and turn with me to Ephesians chapter five, the passage that we just got done reading and looking at together, Ephesians five. We're gonna look specifically at one verse in this section as we work through verse by verse, concept by concept, phrase by phrase. I hope it's an encouragement to you. I am so encouraged. to see two in particular, I saw Joe Bush and Tim Seist here. And I just wanna publicly praise God as you guys have fought the good fight with COVID and won. And we've been praying for you and to see you back in our presence is just a joy to all of our hearts. So it's great to have you here. And it's a reminder that there are others that are still fighting and we need to pray for them and encourage them. I'm encouraged by the reality that next week we get to join back together as one big happy family. So that's next week. We'll put the bleacher seats down and enjoy the time of one whole church together instead of two services. We already had a group that met already this morning at 9.30, but I'm excited and looking forward to that. We're gonna have, as you've heard, an opportunity to have the joint service, but I don't know that you've heard that Phil Hunt will be with us, missionary Phil Hunt. to Zambia, he'll be here preaching and then sharing a ministry update. We're gonna pull out the baptismal pool, which that's what we call it, but it's actually a horse trough, and we're gonna pull it out and bring it over here, heat it up with water, and we're gonna get to witness the baptism of several on Sunday as well, so that should be a tremendous blessing. Just look forward to it. So when we consider our text together, it's a pretty simple verse. And do not be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. When we think of what it means to be drunk with wine, it usually grabs our attention. And we think of things such as a guy who is lying on a park bench. He's totally out because he's completely drunk and unable to think about where he is or how he feels. He's just out cold. And we know we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna get drunk with wine. We know we shouldn't. We know we don't want to be drunk with wine because that is debauchery. In the King James, it talks about being excess. These words, when it comes to excess or debauchery, means reckless abandon. To get drunk is to be recklessly abandoned. To be drunk means you have this senseless deed that you're participating in. To be drunk means that you can no longer think clearly, you're intoxicated, you've lost mental capacity, and you suffer the results, and a lot of bad results have happened throughout our society when people give in to really the curse of drunkenness, right? And it is a decision that many people make. It leads to what some do is they call it alcoholism, and they go to treatment programs, and maybe you've been at one, and because there is a need for us to address this topic from a church perspective, so that if this is your struggle, I want you to know, Palmetto Baptist Church wants to, as a family, we want to help you go from where you are to the rest of the verse, which, let me go back, is to be filled with the Spirit. That's the goal. The positive in this verse is what I need to highlight at the very beginning. I want you to understand what it means to be controlled by, and that's the word I'm gonna use, because filled with the Spirit can be misleading, as if I don't have enough of the Spirit in me. And it's usually a misleading thing when someone comes up and prays for the pastor. Dear God, I pray that you would fill him with your Spirit. And the reason why I think that's somewhat misleading, unless they understand filling means control, it gives that implication that I don't quite have all of the spirit yet, but if you pray for me, maybe I'll get all of them. Now the reason why that's a point of tension for me is because in Ephesians chapter four, it talks about one faith, one Lord, one baptism. And so I'm gonna propose to you that when you get saved, you receive all of the Holy Spirit that you're ever going to need. You don't need to ask him to fill you up, he's already in there. It is a decision that you make to give him all of you. He has all of you. Are you gonna give him all of yourself? Are you gonna yield yourself? Are you gonna be controlled by the Holy Spirit instead of controlled with an outside substance such as alcohol? To be filled with the Spirit starts with conversion, and I happen to know that this morning we had some who were here who were new to church, unbelievers, kind of just checking out Palmetto Baptist Church, and I don't know if that's the case right now, but it could be, and I just want to be very clear about this. If you want to know what it's like to be filled with the Spirit, you have to choose to admit that you're a sinner. When I say sin, you have committed some offense against a holy God, and all you need to do to be offensive to God is to break any of the Ten Commandments. So if you've ever stolen anything, if you've ever lied about anything, you're already offensive to a holy God. If you think that you're gonna get into heaven by saying, I'm a good person, I'm better than most, he's not gonna let you in. The only way you're going to get in is if you realize that you can't get in based on the best intentions or the best actions. The only way you're in is through Jesus Christ living a sinless life and dying in your place. That's where faith comes in. You say, I can't get in based on my own good deeds or what I really want to do. I can only get in because I put my faith in Jesus who died in my place. And he didn't just stay dead, he rose again, which shows us he had victory over death and hell. So this is the gospel. I want you to hear it. I want you to know it. That's what starts this whole process of being filled with the spirit. Last week I talked about walking in wisdom, and we talked about redeeming the time and knowing the will of God, and I mentioned a couple books that were really best sellers. Well, here's another one for you. Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Probably you've heard of it. It's sold over 30 million copies. The sermon that I'm going to preach today is not an application of how to win friends. It may be an application of influencing people, but I bring it up to you because if I just stayed here on this picture of we all don't want this to happen to us, to be out of it mentally, unable to make moral decisions, but the tension comes when I bring up another picture and that other picture would be someone who, let's say it's the same guy who is not laying next to a bench, but is enjoying a glass of wine in a social setting. Like, what's wrong with that? I wanna address that and talk with you about that, but let me give you a preface to it to help you understand my intent and desire, and it demands, requires you to take your Bible and turn over to Acts chapter 18, just as an illustration, Acts chapter 18. I want you to see something in Acts chapter 18 verse 24. because Paul is the author of Ephesians, the book, and our verse, verse 18, don't be drunk with wine, because that's debauchery, but be filled with the spirit. Look at Acts 18, verse 24. Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. Now notice, though, he knew only of the baptism of John. He began speaking boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And then it talks about his fruitful ministry after that going into Corinth. The benefits of being Apollos is that he's bold in his preaching, he's really accurate in what he knows to be true, his motive is completely pure, and you may be in that setting right now where you have already come to a decision in your mind how you view alcohol and social drinking or alcohol and drunkenness. I really don't think that the debate is much over should we get drunk. I think we all know, no. The debate is more about social drinking, right? Should we or shouldn't we participate? And I want you to know that Apollos had this benefit. Priscilla and Aquila approached him privately. and approached him relationally. Hey, can I talk to you? Can we talk to you? Let me explain to you the way of God more accurately. And he responded and he understood, and in chapter 19, there's a better description of what it is when you understand the way more accurately, and it's not just the baptism of John. There's a conversion and there's a baptism of the Holy Spirit that happens. What am I up against? I'm up against this setup where I'm standing up in front of you, and as I said this morning in the first service, how weird is it that you would come to and that I would come to a gathering where you have one guy talk at you for like a half hour. I mean, just stop and think about that. It's a little strange. What gives me the right to tell you the way more accurately? It's public and often it's confrontational. It's not private and it doesn't feel super relational. I'm just like harping on you right now. And I want you to understand this. God designed the foolishness of preaching to convince the heart. And as long as I can show you the scripture and you allow scripture to be your guide, not just my personality or my ability to convince you, it's not about that. I want to convince you, I want you to see it the way I see it, but I know that that's not really up to me. I'm gonna do my part. but ultimately I want the Bible to speak for itself. So I encourage you to test what I'm saying with scripture when it comes to this topic, and I would suggest that our church is not 100% on the same page when it comes to our views of social drinking. I think that's a safe thing to say. Here are my two points for today. Number one, the problem is not wine. The problem's not wine. Number two, the problem is excess. Really simple. The problem is not wine, the problem is excess. If you wanna follow along with me, pbcpowdersville.org, go to sermons, and you'll see my notes, and I'm gonna refer to different articles that you can read for further research and understanding of the perspective that I'm gonna bring to you, but I'm hoping, of course, that what I'm bringing to you is that which is given with scripture in mind. So let's start with this. The problem is not wine. The Bible is abundantly clear that the problem is not wine, actually wine was a gift from God. I want you to understand this as we begin this process, and I wanna challenge you, do everything you can not to turn me off when I start to bring up one point or another point. Because right when I start this, I know this is what happens. I make one statement, he's like, forget it, I know where he's going, I'm not going there with him. Don't do that. Listen to the word and let the word of God dwell in you richly and see what it does, okay? See how the spirit of God can use the word to convince us, change us, make us more like himself. What we find in the Bible is that wine is a source of celebration. Psalm 104, 14 through 15. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart. Ecclesiastes 9.7. Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. So we know it's a source of celebration. It's also a source, for some, of comfort, Proverbs 31.6. Give strong drink to the one who is perishing. and wine to those in bitter distress. So it's a source of comfort for some. It's also a source of medicine. In Luke 10, 34, we see the good Samaritan stopping to pick up a Jewish man who's been beaten up and already passed over by a priest and a Levite, and here in Luke 10, 34, he went and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, which to me, The only reason why he would pour oil and wine in the wounds would be because this wine was actually fermented, and it actually had alcoholic content. It doesn't do you much good to pour grape juice into an open wound, right? And so this is a proof that there was some alcoholic content in the wine that the Good Samaritan used. Timothy was encouraged by Paul to no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. There was something about that wine that helped Timothy, and I think Timothy had a fear of man problem, maybe created ulcers in him. I don't know, I'm speculating at this point, but wine was encouraged. The second thing that we see is that wine was the common drink during biblical times. It's not uncommon to read about people drinking wine in the Bible because that's what they drank. They basically had two options, water or wine. It wasn't water, Gatorade, Sprite. You know, Pepsi, Diet Coke, all this stuff. It was water, wine. Those were your options. We have to realize that Jesus himself turned water into wine. It was a common drink used for celebrations like the wedding feast. And this is his first public miracle. He turns water into wine. The unique thing about it is his wine tasted really, really good. And even the one who was overseeing the wedding feast said, what is going on? You're supposed to save the worst wine for the end. You're giving us the best wine at the end. So it had flavor to it, and it was delightful to drink for those that were around there. And we also see that, and I do believe that this had fermentation in it. It had to, it is the same word used. So to say that Jesus, of course, would never do that, he'd only make grape juice, I don't think is an accurate interpretation of what we find in scripture. Then we see in 1 Timothy a command for the church leaders to practice moderation. It doesn't say don't drink wine, it says to the pastor, don't be a drunkard, and to the deacon in chapter three, verse eight, don't be given too much wine. So just presenting the biblical facts, it seems to present to us that the problem is not wine. So then what is the problem? I think the problem is excess. When it comes to excess, drunkenness is the result of excess. And excess comes when we drink too much wine, where it gets us to the point where we no longer can make moral decisions. We're mentally incapacitated. And it creates the guy on the bench and the problem that we saw in that picture. So to give you just a picture of a chalice with a piece of bread, this is supposed to get you thinking about ancient wine. And I want you to consider with me that we have something that is unique, that I use all the time when I'm preaching and teaching to you. I ask you to ask the question, what did that mean to its original audience? Before, what does that mean to me? Okay, I ask you that all the time. Who said what, to whom, and why, and then what does it mean to me? So when we read wine in the Bible, how did those original audience members view it? Well, I think what we end up finding out is that the alcoholic content in biblical times is different than the alcoholic content of today. Herein is where I encourage you to go look at the notes and you'll see several articles that lay out a lot of these principles for you. Here's one to consider. Under normal conditions, the resulting wine will contain no more than 7% alcohol in biblical times. According to secular authorities, people in the Bible times would further dilute the wine, usually with two parts water, reducing the alcoholic content to 2.5%. So what do we do with occasions when we might be out with a coworker and he's unable to think because he's drinking wine or something that maybe is not as toxic as certain types of wine? We have to ask ourselves the question, are we talking about the same thing? What we do know in scripture is that strong drink is forbidden in the Bible. It's very clear, there's no question about whether or not strong drink is allowed. In Leviticus 10, nine, numbers six, three, and you see the rest of them listed for you on the PowerPoint, I have them in your notes. Over and over again, the Bible says don't touch strong drink. And as we understand what was going on here, it talks about the process of grapes actually being stepped on, and the skin opened up, and the process of fermentation into a type of a gel that would then be diluted with water, and you'd go on and on and on. So that part that isn't yet diluted to 2.5% alcohol, or 7% if I use the higher of the two numbers, is the kind of wine that is most common today, the alcoholic content is much different today. Let me give you an example. As you consider modern wine, it has, a modern glass of wine has 9 to 11 percent alcoholic content. Brandy has 15 to 20 percent alcohol. Liquors usually have between 40 to 50 percent alcohol and some extra hard liquors can be 90 proof. Just take a moment and think about what I'm saying. I'm just asking you to consider what does it mean to the recipients who heard this about wine, take some to gladden your heart, or don't drink too much of that, don't be a drunkard, use it in moderation, don't be given too much wine. I don't think that we're talking about apples to apples. I don't think we're comparing, and I don't think it's right for us to compare the wine in the Bible with the wine of today, the alcoholic content in biblical times with the alcoholic content of today. In fact, I'll give you another maybe suggestion that I think it's more down the line of apples to oranges. Like it's a different thing. One of the articles makes this statement, that which is on the low end of alcoholic