(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And that was kind of frustrating. And so we want to be the exact opposite. We want to make it as available as possible and to highly encourage people to go. And me or my staff or one of our soloing captains would be more than happy to go out soloing with you at a different time if that's needful. Down below, we have our church stats. And then on the right, we have the list of expecting ladies. Also, we have our prayer list. Continue to send those in via our email, and we'll add those to our bulletin. One note, there is some new papers sitting over there on the cabinet in regards to just our rights as far as soloing. If you go soloing around this area, sometimes the police may not necessarily understand our rights for going soloing. And so we have some printed out solicitation ordinances for the city of Otago specifically. And the reason why we don't necessarily have this for every city, but maybe this one, is if you try to go soloing in Otago, you'll notice very quickly every door has a no soliciting sign. And I mean, it's like almost every single door. So if you even want to go soloing in Otago, you're going to have to knock on doors that say that. And look, I hate solicitors just as much as the next guy. So I get it. At the same time, though, that's not what we're doing. We're not selling anything or asking for any money or asking for any donations or anything like that. We're simply there to just invite people to church and give them the gospel if they want us to. And like I tell law enforcement or even our church members, make sure that if they don't want you there, you leave right away. I don't want to talk to someone that's not interested in me. One other just note, and again, I'm not telling you you can't, because I've literally done it. But if you do carry, it's better to either be concealed or maybe not take it when you got soloing, just so you don't intimidate people sometimes. But at the same time, I don't want you to go unprotected if you feel like you need that. So you won't get me mad at you for open carrying. I'm just saying that if you can somehow conceal or not be intimidating about it, especially when you first knock on the door, like if you were to die today, are you 100% sure you would have? I mean, that could seem a little intimidating. So you might want to be a little bit friendlier. But typically the people that complain are just, they don't want to complain anyways, so I get it. But just a couple reminders. Also going in and out of the building, please don't stay in the parking lot or loiter in the parking lot or hang out in the parking lot. Please just only go to your vehicle and then leave and vice versa, just so we don't incur any extra wrath than we need. Also on the back, we have some events. We have the bridal shower for Miss Megan Cogdell on July 2nd. And right below that, it has the details of that. She's registered on Target and Amazon. It is nursing's only preferred, it's from 1230 to two. So definitely that would be an encouragement to them for their wedding if you want to participate. Even if you don't know the lady that's getting married, we invite all ladies. We like to invite all the women of our church to participate in all the different baby showers and bridal showers, these type of events, just so they can get to know other ladies better and start making friendships and everything like that. And it's definitely really appreciated. Usually the church provides a lot of food and stuff like that. And so how can you lose? You get to give dad the kids, get some free food, hang out with some ladies. I mean, it's just a win all around, right? Also, we have a song leading class. So brother Dylan had wanted to start a song leading class and music practice. We have a couple of different dates there and I believe there is a signup sheet. So if you're interested in song leading and you want to kind of even just learn, this is not for people that are just already the best ever necessarily. This is just someone that's interested. So to give you a safe environment, lead songs, practice doing song leading. So if you want to participate in that, this would be a great opportunity. Also, if you have an instrument or you like playing instruments, or you want to practice with our musicians, also an opportunity to come and basically just kind of practice, get a little bit better. So we just want to have an opportunity for you to get better, an environment to practice in. And it's maybe a little bit less intimidating. I myself know that, I don't know for whatever reason, I never get nervous preaching, but I have to be honest with you, I am terrified when I play the piano in front of people. So I totally get that pressure and really the only way to overcome those things is to just practice a lot and to kind of just put yourself out there and try to get used to it by doing it. So that's just a tip out there. It is 9.15 to 10 a.m. is the class time, but we had some dates there, July 3rd, 10th, 24th, and 31st. I think there's a signup sheet right up here in the cabinet, so if you'd like to do that. Also our men's conference signup sheet's up there. And then we've had to delay this a couple times just due to my fault and just some sickness and stuff, but we did still want to have a time to honor our graduates and we only had one homeschool graduate this year, but we have Ms. Elena Cardona had graduated for 2022, and so we wanted her to come up here and we have a gift for her. Let's go ahead and give her a round of applause. Thank you. Thank you. This is the diploma that she has. Also our church has a gift that we wanted to bless you with. So it's a Bible, of course it's King James, making sure it's real big, okay. Got her name on it, right there, yep, and a little gift. And hey, wait, wait, wait, don't run off just yet. I know you graduated and you're ready to get to the world, but you know, okay. And we want to just take a quick picture to commemorate that and there is a table out here if you wanted to, I believe, sign or get a gift or anything like that. Is there something else? Oh, okay, sure. That's great. Thank you to our graduates. I think that's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time. There is a lot of donuts over here and so that's a combination for our graduates. We are going to be having Coke and root beer floats for the fathers for the evening service. So you got to come back, all right. So we are celebrating Father's Day. Also, we do have the baptistry working. So if someone wanted to get baptized today, that is available. If you want to wait for another service, that's as well too. We should have change of clothes and towels if we can find them. But we'll try to make that work if that's somebody or you need that. Just see myself or one of our ushers or Brother Dylan and we can try to help you with that request. So let's go ahead and go to our third song this morning, the song 100 Day by Day. And that's song number 100 Day by Day. 100 Day by Day. Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure, gives unto each day what he deems best. Ovingly, it's part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and rest. Every day the Lord himself is near me, with a special mercy for each hour. All my cares he fain would bear and cheer me. He whose name is counselor and power, the protection of his child and treasure, is a charge that on himself he lay. As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure, this the pledge to me he made. Help me then in every tribulation, so to trust thy promises, O Lord, that I lose not faith's sweet consolation, offered me within thy holy word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, dare to take us from a father's hand, one by one the days the moment's fleeting, till I reach the promised land. As the offering plates are passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter five. Deuteronomy chapter five. We're gonna read the whole chapter before the sermon. You can follow along silently, starting at verse number one, Deuteronomy chapter five. The Bible reads, and Moses called all Israel and said unto them, hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them and keep and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time to show you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid by reason of the fire and went not up into the mount, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Thou shall have none other gods before me. Thou shall not make thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the waters beneath the earth. Thou shall not bow down thyself under them nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it, thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thine