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Go ahead and keep your place in Isaiah chapter 60. We will get there in just a minute. First, let me say thank you for allowing us, allowing my family, my wife, and two kids to be out here today. Sorry, Garrett couldn't make it. He's working. But it's great to see everybody again. We feel like we kind of went to Fresno and kind of lost touch with a lot of people, a lot of people I haven't seen for several years here. So we're really appreciative to be here. It's been really relaxing. I can't remember the last time I've had a couple of days to really not worry about too much. So just thank you to Pastor Thompson, Ms. Sherry, for having us. And it's just been great to see you all. A lot of people, I brought this up in a sermon at church a couple of weeks ago, they say like a quarter of Americans under the age of 50 don't have any friends at all. Think about that. Just think about that. And then they say it's like 2-thirds of Americans have less than two friends. So I mean, look at you all. I mean, look at what a blessing this church is to you, and even just other churches that you know and friends that you know, Christians that are like-minded, raising their kids in the same way. It's just a great blessing. So thank you all for having us here. Now, it's a campout. So I figured I was kind of picturing, I didn't know what kind of situation I was going to be in preaching. So I figured I might be like around a campfire and preaching or something. That's kind of what I was thinking. So I was going to have a flashlight on my face and preach like that. But I am going to tell you a scary story tonight, all right? So I'm going to tell you a scary story tonight. Tonight and tomorrow morning, I kind of have a paired up pair of sermons. And tonight we're going to talk about darkness tonight. We're going to talk about darkness in the Bible. And I hope I at least shock you, scare you just a little bit tonight. That's kind of the point. And then, so if you're depressed after tonight, we'll talk about the light tomorrow morning after breakfast, okay? So just hang in there, look down at Isaiah chapter 60. The Bible talks a lot, God talks a lot about darkness in the Bible. Now he talks about this idea of darkness, the most base reason or idea about darkness and light that we would think about would be our salvation. You know, that we came from darkness into light. You know, Jesus is the light of our lives. He's used as that reference. Isaiah chapter 60, the first three verses is a prophecy of Jesus. And it's talking about how Jesus is going to come and bring the Gentiles from darkness into light. Look down at the Bible in verse number one, it says, arise, shine, for thy light is come. That's talking about the Messiah, Jesus, who's going to save the world. Come and, and light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light. So here's these people that were outside the Jews, these other nations, you know, Jesus came to bring, you know, this is, this is Romans, right? The, the Jews had the, they had the oracles of God, they had the law, but Jesus, whoever believes on Jesus, doesn't matter what nation you're from. You know, you get the light, you see the light and you can be pulled out of darkness. Jesus is talking about, you know, what's going to happen when the Messiah comes and the Gentiles shall come to thy light and many Gentiles will get saved. Look at us, right? And the kings to the brightness of thy rising. So it's, it's comparing God, God and his salvation that he offers as the light and a person that's not saved as being in darkness. Okay, so I mean, people that are not saved today, they're still in that darkness. You know, thank God none of us are in that darkness of not being saved today, but the Bible does say that people that are not saved, they're still in the darkness that Isaiah chapter 60 is talking about. This is why we go out soloing, to show, you know, to be that light. We'll get to that in a few minutes. Turn to 1 John chapter one, actually turn to Matthew chapter 14, turn to Matthew chapter 14. Let's just look at this idea of Jesus being the light for a few more minutes and then we'll talk about how we can apply that to us. Look at Matthew chapter 14, I'm sorry, Matthew chapter four, I'm losing my mind here. Matthew chapter four and verse number 14. This is why I didn't win the sword contest, right? So I'm mixing up my numbers. So look at Matthew chapter four and verse number 14. Matthew chapter four, look at verse number 14. The Bible says that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, talking about Isaiah here. They're just talking about a prophecy from Isaiah nine. We won't look at that, but let's just read this. The land of Zebulun and the land of Nethalem by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat where? Where did they sit? They sat in darkness. They saw what? They saw a great light. And to them which sat in the region, the shadow, and they were in darkness and they had the shadow of what over them? The shadow of death, light is sprung up. They sat in the region of the shadow of death, that light has sprung up upon them. Again, talking about salvation here. Look at Matthew chapter five and look at verse number 13. So we go out soul winning to stop this. We go out soul winning to show the light to these people. This is what it says in Matthew chapter five. Look at verse number 14. It says ye, it's like you. Like you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men. So you see that there's a famous speech by Ronald Reagan. No, it was from the Bible. It's like we are the city on the hill. The saved. We are the ones that are the light that are to go out and to tell Jesus. Because look, God works through us just like Satan works through people, God works through people. God works his light, the shining of this light through us to get these people that are not saved today out of the darkness. