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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Morning, we're in Second Peter, chapter number one. Second Peter, chapter one, the Bible reads, Simon Peter, the servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as the divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby art given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make it that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be administered unto you abundantly and to the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this, my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto you dwell that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, thank you again for everything you blessed us with, just ask that you would fill the past from here with your Holy Spirit now, as he preaches your word unto us, and please just give us ears to hear it, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in 2 Peter chapter number one this morning, and the title of my sermon this morning is Wrong Ways People Deal With Problems. Wrong ways that people, specifically Christians, deal with problems. We all got problems, amen? You guys got problems. I got problems. And we as Christians will always experience problems. There's always gonna be issues that we have to work through in our lives, whether that is people struggling with sin. There's a sin problem. There are spiritual problems that don't necessarily have to do with sin, but just issues dealing with the divine, dealing with that which is spiritual, dealing with our walk with God. We have relationship issues, whether that is in your marriage, with your children, or how about just with one another in the church. You have issues with finances. There are issues with your physical health, and the list can go on and on and on. We will always experience these problems and issues in our life, and there's absolutely no way to escape the fact that we will always have problems. But here's the thing, is that problems can often escalate or evolve and become increasingly worse if we don't deal with them correctly, okay? And you would think that as Christians, we of all people should know how to deal with problems the most, right? Because we're Christians, we have the word of God, we're saved, we have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us, but here's the thing, is that unfortunately believers are often as effective in solving problems as unbelievers. And in some cases, some believers will often resort to the world's solutions to resolve their issues, and in some cases, some people who are not saved resolve their issues far better than saved people, okay? That shouldn't be, but that is the reality at times, is that believers will often resort to the world's issues, or world's solutions, excuse me, to resolve their problems. And that's not to say that the world doesn't possess any wisdom for any problems or any solutions whatsoever. However, we do have to take into account that whatever solution the world provides for your problem, first and foremost, is probably already in the Bible, okay? It's just like, well, you know, the world has the answers to these problems, well, if you read the Bible enough, if you got godly counsel enough, you would actually find that that solution is also in the word of God, and in fact, the world got it from the word of God, first and foremost. But secondly, you know, most Christians lack the spiritual discernment and biblical knowledge to distinguish or to chew the meat and spit out the bones. So often, they'll go to the world for the world's solutions and they'll find a good answer, but then automatically, they paint the world with a broad brush and think, well, the world just has like a lot of answers, has all the answers, and then they start buying into humanistic philosophies and principles that are not found in the word of God, and just kind of buying into everything that the world has to offer because they provided one good solution in a sewage of bad counsel. The point that I'm making here is the fact that we as Christians need to be able to deal with problems scripturally, biblically, according to God's will, and not just be flippin' about how we deal with our issues in our lives. So I'm gonna give you a couple things this morning of wrong ways that people deal with problems and what is the right way to deal with it. Now, you're in 2 Peter chapter one. The first thing I'm gonna say is that one of the wrong ways to deal with problems, and this is obviously the most obvious, and that is that Christians will often seek solutions outside of prayer and the Bible. Meaning, as soon as you get a problem, you go to a secondary source, you go to a secular source, you go to WebMD, you go to Google, you go to YouTube, you go to social media, you look for answers in all the wrong places, whereas we should, as Christians, go to God first, go to prayer and the Bible. You say, well, my problem is not necessarily a spiritual problem, and that's a wrong attitude to have because we don't wanna compartmentalize God and think that God only deals with issues in regards to the supernatural, in regards to the soul, in regards to the divine. God wants to be involved in all matters of our life, even that which is physical, whether it's a health issue, it's a financial issue, and it's a very naive attitude to have that, well, because my problem isn't specifically named in the Bible, therefore the Bible cannot help me. Because the reality is this, the Bible's very specific about an array of different topics, but even if you don't find a specific issue that you're looking for, a subject, in general, the Bible provides principles and guidelines to help you make the right decisions. It gives you wisdom. God is the source of all wisdom, therefore we need discernment and wisdom to make certain decisions when it's not necessarily clear in the Bible regarding a specific problem. The point that I'm making is that as Christians, I'm not saying don't go to the doctor, I'm not saying don't go to a financial advisor or something, I'm not saying to not go to someone who's not saved, but first and foremost, you should go to prayer and the Bible. First and foremost, you should go to God and say, Lord, what should I do in this regard? Now, let me explain to you why people don't do that first and foremost, and that is because of the fact that it takes too long, right? You know, praying and reading the Bible and studying the Bible and just scouring 66 books and spending time in prayer, you know, we wouldn't want you to waste your time on spiritual matters looking for a solution to your problem. No, according to the Bible, we should be praying regardless of how long it takes, and you know what? As Christians, we need to ask for guidance and wisdom and discernment, and sorry, God does not operate a drive-through service where as soon as you pray, he's just gonna answer you right away, but I'll tell you this, whatever answer he gives is always the right answer. Okay, whereas you can be rolling the dice trying to find solutions out there of people who are not influenced by the Bible, not influenced by the Lord. You know, we need to seek the scriptures for solutions. We need to get back to actually going to the Bible when we're looking for a solution, not going to our emotions, not going to your aunt and uncle, not going to, you know, fill in the blank, how about just going to the word of God itself and scouring the scriptures looking for the solution to our problem. Look at 2 Peter 1, verse three, it says, according as his divine power have given unto us some things that pertain to life and godliness. No, it says all things that pertain to life and godliness. What does that mean? The Bible has all the answers. Through the knowledge of him that had called us into glory and virtue, so what does that tell us? It tells us that the Bible has all the answers, but in order for you to get all the answers, you gotta go through him, and who's him? Jesus Christ, okay, because he is the way, the truth, and the life, and if we want ultimate wisdom and discernment and truth, you know, we need to come to the foot of the cross first, get saved, amen, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then at that point, we have access to an unlimited amount of wisdom and knowledge and discernment for life's issues. He goes on to say in verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. You know, there's a lot of information being given out there in the world that's kinda like, this might help, this could help, this has helped others, and it's not really concrete whether things can help you in this world, right, whereas here it tells us that these promises that God gives are exceeding great and precious, and you know what, God can't