content today is what used to be called strong drink. What we call strong drink did not exist in Bible times. So here's one more picture for you. Not apples to apples, not apples to oranges. Let me suggest to you, as you understand this, and let me give you a little bit more facts here. To compare apples with apples, it's necessary to take the wine sold in stores today, 9% to 11% alcohol, and dilute it with between 3% to 10% parts of water. Even if we take one of the stronger wines, 11% alcohol, and dilute it with the lower end of water ratio, three parts water, we still end up with a drink which has an alcoholic content of only about two to three percent. If one uses a ration of five to ten parts water, the alcoholic content becomes negligible. What the ancients actually drank would be considered today a subalcoholic drink by today's standard, is the point. That which is sold in stores as wine would have been considered strong drink by the ancients, and those who drink it unmixed were considered barbaric. So that's why I say what we call strong drink does not even exist in biblical times. So here's my illustration, form of picture for you to see. I think it's not apples to apples, apples to oranges, but maybe more like this, more like apples to hubba bubba bubble tap, sour cream, apple gum. I'm trying to lighten it a little bit. It's a manufactured extra something that they didn't even have a consequence for, or I mean have a connection to. The distillation process in biblical times versus the distillation process in modern times. I have another article linked by Stein that you can look at. It's connected with Christianity today. But all I'm asking you to do is I'm asking you to consider having an open mind to doing research on what I'm saying. That's what I'm asking you to do. I'm asking you to have an open mind to doing research on what I'm saying, and I wanna ask you to not turn me off and say, eh, you don't know what you're talking about. You have an agenda. My agenda is I want to persuade you, definitely. But what I really want you to do is I want you to think with me. I want you to be wise in how you walk in the spirit. And so at least take some time to consider that. This next point, I don't think we'll have lots of disagreement on, but I want you to think about this because of its implications. The sin of drunkenness has consequences. If you're like me, I know what it is to have a brother or a sister given over to drunkenness. that it's a huge problem, creates all sorts of issues in the family. I know what it's like to minister to those who have their lives turned upside down because they have given over to the bottle when times get tough. That's not lasting as far as satisfaction and solution, so consider these consequences. First of all, we have mental consequences. In Isaiah 511, it talks about being weary and continuing to go to wine, but turn with me please to Proverbs 23, Proverbs 23. what I'm saying to you does make a ton more sense if you actually turn in your Bible or click in your phone there so you can watch it and read it. Because one thing is me talking, the other one is the Holy Spirit taking the word and it coming alive to you. So when I bring this up to you, let me encourage you, look over there, Proverbs 23. And look with me at verse 29. I am saying to you, there are mental consequences to drunkenness. Who has woe, who has sorrow, who has strife, who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause, who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine, those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at the wine when it's red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mass. They struck me, you will say, but I was not hurt. They beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink. Who in their right mind would desire to go back to a place where you're getting beat up and you don't even feel it, you don't even know it. Oh, where did I get that bruise from? Oh yeah, I was out cold, yeah. But it happens all the time. Mentally, there are consequences. Generationally, there are consequences. In Genesis chapter nine, verses 20 through 29, in Genesis 19, 30 through 38, I'll just mention these. These are stories. It's the story of Noah having a vineyard, growing a vineyard, and making wine, which would be a normal practice during that time, but then drinking way too much of it instead of taking dominion over all of the earth after the flood, and as a result, he grows drunk, and his brothers, his sons, excuse me, come in, and something that Ham does to his dad, something that he actually does, no one knew what he had done to him. You can speculate as to what in the world's going on. All the text says that something was done to him. that the other brothers, Shem and Japheth, came backwards with a blanket to cover up dad, so as not to uncover the nakedness of their father, as it refers to in Leviticus 18. And what does Noah say to Ham? He says, I'm going to curse your descendant, Canaan. They're generational consequences. He doesn't just curse Ham for whatever he did while his dad was drunk. He says, your son is gonna be cursed. We also see in the result of Lot finally leaving Sodom and Gomorrah, and as he left, his wife became a pillar of salt, and his two daughters looked around and said, there are no men on this earth to continue our family name, so let's get dad drunk, the older daughter decided, but I'm gonna lay with him and then get impregnated with him. And that's exactly what she did, incestual. And then she told her sister, do the same thing. It worked for me, it can work for you. Who does that? Well, those that are given to their depraved minds, thinking of solutions outside of God's plan. You gotta fix your