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick. But a lot of Christians do that. A lot of Christians do that. They're a light, they're saved. They have their light and they're just like this. They're like I got my light, I'm good. So a lot of Christians do that. They don't wanna show that light but that's not what we're supposed to do. It says but on a candlestick and you're supposed to giveth the light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So look, to show your light takes what? It takes work. Okay, you didn't get saved through your works but to show your light to other men that are still in darkness. Look, you still deserve to be in darkness but to show your light to other men, it takes work. You have to go out and do that work. Turn to 1 John chapter one. Turn to 1 John chapter one. 1 John chapter one. So we see that our salvation is compared to we were in darkness and now we're in the light because Jesus is the light, God is the light. 1 John chapter one verse number five, the Bible says then this is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So look, God is not in darkness, God is light. He's the opposite of darkness. So the point is this, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter six and verse number 14. So we're saved, I get it, we're in the light but guess what? You can still go into darkness in your life and I'm gonna show you that now. I'm not talking about losing your salvation, nothing's ever gonna change your salvation in your life but look, you can still go into darkness in your life. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter six. 2 Corinthians chapter six. Let me turn there myself. But look at 2 Corinthians chapter six and look at verse number 14. 2 Corinthians chapter six verse number 14. Look what the Bible says here. It says, be not, this is talking about you. Okay, this is talking about the saved. It says, I'm sure you've heard this verse many times where we're talking about light and darkness tonight. We're talking about you, the saved, being in darkness. So you're spiritually out of darkness. Okay, you're spiritually out of darkness. You say, I'm spiritually not in the dark anymore so how could I possibly be in the dark? I'm gonna show you. Okay, I'm gonna show you. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter six and verse number 14. The Bible says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Okay, this is talking about separation, the doctrine of separation. We're to be separated. We're not to be yoked up with unbelievers, people that are not saved. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath what? Hath light with darkness. So what it's saying here is warning, saved people don't have communion with darkness. Look, it's possible. It would be possible for a saved person to have communion, to have fellowship with someone who's still in darkness and to be in darkness themselves. We're talking about just being in that state of darkness. Go to John chapter 11, John chapter 11. So you're saying, what way could I be in darkness if I'm saved? You say, what way could I possibly be in darkness? Look at John chapter 11, John chapter 11. You're saved, there's nothing that's ever gonna stop the fact or change the fact that you've been spiritually moved from the dark to the light by Jesus. But look, you could still end up in darkness in your life on this earth. Look at John chapter 11. John chapter 11, look at verse number 10. The Bible says, but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth because there is no light in him. John 3, I'll just read it to you, John 3, 19. The Bible says, and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world, that's Jesus, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. So this is talking about saved people that didn't accept Jesus. But why did they love the darkness? Why did they love the darkness? So if there's people that are in the dark and a saved person could have communion or fellowship with them, why do they love the dark? They love the dark because their deeds, their works are evil. That's why men love the dark. And I'm gonna talk about the dark literally tonight as well. We're talking about it spiritually, philosophically. Men love the dark, the Bible is saying in John chapter 3, because they're doing evil things. Because they're doing bad things. So look, spiritual darkness, overcome by Jesus, we get that. Some people didn't accept Jesus because they loved the darkness. They didn't wanna have anything to do with the light. And then we see that we're supposed to not have anything to do with those people. We're not supposed to have communion or fellowship with those people that are still in that darkness. And they're in that darkness because they're doing evil things. But look, think about the evil in the dark. Just think about the physical darkness. Physical darkness, just think about it. Think about things that happen in the dark. Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 11, I'll just read it for you. The Bible says, and have no fellowship. Again, who's it talking about? It's talking to you. It's talking to the saved believer tonight. It says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful, what? Works of darkness, it says. So it's possible for me as a saved believer to fellowship with the works of darkness. Look, we're eternally secured. That means we could do bad things and still be saved. That means that my works have nothing to do with my salvation, but guess what? The Bible's warning me to not have fellowship with these unfruitful works that happen in the dark that are done by these things, but rather reprove them. It says we should be speaking out against those things. We should be saying, that's bad. We shouldn't have anything to do with that. Stay away from that. We should be teaching that to our kids. It's talking about separating from not only the people, but the works, because isn't it possible that you're like, oh, I'm not gonna hang out with those bad people, but you could go do those bad works yourself? So it's saying not just the people, but the unfruitful works themselves. It doesn't say the unfruitful people. It says the works. We need to have nothing to do with the things that are done in the dark. So spiritual, yes, but yeah, darkness, look, darkness, I'm talking actual darkness. Just think about it. What's done in the dark? What do people do in the dark? You know, think about bars. Think about nightclubs, all these places in the dark. I mean, you have to ask yourself. You have to ask yourself, like, why does it always have to be dark? All these people are going to these places at night, and they're having all this, you know, they're having fun, but why? They're having fun in their own mind. They're doing these works. Why does it have to be dark there? Look, the dark's annoying. How would you like to go to Home Depot and have it be dark? I mean, the dark's annoying. Look, I actually have this. I brought a little thing here. This is in the wintertime, when it actually gets dark early. It gets dark at like five o'clock at night, and I love just going and working on stuff outside all the time. So my wife just can't stand this thing, but literally in the wintertime, I'm walking around my house like this. I'm in the garage, and I'm working on stuff because I'm looking at a motor or whatever I'm doing, and I'm walking around, and I come in the house, and I'm like, hey, can I have a cup of coffee? And I was like, ah, I forget that I'm wearing it. But the point is, if Home Depot was dark, if your garage was dark, you would be irritated. It's annoying. But the thing is that there's certain things that are done in the dark where people want it to be dark. They want it to be dark because the works that they're doing there are evil. That's why they want it to be dark. So John 3.19, the Bible says, and this is the combination, that men love darkness rather than the light because they're doing evil in the dark. So now, people don't wanna see what they're doing there. People don't want other people to see that they're there. People don't want, they don't even want themselves to see that they're there. So they're in the dark because they don't want themselves to be seeing what's going on, and they also don't want people around them seeing what's going on. This is why people operate in the dark, okay? Look, they're trying to cover up what they're doing with that darkness. Now us, look, us, we need to check ourselves. We need to check ourselves in our lives. We need to check our works. I mean, we shouldn't be doing works in our lives that we're trying to cover up. We shouldn't be doing things in our lives that we wouldn't want other people to see, that we would be embarrassed about. Look, anything that we're trying to cover up, anywhere we're looking for darkness in our lives, we need to think about why we're doing that. Why are you looking for that darkness? I mean, look, you say, well, these people in a bar or drinking or whatever, why do they, they're not even saved. Why do they care if they're in the dark? Because guess what? They have a conscience. God gave every man, God, Romans 2.15 says, God wrote the law in every man's heart. Every, they're sitting there and they're doing those evil works and it bothers even them even though they're not even saved. You think about other things that people, so anything that we're trying to cover up is not good. I brought an object lesson for you tonight, not just the flashlight, but I brought an actual object lesson. I brought the California state bird with me tonight. I mean, I brought a lot of animals to church and I don't know why I keep bringing animals to church, but I brought the California state bird. If you ever visit California, you will see this bird on the side of the road. You will see this bird in the trees. You will see this bird. You will see this bird everywhere. It is on the, it's all over the place. It's flying through the air constantly. I always tell my kids, there's the California state bird and the kids laugh. So here's the California state bird, right here. This is the California state bird. The black plastic bag. It must be the California state bird because it is flying around everywhere in California. But you see, why, why, I mean, like you can't get a straw at a restaurant in California, but the whole state's covered in trash and 60% of the trash is the California state bird, right here, okay? Anyway, I won't go off on that. But you see how well it flies? You get a little bit of wind and you got state birds flying everywhere. But think about this for a second. Why a black plastic bag? Why a black, why is it so popular? Why are there black plastic