lie. If he tells you this is the result of your obedience to his promises, you can rest assured that he's telling the truth. He says that by these, ye might be partakers of the divine nature, and what does that mean? You know, the reason God gives us his word is to conform us to the image of his son, Jesus Christ. It's not just so you can be a great person, a successful businessman, just a really healthy person, a strong individual physically, mentally, spiritually. According to the Bible, he gave you the word of God in order to conform you to his divine image, the Bible says, take on his divine nature, to become more godly, right? He says having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. What is 2 Peter telling us? It's explaining to us that all of life's issues and problems, we can find the solution right here, okay? And this is why it's important, my friends, listen to me, that you read the Bible every single day. That you make the Bible the centerpiece of your life. Just as important as eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, going to the gym, going to work, just fulfilling your daily habits, this should be a part of your daily habit. Because we have decisions to make every single day. Small decisions, big decisions, and we need the guiding light of the word of God to help us to make those right decisions. Because if not, you're gonna default to some inferior wisdom, some inferior solution, and then you're gonna be complaining at the end, like, oh, God, why did this happen to me? Well, it could be because you just didn't go to God. You know, God has a superior solution for your problem. Yeah, it may take a little longer. Yes, it may take a little bit more work, but it's far superior to what the world has to offer. Go to 2 Chronicles, if you would, chapter 16, 2 Chronicles, chapter 16. Wrong ways people deal with problems, they seek solutions outside of the Bible and outside of prayer. And we live in a society today that where we can just get information right off the bat. We can just Google it real quick. We can just AI it real quick. We can just, you know, we can find answers just very fast, very quickly, no work whatsoever. But you know, the Bible isn't like that. And by the way, you shouldn't go to AI to figure out an answer of the Bible, amen? You know, go to the Holy Spirit that dwells within you, the writer of the Bible. Go to the author of the word of God. And how about this? How about you just, instead of typing in, you know, what does the Bible say about X, Y, and Z? How about you just go, open thou mine eyes and I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. How about just like, give me understanding, Lord, of thy word? Yeah, it may take you a couple years to get that, but you know what? At least you're gonna get the right answers. And you can utilize the ministry of the Holy Spirit that dwells within you, the spirit of truth, that will enlighten you to the truths of God's word. And you know, the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction. I want you to notice this, for instruction in righteousness. That means how to live. So it's not just good for end times Bible prophecy. It's not just good to rebuke sin and reprove your way of thinking and your bad doctrine. It's actually good for just teaching how to live life. Why? It says that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished into all good works. Okay? And so go to the Bible. Now look at 2 Chronicles chapter 16. And this is the story of King Asa. We're not gonna read the whole story. We're just gonna read a verse here. Asa was a godly man, but towards the latter end of his life, you know, he had some issues. And he didn't go to God to fix those problems. Look at verse 12. And Asa in the 39th year of his reign was diseased in his feet. I don't know if this is like gout or if it's just a really bad case of athlete's foot or something. The Bible doesn't, is it really? I don't know if he had diabetes or something, you know, about to get his foot cut off or something. I don't know. But he has some disease in his feet that was obviously fatal, okay? Some infection that got his foot. And it says until his disease was exceeding great. Now this goes into my next point, but sometimes people procrastinate too long before dealing with problems. Okay? It says, yet in his disease, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. Now, is it bad to go to a doctor for your physical health problems? No. I believe it's a good thing to do, you know, to go to a doctor, and we have modern science, and I'm talking about legitimate science, by the way, that can help us if we have some sort of physical ailment to rid us of cancer, you know, in the body, if we need some sort of surgery, if you break a bone, whatever. You have some sort of infection. Obviously there's modern science that can help with that. But I want you to notice that God is against you going to the physicians. What is he against? You going to the physicians before you go to him. Because it says in his disease, he sought not the Lord. This shows me that God is not only interested in helping you in your spiritual matters. You know, when you got your fever, you got your toothache, you got your backache, you got your physical ailment, before you go to the physicians and the doctors of this world, we should go to the Lord in prayer first. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you. This is obviously showing us that God wants us to have the right priorities when we are trying to find a solution to our problems. I'm trying to communicate to you this morning that when you have a problem in your life, before Googling it or whatever, why don't you just go to the Lord in prayer? Say, Lord, I have this financial issue, I'm in a lot of debt, or I'm in a lot of pain, I have this toothache, and I need you to relieve me of this, please send me some sense of relief, or send me a solution, send me to the right people, I need your help, because at the end of the day, folks, the physicians are great, but if God doesn't want you to heal, he's not going to let you heal, right? You know, if God doesn't want the athlete's foot to go away, there's no tough act and tenact, and they'll help you with that. You're not going to find anybody, you're not going to find any modern signs that can heal you if God doesn't want you to be healed. And you know what, at the end of the day, we need to go to God in prayer and say, Lord, I need your mercy, I need you to be gracious to me, and help me with this. Go to Exodus chapter eight, if you would, Exodus chapter eight. The point that I'm making here is that, is there not a God in Israel that you go to and inquire of Beelzebub? We've got to ask ourselves that question, right? You know, why go, first and foremost, to the secular world, secular sources, before we go to God in prayer and read the scriptures, and find if there is a solution to our problem in the Bible? Now, obviously, sometimes we have immediate problems that require immediate solutions, right? And, you know, it's not like you have this problem that requires an immediate solution, and you're like, well, let me just read through the 66 books of the Bible right now. Before I make any kind of decision, you know? First of all, you should have done that beforehand, amen? But maybe you're a new Christian, you're just a new believer. So what do you do? Well, you go to those who have read the Bible, you go to those who do have discernment, you go to spiritual authority, you go to your pastor, you go to your spiritual leader, those who have read the word of God, who have the wisdom to impart unto you of what decision you need to make, right? It's not like, don't roll the dice if you don't really know if this is the right decision to make, okay? So look at Exodus chapter eight, if you would. Actually, we'll revisit Exodus eight in just a bit. Let me read to you a couple scriptures here. Proverbs 1, 24, you don't have to turn this, it says, because I have called and he have refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, but he have said at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. Now, this is rough here, but it's true. It says, I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. So this is like, you're not seeking me, you're not reading the Bible, you're not praying about it, you're not asking for wisdom. You're like, well, I just don't think God will give me wisdom, it's because you lack faith. Because he tells us over and over again to pray for wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and abraighteth not. So in other words, the Lord is saying, if you feel simple and you lack wisdom to make the right decisions, all you gotta do is ask. And the Bible says that he'll give it to you liberally, not the Democrat