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

Amen. First of all, thanks. It's great to be here. I love the Red Hot Preaching Conference. It's always gonna have a special place in my heart for myself and my family. We came to California for the first Red Hot Preaching Conference in 2016. So I love seeing all the new faces. I love seeing the kids grow. Like we haven't been here for several months and like the kids are like a foot taller now. So it's really cool to see that. Thank you to Pastor Jimenez for everything, for inviting us, for everything that he's done for us and our family and for our church. Obviously we came out of Verity Baptist Church, which we're very appreciative of that. So thank you to the staff here, everybody that makes this conference go. I know how hard the ushers work. I was an usher here for three years. So, you know, just appreciate everything that's done here. It's not an easy thing to get something like this going. I had a little bit of a crisis last night. We drove back to the hotel. I told my wife, I said, I was like, man, I got to write some jokes into my sermon, you know? And, you know, I was like asking the kids on the way back. I'm like, you guys know any jokes, you know? And like the only one that knew jokes was Jacob and they're all like chicken jokes. So like, I can't really, I couldn't really fit that into like what I'm going to talk about today. So Pastor, he is funny though. I mean, I don't know what to tell you. That's it, I mean, Pastor, that is a gift. I mean, that is a gift. So, but anyway, we're going to talk about today for the Red Hot Preaching Conference, I'm going to talk about everybody's favorite Sunday school lesson, Noah's Ark, all right? So of course, you know, Sunday, you know, here's the thing about Noah's Ark though, before we even get beginning in Noah's Ark, and hopefully I can give you a little different perspective that you've never heard before, no new doctrine, but just a different perspective on Noah's Ark this morning. But here's the thing, and this is why, you know, we're not really into Sunday school. One of the reasons that I don't like Sunday school, I love the family integrated church. You can see why the Bible teaches a family integrated church. I myself grew up in Sunday school, and like these stories in the Bible, they were made into cartoons. You know, they were made into things, you know, that were just like fake and cartoons and, you know, goofy. But here's the thing, Noah's Ark actually happened. I mean, this event actually took place. I mean, if you just think about this situation, you know, that Noah's in, God basically tells him in Genesis chapter six, if you look down at your Bible, he tells him, you know, to build this ark. He tells him to build this ark, and you know, I mean, if you look at the dimensions of the ark and you translate that into feet, I mean, this isn't a small thing that God is asking Noah to do. I mean, God gives him the dimensions. I mean, it turns out to be like, depending on how you do the math, it turns out to be somewhere between 450 and 500 feet long. Okay, this is before navies, okay? 450 to 500 feet long, 80 feet wide, and like 50 feet tall. You know, so God gives him the dimensions of the ark. It's very interesting though. God gives him the dimensions of the ark. He gives him the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the ark. He tells him it's gonna be three stories. So you say, why did God tell him those things? I mean, the ark is a little bit different than the temple because God gave great detail with the temple. God gave great detail with even the tabernacle in the wilderness. But with the ark, he kinda gives him these dimensions. And what he gives him is these dimensions, and it makes sense since God created the animals. He's gonna have to have seven pairs of a lot of animals and then one pair of a lot of animals. God knew how much room he would need. So he gave Noah the dimensions of the ark. He tells him, you know, you're gonna lay it out in three levels. He even gives him the materials of the ark. He's like, hey, use gopher wood. You know, make it with pitch to make it watertight. But here's the thing. Like, other than that, Noah built the ark. I mean, think about that for a second. I mean, just a side note here. You know, we're kinda given this evolutionary idea in our society today that men were really stupid. And now we're becoming really smart. The opposite's actually true. Okay, men, I mean, think about it. Noah lived to 950 years old. I mean, you give me 950 years, I'm gonna figure some stuff out. All right? So I mean, the thing is, like, this guy built this ship. God didn't tell him, hey, make the stringers this far apart. He built this structure on his own. God gave him, look, God gave him the success factors. He gave him the design criteria to make sure that he could fit everything in the ark. But other than that, he said, you build it. To build the ark. He says, make thee. Make the ark. So Noah built it. And look, turn to Genesis chapter seven and look at verse number six. You know how Noah lived to be, we know Noah lived to be 950 years old. Well, look at Genesis chapter seven, verse number six. The Bible says Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters was upon the earth. So when Noah was in the ark, he was 600 years old. Okay, so he has this big building project. By the time he gets in the ark and the flood's going on, he's 600 years old, all right? In Genesis 532, the Bible says that Noah was 500 years old and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. So Noah built the ark somewhere between when he was 500 years old and when he was 600 years old. And we don't know exactly, I mean, everybody's got all these theories. We don't know exactly how long it took him to build the ark. But if you think about what he had to do, he had to build this ship, he had to gather materials. And look, think about this. He had to get these animals together. Somebody that's worked with animals before in his life, that's like a nightmare just even reading that. I'm like, the birds, the