bags everywhere? Now, I thought the same thing as somebody just pointed out in the church tonight, but I thought, okay, people want black, guess what? Here's why they take a black plastic bag. Because they don't want you, they don't want anyone seeing what's in here. They don't want anyone seeing what they're buying here. But I went and I filled up my camper with propane and actually, I don't really go into gas stations, but I went into a gas station, I was gonna get me a black plastic bag. So I went in there, I paid for my propane and I was gonna buy a bunch. And I thought, you know, they're putting alcohol and beer in here. This is what I figured. And I think that's probably most of it. But here's a guy at the counter and I'm standing in line to pay for my propane and I was gonna ask for the bag. And here's this guy. And this guy looks like he just crawled out of a dumpster. This guy looks like, I mean, he's a mess, okay? And he's sitting there and you say, oh, you're so hard on, look, he's got a lot of cash bigger than my fist and he's sitting there for 10 minutes and you know what he's doing? He's like just detailing out all these lottery tickets that he wants to buy. He must have bought over $150 worth of lottery tickets and they gave him a black plastic bag. I'm sitting here thinking like, hey man, you don't need $200 million, you just need a belt is what you need. You know, but look, so I bought some ice cream bars and he was gonna give me a paper bag. I'm like, no, I'd like a black plastic bag, please. And I put my ice cream bars in it and I went on my way. But the point is, they're trying to cover up what they have, what they're doing. And any time that you're trying to cover, they're trying to cover up evil deeds. They're trying to cover up sin. And look, it's good to be ashamed. They should be ashamed of what they're doing. Shame's going away too, that's another sermon in itself. But it's good to be ashamed but the point is, is any time that we're trying to cover up the things that we're doing, we shouldn't have anything to do with this philosophy. Okay, look, turn to Luke chapter two. Actual, here, so we're talking about philosophical darkness, covering up sin, we're talking about people being in the actual darkness. Look, did you know that the actual darkness itself is dangerous? The actual darkness is much more dangerous than being in the light. Look at Luke chapter two, look at Luke chapter two. Because you know why? Because bad people operate in the darkness. Bad people operate, they prefer to operate in the dark. Bad people, there's a lot of bad people out there. Look at Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two, look at verse number eight. The Bible says, and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. You know why they were in the field watching at night? They were in the field watching at night. They actually used to raise sheep. Jacob raises chickens and ducks right now. And guess what? He can't leave them out at night. If he leaves them out at night, they will die. Something will come and it will kill them. Why? Because predators operate at night. In the actual darkness, you say why? Why do predators operate in the dark? Because you can't see them coming then. That's why they operate in the dark. It has to be that way because they're here, and the predator comes to hurt and to destroy. Okay, and in Luke chapter eight, it says, you know, that there were actual sheep and they were actually being attacked by wolves. Predators love the darkness. Did you know, I mean, if you ever had a, I mean, I had a dad that told me this like 18 million times. He said, nothing good ever happens after nine o'clock. That's what my dad used to always say to me. Maybe your dad has said the same thing to you. It's a good saying because he's right. I actually looked this up. Most violent crimes happen between nine p.m. and two a.m. in the morning. All your, you know, your DUIs and all these types of things happen in that time window. We actually left, we actually left for the camp at about three a.m. from Fresno, and this was actually a consideration in my mind. I didn't really want to leave any earlier than that because I didn't want to be on the road at one a.m., two a.m. when I knew that, like, that's when all the drunks are on the road. That's when all the people are coming out of these dark places, and look, this is when bad people operate in the dark. Look at, go back to your Bible. Bad people operate in the dark. Look, physically and spiritually. Look at Acts chapter 20. Actually, you turn to Zephaniah chapter three. At the back of the Old Testament, you'll see those two Z books. The first one is Zephaniah. Acts chapter 20, verse 29, I'll read to you. The Bible says, for I know this, that after my departing, grievous wolves, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Now he's talking about, he's using an analogy of predators attacking sheep. He's talking about people coming to attack the church itself. It's such a good analogy. It's so true that grievous wolves will come in, and guess what? Those grievous wolves that come in, they're gonna operate in the dark. They're gonna operate undercover. They're gonna operate covertly. They're not gonna be upfront with what they're doing. They're gonna operate covertly. Look at Zephaniah chapter three. Zephaniah chapter three, verse number three. We're talking about, Zephaniah chapter three is talking about a judgment of a wicked city or a wicked nation here, and it says that the judgment, because of the judgment, because