liberally, okay? That's fake, okay? You know, liberally means generously, okay? He said, well, the Democrats are generous, yeah, they're generous with your money. He says, I'll give it to you generously. All you have to do is ask. Ye have not, because ye ask not, okay? So he says, I will laugh at your calamity. He says, when your fear cometh as a desolation, your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me. Isn't that the case? Now that everything's destroyed, everything's just burned to rubble, it's like, Lord, now I need your help. Now can you give me wisdom? But I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. You say, is God saying that he's not gonna answer my prayers if I don't pray to him right off the bat? Well, here's the thing is that often when a Christian does not seek the Lord for a solution to their problems, and they end up going their own way, they destroy their lives, and they ask God after if he could help them, what God will often do is provide lessons in that trial. The problem provides you the wisdom. Because he didn't want the wisdom beforehand, supernaturally, God's like, okay, I'll just provide it through this dumb decision you just made, right? It's called what? Experience. Now I personally like to learn from the experience of others. I like to learn from the destruction of others, okay? Not my own destruction. He says, for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. Folks, seek prayer and the Bible. You got a problem? Go read the word of God. You got a problem? Go pray about it. You say, I don't know all the answers. Then go to your pastor, go to your spiritual leader and say, I have this decision to make and here are my options. What do you think I should do? What does the Bible say about this? Because I'm not mature enough to discern and to rightly divide the word of truth. Bible also tells us in Matthew 21 verse 22, in all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. The Bible is literally telling us, look, if you need something, just ask for it, right? And it's incredible to think that we have such easy access to the God of the universe and we just never use it. Just never use it. Never pray about it. Never pray about the small problems in our life, the big problems in our life, the anxieties that we experience, the stresses that we have, the fears. We need to lay that upon the Lord and say, God, give me wisdom for the decisions that I need to make. Cause I don't want to make a decision contrary to your will, contrary to your word, therefore give me wisdom for this problem. The next point that I want to make here, we're talking about wrong ways people deal with problems. One is they seek solutions outside of prayer in the Bible. But number two, this is another way that people deal with problems. They just completely avoid it. Christians are notorious. People are notorious for just avoiding conflict, avoiding problems. They think if they just ignore the problem, it'll go away. You know that little pain that you have and your physical ailment that you have? You think that if you just ignore, it's just going to go away. But no, here's the thing. It's just going to increasingly get worse. You know, the problem that you have with the extra, with, you know, so-and-so church member in our church, you know, it's not going to go away. You got to deal with it. Stop avoiding problems. And look, I don't like confrontation. I know people think that I do. They think that's just my natural bent is that I just like to just confront people. I don't like conflict. I like conflict resolvent though. I like to have resolve. This is why whenever we have issues in the church or I feel like someone has an issue with me, I go straight to them because I don't like the awkwardness. I don't like feeling awkward with you because you're my church members, amen? And you know what? You should be the same. Stop avoiding people. Stop avoiding your problems. Stop avoiding your financial problems because you're only going to get into more debt. Stop avoiding your physical problems because you're only going to get physically worse. Stop avoiding the problems in your life. Actually confront them. Now let's look at an example of someone who avoided a problem and you would think to yourself, why are you doing this? Look at Exodus 8 and verse number six. Obviously this is the story of Moses and Aaron going against Pharaoh and he's just plagued them with frogs. It says in verse six, and Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. Now here's the thing is that one frog, you know, whatever, handful of frogs, whatever, but when the land is just filled with frogs, I'm sure it just smells the high heaven. It's probably super annoying. Everywhere, it's slimy. I mean, I've never owned, anybody ever owned a frog? Do they smell Brother Jordan? Yeah, pretty bad? Okay, so you can imagine how many of them would be in the land, right? So it's a grief to the nation there. Verse seven, and the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Yeah, real easy magicians when there's already frogs in the land. Oh yeah, we're responsible for this patch right here. Yeah, right, right. Verse eight, then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and he said, entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people and I will let the people go that ye may do sacrifice unto the Lord. And Moses said to Pharaoh, glory over me, when shall I entreat for thee and for thy servants and for thy people to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses that they may remain in the rivers only? And I want you to notice this answer, verse 10. And he said, tomorrow. That's the weirdest answer ever. He's like, oh man, these frogs are just making our lives miserable. Okay, when do you want me to ask God to take away the frogs? Oh, tomorrow. Just do it tomorrow. Talk about avoiding the problem. And I honestly don't have an answer as to why Pharaoh wants the frogs to be gone tomorrow. He's like, you know, one more day won't hurt. They're kind of growing on me or something, you know, I like these frogs. Why tomorrow? Just do it today. But you know what, I believe this just speaks to the procrastinating nature of man. Where you have all these frog problems in your life. You have all these frog ailments. You have all the frogs in your marriage, with your children, in your relationships, with your finances, and you're like, I'm gonna fix this tomorrow. It's just like you have these spiritual problems, and it's like, well, I'm gonna start reading the Bible tomorrow. I'm gonna pray about it tomorrow. Tomorrow's the easiest day to do anything, by the way. But here's the problem, is that sometimes tomorrow never comes. Are you waiting till tomorrow to take care of your problem? If that's the case, you're the type to just avoid problems. Because we should, as best as we can, deal with problems immediately, and treat the Lord immediately. Today is the day. Not wait until tomorrow. It says, he said tomorrow, and he said, be it according to thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God. Go to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, if you would. This is the wrong way to deal with a problem. Just avoid it. And sometimes people don't like conflict, but the reality is this, is that in order for us to minimize issues and problems in our lives, whether that's relationally, financially, spiritually, things need to be dealt with. They need to be taken care of right away, as soon as possible, or as soon as you can, and not allowed to just fester and grow and evolve until it becomes unmanageable, until it becomes a greater problem, and then, you know, your life is basically destroyed because you have this monster, this mountain of a problem that you didn't fix. Don't wait to get rid of the frogs until tomorrow. Don't wait to resolve the conflict in your marriage until tomorrow. Don't wait to resolve the bitterness that you have in your heart against someone until tomorrow. Don't wait until you get right with God until tomorrow. Get right with God today. Fix the problem today. You're like, I just have a problem with just like, like going to people, though. Like just kind of, you know, telling them that I have an issue with them, or telling them that I got offended or something. But here's the issue with this, is that, you know, often, your imagination will often conjure up a scenario that will never take place. And a lot of people who just procrastinate on resolving issues, it's their imagination that impedes them from doing so. They just say, well, if I go to them, they're gonna say this and if they say this, then I'm gonna say this. And then it's just like, and they're like, oh yeah, I'm gonna wait till tomorrow. You know, I always use this illustration, but David is a perfect