bats, everything. I mean, think about all the work that had to go with this. I mean, even if this, it could have taken him as long as 100 years, but even if it took him 20 years, this was quite a project for Noah to do. So the question is this this morning. The question is this, and this is kind of what I wanna get at for this morning's sermon. Why didn't God just give the ark to Noah? You ever thought about that? Maybe you haven't. Why didn't God just say, I mean, God created the whole world. I mean, he could build a ship. God can do anything. He can build a ship. Why didn't he just drop the ark right there and said, boom, could he not have done that? Of course he could have, right? But here's the thing. This is a philosophy you see all over the Bible. This is a methodology God uses all over the Bible dealing with us. He reminded me of a bumper sticker that I really like. A bumper sticker that you see every now and then. This bumper sticker, you ever heard the bumper sticker? It's usually on like a 92 Ford or, you know, if in Fresno, it's a 85 Chevy. Not to get into that. But the bumper sticker says built, not bought. A lot of times this bumper sticker goes along with one that's in the back of the window that says, you know, dirty hands, clean money. By the way, if you see, here's a California tip for you, for all of you not from California and pastor Mihiase if you agree. If you have more than two bumper stickers in California, you're a liberal. If you have more than 10, you worship the devil. I mean, look, that's not exact. And if you have a bunch of bumper stickers on your car, I'm sorry, but you know, I mean, if you have more than 20 bumper stickers on the back of your car, there's a satanic symbol in there somewhere. It's like save the whales, kill the babies, Santa Cruz. It's so common. But anyway, built, not bought is what you see, right? You got this guy that's got this old truck and he's pieced this thing together over years. He's making 25 bucks an hour, whatever he's making. And he's putting this thing together because you know what? It's just, maybe he didn't have the money to go out and buy the new one. You know, this is why the people, you know, there's a reason people just go out and buy a new truck. And look, if you have a new truck today, you're gonna feel like I'm preaching against you, but it's just an analogy, okay? But there's a reason people go out and buy the new truck because look, it takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of knowledge. It takes a lot of sacrifice of your time, especially to build it yourself. But that's why God does it. And at the end of the sermon, I'll give you several advantages from the Bible on why God has us build it. I mean, why does he do that? I mean, it's obvious. I'll show you in the Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter six, 1 Corinthians chapter six and look at verse number 20. This is just how God deals with us. This is how God deals with us. It's common in the Bible. So look, I mean, let's just look at our salvation here. Let's just look at our salvation. Look, your salvation was bought for you, paid for. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter six and verse number 20. The Bible says, for you are bought with a price, okay? You're bought with a price. Your salvation, bought and paid for, gift. It's yours. There's nothing you can do to lose it. It's yours. But now look what? Therefore, it's saying, going forward here, because of this, it says, glorify God in your body. What do you do with your body? What are we just saying? Well, what? We'll work until Jesus comes. That's what we do with our body. We work. And in your spirit, which are God's. So look, the point I'm trying to get at as we start this morning is your salvation is free. Your salvation is free, but your Christian life, this body that we have that is now saved, that is now redeemed from nothing of our own, not 1% of our own, this body, this Christian life is to be built, not bought. And that is why God didn't just drop the ark in Noah's lap. He gave him the criteria to be successful. Sound familiar? He gave him the criteria to be successful so Noah wouldn't go and start putting something together and realize, oh, I'm 80 feet short. No, God made sure he had the criteria to be successful, then he said, you build it. You build it. And here's the thing, Christians get this wrong today and that's why I'm preaching about it. Christians get this wrong today where they think, hey, I'm saved and either I'm saved and I do nothing or I'm saved and I can do whatever I want and I can just say a prayer and then God's gonna just put it all together for me. Christians get this wrong today. I'm gonna give you some examples. I'll give you some examples of things in your life that are gonna be built, not bought. Everybody talks about, turn to Nehemiah chapter four. Nehemiah was a builder. Nehemiah was a builder. Look, Christians get this wrong today and if they get it wrong, there's serious consequences. There's serious consequences. And look, you're saved. You're saved today, nothing's ever gonna change that. The problem with Christian consequences is they're usually paid by people closest to you. Turn to Nehemiah chapter four. Turn to Nehemiah chapter four. The first example I wanna give you of things that are built, not bought is the church. You say, what? God builds the church. We'll get to that in a minute. We started out as a satellite ministry in Fresno. We were a satellite ministry for two years, Verity Baptist Church, Fresno. And then we went, so for two years, we were a satellite ministry. Look, I'm not gonna say it was easy. I mean, it's a lot of work, but who cares? I like work. So it was a lot of work running the satellite ministry. But when the ordination happened, it was like immediately we had major trouble. It was like a switch went off. It was crazy. I'd never experienced anything like that in my life. And look, I believe, I mean, look, I'm not gonna give you the gory details. It's just a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things. That's what it was. And