Why is, as I've been addressing the congregation probably the last four to five years, is in the Visible Church, in many ways we're having a meltdown. There's a great battle going on. And as Christians, we need to be a moral compass for people. They look to us, we're supposed to be the pillar of truth. We are supposed to be storming the gates of hell. We are supposed to always be on the offensive and not the defensive. And many times, especially nowadays, in what were once faithful ministries, responsible ministries, they're caving in to societal pressure. People are saying, oh, you're a legalist. You're too much with telling us what we can do and what we can't do. Well, lo and behold, as a Christian, when you open the Bible, even though we're saved freely by grace, by God's grace alone, He doesn't save us to be lawless. He does not save us to act like farm animals and not people. And God addressed us that way as His people in the Old Testament and in the New. So when you're out and amid what you will be, You stand on the rock, which is Christ. And it's not the bumper sticker Jesus, the imaginary Christ of the History Channel. It's the Jesus Christ of the Bible, that's in the Gospel. Because that's what's gonna save you. The church is acting like someone who was abandoned by their parents, they're on the street, and even though their parents told them, don't do drugs, don't sleep around, you know, don't do the heron, don't smoke coke, whatever, They succumb to the pressures of those around them, as if it's okay to do it because everyone else is doing it. And what Walter Hovingholm stands for, it takes people that want to do better, that want to reclaim their lives through the grace of Jesus Christ. And even better than many mysteries, they tell you what God tells every Christian, put up or shut up. Don't tell me you love me and that you're the same exact person you were 20 years ago when you came to me. I want to see fruit. Pastor, that's not loving. What did Jesus Christ say? Every tree that does not bear fruit shall be honed down and cast into the fire. That's my Jesus, the one I read on the Word. He might not be on hallmark cards. He might not be the Jesus, you know, what do you call that? The precious moment stuff. But that's the real Jesus. We have a God that is a consuming fire. He fights for you. You will have victory. The rest of this congregation will have victory. You know why? Because the Lord, our host, is leading the way. It's not in our strength. So we are not legalists as Christians when we say, you know what, you should not be sleeping with a dog. Or you should not be sleeping with a cat. And now we laugh, we all giggle, but stories come out every week in Brooklyn, someone committing bestiality in public. It's all on the way, pedophilia is next, it'll be struck down. You're gonna be walking with your children in the supermarket, there's gonna be a 40 year old man and you gotta be careful because if he asks out your nine year old daughter and she agrees to marry him, you might have a marriage on your hands. And soon that'll be hate speech too. Because all the perversions, the door's open now. All the perversions are coming down the path. Now we understand this because we're from New York, we're from some other tough areas. We've gone through it. We know how wicked things are out there. So the church, Jesus offers a real cross. A real cross, a cross of suffering at times, of sacrifice. Now, we stand on the foundation of Jesus and the apostles, thank God. We don't have to replay all the church history and suffer exactly the way they did. But when it comes time to toughen up and take on our challenges, with His power behind us, we have to do it. And that's why the title of today's sermon is the cross of ice cream, and a melted church. What we've done in the church, because we are such a spoiled culture, and we wanna have it our way, and have it our way now, and we want it in three minutes or we're angry, and kicking and screaming like little children, the church has catered to the culture, instead of pushing the culture to do better. Everybody can relate to this. If I have a drug recovery program, I tell you, look, This is a person who really represents this program. Speak to him. You say, how are you, sir? I see that you're doing, they say you're doing well in this program. I'm doing great. I used to smoke crack every day, only on Mondays now. I used to drop a dime every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's only on Sunday night now. I used to put down a fourth of Jack, and now it's down to like, you know, barely half an ounce. This place is great! Would you want to join that group? No. Then why would people want to join the church when that's the message we send? We preach no more against sin. We preach nothing about holy living anymore. We preach nothing about the majesty of God. The respect that you should have for the Son of God, the one who died and suffered for you. We turned it into ice cream. Yeah, or any flavor you want. What? You want a certain music? We'll do it. You want me to change the message? We'll do it. You want me to say you're blessed and you're going to be successful and everything's going to be wonderful no matter how you behave? I'll