illustration of that. He has this problem known as Saul, who's trying to kill him. It's a little problem, a little frog. And he finally, you know, Saul finally gets right with them. He says, I'm not gonna kill you anymore. You know, but then, like, David doesn't really take it to the Lord in prayer, as far as his anxiousness and his fear, and he's like, I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul. And then he goes into the land of the Philistines for like an entire year, all because of an imagination that he had, okay? And so, you know, we need to make sure that whatever problems we're facing, and look, just spiritual problems. You know, I like what David said, even though he had that issue with Saul. I like what he said, search me, oh God. He said, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me. That's a bold prayer. What does he say? I wanna resolve any issue that I may have with the Lord. Hey, I wanna encourage you this week, go to God and say, Lord, are you pleased with my life? You're like, I don't know if I wanna do that. Yeah, because you're avoiding the potential answer, you might get to your problem. Or how about just going to your spouse? Hey, have I offended you in any way? Are we cool? Are we good? Well, I just feel like it's gonna end up in a fight or something like that. Well, here's the thing, if that ends up in a fight, yeah, it's because you've had a problem brewing for a while that you've been avoiding for quite some time. The Bible tells us, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, meaning don't avoid problems, deal with problems. Look at Matthew 18, let's talk about relationships a little more. It says in verse 15, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell it to everyone in the church and gossip about it and tell other people how you don't like so-and-so and how she offended you and how he offended you and just, that's the best way to do it. Just rally a bunch of people to be on your, I'm sorry, that doesn't say that, huh? That's like the NIV or something. Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. What is it saying? Go resolve the issue with your brother or sister in Christ. Now this is, it could be common amongst men, but it's more common amongst women. Women have a tendency to just offend each other that much the more, okay? And you didn't hug me and you said this or you looked at me all weird or you, they have this perception of whatever. And you know what? If that's you, just go get it right. Now look, often we don't have to confront people if we're offended. Sometimes we just need, if we're offended, we just need to forgive the person in our heart and just move on with our lives, right? It's not be so sensitive. It's good to be sensitive because we wanna have a tender heart, but goodnight, we shouldn't be so sensitive that people have to act like they're walking on eggshells around us either. Where it's just like we cannot freely speak, we cannot freely act because we're afraid that we just might offend you. You need to get a little stronger, get a little thicker skin and not be so offended all the time. That's not a right disposition to have and not being considerate of others. And you know what? It's important for us. Offenses will come. That's just the bottom line. And you know what? Sometimes it's good for you to be offended so you can learn how to work through an offense because you offend God sometimes. How about that? Right? You know what? God doesn't hold any grudges against us. He doesn't hold any angst against us. He's not angry with, if we confess it, we get it right with God, He forgives, He forgets, He separates it as far as east is from west, He casts our iniquities in the deepest part of the ocean. He wants to move on. And you know what? We need to learn to do the same. So you know what? Sometimes offenses are a little good. They're a little beneficial for us as Christians because it actually helps us to live out the Bible, the principles of the word of God, to be tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Now obviously, there's certain offenses that require some resolvement though, right? And you need to be able to discern if that's something that you need to do. If someone has just greatly offended you and you're just losing sleep over it, it's affecting your relationships, it's affecting your disposition when you're in church, then just go get it right. Go talk to the person and say, Gio, you offended me, you said, you know, I'm short, fat, and ugly, and I agree with two of those, but the one about being fat, I've been trying to lose weight, and I just don't appreciate the fact that you didn't notice that, okay? And you know, I love you, but I just really offended, and I guarantee you, because Gio walks with God, he's probably gonna feel real bad about it. He's gonna be like, you know, I'm really sorry about that. I don't even remember saying that. But I believe you that I probably said it, because yeah, I probably would say something like that. Win your brother over again, right? But look, ladies, don't go around just kind of gathering people to your movement against Gio or something. I'm using Gio as an example. You know, against the person you're angry towards. You know, go to the person, go to him alone, resolve that, and don't avoid it. He says, if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Look at verse 21. Obviously this is in context of church discipline, but I'm just extrapolating the principle of forgiveness here. Verse 21 says, then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how off shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, till seven times? So, you know, Peter wants to cap it. He's like, can we do like seven? Because I really want to lay into him, you know? Can we throw him out at the eighth? Because he's up to seven, you know? Can we just like, get rid of him then? Jesus says unto them, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Now, he doesn't mean literally. What, seven is the number of perfection, completion, meaning forgive your brothers perpetually. Go to Proverbs chapter 31, if you would, Proverbs chapter 31. Don't avoid the problems in your marriage. And look, don't go to bed angry at each other either. If you're upset at your spouse, you know, and you're laying in bed, and you're just like, I'm not gonna, she needs to humble herself. He needs to humble himself. Just be the bigger person, and just apologize. Why? Because it's the right thing to do. And you know what? Even if you think you're not wrong, just think through it enough, and you'll find some areas that you were at fault in in that situation. Plain and simple. If you feel like, well, I didn't do anything wrong, you know, because you never do anything wrong, of course. Because you're just the perfect wife, and you're just the perfect husband, and you just never do any wrong, and you just love the word of God so much, and you're just like the Christian after the Apostle Paul. You know, of course you just have no, bear no responsibility whatsoever. Or how about the fact that, yeah, why don't you take some responsibility, and say, you know what? I'm at fault for offending you, and yeah, I am at fault in these areas. I want you to forgive me for that. Will you please forgive me? I apologize for that. Isn't that just better? And then you guys can just be happy again. You can move on. And look, marriage is not a competition either. Your spouse is not your enemy. Your spouse is not your adversary. Your spouse is, get this, your spouse. This is like the closest person that you have this side of eternity. This is your flesh, and God expects you to dwell in unity with your spouse. And so it's not worth, well, I got her. You know, I'm like an apologist when it comes to marriage, and I keep receipts. Don't render evil for evil. Take responsibility for your end, and say, I apologize for that. Please forgive me, because I want to have harmony in my marriage. I want you to be happy. I want to be happy. And you know what? It's just the best thing to do, is just get right with each other. Don't avoid the conflict. Don't just lay in bed, and turn backs, and watch reels, especially in November, amen? Which, by the way, I know some of you are still on social media. I got connects outside of church, who are telling me, everyone who's still on social media, I'll be talking to you after the service. I'm just kidding. You know, just turn your backs, and go on reels, and just go on social media, and just not talk to each other. Don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. You're gonna have a horrible morning the longer something drags out within your marriage, and so resolve the issues. Resolve issues with your children. And I'm not just talking about physically disciplining them, because