look, I sit here and I listen to preaching, just like you all, and it's like, oh, spiritual battle, spiritual battle. It's like in one ear, out the other. Look, it's just a spiritual battle. That was the first thing. It was just proof of the spiritual battle. But I realized, I realized aside from that, and honestly, just on a personal level, it was very valuable for me to go through some of those things personally so I can understand what some of my friends have gone through. So I mean, there's always, you know, Romans 8.28. There's always good that comes out of those things for people that love the Lord. Look down to Nehemiah chapter four. But here's what I really realized when all those things happened, and now going forward through, now that we're past those things. Nehemiah chapter four, and look at verse number six. The Bible says this. See, I realized, I realized when we started going through all that trouble and all those things that were happening, because look, I mean, we're a satellite ministry. We inherited a lot. We were given a lot from this powerhouse of a church that's here. But I was kinda like, oh, this thing's gonna be, need to be built, not bought. That was the light bulb that went off. It's like, oh, we're gonna have to build this thing. It's not just gonna be handed to us. We're gonna have to build it. Look at verse number six of Nehemiah chapter four. So built we the wall, and the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work. Nehemiah went, after the captivity, he went back to build the wall of Jerusalem. He prayed, look, he prayed. He prayed in Nehemiah chapter one. I mean, he beseeched the Lord. He beseeched the Lord. And then he went back, and you know what he did? He built it. He didn't go back and stand on the borders of Jerusalem and say, God, put these bricks together. No, he went back and he built it. And you know what? He built it, and the people had a mind to work. The people were, look, this, go to Matthew chapter 16. The people had a mind to work, and Nehemiah went back, and they put the bricks on top of bricks. You say, but God, but wait, God builds the church. That's true. God builds the church. But look at Matthew 16 and verse number 18. Matthew 16, look at verse number 18. The Bible says, and I also say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Why won't the gates of hell prevail against it? Why? Because it's built on the rock of Jesus, that's why. That's why. If we don't build this on the rock of Jesus, the gates of hell will prevail. I mean, we can infer that from this statement. Say, you build this on me, on my word, and you're good to go. But you know what? Like, you build it. We have to build it. Look at just two verses later. Two verses, oh, I'm sorry, go to Mark chapter 16 and verse number 20, I'm sorry. No, Mark 16 and verse number 20. The Bible says when the disciples went forth, look what it says in Mark chapter 16 in verse number 20. It says, and they went forth and preached everywhere. Are they standing around? They're not standing around. And then guess what? The Lord working with them. The Lord will work with us, but we need to have a mind to work. Look, these churches need people to work. They need people to build. Every church needs men and women with a mind to work to build. I mean, I hear people all the time, whether it's this conference or other places that I go come up to me and I'm sure other people are the same, where they're like, hey, I'm from so-and-so and I can't wait for a church to come to my city and I'm from here and we want a church. Look, we all want that. We all want that. But here's the thing. First of all, it's not just that there's not a man. There needs to be people to work. There needs to be people to build. It's not just one man. Whole Fast Baptist Church is not just one man. It's never gonna be just one man. We need people to work with a mind to work. And then you know what? We'll plant churches all over the place. If we had those people and we had those men, we'd plant churches everywhere. That's the problem is the lack of people. We'd plant churches in Turtle Lake, North Dakota, population 300. It's a lack of people with a mind to work is the problem. How about this one? Things that you need to build and not buy. How about your family? You know what, you can buy this. Everybody else is doing it. You say, what are you talking about? We're being told today that you can buy your family, that you can buy the raising of your family. Because guess what? Somebody else will do it for you. You can have dual incomes and you can afford it. You can go have a child and that child could come from the hospital to the daycare center or the school or whatever they call it today. Straight to the public school, straight to the tablet, to the internet, raise your kid for you. You can buy it. It can be bought. University system will finish them off. But isn't that normal? Isn't that normal? Isn't that what people do today? They're buying it. No, but you have to build it. God gave it to you to build. Your children are a blessing. They're heritage from the Lord. You have to build them. They must be built. Hey, how? Go to church, read the Bible. Yes, those are all great starts, but the whole thing needs to be built and not bought with your families. There's great danger today, folks. No one's gonna do it right for you. You're gonna have to do it yourself. And guess what? Just like that guy building that truck, it's gonna take sacrifice. I mean, just look at these kids here. Look at these young ladies. Look at the girls here. You know, they're under serious attack today, these girls here. These young ladies in this church are under serious attack today. You know what? A virtuous young lady, a young lady to a virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, that's built, not bought. That takes effort. That takes protection. Turn to Titus chapter two. It takes sacrifice. To raise a daughter, to become a Proverbs 31 woman, that doesn't happen on accident. That doesn't happen on accident. Turn to Titus chapter two and verse number four. I think of all the