these people have forgotten the Lord, look at verse number three. This is their punishment. This is what will happen to them. It says, her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are what? Evening wolves. See, these are those predators that operate under secret. They operate in the dark. They operate, look, it takes the idea of actual darkness to a philosophical level that we need to watch out for in our Christian lives. The people that operate undercover, they operate in secret. Look, even in their speech, turn to Proverbs chapter 16. People can operate undercover. They can operate undercover in the way that they speak as well, we need to be careful and watch out for these types of things. Look at Proverbs 16 and verse number 28. Look at Proverbs 16 and verse number 28. The Bible says in Proverbs 16, verse 28, it says, a froward man soweth strife, and a what? A whisperer, separated with chief friends. Why a whisperer? You have to ask this person here, it's like, okay, you're speaking things, but why are you whispering? Why do you have to talk so quiet? The reason that they're whispering here is because they don't want everyone to hear what they're saying. This is someone that's operating covertly, just like the wolf attacking the sheep in the night. They're trying to cover, they're trying to conceal. You ever walk up to two people, you ever walk up to two men, or two people at work, or wherever it is, and they're talking, and you walk up to them, and all of a sudden they're just silent, and you're like, oh man, what were you talking about? They're talking about something, like it was either me, it was either you, it's something that they didn't want anyone else to know, they're operating secretly. They're operating in darkness, they're whispering. They're whispering. You know, these are the type of people that, I've always been confused by these people. It must really be stressful to be this type of person, where you tell one person one thing, and then you tell another person another thing, and you tell a third person another thing, and you have to wonder, with some of these people, how do you keep all the stories straight of everything that you've told every other person when you're whispering all these different things, but they're doing it, because of what Proverbs 16 says, they're doing it to separate people. They're doing it to separate people apart so they can attack like that wolf in the dark. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter five. I had a boss one time. It was actually, several years ago, it was a boss's boss. So, I mean, this was a pretty high up guy in this place that I was working. This guy started working there. He was brand new, and he came up past my desk, and he's like, walk with me. This is the boss's boss. Okay, so this is the boss of my boss. I mean, so I got up, I walked with him, and he walked, and we went out in the hall and outside the building, and he's all like, yeah, so and so this, and so and so that, and I'm just like, whoa, what's going on here? And I went for a walk with the guy, because I'm trying to be respectful employee, boss asks me to go for a walk, and he's just like, so and so this, and I don't think that he's operating. What do you think about that? And I'm like, I think that we should go have this conversation with him if you think something's wrong with it. But you know what he's trying to do? He's trying to separate. He's trying to separate and make all these different lines. The next time he came by, he's like, walk with me. I'm like, whatever you have to say, you can say right here in front of me, in front of the few people that work here with me. And the guy didn't like me. I'm just like, and I was just kind of like, you know what, I guess I'm going nowhere at this place. But whatever, you know? I mean, so the guy, it didn't take him long to just start really disliking me, because I wasn't playing these stupid little games and all this kind of stuff. And look, it was like a year and a half later, he ended up getting fired. He ended up getting fired, because he's doing a bunch of unethical stuff. He's breaking the law. He's just like, but look, those types of people will try to drag you into the dark with them. They try to drag you into the dark with them. We need to be careful about people like this as Christians, because you will run into this. You'll run into this at work. You'll run into this in your Christian life. You will run into this in your life. Ladies, look down to 1 Timothy 5, look at verse number 13. 1 Timothy 5 and verse number 13, the Bible says, and with all they learned to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, so here's a bunch of, you know, ladies, they didn't have anything to do. So they're wandering around from house to house, but not only idle, it's not that these don't have anything to do, but tattlers also and busybodies doing what? Speaking things which they ought not. So here we see it's happening with the ladies in this verse here. There's a bunch of people going around from house, why are they going from house to house? Why don't they have a big meeting together? Because they're saying different stuff at every house. That's why, they're saying certain stuff over here, and they're whispering stuff over here. Why? Because they're trying to separate people. This is what happens, they're telling secret things. They're telling a different story everywhere. You know, did you hear about so and so, or you know, why so quiet? Why conceal if there's nothing wrong with what they're