. I feel like I mention every couple of months, you know what I mean? Have some wisdom and go to someone who's actually, you know, succeeded in those areas. Absalom did not succeed. Absalom has been away from the kingdom for a long time. He just came back to the kingdom. He murdered his brother. And now he thinks he could be the judge of the kingdom. I mean, it's ridiculous, delusional. But, you know, there's people in that kingdom who believed him. And so it's important for us to understand these things, be mature enough to recognize and not keep company with scorners and scoffers. And if you're a scorners, scoffer in our church, you better shut your mouth. OK, and go scorn and scoff somewhere else. Well, that's mean. I hope it was. It's too bad I wasn't meaner about it. Go to Proverbs chapter 28, Proverbs chapter 28. Let's switch gears here. Talk about bad company. Don't company with riotous men. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, verse 30, be not among winebabers and among riotous eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Now, what is this referring to? Because when it's talking about someone who is a glutton, is a drunkard and it couples it with coming to poverty, it's obviously an individual who is lazy. It's an individual who does not work. It's an individual who possibly just plays video games all day while they eat and drink and be merry and are not productive at all. And according to the Bible, we should not keep company with unproductive people. Now, let me give you a really extreme example of a riotous eater of flesh. Because you think to yourself, well, you know, I'm kind of like a major eater of flesh. I consume a lot of calories. Is that referring to me? Well, no, because if you are burning those calories and you're actually lifting, you're running, you're crossfitting or something, you know, you're doing something, you know, then that's OK. Let me give an example of what I believe this is referring to. Who is familiar with mukbang? Those are riotous eaters of flesh, my friends. You say, what is mukbang? This is a trend on social media. This is why all the young people are laughing, because they know what I'm talking about. This is a trend amongst young people on YouTube. And it comes from, I think it's South Korea, if I'm not mistaken, where literally they'll have like a two hour video of just a mess of meat. And I'm not saying mess of meat as in like the way we would say, like a lot of meat, a mess of meat, just like the biblical term, like just a meal that can feed like five families. And they literally just spend two hours just eating that entire smorgasbord of food. OK, one of the most famous ones, his name is Nicholas Perry, who's a reprobate. His YouTube name is Nikado, I think. And this man is severely overweight. He is a gluttonous man. I mean, it's disgusting to watch this. And there's this like obsession with mukbang of just watching people eat and listening to them eat, because they'll purchase like a really good mic and put it like and just like for like two hours. And here's the thing, folks, is like you have this Nikado guy who obviously looks gluttonous because he's overweight. But you know what? Gluttony is also applied to those who are skinny who eat that much because a lot of these South Koreans are extremely skinny. But yet they're consuming a crazy amount. They're riotous eaters of flesh. They're literally making money off of eating all this food. And this guy, this Nicholas Perry guy, he's got cancer. And he's like, why? Well, it's probably because of what he eats. The guy sitting on a couch with this thing sitting next to him. And they're both literally eating, raising canes for two hours straight. Now, you and I will be raising canes for two hours straight, but we're not eating, raising canes for two hours straight. We eat our little meal and then we fellowship for two hours straight. I'm not kidding you. They will eat an entire plethora of food in front of them. Chicken. They literally have a bucket of cane sauce and they're just like dipping in. They're just like just gorging themselves. I mean, that's disgusting. It's filthy. It's a riotous eater of flesh. And you want this new generation likes that stuff. They revel in that. But folks, the Bible says not to keep company with people like that. Why? Because someone who is guilty of rioting is referring to violence, excess, just being just having no restraint, being lascivious. That's what it's referring to there. OK, someone who has no rule over their own spirit. Now, obviously, during Thanksgiving and Christmas, some of you, myself included, will probably eat a good amount. But you know what? These people are literally, their lives are characterized by it. I mean, this guy has literally made a living off of dying. Because he's consuming all. I mean, you basically have. Haffney and Fanejas. Nicholas Perry is like Haffney and the girl he's with there is Fanejas. Because they're just riotous eaters of flesh. OK. And so, you know, you're like, well, what's wrong with that? You know, I think that's cool to consume that much. And, you know, if that's what they if that's what they can do and make money off of them, that's on them. You know? No, but it's wicked, though, because it's promoting excessiveness. It's promoting laziness. It's promoting being a glutton and a slob. And it's no wonder that guy's a reprobate. The guy is a complete