things today this infuriates me the most right here. Turn to Titus chapter two and verse number four. And look, it infuriates me the most because I believe that even for the Christian family, even for us, it's a danger, it's a risk. It's a risk. Turn to Titus chapter two and look at verse number four. Talking about, you know, to raise a daughter like this. Think about these words. The Bible says that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. I mean, I mean, women today are literally being taught to hate children. He's like, well, that's extreme. Okay, what's more hateful than to murder them? I mean, that is, I mean, every wicked feminist out there hates children. Why? Because they want to murder them. I mean, this isn't rocket surgery. If you want to murder somebody, it's bad. You hate them. But we're to teach, I mean, you're gonna notice some opposites here. We're to teach the young ladies to love their children. And guess what? That kind of comes with your conscience, right? Some of the things that Pastor Mejia was talking about last night, like, you know, covering up that gag reflex, that's written into our conscience. But you can sear your conscience. You can hammer that conscience where it doesn't work right anymore. We need to back up that conscience. We need to reinforce that conscience. To love their children, to be discreet. You know what that means, discreet? Discreet with two E's like that. You know what that means? It means prudent. It means wise in judgment. It means they should be wise. And people are so stupid today, they don't know what words mean. Because they think judgment means like, eh, eh, eh, like looking down your nose at somebody. You know, judgment means recognizing evil. That's all it means. I mean, that's how God ruled the nation, with judges. I mean, these young ladies need to be wise. They need to recognize evil. They need to be wise in avoiding errors. Chased, that means pure. Who values? I mean, do feminists value women? It's disgusting. It's disgusting. They tell them that they're nothing but a body to be abused. But the Bible tells us that we're to value these young women. We're to value purity. We're to value our daughters. Keepers at home, they really hate that one. I mean, but I've always been upset at this. I wasn't even, I've been upset at this before I was even saved. That my wife would stay home and raise our children and protect our children from this wicked garbage that gets worse every week, and somehow that honorable task would be demeaned by people. That, that upsets me. That's always upset me. That upset me before I was saved. Why? Conscience? It's the most honorable thing. Because what's she doing? She's loving the children. Keepers at home, good. Obedient to their husbands. That the word of God be naught blaspheme. Turn to First Peter chapter three. That they should be submissive to their husband, they should obey their husband. That's what the Bible says. First Peter chapter three, look at verse number one. The Bible says, likewise ye wives. We're talking about our daughters. How do we build our daughters here? Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. There it is again. That if any obey not the word, they may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. It's telling the wife that she's to be pure and wise and she's gonna win her husband even if he's not saved. While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Who's adorning, look at verse number three. Who's adorning, let it not be the outward adorning of the plating of hair and of wearing of gold or putting on apparel. Look, these young ladies, their value is not in their looks. Their value is not in their bodies. That's what girls are being told today. You know what your value is and how you can show your nakedness, that's your value. That's a lie. That's a lie, that devalues them. That devalues these precious young ladies that the Bible is talking about protecting here. But let it be the hidden man of the heart which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. Well that's the opposite of the militant feminists today too. Loud mouth, wicked, murder loving people. That's the opposite of a meek and quiet spirit. So let's go back to Nehemiah chapter four and look at verse number 17. I mean, Nehemiah's building. We're talking about building it, not buying it. Go back to Nehemiah chapter four, look at verse number 17. The Bible says this, it says, see, it's not that we're, we're worse off than the guy with the truck because there's gonna be people that stop us from building it. There's gonna be people trying to tear down what we're building. Look at Nehemiah chapter four and verse number 17. They would build it on the wall and they would bear burdens with those that laid it. Every one of his hands wrought in the work and the other hand held a weapon. Why? Because people were trying to come after them. I mean, they could do more work if they had just had two hands to put bricks up but they were worried about people attacking them. Look at verse 18. For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side and so builded and he that sounded the trumpet was by me. They're all armed when they were doing this. Look, we're under attack today. These girls are under attack today. You better have your sword by your side because it's pretty much the, I mean, feminism today is the opposite of what the Bible is telling us that our young ladies should be, that our daughters should be. It's exactly the opposite. And I kind of like that they're exposing and they're showing who they are because they've always been this way. These militant, loud, obnoxious, promiscuous, violent people. You see them out protesting since Roe v. Wade was overturned, they're out protesting. They're literally smearing themselves with hopefully fake blood but they're literally like, we're bloody people. They're out there saying, we're bloody people, we love murder, we love murder. One of the really, I love situations where you see the convergence. One of the pictures, I actually took a snapshot of a news article, you had this