ox nor thine ass nor any of thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. That thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou was the servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. Honor thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill, neither shalt thou commit adultery, neither shalt thou steal, neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor, neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field or his manservant or his maidservant, his ox or his ass or anything that is thy neighbor's. These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick darkness with a great voice and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone and delivered them unto me. And it came to pass when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness for the mountain did burn with fire that you came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, behold the Lord our God has showed us his glory and his greatness and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God doth talk with man and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die for this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we have and live? Go down near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it. And the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spake unto me and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee, they have well said all that they have spoken. Oh, that there were such an heart in them that they should fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children forever. Those say to them, get you into your tents again, but as for thee stand out here by me and I will speak unto thee all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which thou shalt teach them that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. He shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you. He shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. He shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you that you may live and that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. Let's pray. Father God, I just pray now that you would bless all aspects of the service that you would fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and that you would give us ears to hear and soften hearts in the room so we can listen and apply the message to our lives. In Jesus name I pray, amen. We're here in Deuteronomy chapter number five and this is a recap of a lot of the commandments that God had given Moses. You have to understand in the timeline when Moses and the children of Israel came out of Egypt, God initially delivered them the 10 commandments and a lot of laws, a lot of statutes. 10 are very famous because they were literally written on a stone tablet with God's finger himself. But God gave him a lot of commandments and in Deuteronomy, we fast forward in a sense about 40 years where all the rebellious children of Israel have died, that past generation has died and here God is having Moses remind the children of Israel all the commandments that God had delivered them. Specifically it says in verse number 16, honor thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee and the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So according to the Bible, one of the most important commandments in the scripture is specifically to honor thy father and this morning what I really want to talk about or the title of my sermon is why honor your father? Why honor your father? Now in this verse, it actually does provide a reason but I'm not gonna necessarily dwell on that thought too much. Obviously the Bible's saying that if you wanna have a longer life, you want things to go well with you specifically, you're supposed to honor your father and that's kind of a selfish reason to honor thy father. Not a bad reason necessarily but it's definitely an inherent reason of why to honor thy father but there's a lot of other reasons that the Bible brings up but this is just a very clear commandment. It's something that's emphasized over and over. Keep your finger and go to Exodus chapter 20. We'll see the exact same thing. Now what's interesting about the 10 commandments or what's interesting about the commandments specifically is most of the time they're just real straightforward like thou should have no other gods before me and that's just a straight command but this specific commandment in the Bible doesn't just say don't do something or do something. It actually then attaches some kind of reward slash consequence to following that specific commandment. Says in Exodus chapter 20, verse number 12, honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So again, the Bible not only gives you a commandment to honor thy father and mother but then attaches with it a reward, a blessing to those that would honor thy father and thy mother. Today in American culture is known as Father's Day and I think that's a great celebration but we have to understand that when we're honoring our father and our mother, if you're saved today, you don't just have a physical father, you also have a heavenly father in heaven and we're supposed to honor him as well and really this commandment, its primary application, I think that sometimes we forget this, the primary application is God himself. It's not your physical father really because obviously in connection is saying thy father, thy mother and we understand we don't have a spiritual mother, God is a man but really when it comes to getting this long life and getting all these blessings, it's always attached to following God's commandments and that's how we honor our heavenly father is by following his commandments and doing that which is right and I will even suggest to you, I think some people may be confused, even if you're not saved, just someone that's not even saved, they're gonna have a longer life by just following the commandments of the Bible than someone that's not following the commandments. This is really a promise to just all mankind. Mankind will live longer the more they follow God's commandments, the less they sin, the more they honor God, that is how they're going to live a longer and more prosperous life. Go to Matthew, chapter number 15, Matthew chapter 15. So we have multiple times in the Old Testament mentioning the importance of honoring thy father, honoring thy mother. What does it mean to honor? Well, you know, if I look it up in a dictionary, honor as far as the verb is concerned would be to show high respect or to give a great privilege or to show admiration or to give special recognition or to salute and I think all of those are applicable. I think all of those apply when we think about honoring. One thing, and I'm not really gonna go in detail on this, but honor can also be a monetary thing where you give somebody honor as talking about paying them money that is due to them or that is owed unto them. When the Bible says honor thy father and thy mother, not only is it meaning that you should show respect and admiration and give them great privilege in your lives, but also if they were elderly or not able to take care of themselves, the Bible teaches that you should also be willing to pay for them and give them that honor because they are due that honor. You owe them that respect and that special recognition of taking care of them and we can find that a lot of places in the scripture, but if you look at Matthew chapter 15, look at verse four. For God commanded saying honor thy father and mother and he that curses father and mother, let him die to death. Now in this context is actually the monetary context that I brought up, but I don't wanna get into that really. What I wanna point out though is that not only did Moses bring this up in Exodus, 40 years later he brings it up in Deuteronomy, not only that, Jesus Christ brought it up in his ministry. This is an extremely important commandment and notice if you do honor your father and mother, you get what, a long life. What's the opposite of that? Dying prematurely. And notice that there's an actual punishment mentioned here that those that would curse their father and mother let them die to death. So even from a human civil perspective and even in America, I know it's not considered kosher anymore, but in America, in the United States of America, in the laws of Connecticut in 1673, they literally had a statute saying that children that would curse and smite their parents, they would be put to death and that was the law of the land. A lot of people don't like that law and I understand that they don't like that law, but here's the thing that we have to understand is when man fails to implement God's punishments, God ends up taking the law and judging for himself. He ends up implementing or