that is biblical to do. To physically discipline your children, to spank your children is biblical. I don't care what the society says, or some spoiled little brat out there is claiming on the internet, disciplining your children is biblical, amen? But let me say this, is that when you discipline your children, there should be some resolve thereafter, though. You know, I grew up in a generation where I was disciplined, there was no resolve. You know, and then you just like, throughout the week, you just kind of transition into talking to each other again. You know, like, come to dinner. It's like, okay, she's talking to me again. Come to dinner. Whereas, really, the biblical model should be that when we discipline our children, we hug them, we pray with them, we show physical affection towards them, we let them know why they were chastised, and we help them to move on with that, right? So that they don't have any bitterness towards us, any resentment towards us. We're talking about not avoiding problems, okay? You're like, well, that's not really me. Well, then make it you. Because that's a bad way to deal with issues in your life and problems in your life. You need to resolve it right away. Number three, wrong ways people deal with problems, not going to the scriptures, not going to prayer, avoiding them. How about this, dwelling on it. Dwelling on problems instead of actually dealing with them. But dwelling on problems can often lead to a fatalistic attitude. Meaning everything's just bad all the time. Look at all these problems I got. Look at all these issues, and look how bad the world is, and what you start doing is you start reading into things that aren't really there. And then, if you have a problem with another person in our church or in your life, if you don't deal with that problem, you don't deal with that conflict, listen to me, you start imposing opinions on that person that they don't really have. Oh, they're probably thinking this about me. Oh, I already know this is what they're saying about me. Oh, I already know this is what they're, and then you just completely constructed this imaginary person and personality and opinion in that person because you have not resolved it. Your thoughts end up evolving. You know, I had this happen to me this past Friday, and I was at fault because I was gonna meet up with a family member of mine who I have not seen in years, and we've had some bumpy roads in our relationship. They're not a Christian. I don't really know if they're saved or not, but we've had a lot of conflict, but over the years, I've tried to reconcile with them, and I want them to meet my children, my family, and just kind of just be kind to them and just let them know I'm still here, and we don't have to be as close as we used to be, but I want you to at least meet my family, and I want to be a blessing to them. But the closer we got to the day, because I finally was able to schedule something for Friday, you know, my mind started running through all the potential scenarios. It's just like, oh, they're gonna reject. This is probably what they're gonna, and most of the time, because I'm a prophet, I'm right. There's just a 1% chance that I'm always wrong about this. I'm being facetious here, but I was thinking to myself, like, this is what they're gonna say. This is, they're gonna be their attitude towards me. This is a bad idea. I was like, Sarah, we're not gonna go. We can't go. I'm not, I can't deal with that. I can't deal, look what they're doing. They haven't even done anything, right? Look what they're saying. They haven't said anything. Look how they're acting. I haven't even seen them. But my thoughts were evolving. They were just coming up with all this stuff just through, and by the way, it was all because of text messages. And isn't it true that you can just read into someone's emotional response in the text? Okay, what do you mean, okay? You wanna fight or something? Don't be bringing that attitude. Don't take that tone with me, okay? Yes. What do you mean, yes? Yup. What do you mean, yup? No. Excuse me? Add an emoji to that or something, dude. Put LOL or something on that or something. But you know, this generation has caused us to think that way, where we read into a message, and it's just like, oh, they're copping an attitude on me. It's a text message. How do we, you know, and then some people, it's like if you don't add an emoji, oh, man. You don't add an emoji in LOL or whatever. They automatically think, oh, you're mad at them or something. You're just imagining things. And text messages are great, but we need to just go back to just communicating face to face. So I was having all these thoughts. I was thinking, man, I can't believe this person. And you know, obviously I was judging this person based upon previous encounters of years past. And I told my wife on Thursday night, I said, we're not gonna go. I'll tell her tomorrow morning, we're not gonna go. And you know what, I'll just fill my schedule up with something else. You know? And then the next morning, you know, she ended the text and she's like, I am so looking forward to seeing you and the kids. And then, you know, I shrunk about like this bit. I could like walk under a door. And I told my wife, I was like, we're gonna go. And you know what? It ended up being one of the most pleasant encounters that I had with this person ever. And I was so ashamed thinking to myself, like I had all these thoughts that this person was gonna react in a certain way and say certain things and be a certain person. And it was literally the complete opposite. And I thought to myself like, you know, because I dwelt on the negative aspects of this person's character in times past, it just caused me to have this perception of this individual in the immediate. And you know, it wasn't like that at all. And I enjoyed, we were there for hours. This person was very kind and gracious. We had such a blast. And like, it was just, it was an emotional encounter. And I remember just kind of praying and thinking like, Lord, forgive me for just judging this person like this. For just, and that, but it's in part and parcel because of the fact that I was just dwelling on all the negative memories, okay? And so we need to make sure that we don't, that we not just dwell on problems, which is one of the reasons why we have to resolve them, is because if we don't, we just dwell on past conflicts, past hurts, and it causes us to have a negative outlook on life. And here's the thing is that I don't think God wants us to have a fatalistic attitude about the future. I'm naturally fatalistic. I'm like, may the whole thing burn. Let's go to heaven already, millennial reign. You know, shoot me for preaching Christ. I'm good with it, you know. We're all, this country's going to hell in a hand basket. I kind of lean more that way. But at the end of the day, God does want us to have a positive outlook on the future. And here's the proof, is that God constantly talks about hope, right? And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Yeah, we go through our hard times and we can be negative, but at the end of the day, we always need to realize that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and the light is the light of men, which is Jesus Christ. Right? He is the author and finisher of our faith, and therefore we should have a positive outlook on life and not be negative. Go to Philippians chapter four, if you would, Philippians chapter four. Oh, are you in Proverbs 31? I'll just read to you from Philippians four, because you guys are pretty far in the Old Testament. Philippians 4, eight says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, listen to this, think on these things. You know, God is very much concerned with your thought life, what you think about, because what you think about ends up determining your attitude towards people, towards the service of the Lord. And so we have to constantly make sure that we're thinking about the right things and not be so negative. Don't allow one bad experience with the person to just cause you to think that way about everyone. Don't allow your negative experiences in your childhood to just mold your attitude to how everyone is gonna be when you grow up or something. Don't allow one bad girlfriend or one bad boyfriend to cause you to think that that's how all women are. That's how all men are. All men are just horrible monster pigs. All women are just whores, and they just want your money. It's not true. Don't allow yourself to have your mentality molded by bad experiences. Learn from bad experiences, but understand, you know, we have God, we have the Bible, don't just dwell on the negative aspects of your life and the problems that you have. Protect your way of thinking, which is good. Why