militant feminist, they're destroying things, they're hurting people, they're destroying buildings. I mean, that's violent, that's violent. And then one of the pictures that I saved was one of these violent protests and there was a pride flag. Not only was it a pride flag but in the center of the pride flag, it had the black pentagram goat head in one flag. I've seen them flown separately many times. But that just goes, look, they're all the same people. They're all the same people and Satan's running the show. Look, normal people in America, please realize this. Do you want Satan running this country? Because that's who these people are led by. They're showing you. It's on their cars, it's on their flags, they literally worship the devil. But they're teaching these young ladies today to basically be harlots and murderers. That's what they're teaching these young ladies to be. They're teaching them to not be complementary towards men but to be in competition with men. You see, God's plan is perfect. You ever notice, have you ever met two guys that are really close friends? And you'll notice that many times, those friends are very different. Because they complement each other. It's common with friendships. In a marriage. I mean, my wife and I, everyone's like, oh, you know, you gotta meet somebody. My wife and I have nothing in common. Nothing. I mean, other than she loves me and I love her. In the Bible, I'm joking, but you get my point. I mean, we don't have the same hobbies. I'm like, adventure. She's like, I don't wanna go on another adventure. I'm like, get in the car. How long's the hike? It's like a half mile plus 10. But the point is, is that what they're doing is they're, and especially with the keeper at home, obey your husband, they're degrading the honorable things of the Bible. They're breaking it down. They're cutting it down. We have to defend that. We have to defend that to our daughters. I mean, as if preparing a meal for your husband would be a bad thing. As if preparing a meal for your family is like suddenly, like, as if it's an unimportant thing. Have you seen kids today? I drive by a high school every day. I'm like, where are the athletes? It's crazy. It's like, boo, boo, boo. Look, as if like making sure that your family, your home is taken care of, your children whom you love are taken care of, and are living a healthy lifestyle, as if that's like a small thing. What in the world? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, but here's why. Here's why. I'm gonna show you why they're so virulently against this, like keepers at home, you know, obedient to your husband. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, because they can't imagine, they can't imagine what we have. They can't imagine, they can't even picture in their mind what the marriages in this room have. They can't wrap their head around it. You say, why? I'll show you why. The Bible tells us why. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is talking about charity, our love towards our fellow man, all right? And in verse number six, look what it says about charity. It says charity, I mean, it's talking about love here. This is why they can't understand. Look, they can never understand why. They can't imagine a wife that would love her husband and her children, that would give hours of her life daily to teaching them from the time she rises to the time she lies down, to be that Deuteronomy 6 teacher to her children and take care of her family. They can't imagine that a woman would want to do that. Why? Because charity, because charity, love, it rejoices not in iniquity because they don't know what love is, that's why. That's the same thing that, you know, two homosexuals can't love each other. I don't care what you call it. It's, you know, it rejoices not in abomination. It's, you can redefine words all you want. Look, I mean, I could, you know, lift something up here and say, look, this is a basketball, but it's not. I mean, we're talking about just redefining all these things. I heard it was 105, by the way. I mean, we're talking about genders. I guess I was talking about orientations or whatever the last time. I don't feel like I need to go and look into all those 105. It's just like natural, unnatural. But here's the point. You can redefine anything that you want. It doesn't make it true. And that is the problem. They don't understand, these militant feminists don't understand that there could be a husband that would sacrifice anything for his wife, for his children, up to his last breath. They don't get it. Why? Because they don't know what love is. You go redefine whatever you want. They just don't know what it is. Only the Bible gives us the definitions that are real. It's just a foreign concept to them. They don't know what it is. So look, it's the opposite. It's creeping into everything, this militant feminist. You gotta stand up for it. Don't let people make comments to you. Don't let people make comments to you about how you're raising your daughter, especially if your daughter's within earshot of those comments. You keep that sword by your side and you defend what you're doing. Because they're trying to creep things in. They're trying to creep ideas in. You gotta keep all these evil feminist influences out of our homes. And you know what? We need to teach our daughters their value. We need to teach our daughters their value. Because don't let people draw them into these institutions. The kids today, they're gonna go out and they're gonna play some sports today. They're gonna go out and they're gonna have fun and all this. And don't let people tell you, oh, you don't put your daughter in sports. Phenomism, it was invented by a man. That's another, it's a conspiracy theory of mine. It's like, oh, women's sports. You gotta have your girl and you gotta have your daughter in women's sports. But here's the thing. She has to wear her underwear when she plays sports. It's crazy. It's crazy that people would do this. Kids are gonna go out here and they're gonna play a sport and they're gonna have fun together and they're gonna