do it. Just put plenty of money in the offering and you'll have that message every week, baby. No problem. That's the way the church is behaving. We've turned the faith into ice cream. We've turned the faith where our Savior was nailed to a tree. The apostles were nailed to a tree. The early Christians were thrown to lions. So we can be spoiled today and sit in a nice comfortable building with an AC that goes on and off and relax here. And we still complain, and we want the message to change. The message for the church is toughen up because it's coming. The world is going to bring it now. We started dropping the ball in this country in the 50s, and it's been a slow fade, but now the wheels are turning. So what you took for granted, what you would say, oh, you know, this is weird, you shouldn't be doing this, everybody's gonna be saying it's fine. Including doctors and therapists and some bogus counselor with some piece of paper, you know torn from a tree And all of a sudden they're an authority. So you have to stand on this word The days of the soft gospel are gone. They are going to eat you alive if you don't stick to this word And that's the message that needs to be proclaimed, and especially by Christians. You have to be prophets today. You gotta tell them what's coming. That's what I tried to do with the last sermon. Take the Ten Commandments, flip them, tell everybody this is what's coming to America, and you'll look like a prophet, because it's the Word of God. Instead of only one God, we're gonna have many gods. Instead of not making idols, we're gonna be an idol machine! Down to our TV shows! We're gonna make images. We're gonna take his name in vain. People that aren't even religious, I hear them take Jesus' name more in vain. Never read the Bible, but they know how to curse using his name. And everything else will be struck down. Murder. Abortion is murder. You're slaughtering children. You can give it whatever fancy name you want, but it's slaughtering babies. So we've struck that down. Okay, stealing, you don't think stealing's popular today? Look at your check after taxes. See, remember, what we giggle about today, people wouldn't stand for in the past. You know what the founding fathers knew? The church only has a right to ask for a 10% tithe. Who is the government to ask for more than 10%? So they had a revolution. And then we're only asking for 12, 13%. Now we're taxed 50, 60%. Hey, I got cable TV, I'm good. Nobody cares. So all these things will be struck down. Sex with robots. You're gonna be fighting. You're gonna have people fighting. Stop sleeping with the robot. It's coming. And maybe you haven't heard some of these things, but this is my job, is every week to put it out there, because it's coming. It's gonna happen. Let's go through God's Word and then we'll read some more junk by experts, something I grabbed from AARP magazine that I was laying around. And we'll see the wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of Christ. Who really hates you? Does God hate you or does the world hate you with what they want to allow you to do? So let's pray. Almighty God, we thank You, Lord, that we have Your Gospel, that we have Your Word. We pray, dear God, that Your Holy Spirit would really be in this place. Not in a fake way, not in a superficial way. In a real way, that our hearts would be open, supernaturally, to be able to accept Your Word, and then take it out into the culture, and do battle the way Jesus taught us to do. Because we love them, we will tell them the truth, and they will hate us for it. But if it saves souls, Lord, bring the persecution. We're ready. Amen. The cross of Christ, which was an invitation to deny our selfish desires, has been turned into a cross of ice cream to indulge ourselves. Sacrifice has been replaced with lustful satisfaction at all costs. How are you going to live in Christ if you don't deny the flesh? How are you going to recover from not even alcohol or heroin or any of those things? You know what the most popular addiction is today? Money. People are addicted to money. Money is their God. Like I've said before, I come in here today, you know, we're broke as a church, there's no secret. But if I came in with a fistful of $100 bills and told everybody on this street that we hand Bibles to, if you come in the building today, you're going to earn $100 cash, there'd be a line around the block. I would be a mega pastor in two days. The Daily News will be down here. Pastor turns church of barely 100 into 10,000. How do you do it? You see me standing out there? $100 bill. Just come in for 20 minutes and this crisp $100 bill is yours. Am I lying? What God are we serving? Money. In God we trust. You're right, baby. And that God is green. It's green. And it's got numbers on it. People will do anything for money. And people from the street, you especially know what I'm talking about. Oh, I got your back. I love you like a sister. For $1,000, you go, oh, yeah, no, I got it. I got it. That's the way life works. Everything has a price on it. Don't be fooled. If it's not a sister in Christ, it's not a sister. If it's not a brother in Christ, it's not a brother. Because when push comes to shove, they will be Judas, they will take that silver, and they will sell you out. You want to protect yourself? Hang out with Christians? Stop playing games and hanging out with your buddies who don't believe in Christ. We give witness to them, we plant seeds. But if all your time is in the world, you're going to be like the world. There is safety here. There is safety in the family of God. Okay, maybe I'm full of hot air. On Monday, not on Sunday. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 16. Let's see what our Lord says about some of these things. God has always had lying pastors. He's always had lying prophets. Since the beginning of time, He had a lying angel. His name was Satan. So the only way we know someone's telling the truth, no matter how great it sounds, let's look at the Word. Matthew chapter 16. Now, this is the Lord speaking. Verses 21-27. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and what? I thought he was going to get a Cadillac. I thought it was lose weight or grow better hair. Okay, so he's got to suffer. Maybe I'm wrong. So this is how things were founded with our faith. And suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, this is not very seeker friendly. You're not going to pack a church like this. Get thee behind Me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto Me, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him name it and claim it. I'm sorry. Let him deny himself and take up His cross and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to his works." And we're not teaching work salvation. If you're in Christ, you're still going to sin. But your focus will be on repentance, calling that which is evil, evil, and that which is good, good. You won't do what the world's doing, taking evil and offering it now to little children and saying it's great. and then saying what's good is evil, okay? You won't act like the way the education system does today. I cannot teach the children to attend commandments or read a Bible in a school, but once they're thrown in jail and incarcerated, then I can have a jail ministry. Right? Try and preach at a school, see what happens. You'll be on the count on Rikers Island. Right? But go to these kids if they've already been ruined and beat up and indoctrinated into gangs. All right, then we'll let you bring the work. We'll let you do it in jail. Let God be true and every man a liar. Jesus talks about suffering. We don't always have to suffer. But your God cannot be pleasure. You know why the New Age is so popular today? You know why Oprah is the new female Pope? And they're doing so well with Channel 13 specials and cable TV? Because what do they promote on the shows? It's you. You're the little flower of the universe. You're the only one that matters. You're the center of God's world. He's just on his knees begging you, please, I need you so much. Really? Is that what the Bible tells us? But what the New Age does, it tells you, avoid pain. Hey, your husband annoys you? Divorce him. Your wife has gotten annoying. She's a spiritual vampire. Get rid of her. Who cares if she's got a couple kids? The government will pay for it. Kick her out the door. Don't worry about it. Get negative people out of your life. And what does Jesus do? Surrounds himself with negative people and tries to give witness to them. And that's what Christians are supposed to do. How are you going to be a Christian? If you're really a fake Christian who has New Age principles and it's all about you and all about feeling comfortable? How can you recover from anything if you can't go through this comfort? My profession, every day I see people going to withdrawal for alcohol. Rushing them out, EMS, because they're about to have a heart attack. At least three, four seizures a day. People going through heroin withdrawal. Has anyone ever seen someone go through any type of withdrawal? Is it pleasant for them? But in the end, will it help them? What do you do when you're addicted to something? I'm dying, I need it. You take more. Because you worship the pleasure. You won't accept the pain to better yourself. Now we have something that's great. We have Jesus Christ. He makes us better without us even doing anything. You call on the Lord Jesus Christ, there's something invisible called the Holy Spirit that you can't see. You want to know why it's so hard to give witness to people sometimes? And I don't cast my pearls to swine, I plant seeds. And when they turn around, I back off and I wait for it to be awarded by God. Because the Holy Spirit is something supernatural. How can you describe it to someone? That's why Jesus said, you see the fruit, If I was a raving lunatic before I became a minister here, and you saw me in the neighborhood drinking and knocking people out at bars and smacking my wife around, and I tell you, yeah, I became a Christian, and then you see no change, what would you think? This guy's crazy. Give me some of what he's thinking, because he's feeling all right. He's wicked as he is. But when you come back, and you don't see me at the bar anymore, and I'm not fighting people, I'm not smacking my wife around, and you see me now in the church, and I'm feeding the homeless, and I'm reading the Word, and I'm crying, and breaking down in prayer, and you see me