we shouldn't listen to fatalistic podcasts, fatalistic dissertations, you know, like Alex Jones or something. Isn't he one of the most fatalistic people out there? Just like, every time you tune in, it's just like the world's about to end like right now. It's coming right now, you know? He'd be the one that if he was with Pharaoh, he would tell Pharaoh, like, the frogs are gay, you know? We need to forget those things which are behind. And look, we need to forgive, but we also do, at times, need to forget. Obviously, it may seem unrealistic to forget some of the most traumatic experiences that we've ever had, but it's actually possible to push it so far back. You say, well, how? By thinking the right things. Because the reason that file is just constantly coming up in your mind on a day-to-day basis is because you can't, because you can't, you can't just think about it. The reason it's coming up in your mind on a day-to-day basis is because you keep it at the front. You're always thinking about it. Whereas what we need to do is take that file and just throw it all the way in the back, and Z, instead of an A, put it at the Z end of the filing cabinet, and think on the right things, and you'll be surprised. Listen to me, you'll be surprised that if you think about the right things consistently, you often do forget. And I've had experiences where, you know, I've forgotten about a lot of bad stuff that happened in my life, and then someone in my life will remind me of them, and I'm just like, that happened? I'm like, oh, man, that didn't happen. And I just start losing. I'm like, why'd you have to do that? That was so far back there. But it takes a while for me to remember, because I don't think about those things. And I'm not exaggerating, listen to me. There's people in this world, listen to me, there's probably people in this room that will talk about something that happened like 30 years ago, as though it happened yesterday. They can literally bring up a hurt, like that. Like, oh, you ever had that? Oh, yeah, I had that happen to me. And it's like, whoa, was that last week? It's like, no, it was actually like 40 years ago or something. But it's because they're constantly thinking about it. You know, we need to move on with our lives, and let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, okay, and make sure that we move on with our lives. Wrong ways people deal with problems. How do they deal with them? Well, they don't go to the Bible, they don't go to prayer. They avoid them, they dwell on them. But how about this? People suppress them with drugs, or excessive and destructive habits. Using hallucinogens, psychedelics as a coping mechanism for short-term relief, okay? Escapism, masking the problem with alcohol, masking the problem with marijuana, masking the problem with some sort of drug, or video games, or whatever. You know, just masking the issue instead of dealing with it, and thereby taking them deeper into their depression, deeper into anxiety, deeper into their fears, just kind of cementing a lot of those problems in their life because they're not willing to deal with them. You give me an alcoholic, I'll give you a person who's been suppressing whatever problems they've been facing in their lives for years through alcohol. It's a fact, okay? He said, I thought people just drink to be like party and happy. The vast majority of people who drink alcohol, they're doing it to suppress some sort of problem that they have. Fact, they want to forget all their problems, you know? And this is big in Hispanic culture, by the way. Mexican culture, Hispanic culture, this is very, like the working men will come home with a six-pack and just get drunk every night, every night, just drinking away their problems. But here's the thing, they're not really drinking them away. They're actually creating new problems. They are evolving the current problem that they have, and they're adding more problems by just physically destroying themselves, by giving themselves over to these drugs and substance abuse. Look at Proverbs 31, verse four. It is not for kings, O Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drinks. We can apply this to ourselves because according to the Bible, we're kings and priests unto the Lord, amen? Verse five says, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted, which by the way, this is why we don't promote drinking in church because first of all, it's sinful, but secondly, according to the Bible, drinking alcohol makes you forget the law. I don't want to forget the law. The law's supposed to be bound around my neck, in the table of my heart. But according to the Bible, drinking alcohol makes you forget the Bible, and it causes you to pervert judgment. Verse six says, give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, listen to this, and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. Now let me explain something. This is not giving permission for someone to do this. This is an insult to those who do this in order to forget their poverty and their misery because he's basically saying people who drink alcohol do it to forget their problems, to forget their misery. Go to Colossians chapter two. Go to Colossians chapter two if you would. Now this isn't necessarily an issue in our church because of the fact that we preach a lot against alcohol, and alcohol is a sin that according to the Bible, if you are guilty of, merits excommunication from the church. And it's not just alcohol, it's marijuana, any type of substance abuse, meth, cocaine, you name it, we'll throw you out for it, amen, as far as drugs are concerned because that's not something that the Bible permits for people to be participating in while they're a member of a local New Testament church. But also, here's the thing is that maybe you're not involved in alcoholism or anything, but you can have destructive habits though too. How about just eating a lot? And look, right here, you know, if I'm stressed, I love to stress eat. Who's with me, amen? Can I get a witness? You liars. This section over here is lying. We all have, you know, we all love to eat. And obviously, you know, I'm not gonna preach about it too hard because, you know, Thanksgiving's right around the corner. We're all gonna overeat a little bit, you know? But you know what, that's an issue with people where they overeat in order to like suppress some sort of stress that they have. It's like they're stressed out, they have problems, and then they eat a lot or something. That's a destructive habit, okay? You know, just doing anything in excess is a destructive habit. You know, playing video games for hours on end, that is a destructive habit. And you know what, this generation does that in order to kind of just wind down and just forget about their problems and reduce their stress. But you know what, the reality is this, is that they do it in excess. And even if it wasn't in excess, the vast majority of the games that they're playing are so violent and so perverse that it's having just like this super negative effect of just perverting the mind, right? So it's adding to their misery. But the Bible tells us that we need to overcome those things, okay? We need to overcome sinful habits of alcohol, sinful habits of smoking marijuana, sinful habits of pornography, sinful habits of overeating, and just live a moderate life, okay? And the Bible tells us, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey in the lust thereof. Neither you or your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto death, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace. What then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid, the Bible tells us. So it's important for us to realize, hey, if you have a sinful, destructive habit, you don't need to be like enslaved to that. Obviously, we're gonna sin all the days of our life, but there's certain sins that can destroy you a lot sooner, get you kicked out of church, destroy your mind, and just wreak havoc on your soul. You need to be able to overcome those things and not just suppress your problems with sinful living. Oh, man, I'm stressed out right now. I'm gonna go do fill in the blank because it just relieves my stress or something like that. Okay? Don't become a delusional Christian due to drugs and alcohol. You say, well, why are you telling us this? Aren't we a church? Doesn't everyone here know that you should smoke marijuana? Yeah, you would think that they would. You know, there's Christians who struggle with that. You know? Hey, by the way, vaping is wrong too. Okay? You know, I don't recommend people to just pick up cigarette smoking to just relieve their stress. Well, it's not alcohol. Yeah, you're just adding to your problems though. You're just replacing one addiction with another. And