saying? That's what you have to ask. You know, everybody, you're whispering. Why are you whispering? Because who are we talking about? He's sitting right over there. And I don't want him to hear. So this is what's going on. These people are operating covertly. Turn to Romans chapter 16. Look, folks, stay out of the darkness, and stay away from the people who love the darkness. Stay away from the people who love the darkness. Look at Romans 16 and verse number 17. Romans 16 and verse number 17. Look what the Bible says here. It says, now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. For they are such that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by good works and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple. The only thing that I would like to say here is that if somebody tries to drag, I don't care if it's at work, whatever part it is in your life, if somebody tries to whisper to you, you know what they're doing? You should be personally offended by that. Why? Because they think you're simple. That's what the Bible here is saying. That should personally offend you if somebody is coming to you at work, coming to you in your Christian life, wherever, and trying to separate friends from you and whisper to you, they think that you're simple. You just say, do you think that I'm an idiot? Why are you whispering to me? But ultimately, they're going after the simple people. Just like a wolf goes into a flock and he doesn't take the strongest one, he separates out what he can and he takes down what he's able to separate. It's such a great analogy on how predators work. Look, Matthew 18, if you ever have a conflict between people in your life and the church or wherever where you just have to immediately just go to that person, that stops this dead. Somebody comes to you and is like, oh, Bob offended me, let's go to Bob. Why are you not talking to Bob? Why are you not talking to that person? It stops that dead in its tracks. It's very simple. The Bible just has the answer to everything. Go to Genesis chapter 49. There's a story of secret plans and the evil that comes from them in Genesis chapter 49. Genesis chapter 49. So this is the story, just turn to Genesis chapter 49. This is the story of Simeon and Levi. So they had a daughter, Dinah, or a sister, Dinah, that went out and she went into fornication with somebody that wasn't of their nation and her brothers, Simeon and Levi, were very upset about this. They were very upset about it. So what these guys do, these brothers, is they come up with this plan where they're gonna tell this city, hey, you guys go and if you all get circumcised, you can go and we'll let our daughters marry you and we'll marry your daughters and we'll all be one. And what they do is they go and they have these, and look, the Bible even says that Sesham, this man, he was an honorable man, according to the Bible. According to his house, he was the most honorable person in his house. Yeah, he wasn't saved and he did a bad thing, but it was a consensual relationship between these two and these two brothers scheme and come up with this secret plan to weaken this city and they go in and they murder everyone. They go in and they murder everyone in this city and they murder everyone, they steal everything that they have, and then they kidnap their women and children. I mean, it's a terrible story. When you look at it, look what the Bible says here. When Jacob is blessing his sons, he curses some of them. Look at verse number five. It says, Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. And he says, oh my soul. He's talking about his children here, these two boys. He's talking about Simeon and Levi. He says, oh my soul, come not thou into their secret, into their assembly. He says, mine honor, be not thou united. He's saying, my soul, I don't want to have anything to do with this secret wicked act that these two did, is what he's saying. And he's calling out how evil it was and how he had nothing to do with it. But the point here is we should have nothing to do with secret plans and secret whisperings and all this stuff. Look, you need to run far away from that because these boys are getting cursed for this right here, for these secrets, for these whispers. Because look, God's gonna bring everything to the light. God is light. And when that light shines, we want to make sure that we are not united even close to these types of things. So they're talking about just this evil that's done in darkness. So look, I mean look, if it's a right plan, if Simeon and Levi had a great righteous plan, it wouldn't have had to have been a secret. See, it could have been out in the open. They could have told their father. They could have told their brothers. They could have told everybody. They could have told the men of the city. And they could have come up with it, but it wasn't. It wasn't a secret because it was gonna be evil and cruel what they were gonna do, okay? I mean, secrets are always bad. I don't know what to tell you. I mean, secrets are always bad. So look, the point I'm trying to make is this. Turn to Daniel chapter two. The concept that I'm trying to show you is that the concept people use, the concept people, aside from your spiritual salvation, the purpose of darkness is to conceal. The purpose of darkness is to conceal, and we need to avoid it in our lives. And, and we need to avoid those who love it. We need to avoid those who love it. Look at Daniel chapter two. Look at verse number 22. Because the Bible says this. Look, God's gonna reveal it. Look at