struggling in my sin, there's some fruit. It doesn't mean I might not go back on a sneak and take a drink. But what it means is when I go back, I'll sneak back, I'll be ashamed of it, and then I'll repent after. Does this make sense? This is not rocket science. Matthew chapter 19. Working with the same book today so we can see things without much interruption. Now I'm going to go forward and then I'm going to go back. We're going to look at verses 16 through 30. This man was moral. You see, he didn't have addictions that were visible. Like the famous saint, I never killed anybody. He never killed anybody. So he looked like he was a moral man. But Jesus got his God. He nailed it in the end, we're gonna see. And the God that the Shem Ruler had is the same God that America has. And this will be your biggest challenge with ourselves and with your families. Let's listen. And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou lend him to life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, which Jesus said, Quotes the Ten Commandments, which we don't want in this country anymore. Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness on thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, he was a super Christian, he went to all the Bible studies, he knows what he's doing. All these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. What was his reaction? But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This guy's great, I'm not giving up my blank for him. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, I love when people quote this, they don't know where it came from. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved? This is all of us have to read in the Bible. I'm not gonna be able to do any of this. But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all. Peter was from Coney Island. We have forsaken all, and follow thee. And what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. We see this in the book of Revelation. And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. but many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. How does the church read this in a Bible study, and then teach everybody the fruit of the Spirit is, you know you're being blessed when you get a nicer car, or more square feet in the home, or better clothes, or more jewelry? Or when people are chasing around the God of money in the church, and it's never addressed, Does this mean we don't need money? Does this mean you can't eat? Does this mean if God blessed you with a new car that you need, it's a problem? No, but don't chase after it. That should not be your focus. That's why we're losing steam. That's why you're the most persecuted lands in the world. You know where the church is growing? The Middle East, where they're literally being placed on crosses. Where women suffer terribly. Men are shot in the street if they don't convert to Islam. People are coming to Christ. And in China, you know who's protecting the churches when the communist government comes, they want to take the cross off the buildings? Disabled people and old women. They're going to the church to say, come on, bulldoze us. And the government can't take the cross off or bulldoze the church? So because it's not growing here, because we're spoiled children, many of us, in America, in Europe, in Australia, where the West was strong, it doesn't mean it's not growing. But you gotta ask yourself, with all the cassette tapes and CDs and Christian stations and Christian music genres and all this stuff we're flooded with, why are we a stench to God today? Why? Because we don't follow this. Stay with this, nothing replaces it. Nothing replaces it. The church has replaced the wisdom of Christ with the wisdom... I'm sorry, it's supposed to say the church has replaced the wisdom of Christ with the wisdom of the world. And I'm going to show you something. You want to see how subtle it is? Anybody ever hear AARP magazine? Right? They automatically send it to you, whether you like it or not. And they take your money. Okay. Now we like to blame the younger generation. Right? Come on, admit it, my elder people. They're an easy target. Oh, these kids. Oh, their morals. Oh, I'd smack him in the mouth, hit him with a potato, right? Here's an article by AARP, okay? Now, just so you know, the reason why we don't do kiddie church here is because kids are not gonna challenge our children. Adults are gonna challenge our children. It's not improper to discuss certain adult subjects, because you know why? If I don't discuss it in the church, and you don't discuss it with your kids at home, then their friends will. That's another thing that really hurt the church, this whole kiddie church movement. But I want you to hear something. This is the advice, and the name is Pepper Schwartz. some expert, and this is about having relations after 50, okay? And this is expert advice. This is something written, it's supposed to be mature people, right? Is it 55 plus, something like that, that you get this book? Listen to this wisdom from the older generation. Listen to the morals. This is a man speaking. He had lost his ability to have relations. They gave him a supplement. Question. I was put on androgel for low testosterone. Now