I'm okay with you replacing your addiction with another addiction as long as that other addiction is actually improving your life. Like exercise, power lifting, running, you know? You know, that stuff or whatever. You know, lifting weights, go to the gym, doing jujitsu, doing Muay Thai kickboxing. You know, something productive that you should replace that destructive habit with. Okay? Here's my last point, and that is, we're talking about wrong ways people deal with problems. And here's a big one, and this is kind of left field, but it is important, especially today, is that people dump their problems on therapists and psychologists. That is a wrong way for a Christian to deal with a problem. And this is like a silent thing that a lot of people don't really realize, but a lot of Christians are involved in this stuff. They go to therapy sessions, they go to psychologists, and in order to fix their, listen to this, spiritual problems. Psychologists, the problem with that is that psychologists and therapists will often diagnose sin problems, okay, as a disorder, and will often encourage shifting the blame on others rather than on themselves. So here's the problem with therapy and psychologists. It's just like, this isn't your fault. It's because of your upbringing. Whereas the Bible's like, no, you're the problem. You made the choice. This is not a disorder, it's called sin. And you talk to people who go through therapy, it's everyone else's fault. You talk to people who go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist, it's just like, oh, it was because of my parents. I'm predisposed to fill in the blank or whatever. And it just completely negates the Bible, the sin nature of man, the right to choose, because we have a will, folks. You know, I come from a long line of alcoholics, but you know what, I'm not an alcoholic. And I'm not like, you know, oh man, I'm just kind of like predisposed to this, it's in my genes and so therefore I can't really do anything about it. Not my fault. There's people out there like that though. Forget that. Alcohol's wicked, I will never be an alcoholic. I hate alcohol, I don't want it in my house. I don't even want to look at it. I can have a holy hatred towards alcohol, I don't care what my ancestors did. It has no bearing, because guess what? I'm accountable for my actions. But you know what, therapy and psychologists, they just foster these people and cause them to think, well it's not your fault, don't blame yourself, do something for yourself, it's your mom's fault. And they're constantly having them relive these traumatic experiences. So tell me about your childhood for like the 100th time. Just constantly reopening old problems and old traumas, just helping them to just live in that state of mind. Okay, it's wrong. And you know, a lot of the philosophy regarding this is just anything short of perpetual happiness is a medical ailment that needs professional treatment. Oh you're not happy, you're mentally ill. Folks, this is a time to weep, right? This is a time to weep, the Bible says weep, but then they weep. Did you know, let me just, let me explain something to you. Depression sometimes is a good thing. It's okay to be depressed every once in a while. That's a bad feeling though. Yeah, the Bible says be afflicted and mourn. That's what the Bible says. And in fact, the Bible says that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. Bible says that Jesus Christ is acquainted with grief. Now obviously, we shouldn't just live in a depressed state. Okay, but there are seasons when it's appropriate to be depressed. You lose a loved one, be depressed. If you're going through a hard time, be depressed. But you know what, that depression should motivate you to go to the Psalms, to go to the Lord in prayer, and seek the Lord, the great physician, to heal you. Not a therapist, not a psychologist, and definitely not medical drugs that just kind of dumbs you down and makes you think that you're feeling better. No, no, no, they're mentally ill. You know, and here's the thing is that mental illness is actually a really stupid phrase if you think about it. Because people, you know, these people are associating or thinking that the mind is synonymous with the brain. But it's not. The mind can also be referring to the heart. And even in the Bible, the heart is not necessarily the muscle. It's the seat of emotions, right? So you can't really have a mental illness because you can't, like, can you do an x-ray on a soul? Can you dissect the mind? No, you can't. The mind is the aspect of our being that makes the choices. Right? You say, well, what about the reprobate mind? Yeah, the choice to reject the Lord Jesus Christ. You understand what I'm saying? And so, you know, choices are mental and spiritual matters, my friends. And here's the vast difference, because you have people who are like, well, I'm a Christian psychologist. You know, we kind of integrate both worlds into one. We get the best of both worlds. Because, you know, there's certain things that, you know, psychology, answers that psychology has that the Bible doesn't have. Oh, really, that's funny. Where is that in the Bible? Because according to the Bible, we have everything that pertains to life and godliness. And here's the thing is that those who have the Bible and God have the source of all wisdom and answers. Psychologists are not even saved, most of them. And here's often the illustration they'll give. They're like, well, it's kind of like, you know, the Israelites, they spoil the Egyptians. This is the illustration they give to justify Christian psychology. They're like, we're just spoiling the Egyptians. We're taking of the world's resources and just using it to like be a blessing or to help God's people. But that's not really the case. What they're doing is they're spoiling the Egyptians' idols and false gods, humanistic philosophies and ideologies that are contrary to the word of God, undermining biblical principles, okay? And you might run into someone who's like, well, I feel better when I go to therapy. Of course. Anybody feels better when they talk to someone. People feel better when they come here. And you hear me yell at them for an hour. I have counseling appointments with people all the time and people often feel better after that session because it just feels good to get things off your chest. But let me explain, let me ask you something though. If therapy is so effective, then why is it just endless? Money, exactly. It's not effective. Because if it was effective, you just need a couple sessions and that's it. But it sounds like the majority of people who go to therapy just become increasingly worse because it doesn't really work. It places people in an unspiritual condition, a selfish, self-centered, narcissistic position that only focuses on them and takes the focus off of others and of the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? And obviously, you know, there's issues with psychoactive drugs and all that. And look, if you're on psychoactive drugs, I'm not telling you to get off. I do think you should, you know, wean yourself off of that with the help of your doctor. But I don't think Christians should be on that stuff. Why? You have the Holy Spirit. Now, if you've been doing it for a long time, for years on end, you should not get off cold turkey. Absolutely not. You can absolutely destroy yourself if you do that, okay? You know, you're on antidepressants or whatever it is. But look what Colossians chapter two, verse three says, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, referring to Jesus, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. You know, these labels, these psycho labels that they give. Oh, you have, it's not sin, it's alcoholism. Oh, it's not X, Y, and Z, it's just you have this illness about yourself. We, let us fix you with these drugs. The Bible says these are enticing words. Verse six, as he have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as he have been taught, abounding the number of thanksgiving, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. I don't know any person that has ever gone to therapy who came out just loving the Lord Jesus Christ that much the more. Doesn't exist. They're more bitter, they're more angry, they're more self-centered. I just gotta do things for me. You know, I just, I need some me time. No, you need some others time. You need to go talk to people. And look, therapy is expensive. Especially when you accumulate that over the years, and you just progressively get worse. But you know, I got therapy for, if you really want therapy, here's some good, inexpensive therapy. Come to church, read your Bible, eat red meat, and lift weights. Walk with God, read the Bible, good therapy. So I know, that's