problem, and so you run to the wrong source. There are generational consequences. We have the Ammonites and the Moabites that come as a result of those incestual relationships. There are relational consequences. This is another story, and this is of Nadab and Abihu, who happened to be the sons of Aaron, and they offered up profane fire to God, and God struck them dead with fire. I love to bring up the fact that I think from ancient Near Eastern literature that whenever fire is called coming from heaven, it's usually a lightning bolt, and I'm just giving that as an extra for you, not great balls of fire that consumed them. There was a body left over, bodies left over, to pull them out to bury them. And whatever the case is, we find in Leviticus chapter 10, I think it's in verse 10, it talks about strong drinks should not be partaken of by the Levites. And so I think that drunkenness had an impact on their strange fire that they created, and Aaron lost his boys. Have you considered some of these consequences in our current setup, in our current society? Currently, there's an estimated 10 million alcoholics in the United States, and another 10 million are categorized as problem drinkers. National surveys reveal that alcohol is involved in as many as 65% of the murders committed in the United States, 50% of the assaults, 35% of rapes, 55% of domestic violence, 60% of child abuse cases, and 60% of all traffic fatalities. Drunkenness has its consequences. The Bible is full of warnings to us. Don't go there. And I'm calling you to follow what Paul is saying to the church in Ephesus, walk in wisdom. As he said to the church in Colossae, walk in wisdom towards those who are without. But ultimately, what I'm most concerned about for all of you that are hearing me right now, happens to be the eternal consequences. And what are these eternal consequences? Paul is abundantly clear when he lists out the sins of the flesh in each of these passages, he includes the sin of drunkenness. If you are given over to drunkenness, this is your normal pattern way of life, you need to ask yourself the question, am I truly a citizen of the kingdom or am I not? Because if you are controlled by an outside substance all the time, that means you're not controlled by the Spirit of God, which means you're probably not filled with the Spirit because you haven't been baptized in the Spirit. I'd love to bring up this fact that in 1 Corinthians 6, this passage first listed here in verse 11, it says, but such were some of you. So you can choose to go from drunkenness and overtaken by an outside substance that controls you to being set free by the spirit of God and his transforming power, and that could be you today. And I tell you this, that we will all one day spend eternity somewhere. We cannot view this as like, it doesn't matter. It does matter. If I'm being fair, and I want to as much as possible, we need to think about the application of this very principle as it goes beyond just alcohol, right? I mean, if I'm gonna be so hard about being controlled by an outside substance, what about coffee? Oh wait, that's like a conservative Baptist go-to. I love my coffee. We talk about coffee, coffee. Yeah, what if you have to have a cup of coffee in order to be functioning in your day? I'm gonna suggest something to you lovingly. You have a problem. I have a problem. If I have to have some form of food, what do they call, a lot of the guys, when they get grumpy, what is it, hungry, hangry? Hangry, thank you, Judah. Hangry, not that that comes to me in my home at all, but anyway. If you have to have food in order to think or function, do you need outside, well, God made our body to eat and drink so that we'd stay alive. I get that, but I'm saying that if you are controlled by an outside substance, no matter what it is, you do have a problem and you need to think about it. Be filled with the spirit. So to me, And I hope to you, that's my goal here, the solution to drunkenness is simple. Here's the solution. It gives us in this passage in Ephesians 5, 18b, be not drunk with wine wherein is debauchery, but, contrast, be filled with the Spirit, be controlled by the Spirit. My encouragement to you is to be controlled by the Spirit. What does that look like? The way we started our service today with the call to worship is that the fruit of the Spirit comes out of you, love. joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And if this is true, we also see in 1 Corinthians 6, 12, that though all things are lawful to me, I will not be brought under the control or the mastery of anything. So I'm gonna choose not to let any outside substance control me, I'm gonna choose to be filled with the Spirit. So I want you to think about that. This week in my devotions, as I was even thinking through this, this is just not related to my sermon prep, but I came across this passage in 1 Corinthians 8, seven through 13, which is worthy of our consideration. What if you don't quite see eye to eye with me when it comes to this idea that the alcoholic content of biblical times is different than the alcoholic content of today? What does this mean to me? And isn't that just your preference? Well, I'm gonna suggest to you that I have the joy of being able to give you my preference because I'm preaching to you. If you had that same platform, you could share your preference. But I think it's pretty strong and based on historical fact. But let's say you don't buy in. Consider this text of scripture. 