Daniel 22. He revealeth the deep and secret things. This is God. He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth in him. Notice how it's the Lord that reveals the secret things. He is the light, he has the light, and anything having to do with darkness, I mean, ultimately, we don't personally have to worry about those things done in the dark. We have to worry about not being part of those things. Because the Lord will reveal what is going on in the dark. God will reveal what these people are doing. God will reveal the things done in the dark. I mean, think about physical darkness. And we're talking about, I mean, many of the men were talking about this a little bit yesterday. But think about physical darkness. Look, even physical darkness. I mean, I've known some men in my life that they just, that I've worked with, that they just stayed up till all hours of the night. And I can tell you, you know, I don't know exactly what they're doing, but it was nothing good. They're just staying up till all hours of the night. I remember some of them were playing video games, like they wouldn't even go to sleep. They'd just play, like grown men. They'd be playing video games all night long. I'm sure there's much worse things that people are doing up on the internet all night long that they don't want people to see them doing. These are bad things that are done in the dark. And look, we'll talk about this tomorrow morning. But the point is, is that, you know, if you stay up all night, you're not gonna be that number one worker. You're not gonna be a morning person, that's for sure. You know, these are the people that sleep till noon. You know, we'll talk more about that tomorrow morning. You know, that number one worker is not staying up past 10 o'clock. I'll tell you that right now. All right, so look, you need to live your life above board. And you need to avoid people that don't do so. I'm not saying you need to be telling people all your business all the time. That's not what I'm talking about. But you should think about the things that you're doing in your life. Today as you're sitting here, tonight as you're sitting here and you're listening to this sermon, you think about the things that you're doing in your life, think about the things that you're doing that you wouldn't be happy that people knew about. Those are the things I'm talking about. That's the darkness in your life that you need to pull out of that, you need to pull your life into the light in that area. I mean, is there something that you're concealing that's not good in your life? You're in the darkness, if that's the case. Look, shame is good, folks. Shame is good. And God's gonna reveal it, and even in your life, He's gonna reveal it. If you have something in your life, it's going to be revealed. And look, you're gonna be ashamed. And then that shame should bring you out of that into the light. That's why shame is good. That's why this idea that nothing is shameful is horrible. It's destroying the whole country. You know, I mean, it's ridiculous. Avoid people that live their lives this way. Avoid them like the plague. Boys, we have some boys here. You know, the nice thing about Bible preaching, the one thing about Bible preaching is that you will, you'll sit there and you'll listen to the preaching from the Bible. And a lot of times, I've been, you know, this is everybody that's ever heard preaching from the Bible. You're sitting there like, oh man, is he preaching about me? I'm gonna make it easy for the teenage boys in the room. I'm preaching about you right now. Okay, look, if you are a 12, 13, I'm talking to my own son right now. If you're a 12, 13-year-old boy, if you're on that eve of being a teenager, let me tell you something. You're at a crossroads in your life. Yeah, I understand, I hope you're saved and I'm sure you're all saved here. You're at a crossroads in your life. Let me tell you something. I'm talking to you just so you know. This world is gonna try to pull you into darkness. People will try to pull you into darkness. They're gonna put things in front of your face. The teenage boy, you're gonna have images put in front of you everywhere you go. And that's trying to drag you. That's the world trying to drag you into darkness. And you can go into that darkness. And you'll be just as saved as if you didn't go into the darkness. Well, let me tell you something. It will define your life. It will define the direction of your life if you choose to go into that darkness. Your pastor told you last night that you should make a decision. You should make a decision to stay in the light in your life. You're gonna have people, individuals, friends try to pull you into darkness in your life. And the Bible is telling you, if you have friends, if you have people in your life that are trying to drag you into darkness, those are not your friends. You need to be mature enough to know that. Because let me tell you something, boys. It will define who you marry. It will define if you marry. Look, I've been a teenage boy. Long time ago. But I've been a teenage boy. And guess what? You crawl into that dumpster when you're 13, 14, 15, 16 years old. You say, I'm gonna crawl into the darkness dumpster for a few years. And then you come out of that dumpster back into the light. And you're like, oh, I wanna marry, I wanna marry some virtuous woman. And she's gonna look at you and she's like, you smell like a dumpster. Look, boys, Ferraris don't marry Volkswagens. Ferraris don't marry 1972 rusted out Pintos. But if you, I mean, but that's, that