instituting that punishment often. And so a lot of children that are very rebellious towards their parents, would do evil under their parents, often die very prematurely. You know, an example of this would be kids who get mixed up in gang, in a gang culture or a gang atmosphere. A lot of times these type of individuals are very disrespectful towards their father, they're very aggressive towards their parents, they even physically harm their parents and it's not a surprise that this same culture, this same group of individuals ends up destroying themselves at a very young age. They may die in a gang related death or shooting or on drugs or by police often because the worst thing you can do when cops are trying to pull you over is try to reach for a firearm or something. I mean, you wanna comply because they're authorized to use lethal force to stop any threats. And in the past, cops may not have been as trigger happy because people showed respect to law enforcement and things like that, but today cops are one of the most hated group of individuals, almost nobody likes law enforcement anymore and so they're always on edge, they're overstressed, they're overworked, they have a lot of problems. They have to enforce really bad laws and so the last thing you wanna do is get these people more on edge or more uncomfortable or make some kind of a haste decision. I mean, there was a pretty famous police killing, this, I think it was like a year ago or two years ago where the police officer even tried to reach for their taser, didn't get the taser, pulled out a gun and just shot and killed some individual and I'm not saying, I'm not gonna give any commentary on good or right or bad. All I'm saying is they didn't mean to do that. So I don't even wanna give them an opportunity to pull a taser on me and so you wanna make sure that you're being careful in these situations and ultimately, you could die a million different ways. There's so much danger, there's so much threat out there and what's gonna really keep you safe is honoring God, the Father, is making sure that you're right with God and you're doing that which is pleasing in His sight. I mean, people are dying every single day in this country, across this world for all numbers of reasons and often, it's probably a punishment for the fact that they're so disrespectful to their parents. I believe that when we look at the culture that we have today, it's a very disrespectful culture to their father, whether that's physically or even in heaven and God may start cursing mankind and cursing this world by killing a lot of people. Now, you say, how do you do that? Maybe through warfare. I mean, what if you have an entire enemy army come and invade your country like Russia and just start bombing your cities and terrorizing your cities and killing people and then they force all the young men to go into war and go fight these unrighteous wars and they're slain in battle and killed in battle. I mean, that is a curse on a nation and it could be that that generation just didn't like their father so God's gonna draw them away in a war to kill them. I saw some legislation article and I don't know, you could look this up yourself because I didn't research it but the article headline said that new draft legislation, I don't know if it's passed or suggested, the new draft legislation would not only draw young men into the army, women would also have to be drafted in the US military. Do you think that it's cool to disrespect your father and mother and you young ladies feel like, oh, well, there's nothing bad that could happen to me. The US government could literally draft you into the army and think about how horrible this would be for young ladies because according to our government, they don't even believe science anymore. They think that men and women are equal so they're gonna put the same kind of strenuous requirements on women that aren't even realistic or put them in dangerous situations that aren't even realistic. Most women avoid war and conflict and fighting and shooting and all these different things because they're not born to do that kind of stuff. It's not natural for them and it's really a curse when they're drug into these type of situations. Nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in the Bible do you see women armies winning any war. I don't know if you realize that. Like, I don't know if that's confusing to you because if there's no difference, think about this, if there's no difference between men and women, wouldn't you think the last 6,000 years of history, there would have been at least one battalion of women combatants that would have won at least one war. Not even a war, a battle. Not even a battle, a fight. I mean, why do the men, every time they entered into the city, like they would draw the men out of the city and then they would go and enter the city where the women and the children are, why did they always win? Why didn't the women just destroy them? Why didn't the women just win the fight and the battle? It's because there's a difference between men and women, folks. And all of history, all science, all truth, recognize these differences. And if you don't wanna respect your father, if you don't want your father to protect you, if you don't want the man of the house to protect you and you don't want God the Father to protect you, there's no one to protect you. So then you get to go and protect yourself. And let me tell you something. I saw a lot of articles about California and some of these other areas where crime is just escalating so much that women are constantly being beaten and just forced and all kinds of stuff regularly. I saw a young man enter into a cell phone store. I'll let you guess what color he is. And this young lady's there by herself and he just beats the living tar out of her and just drags her around by her hair and just like stomping on her face. She had no chance. And then I started looking at the comments and I see this one comment that says like, oh, women shouldn't be allowed to be at a store by themselves. I'm thinking like, I thought men and women are the same. You know, if you go to Europe, you go to places in the UK, the Muslim terrorists over there, the Muslim terrorist cell groups, they are literally just dragging women out in the middle of the street and the public and stomping on them and crushing them and then forcing them in public. And the cops will not arrest them. And if a husband or father goes to the police and then says, hey, this is illegal, this is wrong, they'll arrest the husband and say he's inciting hatred. That is the world that we're living in. And you say, why is that happening? Why is this evil happening? Because people aren't honoring thy father anymore. People aren't honoring God the father anymore. And when you don't honor God, when you don't honor fathers anymore, you're just gonna have horrible crime, horrible evil, death and destruction. We need to revisit the institutions that God has given us. And one of the most important institutions is the family unit and not just a physical family unit, the spiritual family unit of God the father. God is our father and he's there to provide us this shield and this protection and everything that we need. But when you reject that, evil is there waiting at the door. Evil is there to take over your house. Look at Ephesians chapter number six, Ephesians chapter number six. Now I know that we don't like the way that our country is going and let me be honest, I hate it, but I'll tell you, it's so much darker in other parts of this world right now. It's so much more evil. We don't even know what evil is really like yet. We don't even know the depths of Satan at his finest. I mean, when you study history, they're dragging Christians out of their home and putting them in the Colosseum to be eaten by lions. They're torturing Christians. In today's world, if you're a Muslim country and you convert to Christianity, they will behead your entire family in front of you. They will drag you out and kill you. If you live in certain communist countries like China and some of these other areas, you can't own a Bible. You can't go to church whatsoever. You think that we have a hard time going to church, go to China, go to North Korea. The other parts of this world, I mean, there is a full-scale attack from the devil to destroy Christianity and destroy God's rules and he wants to destroy every family and every person and really, you get this destruction when you get outside the wings and the boundaries of the protection that comes from your father. You know, when a whole nation says, hey, we don't want God the Father to protect us, guess what happens? Then you have the devil come in to mess with you. Then you have evil come in to destroy you. You know, we need fathers in the home and we need to honor that father and help that father help us. Look at Ephesians chapter six, verse one. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. So of the 10 commandments, when we're going down the list, what's the first commandment to end up providing a blessing? It's the commandment to honor thy father and thy mother. Our fifth commandment is the one that's attached with promise, meaning you're gonna have a longer life when you're under the wing of your father. And so it's a very important thing. Go to 1 Peter chapter number five, 1 Peter chapter number five. When you don't care about God's commandments, when you don't care about God being your father, when you're not gonna respect him, you know, the opposite of having a long life is early premature death, destruction, evil, harm, all these different things. 1 Peter chapter five, verse six, the Bible says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. This is one of the greatest things about a father. When you have a father, there's so much evil out there. There's so much harm that's out there that wants to get you. And there could be a lot of worry associated with that. There could be a lot of threat, a lot of fear. But just as a little child who can do literally nothing to protect itself or, you know, keep itself safe, just relies on his dad to keep it safe, we too could have the same attitude with God. Go to Psalms 28, go to Psalms 28 in the Bible. And I have three points this morning, and I gave a long introduction, but I have three quick points that I wanna discuss. You know, why honor your father? Number one, because he protects you. And, you know, that protection is supposed to put you at ease. It's supposed to give you a peace of mind. It's supposed to give you comfort. You know, when you don't have any protection, when you don't have any ability to defend yourself, you have no one there on your side, it can be a scary feeling, especially when there's enemies, especially when there's people that don't like you. Why do you think it is that the US government, after the most safe and secure election ever, decided to board up their entire capital with fenced walls and all this military and tanks and all this stuff? I mean, why do you think that they did that? Because it wouldn't feel very safe walking around. I mean, let's implement a no-gun policy in Washington, D.C. first. I want Joe Biden to not be around a firearm within 10,000 feet for a year. And if he can survive, then we'll do it. I'll do it. Yeah, I mean, why not model for us what you believe? Let's disarm all government and all, let's do this, all law enforcement, all government, all person, any of you who work for the government in any capacity, all the president and all of the politicians and all the government, they surrender all their guns first for an entire year, and then us, the citizens, will go ahead and surrender our weapons too. Why do you think that they have those fires? They're scared, my friend. And it's good that they have weapons. I'm not against the government having weapons. That's a stupid idea. Those that would forfeit their protection are foolish. To forfeit your gun is essentially saying, please attack me, please destroy me. You know, even talking with law enforcement, they say we carry a gun when we're not on duty. And they encourage gun ownership because they realize the real threat that's out there. And the safest thing for our country would be for everyone to have a gun. You know, it's interesting. Any time there's a school shooting, you know how it ends? Someone with a gun ended it. I mean, how does that make sense? Hey, let's eliminate the solution to every shooting. It was a gun. A gun stopped the threat. So if eliminating guns doesn't help cease problems or cease issues, really it just paints a giant target on your back. It just says, please attack me. Now, of course, while we do believe in the Second Amendment, we do believe in firearms, we do believe it's important to defend yourself and protect yourself, just as foolish as it would be to just surrender all of your firearms and just surrender all your protection, it's even a thousand infinitely times more foolish to surrender the protection that God is offering you. To say, hey, God's the earth saying like, I will protect you, I'll be the one to help you, I'll be the one to guard you and shield you, and to just forfeit that by not trusting in Him, not honoring Him. Look at what it says in Psalms 28, verse eight. The Lord is their strength, and He is the saving strength of His anointed. God is the one that saves us. You know, nowhere in the Bible, let me say another thing. Nowhere in the Bible do God's people win a fight because of their weapons. They won every fight because of God. And in fact, sometimes they didn't have weapons. Sometimes they had inferior weapons. I mean, David had a gun that was made with one of those machines, a 3D printer, you know, slingshot, you know. I mean, what kind of gun is this? You know, shooting out rocks. But notice, you know, you don't bring a sword to a gunfight. Notice who won, David, didn't he? Because the gun's a great equalizer. But obviously that rock slung out of that sling is a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our rock, and that's what really killed him. He stung him with the Lord Jesus Christ, and then he took the sword, which is a picture of the word of God, and he slew the head of his enemy. You know, we wore a spiritual warfare. Why do you think it is that we are one of the most censored institutions on the planet because they understand that our weapon is the word of God, our weapon is the truth, and they can't allow the truth to go forth because the truth just slays lies and slays deception and slays the enemy, and really we're supposed to put all of our trust in the protection that comes from God, and in the protection that comes from God's word. You know, some people want us to stop preaching the Bible, but that would be just the same as me retiring all the firearms, just saying, hey, we have no weapon, just come and attack us. You know, the thing that keeps us spry, the thing that keeps us alive is flashing our sword every once in a while, the sword of the Spirit. You know, we don't war a physical fight. We never have, never will. We always say that. Everybody that takes us out of context just lies about us, and you know, that's their fault. Go, if you would, to chapter 33, might be on the same page, and look at verse 13. The Lord looketh from heaven, he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation, he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth, he fashioneth their hearts alike, he considerth all their works. There is no king saved by the multitude of an host. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength. That's something you might want to circle in your Bible. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength. I don't care how strong you are. I don't care how many weapons you have. I don't care how big your military is. It is meaningless. It is absolutely meaningless. The only thing that matters is if God is on your team or not. That's the only thing that matters. And being saved helps that, but even when you're saved, God's not always on your team. You can be a friend of the world, and when you're a friend of the world, God's not on your side. And it's meaningless how much you claim that you love the Lord when you actually don't. It's meaningless how much you say you trust the Lord when you actually don't. It's meaningless how much you go to church when you don't know anything in the Bible. And that church doesn't follow any of the Bible. You know, a lot of people think that they're right with God today because they went to a church this morning, but that church doesn't even have a biblical pastor. They're not even reading the word of God. They're not even reading the King James Bible. They're reading the message. And they're not even singing songs that have anything to do with the God of the Bible. They're singing just made up, feel good, just our God is an awesome God. You know, what kind of benefit does that have? Because in the book of Isaiah, when the children of Israel were offering the exact sacrifices that God wanted them to, he said it was worthless because they weren't doing it with the right heart. You know, you can sing all kinds of just vain songs or, you know, Lauren Daigle or Chris Tomlin or Hillsong or whatever you want to do all day long. I mean, you could sing it all day long and read the message all day long and God's still not entertaining. I mean, the children of Israel are literally God's people and they were forsaken because they weren't right with God. And we must stay right with God. We have to continually honor our Father because at any moment it can change. You know, well, I honored my father really good yesterday, but the day I was disrespectful. Well, you know what? All the stuff in the passage goes out the window. Meaningless. You know, you're gonna be held responsible for your current actions, for your current state. And you know what's gonna give you true deliverance is putting your trust in the Lord. Look what it says in verse 17. And horse is a vain thing for safety. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Now notice how he words this. No one gets delivered because of a horse. In our modern vernacular, no one gets delivered from a Tesla, from a tank, from a fighter jet. Says verse 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waited for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee. This world is a scary place. This world is a dangerous place. Bible even warns in the last days, perilous times shall come and men are lovers of their own selves. And we understand that there's all kinds of evil. Crime is exponentially exploding in all areas of this world. And you say, where's the safest place? In God's house. Where is the safest place? Trusting in him. Relying upon him. You know, some people would think like, oh, it's so dangerous to go to steadfast Baptist Church. You know, I could go to any other church, any other church, and they wouldn't have protesters in this area. That's probably true. I don't know if it's entirely true. I know that other churches have been protested. I know First Baptist with Pastor Robert Jeffress has been protested. And I know that some other Preston Wood Baptist Church, I know that they've had protesters. I know other churches in this area have had protesters. In fact, Todd White's had protesters apparently. I don't even know, like, I don't know if it was just they were really offended by his haircut. I mean, I kinda get that, but I'm just thinking like, I don't even know. But you know, any semblance of Christianity, any semblance of the love for the Lord or following his commandments is gonna be protested. It's gonna be fought. But you say, well, how are we gonna be protected? God, the Lord. Go if you went to chapter 115. Go to 115 for a moment in Psalms. We're still here in Psalms, 115. There's a lot of evil out there. And in the chapter that we just read, he said he's protecting you not just from physical harm, but even just things like famine. You know, famine is a scary thing. I think a lot of people are terrified of that. I feel like I see articles and people sharing all kinds of things like, oh, this food factory blew up, strangely. This, you know, train just derailed. Some like giant train wreck happened in Kansas recently. Or I saw a video. It's like 10,000 cattle died in, I don't know why everything's dying in Kansas. You know, I thought the Wizard of Oz didn't really live there. I don't know what's going on. But you know, in the heartland where we get all of our food and all this produce and everything like that. But you have to think like, can you really look at what our nation is doing and not think that God wouldn't be like plaguing us at least a little? Like, just like a little bit of curse? I mean, just a little bit of problems? I mean, it feels like God is really angry. I mean, I feel angry. I can't even imagine how angry he is. Because on a comparison of righteousness scale, I'm not even on the scale. And God's at the top and I'm angry. So I can't even imagine how much angrier he has to be at all the sin and all the rebellion and all the filth and the things that are being proclaimed in our nation. I mean, for an entire month, we're celebrating one of the most unimaginable sins in the Bible. You don't think that God is just like, just so angry and so furious. And these people are so anti-science. I mean, I feel like his ears have to tingle every single time someone uses the wrong pronoun. And I'm not saying the way the world says it. I'm saying the way they wanna say it. Oh, these are my pronouns. That's gross. I mean, just to hear the lisping has got to hurt his ears. Because being effeminate is a sin. I mean, I don't like it, it's gross. It's weird, it's perverted. Think about how much these people hate themselves. They hate their voice so much they have to lisp. They hate their, as a man, they hate their hair so much they have a short hair because they grow it out to make themselves look grotesque. They wear disgusting clothing. I mean, everything about themselves they wanna change. It's the weirdest stuff. And I mean, these trannies who mutilate the most sensitive part of their body. I mean, what kind of delusion is a man under that would do something like that to himself? And then we proclaim that, I mean, that is literally who's in charge of the health of our nation. Like, one of the department health people is that. It's like, what? This guy doesn't have any health common sense. And that's what happens, you know, when you reject your father's instruction, you end up destroying yourself. Because he's giving you good advice, he wants things to go well with you, he wants you to be happy. These people do everything the exact opposite of instruction, which causes them to be so upset and so frustrated. I mean, why do you think these people are killing themselves? At the highest rate. I would, I mean, I would never kill myself. But I'm saying if I was so delusional to mutilate my body that badly, I could see why you'd wanna kill yourself. That's gotta hurt every day and feel weird and just like, be so depressed, I don't know. I mean, this sounds horrible. I can't even imagine. And they say, oh, well it's because of Stenfast Baptist Church that they do that. But here's the silliness of that. These people are often talking about how depressed they are, but then they get all excited to come here and protest us. It's like, we actually give them like a happy life. And they don't go to church, but they get like their own little church here of hate. They say that we're a hate cult, but they just, they show up on Sunday morning, every Sunday morning they have the same message, just hate. I mean, I know that sometimes we pre-hateful messages, I get that. But we also mix it up, you know, we put some loving messages out there and we talk about the family, we talk about marriage, they have the same message. Coal, coal, coal, coal, hate, hate, hate, blaspheme God, blaspheme God, blaspheme God, blaspheme God, blaspheme God, blaspheme God, blaspheme God, blaspheme God. I mean, how do you do that for an hour straight? You know, everything they do is backwards, because everybody's the preacher there, right? It kind of makes you think of like First Corinthians Church where it's like, everybody's the preacher, and everybody has a song, and everybody has a doctrine, and it's just like all confusing, and nobody knows what's going on, nobody knows who the preacher is. I mean, it doesn't make any sense, does it? I mean, just, that is their church, though. That is their congregation. Why? Because who's their father? The devil. And the devil's trying to get them used to hell by just having to stand out in the heat, you know, for their church services, everybody's screaming. Just think about it, what's hell like? Hot, everybody there's uncomfortable, they're all screaming, and they're probably still blaspheming God in hell, too. You know, because in the Book of Revelation, when God's plaguing them with every curse imaginable, locusts from hell, and all this other kind of stuff, they don't stop blaspheming God, they do it more. You know, the only real benefit that I can think of are these people surviving, because you kind of think like, why is God not killing these people? Well, somebody's got to get those locusts from hell, you know? I mean, someone has got to get all those plagues. Someone deserves them. I know some people deserve them. And they're going to get what they deserve. It's going to be horrible. That's why we don't want to disrespect our father, because he's the one that's giving us all that protection. You know who protects us from hell? God. Who protects us from everything. Psalm 115, look at verse 11. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You know, this verse helps me understand something. Trust and fear are complex things, because if fearing the Lord or trusting the Lord were synonymous, this instruction wouldn't even make sense. Because he's saying, hey, if you fear the Lord, then trust him too. Meaning that you can think in your mind like, okay, I fear God, I understand he's the one in control, he's the one that I need to observe. But then not trust him. Not go all the way. Obviously, the children of Israel, think about this. In the book of Exodus, the children of Israel, they fear God, because they don't even want to go hear him talk. They're afraid to approach the mountain. They're like, you know, have him depart from us. They're terrified of the Lord. But at the same time, they never seem to trust him. Then when he tells them to go somewhere or do something, they're paralyzed in fear, and they just won't do it. They never want to go out and follow the Lord's instructions and do that which is right. And so it's important to do both. You say, I fear God. Okay, well then trust him too. Go to church, read the Bible, proclaim the truth. Go if you would to Matthew 24, Matthew chapter 24. And look at verse 42. Matthew 24, look at verse 42. The Bible says, watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if the good men of the house had known and watched the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. One thing that you have to realize is that as a man, you're supposed to protect your family. Just like God protects us, the man who's supposed to protect their house, and notice the good man, not a bad man, not a lazy man, not just some jerk, but the good man, he won't let his house just be broken up. He won't just let enemies come in and attack his house and hurt and harm his children and hurt and harm his wife. You know what, we need men to be the good man, but if you have a good man in your home, he deserves respect because notice it's not saying, well if the good man's not there, the lady'll take care of it. The children will take care of it. You know, you have to realize that that man, being at home, gives you protection. And in fact, many criminals, they don't even wanna approach the house when the good man's up there. They wanna come when he's not there. So even if your husband is a lazy, jerk, fool, idiot, just being physically present at your home is giving you protection. Just being there physically is giving you all kinds of safety and protection, and he deserves respect for that protection. You know, whether you like them or not. I mean, just the fact, I mean, people in our church may have a really bad opinion of police officers. I sympathize with them because they have to enforce really bad laws, but even if you do, just them being physically present here is giving us extra protection. And so you shouldn't just be a jerk to them just to be a jerk to them. You know, I don't see the children of Israel, I'm sorry, I don't see the disciples and Jesus running their mouth at Roman soldiers. In fact, when the Roman soldiers came to Jesus, he healed them, and he even said one of them had the greatest faith he'd ever seen in his life. Don't get mad at the Roman soldiers for being a Roman soldier. They're not our enemy anyways, they're a pawn of the system. And of course, they are one part of the situation, but I personally think that the police are probably the best of all of our governmental institutions because they really do, a lot of times, enforce the law. It's just they have really terrible laws in force. Because if all of a sudden we just passed all the right laws, I feel like the police would probably do it for the most part. I mean, think about even on the smallest matters. I mean, you don't turn on your turn signal, they'll give you a ticket. You speed and you get, I mean, just minor infractions, they're pulling you over and giving you tickets and all that kind of stuff. I mean, if we just gave them back the authority, to basically do the right things, a lot of them would probably do it. A lot of them would actually do their job. And so, you know, you get mad at them, but you're putting your anger in the wrong place. It's kind of like when they got mad at Moses. It's like God's the one that gave the law. And so if you're getting mad at police officers for the law, the laws that Greg Abbott and our legislator passed, that's the wrong location for your anger. Anger should be at our politicians, at all these individuals who are passing these terrible laws. Those are the ones that are really the ones that are at fault and the danger to our society. Not to say that every cop's a good guy. Obviously there's good and bad cops, we get that, okay? Look at chapter 23, just flip back and look at verse number 37, the Bible says this. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sinned unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathered their chickens under her wings and you would not? Just like a chicken guards her chicks is the same picture that God wants to tell us of how he would guard and protect his children as long as they trust him. You know, as a chick just runs away from the hen, as the chick refuses to stay under the wing of her mother, now she's vulnerable, now she's open to danger and it's important to constantly stay under the wing of the Lord, stay in his protection. Go to Deuteronomy chapter eight, go to Deuteronomy chapter number eight. That's kind of the biggest point and I think it's a big point for this reason. Our world is a scary place. If you're not afraid of what this world's turning into or what's in this world, then you're not paying attention or you're just ignorant. There's a lot to be afraid of but instead of being afraid of all that and trying to figure out a physical way to protect yourself, you need to just figure out, okay, I'm gonna cast all of my care on the Lord, I'm gonna cast all of my care on God and I'm just gonna rely on his protection and on his mercy and on his grace and I'm just gonna give him all the honor and I'm gonna give him all the glory and I'm gonna say, I don't know what's gonna happen to this world but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He is our guard, he is our shield. The Lord is our son and our shield and we just need to let him protect us. You say, well, what, you know, protection's all good and stuff but what if we don't have any food? What if we don't have anything to eat? And that's, you know, some of you are buying the 25-year supply of, you know, storage shelter food or something, Alex Jones Special. No distributor has this price. You can't go into a Costco and buy this at the same price or cheaper. Well, maybe but, you know, you won't get the special feeling that you get when you think about, you know, how they're turning the frogs great. You know, it's like, I don't, you know, I don't wanna store that food because I just don't wanna eat it. You know, if I could buy something that's like, hey, this steak's preserved for 25 years and they're perfect or whatever, and it's just like, let's store that, you know. This other stuff, I'm looking at it, I'm like, let's go to heaven earlier or something, you know. Like, God'll get a bird to go take some meat from somebody and fly it over to me or something, you know. Like, why am I, you know, think about the miracles that God did to provide for people with food, and it was never Alex Jones. It wasn't like, oh yeah, three years ago I bought, now obviously you have Joseph preparing for a famine, but he was warned by God to do such a thing. You know, when you look at Matthew chapter six, we might turn there, but it's like, he's saying take no thought for tomorrow. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and try to store food because I think people don't realize this fact. Our economy and our food distribution is such a house of cards and is such a fragile reality that even if you did store up all this food, no one else did. And do you know what happens when 100% of your neighbors don't have food and you do? You're the literal biggest target. I mean, do you really wanna be the only person sitting over there eating food and grilling in the backyard and all of your neighbors have nothing? They're gonna come over. And I'd rather be in the same boat with them so I'm less of a target. I mean, you might think, like, I have food to last for 100 years, but your neighbor's gonna come over and kill you in five minutes. I could live, like, 40 days without food approximately and that's assuming that I didn't catch a squirrel or a possum or anything. I'm just telling you, you know, these preppers and all this stuff, they have the wrong philosophy. If you wanna prep, get more right with God. Deuteronomy chapter eight, look at verse 16. Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end? And thou say in thine heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swere unto thy fathers as it is this day. I mean, God took his entire group of people into the literal wilderness where there is no food, it's impossible to feed them, and then he just fed them for 40 years. O ye of little faith. Jesus' disciples come out to him to hear him preach, and they have just a few pieces of bread and some fish, and what happens? God multiplies it to where they have more food than they could even eat. The poor woman only can make two cakes, and she says she's literally gonna make them and die. She's like on her, it's her last meal, like someone on death row or something, and she didn't even get steak dinner, she's just getting a pancake. One pancake and it's over. No syrup even. I don't even like pancakes. Syrup makes me allowed to eat them. If it was like a pancake with no syrup, I'd just be like, I'm just ready to go. But then she provides for the man of God, and then she has food for the entire famine, doesn't she? What's the one famine that the children of Israel didn't make it through? It's the one where they were in rebellion to God. It's when Nebuchadnezzar comes and surrounds them, and they start eating their own children because they're so hungry. I mean, you gotta think, our belief that God won't feed us is more insane than the little babies and toddlers in this room, their parents just forsaking them tonight, and not feeding them, and not taking care of them. That's how insane that is. If you put your trust in the Lord, if you put your faith in the Lord, if you're seeking the Lord, he's gonna provide for you, he's gonna take care of you. It's way more important than any of these other things. Go to Matthew six, let's go there. There's a lot of verses we could look at. Why honor your father? Number one, he protects you. Number two, he provides for you. And as a father, it's our duty to provide for our house, but if any man provide not for his own, especially they of his own household, he get denied the faith and is worse than infidels with the Bible test. So one of the most important things that a husband does provide. And again, the thing you have to understand about fathers is they bear burden. It's a burden to protect people. It's a burden to provide. And that's why we need to honor our fathers. We need to honor the men in this room that are fathers and the husbands in this room because they are bearing such a heavy burden. But you know, if you're a husband, if you're a man in this house, and you're saying, man, I just, I feel so overweighted right now, you're supposed to cast all your burden on God. You're supposed to cast all of your weight on the Lord and just realize like, I can't, you know, I'm not Rambo here. I'm not Scarface. I'm gonna run out of ammo. You know, I'm not in a movie where I never run out of ammo. I'm not Jack Bauer who has a nine millimeter handgun that has 150 rounds in it somehow, even though it looks like a six round clip. I don't know how he does that. And I don't know, you know, and he's in this TV show called 24 and it's really only 24 hours of time. Who's watching this show, 24? Okay, some heat in the room like me. I'm just kidding. Jack Bauer, it's like this show called 24. It's just like a 24 hour period of time, but they would do one hour segments, okay? But because they share one show a night, like once a week, you start forgetting that when you're in hour 17, that in hour six, he got shot in the leg twice. So he's still running around like nothing happened. You're like nobody that got shot in the leg twice a couple hours ago would be sprinting around. You're not gonna protect yourself against all the enemies and the threats that exist out there by yourself. It's just never gonna happen. It's a foolish attitude to think that. That's why you have to just, you know, it's like how can you sleep at night knowing there's all this evil out there, there's all these enemies, there's all these problems out there. It's like, well guess what? I can't do anything about it anyways. If the Lord wills, that's how I'm gonna live. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. I can't, it's silly to sit here and just worry about every hypothetical and every problem and most hypotheticals people worry about never even happen. Thought crimes happening in this world today. People say I don't like you. Oh, this guy doesn't like me? He might murder my entire family. Let's lock him up in prison for 50 years. That's the kind of world we're starting to get into. What a world that we're starting to live into. It's like why don't we punish people for real crimes instead of the minority report? Maybe I gave them an idea, I don't know. Matthew chapter six. Look what it says in this chapter in verse number 24. No man can serve two masters, for either will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment. Behold, the fowl's there, for they sow not, neither they reap, nor gather in the barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them, are ye not much better than they. Now this is what's interesting about this parallel. He's saying that birds do literally nothing to try and ensure that they're gonna have food in the future. They do nothing. They didn't buy Alex Jones food storage. They didn't get a garden. They don't have any cattle. They don't even have any land. They have nothing. And yet God still provides for them. And he's saying, if I'm gonna make sure that birds don't die, how much more you guys? And birds, they're stupid. They constantly kill themselves in my house. I mean, there's a window at our house that my wife keeps super clean, and they just, they ram into that thing. It's like, you're just sitting there, and you're just like, bam! You're just like, what happened? Some bird just flying in the window again. God cared about that bird, though. And he cares more about you than that bird. He let that bird fly into that window. And you know what, there's windows out there we could fly into. That's why we say, you know what, I'd rather be right with God so that I don't fly into a window. If that bird didn't even have a chance, you couldn't see it. Okay, and there's all kinds of dangers that we can't even see. And I'm not worried about the dangers I can't see. I'm worried about the God that I know is real, even though I can't see him. Can't see black eyes. That's why it's called black eyes. Can't see all the dangers and the evils that are out there. Don't get so worried. Don't be so afraid. Look at verse 34. Take no thought therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient of the days to deal with thereof. Instead of worrying about all the things that can happen, just know that tomorrow something really bad is probably gonna happen anyways and you can just worry about that instead. Because it's just like, I do this with myself sometimes. I sometimes, I'm sitting here thinking like, what if this happens and then that happens? This happens. And then it's just like, you know what, none of that's even happened yet. And something tomorrow's gonna happen. And I just feel like, you know, this verse is just true. There is something evil gonna happen tomorrow. Something bad happens. But it's life. You know, and I think someone's like, when is that gonna stop? When you get to heaven, okay? Go to Psalm 23, go to Psalm 23. Point number one is this, God protects. Point number two is God provides. That's why we're honoring our Father today. That's why we came to church today. Because we realized that God's the one that was gonna protect us in our life. We realized that God's the one that's gonna provide for us in our life. And ultimately, what we really want God to do for us is He want us to pilot us. To pilot us. Jesus, Savior, pilot me. Over life's tempestuous sea. I mean, why do we sing that song? Why do we come to church? Why do we sit here and let the Bible be open and read scores of scriptures this morning? It's because we don't want just God's protection. We don't just want God's provision. We want God's piloting. We want God to literally pilot us and tell us where to go and tell us what to think and tell us how to live our lives. We wanna serve God with our lives. And you say, well, there's a lot of people trying to stop you to do that. Of course there is. That's why Cain killed Abel, because he didn't want him to serve God anymore. That's why Pharaoh wanted to kill the children of Israel. It just bothered him too much them serving God some faraway land. He just can't stand it. And the enemies will never cease to attack until they've been destroyed. And they're not gonna be destroyed until Jesus comes back, okay? So, I would love it if our country just became the millennial reign tomorrow. You have to realize it can't happen until Jesus comes back. So, quit trying to think like the millennial reign's gonna happen. It's not. That doesn't mean that we don't preach the Bible. That doesn't mean that we don't stand for righteousness. But at the same time, don't get your hopes up when tomorrow isn't God's kingdom. It's still the devil that's running all these minions in this world. But look at Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. A, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they