1 Corinthians 8, 7 through 13. However, and I'm gonna read this section. If you wanted to turn there, you can. 1 Corinthians 8, 7 through 13. However, not all possess this knowledge, but some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. but take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, he will not be encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat food offered to idols. And so by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died, Paul says. Thus sinning against your brother and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. That's Paul's conclusion. I'm gonna become a vegetarian then, if that's the issue at hand. Be concerned for the weaker brother. If you are filled with the Spirit, you are going to naturally, or should I say supernaturally, love your brother. You're gonna care for them. Also, be aware of your identity as a follower of Jesus Christ. Each of these passages help us see something really powerful. In Proverbs 31.4, it speaks of the prohibition against kings to drink alcohol. In Leviticus 10.10, the prohibition against the priests to drink alcohol. In 1 Peter 2.9, it calls us a kingdom of kings and priests. That's what we're called as believers. Do you think that might be an indication of something we should at least reflect on and think about, our identity as a follower of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2.9? And then ultimately, I wanna encourage you to consider this one, be willing to make a call. Turn over with me to Jeremiah, and this is the last point that I really wanna make, and I'll wrap things up. Jeremiah 35, be willing to make the call. When it comes down to it, you have to make a decision about where you stand on this if you're gonna walk in wisdom. Walk in wisdom in the way you redeem the time and you discern God's will. Walk in wisdom, be filled with the spirit, don't be drunk with wine, because that's debauchery. Ultimately, you have to make a call. You've got to draw the line somewhere. Jeremiah 35 verse 14 teaches us that the Rechabites, The son of Jonadab, in verse six, made a decision to follow their dad's advice not to drink alcohol. It says in verse 14, the command that Jonadab, the son of Rechab, gave to his sons to drink no wine has been kept, and they drank none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. If you go back into this chapter, you'll see that Jeremiah himself, the prophet, is saying, get them a jar of wine and let's let them drink wine. Let's talk about the situation that we're in. And they said, no, no, no. Our dad said we couldn't. And he didn't just say don't drink wine. He also said don't build houses and don't plant vineyards. So it was more of a Nazaretic type of vow. And you see that as it applies to a guy like Samson and later to John the Baptist. But here the point I'm trying to make to you is that there was a call made and God was honored in the call that was made because they stood before him with purity in following through. Verse 18 speaks of the call that's being made. I'm suggesting to you it's appropriate for you to make a call. If you're a head of a home, and you have children in your home, those that are dependent upon you, I'm suggesting to you, it is appropriate for you to say, we are not going to drink alcohol in this home. And if your kids say, but the Bible talks about wine, you can say, well, actually, I learned in church today that there's a difference in the alcoholic content from today versus yesterday, but in biblical times versus today. Or you can say, yeah, I hear you, but guess what? It's my call to make, I'm the head of the home. Why don't we do that? Because we lack courage. or because we feel like I don't wanna be oppressive, I don't wanna be legalistic. Actually, it's your call to make in your home to decide this is how I am viewing what the scripture is teaching, but just make sure you have Bible to back up your call. So as the lead pastor here at Palmetto Baptist Church, I made a call the moment we planted the church. I said, any pastors or deacons that serve alongside of me, yoke up with me, I'm asking you, do not drink alcohol. Don't even, no social drinking, none of it. And they have a decision. Do they want to be on the team or not? And if they don't, I'm not judging them for it. I'm just saying that's the call I get to make. And that's the call I have made. So in simple terms, I'm saying if you want to avoid drunkenness in all the warning passages that talk about strong drink, the best way to do it is don't even drink it in the first place. Or start today making that decision. But in all things, walk in wisdom. Drunkenness is clearly the sin that's offered to us. So consider with me, and maybe go back and look at the notes, be willing to consider the difference between the alcoholic content of biblical wine and the alcoholic content of today. But don't miss the main point. The main point's this. Be filled, be controlled by the Spirit of God, not by another outside substance. That's how you walk in wisdom. That is the main point. I hope that you will be open to what the Spirit of God can teach you through the Word of God as you just honestly look at it and honestly make application to it. So I'm gonna ask you right now to, we're at a point of decision. I'm gonna pray and then I'm gonna ask you to keep your heads bowed and give to God what he's called from you. I say that every Sunday and I mean that because whenever the word of God is preached, there's a decision that he's calling from you. So maybe it's a decision to, I'm gonna go back and read through those notes again, and really consider it. I'm gonna consider about what is controlling me, and I want to be yielded to the Spirit. Maybe you need to receive the Spirit, become saved, I don't know. But I'm gonna pray, and then you're gonna hear background music, which is an opportunity for you to pray personally, and then Pastor Josh will come up and close our service. Father, please do it with me.