reprobate who is past feeling, apparently, because he doesn't know how to feel when his tummy is already full and should stop eating. And just can just eat successively and has made a living off of it. But, you know, that guy's going to die. I mean, that's just plain and simple. He's either going to die from cancer or he's going to die from heart failure. That's obviously what he wants. But, you know, we shouldn't be looking up, you know, Nikado mukbang for entertainment. It's disgusting. I see these things that come up on on reels every once in a while. And it's just like some 110 pound Asian girl with a huge bowl of noodles. And I'm not joking you in one swoop. Am I exaggerating? How many know what I'm talking about? Like, literally, one swoop is just like. Well, I think this is outside of the scope of your authority, pastor. You know, you shouldn't be talking about that. No, it talks about the glutton and the drunkard. It's about the riotous eaters of flesh. You know, that's obviously super wicked. But you know what, riotous eaters of flesh is simply a riotous person is referring to a person of excess. It's referring to a lascivious individual, someone who cannot control not just their eating appetites, but just any appetite. Because you find me a person that can't control their physical eating appetites, just like this Nicholas guy, I'll point to you a person who can't control their sexual appetites. They're probably weak all around. They have no rule over their own spirit. And they just give themselves over to every whim of the flesh. And you know, and by the way, obviously these people are not saved. A lot of these people are not saved. And you know, even to the point where some of them are reprobates. But you know, Christians, we need to learn how to rule over our own spirit, how to have a limit and a governor on ourselves and to control ourselves and not be riotous in our manner of living. And not have this attitude of, well, you know what, I'm just going to fornicate because that's just, I can't control myself. Then shame on you if you can't control yourself. Get some control about yourself. Get married or lift or do something to get your mind, go take an ice bath if you have to do it. Don't be a riotous person incapable of containing yourself. The Bible says, Whoso keepeth the laws of wise son, but he that is a companion of riotous men, shameth his father. The Bible says, What do I have in return? Proverbs 23. I already read that verse. So you can look at that on your own. Proverbs 28, verse seven. Let me read to you from Romans chapter 13, verse 12. It says, The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. And let's put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust there of the Bible. You're in Proverbs 28. Go to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. Here's a company, the type of company you shouldn't keep. The riotous men, the scorners, but also harlots. And in fact, look at the Bible says in Proverbs 29, verse three, Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father, but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance. Now I'm looking at a group right now that you're look, we're going to get a little course right now because the Bible is talking about it. But we need to talk about it. If it's in the Bible, we got to talk about it. What's a harlot? It's a prostitute. And so the reason this command is in the Bible is because it's obviously a temptation for some people to spend their substance on prostitutes. For some of you, it's just like, I can't imagine that. But you know what? There's probably people who struggle with that. And they kind of go along with the previous group that they're riotous because they can't contain themselves. So they spend their substance with prostitutes. But the Bible says here not to keep company with harlots. Why? Because first of all, it's disgusting. It's filthy. You're going to pick up some disease. You're probably going to get AIDS or chlamydia, gonorrhea, some sort of venereal STD. You say, Well, what should I do then? Well, how about you just get married? And you know, the great thing about marriage is you can come together with your spouse and for, I mean, multiple times, hundreds of thousands of times, and you'll never catch a disease. That's how God made it. You say, Well, why are you saying that? Because sometimes we just got to use common sense. And obviously, this is a temptation for people. You're like, Well, you know, I don't know about this generation. I don't think they keep company with harlots. Well, you know, there's probably people out there who have an OnlyFans account or they subscribe to an OnlyFans account. Now, if you don't know anything about that, then good for you. But you know what? I guarantee you, there's people here that know about that. These OnlyFans, which is prostitution, it's wickedness, and only lambs go on that. Only dudes who can't get a girl go on something like that. Only wimps will go on an OnlyFans and subscribe to an OnlyFans because they can't get themselves a girl. How weak are you? How lame can you be as a person to literally subscribe monthly just so you can join a group of perverts and gawking after some girl taking her clothes off online? It's wicked. Shame on you. Have some dignity. Don't keep company with harlots. Cancel your subscription tonight. Spending your substance on harlots, you know, it's