is the problem. It will, you know, what the part of the darkness that you may not understand is you may never get out of the darkness. If you get into things, you start looking at things, and you start getting into things, and you start doing things, those can be problems that you struggle with for the rest of your life. Those can be problems that just plague you and haunt you into your marriage. Don't go into the darkness. Look, you could get in the darkness. I never bring my phone up preaching, but look, this by itself can get you into the darkness right here. It is scary how easy it is for someone just, and look, someone just to come up to you and say, hey, see that? Look at that. And just like that. They say your mind is an infinite recording device. They say the things that you see you'll never forget. Anybody who can remember a song from 30 years ago can testify to that. Your mind, they don't know the limits of the video and the sound and everything that you can remember. You'll never forget those things that you see. Do not let people drag you into the darkness because you may never get out, and it'll define the things that you do now. The things that you do now will define the man you are when you're 20. And once you're 20, 22, 25, 30, sometimes there's problems that I don't know. I don't know how to fix. It's best not to go down those roads, and you watch out for those people trying to pull you in because they're gonna try to pull you in. So look, we're talking about spiritual darkness that we came out of. We're saved. We're all saved. Thank God we're not in the spiritual dark anymore. But the physical darkness, the physical darkness is used to cover up sin. Just like that black plastic bag, the philosophical darkness is where those secrets lie. You get that guy starting talking secrets to you. Get away from me. Don't get into that stuff because guess what? When that light shines, look, it could be the light just at work. When that light shines and you're standing in the dark with the wolf, that's gonna be a problem for you in your life. And look, adults, you think, I mean, we sit here and we preach at the kids, but look, this is a real problem for adults too. We need to stay out of the dark too. We need to stay out of the dark, stay away from people that love the dark. We need to, look, you need to teach your kids. Anybody that comes up to your kids, I've said this to my kids 80 billion times. Anybody comes up to you and tries to tell you a secret, you tell me. Anybody that comes up to your kids, look, this is what predators do. This is what bad people do is they come up to kids and they tell them, hey, but don't tell your parents this. You know what the public school does? They don't want the parents knowing what's going on. You're telling a bunch of secrets there. Look, they're bad people. You need to teach your kids. Anybody comes to you and says, hey, this is a secret between you, you go and you tell your mom and you go and you tell your dad right away. Because those are bad people. But look, we need to operate this way as an adult too. Because seeing just as many adults fall into this stuff as I have kids. We need to stay away from people that love the darkness. Look, I mean, the Bible, you're all saved. You're all soul winners, I hope. You're all saved. You're all soul winners. Nothing the devil can do can change that. But he can make you worthless. He can make you worthless. Daniel 7 says that the beast who works for Satan, you know what he's trying to do? He's trying to wear out the saints. Or the most, he's trying to wear them out. You know what that means? They're just crushed, they're just done. And they can't do anything. Satan's gonna try to pull you in the dark. He's gonna try to get you in the garbage can. He's gonna try to get you dragged down to where you're worthless. You're worn out. I've seen Christians that they got dragged so far into the dark, maybe they'll never come back. They're as saved as me and you, but they're dead in this Christian life. I hope this scares you, Tony, because it's a scary story, and it happens to people. It happens to people like you, just because they crept into the dark. This isn't that bad. Lottery tickets not that bad. It always starts with stuff that's not that bad, that you think is not that bad. Pretty soon, you're dragged into the dark and maybe you can't come back. Maybe the plan A for your life can no longer be realized because you've gone so far into the dark. Maybe you've burned through plan A all the way to plan M because you went so far into the dark. And thank God, he's always got another plan for us. But don't go there in the first place. Don't go there in the first place. Satan's trying to wear us out, folks. He's trying to wear us out. He's trying to beat us up. He's trying to drag us out of this. That's why we're here together. That's why we're here together. So you can sharpen each other. So you have your brothers. They're like, we're more than friends here. We're brothers and sisters here. You see your brother and sister getting dragged off into the dark. You grab them and you bring them back. That's what we're here to do. What's the point of a friend who won't help pull you out of the dark? That's the power of a church like this. That's the power of relationships like this is we're so much, I mean, we're so much stronger together. We're so much stronger together. Darkness, it's a scary thing. We need to stay away from it. We need to keep each other away from it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.