my energy and libido are both up. But I keep dreaming my wife of 45 years is having relations with other men. No, this is in a magazine. This is in a magazine. This is in pornography. This is a regular magazine. And I'm gonna read it, so you understand the Bible doesn't lie, people lie. The dreams wake me up, and they're so exciting that I can't get back to sleep. Now this is a pervert who needs therapy, but they're gonna give him advice. Listen to the advice. My doctor says there's no reason to be concerned. The problem is I'm losing sleep. Ever heard of this? Now this is the expert, a woman. This is a woman. Look at how she honors women in answering this man. Answer. Watching one's wife being made love to by another man is a relatively common fantasy. What, among psychopaths? This is expert advice. And a highly arousing one at that, yeah, if you're Hannibal Lecter. If it fires up your relationship and is not something you're trying to actualize, as some husbands do. I'd agree with your doctor and say just enjoy your dreams. This isn't Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the older generation. This is what the sexy and grown people are going to teach us. These are the morals. A hundred years ago, this guy would have been committed. The doctor would have been put in prison for disseminating information like this. This is sick perversion. Sharing your wife with another man and finding that you're aroused. You are a psycho. You need repentance and counseling. But hey, we're a hero today. I walk with one wife and seven kids on the street. Ah, look at that sucker. If I was walking with seven ladies on my arm, I'd be a hero. And that's in the church. I'm not talking about outside the church. And don't just say men and dogs, because the ladies do it too. Oh, he's a stud. That's the fifth one I've seen him. It's evil. Run, run for your life. Listen to this one. This is great, ladies. You're going to love this. This is what feminism has to offer women in the culture. Listen to this one. Question. There's a man, again, seeking a professional woman's advice. After my wife died three years ago, I became involved with an old friend. Then she died of a stroke three months after I lost my father. Since then, I've been having extreme bouts of loneliness. I'm now dating three women. I know I shouldn't have three gals at once. And that's making me more depressed. What should I do? Now this is a woman. Stop calling the men dogs. The men are not the only dogs out there. This is a woman therapist. A quote relationship expert. Listen to what she says. He's having relations with three women at the same time. Answer, take things slowly. It's okay to make sure you're with a great person who's good for you. but only time can determine that. Though all three women may want you to make a decision sooner, you must explain your need to get to know someone very well before you can make a commitment. In other words, this is a woman telling this man, don't worry about it, treat all these ladies like whores, have consistent relationships with all of them, hey, and then whatever you want, pick door number one, door number two, door number three. It's not a holy thing from God, it's a game show, right? The price is right. The main thing is to be honest, If each woman knows what's really happening, she won't feel betrayed. This is a woman speaking and not a man. If you don't share a certain fact, if a woman discovers that the man she's dating is seeing other women at the same time, she always has the option of going out with another man herself. Alternatively, she may conclude that her expectations for the multi-dater were too high. Okay, are you getting the hint? Do I have to read any more? This is not pornography. This is AARP magazine. This is what supposedly gets sent to mature people, mature Americans. Trash! Total garbage! And we fall for this stuff. You still want to listen to experts instead of the Bible? For life advice? Let's turn to Matthew chapter 19. Let's see the man who really loves women, who really loves God's daughters, and let's read from his word. You compare the tongue that I just read to what Jesus says. Matthew 19 verses 1-12. And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these sayings, He departed from Galilee and came into the coast of Judea beyond Jordan. A great multitude and great multitudes followed Him and He healed the man. The Pharisees also came unto Him, tempting Him and saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Any answer that's said unto them, have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? And said, for this cause shall a man leave father, yeah, grow up, grow up and leave and actually be able to take care of the ladies in a relationship way. Leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh, What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. They say unto him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto him, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another committed adultery, And whoso marryeth her which is put away doth commit adultery. His disciples say unto him, they're like guys from 2015, come on, this is crazy, how strict are you going to be? If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. What