nonsense, my friends. And you know what? I haven't heard that anybody's involved in our church. Don't start wondering like, oh, man, is there a guy, did the pastor find out about someone having a secret OnlyFans subscription or something like that? No, I just know that these are the sins of the current youth. OK, now, you know, obviously it says harlots, so it's referring to prostitutes. But, you know, you could just apply this to a whore, too, who's not selling her body, but is basically doing it for free. That's someone who is a whore, according to the Bible. That's the language the Bible uses. You know what? Christians should not keep company with whores or whoremongers. Oh, they go to church, but are they a whore or whoremonger? No company with them. And in fact, let's go to that point. Go to First Corinthians, chapter five, if you will. First Corinthians, chapter five. You know, it's worth spending your substance on on your wife, on your children, investing in others, not paying some woman out there on the Internet, which, by the way, could potentially be a dude. Just imagine that. Imagine how embarrassing, shameful and disgusting you would feel if that subscription you had to OnlyFans ends up being some dude. It happens, my friends. You know, with the cosmetic surgery that people got going on now, I mean, it's possible. You know, and you know what? People, I remember my father in law preaching against going for men going to Thailand. This is like 20 years ago or something, or 16 years ago, when you preach on this. And you preach against that because men will literally take trips to Thailand because they're so perverse out there with that nonsense. There's all types of harlotry going out there and women that, you know, who are involved in prostitution. But here's the thing, folks, a lot of those guys, a lot of those girls are dudes who got like sex changes and they're trannies. But it's because, you know, they're so filled with soy, and the soy is feminine, they just kind of look like a woman. Hey, are we awake today or what? I mean, that's a legitimate thing. So just imagine you're paying a plane ticket to go to Thailand because you think you're just going to go out there and fornicate and commit all types of, and just, you know, lewdness or whatever, but it ends up being a dude. Do you really want to risk that? I'm not going to go to Thailand, I'm just going to keep this OnlyFans subscription until I get married. Yeah, but you don't know if that OnlyFans person is a dude. It's disgusting. Well, I just can't find anybody. Yeah, because you're always on OnlyFans. That's why. Because you're only looking for relationships through social media. So you're always constantly being catfished by dudes who look like girls. Here's the best way to find someone is in church. Right. Face to face. We can look if there's an Adam's apple. You say, look, there's a bird and you just. And in fact, you don't even have to do that if you're in church. The Bible says in First Thessalonians four, verse three, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. You should abstain from fornication that everyone of you should know how to possess this vessel and sanctification and honor. OK. And this is not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the gentiles, which know not God. And again, I don't know if there's Christians who are subscribed to OnlyFans, but I do know that is the sin of the generation. And if it's a sin of this generation, there are probably some Christians out there that are involved in that. Plain and simple. Better not be in our church, though. Have some dignity. OK, be a man. Stop going after men who look like women. I didn't know. Well, that's your fault. You mean catfish by a dog. This is I don't really like this kind of preaching. Well, you know what? Then go somewhere where they don't talk about OnlyFans and, you know, where they don't warn you about those things. And you can keep, you know, subscribing to some tranny out there. It's disgusting, my friends. It exists. It happens. It's better to just meet someone face to face, have some restraint about yourself and say, you know what? I'm going to wait till marriage for that physical relationship and do it the right way. I'm not going to fall into the same trap that my generation is falling into. And man, if you're married, you definitely shouldn't be involved in those things. OK. You know, if you're married, keep your marriage alive. Keep the physical aspect of your marriage alive. Don't go looking for kicks anywhere else. That's called adultery. It's wickedness. And according to the Bible, it merits the death penalty in God's eyes. Like, well, you know, I just you know, I get a little bored. Well, maybe you have too much time on your hands then. Maybe you need to work a little more. Why work a lot? Then maybe you need to work out that. To tire yourself out. And when you come home, all you have energy for is to be with your wife and your kids and you live happily ever after. OK, be a man. The first Corinthians Chapter five. Next is don't company with unrepentant Christians. Says the first Corinthians five verse nine, I wrote to you unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. Yet not all together with the fornicators of this world, with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world. So let me explain this before I get into verse 11. Because he says, you know, I