be dressed appropriately. Because you know why? Because we value these young ladies. That's why. Because we don't wanna devalue these young ladies in our lives. Look, they're built, not bought. The value of these young ladies. I mean, keep the rubies. They're more valuable. The value of just, the value of a strong, wise wife. This wife. I've got a suspicion about my wife for years. I've had this suspicion about her that she might be smarter than me. I mean, I never sat down and like, we never like gone head to head on a test or anything like that. But like, there'll be moments where like, I'm dealing with something or there's some kind of situation going on in the leadership that I'm dealing with, whether my family or the church. My wife will be like, well, that's kind of like, she'll point me to a spot in the Bible. And I'm like, that's really good. Are you smarter than me? Yeah. But you know how valuable that is to a husband? It's more valuable than any material thing, the Bible says. That she's a helpmate for me. You know what that means? That she's a help that actually helps me. It's not a helpmate. It's like a worthy help to me. That is so valuable. It protects the family. It protects the children. There's nothing more valuable than having a strong, wise wife that can judge good from evil in this world. It is that it gives me complete comfort every day in my life, knowing that she is there helping build these girls, these daughters. But we're the ones that value them, folks. Everything else is a lie. They're trying to degrade them. They're literally trying to turn them into murderers, is what you're seeing today. What about our boys? Look, men are to run their families. Men are to run the church. Men are to be leaders, which brings us to the next thing. Turn to Proverbs chapter 20. These boys in this church are not going to become strong men on accident. It's not just gonna materialize out of thin air. Look at Proverbs chapter 20, look at verse number six. Proverbs chapter 20, look at verse number six. The Bible says, most men. I mean, pay attention to that. That's the majority. This is true. I can tell you, hands down, this is true. Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. But a faithful man, who could find? You know what the Bible is saying? The Bible here is saying is that most men are all talk. But a faithful man, who can find? Look, if you're a doer, this annoys you like crazy, this verse. You're like, yeah, this is true. Why does it have to be true? You think these boys are gonna turn into faithful men on accident? No, that needs to be built, not bought. That's what it, look, and it's, you know, faithful men is what a church needs. Faithful men is what a family needs. Faithful men is what that godly wife needs. But that needs to be built. Biblical masculinity is under attack just as much as the ladies. I mean, you guys already kind of brought it up last night, but the what is a man, what is a woman thing? I mean, like, are you serious? You know, I mean, you know what that means, though? This what is a man, what is a woman thing? You know what that means? It means there's a lack of men in this country. It means there's a lack of men that are willing to stand up and say, this is garbage. Just like the virtuous, meek, chaste, wise, discreet women, if we had some faithful men in this country, we wouldn't be where we're at today. Trying to blend everyone into the middle, or into some weird, mixed up whatever. Young men need to be taught to have courage to stand up for what they believe in. And we're like, how do I do that? Guess what? You have to show them. You have to show them how. You have to show them how to have courage. You have to demonstrate it, sorry. You have to demonstrate it, you have to live it. We went on a hike like two weeks ago, and we were down in this river gorge, and it was crazy, like the gorge walls were up like this, and this river came into this big pool, and my youngest son was like, he wanted to jump in the water but he was a little nervous to go in. I'm like, why don't you swim across that river and touch that canyon wall? And he looks at me and he's like, you first. And I'm like, and my wife was sitting there, and she's like, you did it now. I wasn't planning on going swimming, but you know what, I went first. And then he came after me, look, we gotta show him. We gotta show him. You wanna raise boys and girls who become just passionate soul winners? You gotta show them. What, like in a week? No, years! And you can't fake that, you can't phone that in. You can't fake that in, you can't fake that. You can't fake going out for years, several times a week, and actually caring about people. Because here's the thing, folks, we're the ones that actually care about people. That's another lie. We're the only ones that care. But you gotta go out and they gotta see that in your face and in your voice. Then you're going out there, it's 110, maybe you don't feel good, whatever, I don't feel great every time I go soul winning. But you go out there and you show that you care about people it's gotta be real. And then when it's real, guess what? They're just gonna come right behind you. It's the coolest thing. It's almost like the Bible works. They're gonna get that look, and you know what, before they even become soul winners, they're gonna start having that desire. They're gonna start having that desire, like when can I start talking, can I start giving the intro? And then you just guide them right into it, just walk them right into it. But you gotta show them. You gotta show them how. See, here's the problem, they gotta consistently see you do it. That's how you raise courageous young men. That's how you raise virtuous young ladies. Because you gotta consistently show them how to do it. You gotta consistently protect them. You can't throw them out to the wolves for six months and then come back and be protected. You know, you gotta do it all the time. You gotta be diligent, the Bible says about it. Consistency over time. But here's the thing. People will go and they'll just pray for their children. And