he said unto them, all men cannot receive this saying, saying they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men, and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. Amazing. Jesus, the nerd. You can't have relations with three ladies at once. You can't have perverted dreams and think it's okay and not repent. What nerve. You gotta pick one. And, you can't do, see people don't know the background. The house of Hillel, the rabbis would fight Hillel and Shimei. The house of Hillel was so liberal, if the wife was a bad cook, you could divorce her. So these were the wise guys he was speaking to, just like the wise guys in today's church, and many of your liberal churches. Oh, your wife is negative for you? Maybe there needs to break up, but you gotta find a spiritual match. This is in the church, I'm not talking about outside the church. We have a lot of work to do. It used to be where children were a project from young, the young men, the young ladies, You groom them to find a godly spouse. You would make friends with other families and let the kids get to know each other. You get to know someone's character. And then the father, especially, unless he died, then it became the uncle or another man in the family, will look out especially for the girls. Because the girls are the most vulnerable. And he would guide the way. And when there was a wolf, he'd take out the shotgun. Right? Now they ban guns. Whatever. Take out a bat. It's fine. But you chase the wolves away. You chase the wolves away. Okay? Now what do we do? I don't know. You know, she's been going out lately. She's hitting the clubs and the bars. Maybe we should find a nice guy. Where are nice guys in clubs and bars? Same thing with the men. You send your boys out there, oh, what a little stud, he's getting older, he's going out, he's going somewhere. Where's he going? Except to hell. That's what you're showing them? What about bringing them to church? Letting them get to know godly ladies from when they're young? Women that know how to be women, men that know how to be men. Do you think maybe there'd be a better chance of the marriage succeeding? What do we look for now? Come on, ladies. What, big muscles, tattoos, and a bigger mouth? Does that really sound like success 40 years later? And same thing with the men. That's all you look for? Is the body and the face and nothing inside? You think you're gonna be happy 30, 40 years later? Now, I wish I was lying, but I'm not. And I'm a logical man. Look at marriage statistics today. You want to destroy your children's lives? Let that be your strategy. Oh yeah, we're all Christians. Yeah, go out there. There's so many clubs in the wood zone. You'll meet somebody. You know what they're going to meet? You'll meet somebody. So Jesus defends women. We are not allowed in Christianity to treat women like property. We are not allowed to treat them like cattle. You know what the penalty is for in Christianity? When you push someone into sexual slavery? There's still slavery today. People were not emancipated. It just took a different form. And now it's all people. The biggest problem right now in this country and around the world is sex slavery, sex trafficking. When I'm at my job, I got everybody looking at this. I say, before you get all, ah, looking at the girl, look at the address from where they came from. You see people getting arrested in New York, their home address is Pennsylvania, South Carolina, California, girls getting trapped on Facebook, getting trapped in ads. Oh yeah, baby, come on down, I'm gonna take care of you. Papa got you. Oh yeah, then Papa gets you addicted to something, smacks you around, and now your Papa's slain. Yeah, go to the cops, I'll cut your throat. It's real. You wanna keep candy-coating Christianity so we get nothing done? Go ahead, do it. Be just like the pastors that were saying slavery was a right in the nation, they were saying burning Jews was a right during the Holocaust. We're not gonna stand for these real Christians. All girls are not cheap, they're precious to God. You want to treat a woman like a whore, find another religion. Jesus loves the ladies and we will be judged. You want to know men, why we're not treated like men? Because we don't deserve it. We don't even marry them anymore. There's this term, baby mama, baby's mother. That's my baby's mother. All cultures, I'm not picking on one culture. Everybody does it. Everybody. I'm like, your baby's mother? I call them out right away, I don't care. We're your baby's mother, why don't you marry her? No, we're not ready yet. You're not ready yet, what more are you gonna do, have four kids? What's not ready? What else is there to find out? We're gonna cut a scalp open, look inside her brain? You've been living together, you have kids, you're playing married, get married. We're just not ready yet, I really don't know. Now this is the last point, and I want you to see that the message has not changed from the New Testament or the Old Testament. You want to know why the leaders of this world hate Christianity? Because it holds them responsible. Everybody's held to one standard. You see, if I can't steal, right, Prince Charles should not be able to steal either. He shouldn't be able to get away with it. If I'm a working dad who's broke, but I go to trial, I should get the same type of hearing as a president or a congressman or whoever. It shouldn't be if you have enough money you get off. It shouldn't be that way. So they hate this book because it's dangerous. It calls everybody out. God doesn't care if you're the president, if you're a pauper, if you shovel the manure behind the horses in Central Park, or if you're trading a hundred million dollars in stocks every day on Wall Street. You cannot steal! You cannot commit adultery and say it's okay. You cannot murder. This is why they hate this book. I'm gonna prove my point from the Old Testament. That part of the book nobody likes to read, except for like cute little stories. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 17. So many people do not know this text. You know how I know they don't know it? Even Christians. Oh, pastors. Solomon had so many wives. You know, David had so many wives in the Bible. Yeah, do you know they were sinning? Do you know they fell because of that? Do you know that that was forbidden? Well, why would God tolerate that? Because God makes lemonade out of lemons. We are all sinners, we all have our faults, and regardless of how weak we are, God's gonna have this plan come to fruition. Let's listen to this. Let's see why they fell. Deuteronomy chapter 17, this is what makes this book different than every other book. It's one law for everyone. The choice of a king. Now God predicts the future. He knew Israel would be spoiled. They wouldn't want him, they'd want a king like the world. He tells them what to do when you choose that king. When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over thee, like is all the nations that are about me, thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. One from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee, that thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, material things, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses. For as much as the Lord hath said unto you, ye shall henceforth return no more that way." So he can't return to the world. Now look at this one, isn't this curious? Neither shall he multiply wives to himself. that his heart turn not away. Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law and a book out of that which is before the priests of the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of his law and his statutes to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel. Lo and behold, it's in the Old Testament, You gotta honor women. You get one shot when it comes to a wife. And yes, you gotta stay with her. And same thing for the ladies. As much as we leave hair in the sink, and eat the last bit of food, and take up all the space in the bed sometimes, you stay with one husband. And we all know this. We're all grown people here. Anybody who's been in multiple relationships, you know you're trading one crazy person for another. So, no matter how great you think it's going to be for the first couple of months of that first year, you say, you know what, Lord, you were right. This person is just as crazy as the other one I walked away from. Maybe different traits of crazy, but still crazy. So why don't we grow up, look with God's eyes, choose a Christian mate, and be faithful in what we do. You can't make the gospel and the cross ice cream. You can't. It's not going to work. So what we want to do is honor God. You know what happened with David when he had multiple wives? He caused warfare in his house. Solomon went and had even more wives, and those traits went down to his children, and with his children, the kingdom was split. And then lo and behold, within a couple hundred years, they were wiped off the face of the earth for not obeying the Lord. So if Solomon was chasing the bling, and the ladies and all this other stuff. Why did the church teach people to do it now? And same thing for the ladies. Why would you be taught to do that now? Let's live the real gospel. Let's learn to be uncomfortable. Let's start sacrificing a little bit and not worrying about ourselves. Really take up your cross and follow the Lord. And like I tell everyone, I'm reading from the Bible. If you have a problem, don't throw tomatoes at me. Throw tomatoes at God while you're praying and wrestle with Him because it's in the book. If you've got a problem, it's with the Lord. It's not with me. Amen. Almighty God, we thank you, Lord, that we have your word. We thank you that we have real advice in your word, real guidance that can protect us from this crazy generation that we live in right now. We pray, dear God, that you protect us from henceforth. We pray, Lord, for everyone here today that they will be strengthened, because we know as soon as they walk out that door today, the world will be on the attack. But we know, Lord, that You live in us, and like we read in Your Word, He who is inside us is stronger than he who is in the world, and we can overcome. And I pray, Lord, that this week everybody will be strengthened by communing with You and actually picking up their Bible and reading it and applying it in their lives. We thank You in the name of Your Son, our only King, Jesus Christ. Amen.