told you not to company with fornicators. But then he says, you're not all together with the fornicators of this world because he doesn't want them to go the extreme route and be like all Amish and think that you have to just go off grid to just be away from sinners and people who are committing fornication, people who are covetous, idolaters, things of that nature. He's saying yet not all together with the fornicators of this world. But let me explain something is that this is not permission for you also to just hang out with a bunch of fornicators on your own accord on your free time to who are not Christians. You know, because I've always thought it was weird when Christians get along better with unsafe people than with safe people. I just thought that was kind of weird. Like when your closest friends in your Christian, your safe person, your closest friends are a bunch of fornicators, extortioners, idolaters, people who don't go to church. But yet those are your closest people. That's kind of weird. People aren't going in your direction as a Christian, yet they're the closest to you. That's weird. And here's what people will say, like a lot of these libs. They'll say, well, you know, sometimes we just get along better. Sometimes the people outside of the church are a lot more nicer than the people in the church. Or you're just really worldly. Or you're just a carnal person and your worldly friends can't tell the difference between whether you're a Christian or not because you're just so worldly. How about that? But I always thought it was strange when Christians just like their closest friends are a bunch of unsafe people. I don't believe this is giving us permission to just hang out with a bunch of fornicators. Oh, verse nine and then verse 10. OK, well, I'm just going to go to the bar then on Friday with my unsafe friends because God says it's OK to just hang out with just, you know, the fornicators, yet not all together with the fornicators of this world. No, this is obviously saying that there obviously comes a point where you can't avoid people, right? Like your job is probably filled with fornicators. People who are idolaters, extortioners are probably involved in other types of sins. It's not like, OK, I'm going to quit my job because there's fornicators in my church. We can't really avoid that unless you want to go to outer space. Because then you must need to go out of the world, the Bible says. You know, that's the only way. But God's not telling you to leave the world, but just to keep you from the evil. So you can't avoid them at work. You can't avoid them at school. You can't avoid them in certain settings. But this is not permission for you to be like, OK, cool. That means I get to hang out with my fornicator friend because, you know, the Bible says that, you know, that's permissible. It's just a it's just a Christian who calls himself a fornicator. I can't be around. No, you shouldn't just associate with anybody who fornicates. Why? Well, because of the fact that if you're constantly hanging around with unsafe fornicators and I'm choosing fornicators here because obviously that's what's being emphasized here. If you're hanging around with unsafe fornicators, you will become desensitized to fornication. Bottom line, if you hang around with unsafe fill in the blank, eventually you'll be desensitized to that particular sin. If you hang out with unsafe people who are drunkards and maybe they drink in your presence every once in a while and you're kind of justifying it by saying, you know what? You know, as long as they're not they're not claiming to be a brother, we eventually you will participate in their deeds. So it's better to just not keep company with them and make sure you just have the right company, which is godly people, righteous individuals who are living clean lives, especially if your friends are involved in sins that you struggle with in times past. Now, the major message of that chapter is to not keep company with people who call themselves brothers. In other words, who are Christians. And you know what? If there's a Christian who gets excommunicated from this church or any church for that matter, we should not keep company with them. If there's a Christian who leaves our church because they know they're involved in fornication, they know they're involved in some particular wickedness, don't keep company with them. That's what the Bible teaches us. And it's important to say this because we're nearing Christmas. And during Christmas, you know, our families have events and parties and stuff. And you might be tempted to compromise your biblical convictions and what the Bible says here and say, well, you know, I'm just going to go around them just during Christmas. It's Christmas. Yeah, let's go honor Christ with a bunch of fornicators, right? That's not the way it works, my friends. What am I supposed to do? Well, we have an alternative here on Christmas Eve, you know, we're gonna have a little Christmas here. It's like these people and I'm going a little long tonight, but you know, it is what it is. Okay. It's like these people who want to make this Christian nightclub. This L.A. Christian nightclub is such an oxymoron. And if you don't know about this, it's on social media. They're making a they made or they're making a Christian nightclub. And, you know, they want to just what they claim is like we wanted a place