that's great. We pray for our children all the time, don't get me wrong. They'll pray for their children, and they'll just pray that everything works out, and then they will do nothing. But God's like, build the wall. God's like, build the wall. He's like, I gave you the instructions, build it. You gotta have a mind to build, folks. You gotta have your sword by your side, folks. I mean, it's the Lord working with us. You gotta do it. Turn to Matthew chapter seven. What are the benefits? Why did God do it this way? These are just a couple examples I gave you. I mean, it could just be infinite examples about your family, your children, your church. Why did he do it this way? Why didn't he just give us the success like he gave us our salvation? He could have done it that way. He could have designed it however he wanted. We moved to Fresno about three years ago, and I was looking for a project. We moved to Fresno, I was looking for a project. I was gonna join a gang because everybody was like, hey, there's lots of gangs there. Maybe you should join a gang. But instead, I just went out. You know, by the way, I mean, I don't know what the big deal is about gangs. I'm not for gangs, but like most gang people are very nice. Okay, I'm not for gangs. We don't want people to be in gangs, but most of the time we give the gospel to somebody. Like I have people, I mean, it's a North Dakota thing, I think, because I don't even really know I'm talking to somebody that's in a gang. And people will come up to me and be like, hey, that guy was in a gang. I'm like, oh, that's cool. They're very nice, they're very respectful. They just look, they're just led astray. They're just young kids that are just heading in the wrong direction in their life. I think we could probably help that. But anyway, I was looking for a project with my kids. I was looking for a project with my kids, so I went out and I bought this old boat. And I had this boat for like nothing. It was a mechanic special. And like, you know, I bought this old boat. This boat was 40 years old. And I bought this thing because I wanted to be able to show the kids how to fix some things and how to do some things. I mean, nothing worked in this thing. Motor didn't work, the outdrive didn't work. Even the stuff that I thought worked didn't work. The guy that I got it from is like, I could kind of see him snickering when I like drove it out of the weeds or wherever it was. But here's why I looked for that particular boat. Because back in 19, the early 80s, there was this company in California that they were, it was a California-built boat and it was a specific brand and they were known for like building these crazy strong hulls. I mean, everything was overbuilt. The fiberglass was, I mean, the things, like it's super heavy, it's like a tank. And I'm like, you know what, if I'm gonna put my blood, sweat, and tears, I haven't cried over it yet, but there's been blood and sweat for sure. But if I'm gonna put a lot of effort into this, it needs to be worth building on. So that's why I picked that particular boat. Now look at Matthew chapter seven. It has to be worth building on. Look at what the Bible says in Matthew chapter seven, verse 24. It says, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, my words, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. Notice how you have to do them. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell. And great was the fall of it. It's a waste of time building on the sand, is what this is saying. But we have, your salvation is free, and we have the strongest hope. It's worth building on. It's the strongest foundation, it will never fail. It's eternal. It's worth the effort, and once built, once built, I said, why did God do it? This is my theory, right here. Once built, this is why God, I believe, requires that we build it. Once built, you'll appreciate what you have. Because you know what they say and you'll see in your life that when you're just giving things for free, you really don't appreciate them many times. Like, how many people do you know that are saved and don't appreciate that? That they've taken their salvation, they've put it in their pocket, and they've just gone on their way. See, the guy with the built truck, the guy with the built truck, he has a certain disdain for the guy that bought his. Because he, I mean, he'll never have, the guy that bought it will never have the appreciation that the guy that built it has. He didn't sacrifice for it. He didn't put in the time, he didn't put in the effort. Go to Proverbs chapter 17 and look at verse number six. I mean, people take for granted their salvation all the time. I mean, you see that all the time. If you're a soul winner, you'll see that. Look at Proverbs 17 and verse number six. Proverbs chapter 17, look at verse number six. I'll just quote it. I mean, the Bible here says, children's children are the crown of old men. Look, that's a guy that built it. I mean, that's a guy that put in the effort and built it. And he appreciates it. Because it took, look, it takes sacrifice, it takes time, it takes effort to build it. Here's the last thing. Turn to Romans chapter seven. Look, that guy that built it, that mom that built it, that invested in the church, that invested in their family, that invested in their kids. Look, they'll appreciate it. They'll appreciate it more. You know, that person that invests in their church is not gonna take their church for granted. It's the same thing with everything in your Christian life. Look at Romans chapter seven. Here's another thing. Here's another thing. This is why God tells you to build it. Look at Romans chapter seven. Because you know what? When you build something, you know how to fix it. Look at Romans chapter seven and look at verse number 13. You know what? When you build something, you will recognize problems quickly. When you build something, you listen for noises. My family, I've been annoying them for 20 years doing this. We'll be driving somewhere, I'm like, what is that? It's a ticking. What's that ticking? I'm like, Dad, that's