my therapy. That's what I do. You know, yeah, oh yeah, bike too. Yeah, sorry, running, you know, cardio and all that. Man, pursue it though, but I'm just kidding. Some sort of physical activity, right? Eat your ground beef. Eat, you know, good food, have family with you, come and fellowship with God's people, sing the hymns. So how do you know that's better than therapy? Well, I'm 17 years in and I'm doing great. My mental health is so much better. You say, well, how so? Because my mind has been renewed by the Spirit of God. That you may be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you be rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, length, depth, and height to know the love of Christ that passes all knowledge, to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. And you know what, it's just awesome to hit PRs too. You know, have something to work towards, eating healthy, fellowshipping with men, increasing your testosterone, having ladies, you know, in the church talking to other ladies, finding fellowship, that's better. We have therapy sessions every Sunday here. Ladies, you can go and cry on the shoulder of another lady and they're all for it, hey man. Not us, you know, go with the ladies. And no dude's crying on our shoulders either, hey man. No, I'm just kidding. Hey, two weeks ago we had, what was it two weeks ago? We had a therapy session in the gym. All the men, we had a therapy session. So what was it, just men just lifting weights and doing PRs, almost dying and stuff, it was great. Every Sunday we have therapy sessions, you know? But therapy, according to the psychologist, it doesn't work, my friends. Because let me just say this, most of them don't even know what the real problem is. You ask a therapist, so what is the issue? They'll give you like five different answers because they don't really know what the issue is. But you know what, you ask a man of God who knows the Bible, they'll tell you what the issue is. Because it's always a sin issue. It's a relational issue with God the Father. It's a relational issue with their wives. And it's fixable through the word of God. Well, I just need someone to just unload on regarding my week, you know? I like my therapist because I could just unload on my therapist everything that happened throughout the week. Well, you know what, God is actually the best therapist. And in fact, doesn't the Bible say casting all your care upon Him? For He cares for you? And guess what, it's free! And you know what, it's not only for an hour either. I don't know, I think they pay by the hour or something like that. The Lord, you can talk to Him as much as you want, as long as you want. You don't even have to go to a specific geographical location, you could do it anywhere. And say, Lord, I'm angry right now. This person made me mad. And He's just like, let not the song go down upon your wrath. Be angry and sin not. Lord, I'm just so fearful, I'm just so anxious. Oh, be careful for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God. Peace of God that passeth understanding that you shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord, I just feel so weak right now. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Wait upon the Lord and He shall renew thy strength. Folks, that's all free. The whole, and guess what, your counselor, it's called the comforter, dwells within you. That comforts you through all our tribulations. And so it's important for us to realize that the world is constantly offering a pseudo solution to Christian problems. We don't need to go to the psychologist. We don't need to go to the therapist. And I get it. People will make the argument, well, if you have a physical element, why don't you go to the doctor? Absolutely. Because they're backed up by science. Let me tell you something. Psychology and therapy is not backed up by science. Much of that is a religion. Much of that is a religion. It's a belief system. And the right answers they give you, guess what, can already be found in the Bible. It's a fact. How have Christians done it for thousands of years without therapists and psychologists? How? I'll tell you how by the word of God. Go to Matthew chapter 11 and we're done. Matthew chapter 11 and we're done. You know, by the way, like I mentioned earlier, a lot of the times that people just, these therapists, they just cause you to relive old hurts. When you've already moved on from it. You've forgiven that, you've forgotten it, you've moved on and they just constantly want you to relive. Because it's like the medical industry in a lot of ways that they just want this perpetual customer. Want to keep you unhealthy to keep you coming back to drug you up, my friends. It's not God's will, it's not God's way. You know, Christians need to stop going to the therapist and a psychologist for spiritual answers. You know, stop going to the drive-through solutions that masks the problem rather than going to the word of God itself. And I know I'm making it overly simplistic because obviously it's not just coming to church, reading your Bible. You have to put an effort into those things and it takes time, yes. It takes a lot of time, it takes years sometimes to work through things, absolutely. But you know what, but it works though. And you know, the Bible also tells us, before I read this last verse, just let me mention this, because people think, oh, you're just like a new thetic type of a counselor. You just think that it's all about the Bible. Well, first of all, yes, absolutely. But people have a tendency to compartmentalize Christianity and think, well, nothing in the Bible is said about this, therefore we shouldn't go. But here's the thing, the Bible in 1 Corinthians 6 tells believers at the Corinthian church, why are you gonna go before the unsaved, the unjust to resolve your issues that you could resolve in church? They have, and it's not even a spiritual matter that they were fighting over. It was like a legal matter. And he's like, why are you gonna go to the judge, an unjust judge, who does not have the spirit of God, to judge between brethren regarding this legal matter, the least esteemed in the church can judge our matters. Right, isn't that what the Bible says? It's the same thing with this. You don't need to go to a psychotherapist to relieve you of your depression. You know, hey, take two of these and call me in the morning, how about that? Take a psalm and a proverb, sing this song, here's some principles, take that and call me in the morning and yes, it takes work, absolutely, because it's organic. Look at Matthew 11, verse 28. Matthew 11, verse 28 says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy led, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto yourselves. Isn't that interesting that the therapist wants you to unload on them? Whereas the Bible's saying here, Jesus is saying, do you wanna fix your problems? Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest. You find true rest when you actually start laboring for the Lord. He says, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Christians need to learn how to deal with anxiety, stress, fear, and other uncomfortable ranges of emotion through the scriptures. I get it, easier said than done, for sure. But it's far more effective, too. And so, let's deal with our problems the right way. And I'm not discounting any medical advancements that helps people, because those things are real, okay? We're not like the Amish, just like, you know, you have a fever, we'll just pray it down. Or you have this disease, we'll just pray it down, never receive any medical attention, and then people just end up dying or something. That's not my position at all. We need to be not like King Asa. Go to the physician, but go to God first, amen? And have this disposition and this attitude that says, everything that I need is found right here, through prayer. Let's pray, Father, we thank you so much for your word, and thank you for the word of God that possesses all the divine solutions for all of life's problems. Lord, you made us, and so you know what is in man. You know the heart of man. You are acquainted with our grief. You were tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. You came down and took on flesh, and lived as a man does, Lord. And so therefore, we can come to you and ask you to help us in our time of need. We can boldly come before the throne of grace. Help us to have faith in the scriptures in the Bible, but also the work ethic to actually read the word of God, and the humility to go to those people who have the answers in the scriptures if we don't possess those answers right away. May you bless us as we go on our way, Lord. We love you so much, and we thank you, and we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.