for believers to gather together, to fellowship and socialize and hear godly music. And I'm thinking, you mean church? That's what church is for. That's what you do at church. But, you know, they want they want a worldly version or a Christian version of the world. But first of all, let me just say this as just not as a pastor. That's corny. Whether I was a Christian or not, I would never be caught dead. I had a Christian nightclub. It's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard in my life. What are you doing? We're going to Christian nightclub. I mean, that's embarrassing. And by the way, whatever church they go to is probably like a Christian nightclub anyways. It's just brighter. That's probably what it is. Cheesy. It's wrong. And let me just say this. A Christian. You say you guys don't believe in Christian nightclub. We have a Christian nightclub. We're doing Christian. This is a Christian nightclub right here. Started at five. It'll end in a couple of minutes. Safe. You know what I mean? Got piano here. This is this is how we Baptist club. Amen. Do a little shuffling of the feet behind the pulpit. But we're not riotous, so we will cap it. You know what I mean? Not get too wild about it. But here's the thing is that here's why it's it's a bad idea. Let me just go off on this tangent real quick. And oh, that's the last point. So you're good. OK, I'll finish here. OK, here's why this whole Christian nightclub is just a terrible idea. Number one, if you're clubbing at on Saturday night. You got church on Sunday morning. So who's showing up to church after they've been club Christian clubbing all night long? Secondly, it's going to attract some of the worst predators known to man. That's what's going to happen. Christian nightclub is just basically a call for reprobates and predators. And it's just like, oh, that's that's easy pickings for them. Because it's a Christian nightclub. That's why it's a bad idea. Nothing really good happens at one a.m. in the morning. OK, be in bed, sleeping, getting ready for church the following day. No, we want to praise God and fellowship. Do it in the morning. But we want to do it at night, then do it on Sunday night. It's at night that like the bad things happen. Towards midnight, the twilight hours, I mean, look up those mentions in the Bible, you'll see the only bad things happen. And so, you know, I don't think this whole Christian nightclub is obviously it's not it's just not a good idea. OK, and you know what? You're a Christian now. Why do you need to celebrate like the world? Amen. Have some maturity about you. Christianity promotes families, promotes having children and getting married and being functioning members of society. Who have rule over their own spirit. We need to bring a level of dignity to this world. Amen. And, you know, a Christian nightclub does not add that. OK, so some of you got to cancel your reservation for whatever for that Christian nightclub. And so looking at you, Cody, I'm just kidding. What's the what's the sermon this evening? The sermon is this. Don't keep bad company. Don't keep scorners as friends in company. Don't have the company of riotous people, people who are harlots and fornicators. You know what? The Bible tells us not to keep company with fools, lest you should become a fool or even worse, be destroyed. OK, and so have some restraint by yourself and make sure you're paying attention to your close circle of friends and keep good company. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the admonishments and the instructions of God's word. I pray you help us to give heed to that. And, Lord, help us to always filter. Everything is taking place in our life through the principles of the Bible and recognize that the people that we keep around ourselves will influence us to the point that we will become like them. And that's why it's important for us to hang around godly people, people who are praising God or serving God, who are speaking as the oracles of God. And not to be around those who scoff at the Bible, scoff at leaders, scoff at their parents. Lord, I pray you bless us as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Keep your hand raised. One of the extras will come by. Brother Adam over there needs one. I see that hand. Let's sing it on that first verse. O holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees. O hear the angel voices. O night divine, O night when Christ was born. O night, O holy night, O night divine. Led by the light of faith serenely beaming. With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand. So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming. Here came the wise men from Orient land. The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger in all our trials. Born to be our friend, he knows our need. To our weakness is no stranger. Behold your King before him, lowly Ben. Truly he taught us to love one another. His law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother. And in his name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy and grateful chorus raise. Praise his holy name. Christ is the Lord. O praise his name forever. His power and glory evermore proclaim. His power and glory evermore proclaim. O praise his holy name forever. His power and glory evermore proclaim. Keep us safe as we go home as we fellowship. We love you and we thank you for this season. In Jesus name, Amen.