nothing. No, that's a ticking! It doesn't sound like that all the time. We stop on the side of the road. Everything's running fine. There's a ticking, though. I can't keep going. There's a problem. There's a problem. But here's the thing. Wouldn't you like to know when something's creeping into your family? Look at Romans 7, 13. Was then that which was made good made death unto me? Talking about the law, talking about God's word. God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin. Wouldn't you like to recognize sin when it creeps into your family? There's lots of people trying to get into your house. There's lots of people trying to get in through the wires. They're trying to get in through media. They're trying to get in through everything. Wouldn't you like to recognize when something starts creeping in? That sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Wouldn't you like to know that once you learn the law, once you build on this whole, you will recognize this. This is what the Bible is saying here. Once you build your family on the Bible, once you build your family on this whole, you will recognize when your kids are struggling. You will see it. You will recognize when somebody's attacking your family. You'll know it right away. I mean, everybody has always told us that when your kids turn a certain age, they're gonna go through this crazy stage. It never happened to me. I'm not saying I'm perfect. I'm not saying I'm a great parent. I've made plenty of mistakes. But guess what? This is perfect. And when you build on that and you don't buy it and expect somebody else to fill in the blanks for you, you recognize when there's things going wrong. And you recognize right away when somebody's coming after and then you know when to pull your sword out. If you built it, you hear the rattles. If you didn't build it and you expect everyone else to do something for you, you won't have a clue. And we all, I mean, I don't like seeing this, but I see it all the time. You won't have a clue until you're sitting on the side of the road with smoke rolling out the engine if you didn't build it yourself. As a pastor, I hear stories of parents struggling. I mean, from just all over, kids falling into traps, left and right, because look, here's the thing. Like, why does it bother me? It bothers me because I care about children. I care. I care about people that have their kids in the public school system. It's not something that affects me, but I care about those people. Ask yourself this, you ever asked yourself this? Why are the sodomites trying to get into the public school system? They don't have kids. I mean, having kids is a natural thing. I don't care what you redefine, it's always gonna be a natural thing. Why are they trying to get into those places? That bothers me because I care. Left alone, left alone, they'll fail in this environment that we're in because there's evil, wicked people coming after them. That's why the swords have to be by the side. Look, left alone, if you buy it, these people that buy it and have somebody else do it, Satan will eat these kids alive. It doesn't make me happy to report that. But that's why we're trying to tell people about this. Turn to Proverbs chapter 20. So look, I mean, that's why God does it, because we'll appreciate it, we'll appreciate it, and we'll know when there's problems if we built it ourself and we built it on his word. Look at Proverbs chapter 20, we'll end here. Proverbs chapter 20, we'll end here. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 20 verse 21. The Bible says, an inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be blessed. You know what that means? Easy come, easy go. This church is gonna be built, not bought. This church, this powerhouse of a church here was built and it's still being built. But it didn't just become this way on accident. It was built by a faithful man, a faithful family, faithful families. It was built, not bought. Churches around this country, you're gonna be built, not bought. Your church life is gonna be built, not bought. Go home today, go home today wherever you go, if you go to a good church, go home and help that man build. Go home with a mindset, if you don't have a good church, you get to one. Your family is gonna be built, not bought. A soul-winning ministry is built, not bought. No one is gonna neutralize these influences for you. These kids are gonna be built, not bought. Virtuous daughters and faithful men are gonna be built, not bought. That's gonna take a lot of effort and no one's gonna do it for you. God doesn't operate that way. He's like, I'll work with you. You pray and then you get to work and God will work with you. And if you've ever seen God move in your life, it's because you did that. It's because you prayed and then you did and God worked with you. Build this Christian life and then stand up for it. And here's the thing, it's joyful. I mean, you're like, it's rewarding, it's joyful, it's what we're supposed to be doing even when it doesn't seem like it's joyful at the time. It's just what we're supposed to be doing. It's what we're supposed to do. You're like, but sometimes it's hard, but guess what? If it was easy, everybody would do it. So just become a doer and some things are hard, but the good things are hard. Build an ark, that couldn't have been easy. Getting all those animals, that could not have been easy. Anything worth doing is difficult. And God will work with you. Build it. Don't buy it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Your Heavenly Father, I thank you for the opportunity to be in this church. I thank you for the opportunity to be at this conference. I thank you for these families, for these children. Lord, help us to understand that we need to be builders in our Christian life. We need to be protectors as fathers, as ministers of the gospel, Lord. Just help us to just always remember that it's you working with us and help us to be those doers, Lord, and to follow your word. And we know that the promises are true. We're gonna thank you for the opportunity to be here. In Jesus' name, amen.