come with me. It's one of the most famous Psalms in the Bible for a reason. Instead of worrying about walking into the shadow of death, you should worry about if God's walking with you. Go to Psalms 3 for a moment. Go to Psalms chapter three. You know, whenever I feel discouraged, whenever I feel disheartened, whenever I feel stressed, pretty much every negative emotion you can imagine, whenever I feel all of those negative emotions, I'll tell you my number 12345678910 here. Psalms 12345678910. And I'm not joking. Just start reading in Psalms one, and then once you get to Psalms 10, recheck your emotions. And it's not even that many chapters. Like, it sounds like a lot, but in my Bible, it's only like two and a half pages. And then you say, I still don't feel good. We'll just keep reading. But I'm telling you, one of the greatest ways to feel better is the Psalm. And I like this Psalm. Psalm three, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God, Thela. I don't know if that's applicable or not. I'm being facetious. Man, does that verse just come true more and more every day, doesn't it? Verse three, but thou, O Lord, art a shield for me. My glory in the lifter up of mine head. I cried on the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill, Thela. I laid me down and slept. I awake for the Lord's sustainment. You know, I think when you're afraid, one of the hardest things to do is sleep. You're afraid. And of course, the enemy strikes at night. But notice, hey, I can sleep when I'm trusting in the Lord. Why? Because the Lord sustained me. The Lord kept me overnight. The Lord protected me. I will not be afraid of 10,000s of people that have set themselves against me roundabout. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for thou has smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou has broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people, Thela. You know, when I read this, I remembered this. Every wicked person that has ever existed before the 1900s is burning in hell right now. None of them won. They all got destroyed. I mean, Pharaoh and his army, you don't think any cheekbones got destroyed when those waves came in crashing on top of them, pummeling them down? You don't think that anybody in Sodom and Gomorrah had a firestone of hail, smashed them right there in the face, and just crushed their mouth while they just slowly burned to death? And then woke up in hell and are still burning? They're just burning and burning and burning and burning and burning and burning, and you think, like, why is God so long-suffering? Look, once they get there, there's no going back. You know, and we feel like it's eternity. You don't know what eternity's like. We feel like it's a long day. They don't know what a long day's gonna be like. In fact, I don't even know the concept of time, because we get time from the sun and the moon and all these other things. I mean, they might feel like they've been in eternity after five minutes, and they still have eternity to go. I mean, I don't even know if they're gonna realize it's been a thousand years. They might be thinking, like, I don't know what they're gonna be thinking. This is gonna be horrible. It's gonna be awful. And praise God that our Father in heaven was piloting us away from hell into heaven by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what, we need fathers today to pilot their children to the gospel of Jesus Christ to believe in him so they can be rescued from all the dangers and all the evils that are out there. God doesn't want anyone to die and go to hell. God wants us all to be saved and to go to heaven. And you know what? We want, we need our fathers to do the same, and we need to honor our fathers for these reasons. We honor our Father in heaven today because he protects us. We honor our Father in heaven today because he prides for us. We honor our Father in heaven today because he pilots us. And everywhere he wants to take you is always exactly where he wants you to go. You know, and sometimes it's a dark road. I mean, the road to Calvary was not a fun road to walk. In fact, if you think about it, Jesus couldn't even do it. Someone else had to come and pick up that car. And a lot of times we look at the road that we have to walk and we say, like, I can't even do it. You know, that's where you need that Father to come along and bear that burden with you. And we need to look at our fathers today with a lot of respect, with a lot of honor, with a lot of admiration. We should take them as a very serious person. You know, it's shameful how people talk to fathers today. Our culture has gotten so degenerate and so feminist and so evil that women and children have no problem mouthing off to their husbands. And of course, we don't live in Islam where you're gonna get punched for disrespecting your husband. But you should be afraid of what God will do to you. It's so, it's just, it's so gross. And of course it comes from Hollywood, it comes from the movies, it comes from the TV shows where the first woman just started disrespecting her husband and everybody was like, oh! Then it just became commonplace, then it just became our culture, it became our society, and then now men and women are equal. Because here's the thing, if men and women are equal, then why does the woman have to show respect to him the same way, you know, when he's not the leader? But see, when they treat him that way, they end up losing some things, the protection, the provision, and the piloting. When your husband is protecting, providing, and piloting, you should give him the ultimate level of respect. You shouldn't be talking badly to him, you shouldn't be mouthing off to him. You know, children, you need to tell your father, yes sir, when he tells you something to do. You need to do it right away. When your parents give you any instruction, any commandment, any idea, you just say, yes sir, and you do it. And you should realize, it's like God himself is telling you these things. You know, and if you even have a father that's not saved or not a great dad, you know what, you still show him respect. Because I wonder if those kids in the gangs, even though their dad is a derelict in jail, I bet if they had shown him more respect, they probably wouldn't have gone down the road that they did. Just because your dad's not the greatest dad in the world doesn't mean that you shouldn't still show him respect. And still show him honor, where you can show him honor. And this Father's Day, we need to honor our fathers and our grandfathers, and ultimately, we need to honor our Heavenly Father, all he does for us, and let's go some prayer. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us a church to go to this morning, for giving us an opportunity to worship you. I pray that we would get it deep down in our hearts the importance of honoring fathers. And we thank you for giving us Heavenly, or humanly fathers as well. Not just being our Heavenly Father, but giving us a human father to care for us, love for us, grandfathers. And even if our fathers, whatever shortcomings they have, I pray that we wouldn't hold bitterness or disrespect towards them, but rather, we would give them honor and admiration, and the respect that they deserve for all the things they do for us. I pray that you would encourage and strengthen the fathers in this room, they have a very difficult job, they face a very ungodly world, and I pray that instead of relying on their own strength and their own courage and their own might, they would just trust in the Lord. They would bring their family to church, and they would ultimately put all of their burden and all of their care and all their struggle and all their worry on you, because we know that you can carry it for us, and in Jesus' name we pray. For our final song, 169, Come Thou Fount. 169, Come Thou Fount. Song 169, Come Thou Fount. Come thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing thy grace, Streams of mercy never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise, Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above, Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it, Mount of thy redeeming love, Here I raise my nebeneezer, Hither by thy help I'm come, And I know by thy good pleasure, Safely I'll arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God, Need to rescue me from danger, Interposed his precious blood, O to grace how great a debtor, Gaily I'm constrained to be, Let thy goodness, like a feather, Find my wandering heart to thee, Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love, Here's my heart, O Taken, seal it, Deal it for thy courts above. God bless, thank you so much for coming, you are dismissed.